Newsletter
2019 is shaping up to be another huge year for VR, and that’s happening in every which way possible. From new headsets to big-name titles and experiences, VR is taking off in a way that hasn’t been seen since its last big year in 2016. While we’ve been covering the gamut of hardware introductions and debuts this year, E3 brought us plenty to look forward to on the software front, and now Europe’s Gamescom show will deliver even more goodies.
Taking place between August 20-24 in Cologne, Gamescom will play host to the first VR Games Showcase, which is presented by 6 well-known VR gaming studios. These six studios have teamed up for the greater good of VR gaming and include Fast Travel Games of Apex Construct fame, Neat Corporation of Budget Cuts fame, highly-acclaimed developer Survios who was behind Creed, Raw Data and Sprint Vector, Resolution Games of Angry Birds: VR fame, Carbon Studio of The Wizards and Alice VR fame, and Cortopia Studios of Wands VR fame.
Each of these studios will be showcasing brand new titles at the show, which will include plenty of hands-on time and gameplay footage for titles releasing in the very near future.
Fast Travel Games will be showing off The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, a game that’s all about exploring a miniature world in a way that only VR could deliver. Each level is made up of a small world that you can rotate with your hands, with the ability to explore every nook and cranny, which is filled with physical puzzles to solve. This title will debut on PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets in 2019.
Neat Corporation is back with the sequel to one of the most acclaimed VR games of all time, Budget Cuts. Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency, takes place directly after the first game and sees players with additional weapons and items to use, as well as a completely new scenario to finish off the cliffhanger ending of the original title. Budget Cuts 2 will be coming to Oculus and SteamVR-powered headsets this year, with a presumed release on PSVR and other headsets as well in the future.
Survios will be bringing its VR expertise to homes with its next big title, The Walking Dead: Onslaught. This first-person shooter is designed from the ground-up for VR and delivers some of the most visceral combat we’ve ever seen in a VR game, which stems directly to the combat in Raw Data and Creed, and the advanced locomotion options offered in those games as well.
Resolution games is adding a new multi-player game to the list in Acron: Attack of the Squirrels, but it’s probably not what you initially think. The player in VR will control a tree whose acorns are being stolen by squirrels, controlled by other players on their smartphones. It’s an incredible accessible game that’s perfect for parties or get-togethers, and represents a unique branch of VR gaming that’s really beginning to take off.
Carbon Studio is unveiling a new game in The Wizards series called The Wizards: Dark Times. Sold as a “standalone expansion,” The Wizards is a spell-casting adventure experience that will have you battling new enemies and traveling through time. It’s up for wishlist on Steam now and is expected to release on Oculus platforms, as well as PSVR this year.
Lastly is Cortopia Studios who will be debuting a brand new title at the show. While it’s currently known as ‘An Adventure in Wonderland’, the title could change between now and its official debut in August.