There might be lots of talk about the metaverse at the moment but one company that’s been walking its own path between the real and virtual is Tender Claws with its theatrical app The Under Presents. Originally having live actors play some of the character roles for a limited time, the studio has confirmed they’ll be returning this Friday.
While videogames like Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets have utilised live performers to engage with players, Tender Claws’ The Under Presents was the first to offer this kind of experience to the public. If you missed it the first time around now there’s a chance to immerse yourself in live VR theatre, whilst those that did get to experience performances such as The Under Presents: Tempest will be able to enjoy new stories and mini-events.
Just like before, The Under Presents won’t be filled with live actors all the time, blending pre-recorded performances with live roving actors appearing from time to time. This means you can have a different experience each time you visit, enjoyed either in single-player or with the option to connect remotely with other players.
For this new run, many of The Under Presents’ original cast members return including Brandon Bales, Michael Bates, Karlie Blair, Sophie Cooper, James Cowan, Whitton Frank, Genevieve Flati, Stephanie Hyden, and many more.
The Under Presents started out as a rather surreal virtual theatre where you could meet these actors or players in one large hub area before beginning a solo campaign called Timeboat! This narrative piece is set on The Aickman, a doomed research vessel trapped in Arctic ice. Using time manipulation players have to save the characters and unravel the mysteries of the ship. This was expanded upon with The Under Presents: Tempest, a multiplayer performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
In addition to the live actors returning, Tender Claws has announced a new merch store for those that love a bit of official swag.
Step into The Under Presents from 1st April to encounter the performers for a limited time – Tender Claws hasn’t indicated how long this will be. For further updates on the latest innovative use cases of VR, keep reading gmw3.
Live actors are returning to Tender Claws’ experience The Under Presents for a limited run starting from April 1.
The Under Presents launched in late 2019, as a wholly unique VR experience that merged single player, multiplayer, social VR and live theater together into one surreal package. There’s a whole single player campaign to work through, but there’s also a multiplayer and social side to the experience that blends pre-recorded and live segments together and is ever-changing.
Three years on from release, many of the original cast members are returning for a “limited engagement” of new live performances in The Under Presents. From April 1, players will be able to view these new performances that feature “new story beats and mini events to explore.”
Take note – Live performers are returning to The Under Presents starting April 1st! Come witness the emergence of friends, old and new, from the sands of time! pic.twitter.com/AQuDi1Ubyi
You can see a glimpse of what to expect in the video embedded above, tweeted by Tender Claws, showing a giant (and presumably live) skeleton bend down to pick up an item and interact with players.
Tender Claws is known as a studio that pushes the boundaries of VR and examines the medium through a surrealist, critical lens across varied types of experiences. Its most recent release, Virtual Virtual Reality 2, was a very different project that was equally ambitious as The Under Presents, but not quite as successful in its execution.
Will you be returning to The Under Presents for new live performances? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Tender Claws is bringing back its live-in-VR performances of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, presented in their VR experience The Under Presents.
The show’s first run began in July 2020, with $15 tickets providing access to a live retelling of the Shakespeare classic guided by an actor who joins you live in VR. Now, The Tempest returns to The Under Presents for a limited time with shows running each weekend in March.
Each session runs for 45 minutes and costs $14.99, which includes access to one scheduled performance of The Tempest and permanent access to The Under multiplayer space. The base application is available to download for free, with tickets to The Tempest available as an in-app purchase. Each show includes one live actor and 8 ticketed participants.
Tempest is back for a limited time! Accompany a live performer as they guide you through a very special retelling of Shakespeare's classic in VR. Showtimes every weekend in March, with each show running at 45 min. Tickets on sale now in The Under Presents! #VR#ImmersiveTheatrepic.twitter.com/D67bDAUzmF
Sessions will be available between 5pm-8pm Pacific on Fridays and Saturdays, and between 10am-1pm on Sundays. While The Under Presents is available on both Quest and PC VR, access to The Tempest is exclusive to Rift and Quest via Oculus platforms.
Writing about a preview performance last year, Ian Hamilton said that The Under Presents’ version of The Tempest was “unlike anything else in virtual reality right now.” Each actor will have their own way of retelling the story and inviting participants to take part, so no two sessions of the show will be the same.
