SWARM (2021), the high-flying arcade shooter from Greensky Games, is one of the best-rated paid games on Quest, serving up fast-paced, arcade-style grapple shooting action as you battle against the titular Swarm. Now you can get your hands on the sequel, SWARM 2 (2024).
Announced late last year, single-player game Swarm 2 brings back more electrifying action in a rogue-like shooter package, including new environments, rogue-like progression, and globally competitive leaderboards.
In it, you play as Marv, the last surviving ‘grapple commando’, who uses their trusty pistol and grappling hook to battle back the Swarm and save Earth. Following the original Swarm, which is historically one of the best-rated Quest games by user reviews, you basically swing around like Spider-Man and blast away at Galaga (1981) style mini-baddies as well as a host of giant bosses.
Greensky Games says every mission “brings unexpected challenges as you navigate through the neon-lit ruins of Earth, now a constantly changing battleground. Each encounter with the Swarm is a unique experience, with tactics and strategies evolving to match your growing skills.”
Swarm 2 is now available across Quest 2/3/Pro and Pico headsets, priced at $25. The studio says a port for SteamVR headsets is currently on the roadmap. If you’re looking to train up before hitting the Swarm with all you’ve got, check out the game’s training guide for tips and tricks.
Popular Oculus Quest shooter, Swarm, is getting a multiplayer mode, and you can join its beta right now.
Greensky Games launched the beta for the mode, named Atmos Arena, over on App Lab last month. Multiplayer retains Swarm’s core gameplay, in which players swing through environments using two grappling guns, but the current iteration features races and deathmatch options. The beta supports up to 10 players, though it’s very much in the prototype stages, using basic visuals and avatars as the developers map out what the final multiplayer offering for the game really looks like.
Swarm Multiplayer Revealed
But this appears to be only the start of Greensky’s plans for multiplayer: “Our plans for Swarm’s Multiplayer are big – we’re envisioning a massive open world, with many different games, (PvP, PvE, and PvEvP) skill based matchmaking and a fun social layer,” the developer noted over on its Discord channel. “So far we’ve built a very small, but important part of that vision and today we’re opening up Swarm’s Multiplayer Beta to everyone, via the App Lab, for free.”
The base game sees players take on hordes of drones as they swing around arena-style environments. We went hands-on with it at launch and really enjoyed what we played, though we haven’t gotten around to reviewing the full title. Elsewhere the game is yet to see a release on SteamVR as promised, but hopefully that support will arrive later in 2022.
Are you going to be jumping into Swarm’s multiplayer beta? Let us know in the comments below!
The latest arcade shooter has arrived on Quest, but with a swinging twist. Here are our impressions of Swarm, available now on the Oculus Store.
Swarm is a entertaining distillation of a few other elements we’ve seen in VR before. It’s got fantastic swinging mechanics for traversal, solid arcade gunplay and a wave-based enemy structure with hints of bullet hell. What makes the game fun is the intersection of all three, which (from what we’ve played so far) ensures that none of them outstay their welcome.
The swinging in Swarm reminds me of the basic-yet-immersive Spider-Man swinging WebXR experience I wrote about last year or, more recently, the swinging found in Yupitergrad. Swarm takes some core elements from those and sizes it down into a punchier, goal-focused package. Swarm opts for relatively small arena-style levels, where you’ll be fulfilling a variety of different goals and splitting your focus between swinging around and shooting enemies — both of which you can do with either hand at any time.
Playing through the first zone (there’s five total), you get a feel for how each the levels will vary to keep them from getting stale — some focus on shooting as many enemies within a time limit, others on swinging and collecting gems without any enemies, and some are straight up boss fights. It’s a nice amount of change — enough to spice things up without changing the core premise too much between levels.
