May 2020 saw British indie team Cooperative Innovations launch Spaceteam VR, a multiplayer party title for up to six people where everyone has to work together and keep the spaceship they’re in, in one piece. Tomorrow will be its first anniversary with the studio celebrating with some special in-game items. Plus, it’s encouraging sign-ups to beta test Spaceteam: The Second Dimension.
For all you Spaceteam VR fans out there you’ll be given a special new avatar simply by logging into the videogame and jumping into a session with a few others. That’s not all, other items will have to be unlocked by playing including new uniform colours and cosmetic accessories. This is a special weekend event so you’ve only got until Monday, 24th May to try.
Aiming to bring more players into the fold Cooperative Innovations has been working on Spaceteam: The Second Dimension, a non-VR version. Offering full cross-play functionality between both versions once its available, if you want to get an early peek then sign-up to the closed beta here.
That’s not all. If you love streaming VR content Spaceteam VR will launch support for mixed reality software LIV, so everyone can see you inside the chaotic spaceship. And PlayStation VR owners haven’t been forgotten either. The team say: “Spaceteam VR is in the final stage of development for PSVR” with more details on its launch to be shared soon.
If you’ve not encountered the vidogame before it is an immersive reworking of a 2013 mobile title, allowing up to six players to participate in each round. Set aboard a spaceship in need of repair, all the players encircle a central console, each with their own station to attend. These are filled with various dials, buttons and levers to activate when the time comes, randomised for each round. To make things trickier the assigned tasks aren’t always clear, with plenty of ‘techobabble’ to confuse players. So everyone has to converse (shout) with each other or chaos ensues.
Currently supporting Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets, as further updates for Spaceteam VR are released VRFocus will let you know.
Cooperative Innovations’ Spaceteam VR is celebrating its first anniversary tomorrow, and there’s plenty of updates to share.
Firstly, the game’s PSVR version is entering the final stages of development. No date yet, but this has been a long time coming, so hopefully it’s not too far off.
There’s also a non-VR version of the game coming called Spaceteam The Second Dimension. Crucially, this version of the game will support cross-play with the VR version, so it should help add to online player counts. You can sign up for a beta for this version of the game right now.
Finally, the VR version of the game is getting support for LIV this weekend, and is running an anniversary event. Starting on May 21 you can log in and get a new avatar for the game (seen below), with more to unlock. More unlockables will also be available until May 24.
We really enjoyed Spaceteam when it launched last year. “Spaceteam VR is a proven formula on an unproven platform, which makes it a pretty fascinating experiment,” we said in our 4/5 review. “Inevitably, some of the same-room companionship is lost in the transition from physical to virtual, but not nearly as much as you might think, and thoughtful additions made possible by headsets go a good way to making up for it.”
Will you be checking out Spaceteam’s latest updates? Let us know in the comments below!
There’s just over a week to go until the festive holidays and in the spirit of giving VRFocus has teamed up with British virtual reality (VR) studio Cooperative Innovations for a new competition. We’re giving away Steam and Oculus Quest codes for co-op party title Spaceteam VR.
One of the best things about Christmas is the family board game sessions, playing classics like Monopoly or a bit of Charades. 2020 being what it is, online party videogames can help to bring those separated together and Spaceteam VR offers just the sort of madcap, screaming gameplay everyone needs to unwind.
Spaceteam VR is an immersive reworking of the 2013 mobile title, allowing up to six players to participate in each round. Set aboard a spaceship in need of repair, all the players encircle a central console, each with their own station to attend. These are filled with various dials, buttons and levers to activate when the time comes, randomised for each round.
The ship’s computer will then issue orders for players which Cooperative Innovations refers to as “technobabble”. This means tasks aren’t exactly concise so everyone has to work together, complete the challenges and keep the ship in one piece. This invariably leads to lots of discussions (shouting) to get your point across.