With access to the main app now available for free, users can also try out a 45-minute introduction to The Under Presents at no charge. Access to The Timeboat single player experience is then available as an in-app purchase as well, for $11.99.
The Under Presents’ performances of The Tempest run throughout March, with tickets available in-app now.
It’s the time of the season again for reflection, when we look back at this year’s greatest achievements in VR gaming and remind ourselves just how far we’ve come in the four years since consumers first delved head-first into truly immersive worlds.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year was plunged into an global economic cooldown which saw many industries grind to a halt. Comparatively unaffected though was the games industry, which could thankfully continue as developers took to finishing their projects at home from a safe distance.
In our fourth annual Game of the Year Awards, we again put ourselves to the task of celebrating this year’s greats in VR gaming. Moreover, we salute all developers for offering up their hard work and steadfast curiosity in the face of the same personal adversity we’ve all no doubt shared. We’re grateful for having safe places where we can connect and explore, and for lighting a world which at times may have seemed grim and unrelenting.
For many, this steady stream of VR games has been a lifeline to sanity, as physically stepping outside of our homes could mean either putting ourselves or our loved ones in danger’s path. We thank you for willing your virtual realties into existence for all of us to enjoy.
If you would have told anyone back in 2016—the year the first consumer PC VR headsets hit the market—that Valve (of all companies) would one day build a AAA Half-Life game (of all franchises) specifically for VR, we’d say you were crazy. Yet here we are, in 2020, giving Half-Life: Alyx our PC VR Game of the Year Award.
But before the release of Alyx earlier this year, there was still plenty of skepticism to go around. It was Valve’s first full-fledged VR game and the first Half-Life game in more than a decade. Could Valve deliver anything to possibly meet all that hype?
Well, the answer is now resoundingly clear. It turns out that Valve’s old-school, methodical (if sometimes messy) approach to game design works just as well for VR games as it does for non-VR games.
From the very opening scene—where players are, for the first time, truly standing before the monolithic Citadel in the middle of City 17—Alyx is immersive through and through thanks to heaps of detail, an engaging and interactive world, and one of the most memorable sequences seen in any VR game to date… the dreaded ‘Jeff’.
With excellent pacing that weaves together combat, exploration, and puzzles, Alyx takes players on a seamless journey through the well-realized streets, cellars, and rooftops of City 17, all the way to a mysterious conclusion that has serious consequences for the future of the franchise.
Against all odds, one of the most legendary game developers brought one of the most legendary franchises to VR in stunning fashion. Given that the studio stood to make tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) more in revenue by making a non-VR game, it’s hard to call Alyx anything but a love letter to the VR medium.
Half-Life: Alyx stands as VR’s new benchmark in graphics, immersion, and scope, and I’m sure that Valve itself is as eager as the rest of us to see who will be next to raise the bar.
While it surely brings ample opportunity, there’s nearly an equal amount of risk in using the likeness of an iconic character like Iron Man. While the character has plenty of backstory to draw from, delivering the experience of actually stepping into the character’s shoes—the experience of actually being Iron Man rather than just watching him—is no trivial task, especially in the still young and often ill-defined medium of VR.
Before Iron Man VR arrived to the rescue, there really were no standout superhero games in VR. There were attempts, certainly, but none that truly planted a flag and said “this is how it’s done.” Developer Camouflaj, however, turned out to be up to the task.
And they did it in a most ambitious way. While choosing to focus their game on a superhero that didn’t fly would have surely avoid plenty of headaches, picking one that did fly forced them to tackle the serious challenge of keeping players comfortable even as they sailed through the sky.
What’s more, the game’s innovative flying system was specially designed around Iron Man’s character—around his palm-mounted repulsor jets specifically—bringing an immersive flair to the way players control themselves in the game by aiming their hands to control thrust. The result was a truly fun and thrilling method of locomotion that balanced high-speed maneuvering with aerial combat.
But more than just coming up with a novel flight system for VR, Iron Man VR contextualized its gameplay with an engaging story that explored the man behind the mask, Tony Stark, nearly as much as his superhero persona. Combined with immersive details sprinkled throughout, Iron Man VR delivered a package that felt whole and delivered the fantasy it promised.
