Summer drought? More like summer flood; our list of new VR games for July 2020 is packed with promising titles to check out.
Quest owners are getting a lot of love with month with three highly-anticipated ports on the way, while PSVR fans have something to gloat about with the release of Iron Man VR this week (!) and Pistol Whip coming soon. Plus there’s a huge update for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners planned and a heck of a lot more.
An ultra-adorable bullet hell shooter in which you steer your vehicle with your hand and fight off waves of 8-bit villains. Fair warning: meme’s aplenty.
It’s time to suit up as Tony Stark for the very first time in VR. Marvel’s Iron Man VR offers a full campaign starring the armored Avenger, available exclusively on PSVR. We can’t wait.
Budget Cuts – July 10th (PSVR)
Neat Corp’s VR stealth debut finally sneaks onto PSVR, over two years since its original release. Escape the mundanity of the 9 – 5 and throw knives at robots in what’s become a bit of a VR icon.
Five Nights At Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted – July 16th (Quest)
Yes, you no longer have to spam our Twitter posts and Showcase comments; Steel Wool Studios’ VR fright-fest touches down on Oculus Quest in mid-July.
Inspired in-part by the STALKER series, Into The Radius has been slowly gathering steam in Early Access for a fair few months now, and it’s finally ready for its full release.
The long-awaited PSVR support for Media Molecule’s game creator is finally here. We’ve seen some incredible inventions in Dreams since its launch on PS4 earlier this year, and the PSVR version promises to bring all that creativity to the headset in a free update.
The fantasy rouge-lite combat game that gets as close to Dark Souls in VR as we’ve yet traveled finally lands on Oculus Quest. Entirely revamped for the platform, expect an addictive experience.
Pistol Whip – July 28th (PSVR)
After months of waiting, Cloudhead Games’ searing rhythm shooter dances its way onto PSVR, offering Superhot-infused John Wick action with a hint of Beat Saber. Delicious.
Onward – July 30th (Quest)
It’s taken a little longer than hoped by Onward is finally coming to Oculus Quest at the very end of the month. Military simulation action finally goes wireless!
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Meat Grinder Update – July (PSVR, Rift, SteamVR)
Saints & Sinners’ first big content drop since its January launch is nearly with us, delivering a huge new horde mode and more.
Niantic, the makers of Pokémon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, today announced what they’re calling a “multifaceted partnership” with Punchdrunk, the company behind the ‘Sleep No More’ immersive theatrical experience.
“Together we are developing multiple projects that will reinvent storytelling for a 21st century audience and further expand the horizon of interactive entertainment,” Niantic says in a blog post.
Punchdrunk are pioneers of the immersive theater genre. The UK-based theater company focuses heavily on bringing audiences a narrative experience with a unique ability to freely choose what to watch and where to go. This is achieved by adapting classic texts, physical performances, and immersive set design. How Niantic will bring AR into this isn’t certain, although it sounds exciting.
“I believe that Punchdrunk and Niantic can create something that has never been done before. They do it in AR, we do it in real life. Collide the two and I think we will blow people’s minds; bend the rules of genre and redefine the norms of mobile gaming,” says Felix Barrett, Artistic Director of Punchdrunk.
The company says it’s been experimenting with “new forms of gaming on mobile and AR glasses,” with 10 new games currently in development including prototypes for AR glasses. Niantic says each of these games, like their previous titles, will be centered around outdoor exploration, movement, and social interaction.
Cleared your schedule for the weekend? We hope you have, because the PSVR exclusive Marvel’s Iron Man VR is headed for launch on July 3rd. To drum up even more hype, developers Camouflaj released the game’s launch trailer featuring plenty of high-flying action and story.
We’ve seen a fair bit of Iron Man VR in the months since we first went hands-on with the game last year. From what we’ve seen and experienced, the game has huge potential, which is part thanks to its innovative flying mechanic that—without exaggerating—makes you feel like Iron Man.
If you’re looking for a better breakdown of everything you’ve seen in today’s launch trailer, Camouflaj actually released a bunch of gameplay and story info just last week, which should help you understand some of what you’re seeing here.
Provided you drag your eyes across this article before July 3rd, you can still pre-order Iron Man VR in either a digital or disc Standard Edition for $40, and a Digital Deluxe Edition for $50 which includes four Iron Man armor skins that are unique to the Deluxe edition, extra upgrade points, the full soundtrack (digital), and an Iron ManVR PS4 theme.