There’s some great additions in your traversal kit as well, which aid and assist your swinging. A zip feature slows down time and lets you target a grapple point or enemy, which you’ll then quickly zip toward. Targeting an enemy with zip with also kill them upon impact, making it a useful combat strategy for tougher foes. Likewise, you have a slow time ability (fueled by a meter that you fill by grappling around the map) that lets you focus on a few quick moving enemies or the hard-to-catch gold enemy that’s reminiscent of the snitch from Harry Potter.
Gameplay aside, it’s Swarm’s art style that really stands out in the first few minutes. We’re seeing more and more Quest games opt for a cell-shaded look — it’s stylish, trendy and, most importantly, a great way to optimize for performance while still looking visually clean. But Swarm really leans into the comic book aesthetic — the menus, the animated comic book panel cutscenes, all of it feels visually consistent and cohesive. It’s a great look that it pulls off well.
Overall, there’s a lot to love early on with Swarm. It’s perfect arcade fun that melds together with a few other elements to form an interesting new VR game. After playing through zone 1, we’re keen to see the rest.
Have you tried Swarm? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.
Everyone loves a surprise, don’t they? Not the tax reminder kind, more the unexpected gift-wrapped present or kind gesture. The same goes for videogames, where good surprises are quite often the realm of indie titles. Just look at projects like Paper Beastor Cubismas prime examples. When it comes to virtual reality (VR) this can be down to screenshots and even video struggling to portray the gameplay, so that first step inside feels very fresh and astonishing. And that sums up the review of Swarm…or if you want to know more then read on.
It used to be the case that intense speeds and sharp directional changes were a no go area for VR gameplay, especially if it involved swinging. As most are probably aware now this thought process has very much been thrown in the bin, with recent titles such as Tarzan VRor Yupitergradproving what can be achieved by grappling and swinging between platforms. Swarm well and truly takes grappling to another level with action-focused gameplay that never lets up until the level is complete.
On the surface Swarm is a classic wave shooter, where you have a selection of light, medium and heavy-duty enemies to get rid of. You’ll get combo scores for quickly dispatching hordes, with the smaller insectoids bundled in swarms whilst the larger enemies tend to be singular, defending themselves with force fields or firing homing rockets at you. Nothing too unusual on that front, you’ve all played videogames with this type of enemy setup requiring you to vary strategies on the fly.
Quite often though you’ll get a little breather or be able to hide behind a wall to regain some composure. Yeah…there’s none of that in Swarm, it’s adrenaline central. Because, as mentioned, movement in Swarm relies on swinging between platforms, with a grappling hook embedded in each of the pistols you hold. The important factor to note is that there’s no floor as such, so you can’t simply hop down reorientate and jump back in Spider-Man style. Get too low and it’s instant death. The first level, for example, is above water so if you suddenly find yourself submerged then you’ll get eaten by a shark, restarting the stage all over again.
Developer Greensky Games definitely seems to be weaving some VR hocus pocus with Swarm as gameplay this manic shouldn’t be this comfortable. Each stage has a selection of platforms you can grapple to, swinging around to your heart’s desire. But grappling means you can’t shoot your gun. So you can choose to get some awesome height with a double grapple and then rein fire down upon enemies or stay mobile continually swinging with one hand whilst the other dishes out the pain – albeit with less damage. The former method quickly became the standard, it’s a great way of scoping out the level when filled with hostiles plus the bonuses are easier to spot.
Even with the general comfort factor, there are options to tweak should you need them. Various degrees of vignette are available, switch to lefty, or select between snap and smooth turning. Swarm is best played standing so you can naturally turn around without using the stick controls but it equally works seated with a spinning chair.
