SpringboardVR, the content distribution platform for VR arcades, has partnered with Cloudhead Games and eSports organizers The Virtual Athletics League (VAL) to bring a Pistol Whip (2019) tournament next month to more than 500 arcade locations as well as at-home players.
The competition is slated to take place over three weekends in March, including an at-home section open to anyone from March 13-14 and a global VR arcade section co-hosted by SpringboardVR from March 18-22. The Grand Finals are set to take place in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 29th, and will include the top three finalists.
Outside of an all-expenses-paid trip to VAL’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, tournament participants will be vying for cash prizes, and other giveaways such as an Oculus Rift S, various swag, custom mixed reality avatars from Wolf3d, and other VIP packages. Here’s a breakdown of the prize pool structure:
Image courtesy VAL
“This tournament is our largest yet, and we are deeply grateful to all those we are working with here to bring this VR esports revolution to the world,” said Ryan Burningham, CEO and founder of the Virtual Athletics League.
More information about the competition and player sign ups forms are available on VAL’s website.
Developed by Cloudhead Games, Pistol Whip essentially marries rhythm and shooting in a package that feels a bit like a mashup between Superhot VR (2017), Beat Saber, and Smash Hit (2015).
The core of the gameplay consists of both physically dodging enemy bullets as they approach and firing back at baddies on the beat as you’re automatically pushed forward through a level—all the while underscored by a thumping EDM track.
It’s also garnered plenty of positive reviews since it launched in November 2019. It holds a ‘Very Positive’ user rating on Steam, [5/5] stars on Viveport, and well over 4 stars on the Oculus Store for both Rift and Quest. Not only that, but Road to VR crowned it ‘Best SteamVR Game of 2019’.
Cortopia Studios, the Stockholm-based team behind spellcasting combat game Wands (2016), is set to release its upcoming puzzler Down the Rabbit Hole next month.
The game, which was originally slated to arrive in December 2019, is now set to arrive on all major VR headsets on March 26th, which includes versions for Oculus Quest, PSVR, and your standard mix of PC VR headsets.
Following a lost girl through a miniature world inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1865), you’re pitted against a variety of puzzles in a sprawling 360-degree diorama; as you literally descend down a rabbit hole, you solve puzzles in both the first and third-person until you ostensibly get to the bottom of it all.
We got a chance to go hands-on at Gamescom last year, and while it’s difficult to judge a game on only a 15-minute demo, we experienced a good variety of puzzles that made use of multiple characters. This appeared to up the complexity, and also make it necessary to keep your head on a swivel to properly keep track of the entire map—if you can call the little doll house-sized cubbies a ‘map’.
Pre-order pages for the game are now live on the Oculus Store for both Quest and Rift versions, priced at $20. Links for both Steam and Viveport versions are coming soon, so keep an eye on the game’s website for more info.
Space Channel 5 (1999) first launched on Dreamcast and PS2 over two decades ago, and now the long-dormant franchise is ready to reemerge on PSVR headsets this month with Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash!
Originally slated to launch in December 2019 on PSVR, Space Channel 5 VR was later delayed to Spring 2020. Now, Japan-based developer Grounding Inc. says the rhythm game is headed to PSVR on February 25th in North America (prices at $40), and in Europe & Oceania one day later.
Versions for PC VR headsets will be available through Steam and Viveport, and for Oculus Quest, although their respective launch dates are still unknown at this time.
Set in the titular 25th-century space TV station ‘Space Channel 5’, the single-player VR game tasks you with fighting against alien invaders and rival dance crews with the power of choreographed moves—all in the patently ’60s retro-future surroundings. Although you don’t take over Ulala herself, you do get a chance to bust moves as her assistant.
Space Channel 5 VR is said to include a story mode, arcade mode, and an endurance exercise mode with calorie counter. Check out the latest trailer below:
Swords of Gargantua (2019), the multiplatform combat arena from Yomuneco and gumi, now includes a new rouge-lite adventure mode that tasks players with going into what the studios call ‘The Tesseract Abyss’.
