Having covered the creme de la creme for virtual reality (VR) in our ‘Best Oculus Rift Games’, ‘Best HTC Vive Games’ and ‘Best PlayStation VR Games’ articles, VRFocus has now decided to look at those videogames you may have missed during the course of 2017 that are still worthy of your time and money.
Mixing a science fiction storyline along with a surreal puzzle adventure, Charm Games’ FORMdoes just about everything right when it comes to immersing you in a fantastical VR experience. You play a scientist trying to unlock the mysteries of an ancient artifact, and in doing so are transported to an awe inspiring world filled with puzzles to test your mind, memory, hearing and more. Having launched in early June it can be quite easy for some videogames to get lost in the maelstrom that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
The Invisible Hours
Tequila Works’ The Invisible Hours is fairly new having only launched in October for HTC Vive. The experience is a murder-mystery who-dun-it, a virtual reality (VR) version of Cluedo for those boardgame fans. Rather than play an actual character, you’re instead a kind of fly-on-the-wall, able to freely wander around the mansion, watching the story evolve whilst uncovering an intricate web of interwoven stories todiscover clues to the murder of Nikola Tesla.
Siegecraft Commander
There are a few real-time strategy (RTS) title out there for HTC Vive depending on what you’re after. One that might have escaped your attention was Siegecraft Commanderby Blowfish Studios. Released at the beginning of the year, Siegecraft Commander offers an intriguing twist on tower defence style gameplay, where you have to launch your next tower from the last, with a wall interconnecting the two. This eventually leads to a carefully laid out web of towers and walls which can all come crumbling down at a moments notice should an enemy destroy a key early building with many branches leading off it. While an RTS, tower defence title may not be to everyone’s liking, it’s certainly worth a look if you enjoy a tabletop style challenge.
Left-Hand Path
Another newbie that could’ve easily been overlooked thanks to another role-playing game (RPG) being released, Left-Hand Pathis a Dark Souls inspired adventure that’s been created by indie studio Strange Company. Armed with arcane powers, players must wield their newly-found powers and explore to find even more powerful spells and rituals, while trying to stay alive long enough to solve the mysteries that lay before them. If you’re after a big RPG that offers something different to Bethesda then Left-Hand Path is certainly worth a look.
Hurl VR
Sometimes it’s the simple things in life than can be the most rewarding but also most easily missed. For most of you reading this Hurl VRprobably brings up blank expressions, sounding like a drunk party game that involves way too much liquid. That’s not the case however, as Hurl VR is about precision throwing (basketball style), trying to get a ball into a goal. Sounds easy enough but there are several types of platforms that need to be utilised to bounce and teleport the ball accurately. Hurl VR is simple to pick up yet fiendish by the end, so don’t overlook it if you’re after a cheap puzzler.
Last month Blowfish Studios launched real-time strategy (RTS) video game, Siegecraft Commander on HTC Vive. The title features a unique wall connecting mechanic when building defences that can both aid and hinder a players tactics. The studio has included 12 Steam Achievements to unlock, all of which VRFocus has listed below.
Featuring a single-player campaign and multiplayer, VRFocus reviewed Siegecraft Commander giving it a respectable 4 stars, describing it as a “highly engaging, strategy videogame.”
Full Achievement List:
Spiteful Last Words
As a tower is being destroyed, fire a projectile and destroy an enemy tower
Too Many Eggs In This Basket
Get 5 tower kills by destroying the tower it is linked to
Booster Shot
Killed a tower with a full power trebuchet shot
Full Speed Ahead
Crashed air units into each other
Deconstruction
Destroyed a tower with a building projectile
SAM Site
Shot down an air unit with a keg
Got Milk?
Caught a cow with a dragon
Cows Go Moo When They Boom
Changed a cow into a mad cow
Blitzkrieg
Hit 8 friendly units with the haste spell
Winter War
Hit 10 enemy units with the freeze spell
Making a compelling strategy game experience is a difficult balance. Creating compelling gameplay mechanics that are fun to perform a thousand times across multiple games and campaigns is hard enough, but then add in the mixture of A.I. opponents, actual human opponents online, and the delicate nature of balancing different factions across their various roles and abilities, and it’s easy to tell why a good strategy game is very difficult to come by. Siegecraft Commander is the latest endeavor trying to make a name for itself in the genre, this time with VR support as well.
