Evasion developer Archiact jumps back into the VR fray next week with its latest game, Freediver: Triton Down. It’s a very different game from its previous shooter.
Freediver launches via Oculus Home and SteamVR on May 30th. That’s a full week from today, in case you hadn’t realized. It’s a pretty quick turnaround for Archiact; Freediver was only announced a month ago and Evasion launched in late 2018. Check it out in the 360 trailer below. If you want to see it in VR then grab a smartphone viewer or find a standalone headset with the YouTube app.
Still, we’re quite intrigued by this one. Freediver is an underwater survival game that, unlike the excellent Subnautica, is designed specifically for VR. You find yourself aboard a research ship that’s slowly slipping below the surface. It’s a race against time to navigate your way through the ship, fighting for oxygen where you can.
The game makes use of VR’s motion controls, getting players to physically swim through their environment. That sounds like it could be exhausting, but we’ll have to get our hands on it to find out.
It looks a little claustrophobic and mightily intense. Quick gasps of air are stolen in ventilation shafts and dim corridors are lit up with faint glow sticks. We wouldn’t exactly call it cozy, but that’s kind of the point. The game’s being developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Freediver: Triton Down will support the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift at launch. It’ll cost $8.99. No word yet on possible support for PSVR, Oculus Quest and the upcoming Valve Index.
