Ember Souls

Ember Souls is a VR action adventure game by VirtualAge that caught my interest because it looked like Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. The main selling point of the game was parkour in VR and I was interested in trying that out in a different game than Assassin's Creed.

You, as the player, are the last immortal, the only person that can wield all Ember Stones that grant unthinkable powers. To gain their powers one needs to find them first as they are scattered around in a Persian looking palace. The palace being also the home of a Shadow Sultan that you are meant to beat and save the inhabitants. The palace is a maze to be explored by parkour-style movement, there are traps like you'd expect from Prince of Persia, and some enemies wander around.

In the opening scene we are on a boat arriving at the palace. Upon reaching the palace gate, we find out the gate won't open. A blue falcon enters the scene and tells us that that we need to climb over the wall and sneak into the palace. That is where our adventure begins and pretty much that is all the story we get.

Primary gameplay element is parkour. The player can climb, wall run, jump, swing between poles/chandeliers or slide down tapestries/ropes. You can view the rooms in palace as puzzles that the player needs to navigate using this parkour-style movement. Unfortunately there is one set path so there is not much freedom of movement. It starts with very easy tutorial-like areas but the deeper we get the harder is to navigate the rooms.

The controls are good but the behavior of highlighting the next grabbing point and actually grabbing it does not always behave the same. One can easily miss and die and start over again.

Ember stones that we collect give us two abilities that can be used in combat or in our platforming adventure. The first abilities we get is air push that can destroy items or hit enemies. The second ability doubles as a grappling hook. Water stone will give us the ability to freeze water, Fire stone can help us burn stuff and Earth stone will gives us the power to produce our own vines that we can scale. These powers seems underwhelming and mostly not needed. When we get too creative using these powers the game will not allow us to continue as there is a certain path we are supposed to follow or we get completely stuck in the environment.

The protagonists presence in the palace does not go unseen. Enemies guard the palace and for that there is a simple combat system. It's more of a hack and slash, nothing more to it. While Ember stone abilities can make it more interesting, there is mostly no need to use special abilities or different weapons which leaves us with bland combat. Boss battles are a different story. Since they require you to do something specific but the combat is not fully functional, it can become very frustrating or boring to beat the boss (I was also losing weapons mid-combat which made it even more frustrating).

Enemies leave behind coins that can be collected and new weapons or armor can be bought. Nonetheless the weapons don't have abilities (except one weapon) and the armor is also not worth the money that is scarce. For me, as a long time RPG player, the new items or upgraded abilities are not enticing.

Ember Souls's atmosphere is definitely a strong point. The palace is very nicely looking place even though it gets repetitive after few hours of play. One can stop and enjoy the surroundings, feel immersed for a bit.

Soundtrack and sound design are nice. The voice acting even in its current non-AI form is not good and can break the immersion for many.

The game offers a campaign mode with the main story described above, sandbox mode and raid mode. Raids are procedurally generated maps that you can try to run through as fast as you can. They also contain treasures where rare items can be found. In sandbox mode you can test the combat.

Ember Souls is visually beautiful but also technically ambitious project that wants us to experience a smooth parkour-style movement, little bit of exploration, puzzles, and combat. Unfortunately the game is not that well executed and probably needed a longer development period. Considering the game was nearly unplayable before launch and very buggy after release, the developers did managed to fix many things and listened to the players' feedback.

This game can be fun for those who want to become masters running through raids but if platforming is not your cup of tea I would not recommend this game.

And don't forget to pet the spirit bird, he purrs.

Out of Sight VR

Out of Sight is an atmospheric horror puzzle game developed by The Gang. The game is getting a VR version thanks to Flat2VR Studios and that is the version of the game I played.

In Out of the Sight VR the player finds themselves embodying a teddy bear belonging to a blind girl, Sophie. Through the teddy bear's eyes she can see again and it is up to us to guide her through a dreadful manor full of rooms filled with environmental puzzles. While Sophie tries to escape the mansion, she is being searched for by others. She needs to occasionally hide from them and there are, as expected from a horror game, chase scenes. During the whole few hours long adventure, the player and Sophie will learn about the secrets and happenings in the mansion.