Since Siegecraft Commander is not a VR-only title, or even a game that appears to be designed with VR in mind, the result is a bit of a mixed bag. The VR perspective delivers a certain degree of intimacy to the chaos, but it does very little in the way of adding any improvements to the core experience.
In Siegecraft Commander you’ll be tasked with turning your outposts, such as your base’s Keep, into a slingshot-esque cannon. By pulling back and aiming the trajectory, you can shoot out explosive barrels that are used to attack enemy bases and troops, which requires a surprising layer of dexterity for all nuanced game interactions. Since this same mechanic — shooting from a slingshot — is used to actually place new structures on the map, you’ll be forced to develop your aiming skills very quickly.
It’s a clever idea. Since every building is created as an extension of another, this results in a web-like layout of your kingdom over the course of a match and helps you visually plot you progression across a map. It looks much more deliberate and dynamic than just a few hubs placed in key locations throughout an area.
The problem is that a game in which you are required to do the same thing over and over (such as shooting things from a slingshot) should make that core mechanic an addictive and fun part of the gameplay. For example, Angry Birds did a wonderful job of this on mobile devices. While Siegecraft Commander is a very different game, it does rely on a similar gimmick to advance any aspects of the experience. Unfortunately it’s nowhere near as compelling.
Aiming is difficult and it gets monotonous when you’re forced to use the same method for the overwhelming majority of your actions during battle. After a few minutes, I ended up wishing for an option to simply point and click to a location on the map to build a structure — or better yet — to be able to pick and up and place a structure on the map using my motion controllers.
This is compounded by how frantic things get in the real-time combat modes, although you can play the game in a turn-based system as well. That’s more manageable, but still doesn’t resolve the root of the game’s problems.
While in VR the desire to reach out and place structures was strong, but the need for a more comfortable experience was even stronger. Since everything takes place from a God-like perspective, you’ll spend a lot of time hanging your neck down looking at the ground. While it makes sense given the lore and setting of the game universe, it was painful in practice. VR headsets aren’t the lightest things in the world and they can result in neck strain much more quickly than you’d think. Having a sore neck for the rest of the day after playing this game for a few hours isn’t pleasant and further proves how little thought and care was given to the VR experience.
Final Score:4/10 – Disappointing
There are fun and novel ideas at the center of Siegecraft Commander — such as the unique base building and inventive use of slingshot-style mechanics — but it doesn’t translate well to VR. After playing my neck hurt and I found the controls less than precise. If a bit more polish was taken to the VR integration that could have helped elevate things, but at the end of the day it felt more monotonous than strategically rewarding.
You can purchase Siegecraft Commander from Steam for $19.99 with official HTC Vive support. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
There are a ton of educational Vive apps and Early Access games that released this week, but we also have a couple of bigger releases as well. Creative tools have been some of the shining examples of VR interaction since solidifying its place in early 2016 and now we have a new entry that wants to take things to the next level: MasterpieceVR. This program offers all the robust tools you expect but adds in cross-play and multiplayer creativity. You’ll find more info in our write-up from earlier today.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
SteamHammerVR – The Rogue Apprentice – London 1892, from GamestormVR
Price: $15.99 (Currently Discounted)
This steampunk shooter equips you with steam-powered weapons so that you can take down the clockwork automatons of an oppressive army in Victorian London.
Recommendation: Another wave shooter, but with a unique steampunk flair. Pick it up if you’re not suffocating in wave shooters yet.
Destination: Pluto The VR Experience, from SkyWorks Digital, Home Run Pictures
Price: Free
Take a walk on Pluto in this new Destination experience. The program pulls from NASA’s New Horizons mission and takes you through the Krun Macula canyon lands, a glacier spill, and the high plains of Sputnik Planum.
