Update (11/13/18): Megalith is now available for free in Open Beta for everyone with a PSVR. You can download it right now from the PSN Store. The beta period is expected to last for “a couple months” and will contain access to two of the five planned “Titans” or hero characters. Every week the rotation of access will change so that all Open Beta players have access to the same assortment at any given time.
However, if you pre-order the game, you’ll unlock access to all five in the Open Beta right away, as well as an avatar pack, a free DLC character post-launch, and exclusive “Epic” skins for each Titan. For our preliminary impressions from E3, read on below.
Original (6/19/18): VR does a few, specific things really, really well. One of those things is help players fulfill power fantasies. When I play Robo Recall, I feel like an action movie star that’s got skill of the same caliber as the likes of John Wick. When I play Archangel: Hellfire I really feel like I’m piloting an ultra-powerful mech with rockets and lasers. And now, when I play Megalith, I feel like a Goddess of Thunder.
During my hands-on demo of Megalith at E3 last week, I took control of Aurora, who is a lightning-based hero that can shoot lightning bolt, cast out giant electric orbs, summon storm clouds, and even fly up into the air to rain down enough bolts of lightning to make even Zeus proud.
Megalith, as we learned last year, is coming to PSVR soon and aims to bring a nice blend of first-person shooter gameplay with the overall flow of a MOBA. That means that while your particular hero will be controlled much like it would be in other first-person action games, you’ll have a base to defend, towers to protect, and minions at your side. All that other stuff is automated though so you can focus on the action.
Disruptive Games captured the gameplay video above, which shows an E3 attendee playing as Cipher, the fire-based hero. I fought against him partnered up with a duplicate Aurora as the enemy, and with Taurus, a melee hero, on my team. Matches in Megalith are designed to be 2v2, which sounds small, but the action was anything but slow-paced.
For my demo Taurus and I spawned back at our base and immediately set off for the middle of the map where much of the action takes place. Our side had two different entry points, both of which were flanked by two turret towers. We easily won the match and I think only one of our four towers ever even took damage.
Movement in Megalith is similar to the smooth locomotion from Skyrim on PSVR. You point in a direction using the Move controller and then hold down the trigger to move that way. Face buttons do things like rotate your orientation for turning and activate your different abilities.
When you activate an ability it doesn’t automatically get set off, but instead you then aim your right hand and pull the trigger to use it. If you don’t have an ability equipped at that time, you’ll just use your character’s default attack.
For Aurora, her default was a medium-range lightning burst. It did good damage if I could get within range, but getting too close left me vulnerable to nasty burst attacks from Cipher and the enemy Aurora. Her abilities involved a bigger, much longer range sustained lightning blast, an electric orb, and a thunder cloud.
My favorite combo was to hit them with an orb, which stunned them in place, and then follow that up with a storm cloud above their head for some hefty damage over time. My Taurus teammate could also slam the ground to create a rock wall and trap enemies, which also combined well with the storm cloud.
Aurora’s ultiamte sent her flying up into the sky, where I could flip the controller over up at my shoulder (raising it like Zeus would a bolt of lighting) and pull the trigger to shoot bolts down rapidly. These did a ton of damage and if I timed it well I could easily wipe the other team with a single ultimate.
Combining hero powers and understanding the lanes of approach on maps will be a huge part of Megalith’s meta game strategy. Minions aren’t much to worry about in small numbers, but in large groups they can absolutely wreak havoc quickly.
I’m eager to try out all of the different heroes in Megalith since they’re all so different. Keeping game sizes small (just 2v2) should help make sure finding a match isn’t too hard, but the game will also need good AI and a decent amount of single player or co-op content to really be successful.
What do you think of Megalith from what you’ve seen so far? Let us know down in the comments below!