The new update is said to put players into the deepest layers of the 4D space known as the ‘Tesseract’, tasking players to earn weapons and coins while they battle increasing difficult foes along the way.
Available in both single and multiplayer, the Tesseract Abyss is now live on all supported platforms, which includes Steam and Viveport (Vive, Rift, Index, Windows VR), and the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest).
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Image courtesy gumi, Yomuneco
Image courtesy gumi, Yomuneco
Image courtesy gumi, Yomuneco
Image courtesy gumi, Yomuneco
Image courtesy gumi, Yomuneco
Tesseract Abyss Features
Level up your character – Player rank goes up as your performance does. As your rank increases so do abilities of your choosing.
Become stronger through your abilities – You can use your earned coins to strengthen your abilities, such as overall HP or your strength. Therefore, the more you play Tesseract Abyss the further you can progress!
Increase strength through weapon crafting – You can combine duplicate weapons to make stronger versions of themselves. Depending on your strategy, you can collect and strengthen a lot of weaker type weapons or earn more powerful weapons later on and speed up the process.
Give yourself a temporary boost through artifacts – Artifacts are consumable items that players can purchase for temporary buffs, such as strength or health boosts. They can be purchased with coins and then brought into battles.
Carry items into the abyss – Bring your items and weapons into battle! Up to four weapons and/or artifacts can be brought into battle
The hit spy-themed VR puzzle game I Expect You to Die (2016) is getting a DLC mission soon, this time tossing you into a deadly encounter in space – the final frontier, and consequently the game’s final mission.
Called Operation: Death Engine, the free DLC throws players into a tense space mission, where you’ll again match wits with Dr. Zor and his deadly contraptions. It’s slated to arrive on all supported platforms on November 19th.
If you haven’t played since the game’s launch, there’s been a number of free DLC drops since it initially went live on PSVR and Rift in 2016 (later adding support for other PC VR headsets and Quest). The penultimate DLC—Seat of Power—introduced the ‘Death Engine’, which is now precariously floating in earth’s orbit.
Schell Games says players must infiltrate Zoraxis Space Corporation to stop the deadly device before it fires on “some unknown target.” Sounds pretty ominous.
“When I Expect You To Die launched three years ago, none of us could have imagined the incredible level of support we would receive from fans. We are proud to have made a game that has stood the test of time for so many players,” said Schell Games CEO Jesse Schell. “Without the ingenuity and skill of our development team, I Expect You To Die would not be the success that it is today. For the sake of fans everywhere, the team hopes to be able to continue this franchise into the future.”
You’ll find I Expect You to Die on Steam (Vive, Rift, Index), Viveport (Vive, Rift, Index), the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest), and the PlayStation Store (PSVR).
Spuds Unearthed, a mashup title which combines real-time strategy and MOBA elements, has launched on Rift and Vive headsets following nearly nine months in Early Access.
Set in a persistent battlescape where players contend against one another for planetary control, Spuds Unearthed is about building and maintaining a tribe of ‘spuds’. These spuds can be used to go forth and conquer planets from other players asynchronously, or even tackle dangerous ‘Zombuds’. Players can also unlock and upgrade ‘hero’ spuds, advanced soldiers that dish out increased mayhem.
In addition to maintaining their own army of spudly soldiers, players get to hop directly onto their own personal turrets and fire at incoming enemy troops. Throughout their time in Spuds Unearthed, players will discover or craft an arsenal of specialized and improved turrets with which to assist their spud forces, claims developer Gamedust in the title’s storefront description. “There are many different turrets to choose from that support different playstyles and are useful in different situations,” the description states further.
At least at the beginning of the game, there are two basic turrets placed on the left and right of the player. Both are completely mannable, featuring interactive handles and cranks that operate like a real hand-cranked turret would. The circular platform which houses the turrets (and the player) can be raised or lowered at any time with a flick of the analog stick or the thumbpad. Further, players can extend or retract their virtual hands to reach distant objects outside of their immediate boundaries, a useful option for those who prefer to play seated.
