Hands-on: ‘The Wizards – Dark Times’ Brings More Intuitive Spellcasting, Story-based Gameplay & More

Carbon Studio, the Poland-based team behind The Wizards (2018), is bringing a standalone expansion to the series to PC VR headsets early next year called The Wizards – Dark Times​. We got a chance to go hands-on with a 10-minute slice of Dark Times here at Gamescom 2019.

I had an opportunity to pop into the original Wizards back when it arrived on Early Access in 2017, and although the team has since released the full version into the wild, now dubbed The Wizards – Enhanced Edition (2018), I haven’t really had the chance to jump back into the magical realm of Maloira to experience for myself just how enhanced it has become during its year in Early Access. So while I’m not a professed disciple of the series, I can say that on its own merit that the Dark Times demo I played checks some significant boxes in a few departments, the most noticeable of which is its more intuitive spellcasting system and its cohesive and striking visuals.

Moreover, the game is said to be more of a linear adventure and less arena-based, offering what Carbon calls a “short but lore-rich story from Meliora’s chronicles,” making it less of a points-driven wave shooter and more of a proper dungeoning experience, replete with its own story line.

The demo (played on Rift S) plopped me into a post-tutorial level, giving me a few spells at my disposal, including gesture-based spells such as fireballs, frostbow, throwable ethereal shields, and a force push that can knock down enemies.

 

Although this sounds pretty similar to the old system, Dark Times is also bringing secondary functions to many of its spells. For example, the frostbow can be transformed into two powerful frost-spears by simply bringing your hands apart.

What is radically different about Dark Times though is these spells do elemental damage more in line with standard RPGs, i.e. an ice attack can freeze an enemy in its path so you can transition to a more powerful spell to deal more damage. Mixing the elemental spells is also more intuitive too: freezing an enemy with a few frost-arrows or well placed frost-spear will freeze them, and a fire spell will again release them.

 

It gets a little more complicated than that though, as it also depends on which environment you’re in at any given time. If you’re sloshing around in a wet spot along the path​, enemies standing in water will automatically become resistant to fire magic, but also be more vulnerable to lightning spells too. You can replicate this vulnerability at any time by freezing an enemy, lighting them on fire (which makes them wet) and then shocking them with a lightning spell—something that provides a little more realism and solidity to the world.

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The studio maintains that all of the game’s spells have been reworked to play different roles in typical combat situations, which in end effect aims to get players to think more tactically about the spells they should use, and not continuously mashing the same ones over and over.

Besides the spells themselves, which did feel simple and reliable to use, I was also pretty impressed by the visual side of things too. In comparison to the studio’s previous titles Alice VR (2016) and the Early Access version of The Wizards, Carbon seems to really be hitting their stride with Dark Times, as lighting, textures, art direction, voice actors, and overall performance are all pretty much on point. Of course, a 10-minute demo can only reveal so much, although it looks like the standalone continuation of the series has really puts its best foot forward here.

The Wizards – Dark Times​ is slated to launch in Q1 2020 on the standard slew of modern SteamVR-compatible VR headsets. Carbon Studio is also planning an Oculus Quest version, and says that a PSVR version is also a future possibility.

The post Hands-on: ‘The Wizards – Dark Times’ Brings More Intuitive Spellcasting, Story-based Gameplay & More appeared first on Road to VR.

Gamescom 2019 to Host The VR Games Showcase Featuring Six Titles

Next month the biggest videogame event in Europe takes place in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom 2019. And for the first time, several studios from the virtual reality (VR) industry will be hosting a tie-in event called The VR Games Showcase.

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets

The brainchild of Fast Travel Games’ Andreas Juliusson, The VR Games Showcase will feature Carbon Studio, Survios, Neat Corporation, Resolution Games and Cortopia Studios. Only open to media and content creators (most of Gamescom is open to the public), they’ll be able to get hands-on time with some of the latest VR offers.

Presented by Perp Games, visitors will get exclusive hands-on time with Survios’ The Walking Dead OnslaughtFast Travel Games’ The Curious Tale of the Stolen PetsBudget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency by Neat Corporation and Fast Travel Games, Acron: Attack of the Squirrels! by Resolution Games, Cortopia Studios’ An Adventure in Wonderland and The Wizards: Dark Times by Carbon Studios.

“The VR Games Showcase’ is a concept I came up with 6 months ago. The VR industry is still young and most active VR game studios are relatively small, like us, with the same kind of marketing challenges and lack of resources. However, if multiple studios would join forces to share costs and efforts, I believed we would be able to deliver a real heavyweight event concept with clear value for both media and content creators to attend!” says Juliusson in a statement.

“As I started to reach out about this initiative, I was met with a massive interest not only from the studios but also from Perp Games, whose investment helped bring it to life. Now, the biggest studio event collaboration in the VR games industry is finally happening, with the premiere taking place at Gamescom this summer! I am hoping we can keep building on this concept and allow ‘The VR Games Showcase’ to grow going forward. This unique collaboration really raises the bar for VR games marketing and event presence.”