It wasn’t clear what to expect from Skydance Interactive’s take on the storied The Walking Dead zombie franchise. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners could have easily been a ham-handed attempt at shoehorning a standard first-person shooter into VR. We’ve seen them before, and they weren’t pretty.
As soon as you start the game though, it becomes immediately apparent that Saints & Sinners demands the player to invest themselves completely in the experience—it’s a true VR native. In this scaled-down RPG, moral choices meet zombie-killing carnage in a way we simply haven’t seen in VR up to this point. You’re instantly thrust into a world where supplies are scarce, crafting useful items is key, and coming in contact with any zombie is a fight for survival.
It’s a gruesome and realistic experience in all the right ways: a zombie can be hacked to pieces with any manner of sharp object, but you’ll lose precious stamina than you’ll need as you run away from the evening horde. If you’re a decent shot, you can try to stick to headshots the entire way, but as the mob grabs at you, you’re left with very little choice but to look them straight in the eye sockets and brain them with a knife, cleaver, or pointy stick. Complete your mission and get the hell out of dodge, or face the consequences; with each zombie presenting potential death, the horde isn’t something you’ll ever want to face.
Outside of its impressive physics-based melee and gun combat, one of the most frightening parts is navigating the muddy waters of the New Orleans gang life, where you literally choose to side with one faction by stoking blood fueds by personally executing NPCs, or by walking your own path as a freelancer. Although the adventure isn’t open-world, discrete maps are so large and rich in detail that you’ll probably forget in the first five minutes anyway.
The standalone version of the game on both Quest and Quest 2 is lower res than its PC VR forbear, but that’s saying very little. As is, the game is more than the sum of its parts, and shines even with the obligatory knock in visual fidelity for a game of this scale, polish, and depth.
Each year we try to come up with games that shine in specific departments, so we tend to highlight titles that haven’t already won our platform-based awards. This year though, there’s simply no ignoring the titanic effort that went into making Half-Life: Alyx the most immersive VR game of 2020.
From the liquid shaders inside the many errant bottles laying around, to flippable light switches, to the full baby grand piano, every object has been loving realized with one thing in mind: immersing the player into the world of Half-Life like never before.
While full, unfettered object interaction is great for immersion, this also lets players get creative with how to use seemingly banal stuff to their advantage, like carrying a basket full of grenades when you run out of space in your inventory.
In Half-Life: Alyx, there are only a few misses in terms of immersion, which are more linked to stylistic choices by Valve. You can’t melee enemies, and the gesture-based menu pulls you out a bit from the action, but even with those minor offenses, Valve has effectively created VR’s most detailed game to date that will be difficult to rival in the years to come.
Building a new car is, for the most part, putting new spin on a concept that’s largely already been figured out by those that came before. While non-VR game development similarly stands on the shoulders of past giants, in VR, almost any step you take is likely to mean breaking fresh ground—right down to rethinking how players will even move around your game world.
Developer nDreams embraced the unknown and built an entire game around a novel locomotion scheme that had players sleuthing through sluices in a tactical kayak.
It might sound a little ridiculous on the surface, but dive a little deeper and you’ll see that it really fits VR well. Not only is paddling a much more immersive and intentional way to get around than using using a joystick, the kayak worked great as a sort of ‘inventory’ system for the player thanks to weapon and ammo holsters along its sides.
While a smooth moving and turning kayak could surely prove challenging from a comfort standpoint, nDreams managed to come up with a snap-turn solution that worked seamlessly with the kayak locomotion, allowing more players to enjoy their time on the waterways.
The locomotion innovation of Phantom: Covert Ops makes us excited to see what the studio comes up with next.
Flying an X-Wing in VR has been the dream ever since EA Games released the free X-Wing VR Mission DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront Rogue One in 2016 on PS4. And in a big way, EA’s Motive Studios delivered on that dream with this massive first-person dogfighter, which lets you play through an well-crafted singe-player campaign, or cross-platform online battles.
Motive Studios took on the mantle of making Star Wars: Squadrons feel like a native VR game which lets you play with a giant pool of players, delivering support for PC VR, traditional PC monitors, PSVR, PS4, and Xbox One players together. And when it comes to dropping in for a casual dogfight, you simply can’t waste time waiting around.
