As far as cult videogames go, they don’t get any weirder than Deadly Premonition, a horror game both loved and hated in gaming circles and directed by Hidetaka Suehiro, better known as Swery65.
At first sight, Premonition seemed to be one of the worst games every burned onto a disc when it released on Xbox 360, with laughable graphics, dreadful controls, and embarrassing voice acting. But over the years the game has garnered a respectable audience that fell in love with its Twin Peaks-esque atmosphere and self-aware style. One thing’s for sure, there’s nothing else quite like it, which is why we’re so intrigued to learn that Swery65 himself is now working in VR.
The famed developer took a break from making games in late 2015 when he left his studio, Access Games, after being diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia. Now, though, Swery is back with a new team, White Owls, and he’s extending beyond traditional gaming into books and even VR.
While we don’t know exactly what White Owls is working on in VR, it does have some experiments up for show on its new site. They’re typically bizarre; the one below shows an HTC Vive user plucking carrots out of the ground and sometimes encountering strange little critters that need to be tossed into a bucket.
But there are glimmers of some really interesting concepts in here, too.
Take a look at another video below, which appears to be a test for a mechanic in which a user throws a sword and then teleports, a concept that makes us feel like a sci-fi ninja just thinking about it.
Finally, you have to check out the utterly insane demo for God of Money, which casts players as a god that throws money as his subjects. The money appears to explode and kill everyone in the area.
It’s a little strange to say the least.
White Owls doesn’t have a full VR project announced right now, but based on these videos we’ll definitely be on the lookout for whatever it does come up with.
