cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Polybius - awesome PCVR game (and it's EDGE Magazine's VR GOTY 2017)

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Strange to see a Rift-only game unavailable in the Oculus Store, but available on Steam. (EDIT: The game now also works on other SteamVR supported hmds!) The game launched a few days ago and looks like a mix of Thumper, Rez Infinite and similar games.

https://youtu.be/viWjIBDSF_k

Polybius has gotten several great reviews - on the PS4:

“A mind-blowing, psychedelic experience like none other.”
100 – https://www.vrfocus.com/2017/05/review-polybius/
Conclusion: "Polybius is an excellent shooter that takes inspiration from the 80s arcade scene in the best of ways. It is a finely crafted experience that only benefits from being on the PlayStation VR. It can be an intense experience, however, and one best left to relatively short gameplay sessions lest the visual overload become too much. Owners of PlayStation VR should definitely look to add this to their library, as it is one of the best VR titles on the PlayStation at present. Jeff Minter and Llamasoft have got another winner."

“‘Polybius’ turns one of gaming’s biggest urban legends into a VR classic.”
90 – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/07/12/polybius-turns-one-of-gamings-biggest-urban-legends-into-a-vr-classic/?utm_term=.242cbb436347
Conclusion: "The lavish masquerade of escapism often confuses one’s sense of how a game operates. For this reason, “Polybius” makes even more sense in virtual reality, when the compression of the flat screen can stretch into the distance, giving speedgates, enemies and obstacles a dimensional presence that one feels more than sees, something that becomes easier to respond to by instinct. If too many games today entangle the mind with ceaseless complications, proliferating differences with only superficial distinctions in outcome, “Polybius” provides the feeling of having one’s mind washed clean for a few moments, shaken free of clutter. Its biggest reward occurs in the moment when the headset is removed and the screen goes dark, a moment when it feels possible to see everything with what feels like new eyes."


“Polybius is an excellent trance shooter which deftly delivers just enough sensory overload to thrill but not frustrate.”
90 – http://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps4/polybius
Conclusion: "Polybius is an excellent trance shooter which deftly delivers just enough sensory overload to thrill but not frustrate. While the lack of clarity about just what’s happening on screen makes for a small but intended bump in the road, it’s the strong core gameplay – which steadily introduces interesting twists to its formula the longer you play – stellar soundtrack, and excellent PlayStation VR support that’ll blow your mind in all the right ways."


Get it here for €15/$18: https://store.steampowered.com/app/906120/POLYBIUS/

EDIT: New price is €5.69 = $7? It's a steal! 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

41 REPLIES 41

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Not sure that Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 is worth the money, there's no music but sound effects, but there're many positive/great reviews on Steam. Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 contains two nice arcade machine like games, Gridrunner and GoatUp, and Gridrunner is quite hard. For fans of Jeff Minter, it may be an easy choice to get Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 (I bet both games work perfectly using super sampling 2.0 even on a 1050 Ti 😉 - and it's impressive that  Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 is just 24MB including two games. Like Polybius, Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 perfectly integrates with the Oculus library - and you control super sampling using Oculus Tray Tool (Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 runs outside of the SteamVR environment).

BTW, maybe a fun comparison:
Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 = 24MB for $13.
Dirt VR = 43000MB for $5. 

Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 costs about $2 per MB, while you can get Dirt VR for $ 0.0001 per MB  😄

I think Polybius and Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 are like having the old ZX Spectrum game developers set completely free. It's nearly 40 years since Minter made his first game, experiencing Polybius and Gridrunner in VR is - perhaps - like seeing dreams come true. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Polybius is the complete antidote to days like these ...

hetvg5kkkewt.jpg
87z92zj3hd30.jpg
q9wol2coy1vq.jpg

Here's a much better trailer than in the first post - maybe (btw, Polybius is not a rhythm-based game, it's simply a insanely fast-paced shooter with an awesome soundtrack) 

https://youtu.be/WxwbLD8loAU

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

nrosko
Superstar
That game reminds me of that old shooter Tempest, i loved playing this on my brother console. This version does not look anywhere near as good gameplay. But then in VR it probably is pretty cool.  
I quite like this sort of thing in vr, Rez, the wave vr etc so i will pick it up. 