To boot, playing in VR has its clear advantages, as you can naturally track enemies by looking through your cockpit’s canopy windows, all while keeping an eye on your 3D radar. One of the hopes we had for the game was motion controller support for added immersion, however simulator enthusiasts know that the most immersive way to control a vehicle in VR is using a HOTAS setup, which lets you play with physical thrusters and flight sticks so you can truly feel like you’ve stepped into your own Star Wars universe spaceship. You can also play with gamepad, which is fun too since the game offers up arcade controls instead of pure simulator-style flying like you might find in Elite Dangerous (2014).
Both the world inside and outside of your canopy is a visual treat. While cinematic cutscenes are reduced to 2D windows, the game makes up for this by putting you on the deck of each ship to speak face-to-face with some of the most detailed character models we’ve seen in VR. Crafted with motion capture, the game’s NPCs seem to inch very close to the far side of the Uncanny Valley—something you’ll appreciate more from the inside of a VR headset.
In all, Star Wars: Squadrons gives VR gamers everything it has to offer on traditional platforms and more. It also sends a clear message to AAA studios that VR doesn’t have to be a second class citizen when it can slot in so well.
Cubism is a spatial puzzle game that shows that an interface can be beautiful through simplicity. The interface strikes a perfect balance between recognizable affordances and VR native flourishes like the use of depth and placement within arms reach. When it’s done the job selecting a level, it gets completely out of the way, allowing the player to directly interact with the puzzle before them.
The interface also hides a little secret which also doubles as a subtle but enjoyable means of ‘progression’ in the game. Each puzzle you complete represents a musical chord which you can hear when you select the level. Played one after another, each of these chords is part of a complete song which is every bit as beautiful in its simplicity as the interface itself. Once you complete all puzzles, the song is yours to enjoy.
There’s not much else to say—and that’s the point. Cubism’s interface does exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
Indie studios take risks that larger, more established names in the industry simply won’t. And supporting those indie devs can mean playing some of the most unique and inventive games out there. Granted, there was a tad less risk involved for Pixel Ripped 1995, a retro-inspired VR game that follows in the footsteps of its popular predecessor, Pixel Ripped 1989 (2018). Still, it’s an amazingly creative slice of mid-90s nostalgia that’s expertly interwoven into the pioneering genres that made so many of us fall in love with games in the first place.
Pitching a unique ‘game within a game’ storytelling style, Pixel Ripped 1995 acts as the setting for its constant flights of fancy, mashing up the fourth console generation’s pioneering genres into a charming 3D world. Without brushing to close to infringe on any copyrights, Pixel Ripped 1995 authors a love letter to the generation’s colorful platformers, side-scrolling beat ’em ups, and RPGs.
At five hours of gameplay, it’s short and sweet, but critically doesn’t overextend itself either. Its linear gameplay offers a virtual smorgasbord of variety as you’re always left guessing at what’s next, leaving little room for boredom.
Release Date: Available from July 7th- November 15th, 2020
The Under Presents (2019) wasn’t released this year, but it did host a very special limited time immersive theater show to Oculus Quest and Rift-owning audiences that delved into some seriously interesting experimental territory. In a sea of graphical and technical marvels this year, the game’s immersive reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest took the cake.
In a time when live actors are mostly out of work, The Under Presents invited expert thespians to lead groups of up to eight VR users through a rejuvenated retelling of the popular 17th-century theater piece. Built with user participation in mind, it felt more like acting in a high school theater play, with roles dolled out on the fly.
Showing up in the lobby, which is conveniently placed at the entrance of the game’s main area, participants were greeted with interesting toys and magical object to play around with as you hang with your fellow amateur actors. Once the show begins, you’re transported to a campfire to meet a live actor, who in the show’s meta-narrative took on the role of Prospero and many others. The guide weaves the story throughout dreamlike set pieces, and gets everyone involved in acting out parts in the story. Since players are mute, your guide acts as a professional voice over artist by filling in your lines.
In a time when interacting in large groups can be dangerous, The Under Presents The Tempest offered up a truly novel and creative experience that, even with its low-poly art style, felt like a tantalizingly real break from reality. We’re hoping to see more from developers Tender Claws in the near future, whether it be encore presentations of the experience or entirely new interactive theater pieces yet to come.
