Welcome to another weekly look at the virtual reality (VR) videogames set to debut across multiple headsets in the coming week. There are some big titles to round out August with Schell Games’ popular escape room franchise returning and Cyan Worlds’ iconic ’90s puzzler hitting PC VR headsets.
I Expect You To Die 2 – Schell Games
Get ready to immerse yourself back into the world of espionage and death-defying escapes as Schell Games is set to launch its long-awaited I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar. It carries on directly from where the original left off, putting you back in the shoes of a daring secret agent trying to stop Dr. Zor and the Zoraxis organisation from taking over the world. The adventure will take place over six missions, from theatrical venues to the classic private jet.
Originally released back in 2017 for the now-defunct Google Daydream, Mondly is a teaching tool where you can learn 29 languages. Supporting English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Chinese and many more, Mondly drops you in realistic events to make the learning experience more natural.
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 city streets running. Set across a variety of locations around the world including Paris and New York City, it isn’t 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.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 26th August
Myst – Cyan Worlds
A puzzle classic that first arrived back in 2020 for Oculus Quest, Myst has been reimagined specifically for VR featuring new art, sound and updated accessibility options. Developer Cyan has also included a puzzle randomization option benefiting veterans and new players alike.
With two huge VR sequels and the latest PSVR exclusive, August is shaping up to be another great month of VR game releases. Here’s the full new VR games August 2021 list.
New VR Games August 2021
Stride (August 5th) – Quest
Stride is coming to Quest this month following its PC VR debut last year. If you need a sure-fire way of knowing if you want this title, it’s basically Mirror’s Edge in VR. Make of that what you will.
Price: $14.99
Disc Ninja (August 5th) – Quest
Disc Ninja is essentially frisbee golf set in a magical version of Fuedal Japan. There’ll be 50 different environments to enjoy at your leisure – which gives us Walkabout Mini Golf vibes.
Price: TBD
Carrier Command 2 (August 10th) – PC VR
Carrier Command 2 puts you in charge of deploying both aircraft and amphibious units as you launch your offensive to gain control of the area. It’s also a sequel to a classic 1988 game.
Price: TBD
Fracked (August 20th) – PSVR Exclusive
PSVR’s latest action-packed exclusive is coming towards the end of the month. Fracked was our Upload Access title for July so check out our exclusive interviews, gameplay videos and more right here on UploadVR.
Price: Standard $29.99/£19.99, Deluxe Edition $34.99/£24.99
Lone Echo II (August 24th) – Rift Exclusive & Quest via Link
Lone Echo 2 continues the story of Jack and Liv as you return to the rings of Saturn in this highly anticipated sequel to 2017’s Lone Echo. This is also the very last Oculus Rift exclusive, but you can also play it on Quest via Link.
Price: $39.99
I Expect You To Die 2 (August 24th) – PC VR, Quest & PSVR
The brilliant Schell Games is back with another installment of I Expect You To Die. Evil corporation Zoraxis believes you to be dead, which is the perfect time to go undercover to uncover what they’re up to. There’ll be plenty of puzzles and a chance to meet John Juniper, voiced by actor Will Wheaton.
Price: £24.99 / £18.99
Traffic Jams (August 26th) – PSVR
And finally, Traffic Jams is racing on over to PlayStation VR to finish off the month. Redirect traffic and survive less than normal situations in this fun party game, available either as a single-player campaign or get four other friends to unleash mayhem from their phones in multiplayer.
Price: TBD
We’ve got a few more games expected to release this Summer including Arashi: Castles of Sin, Song in the Smoke, Ionia and Pistol Whip’s latest story updates, so keep an eye out right here at UploadVR for the latest.
This weekend was filled with virtual reality (VR) updates as part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2021 this week, with the likes of A Township Tale coming to Oculus Quest and NERF getting its own VR shooter. Some studio had more than others to share with Vertigo Games making three announcements for After the Fall, Unplugged and Traffic Jams.
After the Fall is Vertigo Games’ next major in-house project, originally revealed back in 2019. A co-op first-person shooter (FPS) set in a frozen LA wasteland, for the E3 2021 announcement the studio released new gameplay footage combined with some of the videogames’ developers discussing the project.
One of the core features the team wanted to get right was the cross-platform gameplay, so it doesn’t matter if you’re on an Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR or PC VR headset, the gameplay remains the same even when the graphics have to be adjusted depending on the platform. Still no release date though, with a summer 2021 window still in place.