Recommendation: A free trip to the stars. What’s not to like?
MasterpieceVR, from Brinx Software
Price: Free To play
MasterpieceVR raises the bar for creative VR experiences by adding in cross-play and multiplayer gameplay that will grow over the life of the program. Choose your realistic or fantasy venue and start sculpting your art with friends.
Recommendation: Free for a limited and a must have nonetheless.
Home Tech VR, from 360 Evolve VR Pty Ltd
Price: $14.99
Home Tech VR is more of an educational experience than a game, showing how near future homes will utilize solar and storage batteries. Users will get a snapshot into how electric appliances pull from the solar energy and the costs a realistic home accrues.
Recommendation: Not really something for gamers but, to a professional that wants to be able to demonstrate the benefits of solar energy, there’s plenty here.
The Physiology of the Eye, from Intervoke
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
This program is another on a more educational slant. The Physiology of the Eye‘s title is pretty self explanatory and users will be quizzed as they work through different educational chapters.
Recommendation: A visually appealing (pun intended) and informative program that could be a boon for educators that have taken the leap into VR.
VRemin (A Virtual Theremin), from Heiko Ihde
Price: $0.89 (Currently Discounted)
VRemin adds to a steadily growing collection of instruments being recreated for virtual spaces. The app is currently in Early Access, but there are 4 oscillators and a virtual concert hall in place with more features to be planned to be added in the future.
Recommendation: A little spare change to add another VR skill to your repertoire.
HVRGUN, from Jonathan Bartram, Thomas Bartram
Price: $5.99 (Currently Discounted)
HVRGUN employs players as assault pilots participating in a grueling training program. Dodge, return fire, and destroy endless enemies while moving around various environments with a collection of weapons.
Recommendation: Since Battlezone is a PS VR exclusive, this could scratch a similar itch for PC VR gamers.
RunVR, from Smoketree Studios
Price: $5.39 (Currently Discounted)
RunVR is described as the ultimate locomotion tech demo that gets users, running, jumping, and climbing around an obstacle course in VR.
Recommendation: Not much to see here for now. Keep an eye on it while in Early Access to see if modes are added. This is a tech demo.
VR Amazing Files: Horror Hospital, from Joygo.Stuido
Price: $19.99
This adventure/shooter tasks players with investigating an abandoned hospital, finding missing research notes, and trying to find the zero patient so a serum can be created to combat the shambling inhabitants. There’s realistic shooting and reloading mechanics and physics to supplement the gameplay.
Recommendation: Solid ideas here, but poor execution. Pass on it at this price.
Starship Disco, from Solus Games, Inc.
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
Starship Disco brings some space shooting to the rhythm genre with the option to play with 1 or 2 hands and import your own music.
Recommendation: Solid experience with functional imports. If you don’t already have a solid rhythm game, this could be your ticket.
Diesel Power, from Irmas Ibric
Price: $9.99
Diesel Power is a game inspired by classic isometric track racers but it utilizes the unique VR space to hit players with a barrage of gameplay elements while attempting to keep your car on the right path.
Recommendation: A very challenging treat, but lacks some production values. Check out the trailer on the Steam page to see if it interests you.
Puzzle Island VR, from Interaction Ideas GmbH
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
Puzzle Island VR offers challenging physics puzzles but drops you on a peaceful island retreat. As you play, other players will appear to help complete the different challenges.
Recommendation: A solid list of features make this a bit different than most escape room VR experiences.
GridVR, from iPOL
Price: $9.99
GridVR is a collection of gaming experiences that all play out on the tiles of a virtual room. You can play classic match games, Simon Says, Snake, and more.
Recommendation: A cool retro arcade experience, but nothing new. Wait for a sale.
Dunk It (VR Basketball), from Shashitha Kularatna
Price: $4.49 (Currently Discounted)
With Dunk It, developers have put together a dynamic basketball sandbox with realistic physics and not-so-realistic rockets on your hands. In this outer space court, play to your heart’s content and multiplayer will be added later.
