When I first played a demo of Lucky’s Tale I was instantly transported to my childhood and the first time I played Super Mario 64. That experience was one that wildly transformed what a game could be for me, and has endured through the years as one of my favorites.
With Nintendo sitting out of the first round of virtual reality’s consumer revival, Lucky’s Tale has a chance to stake its claim as the first great platformer for VR. And I’m not the only one who thinks so, Playful Corp. just raised $25 million from investors who likely would agree.
In addition to the funding announcement, Playful Corp has also given us three new levels to share with you. So far we have seen three levels from the game, the first “Home base” level, the “Swamp” level and the lava level that was shown at E3 and PAX. These three new levels, which are shown in an early and unfinished state, showcase some interesting new elements and enemies that will be included in the game’s final release.
One of the things that makes Lucky’s Tale so great is its level design. The team has been iterating on a number of different things, eagerly figuring out how to translate some of the best elements of the platformer genre to VR.
While the game utilizes a third person style, it still manages to take advantage of virtual reality in a way that enhances the game. As a player you have a feeling of agency as the environment reacts to your head, for example bumping against things like stalactites with your forehead causes them to fall down, and Lucky responds when you lean in on him close. Additionally, the game makes great use of the ability to accurately sense depth in VR, allowing for more complexity in how things like platforms are designed because the player is more easily able to time jumps.
These three new levels showcase a number of these awesome elements as well as showing the game’s brilliant art direction, something that really pops inside the headset.
Lucky’s Tale will be an Oculus Rift exclusive, and will be released with the headset’s launch in Q1, 2016.
