You don’t see a lot of sequels in the VR space yet. Not only is it rare to have a game successful enough to fund and/or warrant a follow-up, but consumer VR headsets just haven’t been around very long yet so developers haven’t had the time. Well, Vertigo 2 from Zulubo Productions is bucking those trends.
The original Vertigo came out in late 2016 and we called it “a decent stab at an indie Half-Life” in VR. Notably, it lacked the polish to be as transcendent as it could have been. If this trailer is any indication, the sequel could be righting most of the wrongs we had with its predecessor:
Not only does Vertigo 2 look like a wild ride, it sounds like one too. This is what the Steam page says:
Deep underground in the reaches of Quantum Reactor VII, you awake to finish your journey home. No closer to your goal than when you first arrived, you must count on the help of the mysteriously familiar stranger who saved your life. On your way towards the center of the reactor, you will have to face bizarre alien flora and fauna leaking from other universes – and deadly android security forces whose job is to purge the Reactor of all life. As you try to determine who to trust, sinister forces lurk just out of sight.
With a branching story hinging on key decisions, there’s no telling what you’ll encounter in this absurd world. The only certainty is that there’s danger around every corner.
We’ll be eagerly awaiting more details on this one. The Steam page says it’s coming in 2020 and it has support for Vive, Windows VR, and Index listed (notably no Rift) but we don’t know more beyond that. Let us know what you think of it down in the comments below!
Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades – often referred to colloquially as H3VR – stands out in the saturated sea of VR shooters for a few reasons. For one, it features anthropomorphized sausages as its enemies, making this a relatively child-friendly shooter. Rather than be about respawn rates and fragging enemies, it’s billed more as a gun shooting simulator with hyper-realistic and intricate interactions. It’s also never on sale, owing to RUST LTD’s faith in their product and it’s value – for good reason, too. H3VR has over 70 updates, notably including this week’s Meat Fortress event, all of which have been released free of charge since the game entered Early Access in 2016. It’s this that really makes H3VR stand out from the pack, the exhaustive dedication to iterative improvement.
Anton Hand, CTO of RUST LTD, was kind enough to lend me his time to help explain this phenomenon. H3VR’s Early Access state came about essentially due to Hand’s virality and the HTC Vive’s initial launch. Upon uploading some test footage in early 2016 of him goofing around with gun models in VR, viewers started asking for him to release something to coincide with the Vive’s launch that they, too, could play with. His plan was initially to rush out the “beginning structure of an early access game,” Hand explained, adding that they’d be incredibly open about their intention to update it frequently.
“Something that’s very philosophically ‘us’ is the opposite of the ‘hard sell'”, Hand added, alluding to the fact that they never wanted to pressure people into buying their game only to end up feeling disappointed. They’d much rather their community adopts the approach of “Follow along, we’re doing weekly videos and putting out weekly updates, buy in when/if it looks interesting enough for you to pay for.”
Though they initially planned to leave Early Access some time in 2018, H3VR still hasn’t seen a 1.0 release, because, “The experiments are ongoing and this is a project that [is] reactive to its community, ” as Hand put it. A key example of this is the Take and Hold mode, which “stemmed from [me] wanting to do a lighting test with a modular hallway kit”, and after fans flocked to the mode and expressed their approval, ended up getting “several iterations of improvement,” from the team.
Update #52 was so large that it took them around 3 months to complete and “was the most extensive refactor of the game’s systems that it ever got… especially given the complexity of it, [it was a] more extensive rebuild than a game tends to get,” Hand remarked, adding that “I think a lot of people probably would have just released a brand new game at that point,” but they were determined to see out their vision of H3VR.
I commented that some of these updates were easily expansive enough to qualify as DLC, but questioned why they’d kept everything free. His response was cheerful but he clearly has a strict code of conduct: “I’ve joked for a while that we’re a live service game that you only pay for once… I’m very much not [a fan of the] monetization strategies of our industry, I find them sort of predatory.”
