Last week, whimsical social game Half + Half was released on both the Oculus Quest and Rift platforms. Developer Normal posits the game as “a social hub for people to explore,” which is backed up with both cross-buy and cross-play across the Rift and Quest platforms.
The title contains five different multiplayer modes, each of which are pointed at giving players something unique to do with one another while delving through various Japanese cartoon-inspired environments. Each of the five modes can be explored with others or enjoyed solo. Among the five available activities are hide and seek, swimming underwater, gliding through the air, competitive dancing (wiggling, rather), and playing a game of “human tetris”.
“Half + Half is the culmination of four years of multiplayer research at Normal,” the company stated in a blog post. “We’ve created warm, rich, and organic spaces for you to hang out with people. We’ve spent countless hours tweaking our blobby avatars to communicate well through body language and to feel approachable in VR.”
The title is designed to make each player look “as ridiculous as possible” in real life. The developer holds that this is to facilitate social interaction in VR while enriching time that would otherwise be spent in front of a smartphone or computer monitor.
Half + Half is now available on the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift storefronts for $15. The studio has not stated plans for a port to Steam or native support for any other headsets.
Prior to creating Half + Half, the studio developed Cutie Keys, a VR keyboard app from which Normal VR cultivated the art direction that’d later be fully realized in Half + Half.
Update (9/19/19): The original version of this article incorrectly stated the price of Half + Half at $10. This has been updated to the correct price of $15.