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:
Some may think that Arizona Sunshine is an old and outdated game from 2016. While it's true the game did launch in December 2016, it has been updated many times, also to include full locomotion. In December 2016 you could only teleport.
Today Arizona Sunshine still bows to no one - it has quite advanced physics, way beyond what any mobile gpu can handle:
These physics enhancements originally were only available for Intel i7 cpu owners, but have been made widely available today. Even Saints & Sinners Chapter 2, due to being a Quest port, has nowhere near the same physics. Arizona Sunshine with maxed graphics settings is more demanding than Lone Echo 1 - to put things into some perspective.
It also means that my RTX 3090 is getting hot using Rift CV1 ss 2.5 (27 million pixels per frame) in Arizona Sunshine, and I do not always, but mostly, get 90 fps.
Here're examples from Arizona Sunshine, which supports HDR-effects, dynamic shadows and very long view distance:
VIEW DISTANCE
HIGH-RES PCVR TEXTURES
AWESOME HDR-LIKE DYNAMIC LIGHTING
It's actually some of the most impressive lights I've ever seen in a VR game - it's really blindingly strong lights, especially in the dark mines.
DYNAMIC SHADOWS
See the shadow cast by the zombie on the ground - also in this shot:
Hard to show here - but objects cast the most impressive dynamic shadows in the game.
The game is plagued by a lack to antialiasing, and this goes also for the Rift CV1 version, but is many times worse with lcd hmds. This is why I prefer to use CV1 for this game - too many jaggies with lcd. And the game is pitch black in the caves and mines, you really need oled - this game was made ground-up for oled hmds.
If you think plants look 2D-ish and flat, you're using the wrong hmd. Using Rift CV1 plants look awesome and like 3D. Again, if you're not using Vive 1 or Rift CV1, you're not paying the game the way it's meant to be played.
Vegetation looks great with the Rift CV1.
I kinda feel somewhat stressed with the upcoming release of Arizona Sunshine 2 - only had the original game for 5 years, and now I feel some pressure to finish it, lol.
PS. Water looks great too!
Btw, having seen what Arizona Sunshine can do today, it does bring up a red flag for current VR content development. Why is a game from 2016 looking so much better than games released 7 years later?
Sure Arizona Sunshine has shortcomings - but check out this lighting - all screenshots taken yesterday while wearing the Rift CV1 - but this is ss 2.5 (27 million pixels per frame):
Still best lighting in a VR game? And check out this scene, like written before, Arizona Sunshine bows to no one. Not sure Arizona Sunshine 2 can do it much better - because running the original game totally requires a highest-end PC today - if you want full draw distance, max shadows and quality, HDR-lighting etc. in solid 90 fps or higher.
Also when testing the game using my Index some years ago, jaggies were all over the place, much worse than Rift CV1, because the SDE hides the jaggies to a higher degree. I found my immersion in this game was broken since I easily could see many bad textures - while the Rift CV1 did a great job fooling my brain to make some assets and textures look much more realistic. So a cactus should look exactly like this - and look so real you don't dare to touch it, lol:
All these details were of course cut from the Quest 2 standalone version, so if you want to truly experience the grandeur and magnificence of Arizona Sunshine, you need the high-end PCVR version. Btw, here's a cactuszoomed out - these are big:
Also note the dynamic shadows.
I'm slightly worried that Arizona Sunshine 2 will be downgraded for the physics and lighting, because the bar is set so high in the original that most PCVR rigs may have trouble running the game even today, lol.
Tom, I stand corrected 😀 - with the RTX 3090 the game looks awesome with the Index. Jaggies are still a problem with this game, so res needs to be set sky high. With 90 fps and motion smoothing I can do Index res 300%, corresponding to CV1 ss 2.5. But going for the max, using 80 fps in 80 Hz with disabled motion smoothing (this gains more performance) I can use Index res 375% - so close to Index res 400% (36 million pixels per frame). This does not completely remove all jaggies, but attenuates jaggies to a minimum, so jaggies are no big deal.
The cactus problem may be explained by devs reducing poly levels to improve performance - this is an original cactus from my old forever unpatched Rift CV1 version:
Original cactus from my Rift CV1 version - note the density of the thorns.
This is the new shaved 2D version (the latest Steam version of the game) - at first I thought the game had been "Questified", but I think devs just tried to improve performance a few places, and I think I saw these changes already in 2019, before the Quest version had even launched:
- and there's an even more shaved version:
You can find this 3D version also in the Steam version, but note the reduced density of thorns:
That's why I do not update my games unless I'm having specific issues or I am forced to do so. Typically I prefer the devs' original version/vision, before whining users get the devs to make changes. Same with Medal of Honor: Above & Beyond, where I still use the original version and have to earn the videos (whining users got the devs to patch the game and open up for all videos right from the start).
Apart from the cactus and thorns, for the remaining high-end features like physics, dynamic lighting and real-time lighting I think everything is still the same - but I did not go into the caves/mines.
The HDR-lighting the lastest Steam version looks great:
- and here are more examples of view distance, also taken from "The Damned" DLC, which I just started to play (still Steam version - all these screenshots are taken using the Index res 376%):
This view distance and looking down did affect my brain with some vertigo, lol:
- and another example of the great view distance from the beginning of the game:
There were now fish jumping in the water - I don't recall seeing that in my original Rift version.
Guns look even better with Index res 376%:
The zombies were hard to see due to limited res of the Rift CV1 - they do look a lot better using Index res 376%:
It seems The Damned DLC has been nicely optimized for lcd hmds, I don't have issues seeing in the dark - but I think they removed the awesome HDR-like lights from the DLC - so far I've seen no blindingly intense lights like in my original Rift version:
As shown above, polygon levels are quite high - The Damned DLC does feel like true PCVR.
Still got another DLC I have not played - I plan on finishing everything before the true sequel arrives, lol:
Hmm, seems Dead Man DLC arrived before The Damned, I just realized I may be playing the DLCs in the wrong order - oh well, never-mind I guess... 🤔 😄
Btw, only making Arizona Sunshine 2 for high-end VR (PCVR and PSVR2) may make some sense. Right now there are 10,200 ratings for the PCVR version (6800 on Steam, 3200 on Rift, 200 on VivePort) of Arizona Sunshine, while there are 6100 ratings for the Quest, indicating that devs made most money on the high-end version.
Just finished The Damned DLC - and a funny title, as you're on and inside a dam 😉 Some environments were quite impressive, like here:
Also devs have been making changes to the game over time - some improvements and some reductions. As mentioned, reductions were seen with the cactus plants.
Original:
Current:
- but some textures were nicely improved:
Original:
Current:
I guess all is good. For Arizona Sunshine 2, I'd like to see a boss or two, so far I've been shooting the same kind of zombies constantly - only thing changing is environments, weapons and the number of zombies you'll encounter at once. Puzzle could be harder too, for now it's only about finding keys and key cards. Then again, shooting zombies never gets old, and love the agility of the zombies in Arizona Sunshine - able to jump fences, crawl under vehicles etc. The game still is a 9/10 to me.
I'm not comparing apples to apples, but Reviving the original version I could just barely get 80 fps using Index res 300%, while the current SteamVR version works in 80 fps with res 376% (25% higher res). I does fit the 25% gain I've seen in other games comparing native SteamVR vs. Reviving an Oculus game. To be sure I'd have to update my Oculus version to the current version - and I'm not going to sacrifice my beautiful cactus plants for that 🙂
Btw, I've just started on the Dead Man DLC - it's already looking good, I think I have to activate a nuke or something 🙂
