There are quite a few puzzle games available for various virtual reality (VR) platforms, taking various forms from stacking blocks to defusing bombs. PlayStation VR users recently got the chance to add another example to add to their collection with the launch of Tarsier Studios title Statik.
Statik puts the player in the role of a test subject whose hands are imprisoned in a box. Using the various controls present on a dual shock controller, the player must then use logical and lateral thinking to decipher the clues both on the box and around the room and solve the puzzle.
VRFocus writer Rebecca Hills-Duty recorded some footage of her attempt to solve one of the puzzles, the fiendish ‘phone dial’ box. You can watch her efforts in the video below.
Are there any other VR videogames you would like to see the team take a look at? Perhaps you’d like to watch an entire let’s play of a certain title? If so, let us know in the comments.
They say great minds think alike, but Statik does a lot to disprove that theory. Like developer Tarsier Studios, I’ve long wondered what types of unique VR experiences you can get out of using PS4’s DualShock 4 as a tracked object in a virtual world. But while our concepts for games may be similar, Tarsier outsmarted me at every turn with its devilishly clever new puzzle game, resulting in a memorable challenge.
In Statik, you’re trapped. You’ll constantly be drifting in and out of consciousness and each time you awaken you’ll find yourself in a different part of a mysterious laboratory. You’re joined by Dr. Ingen, a world-weary scientist that puts you through a series of bizarre trials. Each of these involves several puzzles fitted into a box that ensnares both of your hands. Every time you complete a box, you’ll be knocked out and moved onto the next level.
While that might sound formulaic on paper, Statik is anything but. First off, the game does a really good job of capturing that cramped, claustrophobic feeling you can have when using a standard controller inside VR. I often felt a panicked frustration as I helplessly flailed my arms around inspecting each box. We’re used to grabbing Move controllers and reaching out into the virtual world around us, but Tarsier finds something else in dialing your control back a few notches instead. There are some minor niggles with the controls, especially as you assemble parts to build a mysterious box between some levels where you’ll long to use the analogue sticks, but overall this is an ingenious approach to immersing you in a virtual world.
Each of the game’s eight puzzles is individual and unlike the others. At one point you’ll be changing filters on a built-in projector and matching them up with shapes in a room, while another challenge has you steering an RC car around the lab in search of answers. There’s a sense of invention here that’s rarely seen in puzzle games today, and infinitely more exciting than yet another escape room game for VR.
This variation in puzzles is Statik’s biggest strength. The game doesn’t have a central mechanic that it falls back on; each time you wake up you’ll be starting from scratch as you work out what makes your new box tick. It’s to Tarsier’s credit that, for the most part, the puzzles are all polished and present a fair level of challenge. I only found myself stumped for more than a few minutes on two occasions, and the solutions were (often literally) right under my nose. I sat for half an hour trying to figure out a color-coordinated brain teaser in the second to last level, convinced I had tried all I could, before a frustrated jolt of my hand revealed an element of the puzzle I hadn’t yet considered.
The game thrives on those excellent “gotcha” moments, though the variety here does come at the cost of length. You can clear the single-player mode in about two and a half hours (or faster if you’re smarter than me), though Tarsier has thrown in a fun second screen multiplayer mode via the PlayStation App that brings the game much closer to Steel Crate Media’s excellent Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes than its refined single-player puzzles do.
Perhaps the more interesting puzzle in Statik, though, is its story. While I enjoyed the satisfaction that came with figuring out challenges on my own, I found myself even more eager to peel back yet more layers of its ambiguous plot. Ingen makes for a bewildering companion, if he can be called that; a character that first comes off as exhausted slowly morphs into a tragic figure.
You’ll soon start catching strange sections of dialogue as his blurred face stares longingly towards the ceiling, or listening in on his outside communications between levels. You’ll take Rorschach-like tests in which he’ll seem indifferent to whatever answers you give, and leave you questioning your place as his lab rat (the answer to which is quite a shock). In this day and age Portal is the easy comparison to make (and Ingen himself reminds you of one of Half-Life’s archetypal scientists), but the game really has an identity of its own, and that’s something to be proud of.
Final Score: 7/10 – Good
Statik’s sheer invention and fascinating premise are somewhat betrayed by its short length. No two puzzles are the same, and they’re all well-balanced and thought-out trials, but they left me begging for more. Still, that speaks to just how enjoyable an experience this is while it lasts. The game casts a web of intrigue that will pull you in and I suspect have some people picking it apart for even longer than the initial run time. This isn’t quite PSVR’s Portal, but it wouldn’t take much for Tarsier hit that high with a sequel.
Statik is available now on the PlayStation Store for $19.99.Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
Virtual reality (VR) puzzle games are a good way for people new to VR used to using the technology while experiencing the immersion that is possible with VR. Puzzle games tend to involve more thinking that waving your arms around, so they’re good for users who tend towards motion sickness as well. Just as well that PlayStation VR is getting another puzzle game to add to its catalogue with Statik.
