Asymmetric co-op VR games—where each user plays a wholly different gameplay role—are a rare breed. Fortunately, the well regarded Carly and the Reaperman has launched on Quest and brings with it more ways to play with friends.
Update (April 16th, 2021): Carly and the Reaperman has launched on Quest, priced at $20. This is the first version of the game with support for online co-op, either between two Quest headsets or between Quest and PC or Mac.
Prior versions of the game (on Oculus PC, Steam, and PSVR) are unfortunately stuck with the original co-op model which is restricted to being played between the headset and the local host device (PC or console).
The original article, announcing the game’s release date, continues below with the addition of the Quest launch trailer.
Originally released back in 2018 for PC VR headsets, and eventually PSVR, Carly and the Reaperman is an asymmetric cooperative VR game where one player acts as an overseer which can manipulate the environment with their hands in order to help the other player traverse the environment as a smaller character with traditional platformer controls.
The structure is very similar to Moss (2018), except two players work together instead of one player controlling both roles. The launch trailer shows the core gameplay:
While prior versions of Carly and the Reaperman had one player in a headset and the other player on a flat screen, the Quest version will apparently have both players in the headset. It seems too that this means the game will be built around online co-op, whereas the original version was built for local co-op.
Carly and the Reaperman has been well received on prior platforms, though it didn’t garner too much popularity, perhaps in part because of the lack of online co-op. On Steam the game holds a ‘Very Positive’ 94% from 110 reviews and a 4.3 out of 5 from 31 reviews on Oculus PC.
The Quest version of Carly and the Reaperman is set for an April 15th release date, priced at $20. Cross-buy hasn’t been confirmed, but we’ve reached out to the developer for comment.
Though designed as a co-op experience, the game’s store page indicates that co-op is optional, so those without a headset-owning friend will still be able to enjoy the game if they please.
There’s no word yet if the game will support cross-play with other headsets, though we’d suspect not considering the game’s age, and that it would require that other versions of the game be updated to include integrated online support.