Arken Age – A new sci-fi fantasy adventure hits PS VR2 on January 16 – PlayStation.Blog

We are back! My name is Blake Stone, Lead Designer at VitruviusVR, the development team behind Mervils & Shadow Legend VR on the original PS VR. We’re excited to launch our newest title Arken Age, a single-player VR adventure set in a terraformed sci-fi fantasy world.

In the game, you engage in purely physics-based combat using Arkenite-infused swords and guns; and can freely explore crowded environments besieged by Hyperion’s neural corruption. Arken Age features a full 15-hour story-driven campaign, built from the ground up for PlayStation VR2, and launches tomorrow, January 16.

10 years of development for PlayStation VR

In 2015, we were introducing the first version of Mervils: A VR Adventure, our third-person VR platform game, at the Immersed Conference in Toronto, Canada when Richard Marks, Director of Magic Labs of Sony at the time, approached us. He couldn’t tell us too much but said that his team “has got something really interesting in the works for VR” and that Mervils could be a great fit for it. Then he sent us the prototype of the Project Morpheus headset, later renamed PlayStation VR, and we’ve never looked back since.

We released Mervils in 2017 and then launched Shadow Legend VR in 2020, a first-person medieval sword fighting game, and we learned a lot from the PlayStation VR community’s feedback. about which games we applied directly to Arken Age.

From Shadow Legend, we learned that players love climbing options because of the fluidity of movement in VR and the tactile feel of impact. For Arken Age, we’ve taken Climbing Picks a step further and integrated them into the player’s forearm, while also adding the ability to flick your wrist upward to deploy them at any time in the game .

Climbing Picks is just one example but there are many more that are included in the game. We’ve further refined our custom VR inventory system, weapon crafting, character interactions, unique combat features, exploration elements, and our design philosophy behind world-building. High-fidelity world in VR.

Dynamic Foveated rendering and engaging HDR graphics

To take full advantage of PlayStation VR2, we’ve worked hard to ensure Arken Age’s rendering, shaders, particle effects, and post-production effects are compatible with Dynamic Foveated Rendering (DFR) for Best possible image resolution. While visual quality isn’t the only benefit of PS VR2, with the vibrant world of Bio-Chasm in Arken Age, it really shows the importance of HDR graphics in VR with clear blue water , lush foliage, and energy blasts from the weapons, Arkenite buildings, and robotic Hyperion soldiers of the world.

VR weapons and custom adaptive triggers

When developing Arken Age, our biggest focus was on realistic physics-based combat and one-of-a-kind VR weapons; each has its own unique Adaptive Trigger touch. In the game, you start with 3 fully customizable and paintable weapons and can collect a total of over 30 unique weapon mods. Each attachment is custom designed for VR gaming, from the Hyperion Ax; a throwing ax that uses the PS VR2’s eye tracking capabilities and can be recalled at your will, the Tempered Cutter; a saw blade that can deploy to sever enemy limbs and the Astral Ballista; Some bows have high power charging, to name a few. Additionally, eye tracking is used to activate the sniper scope in the game, just close one eye when your head is near the scope and watch the magic happen!

Explore the story of the Bio-Chasm and your full VR alien body

In Arken Age, you are a biological alien, built with full mobility and the ability to freely jump, crouch, climb and swim. You can view your entire body in a first-person perspective and strap all your weapons to your character’s holster.

Your journey begins at the Celestial Custodian’s Tower on the brink of the Bio-Chasm, a terraformed realm created to harvest Arkenite Energy. Its divine founder, the Grand Arborist, has ceased farming your planet, and all information sent to him is met with stunned silence. In Arken Age, you discover the truth behind the disappearance of the Grand Arborist, ally yourself with the alien race Nara, take up arms against Hyperion’s legions of corrupted soldiers, and learn about your character ; part Nara and part Hyperion technology, suitable for this world.

Arken Age takes players through a 15-hour adventure that combines physics-based swordplay with long-range gunplay, features plenty of custom VR interactions, epic VR boss fights, and allows players Completely free to explore the dense environment of Bio-Chasm.

We’d like to thank everyone in the PlayStation VR community for their support over the years, and we hope Arken Age will be something PS VR2 fans can enjoy this January 16. and in the years to come!