As an arcade-action videogame Swarm needed and provides plenty of little goodies to spice up the experience. You start with some bog-standard, pistols no matter the level. As the action hots up new upgrades will appear providing limited extra firepower like the handy, lock-on rocket launcher, great for boss weak points or groups for multi-kills. Health pickups are also available but it’s the two charge up features that add an extra level of tactical advantage. These are Slowmo and Zip. Slowmo is fairly self-explanatory and useful for hitting those weak points, whilst Zip can launch you to a platform, avoiding incoming fire or floor death. Swarm doesn’t stop there either. Mods such as low gravity, unlimited rapid-fire and unlimited slowmo can be activated before each level – of which there are 25 across 5 zones – although they halt progression. Green shards appear to up the multiplier and then there are side objectives to complete. For an arcade shooter, there’s a lot going on and plenty to keep you coming back for more.
And that’s the most important factor, is it fun enough that you’ll want to keep playing considering this is a single-player game with global leaderboards? That’s a firm “heck yes!” Swarm’s gameplay is as bold as its visuals, and even in the casual setting provides a decent challenge that is instantly addictive. Make no mistake Swarm is intense and possibly not recommended for those new to VR. If you’re a VR veteran then definitely give this a try, just make sure you’ve got plenty of space to swing those arms around!
It’s been a good year for virtual reality (VR) videogames so far and it’s only going to get better by the looks of it. April is already gearing up to be an awesome month with the likes of Maskmakerand Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife arriving towards the end. Before that happens here are five new titles to look forward to next week.
VR Nara Park – X-climb, Inc.
“Experience the serene and therapeutic ambiance of VR Nara Park, a virtual environment heavily inspired by one of Japan’s most famous tourist destination, the Nara Deer Park.”
A multiplayer arcade game re-imagining mobile phone classic Snake for the VR era. Up to four players can each control a snake that follows their hand, collecting food as they go and growing in length while avoiding obstacles and other players. Offering 20 vibrant maps, Space Slurpies supports cross-platform multiplayer and there’s a single-player puzzle mode.
Frantic, single-player arcade action, Swarm challenges you to take down hordes of enemy aliens in wideopen arenas with no floor. Dual-wielding pistols with built-in grappling hooks, the gameplay continually swinging between platforms whilst wracking up combo kills, building up to the final boss battles. Swarm will offer 21 levels and 5 dynamic zones to play through.
Keep your wits about you and don’t let the traffic build up or let pedestrians get run over in Traffic Jams, a comedic take on keeping keeping city streets running. Set across a variety of locations around the world including Paris and New York City, its not just wayward commuters and vehicles you need to watch out for, events such as “cheese bowling” will crop up and then there are the spontaneously combusting buildings and the occasional meteorites to deal with.
Take on the role of Wolf, an intergalactic bounty hunter and head to several planets to collect your cash. An Early Access release, Speedy Gun Savage has three major planets, each with 2-3 subzones and over 10 different enemy types and three major boss fights.
Looking for all the best new VR games in April 2021? We’ve got you covered.
It’s been a pretty slow start to the year for VR content, but April promises to change all that. Make sure to keep track of our reviews page where we’ll be bringing you impressions of all the latest content.
After a long stint on SideQuest this set of unique minigames and technical demonstrations for Oculus Quest hand-tracking is getting an official release. It’s not a game as such, but there are 80 different experiences to showcase the tech, and it all work with Touch controllers too.
Floor Plan 2 (April 1st) – Turbo Button, Quest, PC VR
Turbo Button returns with a follow-up to its eccentric VR puzzler. In Floor Plan 2 you travel between worlds using an elevator, solving puzzles in crazy environments. Turbo Button is promising a much bigger game this time around with fully explorable levels. Expect a PSVR version later down the line.
Unique puzzles, accessible gameplay and fantastical visuals await you in Starcaller, a PC VR puzzler that’s built around immersive VR interactions. There’s over 30 different puzzles and three difficulty levels to master.
Traffic Jams (April 8th) – Little Chicken, Quest, PC VR
Little Chicken’s zany VR puzzler finally gets the green light. In Traffic Jams you need to control the flow of traffic without causing any unfortunate mishaps. With a full campaign and a party mode for up to four non-VR players, we’re hoping Traffic Jams is one that will keep us busy for hours to come.
