50 Days Of PS VR #26: 'Wayward Sky' Is A Gorgeous, Swashbuckling Adventure

, & Jamie Feltham

17 September 2016

50 Days Of PS VR #26: 'Wayward Sky' Is A Gorgeous, Swashbuckling Adventure

26 days until the launch of the PS VR! We’re counting down to the release of Sony’s VR headset on October 13th by highlighting one game a day for its anticipated release. Today we’re taking on robots and exploring high in the sky with Uber Entertainment’s Wayward Sky.

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With the sheer number of games coming to PlayStation VR over the next few months and developers like Rocksteady, CCP and Ubisoft all working on the platform, it’s inevitable that some titles are going to fly under the radar. Wayward Sky from Supreme Commander developer Uber Entertainment feels like it’s one of those games. We need to change that because this is honestly one of the most delightful-looking experiences on its way to the platform, taking a thoughtful approach to delivering a full VR adventure without sacrificing immersion where it counts and looking absolutely stunning.

In Wayward Sky, you explore a giant floating fortress.You’re a young pilot named Bess who crash landed on this mysterious flying behemoth with her father, who was promptly kidnapped. You’ll have to find both him and a means of escape by journeying through the perilous territory, coming in to contact with massive robots and solving tricky puzzles.

What we really like about Uber’s VR debut is its approach to locomotion. It’s a tricky situation for PlayStation 4 and its input systems, so the developer has smartly side-stepped any potential issues by simply switching perspectives. When it comes to puzzles and action sequences, you’ll see the world through Bess’ point of view. You can use PlayStation Move controllers to guide her hands through events.

When you need to actually move through the world, however, your view shifts to third-person, high in the sky. From there you can order Bess to move around without having to worry about feeling sick from fake movement. It’s an ingenious way to give players access to a full world, giving them a mechanically-driven experience like Chronos or Lucky’s Tale but then also providing the fully immersive hook when players are longing for it. Think of it like Metroid: Other M though, hopefully, not quite as rubbish.

Puzzles will come thick and fast and should be varied enough to keep things fresh. It also helps that Wayward Sky is an absolute treat to look at; the cartoonish visuals and lively color palette look almost faltless in their design, and unlike anything else out there for VR systems right now.

The hope is, then, that is proves to be a charming, engaging adventure with a good amount of play time behind it. Wayward Sky could prove to people that you can easily make a full adventure for PS VR and still deliver those jaw dropping first-person moments where it really counts. It’s also one of the handful of experiences along with Windlands that will give gamers the type of single-player experience they’ll really be craving in the early days of VR.

Wayward Sky will featured on the demo discs coming with PlayStation VR when it launches. It’s final date hasn’t been officially confirmed, though we’re hoping it will be on or around day one, October 13th.