Next up is Unplugged by indie team Anotherway, which is being published by Vertigo Games. A rhythm action title which evokes those classic air guitar moves, Unplugged utilises the hand tracking on Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets. This weekend’s announcement saw the reveal of a new track “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by The Offspring as well as features like mini-games and crowd interactions. Unplugged is expected to launch Fall 2021.
Finally there’s some Traffic Jams news. The quirky VR title where you have to manage evermore insane amounts of vehicles, pedestrians and catastrophic events originally launched for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets in April. Soon it’ll be the turn of PlayStation VR. Created by Little Chicken Game Company, Traffic Jams arrives for PlayStation VR on 26th August 2021, with its solo campaign as well as the asymmetrical multiplayer.
Check out all the new footage below and for further updates from Vertigo Games and E3 2021, keep reading VRFocus.
Little Chicken’s manic VR traffic management game, Traffic Jams, is coming to PSVR in just a few months’ time.
Traffic Jams will launch on the platform on August 26. Publisher Vertigo Games confirmed as much today at the Upload VR Showcase. The game is, of course, already out on Quest and PC VR headsets, but a PSVR version has always been promised. Check out a trailer showcasing the PSVR build running on PC below.
In Traffic Jams, you use intuitive gestures to control the flow of vehicles and crossing pedestrians in different cities around the world. Make a mistake and chaos ensues. The game’s got a full single-player mode that takes you to Tokyo and New York but also features local multiplayer in which other players join in with a smartphone. We think the game offers a lot of fun, though said it could use a little more content in our review earlier this year.
Will you be picking up Traffic Jams on PSVR? Let us know in the comments below!
A the moment commutes might not be a regular thing for most office workers but many aren’t likely to be in much of a hurry to restart the daily ordeal of sitting in traffic, trying to wake up with a hot beverage. While this is all part of city life you wouldn’t have thought plonking someone in the middle to manage grumpy pedestrians and stressed drivers would make for an interesting or even comedic videogame. Yet that’s exactly what Little Chicken Game Company has managed to achieve with help from Arizona Sunshine studio Vertigo Games.
Traffic Jams wants you to manage and maintain tranquil city streets where traffic flows, journeys are unhindered and no one gets run over. That isn’t going to happen of course, because as the traffic piles up and rage quickly sets in the streets turn to chaos, and then there are the meteors, monster feet and zombies to deal with. There’s a lot going on in this seemingly simple experience.
You’re a traffic controller in training under the guidance of the flamboyant Dennis, who’s teaching you the tricks of the trade to maintain order. These are actually very basic with just a couple of hand gestures to learn, point with one hand at what you want to command and with the other put your hand up to tell them to stop or wave them on. Nothing tricky about that? However, even this becomes an entertaining handful as later levels introduce more vehicles, pedestrians and routes to keep an eye on.
The core single-player experience consists of five cities Gouda, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo and New York, each with their own unique look and cultural nods – Paris has the Eiffel Tower in the background. These are then split into three subsections Daytime, Night Time and Rush Hour, the same level just with a few tweaks here and there including their own set of 10 objectives. This makes for a sizable amount of content even if a lot of it is on repeat because not all of the objectives can be completed in one run due to conflictions – achieve no crashes or attain a certain number for example.
Thankfully, this repetition doesn’t hinder the gameplay because it can be quite engrossing, waving through traffic and trying to keep these colourful cartoon characters alive. That’s not to say Traffic Jams can’t become stressful, it really can! Dealing with more traffic means someone is likely to get angry, at which point they’ll simply walk or drive regardless of your commands. Events such as smog obscuring your view and wasps apply distractions that can’t be avoided, whilst some of the more obscure objectives like crashing a fish truck to feed seal hats worn by pedestrians or popping balloons add to the multitasking.
All of this means you do need to be accurate and speedy with your hand signals and what you do with your hands in between. In the later levels especially, where the distance is increased to fit all the roads and pavements in, it can be very easy to misselect someone or give them an unintended command. These mishaps can occur even when you’re not giving commands as they’re technically ‘always-on’. Also, the throwing mechanics aren’t the most accurate, feeling quite haphazard trying to hit those balloons.