Additionally, Spaceteam VR includes a selection of tools like the repair hammer, fire extinguisher and Steri-Sponge 3000 for plenty of physical gameplay.
But Spaceteam VR isn’t purely an online multiplayer. There’s a single-player Practice Mode to get a feel for the gameplay or if there is a group of you together the local Face to Face mode allows one VR headset and then 5 mobile devices to connect.
And so onto the competition. VRFocus has Spaceteam VR codes available for Oculus Quest and Steam. All you need to do is follow us on Twitter and retweet this tweet ensuring that @VRFocus and @SpaceteamVR are tagged stating your preferred platform. The competition will close at midday on Friday 18th December, standard prize draw entry rules apply. Best of luck.
Co-op and VR go together like the Oculus Quest 2 and wireless room scale. Check out our list here of the best co-op VR games available on the Quest platform.
Oculus Quest 2’s arrival means a large number of original Quest owners will be looking to give, sell, or lend their original headsets with the upgrade’s arrival.
Many used Quests will go to friends and family and that means lots of these new VR owners will be looking to play together. We’ve already got a list covering the 10 best multiplayer VR Quest games and it’s a fantastic list covering some of the most fun you can have in VR. There are some games on that, like the top pick team-based Echo VR. That game can feature some of the most rewarding cooperation you’ll find with others in VR, but at its core that’s still a competitive game. Other activities, like golf, bowling, fishing and tablet tennis, can also be competitive too, but these classic activities are also playable in a pretty laid back way if you want too.
Below is a look at our favorite co-op VR games to play on Quest and/or Quest 2. As always, we’ll plan to update this list periodically and please let everyone else know in the comments if there are any cooperative experiences native to Oculus Quest you think others should play.
Carly and the Reaperman is a third person platformer where one player controls the young girl Carly and the other plays the morbid Reaperman. The latter can manipulate the environment and move items to create a path for the former — it’s all about working together to help Carly get through the level.
The best part about this game from a co-op perspective is that there’s many options for how to play. It works as a native VR game — with both players each using their own headset — and also as an asymmetrical VR game — with one player controlling the Reaperman in VR while the other uses a free game client on PC to play as Carly.
Battle Sister initially launched as a solo game with no multiplayer component. However, a recent update adds a cooperative horde mode that lets two players team up to take on waves of enemies from the 40K franchise.
The mode takes maps from the game and fills them with enemies to defeat. As you work your way through waves you’ll earn credits to purchase bigger and better weapons.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew has struggled with an empty player base over the years and games like Spaceteam VR, which you’ll see lower on this list, do a really good job with some similar ideas. Still, we can’t quite leave this wish fulfillment off the list for any trekkies out there.
You and your fellow crew mates must operate a starship through an assortment of missions from your seats on the the bridge of a Federation starship. It can be a real joy to complete a mission together with your friends.
Fans of Time Crisis should go through the steps to sideload the Crisis VRigade gem from Sumalab. You and your buddy cops are out with guns to stop some bad guys from doing crimes. The game is fast-paced and features cross-play with PC VR and PS VR, so you can play with your friends even if they have a different headset. On Oculus Quest, we’d recommend giving yourself the largest play area possible and getting ready to duck for cover. It is some of the most fun you could have in VR and if you’re a fan of this kind of arcade shooter definitely take the time to check it out.
Crisis VRigade for Quest is pay-as-you-like on Itch.io, so you could get it for free if you wanted. That said, the developers do have a sequel called Crisis VRigade 2 on PSVR and Steam Early Access, and they could likely use as much support as they can get to keep developing this idea.
Since Oculus Quest doesn’t have Google Earth VR, this is the next best thing. Basically, the app grabs footage from Google Maps and lets you teleport to anywhere on the planet. The neat feature though is that you can do it cooperatively. You’ll see a friend’s avatar overlaid into the world right next to you and even though you’re not really “playing” anything together, it’s a really cool thing to experience with someone during these times of lockdown and cabin fever.
