After revealing the newest upcoming exclusive from Oculus Studios last week, the team behind the game has revealed a snippet of new gameplay footage that delves into mechanics that go beyond the interactive combat shown in the announcement trailer.
Asgard’s Wrath, an upcoming Rift exclusive developed by Sanzaru Games and published by Oculus Studios, was announced last week as a Norse-inspired melee combat game. And while the announcement trailer was filled with lots of combat, the studio behind the game says that it’s going to be much more than discrete combat areas. Apparently in response to such suggestions, the studio revealed the following gameplay footage which shows many interactions beyond combat, and gives us an idea of what the rest of the gameplay will look like:
In the video, we see the player gathering items from the environment like herbs, coins, food, and arrows. Classic dungeoning tropes such as loot-filled chests and smashable (and equally lucrative) boxes can also be found throughout.
We also get a glimpse at how players will use their animal friends to aid them throughout the game. Oculus has said that players will be able to use their godly powers to turn a handful of different animals into humanoid companions, who will each have unique abilities to assist the player. In this case we see that there’s a key behind bars which the player can’t reach, but the frog-guy comes along and snatches it with its tongue.
Interesting still, after the frog retrieves the key, it holds it out for the player to retrieve, which is a subtle but immersive player-to-character interaction (slimy though the key might be).
Further demonstrating rich interactions, the player eventually puts the key into a door lock, turns it, and then releases the bolt holding the door shut. And then there’s the rat on the ground that players can pick up and tickle—a promising sign that there will be lots of interaction with the world to help players feel immersed in the game’s Norse-inspired world.
The footage is shown entirely with unhindered smooth locomotion and turning, though Oculus has confirmed that Asgard’s Wrath will feature a full set of comfort options, though teleportation won’t be one of them. As the game is being developed by Sanzaru, we expect that the locomotion system will be in many ways similar to their prior VR title, Marvel Powers United VR.
Asgard’s Wrath is due out some time in 2019 and is said to offer a 30 hour VR adventure that will be the “deepest title yet” from Sanzaru Games. Oculus is promising much more detail to come at GDC 2019 in March.
