[VR] Asgard's Wrath
Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:10 pm
So, along with the free experiences and Beat Saber, this has been my 'main' game over the last few weeks. it is, unfortunately, Oculus-only. Asgard's Wrath is one of the first full-length AAA-style games made specifically for VR. It's a first person RPG. Aesthetically, it is Skyrim with a strong Viking theme, all with a fair dose of inspiration from the Thor movies. Gameplay wise, it's 1/3 Skyrim and 2/3 Zelda.
So, here's the premise, keeping any spoilers minor and to the first hour or so of the 30-hour game. You're a new Norse god, just formed. Under the guidance of another god you're sent to do Important Stuff. During regular gameplay you have the ability to enter into certain beings - heroes - possessing them and fighting as them. That's where the ground-level gameplay takes place, and probably 80% of the content. The gameplay is, as I said, a mix of Skyrim (exploration and combat) and Zelda (puzzle solving with an arsenal of tools that grows over time.) And like Zelda, you'll often find yourself in a location where advancing requires some tool you don't yet have access to, requiring you to leave and return later on after you've advanced further in the story.
As far as Skyrim part goes, it's a blast. Everything is designed from the ground up for VR. As the first character, a shield maiden, I walk around the areas in first person. If I see an herb or a bit of food I want to pick up, I reach down, pick it up, and drop it into my pouch (release it near my right thigh.) If I see a couple of enemies, I reach over my left shoulder with my left hand, grab, and pull out my shield. My right hand reaches across and grabs near my left hip, pulling out my sword. Blocking with the shield, parrying with the sword, swinging, stabbing is all done by actually making the appropriate movements while holding your weapons. One of the guys is an archer. I stun the guy I'm in melee with, quickly sheathe my sword, and grab my axe from my right hip, which I throw at the archer (by actually throwing it - keep the strap on your controller), then pull it back to my hand all Thor-like by pointing at it, grabbing, and making a yanking motion, then throw it back at him to finish him. I pull my sword back out and finish the melee fighter. I'm then able to loot, again by actually picking the stuff up off of the ground and putting it in my pouch. You aren't pushing buttons or activating doors here. All of the interaction is actually mimed. Pulling chains, opening doors, turning cranks, you do it all yourself by reaching out your own lazy hands, grabbing the thing, and moving it. Each hero has 'hero weapons' that are always with them, but you can also pick up and use enemy weapons. I've used swords, axes, maxes, shields, throwing axes, throwing daggers, bows, crossbows, plus enchanted versions of most of those - and I'm only part way in. And sometimes you'll meet enemy champions. These guys are a lot tougher, wearing runic armor. They are invincible until you break their armor, which requires making them made enough to make their signature attack. If you parry it, you'll stun them for a few seconds allowing your next few attacks to shear off their armor. Once it is all gone, they're vulnerable to regular damage.
You aren't alone, either. You have the ability to grab various beasts as you go, turning them into your companions. There are a dozen or so, each with a different role (ranged attacker, melee damage, tank, etc), and you can swap which one you have active as you go. Each one is also capable of overcoming certain specific obstacles in your path, so as you advance and unlock more and more companions, you'll find you can now access areas that were previously blocked.
In some of the more open areas you'll find an Altar of the Gods which allows you to turn back to your godly form. Now you're roughly the size of King Kong, towering over the level. This is used as another layer of puzzle solving, as you're now able to pick up your followers in your hand and drop them somewhere inaccessible, move massive objects (say, grabbing a hunk of wrecked ship and putting it on a broken bridge.) You can pluck birds out of the sky, sharks out of the sea, and just feel genuinely massive.
It isn't open world. It is zones, but you can backtrack at any point (and will want to once you gain new ways of bypassing obstacles.) It's done via instant fast travel from nearly anywhere to any zone (and is very reminiscent of the Bifrost from the Thor films.) So far I'm maybe a quarter to a third of the way in and I've explored beaches, catacombs, caves, villages, and halls, plus set pieces like a sea voyage. There are multiple optional dungeons. There's also Aegir's Hall, a tavern where the gods and their allies gather that acts as yor central hub. While you're there you have access to your stash, two merchants, crafting, lore, coin-bouncing and axe throwing contests for cash, a display of divine relics (the game's collectibles), and quests. And I'll be honest, the place is just cool as hell. The band is an elf, a centaur, and a... something. The blacksmith is the size of an ogre, and his assistant looks like a goblin. Getting to stand next to these creatures and see them as close to 'in real life' as you're going to get is a treat.
The game does have a few flaws. It takes a decent system to run. Melee combat is still a new thing that developers are figuring out how to implement in VR, so that isn't quite perfect. The only problem that really stands out with it is that the weapons have no weight, and the damage they do is baked into the numbers, not reliant on your swing. That means that you can take a huge, massive sword and swipe it back and forth across their face like you're speed-slapping them with it. It would have been better if they'd added some sort of a delay to the heavier weapons or taken the speed and inertia of your movements into account on the attacks. This, I believe, is one of the reasons that they added the runic armor system for enemy champions, to keep them from going down too easily (although setting the difficulty on 'mortal' removes the runic armor system from non-bosses if you don't enjoy it.)
If I you haven't gleaned it from my yapping, I'm genuinely enjoying this game. It's an absolute blast to play. If that style of game is to your liking, give it a look.