Note: Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year Award must be available to the public on or before December 13th, 2020 to allow for ample deliberation. Games must also natively support the target platform as to ensure full operability.
A few VR games have been nominated in this year’s Unity Awards across several categories.
Unity is the most popular game engine used across various platforms, including VR. However, it can be used for much more than just video games too, and that’s reflected in the 18 varied categories for this year’s Unity Awards. Of course, only games that use the Unity game engine are eligible.
The nominees for the Unity Awards Best VR Game in 2020 are Cubism, Iron Man VR and The Under Presents. Cubism is a fantastic puzzle game on PC VR, Quest and Quest 2 that I absolutely fell in love with in my review earlier this year. It’s smart, easy to understand yet challenging. The Under Presents is a game that plays with live narrative and multiplayer interactions in a way that is truly unique to VR, and well worth checking out — though we should note that some of the live elements of the experience may no longer be active. And while Iron Man VR was marred by it’s loading screens, when you finally got into the game it was amazing to embody Tony Stark and Iron Man.
Meanwhile, co-operative ghost hunting game Phasmophobia, which offers optional VR support, is also nominated in the Best Multiplayer Game category, going up against Fall Guys, Crowfall and G.T.F.O..
Voting for the Unity Awards is now open — to vote, head over to www.awards.unity.com/2020. Which title are you giving your support for the best Unity VR game of 2020? Let us know in the comments below.
The Under Presents, a genre-defying VR experience that takes live theater and flips it on its head, is again offering showtimes for its immersive retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
We had a chance to go hands-on with Tempest for its debut run back in July, and it was overall a really fun and interesting experience—especially for anyone missing out on group activities due to being stuck at home. If you’re worried about stuffy pre-modern English, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with Tempest, as actors aim to get you closer to their abridged version of the early 17th-century classic.
Now developers Tender Claws are offering a special run of Tempest during the Raindance Immersive festival, with new showtimes taking place between November 5th – 15th.
Three showtimes are offered each day, starting on the hour at 2PM, 3PM, 4PM ET (local starting time here), and are accessible as a $15 in-app purchase exclusively through the Oculus Quest Store and Oculus Rift Store. Tender Claws says to arrive at the lobby area 10 minutes before you scheduled showtime.
Each performance lasts about 45 minutes, and promises personal variations among each actor, who guides you through an immersive retelling of The Tempest, replete with costume changes, interactive bits for the whole group (max six people), and plenty of immersive environments to bring you closer to the story.
The Under Presents, a genre-defying VR experience that takes live theater and flips it on its head, is again offering showtimes for its immersive retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
We had a chance to go hands-on with Tempest for its debut run back in July, and it was overall a really fun and interesting experience—especially for anyone missing out on group activities due to being stuck at home. If you’re worried about stuffy pre-modern English, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with Tempest, as actors aim to get you closer to their abridged version of the early 17th-century classic.
Now developers Tender Claws are offering a special run of Tempest during the Raindance Immersive festival, with new showtimes taking place between November 5th – 15th.
Three showtimes are offered each day, starting on the hour at 2PM, 3PM, 4PM ET (local starting time here), and are accessible as a $15 in-app purchase exclusively through the Oculus Quest Store and Oculus Rift Store. Tender Claws says to arrive at the lobby area 10 minutes before you scheduled showtime.
Each performance lasts about 45 minutes, and promises personal variations among each actor, who guides you through an immersive retelling of The Tempest, replete with costume changes, interactive bits for the whole group (max six people), and plenty of immersive environments to bring you closer to the story.
Not ready to plonk down your first $100 on Quest 2 games? Thankfully there’s an impressive number of free games, experiences, apps, and social VR platforms to keep you playing before you’re paying.
We have however included App Lab games. If you want to see more, SideQuest’s search function is a great resource for finding free stuff and demos. Below you’ll find some of the top App Lab games in addition to those hosted on the official store.