Recommendation: Currently a motion sickness hazard. Keep an eye on it to see if the developers add any comfort options.
Siegecraft Commander, from Blowfish Studios
Price: $13.99
In Siegecraft Commander, players create sprawling fortresses by placing towers, units, and walls strategically in this strategy game that offers real-time or turn-based gameplay. Strengthen your own defenses while slowly moving to take down your enemy’s fortress and keep.
Recommendation: The VR RTS genre is growing up with another solid entry at an affordable price. VR not required.
Henry The Hamster Handler, from Pocket Money Games
Price: $5.99
You’re one-handed Henry and you must save the mass-produced hamsters from being destroyed by helping them traverse series of dangerous obstacles or whack them with a mallet. Your call.
Recommendation: Very fun collection of levels and mini-games. Here’s our review.
Wacky Wings, from Pocket Money Games
Price: $5.99
Another game from Pocket Money Games sadly lacking fluffy hamsters is Wacky Wings, an arcade flying game where you use a touch controller to guide your device around collecting coins and fuel in order to stay in the air with one of 11 vehicles. The game also includes two unlockable game modes: Blitz where you shoot down enemy pilots in a black and white world and Endless mode.
Recommendation: Really unique game worth checking out.
Recommendation: Neat local multiplayer experience. Early Access could evolve well over time.
The table at war VR, from KudaiGame
Price: $14.99
This game gives players access to a vibrant tabletop game that can be manipulated with various trading cards that bring magic, monsters, and more to life. The game includes PvP as well.
Recommendation: Too many technical and glaring design issues to be a viable purchase for now.
2017 hasn’t had the best of starts in terms of new virtual reality (VR) content, but a lot of gamers are still likely getting through their sale purchases from December. For those that are looking ofr something new and are fans of real-time strategy (RTS) videogames, Siegecraft Commander has now arrived on HTC Vive.
First announced by Blowfish Studios in May 2016, Siegecraft Commander features a single-player campaign, while providing both turn-based and RTS options for online multiplayer matches. The titletakes a slightly different tact to normal tower defence gameplay by connecting all the towers players build with walls. This form’s an interweaving web of defences, but the problem for players is if a structure is demolished, the towers it helped build also crumble, leading to potential domino-like effects where entire forts are destroyed with one well-placed attack.
While Siegecraft Commander launched on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, as well as HTC Vive, it was also due to support Oculus Rift at the same time. Currently the videogame doesn’t appear on the Oculus Store and the Rift isn’t listed under supported headsets on Steam.
Blowfish Studios is currently running a limited time discount for Steam users with a 30 percent discount available until 23rd January. This drops the price down from £14.99 GBP to £10.49. If you want to get a better idea of what the title is like, checkout VRFocus‘ review which gave Siegecraft Commander a respectable 4 stars.
For all the latest releases on Steam, keep reading VRFocus.
Trebuchet, or not to trebuchet? There really is no question when it comes to Siegecraft Commander, a tabletop strategy game that combines traditional real-time strategy (RTS) elements with a unique base-building mechanic that’s designed to significantly change the way you create structures and attack enemies. By making you physically fling—as in, put in a slingshot and shoot out—everything from explosive barrels to defensive buildings like outposts and armories, Siegecraft successfullygameifies the most banal part of traditional RTSs and summarily smothers what might otherwise be a dynamic and interesting game.
Developer: Blowfish Studios Available On:SteamVR (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift) Reviewed on: HTC Vive, Oculus Touch Release Date: January 17, 2017
Gameplay
In Siegecraft, your base is composed of essentially two main types of buildings that help create a sort of fractal defensive web:
Primary Structures
From the heart of your base, called ‘the keep’, you launch outposts, which are essentially self-replicating nodes that allow you to grow your base larger and closer to the enemy. Primary structures are useful for manually destroying the enemy’s keep or any pesky foot soldiers that slip by—accomplished by launching explosive barrels. But more on that later.