Even so, when it comes to the spatial audio in Traffic Jams this very well done and vital. From car horns to screaming pedestrians, what your eyes miss your ears will likely pick up, helping judge both direction and distance. Traffic Jams is also super comfortable as there’s no locomotion whatsoever and completely ambidextrous, so there are no options for any of those to worry about.
This all makes for a really solid single-player which should provide a good 4+ hours of entertainment. Fleshing out Traffic Jams even further is multiplayer where one person is in VR whilst four more can join in via smartphones or PC, there’s no app, just a web address to head to. Unfortunately, the multiplayer is the weakest part of Traffic Jams purely down to what the non-VR players can actually do.
Given an overview of the level, non-VR players are given certain spawn points which need to be button bashed to make a vehicle or pedestrian appear. It’s a gameplay mechanic very similar to mobile hyper-casual games, simple and monotonous. It lacks the raw excitement found in titles like Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!which also includes non-VR gamers, as well as the character the core title features.
Little Chicken has managed to take an unusual idea and make it work really well as a virtual reality (VR) experience. Best played in short 30-minute durations as it can become a little grinding if you try and play for over an hour straight, nonetheless Traffic Jams provides an enjoyable and engaging arm flailing time. It would’ve been nice if the multiplayer had some more substance to really trip the VR player up though. The kind of VR experience everyone can have fun with no matter their skill level.
Traffic Jams’ excellent central mechanic fleshes out into a mostly entertaining single-player, but its multiplayer falls flat. More in our Traffic Jams review!
Note: This review was originally published on April 8th 2021, we’re republishing it today as Traffic Jams comes to PSVR.
Finally, an Overcooked-style VR game that isn’t just, y’know, Overcooked. Not that there haven’t been some fun clones in this ‘keep the plates spinning’ genre over the past few years, but surely we can get some more original ideas for VR?
Traffic Jams is exactly that – keep the flow of cars and crossing pedestrians going and try to avoid tragedy while signalling them with easy ‘Stop’ and ‘Go’ gestures. It’s an absolutely brilliant idea, intuitive to VR and instantly graspable. And, for the most part, developer Little Chicken does a good job structuring the game around it.
At least it does in single-player. Traffic Jams’ campaign follows the expected path of increasingly finnicky levels; things start out with a very manageable set of crossings and directions but, as you visit different parts of the world, levels start to twist and turn into more enjoyably fiendish designs. A riff on Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing has people marathoning over crossings while angry drivers wait impatiently, while New York’s Times Square presents a maze of sharp turns and conflicting paths.
Traffic Jams Review – The Facts
What is it?: A plate-spinning game of directing the flow of traffic, using intuitive gestures to avoid collisions Platforms: Quest, PC VR, PSVR Release Date: Out Now Price: $19.99
Victory depends on you keeping calm in a game designed to do anything but. Traffic Jams does have genuine depth; zippy motorbikes move faster than buses, so you need to account for vehicle speed when making decisions. At the same time, asking people to wait for too long will send them off in a strop, risking unwanted collisions. Once you come to understand and work with the rules the game is a fantastically frantic affair, constantly keeping you on your toes as you mentally juggle who is going where.
Inevitably, you’re going to trip up. This being in VR, I felt a genuine stab of panic when I realized someone was going to be hit by a car, though the cartoonish visuals and its own sense of ridiculous humor help cushion the blow. Traffic Jams presents likable spins on each of its environments, though it’s also true that the Quest version is on the rough-side visually, especially when it comes to character models.
Though the handful of locations — five in total — is meagre, the game remixes each twice over with harder night-time and rush hour variants that not only speed up the flow of traffic but introduce more slapstick elements. Zombies lurk at night and you can time cars to swerve into them, a clever way to reward the satisfying destruction you’d otherwise want to avoid. Some levels also have specific hazards, like a kaiju foot landing in the middle of the Tokyo level.
Most of the bells and whistles are here, then, and I had a great time with Traffic Jams’ core components. The signalling doesn’t work perfectly, however; you just need to hold out one hand and point at the desired person to signal to people, and wandering hands make for unexpected mishaps. I found myself accidentally asking people to stop and go fairly often, which led to unwanted restarts when going for perfect records.
