Fast Travel Games, the studio behind VR bow-shooting adventure Apex Construct (2018), announced their narrative-based puzzle game The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets is officially due out in November, coming to PSVR, PC VR headsets, and Oculus Quest.
Update (October 23rd, 2019): The Curious Tale of Stolen Pets is slated to arrive on November 14th, coming to the PlayStation Store (PSVR), Steam (Vive, Rift, Index, Windows VR), and the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest).
We went hands-on with the game at GDC earlier this summer, noting that while it’s planned to be fairly short game aimed at the casual player, its diorama-based puzzles and a heartwarming story truly take you back to a simpler times. The original article announcing the game (trailer included) continues below:
Original Article (June 11th, 2019): The game, which aims to transport players back to simpler times, sounds like a pretty casual affair; it’s said to include light puzzles that require you to trigger clues and reveal hidden pets in the environment by manipulating the game’s doodads in various ways. Fast Travel also says that there are no time limits so you can take the game at your own pace.
From what we’ve seen in the trailer (linked below), The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets is sporting a charming claymation vibe to go along with its miniature dioramas, the latter of which works really well in VR for some reason.
Here’s how Fast Travel describes it on the game’s Steam page:
Experience an interactive tale of childlike wonder! Help your grandfather solve the mystery of the stolen pets by exploring wonderful miniature worlds crafted from the ground up for VR. Use a hairdryer to melt snow in a wintery landscape! Search the wreck of a pirate ship partially hidden under the surface!
According to the game’s creative lead James Hunt, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets initially started out as his personal passion project; the studio then allotted what he calls a “small but dedicated” team to its creation.
“I wanted to make a game where players could take their time and marvel at the details in the environments, enjoy the music, engage with the many interactive elements in each world and solve light puzzles at their own pace to proceed – a kind of experience I felt has been missing in VR,” Hunt says.
Hunt came to Fast Travel after a three-year stint at Rovio, where he worked as senior animator on Angry Birds 2. Until recently, he had served the same role at Fast Travel, working on Apex Construct and other upcoming titles at the studio before transitioning to his current position as the game’s creative lead.
And it seems the studio has a pretty full plate at the moment. Fast Travel recently released Apex Construct on Quest, and is also currently working with Neat Corporation on the sequel to Budget Cuts (2018), Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency, which is set to release sometime this year.
The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets is slated to launch in 2019 on Quest, Rift, PSVR, Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Windows VR headsets.