Primary structures let you create secondary structures like armories and garrisons, and also some limited defensive structures like land-to-air ballistas. If the enemy knocks out an important node in your primary structure chain though, it destroys everything linked to it from that node forward, effectively undoing a lot of your work.
Selecting secondary structures in ‘Siegecraft Commander’
Secondary Structures
After placing a primary structure, you can then have to option to select a number of secondary structures. Placing an armory for example opens up a new branch of the tree, letting you create infantry barracks, and gads of defense structures—all of which are basically dead ends when it comes to growing your base though. Because secondary structures can’t build primary structures, you need to think tactically about how to get past tight terrain, and advance through the map without filling a crucial bottle neck with a library or a mortar when you actually need an outpost to help push forward.
After a successful match, it almost feels like Siegecraft has me creating a sort of primitive intelligence, like a brainless slime mold that eventually takes over a Petri dish bit by bit. And while I really want to like Siegecraft solely based on this self-imagined premise, the activity of physical launching structures is consistently unnerving and just comes too close to ‘unnecessary gimmick’ territory for comfort.
Sure, launching an explosive barrel at an enemy outpost should rightfully require a keen eye and a good understanding of how the launch mechanic works, but hampering forward progress in the heat of a match because you launched an outpost too close to a rock, or too close to a river, or too close to your own building, or the wall that trails behind it is too close to anything—you begin to ask the most important question of all: Am I having fun yet? Because I’m honestly not sure. I should be worrying about the enemy marching at my gates, and not aiming, pulling back and whiffing my second outpost on a row.
Admittedly, the game is available in two flavors, turn-based and real-time, so you can dial down the chaos if you so choose. While I played the real-time single-player campaign, online multiplayer is also available in both flavors, but I wouldn’t risk being matched with anyone using the PC or Xbox/PS4 simply because of the disadvantage of playing in VR. Moving your POV to get a good look at the game board, fiddling with unit selections and physically reaching back to fire every 20 seconds takes both time and patience in VR, something RTS players know is in short supply. Simply put, I found game’s VR mode too encumbered for the all-out chaos of real-time strategy play.
Immersion
The beauty of motion controls in virtual reality reveals itself almost immediately when you try it in a made-for-VR game. Picking up items and interacting with them as if they were actually there is something magical, something that we’ve never been able to do as a species before in the digital realm. Since Siegecraft is more of a VR-mode than a bespoke VR game, both general object interaction and haptics are an absolute afterthought, and there’s certainly no magic to be had using either Vive controller or Oculus Touch (which still renders as the Vive controller in-game).
While you do have a beautiful controller skin and a ever-present book glued to your hand so you can read some of the game’s useless story banter, I can’t help but feel that the game would benefit more from gamepad support—not a damning verdict by any means—and a complete removal of the book in favor of voice overs for campaign mode.
Immersion-wise, finding a comfortable angle to see the gameboard takes time to suss out, because too far away and you can’t accurately select units, and too close… well, you get this:
Instead of sacrificing some of the inherent coolness of a unified color pattern and architecture for the VR mode, the game insists on using labels so I don’t feel lost. The problem is, I feel more lost with the labels on the otherwise beautifully rendered gameboard, truly underlining this as a PC-first, VR-second game.
Comfort
Since Siegecraft Commander doesn’t require room-scale locomotion, and can be played entirely from the seated position if you so wish, users may suffer slightly from manipulating the gameboard too much, as you can grow in size and rotate the board to see better. This sort of world-shifting is known to cause nausea if exaggerated, but Siegecraft offers enough opportunity to rest in between so that little to no discomfort was felt personally.
You may also be tempted to look down at the board to get a good bird’s eye view most of the time, but keeping your neck pointed downwards with a VR headset can be a big pain in the neck after a while if you’re not careful.
We partnered with AVA Direct to create the Exemplar 2 Ultimate, our high-end VR hardware reference point against which we perform our tests and reviews. Exemplar 2 is designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications.
There’s no shortage of strategy style games for HTC Vive, the trick is to find the ones that not only provide a polished experience but also some originality. The latest to arrive for HTC’s head-mounted display (HMD) is Siegecraft Commander from indie team Blowfish Studios, which manages more of the latter than it does with the former.
