There are fairly a couple of VR builders in Seattle, so every time the Penny Arcade Expo involves city, a couple of aisles are dedicated to VR and AR. Considered one of this yr’s PAX West exhibitors within the unofficial “VR Part” was Isekai Leisure, who showcased the upcoming Quest 2 launch of Sword Reverie.
At present obtainable in Steam Early Entry, Sword Reverie is a single-player motion RPG the place you play a Hero who’s been summoned by the Guardian Magnus, tasked with defending Magnus’ folks towards a hostile military of elementals. You’ll be able to watch gameplay footage under.
Sword Reverie hit Steam in 2022 after a profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign in 2020, and you’ll learn our interview with Isekai’s co-founder Frank Zhang right here. Nevertheless, it has been quiet ever since. Zhang advised me at PAX that this was primarily attributable to low gross sales; Sword Reverie wasn’t doing effectively as a PC VR unique, in order that they’re hoping to discover a new viewers on Quest.
In line with Zhang, Isekai has spent the final couple of years “constructing a workforce that may ship on the promise of our Kickstarter.” That features enhancements to the sport’s talent system, a 3-4 hour single-player marketing campaign, and redesigned enemies. The PAX construct of Sword Reverie ran on a Quest 2 and happened at first of the sport, throwing gamers immediately into the motion by siccing a number of waves of hostile elementals on you.
The “sword” on Sword Reverie comes from the magic swords you’ve got in both hand, which you’ll be able to attune to five completely different parts. Your swords’ present factor additionally impacts their energetic abilities, comparable to a close-range area-of-effect spell or a long-distance nuke. These abilities burn by way of mana shortly, however mana could be recharged by participating enemies in melee fight.
There’s nonetheless some tweaking left to do with the PAX construct, which incorporates higher methods to revive well being, however the model I performed was simple to know with stable mechanics. A number of the abilities have been actually highly effective – for instance, the water swords allow you to unleash a high-pressure geyser that stuns something it hits – however since no two waves of enemies have the identical elemental vulnerability, you’re continuously pressured to alter your method.
Sword Reverie is coming to the Meta Quest 2 in late 2024 or early 2025, and the early entry launch is on the market now on Steam. In a YouTube remark, the studio confirmed there are “no plans for [PlayStation VR2] at this second.”
