If you want to see a great example of a game that’s grown a ton from its time in Early Access, then look no further than Blasters of the Universe from Secret Location. We’ve written about some of its major updates in the past, but now it’s finally making the jump from “Early Access” to full release on August 31, 2017.
As it stands right now the Early Access version of Blasters of the Universe plays out like a more extended and robust demo than most Early Access titles. All of the mechanics are there and they feel great. There’s a lot of different things to do, weapons to use, and enemies to fight. Just playing through missions multiple times shows how varied and diverse the gameplay can be as enemies approach you from different angles and you use different weapon combinations.
When the game finally releases next week, it’s only going to get even more intense. You can see a glimpse of that in the Launch Trailer below:
The prepared press release Secret Location sent me regarding the game’s full launch puts it perfectly: “get ready to duck and dodge your way through a shit-ton of bullets in this nostalgic – and nerve-wracking – VR Bullet Hell shooter.” That’s about as accurate a description as you’re gonna find anywhere.
The term “bullet hell shooter” is usually reserved for top-down shoot-em-up style games that have cascading lines of bullets that fly at the player on a consistent and sometimes endless basis. Recognizing patterns, avoiding danger, and nimbly slipping between shots is the name of the game with those titles. In Blasters of the Universe you do all of the same stuff, but in VR this time through a first-person perspective. The result is something that feels like part Matrix and part Lethal Weapon. The retro-futuristic vibe and synthesized soundtrack all helps channel that sense of an 80s-powered action movie persona.
Specifically, the full release is bringing a ton of new features. There will now be a full narrative-driven campaign against the key bad guy (shown in the trailer above) named Alwyn and Endless score modes for each of the levels adding lots of replayability. The challenge modes are also getting consistent updates to help keep them fresh and full of unique objectives. Weapon customization is getting an overhaul too with even more ways to choose how you’ll commit your brand of mass robot murder.
There are lots of first-person shooters, wave shooters, and other similar games in VR right now, but having played the majority of them, I can say that Blasters of the Universe truly does find a way to stand out.
You can download Blasters of the Universe right now in Early Access on Steam with support for both Rift and Vive for $14.99. Once it releases out of Early Access your version will automatically update if you own it already and if you wait to buy it, then you’ll get it with a 15% launch discount. It will be coming to Oculus Home for Rift as well. Let us know what you think of the game down in the comments below!