When Sophie holds her teddy bear she can only walk around. The teddy bear can be placed on pink pillows from which the player can see the room from the second-person perspective. This allows the player to do more than just walk - Sophie can pull levers, drag or push items, climb furniture, grab items, open locks etc. These actions are needed to solve the puzzles.

Out of Sight is a very atmospheric horror game with great sound design and graphics. It evokes emotions, fear and relief being one of the strongest ones. The game tells a story via both dialogue and environmental aspects that can cause psychological discomfort which is often followed by disturbing emotions making us ponder what is real and what is not.

Out of Sight VR is another groundbreaking game that shows well how VR can be used. It offers us a dual perspective eerie experience that will makes us explore our own emotions.

Final Fury

Final Fury is a long awaited 1-on-1 fighting game from Kluge Interactive. The developers are known for their music game - Synth Riders - that has become a hit. This game features a Force mode where one instead of touching colored orbs with precision one needs to use force (speed) to hit them. This alone could be used in a combat focused game but Final Fury is completely different beast. It is an unique game and if developed well it could become another hit.

When I talk about a fighting game, I mean a game like Street Fighter, Tekken or Mortal Kombat. It may feel like an impossible feat to do in VR. Nonetheless after playing a bit of the early access I can see that there most likely is a way to bring some of the fighting game experience to VR.

As one would expect, the game can be played solo against AI or against another player via online matching.

After picking a character the game will put the player in an arena where they will first see each character enter with little intro, Tekken or Soul Calibur style. Then they will embody the chosen character and fight.

The player can moves along 2 axes using thumbsticks, there's no possibility to jump or duck which feels very limiting. The movement along those two axes always keeps the player directly facing their opponent.

Moves one can perform are triggered by an actual move. For a punch one needs to simply punch forward, for a throw one needs to reach forward and hug the air, for a block one needs to lift both fists and have them in front of their face. Special moves are also triggered by a different motion each. When throwing an opponent the player is moved away and up in the air to oversee the throw - this prevents motion sickness but can feel very awkward.

There are 6 playable characters (one being an unlock) and each of them has two special attacks. Each character is different and has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, one character is slow, doesn't have much reach but is very strong. One character is fairly swift, both attacks have mid to long reach but she lacks raw power. Another one can shoot homing missiles and land timed mines which are both bad for short range. These differences can create favorable and unfavorable matchup.

One notable thing is about distance, even short range attacks are done from fairly far away from the character model. The basic punches are actually ranged attacks. It also makes grabbing a bit more awkward as it happens from a distance one would not be able to grab. The notion of distance than becomes a bit distorted but this will become something each player will need to learn.

The game couldn't be called a fighting game if timing wouldn't be important. I was surprised to see that having a good timing makes a difference in winning or losing (or being hit) and that alone gives me hope that this game can become functionally a fighting game.

Visually the game looks great. Vibrant colors and stylish graphics fit well with fast paced combat. Soundtrack is full of energy and brings up the tempo.

I believe that Final Fury can introduce VR gamers to a new game genre while providing little bit of workout. Will Kluge Interactive manage to set a foundation for fighting games in VR?

Trombone Champ: Unflattened

I've spent a lot of time in VR and often I wondered if someone would come with a game that would feel natural fit for it. One flat game I hoped would be ported to VR was Trombone Champ. My dream came true when Flat2VR studio created their first 'flat to virtual reality' game - Trombone Champ: Unflattened.

Gameplay
Trombone Champ: Unflattened is a game simulating playing on a trombone, a musical instrument. In order to play a trombone one needs to hold the instrument in one hand, close to the mouth so one could blow into it, the other moving a slide closer or further to one's face. The further one slides, the lower notes, the closer, the higher notes. Similarly in VR, one hand will hold the instrument close to the face, the other one will use the slide. Instead of blowing into the instrument, a player will need to press and hold any button depending on note length. One cannot hold the button indefinitely as in real life one would lose their breath.