“There are two reasons why these various updates aren’t structured like DLCs that you pay for,” Hand said. The first of which is technical, mentioning that they were strictly aiming for regular updates, so anything that would slow that infrastructure down is an immediate red flag. “The second one is just a general, philosophical/emotional [reason, that] there are people who’ve been following this game for several years who save up their pennies and buy into VR – especially young kids,” and the last thing Hand wants is “little Timmy to buy the game because he got a VR system for Christmas as his one gift,” only to discover that “he doesn’t have 80% of the guns because he doesn’t have the money to buy them for $2.99 each.”
“If you’re a creator and you’re trying to make something that’s a positive part of someone’s day and existence, that just isn’t something you do to other people who you care about,” Hand explained. “If I had to do that to survive making media products, I wouldn’t make media products, I would go be a carpenter or something – I just don’t believe in doing that to people.”
He embellished this with the story of a holiday event that he ran over one December. “I got through my head to do [this] advent calendar where I did an update a day from December 1st to December 25th.” These updates included a hidden advent box that would unlock new guns, grenades, and more for players to enjoy, and despite describing it as a gruelling experience that he’d grossly underestimated the workload for, the response was overwhelming. “I was originally like ‘no, there’s no way I’m ever going to do that [again]’,” but he received some heartwarming messages from the community: “[They told me] how important it was to them, one guy [wrote] ‘you’re the only one that got me anything for Christmas this year.'”
Another recently separated fan felt that the event gave him a reason to keep living “and so I always try to do something special [for] the holidays, and I think even after we hit [version 1.0] for H3VR… I will absolutely keep doing the holiday stuff… because that kind of stuff is so special to some people,” Hand remarked.
If Hand’s passion for his craft was ever in question, you’d need look no further than his YouTube channel. He uploads fairly regular devlog videos and his most recent upload is an excellent example. While discussing the Team Fortress 2 weapons that they’ve implemented into H3VR for the Meat Fortress update, we get a good insight into his perspective. Not only is he incredibly respectful of the source material he’s working with, going to great lengths to maintain as much authenticity as he can while also adapting the guns to realistic physics, but you can hear genuine glee in his voice when he’s testing out the weapons.
He left me with an eye-opening take on the current state of the gaming industry and why live service models are effective: “You’re not actually fighting for anyone’s money, anymore. Actually, you’re fighting for minutes of their time; that’s the commodity now. You are trying to deliver something that’s worth their time, not trying to pick money out of their wallet, because we’ve reached saturation in this industry.”
Another game that surprised me with the depth of free updates is the chaotic Sairento VR, which received a new Oculus Quest spinoff this week. Despite launching in Early Access in 2016 and later releasing in 2018, they still weren’t done iterating on Sairento VR. I posed my questions to Aldric Chang, CEO of Mixed Realms, about their title. “Sairento VR was born of a desire [to] mesh the iconic ‘bullet-time’ scenes from The Matrix, the slow-motion mayhem of Max Payne… while looking and feeling as badass as the Bride from Kill Bill,” Chang explained. “Our mistake was coming out of EA a tad early, but that [didn’t stop] us from continuing to roll out updates.”
They were striving for perfection with their updates, Chang told me, clarifying that “Of course there is no true perfection as a game can always be improved, but we think that we owe it to our fans to at least bring the game to a state where they can play it the way we intended for them to.” This desire to serve their fans was important to them, stating that, “As a game developer, we are clear that we answer chiefly to our fans. We owe any sales and success to them…they deserve the best that we can give them. And if something can be improved, we want to do it.”
Unlike H3VR, however, this approach was never really part of the plan for SairentoVR. Chang and the team “simply felt that we owed it to our fans to make the game as good as we could make it. It was clear at least to us that Sairento still needed improvement in some areas, so we decided to work on them.” He also elaborated on how the fans can – and often should – be a part of this process: “The ‘jump’ mechanic that defines Sairento now… The player feedback was tremendously in favor of making this the default option.”