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Image courtesy Gamedust
Image courtesy Gamedust
Image courtesy Gamedust
Image courtesy Gamedust
Image courtesy Gamedust
Spuds Unearthed is available as of September 19th on the Oculus Store and Steam Store for $20. The title is currently marked down to $15 as a launch discount on both major storefronts, and will remain so until September 26. It is also available to Viveport subscribers. The game launched in Early Access on Steam in January and this release marks its ‘full’ 1.0 release.
Strategy games that hybridize VR embodiment with top-down gameplay are, seemingly, becoming more and more common in VR. A few weeks ago, tower defense strategy game Home A Drone released with some similar stylings.
There is no official word on a native compatibility with Valve Index or Windows MR headsets. However, the title’s Discord community server is likely where new information will become available first.
Cloudhead Games, the studio behind The Gallery series and Aperture Hand Labs, today announced that its upcoming ‘action-rhythm FPS’ Pistol Whip is set to arrive on November 7th.
Pistol Whip is said to include cross-buy for the Oculus Store version, meaning you’ll only need to buy the game once to play on either Rift or Quest. The game also supports HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows VR headsets via Steam and Viveport.
The studio maintains that Pistol Whip is also heading to PSVR soon, although it hasn’t mentioned any specific release window yet.
In case you haven’t seen the game’s E3 2019 reveal back in June, the unique action-rhythm shooter is being billed as ‘part Superhot and part Beat Saber‘; it also includes a runner-style movement scheme that sends you hurdling through an abstract crystalline world that’s teeming with baddies that need to be shot—and providing they’re close enough—pistol whipped to pieces.
Cloudhead says they were also inspired by action films such as John Wick and Equilibrium, and if the new trailer is any indication, it’s pretty easy to see how.
“As a VR-centric studio, we’ve always placed a focus on player agency in VR. With Pistol Whip we wanted users to feel like their favorite action hero, planted in the center of an unstoppable action sequence,” said Denny Unger, Cloudhead CEO and creative director.
To supply the rhythm-based game with music, the studio has partnered with Montreal-based Kannibalen Records to deliver what it calls a “pulse-pounding 10-song soundtrack,” which is said to include music by EDM bands such as Apashe, HVDES, and Black Tiger Sex Machine. Cloudhead says regular music and level updates are planned for post-launch.
You can wishlist Pistol Whip on your preferred platform below:
Words I never thought I would say: the iconic ’90s film Groundhog Day (1993) finally has a sequel … and it’s a VR game. Although I don’t think anything can live up to the original—game, film, or otherwise—Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son shows it’s capable of delivering some sincere moments that definitely stick. A healthy amount of tedium may be best left to a film montage sequence, although it’s hard to complain too much about doing the same thing over and over considering the source material.
Developer: Tequila Works Publisher: Sony Available On: Steam (Vive, Rift), Oculus (Rift), Viveport (Vive, Rift) PlayStation Store (PSVR) Reviewed On: Rift Release Date: September 17th, 2019 Price: $30
Gameplay
It’s present day, and Phil Connors has passed away, leaving his family to mourn his death with a yearly memorial service that’s exactly one day before Groundhog Day. His youngest son, Phil Connors Jr., is a snarky, egotistical 20-something who’s just like his dad was before he broke out of his life-changing, sisyphean time loop 26 years prior.
As a hip-kid-influencer on his way to a big meeting with a streaming video company, Junior is trapped in his hometown of Punxsutawney, doomed to live the same day over and over until he can learn to accept his flaws, let go of his ego, and reconnect with his friends and family. He’s not there for all that though, but rather to monetize his dad’s memorial service in a vlog before finding out that he’s snowed in. Déjà vu, all over again.
