Crytek announced today their new virtual reality climbing game for the Oculus Rift called “The Climb.” The first teaser for the game, can be viewed above.
In the game, the user has to navigate the player’s hands as they climb, jump and rope up acrophobia inducing, rocky cliffs. Movement in the game features a rather innovative control mechanic that combines the use of both the head and hands in order to lean back to look up, direct the hand/body movement, as well as using the controller to select the targets.
As is expected from Crytek and their Cryengine gaming engine, the graphics look spectacular. Featuring highly detailed scenery of iconic climbing locations from around the globe, the game is filled with breathtaking views and animated wildlife that flies all around you.
Crytek, best known for the Crysis series and the upcoming Robinson – The Journey, states that the game is set to release sometime around the release of the Oculus Rift in 2016. The game’s current demo uses standard game controllers, however Crytek says that the game will launch taking full advantage of the upcoming Oculus Touch controllers, which will add a sense of real physical hand gestures to augment the climbing experience.
The brilliance of this game is that it really nails one of the primary VR use cases, which is to give the user a sense of real world perspective. One look down in the game immediately causes your hands to sweat and the fear of falling becomes immediately very real. This type of experience is exactly what will be expected from new VR users who will be using consumer VR devices for the first time and should appeal to a wide audience as the Rift rolls out to the mainstream next year.
You can stay up to date on the new game via it’s website at: http://www.theclimbgame.com/
Sean Earley is the Executive Editor of AR/VR Magazine & co-founder of RobotSpaceship Podcast Network. He is the Director of New Biz Development and Publishing at KEMWEB, a musician, producer & consultant. He loves guitars, VR and coffee.