Solaris: Offworld Combat might be launching as an Oculus exclusive on PC, but don’t expect it to say that way – a SteamVR version is planned.
First Contact Entertainment’s new multiplayer shooter launches on Oculus Quest and Rift this August, with a PSVR version planned for later this year too. But, in a recent tweet from the game’s official Twitter account, First Contact confirmed that there are plans for a SteamVR release too. Specific headsets for this release weren’t mentioned but, if it’s on SteamVR, you should be able to play with just about any PC VR headset, it just might not be properly optimized.
No release window was given for the SteamVR version, which has us suspecting we won’t see it this year. That’s pure speculation on our part, though. The Twitter account also confirmed that there will be dedicated servers available at launch next month too.
Solaris offers 4 vs 4 arena-based combat in a sci-fi setting. Whereas First Contact’s last game, the PSVR-exclusive Firewall, was similar to Rainbow Six, you can think of this as closer to fast-paced shooters like Unreal Tournament. We revealed a first look at the game, running on the Oculus Rift, at our Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition last month. Last week First Contact also confirmed that the PSVR version of the game will support Sony’s rifle-shaped Aim controller.
We don’t have an exact date for the Solaris August launch yet but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. Will you be buying it on Rift, Quest or PSVR, or will you be holding out for the SteamVR version? Let us know in the comments below!
It’s a bit of a crime that Epic Games’ Robo Recall never got a sequel. Arcano looks like it could fill that void, though.
Developed by Neuston, Arcano is a co-op focused VR shooter due out later this year. In the game, you take on the role of an elite agent and fight your way through missions either in solo play or with a friend. Take a look at some pre-alpha footage below (and take note that the grey box environments are not actually going to be used in the final game).
It might be early days but Arcano already shows a promising degree of polish. You can see a lot of Robo Recall in the gun combat; bullets fly at you in highlighted rings to make them easier to dodge or block with your handgun, and there are slow-motion grenade explosions to boot. Plus there’s other elements like climbing walls and flying drones (Neuston was tellingly behind Drone Hero from 2017) to add some variety.
The game is produced by Jonas Johansson, who worked as a senior programmer on the Crysis trilogy at Crytek and on Just Cause 2 at Avalanche. Speaking to Upload, Johansson explained that Arcano will offer a base package with introductory elements like a shooting range free of charge. Missions will be available to buy.
“Then, as an agent hired by Arcano, you’re given these over the top missions, and this is what the game is all about,” he explained. “Sneak into a building and hack a computer, hang from under a helicopter in mid-air, etc. The missions are designed from the ground up for co-op, and they’re best played with a friend (although you don’t have to).”
If you’ve been hoping to make and experience some wild VR things in Dreams (2020), the content creation suite from Media Molecule, you won’t have to wait too much longer. On July 22nd, Dreams is finally getting that PSVR update we’ve all been waiting for.
Dreams launched into Early Access on PS4 late last year, and then released its full version in February 2020; ‘full’ was definitely a misnomer, since we were always hoping to play Dreams in VR form the start. Better late than never.
The free update will include new VR-specific tutorials, kits, and playable content. Watch out: it sounds like there’s plenty to learn before you can go crazy and build that quadruple loop-de-loop space rollercoaster you’ve been dreaming of, including Best Practices, new building gadgets, and plenty of how-tos.
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Image courtesy Media Molecule
Image courtesy Media Molecule
Image courtesy Media Molecule
Although Media Molecule didn’t go into extreme detail in their PS blog announcement, Dreams is also set to include some form of VR comfort mode, vignette sliders, static sky, and “more”.
“We have also created a whole range of different experiences ready to play and inspire Dreamers for their own versions. From games such as Box Blaster, which sees you testing your sharp-shooting skills, to our Inside the Box Gallery which features sculpts and art pieces from different members of the team, including an ultra-fabulous mech. Games like Box Blaster will also have their own respective creation kits,” Media Molecule Communications Manager Abbie Heppe reveals.
The studio says creators will also be able to specify whether or not their content is made for VR, and include a comfort rating from players.
In the end, it sounds like Dreams for VR will be just as an open creation experience as it is on flatscreen, although it doesn’t sound like there will be any overlap in VR content and the stuff that’s already available. That’s probably for the best though, because VR inherently has its own design limitations (and benefits) that new creators will be experiencing first-hand in a meaningful way.