A fun game to play is take turns randomly teleporting somewhere in the world and tasking each other with exploring the area to try and figure out which country you’re in. It’s a lot harder than it sounds.
I’ve been dreaming about VR MMOs long before I ever saw .hack//sign or Sword Art Online. My first MMO was EverQuest back in the late 90s and early 00s and ever since I’ve wanted to go inside one of those game worlds. OrbusVR: Reborn is made by a small team and has a modest vision, but the upside to that restraint is that it actually delivers on what it sets out to do.
This isn’t a WoW-killer and isn’t going to set the world on fire, but if you want to play the first-ever actual VR MMO, albeit with simplistic visuals, this is it right here. There’s plenty of content, fun combat, and a vast world to explore with friends.
Arizona Sunshine is Vertigo Games’ zombie shooter that’s graced almost every VR system possible since it hit the PC VR market in 2016. Its gameplay and mechanics have aged quite a bit compared with, say, 2020’s The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. But Arizona Sunshine also includes a full co-op campaign and the Quest 2 version is poised for a massive visual upgrade compared with its original port to the standalone headset.
Even if horror games in VR are generally too much for you, having backup in Arizona Sunshine’s co-op mode might be just the bit of confidence you need to have a bit of fun fighting off zombies.
Nathan Rowe is the principal developer behind this creative experience that is about as close to Minecraft in VR as you’re likely to get on Oculus Quest, at least until Microsoft and Mojang get around to official support.
SculptrVR features fully cooperative world-building and you can resize yourself to create at different scales. It’s an incredible feeling to be able to modify your world and even alter your appearance freely. It’s not as much of a “game” as other options on this list, but for the creatives out there, collaborative creation can be a lot of fun at various scales.
Imagine if you were playing a game of Star Trek: Bridge Crew and everything that could go wrong went wrong — that’s basically Spaceteam VR. Communication is key here as you and your friends need to clearly provide directions to each other, quickly, in order to survive.
At your console you’ll see instructions that only one of your crew members can complete, so it begins a yelling match where everyone tries to frantically call out instructions without actually knowing who it pertains to. Things catch fire too, which is great.
Do you like fishing? Do you like the idea of fishing, but get bored? Or maybe it’s just too much hassle for too little payoff in the end? Regardless, if any of that describes you, then this could be the perfect game for you. Real VR Fishing features some of the most breathtaking vistas you can find in VR — hands-down — with ultra-high resolution footage of real world locations.
You’ve got a quaint log cabin with an aquarium that stores all of your fish, as well as a Store to buy new bait, rods, and more. When you’re out on the water a friend can join you for some co-fishing and they’ve even got a wonderful built-in browser feature so you can listen to music or watch YouTube while fishing.
Finally, this recent release from Resolution Games takes our top spot. It plays out a lot like Overcooked, but it manages to slip into this VR skin effortlessly. You’ll have to frantically cook dishes, yell out at your partner, and try not to burn food as you struggle to meet demand.
It’s also got a cute fairytale aesthetic rather than a modern, realistic kitchen which is a nice change of pace. You’ll even have to fight off nasty customers the deeper into the game you go as well. Generally, it’s just a lot of fun and stands as one of the best co-op VR games out there on Oculus Quest.
There’s some great fun you can have as well playing some games with only one headset. Pull up Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes’ PDF or actually print out your very own bomb defusal manual. Then team up with a friend in the same room, or over voice chat, to stop an explosion in VR.
Your first or last stops in VR, depending on your budget and time constraints, should also likely be in a place like Rec Room, Bigscreen, VRChat, or AltspaceVR. All of them are free to use and offer lots of things you can do with friends. Rec Room in particular can also bridge the gap between people without headsets and those with, as your friends can play with you in VR from flat-screen mode on iPhone, iPad, PS4 and, soon, Xbox. And you could always cast your view to a phone, tablet or TV and have friends or family watch along and try help guiding you in almost any experience.
