The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 has been fantastic for brand-new virtual reality (VR) titles, with indies and AAA publishers alike throwing their hats into the ring. One stealth-announcement that took many by surprise was Space Junkies, a new multiplayer VR shooter from Ubisoft.
Unlike most of Ubisoft’s announcements, Space Junkies didn’t get a trailer – unusual, seeing as from the screenshots in the gallery below, it already looks very well put together. Transference, Ubisoft’s other big VR announcement, had a very vague trailer with very little information – a stark contrast, when we already have a fair few details on Space Junkies.
The VR shooter will take place in Orbital Arenas – Orenas – where player will use anti-gravity mechanics to fly about stages, and do battle against other players in either 1-v-1 or 2-v-2 matches.
Players will be dodging bullets and projectiles while manoeuvring obstacles and shooting down their foes in full 3D space, using weapons such as “Sunblasters” and “Bioguns.”
The game is coming to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs) – skipping PlayStation VR. Ubisoft haven’t commented on why it’s not coming to the PlayStation 4, though it’s possible the PlayStation 4 either wasn’t powerful enough, or the slightly-cheaper tech in the HMD didn’t provide the best experience.
For more on Space Junkies take a look at our screenshots below, where players can see bullets being fired, movement being replicated in the virtual world thanks to the HTC Vive motion tracked controllers, and some stunning visuals.
For everything from E3 2017 and Space Junkies, stay on VRFocus.
A little while ago Ubisoft held its pre-E3 2017 press conference. While it was light on virtual reality (VR) announcements – considering the studio’s support has been good thus far – it wasn’t absent, with the company announcing Transference being made in collaboration with Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision. Now the title has appeared on Steam, and along with it further details on the project.
Transference is a psychological, story-driven, thriller that aims to blur the lines between movies and videogames, where players delve into the destructive tale of a man’s obsession as they explore his digitally recreated memories.
The title features a multi-branching narrative, with actions that focused on a family that: “Affect their lives from the unique perspectives of each family member as you piece together the mystery. The choices you make, from every angle, ripple through time and space. Learn their story and make your own decisions about how they will live on,” states the description.
“The game is a thrilling mixture of both our experience in story-telling and Ubisoft’s unparalleled skill at crafting deeply immersive worlds,” said Elijah Wood, Creative Director, SpectreVision in a statement. “We jumped at the chance of working in VR with Ubisoft and we believe we have a beautiful and haunting game that will really resonate with players, even after they’ve taken off their headset.”
“The opportunity to work with SpectreVision to create a game with rich characters and an intimate yet multibranching narrative was impossible to pass up,” said Caroline Martin, Executive Director, FunHouse, Ubisoft Montreal. “Transference gave us the unique opportunity to create an incredibly immersive game with full interactivity, touch controls and an engrossing narrative that players will unravel. We strive to push the boundaries of VR games and can’t wait for players to get hands on with Transference.”
Ubisoft released a quick Q&A with the team. On the subject of gameplay mechanics they said: “The mechanics of Transference will feel approachable to those who love narrative based games with puzzles; you are free to explore, discover and interact with objects. At first glance, the interactivity may seem simple, but what makes it unique is the ability to change the perspective of the world and influence events through time and space.”
Transference is due for release on Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and HTC Vive in Spring 2018, for further updates on the experience, keep reading VRFocus.
As a video game journalist there are a few signs you can typically look out for that will indicate whether or not a meeting is going to be more than just your average, ordinary “meeting.” For starters, if you have to line up, check in twice, meet security, and sign an NDA before ever entering the building, that’s a pretty clear sign. If each of the company’s demos has its very own waiting list signup process, that’s another sign.
But more than anything if your demo is preceded by an ominous instructional video featuring a creepy professor and faux medical “Informed Participation Form” about the “experiment” you’re about to undergo, alarm bells should start going off. Transference, a new upcoming VR thriller collaboration between Ubisoft Montreal and SpectreVision, checks all of those boxes.
But don’t worry, I was reassured several times everything is “completely safe.”
When Transference was announced during Ubisoft’s E3 2017 press conference I had a lot of questions and after spending 15 minutes with it I have a few answers but mostly just came away with even more questions.
The general premise behind the game is that you’re involved with an experimental new technology that allows individuals such as yourself to virtually reconstruct memories for people that are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in an attempt to, presumably, help them heal. It felt sort of like exposure therapy for someone’s repressed emotions and memories.
In my demo I went into the mind of someone we referred to as “Walter.” Once I was in-game the bright, cyberpunk-esque retrofuturistic visuals immediately caught my attention. Supposedly I was reliving Walter’s memory from the early 90s. The environment looked great and my floating neon hands were ready to explore. That is, ready to explore at first until a young boy ran up to me and proclaimed that I didn’t “belong here” before suddenly turning off the lights.
Now I fast forward into the 2000s and am in the same house, but things are clearly a bit different. There’s no little boy now, but as I make my way down to the basement, I see the shadow of a young man standing with a gun in the corner. He’s swaying in a manner that’s reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project’s final scene.
Throughout it all nothing is ever quite as it seems. Since this is intended to be a digital recreation of someone’s traumatized memories things are inconsistent and glitchy. Doors morph and move around as I walk past them, pictures on the wall vanish and reappear seemingly at random. Some items even bounce in and out of view as if to imply the memories are fragmented and incomplete. Story elements are presented out of order and oftentimes I just hear voices floating around in my ears.
