‘Evangelion’ VR Game Will Primarily Use Hand-tracking, Increasing Ease-of-use at Cost of Interaction Fidelity

https://ift.tt/Rd2gSOy

At the Neon Genesis Evangelion 30th Anniversary event in Tokyo this weekend, Pixelity showed off its upcoming XR game EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS, revealing it’s going all-in on hand-tracking.

The News

On stage at the event, game director MK Choi gave a quick overview of the game, noting that Evangelion: Cross Reflections will feature “controller-free interaction, utilizing hand-tracking technology that allows players to perform all actions using only hand and finger movements.”

Demo booths were available on-site, giving a few lucky event-goers a first public hands-on with the game. We haven’t seen a full demo session in action yet, although X user ‘togepytogepi‘ showed off a bit of the hand-tracking-based interactions, seen in the videos below:

EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS demo, courtesy @togepytogepi pic.twitter.com/0qIxhauyvJ

— Scott Hayden (@vrbosenet) February 24, 2026

From the video, it appears the user is punching, shooting and selecting specific buffs that trigger quick-time events, requiring the user to punch a series of stars in order.

While the demo appears to focus on combat and less on story elements, X user ‘EVA_Armaros‘ also managed to capture what appears to be the game’s first official hype video:

エヴァゲー最新作たのしみすぎる！！！
VRデバイス買わなきゃ pic.twitter.com/6glGNkXbJZ

— アルマロス@エヴァフェス1,3日目参戦 (@EVA_Armaros) February 21, 2026

Evangelion: Cross Reflections is slated arrive as a three-part series based on the story of all 26 episodes of the original anime, with the first instalment expected to arrive in 2026. The studio hasn’t detailed target platform yet, however it seems fairly clear we can count at least on the Quest platform.

There are set to be new characters however, as following Choi’s presentation, four voice actors portraying the game’s newly created characters took the stage: Gakuto Kajiwara as Martin Dason Holloway, Hana Hishikawa as Rimi Okada, Tasuku Hatanaka as Tomohito Yagi, and Manaka Iwami as Erisa Nozaki.

On stage, it was also announced that global hands-on events are scheduled to take place throughout the year leading up to release this year. We’ll be following the studio’s X profile for more information in the meantime.

My Take

Although Evangelion: Cross Reflections could include support for standard VR controllers, the decision to primarily rely on hand-tracking essentially signals that it’s targeting much casual gameplay.

At least from the limited gameplay we’ve seen—which rightfully might even be in-progress tutorial stuff—it’s suggesting that Evangelion fans should probably expect something more in the vein of a VR narrative experience, similar to what we saw with Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom.

Personally speaking, I honestly it’s going going to be as on-rails as Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom, which felt like it was straddling passive film and dulled gameplay stuff. For me, it ended up feeling more like an extended demo (or brand activation) than something that really tapped into the immersive possibility of having your own mecha fighting robot.

The post ‘Evangelion’ VR Game Will Primarily Use Hand-tracking, Increasing Ease-of-use at Cost of Interaction Fidelity appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/DSOI9ks
via IFTTT