Survios today showed off some new gameplay for their upcoming high seas pirate combat VR game Battlewake:
Each major Survios original game so far has used a novel locomotion system to push the boundaries of VR gameplay. The studio’s first major title, Raw Data, used a rapid warping “teleshift” system to balance comfort and feeling of motion. Their next, Sprint Vector, had you physically swinging your arms while holding in the trigger to dash forwards at incredibly high speeds without discomfort.
Survios Design Director Mike McTyre explained that Battlewake’s goal is to bring this experience in locomotion to vehicular combat. The team decided that the most compelling vehicle would be a pirate ship, due to the action packed high seas combat pirate ships could deliver. Survios claims its “adaptive physics” and “periphreal effects” algorithms minimize the causes of VR sickness even during fast movement.
The game will feature a wide variety of shipborne weapons including broadsides, gatling guns, machine guns, axe throwers, and ballistas. Battles will involve “dozens” of ships.
The campaign features a 20-chapter story and can be played in either singleplayer mode or co-op mode. An additional 4 player co-op mode called Warfare Mode provides replayable gameplay with random objectives and dynamic enemy types. There’s also a larger scale PvP deathmatch mode. If it’s like past Survios games, that multiplayer should work across platforms too.
Battlewake is releasing this summer. It’s listed on Steam as supporting Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and the Closed Beta signup sheet also lists PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest. Survios has not yet listed the launch platforms yet however.
