Yupitergrad was definitely one of those games that was made with Quest in mind. Not only is the vibrant cel-shaded art style well-suited to the platform’s reduced processing power, but the Spider-Man-esque VR swinging also works dramatically better when there’s not a wire on the floor threatening to tangle you up at every turn.
It’s no surprise to find that, even in preview form, this is the best way to play Gamedust’s latest, then.
Yupitergrad came to Steam back in August and will land on Oculus Quest and PSVR in early 2021. It’s a demanding VR platformer that attaches two plungers to your hands and has you swinging through the rooms of a Communist-era Russian space station. Corridors filled with traps and trickery that made navigating the station something of an Olympic hurdle. Check out some Oculus Quest gameplay.
Yupitergrad Quest Gameplay
So far I’m enjoying Yupitergrad most in its calmer moments. The swinging mechanic feels like a logical step above the foundations laid by Psytec Games’ Windlands and its ilk. Vaulting across a corridor, allowing time for the full arc of the rope to carry through is a dizzy treat.
It’s when things get a bit more fidgety that you start to feel the strain of those systems. Precise tasks like pulling gates open and then swinging through them before they close once more can be tiresome if not approached in exactly the right way. But it’s also true that Yupitergrad feels more and more natural the further you get into it, and I’ll be curious to see if I can master those challenges by the game’s end. I certainly hope that’s the case, as the new version of the game will also be bringing with it a Time Trial mode to get to grips with.
We don’t have a final date for Yupitergrad’s Quest and PSVR launch yet, but this preview build felt pretty darn close to ready. We’ll let you know when we have a final date. Will you be checking out Yupitergrad on its new platforms? Let us know in the comments below.
