Back in early August, we went hands-on with Mervils while it was in Early Access and came away creativelyimpressed. A noted departure from the waves of zombie and robot shooters that have flooded VR, Mervils: A VR Adventure is a single-player third-person action platformer and the full version is now available on Steam. Drawing many comparisons to Lucky’s Tale, a game we called the “gold standard for third-person VR video games”, Mervils is a dense and fun experience created by a small team of only 2 full-time developers and 2 artists.
The limitations of a small team are noted in animations and the art when you get close, though the game can be quite pretty from afar. In fact, level designs often feel reminiscent of the Nintendo classic, Super Mario 64.
In the full retail version of the game, players have quite a bit of content to explore and even a few options on how to explore them. Though the focus is on the action and adventure, Mervils does sprinkle in RPG elements via upgrades to the main character’s armor and weapons and a lore that can be delved into via conversations with NPCs. You can traverse the colorful world via minecart, ice sleigh, or pirate ship and have “blink”, fixed, or custom options for camera movement. You’re also offered the choice of playing in a sitting/standing fixed position or with room-scale settings. Getting comfortable with those settings are essential considering there are puzzles tailored to the virtual reality perspective.
Namely, the full release adds the Arctic Isles and Paradise Cove — two brand new worlds. This means the full game now has 13 levels and approximately 6-8 hours of gameplay.
Mervils: A VR Adventure is available on Steam for $19.99 but is a few bucks cheaper at $15.99 on the Oculus Home Store. The expanded content is reflected in its increased launch price. It will also receive a free update for Oculus Touch compatibility on December 9th and currently supports Vive motion controllers, but we think it plays best seated with a standard gamepad.