Let us know what you think are some of the other best co-op VR or maybe even competitive multiplayer VR games on Oculus Quest down in the comments below!
With more and more people getting into VR, Oculus Quest owners are probably looking for games they can play with friends who also own a headset.
We’ve compiled a list of some of the best multiplayer offerings on the Quest Store, plus we’ve marked which support cross-platform play (meaning that you can play with an owner of a non-Quest VR headset). Here are our top 15 best multiplayer VR games on Oculus Quest.
15. The Under Presents
The Under Presentsfalls somewhere between a game, an experience and live VR theater. It incorporates other players in an exciting and unique way that we haven’t seen elsewhere.
As you explore The Under Presents, you’ll encounter other players represented in the same way as you, dressed in a black cloak with a gold mask for a face. There’s no way to communicate besides gestures, and you have no way of knowing who they are or where they come from. Developer Tender Claws intend to use The Under Presents as a hub for rotating multiplayer and live VR content. Access to the multiplayer hub is free, as is a 45-minute introduction to The Under Presents’ world.
Do you love poker? Do you love playing poker with friends? Do your friends have VR headsets? Well, then you’re 100% set with PokerStars VR. It’s by far the most prominent poker title available on VR headsets, and you and your friends will be able to join a plethora of online tables to play poker just like in real life. You can even light a virtual cigar to get that proper poker table feel, even though a purely aesthetic cigar is rather pointless. PokerStars VR is poker with friends in VR — it’s as simple as that.
Cross-platform play: Yes, between Oculus Quest, Rift and SteamVR.
13. Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale
Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale is an absolute delight to play through with friends. Think Overcooked, but with less frantic movement across the map and more on-the-spot sandwich assembling. That being said, the general premise is the same — each person will have to prepare foods and assemble them into sandwiches for customers, often requiring teamwork and coordination to fulfill orders on time.
Cross-platform play: Yes, between PC VR platforms and Quest.
Arizona Sunshine is a zombie shooter with a 4+ hour campaign and a wave-based horde mode to boot. Even better, both the campaign and the horde mode support multiplayer, so you can jump in with a friend who also has the game on Quest (sadly, it doesn’t support cross-platform play though).
While Arizona Sunshine has been around in the VR world for quite some time now (originally launching for PC VR in 2017), it’s remains a solid option for Quest players looking for some co-operative wave-based action and/or a full co-op campaign. Plus as of April, the Oculus Quest version of the game has received all the same DLC and post-launch content as the PC VR version.
Carly and the Reaperman is a third-person platformer that puts some interesting twists on co-op play. One player controls Carly, a young girl taking a trip to the Underworld. The other embodies the Reaperman, who helps Carly by picking up blocks, torches or using switches to make or reveal new paths for her.
If you’ve got two Oculus Quest headsets, you can both play in VR. Alternatively, if you only have one Quest, the second player can use a free game client on PC to control Carly, with player one in VR as the Reaperman.
Cross-platform play: No, VR co-op with two Quest headsets only. Asymmetrical co-op available with PC or Mac.
Walkabout Mini Golf VR is exactly what it sounds like — one of the most popular VR mini golf games available on Quest. There’s matchmaking support for quick online games, as well as private room support for you and up to four other players. Each of the courses features a creative theme with some really challenging obstacles. You can find a secret collectible ball at each hole as well, giving you a bit of a secondary goal to keep an eye out for.
What this military-themed shooter lacks in visuals on Quest, it makes up for in performance, content, and gameplay.
Similar in pace to a Call of Duty game, Contractors features a wide selection of loadout options and different guns, all with active reloading. There’s tremendous freedom of movement as well, if your stomach can handle it, like being able to jump, sprint, and slide around maps. You can play solo missions, but the real focus is multiplayer, where you’ll be able to choose between co-op objectives and online competitive PvP matches.
Cross-platform play: Yes, between Quest and PC VR platforms.
