Baby Rage has launched a new virtual reality game called Extreme Tactical Executions (xTx). By itself, that’s not unusual. But this game was designed from the first day for both VR and the PC, with crossplay possible between players on the two platforms.
The Santa Monica, California-based Baby Rage is releasing the single-player versions today on Steam and the Oculus Store in early access. But over time, the company hopes to get to its crossplay multiplayer goal. The idea is to make the game available to as many people as possible while introducing new gamers to VR. Both modes are designed into a single application.
Players battle increasingly formidable enemies as they move through different zones of a hostile base upgrading weapons and abilities. The player must strategically advance while farming mana and health from fallen robots. It’s a mashup of wave shooter, arena survival, and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA).
The game’s single-player mode is available on launch, with multiplayer in active development.
The developers envision someone in a standalone VR headset playing with a friend on a desktop PC. Tapping into the PC market opens traditional platform gamers to VR in a way they might not expect. PC fans craving a more immersive experience finally have the ability to step inside the VR world of a game they love that isn’t a mod or a port.
“We intend to push this IP for the next decade,” said CEO Alex Davis in a statement. “With competitive strategy multiplayer games, it’s important to give gamers as many options as possible to customize gameplay. It could be argued that it would be a competitive advantage to play in VR or on PC based on personal preference.”
With cross-platform multiplayer in active development, one of the biggest challenges with designing the game was ensuring competition is balanced and fair regardless of system. This was a priority because the long-term vision is for xTx to be a multiplayer eSport with a substantial online player base.
It has a Discord community, too. Baby Rage has six employees.
This post by Dean Takahashi originally appeared on VentureBeat.