Siegecraft Commander is essentially a real-time tower defense title that gives you an entire map to take over and control. Rather than going down the standard tower defense route of set positions for defences while attackers follow a set path, Blowfish Studios has mixed up the mechanic by allowing you to place towers pretty much anywhere, there’s just one small cravat, they’re all interconnected.
Matches start from a main castle (Keep), from here you launch the necessary buildings you want to expand with, but in doing so whichever building is used to launch the next an interconnecting wall appears. The premise sounds simple enough, but if you’re not careful and don’t properly plan ahead this can lead to all sorts of issues. Outposts are your main expansion building, from here Garrisons then Barracks can be built, or an Armory then defences such as mortars. But these can’t just be placed randomly. While buildings can be fired to cover different distances from any angle off the base structure, their interconnecting walls cannot overlap, so you may find certain environment bottle necks difficult to navigate if you’ve been haphazardly building.
Another critical factor in all of this interconnectivity is that of losing or destroying buildings in the chain. Should you or your opponent manage to breach deep enough in either’s defences, destroying a crucial building – ideally an outpost – then every single building built from it comes crumbling down. If this happens later on during a match this can be devastating for the opposing player, easily turning the outcome of a game.
As with most tower defence videogames, Siegecraft Commander tends to err on the side of management more than direct action. Barracks automatically produce knights up to the allotted build count, with mortars and ballistas firing automatically, when not on cool down. But for those that like to get into the heart of the action they can still do so. Trebuchet’s, Pyres (fire magic) and Airships for example all have to be manually fired, leading to some heated engagements when teams are at loggerheads.
Controls for the HTC Vive are easy enough to pick up, with the left hand controller adjusting zoom, twisting the map and moving it any which way you please. But its not completely rosy Siegecraft Commander. While these controls work just fine when not in the middle of a chaotic battle, trying to move around the map can be cumbersome, there’s no flight or teleportation movement, you need to drag the map. Also – and this does depend on how you’ve expanded – you may find selecting the appropriate buildings somewhat problematic. If they’ve all been nicely spaced apart then its all good, but more often you’ll have built a chain, bits have been destroyed so other sections are adapted and rebuilt frantically, meaning that nicely laid out plans have been turned on their head and everything is bunched together. This can then make it somewhat frustrating trying to highlight what you need quickly.
On the flip side, when chains are destroyed and plans need to be adapted on the fly Siegecraft Commander becomes a highly engaging, taught, strategy videogame. It is rough on certain edges, and there are niggling issues, but for a title that’s looking to enter a genre so heavily established, Siegecraft Commander does just enough to make it a worthy consideration for purchase.
In May Blowfish Studios announced its tower defence title, Siegecraft Commander, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC would also support Oculus Rift and HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs). Now the developer has revealed the videogame will arrive for both headsets on 17th, January 2017.
Supporting cross-platform multiplayer between PlayStation 4 and PC as well as Xbox One to PC, Siegecraft Commander takes a slightly different tact to normal tower defence titles. While players still have to defend their base they must also attack their opponents by building towers further and further out. They’re all connected by walls, forming an interweaving web of defences. The problem is if a structure is demolished, the towers it helped build also crumble, leading to potential domino-like effects where entire forts are destroyed with one well-placed shot.
Towers boast their own distinct advantages; a Barracks for example generates foot soldiers that advance into enemy lines, while Ballistas act as passive defenders against air-based units. PvP matches feature either tactical turn-based combat or RTS gameplay, whereas the campaign offers real-time play.
“Siegecraft Commander’s breadth of structures and units, their potentially domino-like chain reaction if one falls, and the challenge of pulling off well-aimed shots make for a strategy experience unlike any other,” said Benjamin Lee, CEO of Blowfish Studios. “With both strategic turn-based and action-oriented real-time play, gamers of all tastes can have a blast toppling each other’s bases.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Siegecraft Commander, reporting back with any further updates.
