Insomniac Working on Untitled Open-World VR Game
By Stefanie Fogel
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Insomniac Games is working on a new, untitled VR game it plans to fully reveal on June 7, according to a developer spotlight video posted by Oculus Thursday.
The studio isn’t sharing many details right now. At the end of the video, there’s an image of a partially illuminated moon on a red background with the tagline, “Reclaim your world,” which suggests a space setting. It will let players go wherever they want, Insomniac said, hinting that it’s some kind of open-world adventure game.
“We’re gonna see a potential for movement and exploration that breaks out of the 2D plane,” lead designer Mike Daly said.
Insomniac is best known for its classic platformers “Ratchet & Clank” and “Spyro the Dragon,” along with the 2014 open-world shooter “Sunset Overdrive.” It’s currently working on a new “Spider-Man” game that will launch on PlayStation 4 on Sept. 7. The studio also has three Oculus Rift titles under its belt, “Edge of Nowhere,” “The Unspoken,” and “Feral Rites.”
“We’ve made some interesting discoveries, and for us it was just seeing the tip of the iceberg for how VR enhanced traversal in a way that couldn’t be done before,” said Daly.
Plus, Insomniac said fans can expect a lot of other things the studio is known for — “crafting good stories, good controls, and a little bit of humor, maybe some tears.”
Whatever this game is, it sounds like a new IP and not a sequel to an existing franchise. Earlier this month, rumors started circulating that “Sunset Overdrive 2” was in development after Twitter user Nibellion spotted a listing for “Sunset Overdrive PC” on the Korean Game Ratings Board. But, Waypoint reporter Patrick Klepek, who seems to have some inside knowledge of the situation, said it’s not happening on Twitter Wednesday.
“‘Sunset Overdrive 2’ isn’t happening right now. I poke around about this game all the time; it’s one of my generational favorites, and desperately asked for a sequel. It’s not in development,” he said.
