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PlaySide Studios, Australia’s largest indie recreation studio, introduced the psychological thriller digital actuality recreation Shattered for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S VR headsets.
The Melbourne-based studio payments the sport as a groundbreaking mixed-reality labyrinth of escape rooms and mind-twisting puzzles. The intent is to enshroud gamers into an immersive expertise the place actuality and reminiscence intertwine, difficult each notion and problem-solving expertise.
Shattered is a single-player recreation set to launch late 2024, and you may see an unique take a look at the gameplay within the video.
I spoke with Jamie Bentley, vp at PlaySide; govt producer Ivan Ertlov and recreation product advertising and marketing supervisor Aaron Krause at Meta.
“Put together to lose your thoughts on the earth of Shattered, the place actuality is only a puzzle ready to be unraveled,” stated Bentley. “We’re excited to be working with Oculus Studios to convey this gripping escape room thriller that blurs the traces between reminiscence and insanity to Meta Quest customers. This December, immerse your self in a recreation that transforms your actuality—actually.”
Distinctive gameplay
Shattered invitations gamers to step into the footwear of a non-public investigator named Jessica, who’s tasked with unraveling the darkish secrets and techniques of a twisted psychological well being facility. This mixed-reality journey transforms your residing house right into a dynamic playground, permitting you to work together together with your setting in unprecedented methods. Navigate by way of eerie vignettes full of intricate puzzles and unsettling eventualities, all whereas exploring the fragmented recollections of the enigmatic Jessica.
In Shattered, actuality is only a puzzle ready to be unraveled. Trapped in a mysterious psychological well being facility, your perceptions can’t be trusted. To flee, you will need to flip your bodily house right into a labyrinth of escape rooms and manipulate objects throughout digital and blended actuality to resolve advanced puzzles. Examine and alter recollections to bend actuality itself to your will as you gather the mandatory proof to reveal the secrets and techniques of Greyvale and escape to security.
Shattered doesn’t put you in a state of psychosis or trigger psychological discomfort past the standard suspense in a thriller. Quite, Shattered lets the participant expertise distortions of actuality and subjective recollections by way of the eyes of the protagonist (Jessica), whose notion of actuality appears to be closely altered. This may be in comparison with our inspirations just like the traditional psychological films Shutter Island and Inception. The query of what’s actual and what not is one for each the protagonist and the participant.
Ertlov famous he was a psychologist earlier than he obtained into recreation work. On this recreation, the story delves into the idea of subjective recollections, which signifies that your recollections will not be dependable and are constructed in some form of biased approach.
The investigator Jessica experiences previous recollections which are distorted, and he or she has to govern the setting to be able to come to change the recollections and get to the subsequent stage.
“We’ve got completely different ranges of actuality, and none of them is dependable,” Ertlov stated. “It’s a must to continually query what’s actual. What’s a reminiscence? What is a vital reminiscence? And if I modify one thing within the reminiscence, how does it have an effect on the subsequent stage of actuality?”
It’s a bit of just like the movie Inception on this approach, with mind-bending puzzles, Ertlov stated. The staff labored on the undertaking for about 2.5 years. For elements of the sport, it could actually solely be completed in VR, Bentley stated.
“There’s no blended actuality recreation like this,” Bentley stated. “We are able to preserve you engaged for six to eight hours in blended actuality.”
I noticed a little bit of a demo of the sport. You’ll be able to see your personal room by way of the blended actuality imagery of your VR headset, however there are issues like cracks within the partitions that provide you with a window into one other place. It appears to be like actual as a result of the digital room aligns with the scale of your bodily room.
The sport takes place in a metropolis like Boston within the Nineties, so there aren’t any ubiquitous smartphones or digital recorders and such.
You’ll be able to Wishlist the sport now and discover extra details about Shattered on the official Meta Quest
Retailer. Shattered is meant for ages 13+. Scores fluctuate by area. The sport will promote for $20 within the U.S. and the equal value in different international locations. It doesn’t have a launch date but however is coming in December.
Background
PlaySide Studios has made video games comparable to Age of Darkness: Closing Stand, and the Dumb Methods to Die franchise, and it’s the writer for Mouse, Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown and Dynasty of the Sands.
Following greater than a decade of video games improvement, and over 70 titles launched throughout cellular, PC, and
VR/AR, PlaySide Studios’ current unique IP launches have included the award-winning RTS Age of Darkness: Closing Stand, and have seen the studio acknowledged as Studio of the Yr on the Australian Recreation Developer Awards 2023.
The corporate was began by Gerry Sakkas as a cellular studio in 2011, with hit video games like Catch the Ark. The corporate expanded into work for rent. It added PC and console video games, after which moved into VR. It labored on video games for others like Dumb Methods to Die and extra. It began working with Meta as the corporate launched its Meta Quest headsets and financed lots of VR and blended actuality video games.
In 2020, PlaySide went public, and it has since grown to 3 studios and 370 individuals in Australia and New Zealand. These days, it’s doing extra unique IP than work-for-hire video games. This specific staff had about 50 individuals on it. In VR, you may make that form of funding and get return, the corporate believes.
“It’s a brand new ocean,” Bentley stated, relating to VR. “The ecosystem for the headsets is getting extra secure. There are thousands and thousands of headsets on the market.”
The sport doesn’t actually go too far into horror, as that may inhibit demand. It walks a steadiness between compelling narrative and thriller moments.
Krause at Meta stated, “It is a distinctive title. We all know our viewers actually loves new experiences. That is one thing that hasn’t been completed earlier than, but additionally is one thing that individuals will recognize — those that love puzzles, love escape rooms, love the thrills and one thing fully completely different.”