As with Hand, I asked why these updates remained free of charge, and Chang reiterated a similar sense of morality. “Of course we could have waited to compile all the updates and sold them as a DLC but that would mean delaying the updates. That wouldn’t be right…we had many bugs in the earlier iterations of our game…we wanted to give away the later updates to reward our fans for being patient with us.”
It was humbling to hear this sentiment of loyalty to the fans echoed throughout our interview. “Players don’t want to be told what they can’t experience – only to be shown what they can,” Chang concluded.
Both H3VR and Sairento VR are notable titles that wouldn’t be what they are today without the tireless work of their developers. These are shining examples of how continual iteration can be the ethical future of gaming, and we can only hope other developers follow suit.
Firewall Zero Hour is an excellent game. We awarded it our Game of the Year for 2018 and consider it one of the very best PSVR games to date and easily one of the best VR shooters so far. When played with the PS Aim controller it offers an immense amount of depth and tactics with an active and deeply passionate community. And it looks like Sony is deciding to start promoting it once again now that the Operation Nightfall update is fully functional.
Earlier this week Damoun Shabestari, Game Director at First Contact Entertainment, announced via a PlayStation Blog post that Firewall Zero Hour would be enjoying a free trial weekend starting today (June 28) and lasting until Sunday (June 30) for anyone with a PSVR headset and PS Plus subscription. This weekend will also offer double XP across the board for all players. With this free trial it’s a great opportunity to test the game out if you’ve been wary or to invite friends into the fold that haven’t tried it yet.
In the same blog post, Shabestari also broke down the intricate design principles and ideas that went into the creation of the game’s latest free map addition, Hangar. The map was introduced in the Operation Nightfall update (there’s one more coming too) and it features some of the most complex designs in the whole game to date.
During our E3 VR Showcase, First Contact Entertainment also announced their next game dubbed Solaris: Offworld Combat, which is coming to both Oculus Quest and Rift later this year.
Yet another VR essential is making its way over to Oculus Quest next week. Crows, Crows, Crows and Squanch Games’ entirely bizarre VR mind-messer, Accounting +, touches down on July 4th.
Yes that’s right, the most American of all games arrives on the most American of all days. Accounting + is a surreal descent into madness from the mind of Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland. It sees you putting on VR headsets to travel deeper and deeper into strange and twisted realities where you’ll meet uncomfortably aggressive characters and, uh, play the xylophone with some bones.
Check out the trailer for the Quest port below. It also confirms the game’s getting support for Valve’s shiny new Index headset and controllers.
VR veterans will remember Accounting first released for free on PC VR headsets in 2016. It then came to PSVR as the expanded Accounting +, which also arrived on PC late last year. We’ve long been fans of the app’s distinct tone. Accounting + excels at making you feel awkward and uncomfortable in fascinating and funny ways. Plus it’s littered with easter eggs and secrets to uncover, encouraging you to explore every inch of every scene. Trust us when we say there’s nothing quite like it out there right now.
Meanwhile, outside of Quest town, Limited Run games is also launching a special edition of Accounting + on PSVR. It’s got a special coin, soundtrack and a Talking Tree Guy plush that we really, really want. Squanch also recently launched another VR game, Trover Saves The Universe.
Borderlands 2 VR (2018) landed on PSVR late last year, although Gearbox Software made it clear at launch that it was going to be a timed exclusive, with a minimum of five months given to PlayStation. Now, it appears a Windows PC version of the game has just gotten its ESRB rating, putting it one step closer to PC VR headset users.
As first reported by UploadVR, Twitter user ‘Wario64’ broke the news during E3 2019 that Borderlands 2 VR for Windows PC had garnered an ‘M’ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).