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
At least according to Metacritic the first review of the PCVR version of Polybius has arrived - and rated the game 90 %

https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2018/12/31/review-polybius/321064/

Excerpt:

q55uergj58dq.jpg

There's another review of the Rift version, and again the rating was a solid 90 % - but the review is in German:

https://www.godoculus.at/virtual-reality/polybius-jeff-minters-vr-meisterwerk-im-test/

Excerpt (thank you Google Translate):

"Polybius is a wonderful work of art that the screenshots do not do justice to. You just have to experience that thing in motion. If you race at full speed through the levels, you are literally in a trance ("in the zone", the Americans would say). That just feels good. And it's good. Especially in the later levels you have to learn their peculiarity in order to have a real chance. That's the way you know it from before. The colorful, crazy graphics, the rousing retro soundtrack - Polybius is Jeff Minter's masterpiece. From me a very clear recommendation!"

The game isn't that complicated, but if anyone wants to know more about game mechanics and more, then in this awesome video Jeff Minter personally takes you through the first 7 levels - but beware, there may be spoilers:

https://youtu.be/1VXsAiNdelk



Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
PD's first impressions:

https://youtu.be/ZxbntbLX6aU

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

nrosko
Superstar
well gave it a go, really awesome game. They really need to redo Tempest. I also purchased Ballistic NG, its a wipeout clone & is pretty much the same as the PS1 version except of course you are in the game.  

GrumpySoldier
Protege
Llamasoft?! Hahaha, talk about a blast from the past.
I can still remember thinking how f**king strange 'Attack of the Mutant Camels' was on C64 when I was a kid.

Given all the good reviews, my only question is: Do I buy it now or wait for a sale?

RuneSR2
Grand Champion


Llamasoft?! Hahaha, talk about a blast from the past.
I can still remember thinking how f**king strange 'Attack of the Mutant Camels' was on C64 when I was a kid.

Given all the good reviews, my only question is: Do I buy it now or wait for a sale?




I'd recommend to buy it now - it's not expensive, you'll support Minter (so he can make even more awesome VR games), and currently Polybius is the game I play the most. 

Attack of the Mutant Camels on the C64 was really awesome - one of my friends had the game and we played it a lot, this video brings back so many awesome memories: 

https://youtu.be/ybzUgiE_vQM

BTW, this is the original Gridrunner (VIC20):

https://youtu.be/35KwX1NmKXo

This is Gridrunner in VR (but the cool effects can't be shown in 2D unfortunately):

https://youtu.be/jsTqSwDu6xQ

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

GrumpySoldier
Protege

RuneSR2 said:


I'd recommend to buy it now - it's not expensive, you'll support Minter (so he can make even more awesome VR games), and currently Polybius is the game I play the most. 




Ok, you've convinced me. 

The only reason for that question is 'cause I compare everything to Rimworld and Factorio.
I paid around 30 bucks for each, so when looking at a game with a similar or higher pricetag, I have to ask myself whether it'll provide as much value for my money.

And all that '80's stuff makes me feel like a dinosaur and a big kid, both at the same time. 🙂

RuneSR2
Grand Champion



RuneSR2 said:


I'd recommend to buy it now - it's not expensive, you'll support Minter (so he can make even more awesome VR games), and currently Polybius is the game I play the most. 




Ok, you've convinced me. 

The only reason for that question is 'cause I compare everything to Rimworld and Factorio.
I paid around 30 bucks for each, so when looking at a game with a similar or higher pricetag, I have to ask myself whether it'll provide as much value for my money.

And all that '80's stuff makes me feel like a dinosaur and a big kid, both at the same time. 🙂



I think Polybius is priced at $18 - in the completely unexpected case you don't like Polybius it should be easy to get a refund from Steam 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"