The SoulKeeper VR

sutekiB

Check. This. Out. Now.

1. Magic
   
2. Sword fighting
   
3. Dual wielding
   
4. Traps
   
5. Puzzles
   
6. Staircases
   
7. Dragons
   
8. Mardonian Warlords
   

Ladies and gentlemen, I think VR has found its killer app.

The SoulKeeper VR.

Coming to HTC Vive, and The Virtuix Omni

Unrestricted walking in @SoulKeeperGame VR thnx to @VirtuixOmni , now in our arsenal of dev tools!! pic.twitter.com/9MBxOEEYuE

— HELM Systems (@HELMSystems) May 4, 2016

WOW! I just discovered your game. Are you really going to support the Omni? That'd be so awesome! @HELMSystems @SoulKeeperGame @VirtuixOmni

@ExploreVR @SoulKeeperGame @VirtuixOmni yes indeed, we are working very closely with Virtuix to integrate the Omni in the game

Update
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSoulKeeperGame/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoulKeeperGame
Game page:http://thesoulkeeper.com/

More about the game on Upload VR: http://uploadvr.com/soulkeeper-vive-alpha-preview/

xxann5

Outstanding news!

GreyAcumen

It looks interesting, but also pretty unintentionally corny. I'm not sure how I feel about the constant narrative, particularly when a lot of the stuff getting narrated is so mundane (from a gaming perspective) and not terribly entertaining at all.

sutekiB

@xxann5 I know right? What's also exciting is that this was a demo they put together pretty quickly. They have a non-VR version that's an open world game like Skyrim. Speculation here but I wonder if they're experimenting with the Omni to see if it makes open world games playable in VR (which without the Omni they are not, unless you put in some serious compromises). If they like it, they may think it's worth adapting their open world game to VR. Now that would be an even bigger story!
@GreyAcumen I'm undecided about player narration. I think it can work in some circumstances (like Duke Nukem). NPC narration I'm all for, as long as it's done well. Occasionally you will get one main character who's voice you find annoying; which is why it would be good to have control over that - being able to switch narration off for specific characters and get text instead.

xxann5

@sutekiB YES OPEN WORLD!

Sponge101

Most artistically polished VR game I've seen. Not too much is known about the company other than it's a small Florida company. I think they need a big-name publisher to fund the scale of the games they're aiming to build. Bethesda's will show interest I'm sure. I kept getting a darker, gritter Skyrim-esque feeling from the video. Great find.

NobleBrutus

Awesome! How close are they to release?

sutekiB

@NobleBrutus 2016 for The SoulKeeper VR, but I believe there's a demo of it available now.

@Sponge101 Yes, the aesthetic is very much in that palette. It has the gothic feel of Dark Souls, and reminds me of the castle from Resident Evil 4.

GreyAcumen

@sutekiB - my main issue is that it kills immersion to hear "my character" saying stuff for me. Now if there was some sort of mechanic where it showed that "the character" and "you" were actually different entities, and you just had control of their actions, I think that could actually be a really cool game and story mechanic all of its own.

sutekiB

@GreyAcumen I can see how that might be immersion breaking if it was not your will to speak. Maybe it would help if the narration were triggered by something you did, like a gesture? Perhaps the type of gesture could trigger either a positive or negative comment from your character?

What do you think about an internal monologue? We exercise less screening of our thoughts than our words; more thoughts may 'pop into' our heads than come out of our mouths (for some it's the other way around of course), and so would it feel strange if you heard your character's? There is an odd effect (I don't know if it has a name, but surely I can't be the only one), that if you listen to someone talking for a while, you may afterwards notice that you are thinking in their voice. It may have some connection to our mirror neurons, which allow us to feel empathy and understand others, which is import for social animals. In a VR game, after a while, your own thoughts may begin to sound like the voice actor's. In which case, it might not be so disruptive. Especially if the developer has correctly anticipated what you may be thinking in a given scenario, which is not so difficult when they have control over it. The internal monologue could become like an imaginary friend. I enjoyed the voice acting of Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, and would be curious to see how that would be in VR.

GreyAcumen

That's actually what causes my problem is that I already have my own internal monologue on events going on. It's not that it's happening when I don't want it to, but that it's like having someone talk over you when you're trying to say something.

sutekiB

HOT OFF THE PRESSES! Early Access "coming soon": http://uploadvr.com/soulkeeper-vr-rpg-alpha-preview/

And look - new video! Sweet

KellCam_Virtuix

Wow! Looks great!

adalos

Has the feel of a Dark Souls VR, which is both terrifying and awesome.

sutekiB

I played a bit of the closed Alpha last night and it was awesome! The vibe was all like:

DanteM

sutekiB said:

6. Staircases

LOL WOAH!!! fricken LOVE staircases!