Image courtesy Tequila Works
Groundhog Day VR is in essence an updated rehashing of the original film, one that I found to be a genuinely sincere take on things. Thanks to the game’s cast of talented voice actors, it delivers some key moments that will definitely hit you right in the feels. If you’ve ever lost a parent, ruined a friendship, wished you could help someone but didn’t know how, Groundhog Day VR delves into all that, and in a way that may have you sitting back and reflecting on your own life. Although its overall story is tarnished somewhat by the lack of any real laugh-out-loud humor, instead tending towards dad joke-level humor and aimless sarcasm from Junior the story’s emotional beats definitely do their best to impress.
As a side note: sadly, the game does away with the same comedic morbidity from the original film—i.e. Phil Sr. finally coming to the end of his rope and killing himself in funny and interesting ways. There are a few ways to reset the day unexpectedly, namely drinking alcohol until blackout, spraying yourself in the face with spray paint, and drilling into your own head, but nothing that felt unique or particularly surprising. This strikes me as a bit of a misstep, considering the game doesn’t shy away from other adult themes. I was hoping to save lives, and put my own in danger, but the VR sequel decides to be a little less risqué than its namesake.
Although I basically liked the story, and its cast of quirky characters, I found the gaming side of things to be a bit of a letdown. Essentially, you’re given a dialogue tree in every NPC interaction that I found was less about user choice, and more about following your prescribed duty. Whether you like it or not, you will screw up everything in every way. Whether you like it or not, you will become nice person and you will repent.
If find this lack of user choice a big part of the game’s flow; it’s less about connecting the dots on your own and being clever, and more about beating your head against the wall until you’ve checked all the boxes on your list, where you’re eventually given a decent response that doesn’t make you sound like a piece of shit. Although these ‘correct’ responses are highlighted for later use, it’s an absolute bore having to listen to the exact same dialogue for the umpteenth time (somewhat forgivable considering) and deliver the same dialogue too.
Image captured by Road to VR
There are a number of mini-games too, which make for sometimes interesting breaks. Although none of them were geared toward skill-building for later use, and rather act as hurdles to jump over (and in some cases over and over), they’re varied and interesting enough to keep you going, which more often than not results in unlocking the all important dialogue shortcut so you can skip some of the tedium later on. It’s not until about halfway through that you’re given those dialogue shortcuts though, so you’ll find yourself repeating both NPC and your own unskippable dialogue until things speed up closer to the end and you finally see the light at end of the tunnel.
In the end, it took me about five hours to complete. Besides a few easter eggs hidden throughout, there isn’t much reason to head back in if you’re already finished the story. The creators maintained it would feature a branching story, but that’s only true in the context of what you decide to work on first, be it the relationship with a long-lost lover, or pleasing your mom by finishing a statue of your dad in the park. Everything must be done before the game is over, and it’s not intertwined enough to make one decision really affect another.
Besides some less than engaging gameplay elements though, Groundhog Day VR had enough in store to get me through this in a single sitting. I personally found it pretty entertaining, but not necessarily rising to the heights of ‘fun’.
Immersion
Character design is charming, although animation can be pretty rough around the edges in Groundhog Day VR at times, which is unfortunate because I can really see that the broad strokes were well-intentioned here.
drinking a smoothie with the lid on, Image captured by Road to VR
NPCs stayed well enough away from the uncanny valley with their cartoony style, but the fit and finish of the characters left something to be desired. On a flat screen, it may not be so apparent, but in VR a weird mouth movement, clipping into another character, or engaging in dialogue on top of another NPC can really take you out of the scene. Instead, I found most of the game’s memorable moments were presented in still-frame flashbacks where dear old dad teaches you about life.
Another impingement on immersion was overall poor object interaction. Items have only one or two grippable areas, and not always in the most comfortable or logical places. Simply repositioning a menu in your hand or reaching for a glass becomes a game of skill in and of itself. A yellow highlight appears when you’re close to picking up items, which essentially works as a visual cue, but that doesn’t stop you from really mangling objects if they’re too close together and you don’t delicately pick them up and set them down.
