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50 Days Of PS VR #3: Jeff Minter Brings Urban Legend 'Polybius' to VR

,   &  Jamie Feltham
50 Days Of PS VR #3: Jeff Minter Brings Urban Legend 'Polybius' to VR

Just 3 days to go until the launch of PlayStation 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 reviving an urban legend with Polybius.

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Given that gaming is still a relatively young medium, it doesn’t hold too many urban legends to its name. There is one rather fascinating story, however, about an arcade cabinet named Polybius. This mysterious game was said to have disappeared from arcades around the world shortly after its release in 1981 due to health issues experienced by its players. The legend will live on, though, when Jeff Minter releases what is essentially his own interpretation of the game on PlayStation VR.

Minter announced Polybius for PS VR earlier this month. The developer and his team at Llamasoft are known for their retro-inspired arcade shoot ’em ups like the recent TxK. He was even meant to be bringing his Minotaur Rescue series to Oculus platforms before seemingly cancelling the project due to legal troubles with Atari. His latest title shouldn’t be plagued by such troubles, however, making this something we’re really looking forward to getting to play.

But what actually is Polybius? It appears for be an incredibly fast-paced shoot ’em up, said to be running at 120fps on PS VR, though it’s not 100% clear if that reprojected from 60fps or running natively. In a PlayStation Blog post, Minter described his experience of seeing the original arcade game for himself just a few years ago, and since deciding to release his own take on the game on Sony’s headset.

Based on the video, we can expect some pretty thrilling gameplay that the developer stresses is comfortable and not subject to the same health troubles that the original apparently caused. Aesthetically it very much adhere’s to Llamasoft’s retro style, though the sheer amount of things happening on a screen at any one point in time is very impressive. We’re certainly hoping Minter is right when he says it won’t make you sick; this could be one of PS VR’s most addictive arcade games if not.

Minter hasn’t yet announced a release date for Polybius, though we’d expect it in 2017 at this point. PlayStation VR launches this Thursday, October 13th.

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