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Vader Immortal - better than the movies - best PCVR ever - Rift impressions and reviews

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
I didn't expect to be completely blown away by this experience - but exactly that happened. My review from the Store:

"This is probably the most impressive VR experience ever created, graphics are generally even better than Lone Echo - and I was starting to give up hope to experience such utterly awesome graphics with all these Quest games appearing lately. This version is NOT ported from the Quest - this is the original and extremely high-end version which was cut down to fit the Quest. The level of polygons are off the charts, and that's why you'll need a high-end cpu to run this game (I'm using an i7 7700K). Vader has so many polygons he simply looks real - he's tall - standing right next to you - as if you were truly there. The movies can't give you such an experence, thus this game/experience is better than the movies 😉 Textures are highly detailed, you're not really going to find better textures anywhere, this is an AAA VR experience. It's short though, but the level of work it must have taken to make this is truly incredible. This is a must-have for the Rifts. Black levels on the CV1 are great, and I didn't notice the SDE, so the Oculus Jedi Masters probably helped the devs to get everything perfect. Forcing super sampling (ss) 2.0 using Oculus Tray Tool made everything look ultra-sharp even structures and buildings more than 100 meters away. But using ss 2.0 was expensive, I got 45 fps on my heavily oc'ed GTX 1080, but it was no big deal - thanks to ASW 2.0. For this experience image quality is way more important than solid 90 fps. 16GB system ram worked OK, I don't think having less than 32GB is a problem. Sound using the CV1 headphones was awesome - like being in a theater. Controls were fine, but this is more like a VR movie than a game. Some tutorials were designed for right-handed persons, and I'm left-handed, but I managed. You get an error when you're too close to walls, which the devs could have done better, but again it's no big deal. All in all - for now - you won't find a better VR experience, even if you're a Trekkie ;)"

You will need a RTX 2080 Ti to enjoy Vader Immortal in 90 fps using super sampling 2.0 (or very high levels of super sampling). I did measure my performance to be close to 45 fps several places, maybe a RTX 2080 Ti won't be enough, but it'll probably be close. Not sure if 32GB is completely wasted on this game, but it worked fine using 16GB though, but my rig has no programs running beside the Oculus software and Oculus Tray Tool. 

BTW, the glove textures are simply amazing, the gloves look like made of some kind of leather and check out the tiny thread - and the patina - there're nearly microscopic stains of dirt on the gloves, it simply looks real. The fighting sequences could be way better, but this is more an experience than a game - so I don't mind the more stiff fighting movements. When that first Imperial Star Destroyer arrived it was totally sharp, you could see all details or close - I don't think that would be possible without very high levels of super sampling, definitely not on the CV1. This is a very dark game, may not be great on a LCD - and it makes sense that people like the black levels much better on the Quest compared to the Rift-S (as described on Reddit). Black levels using CV1 were great, although OLED mura (SPUD) could be observed a few places. 

Ninja Theory, the team behind Hellblade, helped to create this experience:

"Creating a groundbreaking experience like Vader Immortal does not happen without the support of talented folks across our industry. In addition to screenwriter David S. Goyer and our friends at Oculus, we are proud to be working with Ninja Theory, an award-winning developer in the UK, and Epic Games, creators of Unreal Engine."

More info from the developers here: 
https://www.ilmxlab.com/news/vader-immortal-a-star-wars-vr-series-episode-i/

Hellblade is one of the most hardware demanding VR games, but it's also one of the most beautiful VR experiences ever created, it makes sense that Ninja Theory helped create another truly awesome VR experience.

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"

81 REPLIES 81

Spyrde
Protege
Top notch graphics, environments and overall star wars atmosphere. Definitely a good demo to show to someone new to vr but as a game it is very lackluster. Lightsaber combat is literally repeating the same 3 block moves  + attack...  Not much replay value but the dojo is a nice addition to add value to the package.

It shows a glimpse what could be a Dark Forces 3 VR or fully fledged Star Wars vr rpg. 
I don¨t want to sound too negative since its only 10€ and will be getting future episodes also.

Also the instruction to move back from walls was very annoying, since there was plenty of space between my head and the wall or an object in front, quickly breaks the immersion.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Oculus has included Vater Immortal in the "Entertainment" category - thus it's neither in the "Games" nor "App" categories. That's fine with me, I consider it more an interactive movie than a game or an app.

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"

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Yep that boundary warning is killer especially on the Quest where freedom of movement is a key feature. I get that they don't want people walking through walls but some other way might have worked better. Not that I am clever enough to think of any alternatives.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

LZoltowski
Champion
Yeah, the warning not to get too close is super annoying, other than that a top-notch experience, like having your own Star Wars Disney World ride at home.
Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black
ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) 

Be kind to one another 🙂

Techy111
MVP
MVP
Anyone tried it on the Go?
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Techy111 said:

Anyone tried it on the Go?


