‘Swords of Gargantua’ Creators Thirdverse Secures $8.5M Funding for More VR Games

Thirdverse, the Tokyo-based VR game studio behind Swords of Gargantua (2019) and upcoming shooter Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds, announced that it’s secured $8.5 million in funding, something the company says will allow them to grow and make more VR games.

The Series A funding round was led by JAFCO with participation from Presence Capital, Sisu Ventures, and Incubate Fund.

Originally founded in 2016 as Yomuneco, and later this year rebranded to Thirdverse, the studio has been involved on both the development and publisher side of the VR industry. As Yomuneco, the studio has developed SteamVR puzzle game Enigma Sphere: Enhanced Edition (2017) and multiplayer sword-fighting game Swords of Gargantua. 

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: Team Shooter 'Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds' Open Beta

Now as Thirdverse, the studio is also taking on the role as publisher of inXile Entertainment’s team shooter Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds, which is set to launch in 2020 for SteamVR headsets. The company says the recent name change to Thirdverse was to “better align with its mission to create a ‘Third Place’ in the virtual metaverse.”

“Over the past year, our active user base grew with the increase of device penetration in the global market,” says co-founder of Thirdverse Masaru “Nogi” Ohnogi. “I strongly believe that the market is finally ready and this is the right time to grow our startup. We are really excited to release more immersive VR games in the future.”

The post ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Creators Thirdverse Secures $8.5M Funding for More VR Games appeared first on Road to VR.

‘Swords of Gargantua’ Creators Thirdverse Secures $8.5M Funding for More VR Games

Thirdverse, the Tokyo-based VR game studio behind Swords of Gargantua (2019) and upcoming shooter Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds, announced that it’s secured $8.5 million in funding, something the company says will allow them to grow and make more VR games.

The Series A funding round was led by JAFCO with participation from Presence Capital, Sisu Ventures, and Incubate Fund.

Originally founded in 2016 as Yomuneco, and later this year rebranded to Thirdverse, the studio has been involved on both the development and publisher side of the VR industry. As Yomuneco, the studio has developed SteamVR puzzle game Enigma Sphere: Enhanced Edition (2017) and multiplayer sword-fighting game Swords of Gargantua. 

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: Team Shooter 'Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds' Open Beta

Now as Thirdverse, the studio is also taking on the role as publisher of inXile Entertainment’s team shooter Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds, which is set to launch in 2020 for SteamVR headsets. The company says the recent name change to Thirdverse was to “better align with its mission to create a ‘Third Place’ in the virtual metaverse.”

“Over the past year, our active user base grew with the increase of device penetration in the global market,” says co-founder of Thirdverse Masaru “Nogi” Ohnogi. “I strongly believe that the market is finally ready and this is the right time to grow our startup. We are really excited to release more immersive VR games in the future.”

The post ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Creators Thirdverse Secures $8.5M Funding for More VR Games appeared first on Road to VR.

‘Swords of Gargantua’ Gets Rogue-lite Adventure Mode in New Update

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).

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 post ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Gets Rogue-lite Adventure Mode in New Update appeared first on Road to VR.

Swords Of Gargantua Launches On Oculus Quest With Rift Cross-Buy

Swords Of Gargantua Launches On Oculus Quest With Rift Cross-Buy

Cooperative sword-fighting game Swords of Gargantua is now available on Oculus Quest with Rift cross-buy. It also officially released today on Steam with four-player multiplayer promised across all platforms.

The game faces players off an ever-bigger set of gigantic foes. Its release joins The Wizards and Electronauts as part of the first major new content update for the new Oculus Quest standalone VR system. For those unfamiliar, Quest is a $400 all-in-one VR headset from Facebook which comes with two controllers for games like Beat Saber and Superhot. It doesn’t need anything else to operate — no PC needed and a phone app is used only to help manage the device.

Oculus Quest released on May 21 with more than 50 apps covering some of the best VR releases over the last few years. Now, the system is sold out at many retailers. New orders from Facebook for Quest placed today may not ship until mid-June. With the content update this week, though, people who already picked up the system can now access Quest For The Golden Trophy for free in Rec Room or buy one of these new games.

 

Swords of Gargantua is $20 across all platforms at launch. Cross-buy is enabled for the app on the Oculus Store so that people who buy the game for Quest or Rift will be able to play the game on the other headset. If you buy the game and launch it before June 21 it’ll unlock a unique sword in the game in an update, according to the developers.

Swords of Gargantua is developed by Tokyo-based Yomuneco and published by gumi Inc.

Tagged with: , ,

The post Swords Of Gargantua Launches On Oculus Quest With Rift Cross-Buy appeared first on UploadVR.

Dark Souls-Like VR RPG Swords of Gargantua Closed Beta Starts Feb. 15

swords of gargantua beta image

When PC VR headsets first hit the market it was tough to find a decent melee-focused VR game. Wave shooters were releasing left and right but few developers actually wanted to put a sword or other weapon in your hand to hit stuff, with the exception of Vanishing Realms. Since then the likes of Gorn, Blade & Sorcery, Skyrim VR, Karnage Chronicles, and others have given us that thrill — but not many have done so in a dark, gothic setting with multiplayer. That’s where Swords of Gargantua comes in.