Spaceteam originally released as a mobile game in 2012, but has since found a new life and natural home in VR. You can play with up to six players on a mission to communicate clearly and effectively while piloting a ship through space. You’ll need to call out commands to your friends to instruct them to press buttons or perform certain actions, but a bunch of chaotic elements get thrown in the mix. Not only are the commands often confusing or tongue twisting in nature, but your console might burst into flames or your voice could become modulated while issuing commands.
It’s hectic good fun and one of the best party multiplayer games available on the Quest. Plus, you can even play with non-VR users — at least one VR user can play with up to five players on mobile devices, provided you’re all in the same room.
Cross-platform play: Yes, between Quest and PC VR platforms.
Much like PokerStars VR, this one is fairly simple — it’s fishing in VR with multiplayer support. If you’re looking to go cast your line with a friend in VR, then Real VR Fishing is the best (and perhaps only on Quest) option. The game has been around for a while, but multiplayer support is a much newer addition to the game. It supports up to 4 users at once in multiplayer, and Ian had a fantastic time when he tried it out on release. In a time when many of us are restricted in our movements and only have limited access to outdoor activities, going for some Real VR Fishing with your friends might be exactly what you need.
Larcenauts is a new competitive team shooter from Impulse Gear that provides lots of options — it’s a hero shooter that offers several classes and emphases strategy and teamwork in a manner similar to Overwatch or Valorant. It takes visual and stylistic cues from those titles too, with a bright color palette and a diverse cast of characters to choose from with different weapons and abilities.
It’s certainly not perfect — there are a few hiccups along the way that feel a bit awkward at times and make the game feel slightly less accessible than other VR shooters. But it makes up for those few missteps with a rich and deepingly rewarding competitive game, if you commit to learning it and putting in some work. It’s early days yet but, depending on how Impulse Gear supports Larcenauts, it could climb this list.
When push comes to shove, Eleven Table Tennis is really just table tennis in VR. However, to leave it at that would be to do it an injustice — it’s not just table tennis in VR, it’s really good table tennis in VR. There’s something special about being able to take your Quest anywhere and — provided you have an internet connection — play against a friend (or a random) online with a 1:1 perfect recreation of a table tennis table.
It also works so well because it feels like the real thing — there’s relatively little physical resistance when hitting a ball in table tennis in real life, so a VR translation feels scarily accurate. Slight vibrations when you hit the ball are all that’s needed to make Eleven Table Tennis feel properly authentic. Plus, the game supports LAN matches for a lag-free experience, and you can even use a 3D printed paddle with your Touch controller for the full authentic experience. It’s table tennis in VR, recreated in impressive detail.
Cross-platform play: Yes, with Rift and SteamVR users.
If you’re looking for a competitive multiplayer shooter on Oculus Quest, then Onward has to be your pick. In his review, David dubbed Onward as the definitive military sim FPS — you play in 5v5 battles against other players online, with an array of weapons and three game modes to choose from. While it’s missing the visual fidelity and some of the custom features from the PC VR version of the game (many of which have been promised to arrive in a future update), it is still easily one of the best multiplayer VR games on the Quest. As David put it, “this should be in every Quest user’s library that enjoys shooters — hands down.”
Cross-platform play: Yes, between Quest and PC VR platforms.
With the success of Fortnite and the battle royale genre, something similar coming to VR was inevitable. Late last year, Population: One filled that gap in the market.
If you’re looking for a VR battle royale to play with friends, then look no further. This three-man squad-only shooter follows the same basic premise as Fortnite complete with a basic wall-building system, but the addition of climbing and a deployable wingsuit for gliding sets it apart by letting you scale any building or structure.
The game has received plenty of post-launch support and content updates, so if you’re looking for a multiplayer VR shooter to sink your teeth into long-term, Population: One is probably your best bet.
Cross-platform play: Yes, between Quest and PC VR platforms.
