Review: Separation

Being an indie virtual reality (VR) developer isn’t the easiest path for anyone interested in making videogames, especially when you’re completely solo. Yet that does offer an opportunity to make something unique to you, your life and your influences. Which is exactly what Martin Wheeler has done with PlayStation VR title Separation, a bleak atmospheric experience that’s both a puzzle solver and a step into his psyche.

SeparationSeparation takes place in a world somewhere between a dreamscape and post-apocalypse, a wasteland devoid of life, littered with the remnants of ancient technology. There’s little explanation as to why you’re here or what this place is or was, apart from the occasional whispered story snippet. It evokes a harrowing sense of isolation with snow-covered mountains and ominous structures looming through the fog, eerie in its silence.

This feeling never really lets up throughout the entire time, and while it can be powerful and serene at times when some of the beautiful ambient music kicks in Separation can also become a little grating. Separation has one speed and one speed only, a slow amble that wouldn’t go amiss during a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll. There’s obviously a benefit to this, making for a more comfortable experience as smooth locomotion is the only option. That does mean, however, that wandering the environment can take time – most of it – and patience. Designed to be peaceful with a meditation like quality, allowing time to contemplate and take in the vistas, the gameplay does become somewhat bland and repetitive as the experience progresses.

Rather than walking around these snowy landscapes aimlessly, there is a thread which guides you, a beam of blue light which travels between crystals. It’s these crystals which you need to manipulate, altering their position to continue the sequence. While there’s no hand-holding at any point during Separation with you mostly left to your own devices the puzzles never pose too much of a challenge, offering more of a break between the casual strolling around.

SeparationThere are sequences which involve a boat and a balloon, offering some variance in how you get around. It can be quite relaxing sat on the boat meandering through the calm waters but unlike titles such as Journey for Elysium which want to make you part of this, Separation doesn’t. There’s a lack of connection between the player and Separation, mainly due to how this interaction with the experience works. The DualShock 4 controller does have its place in VR yet the inclusion of motion controls may have helped elevate the title, aiding that sense of being inside this world, instead of being a spectre pressing the interact button every so often.

As such the sentiment being portrayed doesn’t always connect and therefore Separation isn’t so much a journey for you as it was for the developer. Dealing with the loss and depression of a family member, Wheeler has etched these emotions into the experience for better or worse. Lonely statues are hidden away containing Sorrow artefacts to collect, while the singular use savepoints can only be used by picking up a monochrome rose.

Seeing that Wheeler created Separation by himself over a period of four years is an impressive accomplishment, especially considering the subject matter which inspired the experience. The atmospheric visuals and soundtrack are what carry Separation, reminiscent of titles like ICO. However, it becomes a little too monotonous and at times the emotion the title tries to portray feels indistinct as if it has lost its own way in this vast open landscape.

60%

Awesome

  • Verdict

Separation PSVR Review: Engrossing Atmosphere Can’t Stave Off Excessive Tedium

I can only imagine how scary it is to put yourself out there when releasing an indie game. Doubly so if your game is a passion project with biographical overtones and then tenfold if those tones include themes of mental anguish.

That’s what Separation is; a meditation on incarceration with depression and the journey to free yourself of it. And, while I admire much of what developer Recluse Industries wants to convey here, Separation is often too tedious an adventure to readily recommend.

You awaken to a curious kind of wasteland, featuring an amalgamation of crumbling castle scenery and scientific research facilities. A soft, slightly sinister whispered voice of an imprisoned spirit guides you through the desert in search of Sorrows – husks of human figures, scorched to statues from what looks like some sort of nuclear fallout. The entire scene carries the air of a bomb site that ripped through reality itself, converging timelines and leaving them in one distorted mess.

It makes for often stunning scenery, with a color palette and mood that owe an obvious debt to PS2 cult hit, Ico. Pasty white cliff faces occasionally flicker with passing rays of sunlight while the wind whips your ears, and timid footsteps onto creaking metal walkways echo out into the chasms beyond. It was enough to make me want to reach out and take hold of a rusty handrail, to feel the authenticity just as much as I saw and heard it. Notably, though, the game can only be played with a DualShock 4.

But, while taking in Separation’s melancholic world can sometimes result in delight, interacting with it and traversing through it are both considerably less enjoyable. Much of the game is simply spent walking, sailing or flying through the relatively small wasteland to erect towers, connecting a series of beams. The space, you could argue, is there for contemplation and relaxation, but the gap between significant events and changes in pace is often so long you’ll find yourself wrestling with boredom more than anything else.

Comfort

Separation’s slow pace and swathe of locomotion options should stave off any sickness. Smooth locomotion can be tamed with adjustable blinders, and you walk at a crawl. There’s not much to worry about here.

With a little more structure and focus, it might be possible to glean deeper meaning out of all this ambiguity, but Separation is often quite happy to let you wander quite far away from what you’re actually meant to be doing before realizing you need to turn back. Even with the short 2 – 3 hour run time, it’s pretty easy to lose a lot of time in this desert, mulling around in a fight against an exhaustion second only to being stuck in a real wasteland. It doesn’t help that the gaze-based controls offer up a real battle when, say, trying to turn a valve.

Everything in the game insists on huffing and heaving in its interaction, as if it’s just woken up from a deep sleep and needs to remember how to start churning its gears once more. Again, it’s authentic, but it’s a pain to work with. The game’s handful of save points, for example, can only be used once each, which at one point cost me 20 minutes of progress when a collision bug with an elevator left me stuck.