Statik shares some DNA with puzzle games like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes or I Expect You To Die, in that it is a type of escape puzzle. The players hands are trapped inside a box, each side of the box has a different gauge, lever or switch that correspond to a different button, thumb sticks or d-pad. The controls must be operated in the proper sequence or at the proper time in order to escape. The player must be cautious and use their eyes and ears in order to not only discern the correct sequence, but also to discover what is going on in this mysterious lab around you, and why you are being subjected to this experiment.
The synopsis for the title on the PlayStation Store page speaks of Dr Ingen and his assistant Edith and their attempts to unravel the complexities of the human mind, and also warns that not everything the player sees and hears can necessarily be trusted.
In a rare gesture, the developer Tarsier Studios have made a free demo is available so players can try out the experience and covers the first puzzle the players will need to solve.
The full version of Statik is available for $29.95 (USD) or £15.99 (GBP) in the UK. Further information can be found on the PlayStation Store.
VRFocus will bring you news on other new PlayStation VR releases at they become available.
In March Tarsier Studios announced the released date as well as opening pre-orders for its single-player puzzle title Statik for PlayStation VR. Now the studio has revealed that Static will in fact have a multiplayer option built-in allowing an additional player to join in via a tablet or smartphone.
In a PlayStation.Blog posting, Dave Mervik, senior narrative designer at Tarsier Studios has said that: “We’ve also remixed some of our single-player puzzles into cooperative challenges.” Adding: “Both of you have different parts of the same puzzle, so the only way to solve it is by talking and working together.”
Originally Statik had started out as a solely single-player experience – the players hands are trapped inside a puzzle box – but then the studio began showcasing the video game to the public at several events, coming to realise spectator interaction would work as well.
The team experimented to see what parts of Statik would work in co-op, then came to the conclusion all of it would. “So, even though the solution to each box can be taxing, there is a satisfyingly direct reaction to each of your actions – ‘A’ does ‘B’, ‘C’ does ‘D’, and so on,” says Mervik. “For co-op mode, we simply deviate from this, whereby we give the action to one of you, and the re-action to the other, meaning that while you do ‘A’, only your friend will see ‘B’.”
Statik is due to be released in just over a week’s time on Monday 24th April. In the run up to launch day, Tarsier Studios has released a brand new trailer for the video game. Narrated by the title’s in house scientist Dr Ingen, the video showcases some of the puzzle boxes on offer, from simple designs to far more complex arrangements.
The title can be pre-ordered and checkout VRFocus‘original preview for an in depth hands-on. For further Statik updates, keep reading VRFocus.
I’ve written often about the need to push creative boundaries in order for VR to find its voice. Statik is doing just that, with an undeniably unique puzzle game that takes one of VR’s weaknesses and turns it into a strength.
Update (3/26/17, 11:24PM PT): Statik now has a release date of April 24th. The game will soon be available for pre-order with a 20% discount for PlayStation Plus members. Below continues our hands-on impressions of this unique game at E3 2016, including the latest screenshots showing previously unseen puzzles.
In Statik, by developer Tarsier Studios, a puzzle is literally strapped to your hands. You awake in an unfamiliar lab-like setting with your hands locked inside of a strange box. There’s complicated wires and gizmos all over, and the box moves as you move your own hands. In the real world you’re holding a PS4 controller, which is tracked by the PS Camera, and turns the controller’s movements into those of the box.
In VR you can’t see your real hands, and thus trying to use a controller can be bothersome because you can’t see the buttons and sticks. If you aren’t familiar with the controller or what the buttons do, you’ll have a frustrating time poking and prodding at the invisible controls to find out what purpose they serve.
Statik takes this fact and makes it a central tenet of the gameplay. You can’t see your real hands, nor can you see your virtual hands. They are locked inside the mysterious device. There’s absolutely no telling what button on the controller will control what mechanism on the box. The only way to figure it out is to start pressing every button you can feel and observe what happens.
Because you see a crazy contraption attached to your hands in front of you, instead of the real controller, you don’t gain that same level of hand-eye coordination that you’re used to while playing a traditional game, especially because from one box to the next, the controls completely change. This really makes it feel like you’re reaching inside of some unknown contraption and searching blindly for how it works.
In this way, Statik is almost like an exploration game. You need to first gather information about what you can actually control on the box. After that you need to find out what you’re even supposed to do with the limited abilities at your disposal.
All this makes for a very creative puzzle game that’s uniquely suited to VR. But the developers didn’t stop there. The backdrop of Statik is a mysterious testing facility; while you toil away trying to find out how to solve the puzzle encompassing your hands, a lab technician sits nearby to observe. His face is blurred, and it isn’t clear what exactly he’s looking for.
