The VR thread

[James]

Just tumbled across a lovely little VR puzzle game demo on Steam- Lighting End VR. Despite the terrible name it's a cute little puzzle game about grabbing beams of light and waking up small low-poly planets. It made a crappy day yesterday feel better, just watching little space shuttles that had nothing to do with anything beyond being set dressing fly around.

[Frogacuda]

Mege's Tale comes out Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to this. It looks like a fun, modern take on the old first-person dungeon crawler, and the physical puzzles and spellcasting mechanics seem like a great fit for VR. Could be the first good made-for-VR RPG.



EDIT: It's ok to like this, Yoshi, it's only timed exclusive.

[Frogacuda]

Mage's Tale is neat! I was already looking forward to Bard's Tale IV but this has gotten me more excited. There are not many VR games that are this exploration based (Obduction, perhaps, which was also one of my favorites), and that's really

It's worth talking about locomotion in this game. It's different and it's a pretty elegant compromise. You have free movement, but it's step-based. The left stick lets you move a few feet in any direction, and it's fast/snappy movement. It feels a lot like an old-fashioned first-person dungeon crawler, which is fitting here, but I could see it working well elsewhere. It isn't making anyone motion sick, it allows for intuitive free movement, and it doesn't just "blink" you somewhere, so you don't have that disorienting/immersion-breaking feel of a teleport. There's also a teleport, but it works by "zooming" you to the target rather than the usual fade-out/fade-in

Apparently Doom VFR is using a similar system and is getting heaps of praise for it.

[Yoshi]

Anybody have first hand opinions on any of the following: Arizona Sunshine, House of the Dying Sun, Island 359, The Nest, Raw Data, or Thumper? I'm thinking Tain talked up Thumper on Twitter.

[James]

Arizona Sunshine is ok-ish. Thumper is one of the best pure arcade music-action games in years, and even better in VR. No opinion on the others.

[Tain]

Thumper is great, grab that.

Raw Data seems cool, but it's kinda sloppy. It's nice-looking and the core mechanics are neat. It's still in early access and I haven't played it in co-op, but I'm thinking that's where it would be best.

[Frogacuda]

Anybody have first hand opinions on any of the following: Arizona Sunshine, House of the Dying Sun, Island 359, The Nest, Raw Data, or Thumper? I'm thinking Tain talked up Thumper on Twitter.

Thumper is a really good game. It's not a game that really needs VR, nor is it one that delivers a lot of presence, but it is a great game and benefits from the ability to immerse oneself in the sights and sounds.

[Frogacuda]

The Echo Arena open beta is this weekend. Like most of these VR betas it's been tough for me to actually get many good games going, but even that, and just moving around the lobby has me really excited for Lone Echo. The locomotion is amazing. No game I've played yet has nailed that sense of zero gravity this well. Really looking forward to this one.

[Yoshi]

I'm assuming Thumper beats Audioshield pretty handily? I really don't need two VR rhythm games.

I realized how many more I have on my wishlist too: Audioshield, Batman: Arkham VR, Battle Dome, Battlezone, Eagle Flight, FORM, Ghost Town Mine Ride & Shootin' Gallery, HoloBall, HordeZ, A Legend of Luca, Onward, Pinball FX2 VR, Redout, Sairento VR, Serious Sam VR, The Solus Project, Space Pirate Trainer, Subnautica, Superhot VR, Trackmania Turbo, and Windlands.

I'm probably going to get Nex Machina and a bunch of VR games this sale.

[James]

Thumper beats just about anything you care to mention pretty handily. While it doesn't technically need VR I find I play far better, and get far more into the game, when stuck in the headset. On screen the silly giant head at the end of each level just looks kind of dopey, in VR it's a massive presence looming over the track that I'm more than happy to keep my distance from. I also find I get a better sense of depth so can judge the turns and beats more accurately. It's just a better game in VR than on a screen.