The game is also determined to pad out its base content which, while admirable, introduces some annoying elements. To unlock new levels you need to get stamps in your current missions – three per mode. But getting three stamps isn’t just about racking up high scores – you also have to complete side objectives. Some of these are fun, like finding the game’s flamboyant mascot, Dennis, hiding behind scenery. Others, like popping balloons with frisbees against the clock, are just frustrating distractions that lead you away from the real fun.
The objective list stacks so you’ll end up playing through levels a few times for the score and then a few times specifically to tick off these demands, and the latter attempts just feel like they’re holding things up.
But the game’s biggest failing is with its multiplayer which, instead of trying to create some competitive fun, opts for awkward cooperative support that falls flat. Up to four players can join on smartphone and work with the VR player to meet specific objectives. Complete objectives quickly and you’ll add more time to the clock, with the goal being to survive as long as possible. Smartphone players can summon traffic and activate powerups while goals sometimes ask you to both cause crashes and save people at the same time.
There was potential here to brew some hilarious rivalries, with smartphone players catching the VR user out in unexpected ways. Instead you’re just asking smartphone users to summon elements and then trying to either time crashes or play the game as normal. It’s a confused offering that stretches out for too long in even just a single game, and it doesn’t contribute to campaign progress, either.
Traffic Jams Review – Final Impressions
Traffic Jams’ brilliantly intuitive central mechanic makes for a good time in single-player, even if there isn’t much content to it. It’s a uniquely frantic thrill to juggle the crowds and the controls — whilst not always precise — make great use of VR. But I suspect the game’s real charm would have been in a riotous multiplayer experience, and that’s something Traffic Jams simply doesn’t have. Not one for family game night, then, but taken on its own merits Traffic Jams is far from a car crash.
For more on how we arrived at this score, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our Traffic Jams review? Let us know in the comments below!
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!
Wacky traffic controlling VR game, Traffic Jams, is slated to hit both Quest and PC VR headsets this April 8, with a PSVR release coming this summer.
Traffic Jams is a promising-looking silly VR game published Vertigo Games and developed by Little Chick Game Company, in which you control the flow of traffic during increasingly bizarre and zany circumstances using hand movements. It even features a local multiplayer component for up to four non-VR players that looks like it could be a lot of fun as a party game.
The premise here is that all of the traffic lights have inexplicably gone out and your are apparently the last hope of managing the world’s busiest intersections. Each of the various cities will throw their own challenges and twists at you, as well as unlockable events, to up the craziness even further.
You can see some pretty wild stuff going down in the trailer and screenshots above. Does that one nighttime image have a meteor falling down on the city, or do my eyes deceive me? It’ll probably be tough to manage traffic under that kind of duress.
I haven’t had a chance to try this one out yet, but it definitely seems like a unique brand of wacky that could only really work effectively in VR. I’m not sure a game like this would be anywhere near as compelling without motion controllers to give you hand motions. It’d be even better with hand tracking features as well.
Traffic Jams releases on April 8 for Oculus Quest and PC VR, with a PSVR release coming later this summer. Let us know what you think of Traffic Jams down in the comments below!
One of the quirkier looking virtual reality (VR) videogames expected this year is Little Chicken Game Company’s (REKT!, Track Labs) Traffic Jams. Today, publisher Vertigo Games has announced that the multiplatform title now has a release date set for early April.
Traffic Jams is certainly one of the more unusual VR ideas to crop up in 2021 as its all about the very everyday task of controlling traffic and pedestrians so jams, arguments and all sorts of other chaos don’t take place. This being the wacky, comedic videogame that it is, naturally, chaos is all part and parcel of the job.
Set across a variety of locations around the world where you take in the sights of Paris or try and deal with mayhem in Times Square, each city will have its own unique challenges to face. Whilst keeping the traffic flowing events such as “cheese bowling” or chugging frisbees at unsuspecting pedestrians will take place, or if you’re really lucky disasters both natural and unnatural will occur. Be prepared for spontaneously combusting buildings and the occasional meteorite.
With gesture-based gameplay where it’s all about using your hands, Traffic Jams should be a comfortable experience as you’re not required to move anywhere as you tend to be on the corners of a street. It’ll feature a single-player career mode where you can compete on global leaderboards or grab four non-VR friends for some multiplayer mayhem.
Traffic Jams is set to launch for Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets on 8th April 2021. A PlayStation VR version is also on the way, expected to arrive in the summer. For further updates on Vertigo Games’ latest projects, keep reading VRFocus.
