‘COLD VR’ Takes Smash-hit ‘SUPERHOT VR’ Time-freeze Mechanic & Completely Inverts It

By
Scott Hayden
-
10

Superhot VR hasn’t spawned nearly as many games as we thought it might, considering the ‘move to unfreeze time’ mechanic works so well in VR. Now, an upcoming game called COLD VR is looking to invert Superhot’s iconic gameplay and spin it for some fast-paced action.

In Superhot you’re encouraged to stop and execute precise moves in order to unpause time, however Cold VR is the exact opposite: stay still and the game speeds up, meaning you’ll always need to be on the move to get past an army of blue (re: not red) crystalline enemies and their barrage of bullets.

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Effectively, taking a second to aim down your sights for a faraway shot may just may put a stop to your run, so you’ll need to make tactical use of cover, and always be moving towards an objective, lest you get hit once and end the level.

Developed by Allware, Cold VR pits you against a corrupted AI who you must battle, all the while being helped by a friendly hacker-man who pops up in cutscenes between levels.

Cold VR is slated to launch on PC VR headsets sometime this summer. In the meantime, you can download the free VR demo over on the game’s Steam page.

Check out the gameplay below:

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • NotMikeD

    So I guess the strategy Allware is taking here is to directly copy two distinct IP’s in hopes that this will throw the legal bloodhounds off their trail?

    • Can one copyright gameplay mechanics?

      • kakek

        Nope, specially not a variation of it. But if you pair it with a carbon copy of the design, now that’s another story.

  • Cool! haha

  • I like how they didn’t copy SuperHot, but they inverted it… I am very curious to try how this mechanic works

    • NotMikeD

      I think your concept of “they didn’t copy SuperHot” and mine look very, very different haha

  • NL_VR

    im downloading demo now

  • Lucidfeuer

    Not calling it SuperCold is a missed opportunity, I doubt the devs/publisher of SuperHot are the litigious type when the idea is cool and fair

  • Sven Viking

    Nice idea, but judging from the video alone: while I know SUPERHOT VR’s lack of artificial movement was limiting, it seems to me like being able to keep things slow just by keeping the stick tilted kind of defeats the purpose of this concept. Also seems like it’d encourages random stick movements when you aren’t going anywhere that would increase the chances of motion sickness. I should really try it before criticising though.

  • Markis

    It is interesting the original game is referred to as a “smash hit” considering it is, in fact, not and has suffered repeated backlash forcing them to bribe Steam into sanitizing reviews repeatedly due to crippling bugs such as the most famous one where no matter what many users report the first level item you have to get is permanently out of reach and the developer knows, having repeatedly commented and dismissing it as a priority, and doesn’t give a damn about fixing it. Sure, there are a couple thousand reviews for those who did get past and could enjoy a decent game when it isn’t totally broken but this is more of desperation for VR content in a rather lacking industry.