Category: The Tower

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Population: One Is Opening The Tower This Week

What lies at the heart of the monolithic tower in the center of Population: One‘s map?

We’ll find out later this week.

An upcoming in-game event for BigBox’s popular battle royale shooter will see ‘The Tower’ open and reveal its secrets. The event, which is named Tower Struggle and kicks off on April 8th at 12pm PT, promises new rewards. An image attached to a recent tweet shows gun skins, a new outfit, and a mysterious glowing red orb. The event runs until April 19th and you can sign up to be notified of kick-off right here.

What’s not clear is if opening The Tower will give players any new areas to fight in, but we certainly hope so. In the standard game you can scale the structure (if you want to give your arms a workout) and take the fight to the top platform, and it’d definitely be interesting to mix up that dynamic a little.

Population: One is currently knee-deep in its first season, Uprising, which has introduced new features like melee weapons and offers players new cosmetic items should they pick up the paid battle pass. It’s the first real test to see if the VR shooter — which has generated more than $10 million in revenue on Oculus platforms alone — has the longevity of its inspirations like Fortnite.

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The Tower II Is A Sequel To An Excellent VR Obstacle Course

Ah the summer of 2017; a simpler time. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive still felt relatively new and developers were making all kinds of crazy experiments for them. One such game was The Tower.

Developed by Headroom.one, this was a curious little VR obstacle course. It placed players on a conveyor belt that constantly moved them forwards. Its path gradually winded around a giant structure. Along the way, you had to duck and dive between swinging axes and projectiles. Lean too far in one direction, though, and you’d come tumbling down. It was an excellent showcase for VR’s positional tracking. Though short, I really enjoyed my time with it.

Good news, then; it’s getting a sequel. And it looks very different.

The Tower II is heading to PC VR headsets this summer. Whereas the original game was a historic setting, this one’s set in a sci-fi take on 2013. This time around you travel through an urban metropolis. You’re taking part in a virtual parkour league, which attracts the attention of killer drones. You can shoot them down using pistols.

Whereas the original game took me 45 minutes to beat, Headroom says the sequel’s story mission lasts around 60 minutes. There will also be parkour missions with eight courses in for different worlds. These will last around three to six minutes and really put your skills and fitness to the test.

The Tower II will support Index, Rift and Vive at launch. No word yet on a Quest or PSVR release though they do seem ideally suited. Steam says the game’s out on August 12.

The post The Tower II Is A Sequel To An Excellent VR Obstacle Course appeared first on UploadVR.

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Steam und Microsoft Store: VR-Hinderniskurs The Tower für alle PC-Brillen

Der VR-Indie-Titel The Tower vom deutschen Entwicklerstudio Headroom.one versetzt die Spieler auf einen virtuellen Hinderniskurs, der nur mit vollem Körpereinsatz zu bestehen ist. Das VR-Spiel erschien bereits im Sommer 2017 im Early Access für die Oculus Rift im Oculus Store. Nun dürfen sich auch Besitzer anderer PC-Brillen offiziell an die Geschicklichkeitsprüfung wagen. The Tower ist ab sofort via Steam sowie dem Microsoft Store erhältlich.

The Tower – Virtueller Hinderniskurs für HTC Vive auf Steam erschienen

Der VR-Hindernisparcour The Tower setzt auf ein innovatives Spielkonzept, das den physischen Einsatz des Spielers fordert: Mit Geschicklichkeit, Reaktionsvermögen und vollem Körpereinsatz müsst ihr die anspruchsvollen Level bewältigen und die Spitze des Turms erreichen. Dabei gilt es, zahlreichen Fallen wie fliegenden Speeren und Sägen auszuweichen und dabei Hindernissen zu überwinden. Das könnt ihr tun, indem er springt, euch duckt oder zur Seite lehnt. Im Arcade-Modus könnt ihr zudem Münzen einsammeln und Objekte zerschlagen.

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Die Fortbewegung müsst ihr während dessen nicht selbst übernehmen, denn ihr werdet automatisch durch die Level geschoben und könnt euch vollständig auf das Ausweichen konzentrieren. Grafisch setzt der VR-Hinderniskurs auf einen schlichten Polygon-Stil und trotzdem wird ein immersives Spielgefühl erreicht. Aufgrund des herausfordernden Leveldesigns bleibt jedoch generell nur selten Zeit, um die Umgebung zu begutachten.

