Dimensional Double Shift is a new co-op party game that only uses hand tracking, and a free open beta launches this week on Quest.
Following Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator, and Cosmonious High, Dimensional Double Shift is the latest VR game from Owlchemy Labs. Piloting the Gas N’ Grill service station across the Omniverse, you and up to three additional friends participate in group activities to serve citizens, such as cooking food or fixing up cars. It's a multiplayer-only game, so you can't play it solo, and a smaller group won't lock you out of completing certain puzzles.
The open beta version includes the first dimension, Treeatle, which will remain free for players once the full game launches. Additional dimensions are coming "at a later date," and Owlchemy confirms other features will be introduced during the early access period, too.
Joined by Owlchemy CEO Andrew Eiche and two reps, I played a Quest 3 preview build for two rounds during Gamescom 2024 that showcased the diner and garage levels. Eiche informed me that the studio has always wanted to do a multiplayer game, and development began three years ago.
"We've always known that VR is inherently a social platform. The single player games are wonderful, we built a lot, and I love them dearly. I don't think those are going away, but VR works incredibly well with friends. It's just something we want to do, so we were like, "Okay, what would a multiplayer Owlchemy game actually look like?"
Owlchemy is no stranger to hand tracking with post-launch updates to Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator, and it's previously called the controller-less Apple Vision Pro "a huge vindication" of its focus. Dimensional Double Shift uses an improved version of the hand tracking system seen in Owlchemy's tech demo last year, which aims for a more "naturalistic way of grabbing and picking up" items.
The studio also resisted using the common pinch input method seen in many hand-tracked experiences.
"There's a wide variety of VR players who aren't gamers at the start, and our job is to make this as straightforward as possible. How do you grab this item? You just grab it. We've actually had to untrain people out of the pinch; you don't have to pinch everything."
This design philosophy quickly becomes apparent, and I'm impressed by the hand tracking's responsiveness. Trying to "squeeze" an in-game sriracha bottle with my hand sees the hot sauce start to come out. Similarly, grabbing a salt shaker and sprinkling it over a steak feels like it would if I'm doing that same motion in real life - minus holding the actual object, anyway.
The cooking stage requires preparing set meals and while the flatscreen co-op game Overcooked might feel like the natural comparison, Dimensional Double Shift takes a more relaxed approach with no time constraints. The garage stage provides an enjoyable contrast between unscrewing specific bolts to access different components or checking USB drives for potential malware. Completing either as a team feels rewarding.
Not every required item is within reach, so other players must pass items to you, which forms a crucial part of the cooperative gameplay. No in-game locomotion means you can't just move from your station to explore, and Eiche explained the team's thought process.
"You either need to go all the way with locomotion, or you need to just not do it. If you're trying to make a game with locomotion, but it's not a game where locomotion is central, it gets in the way."
It's one of the better uses of hand tracking I've seen in VR gaming. Owlchemy's efforts to implement hand tracking in its older games post-launch have been admirable, but Dimensional Double Shift benefits from being designed specifically for these controls. I'm intrigued to see how it develops further come full release.
The free Dimensional Double Shift open beta launches on September 26 on the Meta Quest platform. The full release date is currently unconfirmed, and Eiche did not comment when asked about an Apple Vision Pro release.
