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It seems that the Tetris Effect PC port that just launched on the Epic Games Store has a few kinks that need to get ironed out, particularly for players interested in playing the game in VR. The VR functionality was one of the biggest highlights for the game when it launched on the PS4 last year, and the PC port brings that functionality into higher definition and greater fluidity than it enjoyed on Sony’s Playstation VR.
The issue lies in how the developer configured the SteamVR component of the game, specifically as to how it calculates the position of players in the room. SteamVR already has a built-in component to choose between sitting, standing, or roomscale (read: free movement) options, but Tetris Effect developers seem to have ignored those options in favor of building the game around a standing posture.
This is obviously not what people want to be doing while playing Tetris for several hours, and it requires no explanation, either. Players are finding that they have to go through several hoops and options to turn off the guardian system, adjust their height, and even go through hoops to recenter themselves in the room due to a lack of a simple “recenter seated position” option.
Players have also had frustrating issues getting it to launch in VR at all, citing that SteamVR has been freezing and will only launch the regular 2D version on their display, instead. Some users have had to reinstall SteamVR just to get things working, which is a frustrating process in any scenario. SteamVR is designed to be run apart from the Steam store interface, but issues like these can crop up from time-to-time.
There’s also no official DualShock 4 or Keyboard and Mouse support either, which has been disappointing to many customers who jumped on board day one. Tutorials and other on-screen elements seem to still be referencing DualShock 4 buttons, making it feel like everything wasn’t quite finished when the game was released. It’s likely that developers will fix these issues in upcoming patches, especially since the game has only been out for a day, but it’s still going to be a less-than-stellar experience for customers who don’t have a controller that properly supports XInput (like an Xbox controller), or players who want to experience the game in VR.
This port also brings light to an issue players have had with the Epic Games Store since its launch in December: there are still no community reviews of titles to warn people of issues like this. Players have been taking to Reddit instead of being able to comment properly on the game’s store page, as they can do with Steam, and that’s been a frustrating experience for many.
This is not to trash on Epic in any way. In fact, Epic has been updating its Games Store over the past several months in significant ways, including adopting a “Steam-like” return policy and adding in regional pricing for over 230 countries (although there’s still some work on fair-trade to be done in certain cases).
Epic has been doing the good work of landing more money into the pockets of developers since last year when it launched the Epic Games Store, which has a common split of 88% of the purchase price going straight to the developer, while Epic only takes out 12% to cover its store hosting costs. This is a stark contrast from the industry norm of 70/30, which has been adopted by the Google Play Store and Steam; the two biggest players in either market and ones that clearly need to be challenged for the betterment of consumers.
As Epic continues to improve its store in significant ways, we’re seeing a far more consumer-friendly market and one that’s seeing more console-exclusive titles finally make their way onto the PC platform as well.