Free Games
Population: One
Population: One is basically VR’s most successful battle royale, letting you climb, fly, shoot, and team-up with whoever dares. Once paid, the free-to-play game does feature microtransactions, but only for cosmetics, which is nice. It’s still a paid on game on Steam though, which makes sense considering developers BixBox VR were acquired by Meta. There is more than just battle royale though: you can play in the sandbox for custom maps and rules, team deathmatch with customizable loadouts, a 12v12 war mode, and more.
Once a paid game, this room-scale shooter is now free-to-play, letting you take on friends, family and foes in head-to-head 1v1 dueling. Refine your loadout and jump into the action as you scramble for weapons and send a volley of hellfire at your enemies, all the while Matrix dodging through this innovative bullet hell meets futuristic dueling game. Spend money on cosmetics, or don’t: it’s a massive slice of fun any which way.
There aren’t a ton of free-to-play shooters out there that promise multiplayer action, however Gun Raiders fits the bill with its multiple game modes that let you jetpack through the air, climbing from wall to wall, and shoot down the competition. There’s the same sort of microtransactions you see in bigger games, but it they’re all avatar skin stuff, so no pay-to-win here.
Hyper Dash is a multiplayer shooter that basically fills in where Echo Combat never could (never mind that Echo Combat was never on Quest, and is now entirely defunct on Oculus PC). Letting you quick dash, sprint, and rail grind around, Hyper Dash manages to serve up an impressive number of modes, including Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Elimination. You can also take on both Quest and SteamVR users thanks to the inclusion of cross-play.
Ultimechs should look pretty familiar: it’s basically Rocket League, but instead of driving around in cars, you’re given rocket-powered fists to punch balls into the goal. Online multiplayer includes both 1v1 and 2v2 matches, offering up tons of opportunities to earn cosmetic gear that will let you outfit your battle mech into something unique. There are also now two paid battle passes too, offering up a ton of cosmetics to set you apart from the competition.
Battle Talent is one of those fighting sims that let you go ham on ragdoll baddies, which in this case are wily goblins and loads of skelingtons. This physics-based roguelite action game lets you climb, run and slide your way through levels as you slash, shoot, and wield magic against your foes.
Cards & Tankards is a pretty addictive social collectible card game, letting you collect and battle friends with over 180 cards. With cross-play against SteamVR headsets (also free on PC), you may consider hosting your regular game night playing more than a few rounds in the game’s characteristic medieval fantasy tavern.
Ever wanted to play Counter-Strike on Quest? Pavlov Shack offers up a pretty comparable experience, as you play in either deathmatch or co-op mode. It’s got all of the realistic gunplay and much of the fun of the paid PC VR title, but it’s still going strong with a free open beta on Quest.
Still in open beta, this 4v4 arena-scale shooter requires space and Quest 2 (or Quest Pro) owning buddies—both of which you may not have. Still, it makes for an incredible time that is basically the best version of laser tag you’ve ever played. You’ll need SideQuest to download this one since it disables Quest’s guardian system, but it’s well worth jumping through the hoops to get working if you have everything else.
This humble game of tag started out life on SideQuest and App Lab, offering up an infectious bit of gameplay that’s now available for free on the official Quest Store. You’ll be lumbering around a tree-lined arena using its unique grab-the-world locomotion style that lets you amble around like a great ape. Chase the other apes and infect them or climb for your life as the infected chase you. Pure and simple. Make sure you’re far from TVs, furniture, babies, and pets because you will punch something in the mad dash for sweet, low-poly freedom.
No real cash gambling here, but PokerStars VR not only let you go all-in on games of Texas Hold’em, but now a full casino’s worth of table games a machines that are sure to light up the dopamine starved pleasure centers of your brain. It’s all free play, so you won’t be risking real cash unless you buy in-game chips, which cannot be turned back into real money: it’s only to keep your bankroll flush for free play.
Gym Class – Basketball is the solution if you’re looking to shoot some hoops and dunk like you probably can’t on a physical court. Online multiplayer lets you go head-to-head for a pretty convincing game of b-ball thanks to the game’s physics-based and full-body kinematics.
This plucky roguelite dungeon crawler is still in beta (still!), but there’s a reason it’s become an App Lab favorite. Explore a vast dungeon to explore, housing plenty of baddies just asking for the steel of your sword, knives, and arrows. You’ll climb over deep pits, dodge lethal traps, and search for hidden treasures. Smash all the pots and crates you can before it officially launches on Quest sometime in the near future.