The worst offender by far in terms of object interaction was the guitar, which plays a fairly important role later in the game. Getting through that part was a nightmare, which thankfully was a one-off mini-game, but strumming the instrument was so off-kilter that you’re almost guaranteed to activate a wrong movement if you’re not extremely careful.
Overall though the settings are extremely cohesive, and really bring in the small town feel that the film exudes.
Comfort
While not the most immersive, teleportation is by far one of the most comfortable ways of getting around in VR. There isn’t any other movement schemes besides snap-turn for users with front-facing sensor arrangements.
Although there is an automatic seated option, which raises your virtual height up to standing level, seated users may still have issue with reaching both higher and lower objects. I played mostly seated, although there were time when I had to physically stand up to reach a bottle on a high cabinet, or bend over to get a coin on the ground. I think a better force-grab would have addressed this, but it’s simply not present in the game.
Lightbound Studios, a Los Angeles-based indie studio, may not have succeeded last year to fund their VR game Titan Arena through Kickstarter, but all is not lost. The studio has continued work on the titanic-sized boss battler in the meantime, and now calls it Rise of the Titan.
Lightbound says in a Steam update that the new name was created to set it further apart from the waveshooter genre. Although Rise of the Titan is admittedly a shooter in some sense, the studio now says it better fits in the narrative-driven action-adventure genre.
The studio has only thrown out a short clip for now, showing a little bit of the locomotion mechanic and how the game handles object interaction, although they’ve said more info is coming soon.
Rise of the Titan’s features include:
Titan Bosses – Player will face off against giant metal machines that can crush a human with a flick of a finger. He must use everything in his arsenal, from climbing to shooting to bring down these humongous beasts.
Combat – Interaction and the combat with enemies in this VR environment is designed to be as fluid and natural as possible. The player can employ various strategies to destroy enemies more efficiently and great style.
Tethers – Multipurpose tool used for both combat and for maneuvering in the world effortlessly in all 3 dimensions. This tool can be used to pull, climb, hang, zip, catch, throw, break, tear, and manipulate objects.
Adapters – Tether modifiers that turn the tethers into high-tech weapons. The player will acquire these while progressing through the game and discovering hidden secrets. Used in various combinations, these weapons can be extremely powerful and fun.
Full Locomotion – Player can move naturally through the environment using locomotion, speed-dash, and evade. The game features full 360° gameplay and provides the option for players to switch between smooth and incremental turning.
According to the game’s Steam page, Rise of the Titan is slated to launch sometime in 2019, supporting HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, and Windows VR headsets.
Battlewake is a pirate ship combat game that seems to have it all; not only does it boast a campaign for both solo and two-player co-op, but also online PvP and a co-op ‘ongoing missions’ mode—certainly nothing to sneeze at in terms of a VR game. All of this ultimately gives it a more secure footing where multiplayer-only titles may have faltered in the past, but some might still walk away from this mostly well-polished arena battler craving something just a bit deeper.
Developer: Survios Available On: Steam (Vive, Rift), Oculus (Rift), Viveport (Vive, Rift) PlayStation Store (PSVR – EU version coming soon) Reviewed On: Rift Release Date: September 10th, 2019 Price: $30
Gameplay
Let’s get one thing out of the way before heading into the review proper: Battlewake is not Sea of Thieves in VR. Although there’s a lot of interesting things going on with this plucky little arena battler that may seem like they would translate to a larger, more expansive title, Battlewake decidedly focuses on discrete nautical arenas where you battle in a ‘one person, one boat’ style experience. It’s different, and not in a bad way, although you should definitely tailor your expectations before heading in. Now, on to the review.
Battlewake’s 20-chapter campaign follows the story of four captains, each of which has their own specific boats, weapons, and two levels of ultimate attacks—one that charges up more rapidly for smaller and more frequent attacks, and the big boy that eventually lets you spawn massive area-based effects like hurricanes, krakens, and title waves. And for whatever critique that follows, ultimates are unequivocally awesome.