Echo VR is a competitive multiplayer game that could only work in VR, and that’s why it’s so high on our list. In terms of multiplayer experiences available on the platform, the game remains conceptually and practically unmatched — it provides unique gameplay, an ingenious movement system and thrilling competitive action.
The core premise sees you play in teams in a zero-gravity room with a single disc floating in the middle. There’s a goal at each end of the arena and you can push off of objects or use wrist boosters to move around the environment while throwing, passing and shooting the disc toward the goal. It’s not a hard concept to understand but, like any competitive sport or game, it’s a lot harder to master. Even better — Echo VR is available for free on Oculus Quest.
Demeo is the latest from VR developer veterans Resolution Games, this time translating the social, tabletop RPG campaign genre into a well-packaged VR experience.
Up to 4 players can tackle Demeo’s randomized run of three dungeon levels in the first campaign, which is appropriately challenging and can last anywhere from a few minutes for the careless to approaching three hours or more. A second campaign, Realm of the Rat King, is also now available and features five levels to work through.
There’s many staples of a tabletop RPG – turn-based combat, fantasy setting, class options – but really, it’s not the gameplay itself that makes Demeo worthy of #1 on this list. Demeo is an engaging tabletop RPG, but more importantly it’s a near-peerless social VR experience, polished to such a degree that it transforms the kinks of its systems into enjoyable, suspenseful quirks.
Not only is it available on Quest now, but it’s available on PC VR with crossplay as well. There’s also plans for a flatscreen PC release in the future, along with more DLC campaigns.
Acron! Attack of the Squirrels: Play in VR as a tree trying to knock away squirrels (who are playing the game on a phone or tablet) from trying to get your acorns.
Rec Room: Free collection of activities like paintball to play with friends or family with cross-play supported on practically every kind of system, including PS.
Crisis VRigade: You’ll either have to install this one via sideloading on SideQuest (here’s how to do that) or via App Lab, as it’s not a full store release, but if you’re looking for an arcade game shooter experience with friends that’s similar to Time Crisis, this is it.
Those are our picks for best multiplayer games on Oculus Quest, but what are yours? Let us know in the comments.
Spaceteam VR has already been testing friendships and ruining vocal chords for Quest and PC VR users. But new features in upcoming free updates will pile the pressure on even further.
The trailer below just debuted at the Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition, and shows some of the new options on the way to Cooperative Innovations’ party game. You’ll test your nerves with a wire minigame in which you can’t touch the sides and let loose with a whack-a-mole style attraction. Our favorite new control panel has to be the xylophone, though, which adds a little music all the screaming.
These features will be rolling out as part of free updates in the coming weeks and months. Also set to arrive soon is support for more languages, so more people can join in on the madness.
We’re also hoping to see some new customization options for the game’s avatars in the future. Community Manager Alex Earle told us Cooperative Innovations was working on adding more in an interview last month (which we did inside the game itself).
We already think Spaceteam VR is a great VR party game, with cross-play and local multiplayer modes fleshing out the experience. “Inevitably, some of the same-room companionship is lost in the transition from physical to virtual, but not nearly as much as you might think, and thoughtful additions made possible by headsets go a good way to making up for it,” we said in our review.” Spaceteam VR will break friendships, ruin your vocal cords and raise your blood pressure. That is to say, it’s quite a delight.”
It’s also due for a launch on PSVR in the future, though we don’t have an exact date for that just yet
In order to work, Spaceteam VR needed to be as human as possible.
No, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t choose to play as the long-trunked space elephant from the game’s avatar customization screen (if anything I’d recommend the opposite). I’m talking about further reducing the gap between our virtual presence and our real one.
It would all be very well to just put the 2012 mobile original — in which players bark increasingly ridiculous orders at each other to maintain a spaceship — onto consoles with online support, but you’d lose so much over the cold communication of faceless chat. A lot of what made Spaceteam a communal hit, one that I played hours of with friends that never play videogames, was that it was enjoyed in the same room, a congregation of people flinching when the pressure gets to overexcited crew members and identifying the weak link in a chain and shaming them for all to see.
