From recent VR examples like The Gallery and Technolust, to big upcoming games like Thunderbird and Obduction, and even non-VR games like Firewatch, it’s becoming more and more apparent that story-driven, first-person adventure games are seeing a bit of a resurgence this generation.
Games like Myst and Riven popularized similar gameplay styles years ago on PC, but now with unique directions from indie studios and the debut of VR as a new and immersive platform, we’re finally seeing fully-realized narrative adventure games making a comeback. The latest in that trend appears to be the upcoming episodic VR adventure game, Loading Human, a Kickstarter success story.
By taking an episodic approach, similar to The Gallery, it will hopefully allow the developers to really focus on making each piece of the overall experience stand taller on its own. However, fragmenting the story like that could lead to higher costs and inconsistent pacing – constant issues facing episodic content in gaming.
According to the trailer and the game’s website, it looks like you’ll be set to take on the role of Prometheus, a young astronaut and son to one of the world’s most brilliant scientist. Your journey starts by trying to travel through time and space to retrieve a resource that would save your dying father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxep5QaD5ZI
It’s a futuristic sci-fi setting that boasts impressive levels of interaction with your environment:
The game immerses players in a lush, virtual world, where physical interaction using two controllers is core to both gameplay and exploration. You can pick up books and read them or operate various tools with your own hands.
Since Loading Human is coming to PSVR and the Rift later this year, one can assume it’s targeting the Move and Oculus Touch controllers, judging from the character’s hand movement in the above trailer. It’s being developed specifically for VR without any immersion-breaking features such as a HUD and will have a heavy focus on interactive puzzles and storytelling. The trailer’s narration hints at a story that questions the validity of human life and appears to have some heavy meta-commentary on society as whole.
Loading Human is coming later this year from Untold Games and Maximum Games to the PlayStation VR and the Oculus Rift. Stay up to date with information about the game on the official website.