I won’t spoil the actual events of my demo because things get very intense very quickly, but suffice it to say that once I unlocked the answers to the puzzles and reached the end of the brief session I was floored. Since games like The Last of Us and Spec Ops: The Line are some of my favorites of all-time it should come as no surprise that heavy, emotional, and mentally mature topics are what resonate with me the most and Trasnference appears to check all of the boxes I’ve come to expect from these types of experiences.
Gameplay was simple as it only consisted of walking around (while seated) and picking up objects, but the story that SpectreVision and Ubisoft Montreal are aiming to tell is powerful enough to easily carry the experience.
In the teaser video above Elijah Whalen, the CEO of SpectreVision, explains that they want players to remove their VR headsets after playing and “still feel unsettled.” Well, multiple hours later, as I write this and reluctantly recall key moments from my brief demo, I can certifiably say they’ve accomplished just that.
Transference is slated to release for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR in the Spring of 2018; my demo was on the Oculus Rift with Touch. Interestingly the website also lists Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4 — meaning either it will release for Xbox’s VR headsets or get a non-VR release as well. You can visit the game’s official website and newly launched Steam page for more information.
What do you think of what you’ve seen of Transference so far? Let us know down in the comments below and check our E3 news hub for all the latest!
E3’s third day has had non stop announcements, and of course Ubisoft’s press conference was no different. In the middle of the show Ubisoft unexpectedly announced a collaboration between themselves and Spectrevision, a new media studio which features Elijah Wood as its Creative Director.
The collaboration is to bring to life Transference, a virtual reality (VR) experience that Spectrevision CEO Lisa Whalen says will have you; “take off the gear and still feel unsettled.”
Ubisoft says players must; “Escape the maze-like puzzle of an impossible home concealing a corrupted truth. Meet the troubled family members and get hands-on to solve their riddle through a multi branching narrative.” Mysterious.
The trailer has a creepy direction to it, and freezeframes reveal shots of what appears to be a bedroom with askew lighting coming from the floor and an overturned table. From what few hints there are, we can assume Transference will be an intense horror experience.
Wood explains; “Whilst working with Ubisoft, we discovered some fascinating research that began in the late 90s. Essentially, neuroscientists had figured out a way to upload brain data; trauma, emotions, memories, to the digital space.”
The mysterious trailer hints at the kind of psychological horror VR experience we can expect, but so far all we have are guesses.
This is of course not the first time Ubisoft have worked with Spectrevision, after having worked with the team on Eagle Flight.
For more on Transference, watch the quirky trailer below.
Transference will be coming to PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in Spring 2018.
For everything on Transference and VR at E3 2017, stay on VRFocus.
During E3 2017, Ubisoft finally provided a glimpse into Transference, a virtual reality thriller from Elijah Wood and film production company Spectrevision. Players must relive digital memories to solve a man's torment.
At Ubisoft’s E3 2017 presentation, the company announced a cinematic-focused VR psychological thriller called Transference. Launching in Spring 2018, the title seeks to “bridge the gap between movies and games,” and is being developed in collaboration with Ubisoft Montreal and Elijah Wood’s content studio SpectreVision.
Ubisoft and SpectreVision are playing it close to the vest with Transference, the announcement amounting to little more than a tease, but a truly interesting one at that. The trailer (heading this article) describes and implies a sort of transmedia experience, and the claim is that Transference will be part game, part movie.
Photo courtesy Ubisoft
Transference is the brainchild of SpectreVision, a content studio co-founded by actor Elijah Woods, famous for his role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Woods functions as the studio’s Creative Director. SpectreVision has produced a number of film-based works, but this appears to be their first step into virtual reality storytelling.
In an interview shot by Ubisoft, Wood says that, “We have an opportunity with a very new technology, but also a technology with limitations, to push a little bit those bounds of what we’re used to within the context of VR.”
“We’re trying to take what makes watching a movie terrifying and unsettling—the emotional elements—and put it into virtual reality,” says Lisa Whalen, CEO of SpectreVision.
While Wood and Whalen seem to have difficulty describing what Transference is without giving too much away, the official site offers a few hints:
Bridging the gap between movies and games, we invite you to lose yourself in the destructive tale of a man’s obsession as you explore his digitally recreated memories.
Escape the maze-like puzzle of an impossible home concealing a corrupted truth. Meet the troubled family members and get hands-on to solve their riddle through a multi-branching narrative. You directly influence their fate and decide their future.
A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER THAT MERGES MOVIES WITH GAMES
Starring Macon Blair (Blue Ruin, Green Room), Transference is a true collaboration between Hollywood and gaming. Founded by Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller, SpectreVision tell character-driven stories tackling emotional and human experiences that challenge conventions. Combined with the world crafting skills Ubisoft is known for, Transference is a dark, thrilling puzzle.
UNFOLD A MYSTERY AS YOU SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF THIS HOME
Explore a multi-dimensional home filled with secrets you can discover. Collect the evidence of a family’s history to choose how you repair their lives. Learn the rules of a home bent on breaking them to unlock the truth.
A MULTI-BRANCHING NARRATIVE WHERE YOUR ACTIONS DETERMINE A FAMILY’S FATE
Affect the world between the unique perspectives of each family member to piece together the mystery. The choices you make from every angle ripple through time and space, learn their story and make your own decisions about how they will live on.
FEEL THE PRESENCE OF CORRUPTED MEMORIES THROUGH VR
Join the test case and immerse yourself in the unsettling creation of a deranged mind with unparalleled presence. Come face to face with a fractured family as you freely explore a home filled with hidden clues you can reach out and touch.
The site also seems to reveal that the game curiously won’t be a VR-exclusive, as the listed platforms include PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Given the emphasis on VR so far though, this could be a misunderstanding; we’ve reached out to Ubisoft to clarify.
