Westworld Awakening - a new bar for story-driven VR gaming? Reviews and impressions!

[RuneSR2]

Westworld Awakening just arrived in the Oculus Store and on Steam:

https://youtu.be/ItRY962U2d0

Get it here:

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/2389701057764977

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1133320/Westworld_Awakening/

According to this review the game is surprisingly good and "worth every penny":

https://www.windowscentral.com/westworld-awakening-review-gripping-survival-puzzle-worth-every-penny

Quote: "Westworld Awakening is one of the most emotionally engaging VR games I've ever played. "

Some impressions from Steam:

"First, graphically this is probably the most impressive VR game I've tried so far. I'm using an Index, 9700k and 2080ti so granted I'm going to see the best it has to offer. That being said, it's still incredibly impressive. "

"That was simply beautiful. If you're a fan of the show, and ever wondered what it'd be like to experience a host's story that runs concurrent to the show, this is it. Played on Index HMD + Vive Wands. i9 + 1080ti, maxed in-game settings, and it ran pretty much smooth as butter."

"This is a fantastic production. Everything you would expect from a title linked with Westworld and their intelligent storylines, twists, and Survios talent for making some of the best VR titles on the planet. It seemed to come from nowhere, no previous press releases. I own the largest arcade in the UK and I had no idea this title was coming to mine (still dont know for sure) but I am going to press my supplier to get it quickly so we can offer it to Westworld fans that dont have VR. We have Vive Pros and I have one at home and it runs great on my home rig, an RTX2060 I5. I put the graphics to the max and it ran perfectly. The graphics are spectacular. The story is brilliant, and, if you are a Westworld series fan and have a VR set then its a no brainer I am sure. I am only one chapter in, but am going to pace the enjoyment, like I do the series, and do a chapter every now and then."

"The voice acting, the graphics, the animations, the game mechanics, music and the story are OUTSTANDING. This game right here, shows the true potential of story telling and immersion in VR. I am incredibly impressed by my experience thus far. I have only completed 2/5 chapters and im 1.5 hours in. The mechanics at use here are something ive not seen before in VR games, at least not at this level of quality. The price of admission is WORTH IT, you are paying for a quality experience here, everyone who owns a headset needs to play this. There was an article mentioning this was an experience. Well yea, this is one friggin incredible gaming experience. This truly feels like a AAA VR game, in every sense of the word but thrown into a 5 hour game [...] Ive owned VR for 3 years now, and i feel like im experiencing it again for the first time because of this game. Im absolutely loving this. To the dev team and HBO, well done. You have set a new bar for VR gaming and story telling."

Oculus Rift + Touch: 
https://youtu.be/5keFaFnJBZ8

[RuneSR2]

I'm downloading now - 7.4GB on Steam. 

Some pics:

[DaftnDirect]

Very tempted by this, Westworld is one of my favourite shows of recent times... extremely well made TV.

The description 'experience' kind of puts me off a little as I associate it with short length passive stuff but I don't think that applies here, people are saying maybe 5 hours duration, if so £22.99 wouldn't be too bad.

[MowTin]

I wasn't expecting anything more than a VR movie trailer. Is it interactive? I'll definitely download. I'll have to put my NMS addiction on hold a few minutes. 

[RuneSR2]

MowTin said:

I wasn't expecting anything more than a VR movie trailer. Is it interactive? I'll definitely download. I'll have to put my NMS addiction on hold a few minutes. 

It's an adventure game and fully interactive, it's not a movie. Graphics are quite awesome, especially many of the (super-high-res) textures - maxed out settings were automatically selected, I didn't push extra ss. But I'm simply too tired to play the game today, I'll get back to it tomorrow. Controls may be the worst part though - you swing your arms to go forward, but maybe it's not that bad when you get used to it - like Seeking Dawn. I couldn't get thumb stick turning to work - had to turn like in the real world (or like Doom VFR), not a big deal, maybe I missed a setting. Knuckles emulate wands in this game - or let me know if you experience anything different. 
This does look like an incredibly cool game, maybe it's time to buy season 2 4K, I've only seen season 1.

[RuneSR2]

Seems like this dude has way too much time to play VR games, lol, and of course he already made a video about playing Westworld:

https://youtu.be/UEtVikHhZ4U

Awesome, just saw I have to deactivate fluid locomotion to get thumb stick movement, nice, I'll try that tomorrow. 

[Morgrum]

God im in!

All I can say is season 2 the episode staring the Indian host was AMAZING!

[DaftnDirect]

Morgrum said:

God im in!

All I can say is season 2 the episode staring the Indian host was AMAZING!

I was really impressed with season 2, so many shows just stick to the formula of the first season to avoid risk, but I found it really developed the story. Only improvement could possibly have been to have a bit more Hopkins but that would have been a bit difficult given the circumstances.

[Morgrum]

Indeed.

[RuneSR2]

One reason for watching Season 1 was of course :blush:



I can see that Season 3 has just begun, maybe it's time...



But VR first! 😉