VR-o-rama: Ubi Date Star Trek, Eagle Flight, Werewolf
Boldly going!
While most big publishers are being conservative about the latest virtual reality fad - unsurprising, given that cybergoggles can cost you eight hundred chuffing quid - Ubisoft are diving right into the cyberpool. Ubi already making eight-player VR games, which seems a touch optimistic. But hey, you need games to spread hardware, so points for effort! Today Ubi announced release dates across October, November, and December for their first three big VR games: the long-time-ago-in-a-galaxy-far-away co-op spaceship 'em up Star Trek: Bridge Crew [official site], the free-flying Eagle Flight [official site, and the party game adaptation Werewolves Within [official site].
So! Let's go in chronological order. Eagle Flight is a game about birds scooting around a post-apocalyptic Paris overrun by nature. Along with singleplayer free-flying, it has multiplayer capture the flag for up to six eagles. Made by Ubisoft Montreal's Funhouse team, it'll hit Oculus Rift on October 18th then HTC Vive on December 20th. That multiplayer looks a little something like this:
Star Trek: Bridge Crew is basically a simpler Artemis in cyberspace with Star Trek branding. Up to four players take control of stations on the bridge of a starship, trying to make sure they don't crash/self-destruct/collapse the space-time continuum/who even knows. It will have a singleplayer campaign too. Made by Red Storm Entertainment, it'll be out for Rift and Vive on November 29th. Here's a trailer:
Lastly, Werewolves Within is... Werewolf. You know, that party game you refuse to play any more because two people take it so seriously and everyone else gets caught up in their contest of wills and god! I'm heading to the kitchen to get a drink, anyone want to come with? Basically, you all pretend to be villagers trying to deduce which players among you are secretly werewolves and turning others in the night. You suspect and accuse and argue and hey does anyone mind if I put some music on? Also made by Red Storm, it's coming on December 6th. It's for five to eight players and looks a little something like this:
This does all seem a few years early, doesn't it? VR hardware really isn't very widespread yet, what with it costing a bomb. Who has seven pals with cybergoggles? But hey, should this latest round of VR ever take off (Ubi must be banking on a lot of cybergoggles sitting under Christmas trees this year?) then Ubi will be in on the ground floor. Fair play to 'em for giving it a crack.