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Among Us VR

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What is it?

Among Us VR is a virtual reality (VR) remake of the classic social game Among Us, which is an online multiplayer strategy game of survival. Among Us launched in 2018 by Innersloth and became extremely popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a semblance of normalcy and social engagement during the global lockdowns. It took a while for this game to finally be released in VR, but it seems to have been worth the wait.

The game has 4–10 players aboard an alien spaceship called the Skeld. Each player is assigned a private role as either a “crewmate” or an “impostor.” Crewmates must run around the ship completing a set of tasks while keeping an eye on the others to find and avoid being killed by one or more impostors. Players can be voted off the ship when a crewmate’s body is found, or an emergency meeting is called.

Winning for the crewmates entails successfully identifying and voting off all the impostors or completing all the tasks. As for the impostors, they must kill enough crewmates to equal the number of impostors to the number of crewmates, while convincing everyone that they too are a crewmate.

A personal favorite

As someone who has played the original 2D version a little too much, the VR remake adds to the tension and dramatizes the game even more. It is more than just any other social game as it involves reading personalities and strategizing to win.

Furthermore, each aspect of the VR remake is faithfully reconstructed from the original flat game. It not only preserves the exciting elements of the original game but elevates the experience in this game of survival, teamwork, and betrayal.

Why is it engaging?

The first-person VR perspective adds several dimensions to the game along with a greater sense of presence. Walking around a 3D rendition of the Skeld spaceship map with motion controls, performing tasks like fueling engines with a manual pump or setting the course holding the steering, is far more intuitive than doing all of this on the flat version of the game.

Furthermore, it makes the user feel like they really are aboard the spaceship. The flickering of lights before they completely go out or the sudden locking of doors when the user is in a room on one side of the ship causes a palpable panic and physically startles the users, making the experience even more realistic.

From performing the tasks, which are like mini-games, to slowly glancing over your shoulder, the VR rendition brings a new level of suspense to the game. This provides a fresh and familiar feel while simultaneously accentuating the best features of the original game.

Standout features

  • The game mechanics were translated extremely well from the 2D game to the VR remake. Completing tasks, running around when the lights get sabotaged, etc. are very fun in VR and extremely immersive.
  • The hand gestures for performing tasks and maneuvering about the spaceship are extremely intuitive, making it more lifelike.
  • Additionally, the soundscape adds to the overall immersive experience. Proximity chat is perhaps one of the most stand-out features of the game. Allowing nearby crewmates to communicate with each other, being able to hear the footsteps and voices from the direction they are coming in, as well as the sound of fellow crewmates being killed nearby makes it even more immersive and really tense for the crewmates, fostering dramatic tension and outright fear.
  • The ability to talk with the other players and emote with hand gestures made this party game feel like an actual party.
  • The game also accommodates motion sickness and prevents potential nausea risks by providing optional blinders for the camera.

Possible improvements

  • Low precision controls: While the hand gestures are definitely a great feature, the controls are slightly chunky. This takes a while to get used to while completing tasks aboard the spaceship. A daintier set of hands could help with this, and providing greater precision while performing tasks and reducing the dependence on the user’s depth perception.
  • Narrow viewing area: Performing tasks narrows the viewable area, and coupled with the chunky control, it becomes tough to maneuver and still be vigilant at the same time, especially when there are multiple crewmates performing the same task.
  • Creative Design: The design of the Skeld spaceship itself was intended to be cartoonish and pristine but deters from the reality that one may expect aboard a spaceship. This borders more on the creative side to have a greater sense of detail in the rooms and make them more plentiful. Perhaps adding some posters to the walls, filth on the spaceship, or food in the cafeteria could add to the detail.
  • A single map: There is only a single map available in the game right now, making the experience limited. The addition of other maps, as there are in the original game, would encourage a larger number of users to return to the game.
  • Lack of customization: The original game had several options like choosing the number of impostors, altering the kill cooldown time, and several other such settings to alter the gameplay. These alterations could either increase or decrease the difficulty of the game, but currently, no such customization is possible in the VR game.

Conclusion

Among Us is a game that was perfectly designed to be played in a VR environment. The VR version received immense praise for the exceptional immersive experience it provides with its game mechanics, soundscape, and interactivity.