Image courtesy Survios
Campaign mode promises a variety of medium-sized arena maps, but they basically fall into four categories: tropical, icy, swampy, and volcano-hellscape. Most maps present their own environmental quirks too—swamps provide better cover, volcano-hellscapes assault you with raining debris, icy maps have giant floating icebergs, and the tropics can get pretty stormy, generating large waves capable of obscuring potential targets at times. You don’t need a compass or anything to find your way around either because the maps are small enough so you’ll never get lost. If you happen to have your back turned to an objective, a floating symbol will tell you which way to go.
Although the later stages do present more of a challenge, I only ended up dying twice throughout the entire campaign, which took me exactly two hours to complete. I chalk these deaths up to initially misunderstanding how the targeting system works; it requires you to physically point either your left or right hand at the enemies, lock on to the target while tracking it, and wait for the reticle to shrink and pulling the trigger, signifying that you’re getting the most accurate shot possible. Ammo is infinite, although there’s a cool-down time for most weapons, which typically include a weak forward-facing gun, stronger cannons or ballistas on your two sides, and a closer range weapon on your rear.
Image courtesy Survios
I’ll talk more about the control scheme in the Immersion section below, although it was ultimately an easy way of shooting and navigating the boat that I think anyone can pick up in short order.
With no apparent difficulty settings, and the ability to pick up health from the crates that enemies leave in their wake as you damage them, the campaign turned out to be fairly easy once the controls schemes became second nature.
Enemy variety is however pretty lackluster, and includes small kamikaze-style vessels, a few unremarkable boats of varying sizes, and either a large boss boat or an island fort, each of which have more health and their own unique ultimate attacks to avoid. Outside of lining up correctly to target any given ship, you don’t really need any special tactics to kill anything in the campaign; just point, click, shoot, rinse and repeat.
If I don’t sound too hot on the campaign, that’s because I’m not. I felt like it could have woven a more engrossing story than the disembodied (and admittedly talented) voice actors provided. It also could have offered up some deeper gameplay to break up the standard flow of arena-based missions. Instead, you’re left with a one-way trip through a pretty predictable premise that felt like more of an extended tutorial than anything else. You don’t make any game-changing decisions, you definitely never leave your boat, and you just sort of sample what the game’s multiplayer has without really engaging with the story or anyone in it.
Adding insult to injury: after beating the last boss, which was only marginally more difficult than the previous one, you’re abruptly thrown back into the captains lodge for an unceremonious ‘You won! Thanks for playing!’ and a credit roll. It’s a shame the game ended so easily and with such little fanfare; there’s truly a lot going on for Battlewake when it comes to locomotion, environment, and its awesome ultimate powers, but the entire campaign felt pretty unremarkable.
Image courtesy Survios
The campaign isn’t everything though, and outside of the story mode, replay value comes in one of three flavors. You can co-op with up to four people in the infinite mix of objectives called ‘Warfare’, play in a 10-player online deathmatch called ‘Plunder’, or alternatively return to the campaign with a buddy for a two-player co-op run.
Warfare mode presents you two specific currencies. Tankards of grog are dolled out after each completed mission, and you can use that to continuously level up your ship’s basic HP, firepower, and ultimate power, all of which helps you battle the increasingly tough enemies. Coins can also be earned to be used on permanent upgrades too that you can carry over to deathmatches, although they’re harder to gain than grog in general thanks to ever-increasing unlock prices.
Image captured by Road to VR
I took a little while to gel with Warfare. Even playing with another person for a good 30 minutes, it ultimately felt more like a casual shoot-out than a real challenge. Going in with the max number of people does provide the best chance for competitive friction to occur, although Warfare may really only be valuable for farming XP and maxing out your ships for PvP. While you can technically play Warfare by yourself, it’s definitely more fun with a few other people, as you scramble to make the most kills and subsequently get the best loot at the end of the mission.
