Just when you thought you’d seen all VR had to offer wave-based action games, along comes something like Draw Your Blade.
At its core, this new HTC Vive title from indie developer, Gama, mixes that style of gameplay that we’ve already seen so much (Brookhaven Experiment, Zombie Training Simulator, and Gunjack to name but a few) with more creative apps. Think Tilt Brush, only if it was called Tilt Blade. Yes, you fight off waves of incoming balls with swords and daggers, but you create those weapons yourself. Holding a button on each of the Vive’s wands, you draw a line which is them populated with small shards connected together to form your weapon.
It’s a very cool concept as the video above shows. You could make two simple swords and dual wield as you bat away enemies, or create more elaborate weapons like scythes and even shields. Those shards can even be tossed across the room as they split into their individual pieces. Different coloured balls will require a varying number of attacks and each must be destroyed in order to progress to the next wave. According to the team, the size of blades will be limited.
All that said, this early demo clearly still needs a lot of work. While this core hook is interesting, Draw Your Blade needs a tune up in the visuals department. Environment and enemy design is as basic as it gets right now, and we’d love to see some foes engage in proper sword fights with you. Not that we’re saying anything Gama doesn’t already know; the developer is an active member of the Vive subreddit and it taking feedback on how to progress.
The same demo captured above can also be downloaded for free right now. When we’ll see more from Draw Your Blade is anyone’s guess, but we’re hoping that this one turns into something special with a little more time under its belt.
