Schell Games, the makers of the critically-acclaimed spy-themed escape room game I Expect You to Die (2016), recently announced that they’re currently developing a dual-wielding sword fighting game that has elements of what the studio calls “a lightweight dungeon crawler.”
Talking to Variety, studio founder and CEO Jesse Schell says they’re developing the new sword fighting VR game based on a brand new IP.
“We’ve always felt that sword fighting in VR would be fun,” Schell told Variety. “This is a game we’re exploring for high-end VR platforms that involves dual-wielding sword fighting as a sort of lightweight dungeon crawler.”
Schell says the company’s previous work on Star Wars: Jedi Challenges (2017) for the Lenovo Mirage AR, a smartphone-based AR headset with a single tracked lightsaber controller, served as inspiration for creating a more comfortable VR game.
“It’s crucial that there is as little motion discomfort as possible,” he said. “We also believe sword fighting is a good candidate for VR because, unlike with run and gun games, running while sword fighting doesn’t really make sense. It’s more about standing your ground and being excellent at swordsmanship.”
I Expect You to Die, a game the company recently revealed to have generated over $3 million in revenue since its release in 2016, is a room-scale game that keeps the user stationary to solve puzzles and escape dangerous situations, making a free-wheeling VR dungeon crawler new territory for the studio.
Schell revealed the game will use a system that the game will encourage players to strike specific poses the he says “are going to feel as powerful as possible.”
The studio doesn’t have a specific release date yet, although Schell is shooting for 2019 launch, targeting multiple VR platforms.