Starting tomorrow, February 15th, and running until next Friday, February 22nd, Gumi Inc. and Yomuneco will host a closed beta testing period for its upcoming VR RPG, Swords of Gargantua.  The closed beta is restricted to Steam uses and will likely support both Rift and Vive. You can apply in the #beta-apply section of the official Discord here.

We’ve gone hands-on with Swords of Gargantua twice now. Both times we were impressed with how fun the melee combat felt, but we’ve yet to see real proof of how robust and feature-filled this game is really going to be. All too often VR titles have solid mechanics that never get fully utilized in the broader context of the game as a whole, so hopefully that isn’t the case here.

Swords of Gargantua will support multiplayer for up to four total people and has a very heavy focus on difficult, tactical, melee combat. Controller wagglers need not apply.

Let us know what you think of the game in the comments below and check out the closed beta over this next week if you get a chance!

Tagged with: , ,

The post Dark Souls-Like VR RPG Swords of Gargantua Closed Beta Starts Feb. 15 appeared first on UploadVR.

VR Melee Action Game ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Heads into Open Beta Next Week

Japan-based studios Gumi Inc. and Yomuneco today announced that the melee-focused VR game Swords of Gargantua is heading into open beta soon for Vive and Rift.

Update (May 9th, 2019): Gumi Inc. and Yomuneco today announced that Swords of Gargantua is headed soon for open beta testing, which will be available through Steam and the Oculus Store. The worldwide open beta will take place between May 15th – 21st. To download, head over to the game’s Discord channel for instructions.

Additionally, Yomuneco is also throwing a giveaway that could see one skilled player receive an NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ventus 8G OC graphics card. Players will compete in the multiplayer beginner quest, and the individual player with the highest score on the multiplayer leaderboard at the end of the open beta, wins.

The original article announcing the previous closed beta follows below:

Original Article (February 13th, 2019): The closed beta starts on February 15th and goes until the 22nd. The studios say space is “very limited,” although the’re giving users a chance to win a closed beta key by leaving a comment on the #beta-apply page of the Swords of Gargantua Discord channel (invite link).

Gumi and Yomuneco will be awarding closed beta keys via a private message on February 15th, which will include a Steam key with beta access. You can check out the game’s Steam page here.

Image courtesy Gumi, Yomuneco

We had a chance to go hands-on with Sword of Gargantua at GDC 2018, and while a bit rough around the edges, the team co-op game showed plenty of promise with its physics-based melee combat and larger-than-life enemies. Talking to Gumi & Yomuneco at GDC, I was told that Swords of Gargantua wasn’t a story-based adventure, instead slanted towards quick action so you and friends can drop into a battle at any time.

SEE ALSO
'Asgard's Wrath' Gameplay Footage Shows It's About More Than Just Combat

Swords of Gargantua focuses heavily on physics-based swordplay, giving you and three other players the chance to adventure through the game’s massive (some might say gargantuan) set pieces and battle against a race of creatures simply known by the name ‘Gargantua’. The game’s minions tower over average players, making for intimidating foes before the final fight with the absolutely gigantic level boss.

While a demo was publicly available last year, it seems the studios have taken it down on their forward march towards Early Access.

Swords of Gargantua will be Yomuneco’s second dive into VR, following their VR puzzle game Enigma Sphere: Enhanced Edition (2017) for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The post VR Melee Action Game ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Heads into Open Beta Next Week appeared first on Road to VR.

Action RPG ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Demo Now Available on Vive & Rift

We had a chance to go hands-on with Gumi and Yomuneco’s Sword of Gargantua at GDC back in March, and while an official write-up never materialized out of the hectic game-filled dev conference, a demo for the studio’s upcoming online action RPG is finally here for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Set in a world dominated by a race of giants called the Gargantua, the full release will let you and up to three other players join in physical combat against the Gargantua, giant overlords in the combat-focused fantasy world. Swords of Gargantua is slated for release on Steam Early Access later this year.

The demo is single player-only, which shows off some of the massive scale of the world and its warrior inhabitants. The Gargantua’s minions tower at six-feet tall, while the Gargantua themselves loom over you at increasingly impressive heights.

You can download the demo here.

Image courtesy Gumi & Yomuneco

Using weapons such as battle axes and swords, you can physically strike enemies, although you’ll have to watch out for the durability of the weapon along with your own stamina, which will limit your swinging power, making hits less effective.

Locomotion, while using a standard smooth forward and snap-turn scheme, also offers a dash mode that you can activate by physically leaning in the desired direction for those quick jumps into the fray. A targeting system allows you to lock onto enemies and circle around them, using all of the locomotion schemes at your disposal to block, dodge, and defeat your hulking enemies.

