Arizona Sunshine 2 and Arizona Sunshine Remake have launched - trailers, impressions and reviews

[RuneSR2]

Arizona Sunshine 2 CG trailer just revealed, might be the best VR news so far this year!

The Steam page is up:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1540210/Arizona_Sunshine_2/

The game is announced for PCVR and PSVR2, and it looks like we're not getting any kind of low-end Quest 2 port (Quest 2 uses the Adreno 650 phone gpu, part of the XR2 SoC):

"- Explore gore-geous, next-gen VR environments, all the way to the end of the f*cking world"

(Quote from the devs on Steam).

Game should be out this year.

Arizona Sunshine still is one of my favorite games using the Rift, and first with the RTX 3090 I was able to get solid 90 fps using high levels of super sampling. Thus even today Arizona Sunshine is very high-end VR, in case some have not played it yet. 

Concept art:

[RuneSR2]

Also note that using the Rift version is the only way to get optimal driver support for Meta hmds. The Steam version only supports native SteamVR drivers - no OpenXR and no native Oculus/Meta driver support. I really tried getting the Rift CV1 to work, but no matter what I did, SteamVR kept starting. 

Slightly annoying, would have loved to test oled in the dark locations. Ben said that oled is a clear win in this game when it gets dark. Do think of that when choosing the right version for you 🙂 Performance may not matter much with your RTX 4090. 

[kojack]

Very cool game so far.

I think I've guessed where the story is going based on some clues and how they are setting things up. I hope I'm wrong. I suppose I just have to finish the game to see.

One annoyance is the horde mode only has a single map, a remake of the original canyon map from AS1. I don't like that one, I preferred the bigger map with multiple rooms, locked doors, weapons everywhere, etc. Apparently they are releasing more maps over time.

I wish the inventory was like Saints and Sinners. But it's actually based on Half Life Alyx. You have a magic storage circle on each wrist, so you can store 2 items (melee weapons, healing items, grenades, mines, etc. Not guns). But I can carry unlimited crafting supplies.

[kojack]

I'm stuck on a part that I can't see a way through.

Spoiler

The game took all of my guns and equipment away (I saved up all that flamethrower ammo for nothing). It then lets me find some ammo, a shotgun and some simple pistols. Then I end up in a narrow path with seemingly unlimited running zombies spawning in front and behind. No room to dodge them like the chase scenes, no time to reload, grenades help but there's more spawning.

I have to be doing something wrong. I'll try again tomorrow after work.

[RuneSR2]

I was also stuck last night - even had to google my issue, but solved it. But not that much brain power is needed in this game, although it does contain much brainy stuff 😉 

Took a few more shots - Kojack may be further than I am, I do not recognize where he is in the game - I'm right here:

If Quest ports are done like this - and like 7th Guest - I'm able to live with such solutions - AS2 looks great

 

Some more details:

Note the great lighting here - very hard to catch on screenshots

This location also looks like real PCVR, nice lighting, shadows and poly count is fine

I counted more than 100 zombies here - quite impressive, but devs do recommend an 8+ core cpu

Maybe a boring shot - but see how the window to the left fades the light - compared to the open door to the right where real (un-faded) daylight shines though  

Looking through the window shown in the above shot - if you look carefully you can see the glass - looks great in the game

I like that you can play with the dog - throw the ball and Buddy will fetch it

Gun looks great

Got a new instrument for my brain surgery classes 🙂 

[kojack]

Ah yes, the swimming pool. That was a fun horde when I disturbed them. 🙂

I'm at the deserted military camp in the mountains.

[kojack]

More specifically, it's chapter 13.

I made it past the bit that was blocking me. I had to run into the horde, throw a grenade at them point blank, shotgun a few then desperately run around the rest to reach a checkpoint.

But now I have ANOTHER spawning hoard to deal with, and due to the checkpoint position I have to loot and craft before every attempt. I wish I had my favorite guns! **bleep** forced "lose your inventory" story event.

[kojack]

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@kojack wrote:

I think I've guessed where the story is going based on some clues and how they are setting things up. I hope I'm wrong. I suppose I just have to finish the game to see.

---

Yeah, I was right. The story went how I thought it would. Well, I wasn't sure of the final final outcome, but I knew the lead up to it.

Finished it now. That was a great game.

My play time is clocked at 15 hours. That includes a few goes at Horde mode. I didn't get stuck much, just two parts I had to retry multiple times. The people claiming the game is only 4 hours long must have sprinted the entire way. I prefer careful and methodical elimination of all threats.

[RuneSR2]

Seems high-end VR is still very much a thing - I just counted ratings to get some idea of sale trends:

Arizona Sunshine 2
Quest 2 + Quest 3 = 625 ratings
PCVR + PSVR2 = 1022 ratings 

That's a massive 64% increase for high-end VR. I did not expect that much of a difference, here PCVR has 476 ratings and PSVR2 has 546 ratings. This also indicated how important PSVR2 may be for high-end VR, making it worthwhile for devs to focus on high-end VR. I bet devs are happy they put great effort into the high-end VR version (which is similar for PSVR2 and PCVR, but only PCVR let's you get more than 60 fps).

[RuneSR2]

New free DLC has just launched - as the game was expensive at launch, maybe this help on the value 🙂

[kojack]

Unfortunately it's just a different dog. Good that it's free of course.

But we're getting new horde maps soon, one each in march, april and may.