We had a chance to go hands-on with Gumi and Yomuneco’s Sword of Gargantua at GDC back in March, and while an official write-up never materialized out of the hectic game-filled dev conference, a demo for the studio’s upcoming online action RPG is finally here for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
Set in a world dominated by a race of giants called the Gargantua, the full release will let you and up to three other players join in physical combat against the Gargantua, giant overlords in the combat-focused fantasy world. Swords of Gargantua is slated for release on Steam Early Access later this year.
The demo is single player-only, which shows off some of the massive scale of the world and its warrior inhabitants. The Gargantua’s minions tower at six-feet tall, while the Gargantua themselves loom over you at increasingly impressive heights.
You can download the demo here.
Using weapons such as battle axes and swords, you can physically strike enemies, although you’ll have to watch out for the durability of the weapon along with your own stamina, which will limit your swinging power, making hits less effective.
Locomotion, while using a standard smooth forward and snap-turn scheme, also offers a dash mode that you can activate by physically leaning in the desired direction for those quick jumps into the fray. A targeting system allows you to lock onto enemies and circle around them, using all of the locomotion schemes at your disposal to block, dodge, and defeat your hulking enemies.
In the demo, you face off against a few waves of minions at the throne of what presumably is one of the lower-level Garantua rulers. The throne room is littered with shields and epic long swords. Watch out for the build up swings of the minions though, because they do devastating damage that can quickly put you out of the game. All objects are physics-based too, meaning you can satisfyingly clank together your swords, and feel some degree of ‘imagined’ force feedback through your motion controllers. Seeing your weapon stop mid-swing as you make contact with an enemy works somewhat like it does in GORN (2017).
Talking to Gumi & Yomuneco at GDC, I was told that Swords of Gargantua wasn’t a story-based adventure, focusing on quick action so you and friends can drop into a battle at any time.
“Since this demo is the first public playable build, you may experience some issues,” the studio says. “We’re currently focused on the Early Access build of the game, so should you experience any issues that limits your enjoyment of the game, we ask for your patience and understanding until we launch in Early Access later this year. Looking forward to hearing your feedback!”
Swords of Gargantua will be Yomuneco’s second dive into VR, following their latest VR puzzle game Enigma Sphere: Enhanced Edition (2017) for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.