Another active VR game that wants to emulate the feeling of swinging, Swarm is an arcade inspired shooter in which you swoop through arena-style levels. Developer Greensky Games says it’s a comfortable experience but, as always, we’ll need to put that to the test for ourselves.
Alvo (April 12th) – PSVR
It’s been a while since PSVR has had a big multiplayer game. Alvo hopes to fill the void with a modern military setting and support for the PSVR Aim controller. PC and Quest versions are also due a little later down the line, and take note that this release date could slip.
Carly and the Reaperman (April 15th) – Odd Raven Studios, Quest
A local co-op platformer gets a Quest version published by Resolution Games. Carly and the Reaperman used to work by having one player in VR, guiding a flatscreen player through levels. The game is the same inside Quest, except now both users will be wearing Quests. We’ll be eager to see how it holds up.
Maskmaker (April 20th) – Innerspace VR, PC VR, PSVR
The developers of A Fisherman’s Tale are back with a brand new puzzling adventure. In Maskmaker, you craft and wear masks that transport you to different worlds. Some light Metroidvania elements and a deep focus on the process of making masks suggest Innerspace is making its biggest VR game yet.
A new VR sculpting software that comes with all the tools to let users make 3D models. It features tools for both professionals and those only just starting out in VR modelling. You can export your creations for 3D printing too.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife (April 22nd) – Fast Travel Games, Quest, Rift
Fast Travel Games is back with its latest effort, a VR horror game set in the World of Darkness universe. In Wraith, you step into the afterlife and explore the haunted halls of Barclay Mansion, investigating the mysterious circumstances of your death.
Star Wars Pinball (April 29th) – Zen Studios, Quest, PC VR
Zen’s tried and true pinball games get the Star Wars treatment… in VR. Star Wars Pinball features tables from across the entire Star Wars saga, including The Mandalorian.
So that’s the new VR games April 2021 list. What are you going to be picking up? Let us know in the comments below!
SWARM is a high-flying arcade shooter from Greensky Games that gives you two grappling hooks and plenty of firepower to take down gads of enemy drones. Swarm has been in beta testing for the past year, but now Greensky says it’s coming to Quest and Rift on April 8th.
The team originally aimed to release Swarm in September 2020, but took six extra months of development to prepare the game for its launch on Quest and Rift, which includes cross-buy.
It’s a single player game for now, launching first with competitive leaderboards, however Greensky tells Oculus that multiplayer “will be coming in the near future.”
Swarm was partly inspired by the grappling locomotion mechanic in Windlands (2016), but it wasn’t clear exactly what would follow in the early days of development.
“We spent 4 months iterating on grappling, and had a breakthrough when we gave the rope some elasticity and tension simulation – suddenly it felt like we had more control and power, more like Spider-Man,” says Peter Le Bek, Founder of Greensky Games. “From there we considered building a 3D platformer, or a racing game, but we settled on the strategic arena shooter because swinging through explosions and plunging down on enemies while shooting them was just ridiculously fun!”
Swarm is launching first on Oculus Quest and Rift on April 8th; the SteamVR version is said to follow at some point, with its Steam listing indicating a Summer 2021 release window.
If you’re looking for a new arcade shooter then keep an eye out for Greensky Games’ Swarm, which offers wide-open arenas, flying bug-like enemies and lots and lots of insane grapple locomotion. As VRFocusreported over the weekend, Swarm‘s launch was expected soon and that’s been proven correct today, with a launch date set for three weeks time.
As expected, Swarm will be coming to Oculus Quest and Rift first, letting players jump into the action on 8th April 2021. Supporting cross-buy on the Oculus platform, Swarm is a single-player arcade experience that challenges players to complete fast and furious levels, continually moving by grappling between platforms whilst unleashing a barrage of projectiles on swarms of enemies.
