The Rift Arcade gets hands-on with upcoming VR adventure game Fated.
There’s not much we can tell you about Fated right now. Current in production at Frima Studios, it’s an episodic first-person action adventure game designed specifically for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Morpheus headset; it’s set in the mythical age of the Vikings, and promises to tell the story of a father and husband as he protects his family from the destruction of their world. It’s also a wonderfully intuitive and atmospheric game, with bags of charm and potential. We were fortunate enough to get time with the recent demo showed at Oculus Connect 2, and came away enthralled and very much looking forward to playing more.
The demo begins with the main character at the helm of a horse and cart. His wife sits in front of him, chatting casually while the world rolls by. We quickly noticed that in front and behind our cart was a convey of other carts. It seemed like the entire village was on the move, possibly to safety or refuge. Using the Xbox controller we could steer the horse and cart through the landscape, with a nice subtlety of movement that responded exactly to how much pressure we applied to the back controller trigger buttons. Soon the main character’s daughter appears at his side. She asked questions, noting how we’d lost the ability to talk. By nodding or shaking our head we could respond and continue the conversion — a process which felt instantly natural and intuitive. That’s when we noticed how we’d already formed a bond with these characters, even though we were mere minutes into the game. Soon afterwards the demo came to an end and we left wanting to see more — which is always an assuring sign that the developers at Frima are onto something special.
Graphically the Fated demo is already a wonderful-looking experience. Characters are life-like and charming, with nice animation and large eyes that look right into the camera, while the world around you is bursting with color. There’s also some nice detail to the movements of your character as you steer the horse and cart through the landscape, with the reins being pulled in tandem with the force pressed on the Xbox controller trigger.
More details about the game are expected soon, but be assured that Fated is shaping up to be a wonderful VR experience. The team at Frima are hoping to release the game in episodic form, with each episode lasting roughly between 45 minutes and an hour. The game is designed to be played in short chunks, but don’t expect it to be an easy ride, because the team are hoping to elicit raw emotion in the player, from wonder and fear to happiness and awe. Hopefully we won’t have much longer to wait before we find out more…