Gamecom 2014, All About the (VR) Games
The single biggest noticeable shift in VR’s presence at Gamescom this year was the sheer amount of incredibly promising virtual reality content on display. Whereas in 2013 VR gaming was represented by a handful of tech demos and a single triple-A title (EVE: Valkyrie), this year a wealth of new games sporting VR support were on display.
We’ll have in-depth coverage of each and every game I saw this year, including developer interviews going up over the next few days, but here’s a quick rundown of what I got my hands on.
Wednesday I had the chance to catch up with Darkfield VR developers VR Bits and try the latest build of their space combat title on the DK2. The game seems to leap in quality every time I see it and this time was no exception. I also got to try Poppermost’s promising and ambitious open-world skiing title Snow in very early DK2 form.
Thursday, I spent some time with Cyberith catching their new Virtualizer prototype and got to try it out for myself. The remainder of the day was dedicated to games. I spent time with the beautiful Wander, a combat-free exploration experience with Oculus Rift support. I got to sit in a new, very, very early version of Shoebox Diorama’s (they of Blocked-in fame) delightful interactive diorama Pigeon Man. I had an interesting chat with SCS Software’s CEO, Pavel Sebor, who talked Euro Truck Simulator 2’s future and its Oculus Rift support. And I went hands-on with Mindfield Games’ stunning ‘Oculus Rift optimised’ mystery adventure Pollen.
So my time here at Gamescom 2014 is almost over with one special meeting remaining on which you’ll learn more tomorrow. We’ll have detailed coverage and impressions on all the games mentioned and every single one will have a developer interview to accompany it.