During a song, notes will come towards the player following lines on top of each other. The higher the note, the higher the pitch. The player needs to confirm the note by pressing a trigger and having the slide hand at a matching position once it hits a target line near the player. Notes are evaluated based on timing and pitch and a player will be awarded with a judgment for certain notes/parts and at the end of the song a resulting grade as one would expect from a music game.

Key sounds
A rhythm gamer would say the songs are key sounded and this is what brings the game to the next level - the notes you play, you hear, and that will quickly show you that hitting the exact note is not that easy. Any mistake you make can produce a sound that will make you squirm. This adds makes the game feel very real as you have a control over your virtual trombone.

Lots of content
The game has several modes. There is a Campaign mode that makes you play a series of songs on which you need to reach certain criteria to progress. This way you can unlock more songs and challenges along the way. If a player wants to hop right into playing everything, they can by playing in quick play mode where all songs can be played. There is one more mode, for the hardcore players that mastered their virtual trombone - improvisation mode. Here you can see a bar with lines in front of you and you are free to toot the way you want. A player will be able to toot within two octaves, each line represents a semitone (I wish there was a possibility to transpose).

As for the songs, there's about 50 songs and many of you will recognize majority of them as they are well known classics. Their melodies are (mostly) simple so you can play them from memory. Each song has 3 difficulties - simplified, original and turbo. Simplified difficulty is easier to play but you won't be playing the notes you should be playing if you wanted to play the song on a music instrument. While the simplified songs mostly sound well, I wouldn't suggest playing this difficulty unless you really can't complete a certain challenge. Original is the default difficulty making you play all the notes you should be playing. Turbo mode is the same but sped up.

After playing a song you are rewarded toot currency that you can spend at a store. You buy randomized packs of 4 cards. Collecting certain combination of cards allows you to trade them for a different trombone, that can sound differently. Thankfully you don't need to wait for the RNG gods to give you what you need, once you collect 3 or more of the same card you can trade them for 1 specific card you need.

Look and sound
Trombone Champ looks great, features a lot of fun elements and sounds great. The game is very nicely polished and it is a treat to play.

Verdict 5/5
Trombone Champ: Unflattened is a perfect fit for virtual reality. The game will give you an incentive to play a virtual trombone well as all the toots you make will be heard by anyone listening to you play. You will experience many fun moments and the game is very enjoyable to play. Anyone can play the game as the difficulty ranges from very simple to fairly difficult and beyond hard. There's a lot to explore and completing the campaign is rewarding. Improvisation mode where you can learn how to fully control a virtual trombone is for those with nerves of steel but will become very rewarding once you can play any song you want.

I hope that at some point we will be able to play custom songs but even if that won't be possible, this game is a nearly perfect VR game and I can highly recommended to anyone.

Palworld

Palworld is the craze of today. Everyone is talking about this new addictive game and what I heard about it made me rather perplex. Some people claim it is a Pokemon game mixed with Breath of the Wild while others say it is a mix of Minecraft and Fortnite with Pokemon. Since the only game I played out of these is Breath of the Wild I could only wonder what the game was about and wanted to know for myself. If I were to compare it to something I'd say it is Ark: Survival Evolved with Pokemon.

The game starts with you waking up seeing several lovely creatures. They can be small and resemble a cat or huge and resemble a dinosaur. You will soon find out, after talking to another human, that you are on Palpagos Islands where Pals, the lovely creatures, live. The game tutorial will then lead you through different aspects of the game. You will learn that your character needs to eat or it will die, you will learn that you can capture these Pals and you will also be tasked with building a base. Gathering materials and crafting items is big part of the game and this can be automated by using the Pals to do the work while keeping their sanity.

Gameplay
One of the main aspects of the game is catching Pals. There are 111 different kinds of them and some of them have more variants than 1 making the total number even higher thus. Catching Pals is done by damaging the Pal, making it easier to catch, and then throwing a Sphere at it. The catch rate can be made higher by using a better Sphere, collecting Effigies or incapacitating the Pal in certain way (poison, knock them out, freeze them). Depending on the catch rate the Pal either escapes or gets caught. Caught Pal either shows in your party if there is a vacant slot or your Palbox accessible from your Base. Catching a Pal gives the player experience points. For the first 10 caught Pals of one kind, the player gets a bonus experience points that are not related to the player's level. After that the experience points are fairly low and depend on both the Pal's and player's level.