The new launch trailer showcases all of this and more, with players able to dual wield pistols and other weaponry, all of which can fire grappling cables. The trick is to gain enough speed and height so you can focus on shooting all the little enemies as well as the really big ones. And there are some huge bosses to defeat! Swarm will offer 21 levels and 5 dynamic zones to play through so there should be plenty of gameplay to get stuck into in April.
Entirely single-player, there has been mention of a planned multiplayer mode with Redditor Jdconnel saying “Developer here: Yep – multiplayer is the first thing we’re going to be working on post-launch!” Here’s hoping Greensky Games adds a co-op mode to battle those bosses with a mate as well as PvP, going one-on-one in those arenas would certainly be challenging.
As for wider headset support a SteamVR version is still planned but that’ll now arrive at some point during the summer.
When VRFocus gets its hands-on Swarm we’ll let you know how intense all that swinging and plummeting around those levels can be.
If you’re looking for a new arcade shooter then keep an eye out for Greensky Games’ Swarm, which offers wide-open arenas, flying bug-like enemies and lots and lots of insane grapple locomotion. As VRFocusreported over the weekend, Swarm‘s launch was expected soon and that’s been proven correct today, with a launch date set for three weeks time.
As expected, Swarm will be coming to Oculus Quest and Rift first, letting players jump into the action on 8th April 2021. Supporting cross-buy on the Oculus platform, Swarm is a single-player arcade experience that challenges players to complete fast and furious levels, continually moving by grappling between platforms whilst unleashing a barrage of projectiles on swarms of enemies.
The new launch trailer showcases all of this and more, with players able to dual wield pistols and other weaponry, all of which can fire grappling cables. The trick is to gain enough speed and height so you can focus on shooting all the little enemies as well as the really big ones. And there are some huge bosses to defeat! Swarm will offer 21 levels and 5 dynamic zones to play through so there should be plenty of gameplay to get stuck into in April.
Entirely single-player, there has been mention of a planned multiplayer mode with Redditor Jdconnel saying “Developer here: Yep – multiplayer is the first thing we’re going to be working on post-launch!” Here’s hoping Greensky Games adds a co-op mode to battle those bosses with a mate as well as PvP, going one-on-one in those arenas would certainly be challenging.
As for wider headset support a SteamVR version is still planned but that’ll now arrive at some point during the summer.
When VRFocus gets its hands-on Swarm we’ll let you know how intense all that swinging and plummeting around those levels can be.
One virtual reality (VR) shooter VRFocus has been keeping a close eye on is Swarm, a single-player experience with grappling mechanics. Originally slated for a Summer 2020 launch that was then pushed back to Spring 2021. This means it isn’t far away, especially as Swarm is now listed on the Oculus Quest portion of the Oculus Store. The Steam version, however, is going to be a little longer, now slated for early summer.
Indie developer Greensky Games has partnered with Oculus to further push the arcade action, hence why Swarm is coming to Oculus Quest and Rift first, supporting cross-buy support. The SteamVR version for HTC Vive and other compatible headsets has now been pushed back, although there’s still no concrete release date for either platform.
Purely single-player, Swarm is all about taking on waves on insect-like enemies in massive open-air arenas that you manoeuvre around by grappling onto loads of floating platforms. You have a pair of pistols in each hand so you can shooting and swing however you please, get enough height and unleash a volley with both guns or get in close and do a shooting swing-by.
Designed to be fast and frantic with quick 10-20 minute matches, Swarm will offer 21 levels and 5 dynamic zones to play through, plus various weapon loadouts to mix up the action. Enemies will range from swarm’s of small insectoids up to large boss enemies which will take plenty of punishment, so practising those grappling mechanics will be essential. Additionally, there’s a global leaderboard to challenge other players on.
As Swarm is still in development, Greensky Games is still looking for beta players as the link is still working on the Swarm website. There is a waiting list with beta testers accepted in waves, plus you’ll have to adhere to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to be accepted.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Swarm, reporting back with those release dates once they’ve been confirmed.
