12 hours on from launch, Impulse Gear released an update to Larcenauts with a fix for the games’ sprinting options, and there are fixes to SteamVR to come.
The base version of Larcenauts features a sprint with a forced animation. You click in your analog stick to start running, but then your gun disappears from view and your character makes a running motion with their hands at the bottom of the screen. It’s not possible to move your hands on your own, which is a pretty jarring effect.
With this update, Impulse Gear introduces ‘Immersive Sprint’, which is something I already had access to in a pre-release build. In my opinion, it works much better than the default option; you lower your run to get your character running, then raise it again when it’s time to return fire. You can make the switch in the game’s options menu, which we definitely recommend you do.
Features like this are frustrating Larcenauts’ launch; a lot of reviews from players and media — myself includes — also don’t like the canned animation for reloading. But there should be fixes for that and other features incoming too; at last week’s Upload VR Showcase, we revealed an early roadmap for the game, which includes a lot of imminent changes to the design that seem based on community feedback.
Meanwhile, over on SteamVR, the game’s taken a beating in user reviews. Players with non-Oculus headsets like the HTC Vive and Valve Index have had trouble both getting into the game and then getting it to run smoothly if they do. Impulse Gear issued an update on the game’s Steam page explaining it “ran into an issue with [Unreal Engine 4] and SteamVR compatibility” and that it’s “working with all parties” on a fix.
“This is super disappointing for us as well,” the team wrote, “we love SteamVR.”
We’re still digging into Larcenauts to bring you full impressions of the game. For now, we’ve got a review-in-progress that outlines our early reactions. What do you think of the game so far? Let us know in the comments below!
