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Stormland "The New Bar for VR Open-world Adventure" - launch trailer, reviews and impressions

RuneSR2
Grand Champion


Until otherwise proven, I'll consider Stormland the best VR flagship ever made - even better than Lone Echo and Asgard's Wrath  o:)

 

stormland-title-featured-image.jpg


First review/impressions just arrived - the game is 17GB installed - I've marked a few things in bold:

Stormland Press Review:

  

Gameplay Video Footage will be up at 12PM EST. I'll be adding to this post and replying to any questions to the best of our ability. (Youtube Link Here)

 

Info:

Space Required in Oculus App shows 17GB

 Version: i28_20191107_1040_LIVE_FINAL_REVIEW01_Stormland_m26

Developer: Insomniac Games

Publisher: Oculus Games

Release Date: November 14th 2019

Stormland is a big, created for-VR game that will launch on November 14, 2019.

Created by developer Insomniac Games (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomniac_Games) it is their 4th VR game and it shows.

Myself and Show Host Ronnie spent about a week and a half playing the version of the game that was provided to press outlets. Ask US ANYTHING!

What is this game most like: Lone Echo meets Climbey meets Robo Recall meets Halo meets Borderlands.

You are an Android. You have weapons. You can climb on most anything. You skid along from island to island at high speeds in the large expansive Stormland environment.

This is what should be considered a 2nd gen/wave VR game. Insomniac Games has taken every possible lesson from their previous games and all other proven VR concepts of the last 3+ years in gaming and put it all to use here.

 

Pros:

 In Game Menu ScreenShots for Reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/dvubam/stormland_menu_options_ingame_screenshots/

Visuals are top notch and what is to be expected for a “AAA VR Game”

Graphics performance was very good. With an i7 6700k & GTX 1080 on a Rift CV1 we saw a solid 90FPS at the default HIGH settings. Its not liquid smooth as there is a ton on elements on screen at once. The worlds are extremely populated with objects and plant life. The environment is AMAZING!

 Sound is also outstanding with a rich and vibrant array of high quality weapon and environment sounds.

Body (android) presence is outstanding and holds up to games like Lone Echo.

This is a Full featured AAA studio Insomniac Games VR game with everything that you would expect on quality.

 Controls have every option you could want with forward motion, acceleration, snap &smooth turning, comfort mode, HUD tweaks, left/right hand dominance and seated play options. All baked in from the start.

Ripping apart guns and equipment reminds us of Robo Recall, which is awesome and it feels great.

Climbing in game is freaking awesome and flinging your body upward to gain elevation and a better surprise attack point is equally awesome.

Weapon interactions while it takes a bit to get used to is still quite intuitive. I don’t love dropping a weapon on the ground accidentally in VR games and Stormland makes clever use of the hover where you let go effect, even if only for a moment. You can force grab almost anything and it makes for a solid feeling even during hectic combat sequences. Weapon placement on your body is also a solid A-plus with the game taking care of some of the more annoying aspects of position locking rather making for a close enough is good and snap placement of any weapon you have. Dual wielding is easy, maybe almost to easy in hindsight. There is no reloading mechanic however any picked up weapons can be literally ripped apart by hand and its ammo is automatically distributed to the correct smg/shotgun/sniper rifle etc. The game uses the rip this apart mechanic a lot and its well done. Grenades and health packs are worn on you Android body. You will readily be asked to rip off body parts in order to upgrade them which is a very cool and immersive element to Stormland.

 

stormland.jpg

 

Cons:

Not a huge con but this is NOT a jump in and play for the 1st time VR game. It has very in-depth movement and gameplay mechanics. That being said for me the combat seemed like I was stuck on a NORMAL or EASY mode. It was not impossible to be killed but only happened to me once in gameplay (that was when I discovered how to activate a grenade on my chest). You may consider this a Pro (as do we). As we understand it the game ramps up difficulty as it goes week by week as the "Cycle" updates to the next. Stealthy game-play is not really rewarded rather a run in and shoot everything utilizing your on arm electrical force shield which can take multiple hits from enemies is more productive.

Weapons dropped on the ground (by you) disappear pretty quickly. More than once a dropped sniper rifle pretty much disappeared almost instantly as we fumbled around to combine/shift our dual smg config to something else. Weapons are hip mounted so each new player MUST calibrate. Good news is that its fast and easy. The game guesses alot on weapon placement and 98% of the time gets it right on what you were intending to do/place.

