Honey Pot is a brand new co-op VR sport the place you combat bears with bees, and it is actually intriguing.
Overcooked and Crops vs. Zombies are from two utterly completely different genres. One is a co-op cooking sport, whereas the opposite is tower protection. As odd as it might sound, each titles truly impressed Brazil-based studio VRMonkey after they envisioned their subsequent providing: Honey Pot.
Honey Pot combines tower protection mechanics with action-focused gameplay, the place you and your pals management bees to defend the queen from waves of rampaging bears. It is a foolish premise however mechanically, it really works. I performed a 20-minute demo on the Tokyo Sport Present the place VRMonkey had an exhibition sales space. There, I met studio co-founder Pedro Kayatt and different staff members. Utilizing a Quest 3 headset, Kayatt walked me by means of this upcoming tower protection VR sport, whereas additionally recounting how the studio conceptualized this mish-mash of concepts.
Kayatt knowledgeable me that Honey Pot’s first inspiration was Overcooked. Particularly, it is the “mayhem and chaos that goes on whenever you attempt co-op in Overcooked.” The staff goals to seize the identical frenetic tempo whereas additionally combining this idea with how they envision a novel VR tower protection sport, which is the place the second key inspiration, Crops vs. Zombies, comes into play.
The beginning of the match includes inserting towers shortly alongside the trail that hostile items would go by means of. Kayatt states they’ve designed round 14 towers — “fireplace towers, those who create patches of grass, those who shoot balloons to sluggish enemies down” — and an assortment of components that may supply benefits or disadvantages. From there, the main target shifts to action-oriented gameplay the place you tackle the ursa advance as a bee.
A few of the enemies I confronted in Honey Pot have been smaller cubs, simply dispatched in just a few hits. Others have been bigger brutes that may face up to extra harm earlier than they have been eradicated. Fortunately, your bee has extra tips up their sleeve, er, foreleg. These embody flying above your foes and sniping them from afar.
Kayatt notes that, whereas conceptualizing the character’s motion, they found that it is higher to show flying into a traditional technique of traversal. VR motion must be immersive and with Honey Pot, you pose together with your arms outstretched earlier than doing a flapping movement. I did really feel a bit foolish and I even chuckled on the thought. Nonetheless, when my character flew excessive up into the air, the motion and animations have been fluid and straightforward sufficient to grasp.
Whereas flying, I might additionally carry out my bow with one hand after which draw the bowstring with the opposite. This allowed me to levitate for extended durations, giving me a method of capturing the rampaging bears from above. I let unfastened one arrow after one other, bringing down enemy items till the spherical ended.
As for why the bow was chosen as your main weapon, it is due to how “it felt so good to constantly glide whereas aiming and capturing enemies.” There actually was synergy when it comes to movement, animation, and gameplay mechanics, making this a part of the sport very satisfying.
Kayatt provides that the staff primarily designed Honey Pot with co-op in thoughts as a result of they really feel that it is at all times extra enjoyable to play video games with associates. Moving into solo, nonetheless, doesn’t suggest that AI bots will be a part of you. Kayatt confirmed that the marketing campaign is balanced relying on the variety of gamers which are within the squad.
As a humorous apart, I have been informed that gamers may pull the stinger from their character’s rear finish. This can be utilized as a devastating projectile, however doing so causes their character to die, too. This generally led to shenanigans after they have been playtesting as everybody tried to detach the stinger.
Honey Pot is actually fairly completely different from VRMonkey’s earlier releases, resembling Galaxy Kart and Sky Climb, however the premise actually has me intrigued. The studio is at present growing the Meta Quest 3 model earlier than finalizing the builds for different VR headsets, and it is anticipated to launch throughout Q1 2025.