The ESRB website doesn’t show this rating specifically at the time of this writing; it only lists the rating for the previous PlayStation 4 version. Twitter user Wario64 has generally been a reliable source for leaks however, and considering the game’s release on PC VR was all but confirmed by the studio itself even before launch on PSVR, the supposed rating is decidedly credible, if not a complete banality to anyone not following the space.
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Admittedly, we weren’t too impressed with Borderlands 2 VR on PSVR, giving it a tepid [5.9/10] on our linear grading scale. Road to VR’s Ben Lang reviewed the game on PSVR when it launched in December 2018, saying that while it technically works in VR, it still hasn’t managed to escape the feeling of being an outright port. On top of that, there’s no co-op mode, no DLC, no VR-specific interactions, middling graphics, and a gamepad-first design.
Although it’s since gotten a few quality of life updates, bringing with it support for PS Aim and improved shooting for all controller types, it’ll be interesting to see if Gearbox takes the opportunity to iron out more of the other gripe-worthy issues we saw on PSVR for the PC VR release.
Space Junkies (2019), the zero-G VR shooter from Ubisoft, just got its ‘Episode 3’ update, which adds a host of fresh content to the game on all supported platforms, including PC VR headsets and PSVR.
Announced on the Oculus blog, Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio has added a new map to the game called ‘The Jail’, an abandoned alien prison facility. The Jail is now the game’s largest interior map, including multiple levels and cover options.
As for new modes, Space Junkies now has a new 3v3 mode as well as something called ‘Chivalry mode’, which focuses on a new mid/long-range precision bow and arrow weapon.
Ubisoft says you can choose to let off three arrows from your quiver or pull back on the bow longer to merge your shots into a single laser arrow for a more powerful punch. Chivalry mode also limits your equipment to ratchet up the challenge.
“Chivalry was inspired by one of our Gameplay Programmers who likes to Cosplay and play with medieval swords,” explains Ubisoft producer Adrian Lacey. “Players enjoyed close quarter combat in our spherical battlespaces, so we decided to take it a step further by adding the ‘Bowminator’ to increase skill level, encourage precision shooting, and add a tactical layer.”
A new character called the Mental Mollusk is also now available, a member of the Quantic Calamari family.
Space Junkies, once a multiplayer-only game, now has training bots, which finally lets you hone your skills on your lonesome. Ubisoft has added three difficulty modes. You’ll also be able to fight bots while you wait for multiplayer matches to queue up.
Space Junkies is currently 62% off through Steam (Index, Rift, Vive, Windows VR) and the Oculus Store (Rift). The discount lasts until July 9th. The game is also priced at $20 through the PS Store for PSVR.
If you’re looking for an closer look at Space Junkies, check out our in-depth review to find out why we gave it a solid [7.7/10].
Hopefully you enjoyed the first look at Doctor Who: The Edge of Time at our E3 VR Showcase this month. Today, though, developer Maze Theory is taking you a little deeper behind the scenes of the VR game.
The developer’s just unleashed a range of new making of videos. There’s a main one in which members of the studio are on-hand to talk about working on the game and then some brief looks at bringing some of the series’ iconic villains to virtual life.
In The Edge of Time, you play as a new companion to the Doctor that must track down the Tardis and set off to rescue her. A new villain has trapped the Doctor at the (you guessed it) edge of time. To save her, you’ll travel across different times and come into contact with some of the best-known baddies from the TV series.
That includes the Weeping Angels, a terrifying brand of beast made famous in a more recent series. They’re stone statues that only move when you can’t see them. That creates a frightful mechanic where you’ll want to be looking at them at all times. And yes, you’ll meet a Dalek or two too. Current Jodie Whittaker also lends her voice talents to the game throughout.
Maze Theory also got to design a new villain named the Hydrorks for the game. They’re sludgy-looking monsters that you can see in the first video below.
Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time is due for launch in September on PSVR, Rift, Vive and Quest. We’ll have more on the game when it hits.
