Back in April we reported that flagship VR multiplayer game, EVE: Valkyrie, would soon be getting its first major update. Now it’s nearly here.
CCP Games has today posted a new blog update that confirms the free update will be launching on June 20th, giving us something to look forward to after E3 week is all wrapped up. As we already knew, it will include a brand new game mode named Carrier Assault, which sees teams systematically taking down the opposing side’s carriers, destroying nodes and eventually heading into the heart of the hulking ships. There’s a definite Return of the Jedi vibe to making your way through a carrier’s winding corridors that fans will want to seek out.
Also arriving with Carrier Assault is a new map named Crossroads, in which ships from various factions have gone head-to-head in battle, leaving you to weave through the wreckage. It’s the first free map to be added to the game since launch back in March and is available across all game modes.
XP, meanwhile, has been adjusted slightly to reward any player for taking part in a match, and the update also introduces a Boost Gate mechanic, giving players a much-needed push when flown through, as well as new options for multiplayer mode select. There are also some tweaks to the game’s balance, a long list of which can be found in the blog post. On the bug side, issues with friendly fire audio warnings have been addressed while AI has been improved among other things.
What the update doesn’t yet include (for obvious reasons) is the promised cross-platform support for EVE: Valkyrie. The game’s only available on the Oculus Rift right now, though, and won’t hit the HTC Vive until later this year and PlayStation VR until launch in October, so it’s a fair way off right now. We’re also expecting the HTC Vive version to support motion controls, though it’s unconfirmed if this will be included for launch.
There’s plenty more to come from CCP and VR in general, too. The EVE Online developer is also bringing a sequel to its Gear VR debut, Gunjack, to the new Google Daydream platform, and is experimenting with position-tracked controllers in Project Arena.
Perhaps we’ll see more from some of these projects at E3 this week.
