Category Archives: Oculus Rift News

Top 3 Oculus Experiences at FIVARS 2018

OGR attended this year’s FIVARS Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories in Toronto, Canada and found a curated collection of new narrative works for Virtual Reality, roomscale, 360 video, holography and augmented reality.

Of course we wanted to cover the new ideas coming in from around the world for the Oculus platform so here are our three top picks:

Battlescar

directed by Nico Casavecchia and Martin Allais

Battlescar film screenshot courtesy official site
Battlescar – screenshot courtesy official site

Winner of the Grand Jury prize, this pumping punk rock diary is brought to life through lighting, a killer soundtrack, a performance voiced by Rosario Dawson and use of dioarama, decoupage and other artistic techniques as ported to a CG VR context. This first episode is an amazing visual feast that feels like a cross between a Ramones music video and an off Broadway play, set in the 1970’s in Alphabet City. We’re looking forward to the next installments.

Oculus Rift | Produced by Atlas V in co-production with 1STAveMachine, Fauns and Arte France in association with Kaleidoscope

Mel’s Wake

directed by Luisa Valencia

Mel's Wake game poster

From the developers behind “We Happy Few” comes an ambitious experiment in branching spherical video narrative. While still under development, Mel’s Wake has you in the role of a ghost at her own funeral, eavesdropping on various characters from her life. Which way you look affects the way conversations unfold in realtime. At the end you are shown what characters you most interacted with/fixated upon. This could form the basis for very interesting future content.

Oculus Rift | Produced by Signal Space Lab

Where Thoughts Go

by Lucas Rizzoto

Where Thoughts Go game screenshot courtesy Oculus
Where Thoughts Go – screenshot courtesy Oculus

We are always on the lookout for people using the tech in new ways, and Lucas Rizzoto’s intimate piece does just that – over several chapters you are asked philosophical or personal questions. Reaching out into one of several dreamy environments, you grasp onto a cute floating sphere (with eyes) and here someone respond to the question – for example: “what did you want to be when you grew up?” After doing several of these, you are invited to grip both triggers and record your own. You are anonymous of course, and, at the festival this was supported by having you in a curtained off tent with little glowing lights and pillows, where you sat on a shag carpet. Your recording is then sent off into the virtual and literal cloud to join the growing number of others. A beautiful and clever exercise.

Oculus Rift | Produced by Where Thoughts Go | $9.99 via Oculus

Top 5 Oculus Releases – August 11th-August 24th – Strategy and Speed in the Stars

Our latest top five new Oculus releases is heavy on interstellar action – whether that be the measured action of outer space naval battles or more frantic dodging and shooting inspired by classic arcade games.

Flotilla 2

from Blendo Games

Flotilla 2 game screenshot courtesy Steam
Flotilla 2 – screenshot courtesy Steam

Released eight years ago, this game’s predecessor was a wonderful blend of 3D space strategy stripped down into easily digestible chunks and set in a lighthearted universe with space pirate penguins that owed as much to Douglas Adams as it did to more “serious” science fiction.

Flotilla 2 builds on that with a similar premise – think the large-scale 3D battles of the Homeworld series boiled down into simple skirmishes that you can fight your way through during your lunch break – but exclusively in VR, which is perfect for turn-based spaceship combat.

Oculus Rift | 100 MB | $9.99 from Steam

Orch Star

from Orch Star Studios

Orch Star game screenshot courtesy Steam
Orch Star – screenshot courtesy Steam

Now out of Early Access, Orch Star offers more interstellar strategy, but this time RTS instead of turn-based. Playable both on standard PCs and in VR, it features both extended single-player campaign, level editor and multi-player matches.

The setting is also intriguing, and its blending of fantasy and space opera tropes reminds us a bit of Warhammer 40,000 without all the over-the-top edgy parts. It’s also got a ton of visual appeal; its fleets of ships reminds us of ‘70s and ‘80s-era sci-fi animation.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $14.99 from Steam

Space Maze

from Redox Entertainment

Space Maze game screenshot courtesy Steam
Space Maze – screenshot courtesy Steam

If strategy isn’t your thing, maybe you’ve just got the need for speed? Space Maze is classic arcade action, right down to the scorching neon colors and low-poly designs, but designed for VR.

