Espire 1: VR Operative was slated to finally release on PC VR, Quest, and PSVR all at the same time tomorrow on September 24th but is getting delayed once again, this time for “several weeks” to work out lingering “stability and performance issues.”
Digital Lode and Tripwire made the announcement via an update posted on the Espire 1 Steam page today, just a mere day before the slated release. Launch issues are something that have plagued other VR games, such as Budget Cuts, previously.
According to the update:
“Throughout the year, we’ve been taking Espire 1 out to shows and meeting excited fans at events such as E3, Gamescom, PAX and others. During that time we’ve gotten invaluable feedback from those players and realized we would not be able to incorporate as much of it as we would like into the launch build.
And, while working with our partners doing Quality Assurance checks around the release candidate builds, it became clear that there were a few lingering issues that were not so readily apparent in previous testing. Currently we have found some stability and performance issues, that while not always impacting the player, will be frequent enough with sustained play that we feel it would hinder your enjoyment.”
The developers at Digital Lode also released a video explaining and apologizing for the delay, emphasizing it is due out “very, very soon” still despite concerns:
As unfortunate and frustrating as the timing is, if it leads to a better game then it’s for the best. We’d been suspecting something was up considering we hadn’t yet received review code as of today, which is highly unusual.
The update goes on to say that they’ve decided to push the release date “back by several weeks while the team works on these issues,” but are still targeting a Fall 2019 release, which presumably means before December at the latest.
Jamie recently tried out a preview build of the game from the comfort of his own Rift S and had a lot of positive things to note, but did take issue with the less than intelligent AI and poor sound detection, both of which could spell trouble for a VR stealth game.
Previously we’d played it on the Oculus Quest, as well as on the original Rift, and even awarded it our Best of Show honor at E3 2019. It’s one of our most anticipated VR games of the year and we’re eager to see if this delay helps the team polish it up more before launch.
In the meantime, keep an eye on Panther VR, a new stealth game from the creators of VR Dungeon Knight currently on Kickstarter.
Update: This article was updated a day after original publication on 9/24/19 with an embedded video from the developer explaining the delay.
