South Korea has a dedicated virtual reality (VR) community of creators but it’s not often the content makes it out of the country and onto western shores. SKonec Entertainment has featured on VRFocus before thanks to its Mortal Blitz franchise but the company mostly specialises in location-based entertainment (LBE) on its home turf. Recently it made the transition into America, opening VR Square Los Angeles.
SKonec Entertainment teamed up with local bowling alley space Xlanes to make VR Square LA a reality, using over 10,000 sqft to create the arcade. With that much space on offer, VR Square LA features several of SKonec’s LBE titles, ranging from free-roaming experiences to PvP shooters and VR escape rooms. On the free-roaming side, there’s Operation Black Wolf: Battle of the Desert, a modern military-themed multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) designed for three to six players.
Then there’s Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz offering the PvP element. VRFocus demoed the experience at Gamescom 2019, stating: “Battle Arena: Mortal Blitz was just great fun to play. With an awesome looking sci-fi, neon theme, matches were brutal, exciting and leave you with a big smile.” It was noted that one downside was the need to go to South Korea to play it. Now that’s no longer the case.
For those after a greater puzzle element then there’s always the VR Escape Room. Another first for western audiences, the title offers two-player co-op gameplay optimised for LBE gaming. And to keep you coming back for more there are multiple endings.
One addition that’s surely going to attract a few players is the Beat Saber Arcade Machine. A collaborative effort between SKonec Entertainment and Beat Games, the arcade machine was revealed last year with several sites in South Korea and China selected for testing – YouTuber Nathie went to China’s VR Star Theme Park to see test it out. Like many home VR videogames brought to arcades, the machine features customised content for a more ‘arcade flow’.
So if you happen to be in the Downtown LA area looking for something VR related to do, Xlanes has VR gaming starting from $5. For further LBE updates, keep reading VRFocus.