Would-be wizards, this is your time to shine. Explore a magical laboratory and take on the job of apprentice wizard. The lab is full of gadgets and magical stuff to mess around with; as one of the games that natively supports Quest’s hand tracking, you can put your controllers down and get experimenting with this little slice of the dark arts.
Since the recent Fishin’ Buddies update, this classic VR title has gotten a whole new lease on life as a multiplayer VR fishing game that lets you sit back and crack a cold one with the boys as you reel in the big’uns. The additional social areas also let you sit back between your fishing adventures to take part in casual mini-games.
Gods of Gravity is an arcade-style RTS game where you compete in an epic showdown of between celestial gods (2-8 players). Scoop up ships and fling them to capture a nearby planet, or open wormholes to teleport them across the solar system. Hold planets and moons to boost your production. Mine asteroids for the powerful resources within. And if you dare, capture the sun for the ultimate buff. Then send a massive fleet to conquer your enemy’s home planet. Last god standing wins.
Without a doubt one of the most fun, and most expansive VR titles out there… and it’s free. Sure, you can pay real cash for in-game tokens to buy spiffy clothes for your avatar, but that’s really up to you. Gads of mini-games await you in both first-party creations such as the ever so popular co-op Quests—that could be games in their own right—to user-created stuff that will keep your pocket book gathering dust. It’s social VR, so meet people and have a ball for zero dollarydoos. Fair warning: there’s a ton of kids.
If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet in the last few years, it’s likely you’ve already heard about VRChat, the user-generated social VR space filled with… well… everything you can imagine, re-pro games included like Among Us, Mario Kart, and even a version of Beat Saber. Fashion your own avatar or download the millions of user-generated avatars out there so you can embody SpongeBob, Kirito from Sword Art Online, or any one of the million anime girl avatars that you’re bound to see there.
Horizon Worlds is still taking baby steps, although recent efforts have brought more tools and user-generated content to the platform which has rounded out things to make it more competitive with Rec Room and VRChat. You may want to check in just to see the state of Meta’s first-party VR social platform—and then check right out again—but at the price of ‘free’, you may just find an environment or community you really gel with, which is the whole reason behind social VR in the first place.
The Under Presents is hosting a limited time immersive theater show to Oculus Quest and Rift-owning audiences soon that takes William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and puts you into the story like never before.
The Under Presents is a different kind of VR experience altogether. In the base version of the game you explore the world by recursively spawning and sort of being your own AI throughout the narrative. Live actors also pop in every so often to puppeteer characters though, leaving you unsure of where the game fits on the real-to-virtual continuum. You truly have to experience it to understand it, but a much more lengthy explanation may help you grok where this unique flight-of-fancy is coming from.
Image courtesy Tender Claws
Now, developers Tender Claws have announced a new interactive experience starting on July 9th that explores a different set of social gameplay elements, all the while set to the backdrop of a retelling of The Tempest, Shakespeare’s 17th century tale of a Duke Prospero of Milan and his banishment by King Alonso of Naples. It’s a story of magic, love, redemption, loss, retrieval, exile and reunion—normally told on-stage and in full iambic pentameter.
The Under Presents: Tempest is however a group activity of sorts. You pay $15 for your ticket, show up at the the cinema lobby at your appointed time, and begin the show with an assortment of between six to eight participants.
Image captured by Road to VR
Walking around the lobby and waiting for the show to start, one person showed me how to conjure a magical onion by pulling the mask from my face, and snapping my fingers in succession. Another showed me how to see an alternate universe by picking up a glass jug and looking through it. These were mostly toys for the sake of fun distraction, but the cinema lobby, which was flooded with errant sand dunes, also set the tone of the evening . We would all need to express ourselves physically to communicate since we were muted.
Once the show begins, you’re transported to a campfire where you meet a live actor, who in the show’s meta-narrative was due to play Prospero in a proper stage show. Of course, the ever-so-topical lockdown put an end to the live performance, and you end up joining their imagination as a spirit of what things could have been.