Separation PSVR Gameplay

It’s a shame, as there is imagery that will burn itself to memory here. An enormous colossus, toppled over into the desert sand, lingers over you from afar as it spies on your movements, while one Husk buried far off in the map still burns, its silent movements proving to be quietly uncomfortable. But you’ll need real motivation to see all of these sights, especially when the game eventually tasks you with finding any missing Husks via a hot air balloon, fighting with the murky draw distance and slippery controls.

And that, I suppose, is why Separation left me feeling apathetic to its interesting themes. Ultimately its world, itself left cold and sterile, had me feeling much the same. I suppose, perhaps, I should consider myself lucky not to be able to decipher too much from it portrayals of suffering. But, after a few hours spent with Separation, I find myself struggling to say much at all.

Separation PSVR Review Final Verdict:

Separation is a game with something to say, it just spends too long trying to say it. While I wanted to fall for its wistful mountain climbs and poignant canyon descents, I became too frustrated with its tedious core treasure hunt to stop and pay its wider implications much mind. I suspect that some will make those connections, lost in the game’s alluring fog, but many more will be done with this pilgrimage long before it’s over.

Final Score: :star: :star:  2/5 Stars | Disappointing

Separation PSVR Review 2

 

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The VR Game Launch Roundup: Fix Time and Fight off the Mafia

Once again, VRFocus brings you another list of both triple-A and independent virtual reality (VR) titles to look forward to over the course of the next week. Owners of every major headset can look forward to a new videogame to add to their collection. Make sure to check out our accompanying video to get a preview of each title.

Timeless Paradox VRTimeless Paradox VR – John Jiang

This single-player story-based VR action game is set in a “timeless world.” Playing alongside companion Estel and featuring 9 different boss battles and a unique sword attack system, it’s up to you to restore the flow of time by fixing all “time fragments.”

Separation – Recluse Industries

Travel across land and sea, exploring various derelict structures and ruins in search of the elusive Temple Of Sorrow. Hear the echo of your own footsteps as you follow faint sources of light on your lonely quest through mysterious lands solving puzzles. Also featuring an original ambient soundtrack by electronic music artist Vector Lovers.

  • Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
  • Launch date: 3rd March

SeparationSpacewalk Defender – Droidtech

In this sci-fi VR shooter, you must duel wield a host of unique weapons to fend off an endless wave of enemies as they spawn. Featuring enemy waves increasing in difficulty as they spawn, it’s down to you to beat your personal best, or play and compete with players around the world as you climb the leader boards.

Fighting Clans – XOCUS

In this VR street-fighting game, you find yourself in debt to the mafia and must survive by fighting your way out of trouble. You receive a date and place for your fight, along with instructions on how to survive. Coming face-to-face with a host of unsavoury characters, it’s up to you to perfect your fighting abilities in this urban environment.

XSOverlay – Xiexe

VR Desktop overlay application XSOverlay is an application for software development kit OpenVR and it helps users to access and interact their desktop or individual applications using custom controls in VR. Featuring support for left, right, middle-clicking and dragging abilities, and window movement and scaling. Users can control their media with window editing and help to improve their productivity in VR.

Eerie PSVR Exploration Game Separation Now Coming Mid-February

The eerie exploration game Separation, initially announced last year for a January 2020 release, is now coming a little later than expected.

The PSVR exclusive looks set for a mid-February release, which is only a small delay from the original January 2020 date we got last year. The news comes from the developers Recluse Industries, who announced the delay on Twitter alongside some new artwork from the game.

The pre-release patch is a good sign that the revised February release will definitely go ahead as planned. We first learned about Separation last year during the PSVR Awards Show from PSVR Without Parole, after which when we got a look at eight minutes of gameplay footage. The game is described by Recluse Industries as a “spiritual journey into epic desolation”, and if you watch the gameplay footage below, you might get a better idea of why.

The footage features no combat or puzzles, but only exploration and discovering the beautiful and captivating landscape. With no major combat or puzzle mechanics, it’s a good thing that the game’s visuals and environments look as good as they do – exploring the world is the only the only thing that will keep you coming back for more. That being said, we’re not expecting it to be a super lengthy experience – expect something around 2 hours long.

It’s going to be a big year for PSVR and there’s lots of titles we can’t wait to try out in 2020. What PSVR game are you looking forward to most, and will you be checking out separation? Let us know in the comments.

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Enjoy Some Ambient Solitude When Separation Comes to PlayStation VR in 2019

Prefer a more casual edge to your virtual reality (VR) videogames rather than running round corridors killing monsters? Indie studio Recluse Industries is working on an experience for you, a casual free-roaming exploration title called Separation, due for release in Q1 2019.

Separation

Separation is the brain child of Recluse Industries’ Martin Wheeler, who has been working on the title by himself for the last three years. If the screenshots are anything to go by Separation is due to feature some stunning visuals for players to explore at their leisure. The individual areas look suitably massive with a range of architechtural styles, from sci-fi to ancient civilisations.

Wheeler hasn’t yet stated any gameplay mechanics to do with the exploration, simply stating in an email to VRFocus that the single-player experience: ‘is all about giving players some solitude and space away from today’s constantly connected world.’

Clocking in at around two hours of gameplay, Separation sounds like its going to be a very tranquil videogame for players to relax in. Able to wander around what Wheeler calls ‘distressed lo-poly’ visuals whilst listening to an ambient electronic soundtrack.

Separation

What will be Recluse Industries first, fully fledged VR title, development has almost reached the beta stage where Wheeler can begin fully testing the experience with the aim to launch it for PlayStation VR first, in Q1 2019. An Oculus Rift version is planned for shortly after.

You’ll be able to find several more images on the studio’s Twitter feed. As development continues, VRFocus will bring you the latest updates on Separation, including a more accurate released date.