Vader Immortal isn't available on the Go:

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/section/1431986220442261

Frankly I don't think Go can run the Quest version. And then there's the problem about hands... 

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"

Anonymous
Not applicable
come on guys, its a rip off !!

lensmandave
Superstar
Ten quid, you get ripped off real easy!
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz. Asus-Z170-PRO MB - Nvidia RTX 3080 ti - 16GB DDR4 2666MHZ HYPERX SAVAGE.

Techy111
MVP
MVP

RuneSR2 said:


Techy111 said:

Anyone tried it on the Go?


Vader Immortal isn't available on the Go:

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/section/1431986220442261

Frankly I don't think Go can run the Quest version. And then there's the problem about hands... 


My bad mate, I had a pop up on  my Go page and thought it was available for the Go but it was because a "friend" who gave it a review lol78yz0hvuaoi9.jpg
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

Alextended
Expert Protege
I fell for the hype. This is a passable adventure with limited gameplay and interactivity. You would expect to see it in some location VR experience so that everybody who paid for the half hour can go through the whole thing.

It's a lot like a Lone Echo knock off by a less talented developer with some combat sequences. The production values are good in some ways but in others it lacks polish.

Progress only triggers if you stand on very specific points indicated by a marker, which harms immersion. Other games use this, yes, but generally you have to just be in a general area. Ie, get on the elevator for it to start moving as characters converse, here you have to go on exactly that one marked spot.

There's no smooth turning (an option like that in the settings just makes it so the snap-turn has a smooth rotation animation, it's still a preset angle turn, it's just not an instant step of the camera but an animated gradual one). It's fine if you just mostly turn around physically but personally even with 360 degree VR I like the option to smooth turn for general navigation and only turn around physically in moment to moment action where it feels instinctive. I use ceiling cable pulleys so it's not a matter of being uncomfortable with the cable, I barely feel it's there, I just like smooth turning.

The VR hands have slow animations for the different gestures (like pointing or closing to a fist or when they assume a position ready to grab an interactive object you hover over) rather than respond instantly like Oculus Home (or Lone Echo or other game) hands. Again, this harms immersion. The hand poses don't really match your hands even though they should know your exact hand state by how you hold the Touch controllers (again like Oculus Home and other games easily do).

There's a tool you can use in the game, basically an electric screwdriver, where when you hold it in your hand you can press the trigger and see it spin up yet when you use it on applicable objects it automatically spins up and unscrews the thing without a press, making it feel even more pre-scripted and on rails than it already feels.

Stormtrooper laser blasts you can deflect travel way too slow, slower than the drone blasts in the dojo, it just looks off. Also why is the term dojo even used, that's not very in Star Wars theme as other elements aren't either.

There are gameplay flaws and such inconsistencies all over, even in the otherwise okay lightsaber combat (it seems to expect you to hold the saber still in the opposite angle to block, when it should clearly work equally well if you're doing an actual swing in the opposite direction to parry, yet sometimes attacks seem to through in that case).

The ranged drone enemies have an audio cue to let you know they're about to fire so you can turn around but melee enemies don't seem to have a similar cue so you frantically look back and forth (until you realize they attack one at a time so you only need to watch who starts the animation first, then focus on him, then move to the other one after dealing with that combo).

The story, as little of it as there is, has inconsistencies too. Vader says at one point that he senses the force within you. Which is cool, but you've been using a lightsaber for a while which you'd think would have made it obvious.

The game also stutters here and there very briefly (it seems like a loading hitch rather than a performance drop) regardless of being in low or high settings (there's nothing else, no supersampling or other options) on an i7 3770K and GTX1080.

If you want to get a Quest game for PC, I suggest Journey of the Gods instead. It's not without issues (it doesn't feel like a grand seamless adventure but more like going through "stages" as each area you open in a linear fashion has one major objective to complete before going back to the hub for the next area) but it's a complete polished experience with meaty gameplay, not an unpolished tech demo like this where you basically travel through a few linear corridors, climb up or down a little bit, deflect some laser fire and do some melee before it ends.

If this didn't have a Star Wars skin I doubt anybody would have cared. I hope another studio makes the next VR Star Wars game. Something equivalent to the old X-Wing / Tie Fighter series of games, or  Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. More gameplay driven with VR interactivity and immersion, not a half hour demo that's barely a step above the Batman and Spiderman VR promotional material.