So I just wrapped up Wayward Sky and have to say that these type of games are hands down my favorite in VR.
Games that offer a hybrid of both 3rd person diorama with some first person elements.
For years now I believed that VR was only going to offer decent first person experiences, and little would be gained by other traditional genres like platformers or puzzle games.
I will be the first to admit how wrong I was.
When I first fired up Lucky’s Tale on the Rift many months ago I was enthralled. Watching your character bound around in a miniature world was something really amazing. Seeing this tiny fox jump from platform to platform right at the tip of your nose was unlike anything I expected to see in VR.
Sadly, Lucky’s Tale was alone, with no other games offering a similar experience, that is, until now.
Wayward Sky is best described as a puzzle platformer, where you must navigate the floating city with either Move controls or traditional game pad. You point to a place on the map, and your little character Beth trots along to the destination.
When you point and click on a glowing object, you will enter a first person mode that will allow you to say flip switches, or turn dials until you complete the puzzle at hand and open a gate or door.
The mechanic is simple and the game poses very little challenge, but does benefit greatly from VR, what would have been a mediocre romp around a floating city with a pretty paper thin story, becomes so much more when you feel like you have a God like view of the realm.
And at the core of VR, that seems to be the big sell. There have been very few games out there that would not have been commercially panned had they not been in VR. The coolness factor can take a normal game with a score of 5 and turn it magically into a 7 or 8 with the VR googles on. Much like too much booze and an unattractive mate, hahaha.
All in all Wayward Sky clocks in at about 4 – 5 hours long if you are aiming to get 100% completion.
There is no coveted platinum trophy here though, just bronze, silver and one gold.
If you are perceptive you can likely hit 100% in a single run, but may need to double back to collect a couple hidden canisters that unlock robots for the arcade mini game.
All things considered, Wayward Sky does what it sets out to do. It chose to be a fun and simple little puzzler and it hit that mark dead on.
If you go in with that in mind, and do not have high expectation for this to be the next Portal, then you will find a decent gem in the sea of throw away VR games.
Another thing to note, this game is very new VR user friendly, there is no sudden camera movement, it is 100% static, so there is very little chance you will get VR sickness.
A solid 7/10 and highly recommended for those who like games like Lucky’s Tale.
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 