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Everslaught review - a new VR king in the making - you need to try this game!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Devs have published gameplay and cinematic trailers:

 

 

 

The game arrives on Steam in 2 or 3 weeks - more info here:

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1530750/EVERSLAUGHT/

 

Note that this is true PCVR, so you will need a beefy gpu to enter the Everslaught Portal - the recommended specs are:

 

  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or higher
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 2060 or higher
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 20 GB available space

 

With RTX 2060 as recommended, probably better to aim for something at least twice as fast if you want high levels of super-sampling, thus RTX 3070 might be a better companion 😉 

 

Shots do look promising - but this is an Early Access title, and of course hard to judge the quality from trailers and shots. 

 

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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"

22 REPLIES 22

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Everslaught is now available on Steam - the new trailer looks jaw-droppingly awesome:

 

Hmmm, seems like my plan on a quiet Saturday evening just changed drastically 🤔 🤣

 

I've already done my duty 😇

 

Unavngivet.jpg

 

Normally I do not buy Early Access, but that trailer sure looks great. The game is 15% off until August 7, get it here - and support the devs if you like the game, this is true PCVR and real PCVR devs need all the support they can get:

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1530750/EVERSLAUGHT/

 

Recommended system requirements are high though:

 

Recommended system requirements

OS: Windows 10

Processor: Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or higher

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 2070 or higher

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 20 GB available space

 

- note that devs say you can get along with a GTX 970, but looking at the trailer you may want something better 😉

 

I'll download and test the game later.

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"

kojack
MVP
MVP

That looks pretty intense.

 

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

It is - for the first time since Furious Seas, I'm totally blown away, lol. No joke, this game has Alyx-class graphics, awesome performance, great physics and shadows - even if it's early access and of course not yet fully polished. 

 

My review - taken from the Index Subreddit and Steam:

 

EverSlaught - a new VR king in the making

Kinda sad entering the real world again after playing EverSlaught, and haven't much had that feeling since Alyx. For now this game is 10/10 to me - price and Early Access considered, and within its genre. I don't hand out 10/10 ratings lightly.

How to describe EverSlaught? Is it better than Alyx? - For now nothing is better than Alyx, but I seriously think I just had a better time in EverSlaught than I had in Lone Echo - and Lone Echo was my second best VR experience ever. EverSlaught feels like Dark Souls 3 VR, lol, so any comparison to Lone Echo stops here 😉

There are several places in EverSlaught where I just stood still and enjoyed the view - I really don't remember any game but Alyx to present such jaw-droppingly awesome environments and locations. The polygon levels look extremely high - again Alyx is the only game I can recall looking similarly vast. Maybe also Asgard's Wrath, but I enjoyed EverSlaught more.

download (4).jpg

Just a quick example - EverSlaught has even more impressive views than this 


Btw my rig: Asus Strix OC RTX 3090, i9 10900K, Asus Z590 mainboard, 32GB 3200 MHz, Win10 Pro & Valve Index.

Entering the game my hands moved like in 45 fps or so - but the locomotion was totally smooth. I used Index res 200% (about 18 mill pixels per image). Checking FpsVR I got solid 90 fps in 90 Hz. Note the game crashes (gives you a constant gray image) if you try to change Hz when the game is running, so close the game before changing Hz. Tried 144 Hz, and got close to 144 fps - but probably more like 130+ fps - not bad, and I was still running res 200%. 120 Hz should work perfectly with my rig. This is early access and I just used 90 Hz, I guess 90 Hz are what the devs focus on. So in 90 Hz your hands are animated in something like 45 fps, while the rest of the game is 90 fps. Why would the devs do that? My best guess is the your hands, when later changing (no spoilers) have quite a lot of polygons on them - this way hands my be updated less frequently and increase performance. Also it works fine - when you're in combat the last thing you do is staring at your hands, lol.

 

download (1).jpg

Your left "hand" - also in the animated gif below 🙂

 

ezgif-2-5cc3c6bd4216.gif


The game has no settings for graphics yet, but still it looks simply amazing. I did not see jaggies, and the game was not blurry like when temporal antialiasing is used, I guess the game is using 2x or 4x MSAA. You'll see some shadow collisions here'n there, but really no big issues. There're dynamic shadows, but sporadically implemented - still looks nice.
Textures aren't Alyx level, but still some of the most impressive textures I've seen in a long time. There are some 4k-ish textures. For example check out your hands, and also at one point you have to stick your left hand into a ring, but check out the textures on the ring, look quite 4k-ish to me. Also Alyx didn't have 4k-ish textures everywhere. It's important to remember that EverSlaught has giant environments, high-res textures easily take up quite a lot of ram. The highest gpu mem usage reported by FpsVR was 12.5GB (using res 200%) - but I have not finished the game.