The story has both light hearted and dark elements as these are sentient androids that you witness being basically slaughtered. Would I let me 6 year old check out the game, probably not. By 10-year-old, sure. Your mileage may very. TBH some parts of the plot seemed innocent (in a good way) while other concepts were dark. I feel the story is excellent but it may not be everyone’s cup of heated robot hydraulic fluid. Again this was a Press Preview who knows what more will be in the release.

Revive did not work out of the box or at all with Stormland. This is expected (based on history) to be fixed by the Revive devs at or right after the launch. Did not get to test Valve Index performance with Stormland.

There has been no real quote from the developer (as yet) on how much playtime is involved. We finished the PREVIEW story mode provided to us in about 4+ hours but this will most likely change for release. We have seen mentions of 6+ hours for the story mode.. There is a continuing cycle change every week so the game post story mode is different with new missions and objectives. The gameplay duration would then entail one’s own interest in the game itself and multiplayer (coop) gameplay. How much playtime is there in a multiplayer game like Onward VR? Great questions as I am at over 80 hours on that game and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

 

edit: Looks like other media outlets are quoting 6+ hours of Story Mode. Waiting for confirmation from Insomniac /Oculus.

 

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/dvsuk5/stormland_press_review_from_everthingvirtual_show/?s...

 

stormland_dropship-fight_4K.jpg

 

stormland-vesper-4k-1573500210892.jpg

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"

119 REPLIES 119

Wildt
Consultant
Reading the reviews, it sounds like a lot of the annoyances could sorted out in a patch. Stuff like bugged AI just standing still while you fire at it, and how an object grab is mistaken for a terrain grab etc.
I can see myself doing 1 cycle, and if I concur with those points, I'll wait for a patch before doing more.
PCVR: CV1 || 4 sensors || TPcast wireless adapter || MamutVR Gun stock V3
PSVR: PS4 Pro || Move Controllers || Aim controller
WMR: HP Reverb

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
It took me months to get through Lone Echo (admitted, I didn't play every day and often no more than 45 - 60 minutes), and I took my time and checked out nearly everything - Lone Echo should be about 8 hours. I'm not much worried about the 6 hours estimated playtime in Stormland. Especially not with the open-world and exploration approach - extremely serial games like Doom VFR would be different to me.  

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"

Georgio
Honored Guest
Well, it's November 14th GMT at least and not showing as playable only pre-orderable?

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
Same here, I pre-ordered yesterday but still not available.
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
The game will be available for download 6 AM PST - that's in 32 minutes 😉

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"

Wildt
Consultant

RuneSR2 said:

The game will be available for download 6 AM PST - that's in 32 minutes 😉


So with your inet connection you'll be able to play saturday :tongue:
PCVR: CV1 || 4 sensors || TPcast wireless adapter || MamutVR Gun stock V3
PSVR: PS4 Pro || Move Controllers || Aim controller
WMR: HP Reverb

Wildt
Consultant
Heh.. it downloads 9k and pressing start does nothing...    :angry:
PCVR: CV1 || 4 sensors || TPcast wireless adapter || MamutVR Gun stock V3
PSVR: PS4 Pro || Move Controllers || Aim controller
WMR: HP Reverb

SkScotchegg
Expert Trustee
Can't wait to get home to play this! I've got work for 5 more hours and then mma training so by the time I've done that, had scrambled eggs and a shower we're talking at least another 7.5 hours before I get to play! Very excited for tonight.

Please post back guys and let us know how good it is!  😛
UK: England - Leeds - - RTX 2080 - Rift CV1 & Rift S - Make love, not war - See you in the Oasis!

Anonymous
Not applicable

RuneSR2 said:

It took me months to get through Lone Echo (admitted, I didn't play every day and often no more than 45 - 60 minutes), and I took my time and checked out nearly everything - Lone Echo should be about 8 hours. I'm not much worried about the 6 hours estimated playtime in Stormland. Especially not with the open-world and exploration approach - extremely serial games like Doom VFR would be different to me.  


Exactly, good point. I'm the same, I enjoy exploring everything, not getting online for quick solutions to things, enjoying these games for the true art they are. This is going to be awesome I'm sure, don't get me wrong. Also, I'm sure they will put effort into improving over time, look, I mean destiny and all those AAA incredible games were bland at launch !!

Anonymous
Not applicable
Still not available, I see all the reviews about the 9k dealio 🙂  I like the person who blaming carmack for leaving LMAO