Community is what would be missing and, while not perfect, Spaceteam VR does a great job of recapturing that uneasy camaraderie.
Much of the original game finds a natural home in VR. Spaceteam has up to six players surviving for as long as possible against the perils of the dark void. Every round, each player is given a control panel unique to them, filled with buttons to push, switches to flick and levers to pull. Above them sits a monitor issuing orders they’ll need to study. If said instruction relates to their panel, no problem, but if it doesn’t you’ll have to blurt it out in hopes that the relevant player hears you and follows your command.
Buried deep in the middle of the round, fires breaking out and alarms ringing in your ears, Spaceteam sets in a hypnotic spell. It ensnares you in a trance, screaming at best friends and leaving you wondering where this side of you has been hiding all these years.
Developer Cooperative Innovations uses VR to essentially extend the range from which that magic will work from the living room to the globe. The team’s in-house VR avatar system, Ikabod, is put to great work authentically tracking your movements and doing away with the awkward elbows and shrugged shoulders that have plagued social VR’s past. Paired with pitch-perfect character design, which paints rightly anxious expressions over a colorful cast of crew members, the game creates the right kind of reality you’d expect Spaceteam to exist in. It’s just a shame there aren’t more customization options to make your avatar truly feel like your own, though this will likely change over time.
Plus there are some brilliant additions unique to VR. Occasionally you’ll have to order everyone to stop what they’re doing and dance as frantically as possible to fill up a meter or, even better, some rounds will distort player’s voices, making orders harder to decipher (and yet so hilarious to receive that at one point I almost fell over from laughter). Many revolve around manic, accessible interactions, like using a hammer to repair broken panel parts, putting out fires with an extinguisher or shooting UFOs with a ray gun.
Much like your control panel towards the end of a tough round, though, Spaceteam is in need of a bit of a tune-up in some areas. At launch myself and other members of the Upload team encountered glitchy gameplay fairly regularly. Often these are small issues to do with the appearance of avatars and how they hold items. At other times, they’re fairly more game-breaking, like when starting a new match warps players to a spot in the level they can’t easily reach their panel from. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to tell if certain actions are actually working and, for all the excellent work with avatar animation, shouting over microphones inevitably causes more muffled confusion than playing locally.
If you do have the opportunity to play in the same room, though (let’s say in a few months from now maybe/hopefully), there’s an option to play with mobile players too. In fact this mode can even be taken online to play with friends that don’t have a headset. It isn’t as robust as the VR mode, but it’s an appreciated option to extend playability. Obviously if you’re more into solo play or don’t have a lot of people around to play the game with, Spaceteam isn’t the game for you.
The game does struggle with balance at times, though. There are three difficulties to choose from but, even on the easiest setting, it will occasionally throw so much at you at the start of a round that it’s practically decided to end the match itself. It’s frustrating to end a great run on an abrupt note, especially when it feels just beyond the small grasp of control Spaceteam gives you.
Spaceteam VR Review Final Verdict
Spaceteam VR is a proven formula on an unproven platform, which makes it a pretty fascinating experiment. Inevitably, some of the same-room companionship is lost in the transition from physical to virtual, but not nearly as much as you might think, and thoughtful additions made possible by headsets go a good way to making up for it. Spaceteam VR will break friendships, ruin your vocal cords and raise your blood pressure. That is to say, it’s quite a delight.
Warn your neighbors and ready your vocal cords; Spaceteam VR arrives on Oculus Quest and PC VR this week.
Cooperative Innovations’ debut VR game adapts the classic mobile title to headsets. In Spaceteam, up to six players join forces to keep their spaceship working as they fly through the universe. Each player has a unique control panel filled with an assortment of elaborately-named gizmos. You’ll need to listen out for orders barked from your teammates as well as keep an eye on new instructions to issue them, resulting in a chaotic party experience, complete with fires, airhorns and the occasional dance-off.