Image courtesy Gumi & Yomuneco

In the demo, you face off against a few waves of minions at the throne of what presumably is one of the lower-level Garantua rulers. The throne room is littered with shields and epic long swords. Watch out for the build up swings of the minions though, because they do devastating damage that can quickly put you out of the game. All objects are physics-based too, meaning you can satisfyingly clank together your swords, and feel some degree of ‘imagined’ force feedback through your motion controllers. Seeing your weapon stop mid-swing as you make contact with an enemy works somewhat like it does in GORN (2017).

Talking to Gumi & Yumenco at GDC, I was told that Swords of Gargantua wasn’t a story-based adventure, focusing on quick action so you and friends can drop into a battle at any time.

“Since this demo is the first public playable build, you may experience some issues,” the studio says. “We’re currently focused on the Early Access build of the game, so should you experience any issues that limits your enjoyment of the game, we ask for your patience and understanding until we launch in Early Access later this year. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!”

Swords of Gargantua will be Yomuneco’s second dive into VR, following their latest VR puzzle game Enigma Sphere: Enhanced Edition (2017) for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The post Action RPG ‘Swords of Gargantua’ Demo Now Available on Vive & Rift appeared first on Road to VR.

GDC 2018: Hands-On With Intense Combat-Focused RPG Gargantua

GDC 2018: Hands-On With Intense Combat-Focused RPG Gargantua

I’ve demoed a lot of VR games over the years. Some of them never get released, some of them actually get finished, and some of them still wallow in limbo somewhere between Early Access and Completed Project. Regardless of how the game ends up though, it’s very rare that a VR game really impresses me anymore. I’ve seen most of the mechanics people try to use for tricking the brain and I’m seldom surprised. Gargantua from Yomuneco on the other hand is a game that surprised me.

Going into my demo at GDC 2018 I knew very little about the game or company. As it turns out, Yomuneco is partnered with Gumi and is made up of veteran AAA Japanese developers that have credits on games like Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Guilty Gear, Shadow of the Colossus, Grandia, The Last Guardian, Lunar: Silver Star Story, and several others. Now they’ve got my attention.

Gargantua is being designed as a co-op focused action-RPG with a heavy emphasis on intense, visceral combat. The multiplayer will be class-based and feature a variety of weapons, upgrade paths, and abilities to develop over the course of the game. For the sake of my demo, I was just a relatively standard melee fighter without any bells or whistles.

The demo began in a dark, drab dungeon environment that served as a lite tutorial. I was playing on an Oculus Rift using Oculus Touch so the control sticks let me move smoothly across the environment and snap rotate to adjust my view. When in combat there was a clever dodge mechanic at play that, when toggled, let me take a step either forward, backward, or to either side using my actual feet to trigger a quick dash move. This was nifty during combat because it let me get out of the way of attacks and close distance for melee strikes. When moving the FOV dimmed and narrowed to cut back on motion sickness, which they said could be toggled for the full game.

In terms of melee combat, Gargantua has one of the better systems I’ve seen in a VR game so far. The physics system detects when your weapons collide with other solid objects (such as enemy bodies, weapons, or walls) and causes your weapons to stop moving. This is a big change from most other VR games in which your swings just pass through everything as if they were translucent, like Skyrim VR. When I slash a bandit in that game it feels like I’m cutting air, but in Gargantua the haptic feedback and visual stoppage of my weapon really communicates another level of intensity.

Perhaps even more unique than the weapon collision system is that you can lock the camera onto enemies while you’re fighting as well. This works a lot like it does in Zelda or Dark Souls games, meaning a reticle appears on the enemy and it helps focus your sight on them while they move around, so you can do things like strafe and flank enemies. It was a little bit jarring at first to have the camera moving a bit beyond my head tracking control, but I quickly adapted to the movement. It feels like a great way to ensure that the first person melee combat goes smoothly.

My only taste of combat came in the way of a single room with waves of enemies descending upon me over time. The developers mentioned that these sorts of encounters aren’t planned for the full game, but are just there for demo purposes, which I sincerely hope is true since I’ve had my fill of wave-based encounters in VR.

It was a bit difficult to tell if my block was successful or if the enemy was hitting me since the visual effects were often red in both cases. There were some minor bugs here and there as well, which is to be expected. The dungeon and outdoor environment that I explored both had a strong sense of scale with beautiful scenery, waterfalls, and white stone designs. That’s fitting since it’s the level designer also worked on The Last Guardian.

Unfortunately I only got to try a single player tease of the game, but playing Gargantua with up to three other people seems like an ideal arrangement, especially once other classes are added into the mix.

The developers at Yomuneco tell me that they’re planning to release a free, small demo version of Gargantua on itch.io “very soon” with an Early Access release to follow near end of summer. The full game is planned to launch around the end of the year for both Rift and Vive. A PSVR version is in development, but there are no dates for that version yet, pending Sony approvals.

Let us know what you think of Gargantua so far down in the comments below!

Tagged with: , , ,