With a third-person view of your ship and action that borrows elements of everything from Asteroids to Descent, this is a simple but compelling take on high-adrenaline shoot-’em-ups.

Oculus Rift | 450 MB | $7.99 from Oculus or from Steam

RotatorX

from DEFICIT Games

RotatorX game screenshot courtesy Oculus
RotatorX – screenshot courtesy Oculus

There’s high-speed spaceship fun for mobile VR players this week, too, in the form of RotatorX, a twitchy but meditative take on the endless racer genre. With its swirling colors, electronic soundtrack and tense, oppressive feel, this one has us thinking a bit of 2016’s stunning “rhythm violence” game, Thumper.

Oculus Go | 136 MB | $3.99 from Oculus

Titanic VR

from Immersive VR Education

Titanic VR game screenshot courtesy Steam
Titanic VR – screenshot courtesy Steam

Shifting gears from spaceships to…well…regular ships, Titanic VR is a historically accurate recreation of history’s most famous shipwreck through the perspective of one of the survivors.

Even more impressive to us, though, is the ability to commandeer a submersible drone to explore the wreckage in the present day. Then again, we’re suckers for diving simulators.

Oculus Rift | 10 GB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Order Up game screenshot courtesy Steam

Top 5 Oculus Releases – July 6th-20th – From Whimsical to Scary and In-Between

Another two-week list, our top Oculus releases from mid-July include a variety of games for all platforms, from innovative horror games to whimsical puzzles.

GNOG

from KO_OP

GNOG game screenshot courtesy Oculus
GNOG – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Originally released on mobile platforms but now optimized for VR, GNOG is a whimsical and award-winning puzzle game inspired by real-world toy designs.

Combining the surreal playfulness of games like Machinarium – each of its nine levels involves solving puzzles within a giant toy head – with an art style that evokes Loot Rascals as well as contemporary design brands like GAMAGO, this release is tactile enough to feel “real” but so kooky that virtual space is its perfect delivery mechanism.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $9.99 from Oculus or from Steam
Oculus Go | 1.03 GB | $4.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 1.03 GB | $4.99 from Oculus

Stifled

from Gattai Games

Stifled game screenshot courtesy Steam
Stifled – screenshot courtesy Steam

Winning multiple awards at game shows in Asia, Stifled is a stealth horror game that relies on a fairly unique echolocation mechanic: in order to discover your surroundings, you need to make sound using your microphone. The more noise you make, though, the more you broadcast your location to unseen horrors stalking you in the darkness…

This is a cross-platform game that doesn’t have to be played in VR, but the extra immersion makes things all the more terrifying.

Oculus Rift | 6 GB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism

from Hyphen-Labs

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism game screenshot courtesy Oculus
NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism – screenshot courtesy Oculus

An interactive film combining cyberpunk science fiction with commentary on the African-American experience – and in particular the connection between hair and identity – NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism has been featured at the likes of the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW and the Tribeca Film Festival.

It’s also free on all Oculus platforms, so even if you don’t have an immediate personal connection to the subject matter, there’s no excuse not to check this out.

Oculus Rift | 1.6 GB | FREE from Oculus
Oculus Go | 452 MB | FREE from Oculus
Gear VR | 452 MB | FREE from Oculus

Bring to Light

from Red Meat Games

Bring to Light game screen shot courtesy Steam
Bring to Light – screen shot courtesy Steam

Solve 3D light puzzles a la The Talos Principle as hideous monstrosities stalk you through abandoned subway tunnels in a game that will stress both your brain and your heart rate.

That last bit is literal, by the way – if you’ve got a compatible heart rate monitor, Bring to Light can actually use your heart rate data to adjust the intensity of its scares!

Oculus Rift | 6 GB | $19.99 from Steam

Order Up

from Gambit Games Studio, LLC

Order Up game screenshot courtesy Steam
Order Up – screenshot courtesy Steam

If you’re a fan of the frantic multi-tasking of restaurant simulators and cooking games, Order Up should tickle your taste buds, so to speak.

Adding to the stress of getting your meals put together right and keeping your diners happy, this designed for room scale, so make sure to put on your hairnet – all that running around will have you sweating.

Oculus Rift | $11.99 from Steam