The ‘Plunder’ PvP mode instead presents a pretty standard shooter formula, as it puts ultimate boosters in specific spots on the map, and has up to 10 players duke it out. It is does diverge slightly from the formula though, as you can always tell where other players are on the map; you see both their name and health bars at all times, even when they’re camping behind a rock.
Unleashing the Kraken ultimate, Image courtesy Survios
Here, the power differential truly counts. The more you play deathmatch or Warfare co-op, the more coin you can potentially earn, thereby letting you permanently upgrade any one of your four ships. Some ships are by default better at long-range shooting, and others have more powerful closeup shot—pretty much what you’d expect from a bog standard free-for-all shooter.
If you’re looking for some uncomplicated PvP and a few random missions to play to fill out, Battlewake may not be a bad choice, but more variety could have ultimately added a ton of value to what, at least functionally, is a well-polished and functional pirate game.
In the end, Battlewake might better appeal to arcade audiences and new VR players, as its simple control scheme and uncomplicated gameplay makes for a good entry point into VR. At-home users who are mostly already over the VR honeymoon phase however may find Battlewake interesting, but too simplistic to truly warrant the repeat business VR multiplayer titles desperately need.
Immersion
One of the most (and arguably least) immersive bits about Battlewake is its control scheme. Some controls are based on direct object interaction, which generally feels pretty great. You can turn the wheel to maneuver the ship, and pull either of your lateral anchor handles to execute a tight turning maneuver; both offer a surprisingly satisfying way of guiding your ship through tight passages and scrambling to get out of the way of an oncoming kamikaze ship.
At the same time, there are a few less immersive controls here too, namely the reticle-based shooting system that activates different weapons depending upon where you’re trying to shoot. It’s all a bit of a strange mix, having physical controls mashed up with what essentially amounts to an abstracted laser pointer that comes from your hands. I know it’s done for convenience and ease of use, although the most convenient control isn’t necessarily the most immersive, I find. It’s definitely a balancing act, and I admit I’d rather have a quick and dirty solution for fast action than a slower solution when you’re in the heat of the moment, which in and of itself is a type of immersion too. When you stop thinking about the empty teacup on your desk and knock it over because you’re frantically turning your steering wheel like a madman, that means the game has done a pretty good job of immersing you, at least in the short term.
Both the art style and map designs are cohesive and well-built, although textures are a bit on the muddy side. As a separate issue, a VR headset with a sharper display than my standard OG Rift would also be a boon for anyone looking to play Battlewake, as distant enemies and environments can be hard to make out. While playing in Warfare mode with a friend in a Valve Index, it was immediately apparent that I was at a slight disadvantage in my Rift, as he had an easier time identifying baddies than me and therefore prioritize higher value targets better.
Comfort
Like all of Survios’ titles to date, Battlewake explores some pretty interesting territory technically speaking. I played for several hours at a time, and never felt a whiff of motion sickness, which is quite a feat for a game set entirely on a swaying, rocking boat.
Unlike a physical boat though, which can definitely upset the stomachs of motion sickness-prone users, Battlewake surprisingly provides a comfortable user experience. This is because you’re not exactly tied to the mast, so to speak, and you’re not exactly taking on the full brunt of the sea’s forces.
Instead, you’ll notice that as waves get worse, the ship will actually move somewhat independent from you, giving you more stability as a result. This can be irksome when you’re reaching down for the anchors, only to find they’ve moved a few inches behind you because the waves are tossing you so badly, but I’d rather take a look to relocate a handle than lose my lunch.
Snap-turn is also available so seated players can keep a better eye on their six without having to physically turn around.
Finally, Survios has implemented an optional FOV limiter that creep in to gently obscure your peripheral vision—or whatever’s left of it in the cramped confines of the VR headset. This helps to reduce the apparent motion you naturally sense when near-field objects whiz by you.