If one wants to collect all the Pals in the game, they need to explore the vast islands of Palpagos. There are different biomes - lush forests, snowy mountains, desolate desert - in which different kinds of Pals live. Desert is the home of electric Pals, snowy mountains are home to Ice Pals and fiery Volcano is where Fire Pals thrive. Apart from Pals, a player can find entrances to Dungeons that are suitable for different kind of levels. For example in the beginner areas they are for players of level 13, in the most dangerous areas, level 45 is recommended. In dungeons one can find Pals not living anywhere else and a boss Pal which is an Alpha version of Pal that we can find in the wild. Alpha versions are bigger and stronger versions of the Pals. After clearing a dungeon there is a period during which one cannot enter, but then it is available once again for clearing. Dungeons are good for grinding XP as the enemies will respawn after leaving each room - walking in circles thus gives endless Pals to kill or catch. They also contain treasure chests with fairly rare loot.

Pal drops and treasure chest contents are often materials or schematics that can be used for crafting. In order for one to craft, they need to setup a base and build different kind of machines. With each player level, you can unlock and build different kind of structures that allow you to craft items, produce materials or build a lovely home. At the beginning you will just need to get some wood and stones and special Paldium stone to build your first structure. There's plenty of stones and wood around to be collected but very soon you will need way bigger amounts than those you can collect and you will either have to do some logging and mining yourself or put your Pals to work to automate it. Each Pal is capable of different kind of work. There are Pals good for logging or mining. Then there are those that can cool, water or heat. Others can craft or they can even produce materials themselves - mostly food but it can also be wool, cloth or even gold coins! The more you level up the more advanced technology will be available to you. That includes Spheres for catching Pals - the higher the level of a Pal the better Sphere is needed to catch it. Crafting those requires more refined materials that themselves have to be crafted from even more rare materials. This way a need for more bases arises and those may have a sole purpose - mining. Apart from Spheres one will also need better weapons to deal more damage and armor to stay alive when fighting.

Combat is one of the main aspects of the game as well but is fairly limited. It is a real time 3d action combat that involves both melee and ranged weapons. You can attack and you can dodge and that is pretty much it. There is a roll move that can be used to dodge attacks but that drains a lot of stamina so I mostly just ran or walked away. One Pal, from your party of max 5 Pals, can also join the fight. You can throw a Sphere to the place where you want the Pal to spawn at will by pressing E (and recall it back at any time). Some Pals can be used as a mount. When mounted the player can use three of their abilities at will (they have a cooldown). Certain weapons and Pal abilities can take advantage of Pal's weak points and can deal more damage when a weak point is hit. Pals learn abilities when they level up. They level up when you do any activity, but gain most experience when Pal is being captured or killed. Abilities can also be learned by using an ability fruit that can be found somewhere on Palpagos Island. Apart from learning new abilities Pal's stats - Health, Attack, Defense, Work speed - can be augmented. For that player needs to collect lots of Pal souls. The player's abilities can be augmented by stat points gained (except defense) at each level up or with equipment (armor provides additional defense points). The range of weapons is not that big and some are different in fire power, what makes a weapon better is the time it takes to reload. I spent most of the time running around with a Crossbow as crafting any handgun or shotgun was not worth the damage output and resources. Letting Pal fight for you is often better as they can deal more damage and only resource they spent is food. Since you will mostly fight other Pals you can also pick a Pal of an element being more hurtful to that specific Pal. Fire Pals will make it hard for Grass Pals and Electric Pals won't be happy when they will get hit by Rock Pals. Pals can also be commanded even though the commands are very limited - they can be commanded to not attack, focus on a single enemy or attack aggressively. The last option doesn't make them attack nonhostile pals as one would suspect.

Verdict:
Palworld is a mixture of survival crafting game and monster catching. The game offers a big open world, over 100 different creatures and 50 level technology tree. This alone makes it worth tens of hours of gameplay.