In a blog post published today, Simon Hermitage, Lead Designer on PlayStation VR Worlds, pulled back the curtain on the upcoming virtual reality game combo-pack known as PlayStation VR Worlds. The post explains the often-overlooked and the never-before-seen details of this five game set.
VR Worlds will launch alongside Sony’s Playstation VR headset in October, and in many ways, it is the Wii Sports of the system: designed to introduce you, and any friends or family you may bring over, to the immersive world. According to Hermitage, the VR Worlds demos have been designed and tweaked in order to be as first-time-user friendly as possible.
For example, one of the most easily recognizable experiences included in VR Worlds is The London Heist. This little mini-game is a narrative driven shooter that instantly shows off how satisfying gunplay can be inside of a VR headset. London Heist is fun enough to warrant a “Hey, let me try that!” from Aunt Suzy on Christmas morning, but the problem is shooting a gun in VR is a bit less intuitive than swinging a rectangle like a tennis racket.
In order to guarantee that even silly old Aunt Suzy can have a good first VR experience, Hermitage explains, “We also added a mode for you to show to people who are less familiar with traditional gaming. It adds laser sights to the guns to help with aiming and reduces enemy damage. With this mode enabled, you can experience The London Heist as more of an interactive story and still get to the dramatic finale.”
The London Heist will also be getting a shooting range mode so you can hone your skills before diving back into the story. VR World‘s other four games, Dangerball (a Tron like arcade game), Scavengers Odyssey (a cockpit based, outer space experience), Ocean Descent (an underwater adventure), and Luge (exactly what it sounds like) are also getting upgrades to make them more plug-and-play for new users and VR veterans alike.
These tweaks include the inclusion of leaderboards, new game modes and an overarching challenge/trophy system that incentivizes replay-ability for all five experiences.
VR Worlds can be purchased standalone for around $39.99, or as part of a PS VR bundle that includes the game, the headset and the necessary accessories for $499.
