Pioneering VR developer Sean Edwards, well known in VR’s early days as the mind behind Lunar Flight (2012), has released his second ever VR title with the help of Spunge Games. A substantial pivot from space landing sim to arcade FPS, Dead Second promises high octane action and sharp visuals on Quest and PC VR.
Update (December 9th, 2021): Dead Second is now available in early-access on Quest (via App Lab) and Oculus PC, priced at $10.
The early access release includes four levels with three difficulty settings each. Players start with one pistol and can unlock several other weapons with money earned from completing missions. The studio is promising to add more content to the game going forward.
As we hoped, the game does look impressively sharp and feels very smooth at a default 120Hz refresh rate on Quest 2. Players can toggle the refresh rate and resolution scale to balance quality and performance.
The original article, which overviews the game’s reveal, continues below.
Original Article (December 2nd, 2021): Dead Second is a Time Crisis-esque VR cover shooter designed for quick and digestible action. Developer Sean Edwards and his studio Spunge Games have been building the game largely in the open over the last year, but have just recently released the first trailer for the game’s upcoming early access launch.
As we can see the game is focused around an action-packed pace with quick ‘aim-and-go’ node-based teleportation and gesture-based reloading. Throw in a little event-based slow-motion and you’ve got the makings of a would-be John Wick simulator.
Interestingly, the trailer is created entirely from the game’s built-in, dynamic spectator camera, which stabilizes the view and smartly shifts focus to the action.
While the game’s graphics aren’t going to win any awards on PC, Spunge Games has been working to make Dead Second heavily optimized for high performance on both the original Quest and Quest 2. Previously the studio said the game is targeting 72Hz, 4x MSAA, and 100% render scale on the original Quest, and 90Hz, 4x MSAA, and 115% render scale on Quest 2. If the game sticks the landing on these targets, Dead Second may be one of the sharper looking titles on the standalone headset.
Dead Second is due to launch in Early Access very soon on Quest; at this point the studio says it’s just waiting for approval on Oculus App Lab, at which point the game will become available. We’re not sure how long after that the PC VR version will follow but we’ve reached out to Spunge Games for more info on that front.
