If you've played many first person games, you know the incomparable joy that is looking down and seeing your character's body represented as a 3D model in the world. It's not a necessary feature—most games omit it—but just like when I'm enjoying a good glass of wine, I'm having more fun when I've got legs.
Reach, which just got a new trailer at today's PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, touts its fully modeled and animated "body awareness" as a headlining feature, which makes a lot of sense when you realize it's a VR game. Even visual showstoppers like Half-Life Alyx embrace Rayman-style floating hands as an elegant solution for first person interactions in VR, but Reach is itching to tear down any barrier to immersion.
It looks to be an action adventure taking after the likes of Uncharted and Square Enix's Tomb Raider games, just paired with all the trappings of virtual reality: a very intimate view, motion controls, and a shock when your cat brushes past your leg.
The trailer struts all sorts of wild sequences, like the player hanging onto a rotating platform with one arm as they dangle over an abyss or another bit spent firing arrows at enemies below while soaring through the air—all very impressive feats to pull off well in VR.
The idea of playing through such perilous platforming segments with the screen strapped to my eyes sounds both thrilling and a little terrifying, so I have to applaud Reach's ambitions. A press release for the game throws out terms like "intuitive, gesture-driven traversal," so I'm keen to hear from VR buffs how it compares to the platform standard.
If Reach's trailer reached something inside you, you won't have to wait long to play it. It releases on October 16 and is available to pre-order on Steam.
Check out every game, trailer, and announcement in the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct.
