If you’re a fan of swords and sorcery like me then you’re likely quite pleased to see such a diversity of choices when it comes to scratching that good ol’ fantasy RPG itch in the immersive realm of VR. From lengthy single player adventures like Skyrim VR and The Mage’s Tale, to bespoke VR encounters like Vanishing Realms and Karnage Chronicles, to epic combat simulators such as Blade and Sorcery or Deus Vult, there are lots of options.
Shadow Legend from Vitruvius, the same studio behind the charming indie VR platformer that beat both Astro Bot and Moss to market, Mervils, aims to deliver yet another fantasy-soaked VR RPG experience due out on Steam and Oculus Home for Rift and Vive in February 2019. The game is also reportedly planned to be released for PSVR sometime after that in 2019 as well.
Visually, I get heavy gothic vibes that seem similar in style and tone to SoulKeeper VR, one of the most visually impressive indie VR projects I’ve seen to date. Shadow Legend is certainly less polished than that one, but the stylings are still there.
We haven’t tried Shadow Legend for ourselves or even seen the game in action yet other than the above trailer, but it certainly sounds and looks promising. According to the press release, you’ll be able to use your own voice via recognition software to talk with characters and barter with merchants. Recently we’ve seen mods introduce similar functionality to Skyrim VR and it’s also been used well in games like Star Trek: Bridge Crew, The Inpatient, and Starship Commander.
The story in Shadow Legend revolves around the medieval time period and its ensuing crusades. In the game you’ll play as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar in this 5-6 hour long journey. Vitruvius has been working on the game for over two years.
After having experienced the visceral quality of melee combat in Blade and Sorcery, I can say with confidence that Shadow Legend very likely won’t live up to that bar in terms of its physics — and that’s okay. Blade and Sorcery is a physics/combat sandbox with little else going on, but Shadow Legend appears to be aiming to actually contain a relatively full game with a story, combat, inventory management, vast environments, and more.
We can’t wait to see more from Shadow Legend — VR needs more fleshed out narrative-driven games that feature melee combat as a focus. Shadow Legend is expected to have a beta period available sometime next week with its full release slated for February 2019 on Rift and Vive.
As of the time of this writing the Steam page isn’t up yet, but Shadow Legends should have its own “Coming Soon” page on Steam at this link by the time you’re reading this. Check that for more details!
Update: Added details about a planned PSVR release.