During the pandemic, when the original game was wildly popular, I remember playing it with all of my friends daily and enjoying it so much. The fact that this game is now in VR makes it even more engaging.

It is social, interactive, devious, and now it is immersive!

References

[1] Among Us VR – Launch Trailer | Meta Quest 2 + Rift Platforms, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_QmaFkJ4g

[2] Everyone’s Playing Among Us, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/style/among-us.html

[3] Among Us Press-Kit, https://schellgames.com/press/among-us-vr-press-kit

[4] Among Us VR Review (Nov. 11, 2022), https://www.ign.com/articles/among-us-vr-review

The Great Ocean VR

What is it?

The Great Ocean from Actrio Studio is a unique VR experience that allows one to embark on a stimulating underwater mission while learning more about the fascinating intricacies of our ocean. The game was released on September 17, which is also World Clean Up day, further delineating the motive behind it.

Featuring several real-world ocean locations to explore, including the Galapagos, the Caribbean island, Cozumel, and the Arctic Ocean, the Great Ocean VR allows users to operate a high-tech ROV on a journey through the ocean. Along with encountering various forms of underwater life, the experience also enables users to perform tasks involving cleaning of the ocean floor with the ROV, fixing leakages in oil containers, and several other tasks highlighting the importance of protecting our oceans.

Why do I like it?

Living on an incredible yet unfamiliar blue planet, exploration becomes the key to understanding the world around us. What’s more, is understanding the beauty of the life it nurtures and how it must be preserved. This VR application not only educates users about underwater life but sheds light on how the oceans can and must be protected.

Why is it engaging?

The game provides an immersive all-around experience. More than just reading or watching videos about creatures in the ocean, being able to experience it and swim with them is much more exciting. It leaves the users curious to learn more about the ocean and how to preserve it. Navigating through the ocean is quite intuitive. The gameplay mechanics including driving and managing robotic arms, switching animations are smooth and visually stimulating.

Additionally, there are various dive modes to choose from. One can choose to perform cleanup tasks, repair work, or just exploration depending on the user’s preferences. Additional levels and content as the game move towards a full release.

Standout features

  • Good pace: It can be daunting to move at a high pace in this immersive underwater environment, but this game does not put too much pressure on the user.
  • Clean user interface (UI): The user interface is not obtrusive and clearly provides users with the necessary information needed at different points through the journey. Displaying plenty of navigational information, and ease of switching between task/progress and exploration screens, the design is intuitive to use.
  • Sound: The calming tunes enhance the experience, allowing the user to simultaneously feel like serenity and vast expanse of the ocean.
    Missions: The submersible has three arms – a grabber, a welder, and a scanner – that one can use to complete different tasks. Additionally, the scanner can be used to record points of interest and marine life. These points of interest are tracked and available to rediscover on the HUD. Each scannable object has a short educational snippet explaining its role in the biome.

Possible Improvements

  • Characters and Animation: The sea creatures do not look realistic which could be improved by more detailed 3D models. The knowledge base as well is limited and adding more sea creatures to the set of visible creatures would enhance the user experience. Additionally, the movement of the sea creatures appears staggered and could be made more life-like.
  • Limited interactivity: All the tasks have the same controls, hence they do not feel varied. In the real world, the various missions would have different ways to rectify the problem and that could be implemented in the game. Missions could also be made more interesting by adding additional tasks.
  • Control: Turning causes the ROV to roll which could be rectified with better calibration of the controller.
  • Detailed landscape: Having a more detailed landscape of the coral reefs and all objects in the scene would further immerse the user in the experience. 

Conclusion

The Great Ocean VR experience faithfully serves its goal which was to educate people about the vast expanse of the ocean and lay emphasis on its protection. However, the Great Ocean VR has a long way ahead to make the experience more realistic while simultaneously expanding its knowledge and location base. 

References

[1] The Great Ocean on SideQuest, https://sidequestvr.com/app/10767/the-great-ocean
[2] The Great Ocean VR – Review, https://www.nookgaming.com/the-great-ocean-vr-review/
[3] Explore The Depths In The Great Ocean VR For Quest 2, https://vrscout.com/news/explore-the-depths-in-the-great-ocean-vr-for-quest-2/