Image courtesy Tender Claws
In the show, you’re run through interesting, dreamlike set pieces, and made to act out parts in the story, all of which are voiced-over by your guide.
To make things even more immersive, costume accessories are summoned to your expressionless avatars. I played Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, who falls in love with Ferdinand (17th century spoiler alert), the son of King Alonso. I got married in VR, but don’t tell my wife that.
Image courtesy Tender Claws
All of it reminded me of a high school drama class exercise, of course setting aside the fact that we were all spirits doing magic, and teleporting throughout discrete parts of the tale, lovingly rendered in a smart, low-poly art style.
All the while our guide would play bigger parts and lead us through the action, and control the environments without a hitch. Our guide, Kelley Pierre, was affable and kept everyone involved as she slipped in and out of characters with apparent ease.
And you may be asking: is it worth the entry price? Each performance lasts about 40 minutes, and is priced at $15. I think if you’re looking for something novel, professionally produced, and are the sort of person who likes the idea of going on walking tours, or immersive whodunits, you’ll really enjoy The Under Presents: Tempest.
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Paid performances will run from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM PT on weekdays and 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM PT on weekends, with showtimes beginning on the hour. Tickets will be available in advance as in-app purchases for $15. Shows run from July 9th to the end of September.
The Steam version of the game isn’t supporting The Tempest, as it’s exclusive to the Oculus platform, available only on Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift.
For those that live in big cities like London or New York, heading out to a theatre to see the latest play might be second nature. But many of us aren’t as used to seeing actors live on stage, such is the dominance of TV and film. Which is why a new breed of virtual reality (VR) content where you can interact with a live actor by booking specific time slots opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, and challenges. Tender Claws’ The Under Presentsis one of the more notable in this field after its arrival last year for Oculus Quest and Rift. Taking this idea another step further is The Under Presents: Tempest, embarking on a live, multiplayer performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Rather than a stage where an actor(s) can perform a play, monologue or expressive piece, what Tender Claws has achieved with The Under Presents: Tempest is more like a theatrical game. An actor takes the role of Prospero – in my case it was the very talented Terence Leclere – guiding proceedings by reciting the story, advancing the scenes and most importantly, guiding the group to enact various roles and bring the narrative to life.
If you’ve tried the core gameplay of The Under Presents then you’ll know everyone’s avatar is a faceless spirit of sorts, where you can remove a golden mask to unlock various magical features like making things disappear or change form. This continues in Tempest, so while everyone can hear Prospero, nobody can hear each other, thus everyone else has to essentially rely on mime – and clicking their fingers.
This makes The Under Presents: Tempest wonderfully abstract in its retelling of Shakespeare’s play, as no matter how the actor tries to direct proceedings that live nature opens new interpretation possibilities. Prospero gives everyone roles depending on the number of people attending. While groups can max out at eight people, for this demonstration there were four of us, so I got to play roles including a boson and the groom – the first time I’ve been married in VR.
We’d then act out each scene, wildly waving our arms at one point, looking for particular items which would set Prospero off on a little tale or delving into a banquet of food. There’s a nice ebb and flow to the experience where everyone gathers around to hear Prospero tell his tale – the first fireside scene suit this to a tea – before heading out to play their part. This fluidity means that the 40 minute run time is only approximate, although the actor will try to rein things in if time is short.
Obviously a crucial element is the actor themselves, how they portray Prospero and manage the entire experience. Tender Claws has put together a cast of 11 actors to help provide a mixture of performance times in four-hour windows – 4 pm to 8 pm PST weekdays and 11 am to 3 pm PST weekends – running from 9th July until the end of September. For my groups’ demonstration Leclere did an excellent job of bringing the Prospero character to life whilst also adapting to the ever-changing social environment. At one point I started summoning onions from my mask which he then interwove into the performance followed by trying to stop someone else wandering off too far and missing an important part of the scene.
So would I recommend The Under Presents: Tempest considering it costs $14.99 USD per show? Wholeheartedly yes, because its an experience unique to VR and certainly perfect for these current lockdown times. You’d be paying that if not more for a theatre ticket anyway and this way you get a far more engaging piece of entertainment. Hopefully, it will catch on so Tender Claws can further its experiments in this field bringing more plays to life.
GDC (@TenderClaws) 