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Nach der Veröffentlichung im Early Access im Oculus Store kündigten die Entwickler bereits damals eine Version für HTC Vive an. Seit dem 16. Februar ist der VR-Titel nun offiziell auf Steam erschienen und lädt zur Hüpfpartie ein.

The Tower ist bis zum 23. Februar zum reduzierten Preis von 5,59 Euro für HTC Vive auf Steam erhältlich. Im Oculus Store steht der VR-Parcour für Oculus Rift für 6,99 Euro zum Download zur Verfügung. Besitzer einer Windows VR-Brille können das VR-Spiel zum selben Preis im Microsoft Store erwerben.

(Quellen: VR Focus | Headroom One)

Der Beitrag Steam und Microsoft Store: VR-Hinderniskurs The Tower für alle PC-Brillen zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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A Trial Awaits as The Tower Comes to HTC Vive

Last summer developer Headroom.one released an unusual Early Access title for Oculus Rift on Oculus Home, an obstacle course style experience called The Tower where players have to stand on a moving platform whilst manoeuvring around all sorts of nasty items. This weekend Headroom.one has quietly released The Tower onto Steam with sole support for HTC Vive.

The Tower screenshot 3

The premise behind The Tower is very simple, all you need to do is make it to the top with dying, there’s just one small issue, between the bottom and top there’s an awful lot of spikey, swinging, slicing and dicing objects on route that aim to kill you.

Whilst there are some lovely views on offer, there’s no time to admire them or you’ll soon find yourself back at the beginning. While staying balanced on the rolling road is quite important you need to avoid being shot by spears or blown away by cannons. To make things that little bit more interactive there are coins to collect on route and not all of the traps involve dodging. You may need to jump gaps, grab hold of ledges, or find an axe to help you on your journey.

VRFocus originally previewed The Tower for Oculus Rift, saying: “For an early access title The Tower feels fairly solid, sure it’s hard and unforgiving at points but sometimes that’s all you need, no hand holding, just a challenge that’s a bit different from all the wave shooters that don’t offer anything new.”

The Tower screenshot 2

The Tower can be purchased now on Steam with a limited time discount available. Until 23rd February, 2018 there’s a 20 percent saving on offer, dropping the cost from £5.19 GBP to £4.15. Should Headroom.one add further features to The Tower or expand support, VRFocus will let you know.

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Preview: The Tower – Get Ready to Move, a lot

Indie virtual reality (VR) developers have come up with all sorts of innovative videogames that not only tests the hardware to its limits but also a players own endurance and skill. The latter is certainly true of Headroom.one’s new early access release for Oculus Rift, The Tower. Essentially an obstacle course set on a conveyor belt, The Tower will get you moving all over the place so make sure you’ve cleared that room first.

The videogame begins by emerging from a cave, opening out in front of you is a massive series of buildings that stretch into the sky. After a brief introduction to the main controls – there aren’t many, just re-centering you in the room and speeding up the conveyor – it’s time to ascend to the top.

The Tower screenshot 1

The Tower is littered with obstacles (as you might expect), starting off simply with a few low hanging trees, then progressing onto arrows flying about, buzz saws trying to slice you up, massive swinging hammers, spikes coming out the walls and a whole lot more. As mentioned the title will make you move, from a little side step, to ducking, dodging and jumping your way as far as possible. A bit of flexibility goes along way as well – this is not the videogame for you if you’ve got bad knees.

It’s not just about carefully standing on the belt either. Jumping sections will have you grabbing onto poles to climb so you’ll almost get a full body workout from an experience asks so little and so much in equal portions.

Just as it tests your body it’ll also test your patience. Don’t see a low hanging branch or step off the conveyor and that’s it your dead. There’s no restarting from where you died, just at certain checkpoints – don’t make it to the first and its all the way back to the start for you. So this is where you need to be quick and agile to make it through to the end, and patient. Start to get frustrated and you’ll speed the conveyor up, which can lead to more problems (restarts) than it solves.

The Tower screenshot 3

And that’s pretty much it. There are no weird and wonderful extra modes, a tacked on multiplayer – although some sort of co-op where you help or hinder each other would be interesting – or any other fluff. For an early access title The Tower feels fairly solid, sure it’s hard and unforgiving at points but sometimes that’s all you need, no hand holding, just a challenge that’s a bit different from all the wave shooters that don’t offer anything new.