Time Hacker – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

October 9, 2020

The VR Game Launch Roundup: A Quest to Play the Best

Anyone with a slight interest in virtual reality (VR) will know that the launch of Oculus Quest 2 is imminent, due to arrive next Tuesday, 13th October. Previously released titles are going to see enhancements whilst other developers are using the date to launch new content. Here are the videogames confirmed so far with more expected to drop.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Skydance Interactive

One of the bigger titles set to launch for the standalone headset, Skydance Interactive’s The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has already been well received on PC VR and PlayStation VR. With an original storyline set in New Orleans, you have to survive walker filled streets looking for resources and crafting new items to help your journey. The Oculus Quest version features the Tourist Edition content, featuring three unique weapon recipes.

Supported platforms: Oculus Quest
Launch date: 13th October

Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing – UNIVRS, Inc.

Based on Studio TRIGGER’s anime, Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing will feature a new storyline within the magical universe, you’re a guest student at the famous Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy. Grabbing your flying broom, compete across more than ten tracks whilst unlocking customisation options.

Supported platforms: Oculus Quest
Launch date: 13th October

Rez Infinite – Monstars Inc. and Resonair

A visceral mix of lighting, neon colours, sound and music, Rez Infinite requires you to shoot a myriad of enemies which are synced in time with the music. Featuring the five original areas, this enhanced version also includes the VR specific Area X.

Supported platforms: Oculus Quest
Launch date: 13th October

Space Channel 5: Kinda Funky News Flash! – Grounding Inc.

Released earlier this year for PlayStation VR, Space Channel 5 VR: Kind Funky News Flash! is a rhythm-action videogame where players have to dance and strike poses to catchy tunes to score as many points as possible.

Supported platforms: Oculus Quest
Launch date: 13th October

Time Hacker – Joy Way

And for PC VR owners there’s Joy Way’s Time Hacker. You play a hero who can temporarily stop time allowing you to diffuse dangerous situations. This gives you time to add some choice uppercuts in, use their guns against them, trigger an explosive device or knock them into traffic.

Supported platforms: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality
Launch date: 14th October

July 30, 2020

Set to Launch in August, ‘Time Hacker’ Will Let You Wreak Havoc by Freezing Time

Indie VR studio Joy Way has announced an August release date for their upcoming title Time Hacker and published a new trailer which shows the game’s time-freezing gameplay.

Joy Way, the same studio behind the upcoming VR parkour action game Stride, plans to launch Time Hacker by the end of August. A new trailer shows the game’s core gameplay which allows you to freeze time and manipulate the world in dastardly ways before letting it all play out. Seemingly inspired by lighting fast superheroes like The Flash or Quicksilver, it’s a concept that seems uniquely well fit for exploration in VR.

Joy Way has been exploring the concept in VR since last year. Initially the studio released a prototype version of the time freezing mechanics in a short demo called Revenge. This was later followed by a more substantial demo earlier this year called Change Ranger.

The studio presents the game as something like a spatial puzzle; players must figure out how to dispatch their foes and save hostages using the environment around them.

Freeze Time and Manipulate the World in Time Hacker This Summer

Having refocused its efforts towards the home virtual reality (VR) market at the beginning of the year developer Joy Way has announced several videogame projects. One of these was called Change Ranger but this has now been renamed Time Hacker as the team gears up for a launch in the next couple of months.

Remember that scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past when Quicksilver runs at such speed the entire room goes into slow-mo? Well that’s essentially the premise behind Time Hacker. You play as a hero who can temporarily stop time allowing you to diffuse dangerous situations.

That doesn’t mean pausing everything and running away. You’ve got some humanoid killer robots to deal with and innocents to save, so whilst they’re defenceless you can manipulate the environment to your benefit. This gives you time to add some choice uppercuts in, use their guns against them, trigger an explosive device or knock them into traffic. And when you’re done time returns to normal and chaos ensues.

There have been lots of tweaks and improvements to the title since its first reveal such as making all the enemies robots rather than humans, the addition of more levels as well as the mechanics getting a polish.

Joy Way is looking to launch Time Hacker for PC VR headsets like Oculus Rift, Valve Index and HTC Vive via Steam in either August or September. If you like the idea Time Hacker is currently going through closed beta testing which you can signup for here.

The studio has also informed VRFocus that it plans on supporting PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest in the future, although it wouldn’t say exactly when.

As mentioned, Time Hacker isn’t the only title Joy Way is working on. The other exciting project is Stride, a parkour-style experience which has a Mirror’s Edge feel. This is also expected to arrive in the summer. As further details arise for both projects, VRFocus will keep you updated.