Once I had completed a segment of the puzzle, which involved arranging several glass disks to create a silhouette that matched a pattern in the room, the observer said, “You’re a machine,” which made me feel proud that I had figured it out so quickly. But that feeling was dashed in an instant when he followed that up saying, “…but so is a tractor,” leaving me feeling like little more than a lab rat from which to gather data.
Finding out exactly who these people are and why they’ve done this to you is a puzzle in itself, one that I’m looking forward to exploring nearly as much as I’m looking forward to seeing what other interesting puzzles I’ll find strapped to my hands in Statik.
At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016 Tarsier Studios announced puzzle title Statik for PlayStation VR. Pre-orders for the videogame have now gone live and a release date has also been confirmed.
Details were revealed via the UK PlayStation Store, with the release date listed as 24th April 2017. There’s a pre-order price of £15.99 GBP, if you’re a PlayStation Plus member you can get a 20 percent discount off that price, dropping the cost to £12.79. This price will be available until Statik’s launch day.
Coming from the minds behind LittleBigPlanet for the PS Vita, Statik is the studio’s first virtual reality (VR) title, putting players hands inside a box. Located around the outside are various switches, dials, gauges and levers that form the basis of the puzzles. Each one is mapped to a different button or stick on the DualShock 4 controller depending on the actual puzzle. These change everyday, with players having to use their wits, eyes and ears to solve the mysteries, your hands are trapped inside a box after all.
VRFocus previewed Statik at E3 2016 saying it was: ‘engaging and enjoyable, showing a lot of promise. The overall simplicity works in Statik’s favour and if Tarsier Studios can get the level and difficulty progression design right then this is one title that VR puzzle fans should keep an eye on.’
VRFocuswill continue its coverage of Statik, reporting back with any further updates.
Alles neu macht der Mai – und der könnte sogar ein Feier-Monat für Playstation-VR-Fans werden. Star Trek: Bridge Crew, The Persistence, Farpoint und der PlayStation VR Aim Controller sind bereits bestätigt. Jetzt kommt auch noch das lange erwartete Statik mit einem Release-Termin dazu. Und das PSVR-Puzzlespiel kommt sogar schon am 24. April.
Rabatt für europäische PS Plus Mitglieder
Dabei ist der neue Playstation-VR-Titel schon seit einiger Zeit in der Mache. Statik wurde bereits auf der E3 im Juni 2016 angekündigt, aber jetzt überrascht uns das schwedische Entwicklungsstudio Tarsier Studios mit einem doch relativ zügigen Veröffentlichungsdatum. Und wer im EU Playstation Store kauft, kann sich sogar noch über einen Pre-Order-Bonus freuen: Es gibt 20 % Rabatt für PS Plus Mitglieder. Statik selbst wird mit einem Verkaufspreis von 15.99 £ angegeben (ca. 18,31 Euro).
Statik: First-Person-Puzzle
Statik ist ein First-Person Spiel und erinnert auf den ersten Blick an Portal von Valve. Ihr steht in einem Labor, es läuft Musik, die in jedem guten Fahrstuhl klimpern könnte und ein sarkastisch klingender Helfer redet auf euch ein. Das Spiel wird mit dem DualShock 4 Controller gesteuert und verwendet einen netten Twist, der ein immersives Gefühl vermitteln soll. Ihr sitzt nämlich auf einem Stuhl und müsst Aufgaben lösen, die euch Dr. Ingen jeden Tag gibt. Dabei sind eure Hände in einer Box gefangen – somit könnt ihr diese nicht sehen. Warum der Doktor euch testen will, ist (noch) nicht klar.
Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR) looks set to kick things up a notch next month, as anticipated new games finally arrive for the platform. One such title is Statik.
This promising new puzzle game from Sweden-based developer Tarsier Studios was announced just ahead of E3 2016 last June, and we’ve kept an eye on it ever since. Today, the game’s release date has slipped out via the EU PlayStation Store. It’s coming on April 24th and there’s currently a special pre-order promotion, offering 20% off for PS Plus members, taking the price from £15.99 to £12.79. It doesn’t appear that it’s up for pre-order on the US version of the store yet.
Statik has an intriguing core concept. Players hold a DualShock 4 controller in the real world but, in the virtual one, will find their hands encased in strange contraptions, littered with puzzles to solve. A mysterious lab coated man named Dr. Ingen is experimenting on you and you’ll have to clear his new trials every morning. It’s a promising premise that could make Statik one of the more immersive puzzlers on the platform.
Statik is the second of two big PSVR games arriving in April, the other being six degree of freedom (6DOF) shooter, Starblood Arena. Following that, anticipated first-person shooter Farpoint arrives in May along with the PSVR Aim Controller, which we recently went hands-on with. We also got to play a new survival horror game for the platform, The Persistence. After a somewhat slow start to the year, Sony’s headset finally looks set to kick things up a notch.
