Before I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first film in the venerable Indiana Jones franchise, I told myself I wasn’t interested in that genre. Pseudo-historical fiction about architecture didn’t seem interesting to me, at least not compared to the mysterious worlds of traditional sci-fi and high fantasy. Eventually, friends talked me into watching it and I was enamored with the characters, world building, and believable sense of adventure.
What I realized is that genre has never been that important to me after all in films and games, it’s more so about the characters and the stories that are told. It’s still far too early to tell for sure, but Unearthed Inc: The Lost Temple from what I have seen so far, is much more than just a brand new unannounced game until right now. If my instincts serve me correctly, it appears to be following in the adventurous and puzzle-solving footsteps of Indiana Jones himself, with a sprinkle of humor and sci-fi flavor for good measure.
Unearthed is the first VR game from Glo, a new game development studio founded by Steve Zhao. In 2006, he created Blue Tea Games, an international development studio known for its Hidden Object Adventure titles, the most famous being the Dark Parables series which is distributed by Big Fish Games. After selling millions of copies of those types of titles, he founded Glo to attack the new medium of virtual reality, with a particular focus on adventure puzzle titles.
The heritage of Hidden Object-style games, mixed with influences of traditional puzzle titles, and even escape-the-room style experiences is immediately evident. For those unfamiliar, Hidden Object games are essentially like a modern interpretation of the classic I Spy books, with more interactivity. You search through richly detailed environments, trying to locate treasures and specific items to advance to the next level.
Thankfully, Unearthed is a bit more interesting than just that being adapted to VR. During the demo build that I played, the game immediately establishes its colorful world and lore. A little robot companion greets me and chimes in with silly anecdotes about Google Maps and updating my Instagram — although the one-liners get old and repetitive after a while. Most of the scenes involve poking and prodding objects until you figure out what something is or what something else does. It’s an addictive gameplay loop and the robot companion can give you subtle hints occasionally if you get stuck.
In most cases, just as I was about to give up in frustration, I’d stumble across a new clue. At one point for example, I frustratingly waggled a magical staff that I had found, not knowing what to do next, and the movement just happened to knock something over, revealing the next items I needed. By inhabiting a three-dimensional space instead of just looking at it through the window of your phone or computer monitor, it changes the way you perceive levels.
The likes of The Gallery are helping pioneer how narrative adventure titles are established in our new medium, and the wave of puzzle adventure titles like Unearthed are treading new ground in an oft-disregarded niche subgenre.
You can’t move around environments freely, but instead stand in single spots and use telekinetic powers to attract far off objects to your hands — similar to the mechanic found in I Expect You To Die. It works well and fits the theme of the game, but actual locomotion would have been a nice addition. Presumably, some platform parity was needed as Unearthed is scheduled to release on a wide range of VR devices, not all of which support standing or roomscale options.
Luckily, unlike many other puzzle titles that are fine to reserve themselves to mostly passive and tedious dilemmas, Unearthed delivers an admirable dose of action as well. During my demo, I fought a giant spider in a cavern. I had to throw rocks at its eyes to damage it while moving my body from side-to-side in my room to dodge balls of venom it spit at my head, as well as giant legs it used to stomp in my direction. The fight was short, but exhilarating. The full version of the game is also expected to include a zombie survival mode.
It’s still too early to tell how well Unearthed will capture the feeling of excitement and wonder that Indiana Jones is so iconic for portraying, but it’s off to a good start.
Unearthed Inc: The Lost Temple is slated for a December 16th launch on Vive and Oculus Rift (including Touch support) at a price of approximately $25 with a launch window discount bringing it to $20. In early 2017, Glo plans to bring the game to PlayStation VR and Google Daydream as well. You can find out more information about Unearthed by visiting the official website.