The Walking Dead Onslaught

‘The VR Games Showcase’ is presented by global games publisher Perp Games. Perp Games is a market leader in VR publishing and proud to support such innovative concepts,” adds Perp Games MD, Rob Edwards. “We truly believe VR offers players a unique gameplay experience and ‘The VR Games Showcase’ is a great way to allow gamers to experience hands-on, some of the most exceptional VR games being developed.”

VRFocus will be attending Gamescom 2019 so keep an eye out for the latest VR videogames coverage from the event.

Gamescom 2019 VR Games Showcase To Highlight Six Upcoming Games

The VR Games Showcase Gamescom

Despite rising popularity, VR has always struggled to standout at major gaming events. That’s why we put on the first ever E3 VR Showcase last month. Next month, though, a number of independent VR developers will band together to showcase their latest projects at one of the industry’s biggest events – Gamescom.

The 2019 iteration of the show, hosted in Cologne, Germany, will be the first to feature The VR Games Showcase, presented by Perp Games. The showcase will feature the likes of Fast Travel Games (Apex Construct), Neat Corporation (Budget Cuts), Carbon Studio (The Wizards), Survios (Creed: Rise to Glory), Resolution Games (Bait!) and Cortopia Studios (Wands). Each will be showing off new titles on their way to headsets in the near future.

Focused on media and content creators at its first event, the showcase will offer hands-on time with games and access to their developers. For VR, this is an unprecedented unification of studios. It’s something that Andreas Juliusson, Marketing & Communications Manager at Fast Travel Games, says needs to happen.

“During my years as marketer in the flat screen gaming industry, I got to see the value in being present at the biggest gaming conventions where media and content creators gathered,” Juliusson said. “The reality for most VR games developers today however, with the industry still relatively young, is that we often do not have the financial resources or the expertise to make an impact on these events by ourselves.

“This got me thinking: What if I would reach out to other studios in the same situation as us and ask them to join forces in a combined initiative, where we could share costs and efforts? I was immediately met with massive interest and soon after, we found a sponsor in global games publisher Perp Games who helped bring the initiative to life. Come August, six awesome developers are premiering with ‘The VR Games Showcase’ together at Gamescom and we could not be more excited!”

In its first event, the showcase is only open to members of the media and content creators. Juliusson says, however, that if the show is successful it will come to other shows and maybe to the public.

So what can you expect at the show? We’ve rounded up the announced titles below.

Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency

Neat Corp and Fast Travel Games’ unexpected sequel was one of the big reveals at our E3 VR Showcase. This event will offer the first hands-on with the project.

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets

This is another offering from Fast Travel. It’s an adorable-looking puzzler that plays with small-scale VR. Again, first hands-on is on offer at the show.

Acron

The latest from Resolution Games, Acron is a fast-paced multiplayer title between VR and mobile users. Its crazy brand of action will be playable at the show.

The Wizards: Dark Times

This is a standalone expansion to Carbon Studios’ successful magical VR game, The Wizards. We had a CG trailer at the E3 VR Showcase, but first hands-on is at Gamescom.

An Adventure In Wonderland (Name Not Final)

This is the first we’ve heard about the new game from Cortopia Studios. Full details are expected to be revealed during Gamescom itself.

The Walking Dead Onslaught

More VR zombie-slaying awaits in the latest VR title from Survios. Onslaught promises to bring together the team’s past learnings for a truly gory shooter experience.

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E3 2019: The Wizards: Dark Times Is A Standalone Expansion From Carbon Studios

E3 2019: The Wizards: Dark Times Is A Standalone Expansion From Carbon Studios

Carbon Studios just released another port of its spell-casting VR game, The Wizards, this time on Oculus Quest. But the developer is far from done with the series.

As revealed at our E3 VR Showcase yesterday, Carbon is working on an expansion to The Wizards named Dark Times. You can check out the stunning CGI trailer below, which promises new characters and environments. Carbon says this will be a new adventure in which players travel through time to take on new foes and face more challenges.

And that’s about all we know right now. The trailer’s pretty cryptic, but we do know the game will be available to wishlist on Steam pretty soon. That practically confirms a release on Rift, Vive and hopefully the Valve Index headset, but no word on other platforms. Along with Quest, The Wizards is also available on PSVR, so hopefully, those platforms get some love too.

We quite liked the original Wizards. Back in our 2018 review we said it was “one of the better” magical VR games. “Its spell-casting system is interactive without being too cumbersome and the campaign mode packs a decent amount of content,” David Jagneaux wrote. “Plenty of collectibles, a replayable Arena mode, and lots of mission augmentations add up to this being one of the best ways to live out your most fantastical magical fantasies in VR. We just wanted more and preferably multiplayer of some kind.”

That’s far from all that was announced at our E3 VR Showing. Want more? Head over to our roundup post where you can catch all the headlines and watch the show back.

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