There’s also a multiplayer mode that brings in mobile players and you can customize your characters with different gear.
Bringing the collaborative mishap mayhem of the original game over to VR couldn’t have been easy, so we spoke to the developer about making it all happen. But, get this, we did it inside the game itself; below Community Manager Alex Earle joins us (or rather we join him) to talk about the game. We cover the work going into Spaceteam’s impressive player-controlled avatars and maintaining the balance between panic and fun. We also throw some shapes and set off fire extinguishers in each other’s faces because that’s sort of a requirement in this game.
Like the interview? Make sure to like and subscribe on the video for all our other VR video coverage!
We’ll have full impressions of Spaceteam VR later this week, so make sure to check back for more.
In these difficult times, videogames are providing an important entertainment outlet, whether you want to join friends in some multiplayer action or get lost in a fantasy world by yourself. This coming week, players across PC and console VR headsets will have more immersive experiences to enjoy.
Gorn – Free Lives
Highly brutal and comedic in equal measure, gladiatorial sim Gornis finally coming to PlayStation VR. The spongy, rag-dill opponents which can be ripped to shreds using all manner of wobbly close combat weaponry, Gorn is a single-player hack ‘n’ slash experience like no other.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 19th May
Pixel Ripped 1995 – ARVORE
Release in the Americas a few days ago, now it’s the turn of EU PlayStation VR players to enjoy Pixel Ripped 1995.A love letter to old-school gaming, the story is set during an era when videogames were moving from 16-bit sprites into 32-bit 3D titles. Mixing together various genres from the 1990s including action RPGs, brawlers, platformers, space shooters, and racing games, the gameplay offers an eclectic retro mix.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR (European Launch)
Launch date: 19th May
War Remains – Flight School Studio
Part film, part educational experience, War Remainstakes place during WWI on the Western Front. Viewers to bear witness as history unfolds from a soldier’s point-of-view in this active battle scene.
Based on a mobile videogame, Spaceteam VRis a cooperative shouting match where players have to perform tasks to keep their spaceship in one piece. These challenges are randomly generated, incorrectly assigned instructions filled with technobabble which mean a lot of fast paced teamwork.
Originally released for PlayStation VR in 2018, The Persistence is a horror title with procedurally generated levels and a crew that have been turned into monsters. Supporting both VR and non-VR gameplay, one of The Persistence’s unique features is that friends can jump in via iOS or Android devices to control some of the spaceship, either helping or hindering the main player.
Spaceteam VR launches its “cooperative shouting game” on Oculus Quest and PC VR on May 21.
A PlayStation VR version of the game is planned for later this year.
The multiplayer party game adapted from the popular phone and tablet title allows up to six players to work together on ” increasingly complex and baffling technobabble filled instructions to keep their ship hurtling through space.”
Spaceteam VR features three different difficulties, with the harder difficulties giving players many more controls to be responsible for while amping up just how tough the anomalies that occur are. In easier modes, you might only be responsible for a handful of duties, but tuning things to the hardest difficulty will require you to be on your ‘A’ game. According to Cooperative Innovations, some of the tougher anomalies will include player’s heads shrinking, instructions being presented backwards or with missing letters, and in-game voices on players becoming high pitched and hard to decipher.
Elsewhere in the game, controls are pretty standard for VR titles. You’ll have levers to reach out and grab, buttons to push, and items to grab on the fly as you try to complete your specific instructions. Putting out fires, taking down aliens that try to invade the ship,and having to hammer out mistakes are just some of the many other trials you’ll face while attempting to stay alive. The longer you go, the tougher the challenges you face become, until you eventually find yourself frantically yelling at a teammate to repeat orders as a fire rages on in front of you.
Developer Cooperative Innovations licensed the title from Henry Smith of Sleeping Beast Games. You can play online or locally with mobile devices mixed in with headsets.