Here's the trailer:
And here's a review that I mostly agree with (their complaint about not being able to send things directly to the stash is nonsensical, and having companions break barrels is... odd.) It does give more location and entity spoilers than I did.
So, here's the premise, keeping any spoilers minor and to the first hour or so of the 30-hour game. You're a new Norse god, just formed. Under the guidance of another god you're sent to do Important Stuff. During regular gameplay you have the ability to enter into certain beings - heroes - possessing them and fighting as them. That's where the ground-level gameplay takes place, and probably 80% of the content. The gameplay is, as I said, a mix of Skyrim (exploration and combat) and Zelda (puzzle solving with an arsenal of tools that grows over time.) And like Zelda, you'll often find yourself in a location where advancing requires some tool you don't yet have access to, requiring you to leave and return later on after you've advanced further in the story.
As far as Skyrim part goes, it's a blast. Everything is designed from the ground up for VR. As the first character, a shield maiden, I walk around the areas in first person. If I see an herb or a bit of food I want to pick up, I reach down, pick it up, and drop it into my pouch (release it near my right thigh.) If I see a couple of enemies, I reach over my left shoulder with my left hand, grab, and pull out my shield. My right hand reaches across and grabs near my left hip, pulling out my sword. Blocking with the shield, parrying with the sword, swinging, stabbing is all done by actually making the appropriate movements while holding your weapons. One of the guys is an archer. I stun the guy I'm in melee with, quickly sheathe my sword, and grab my axe from my right hip, which I throw at the archer (by actually throwing it - keep the strap on your controller), then pull it back to my hand all Thor-like by pointing at it, grabbing, and making a yanking motion, then throw it back at him to finish him. I pull my sword back out and finish the melee fighter. I'm then able to loot, again by actually picking the stuff up off of the ground and putting it in my pouch. You aren't pushing buttons or activating doors here. All of the interaction is actually mimed. Pulling chains, opening doors, turning cranks, you do it all yourself by reaching out your own lazy hands, grabbing the thing, and moving it. Each hero has 'hero weapons' that are always with them, but you can also pick up and use enemy weapons. I've used swords, axes, maxes, shields, throwing axes, throwing daggers, bows, crossbows, plus enchanted versions of most of those - and I'm only part way in. And sometimes you'll meet enemy champions. These guys are a lot tougher, wearing runic armor. They are invincible until you break their armor, which requires making them made enough to make their signature attack. If you parry it, you'll stun them for a few seconds allowing your next few attacks to shear off their armor. Once it is all gone, they're vulnerable to regular damage.
You aren't alone, either. You have the ability to grab various beasts as you go, turning them into your companions. There are a dozen or so, each with a different role (ranged attacker, melee damage, tank, etc), and you can swap which one you have active as you go. Each one is also capable of overcoming certain specific obstacles in your path, so as you advance and unlock more and more companions, you'll find you can now access areas that were previously blocked.
In some of the more open areas you'll find an Altar of the Gods which allows you to turn back to your godly form. Now you're roughly the size of King Kong, towering over the level. This is used as another layer of puzzle solving, as you're now able to pick up your followers in your hand and drop them somewhere inaccessible, move massive objects (say, grabbing a hunk of wrecked ship and putting it on a broken bridge.) You can pluck birds out of the sky, sharks out of the sea, and just feel genuinely massive.
It isn't open world. It is zones, but you can backtrack at any point (and will want to once you gain new ways of bypassing obstacles.) It's done via instant fast travel from nearly anywhere to any zone (and is very reminiscent of the Bifrost from the Thor films.) So far I'm maybe a quarter to a third of the way in and I've explored beaches, catacombs, caves, villages, and halls, plus set pieces like a sea voyage. There are multiple optional dungeons. There's also Aegir's Hall, a tavern where the gods and their allies gather that acts as yor central hub. While you're there you have access to your stash, two merchants, crafting, lore, coin-bouncing and axe throwing contests for cash, a display of divine relics (the game's collectibles), and quests. And I'll be honest, the place is just cool as hell. The band is an elf, a centaur, and a... something. The blacksmith is the size of an ogre, and his assistant looks like a goblin. Getting to stand next to these creatures and see them as close to 'in real life' as you're going to get is a treat.
The game does have a few flaws. It takes a decent system to run. Melee combat is still a new thing that developers are figuring out how to implement in VR, so that isn't quite perfect. The only problem that really stands out with it is that the weapons have no weight, and the damage they do is baked into the numbers, not reliant on your swing. That means that you can take a huge, massive sword and swipe it back and forth across their face like you're speed-slapping them with it. It would have been better if they'd added some sort of a delay to the heavier weapons or taken the speed and inertia of your movements into account on the attacks. This, I believe, is one of the reasons that they added the runic armor system for enemy champions, to keep them from going down too easily (although setting the difficulty on 'mortal' removes the runic armor system from non-bosses if you don't enjoy it.)
If I you haven't gleaned it from my yapping, I'm genuinely enjoying this game. It's an absolute blast to play. If that style of game is to your liking, give it a look.
Here's the trailer:
And here's a review that I mostly agree with (their complaint about not being able to send things directly to the stash is nonsensical, and having companions break barrels is... odd.) It does give more location and entity spoilers than I did.