If I should try to make it brief - my ratings:
- Polygon levels: 10/10 (Not sure any game but Alyx impressed me more).
- Textures: 8/10 (several are 10/10. I can also find many low-res, but surely this game has some of the best VR textures).
- Lights and shadows: 8/10 - really awesome. Saw some volumetric lighting (I think) several places. One place I sat down and watched a lit torch give off small sparks, it looked amazing. Shadows are nice, but could be better - and this is Early Access.
- Performance: Feels much like Alyx. Not sure it's worse or better. Awesome performance even when forcing res 200% - and users of less powerful gpus can probably just use 90 Hz and res 125 - 150 %.
- Physics: 8/10 - for now. Would like more cloth animation, but it's not a big deal. Just like in HellSplit: Arena you can dismember opponents. Some opponents impressed me by being able to jump toward me or by moving in very surprising ways. You can jump in the game - I mean really jump, you could not do that in Alyx 😉 Later you get to use a grappling hook to pull yourself to places you can't visit otherwise. You can break vases, wooden boxes and barrels etc to find money and items - just like in Diablo.

The game is what I could call "full VR" - no you cannot teleport and yes to can run and jump. There's is no help for persons new to VR - this game is not holding your hand (apart from showing you where to go next). Like Boneworks, EverSlaught feels like made for VR veterans.

For now the game easily is 10/10 to me - especially for the extremely low price.

The bad? There's no left-handed mode and I'm left handed. But Alyx was somewhat similar, I know you could overcome the problem in Alyx, but I still completed Alyx holding my gun in the right hand. And surely I'll return all the zombies and worse to Hell in EverSlaught holding my sword in my right hand, if that's what it takes. Also your left hand evolves (can also hold a weapon), and it does not matter much to me if the devs keep current control restrictions.

For now there's only snap but no smooth turning. 

The game is not open world, but like in Alyx you move forward in specific ways. Does not feel like one big tunnel though - in large locations you can move as you like.

This game feels like real VR - like the fast-paced Dark Souls like game I've been waiting on like forever. But this game isn't difficult like Dark Souls. You don't have to become one with your sword to survive the first 10 minutes like when meeting Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3, lol. Actually I've not yet died in EverSlaught, but I'm confident it might happen soon 😉

Sound is great and loud with the Index, the screams from enemies can be very high and somewhat startling when they are close - I'm guessing that the devs have used Index to make this game. No finger tracking though, but not important as you constantly hold weapons.

Note that the game starts in a ruined city, and here the game reminds me a lot of Painkiller, Dark Souls and maybe a slight touch of Doom Eternal. After the city surface, you enter randomly generated catacombs, going more and more down into the ground - and now the game feels much more like Diablo 1, which isn't a bad thing.

I wonder where the devs are taking this game, and they've more than earned my support with the current early access launch (which feels more done than many finalized games, lol). This cinematic trailer explains a lot of the current content:

 


I did not experience any crashes (apart from when changing Hz when the game is running).

 

download (2).jpg

 

PS. Just saw some other dude writing impressions of the game - I guess we're on the same page, lol:

 

"GOTY VR 2021, because it was made for VR, that works only in VR, and playable only for people who really invest their gaming life to VR..."

 

Same dude did write that the 3080 did struggle: "need performance improvements [still have laggs and stutters even with 3080]". So far my oc'ed 3090 has provided totally solid 90 fps in the game, but I did measure vram use up to 12.5GB, which is beyond 3080 capabilities (3080 has 10GB vram). 

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

Here's EverSlaught using the Quest 2, seems that the dude also loves the game! (the wide fov in the video does not look right on my monitor though - but I guess you get an idea about the gameplay):

 

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"

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

What makes Alyx and Lone Echo such highly acclaimed VR Games is:

  • The story
  • The gameplay
  • The mechanics

 

While the graphics in this viking game look fantastic, I am still not sure what the story, gameplay, and mechanics involve. Hard to tell if this is worth upgrading my current PCVR Rig to play. I will spend some time on reddit and YouTube to see if I can get an idea of what this gaming experience is like beyond just the visuals.

Okay, skimmed through the YouTube playthroughs and read some reviews. At release, this looks to be another Blade & Sorcery clone, minus the cool physics.

 

It reminds me of some of my favorite FPS games from the early days, like Hexen, Heretic, and Katana. Only Everslaught seems to be lacking in variety and complexity; likely due to this still being in Early Access status.

 

Probably my biggest gripe is the dreaded VR Arms with no body. I find that very immersion killing.

 

We need arms and a body in VR for these types of games; or else it comes across very unsophisticated. Granted, I have enjoyed many titles that failed to give my avatar Arms and a Body, but that was in the early launch days. All these years later... Devs really need to give our Avatars a full body. 

 

So far, the current release seems to have very limited mechanics and plot/story. I would rate the graphics 8/10 due to the redundancy of the assets they use in each level, albeit quite pretty assets. But the other aspects of the game sit at a 5/10 for now.

 

 

Games like SkyrimVR and Mages Tale offer a greater immersive VR experience. Hopefully the Devs implement much more to Everslaught during this Early Access period. I will definitely keep my eye out for their final release, to see if they can improve the overall sophistication of this title.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Some dude compared EverSlaught to Doom Eternal, which also did cross my mind earlier. I think the game more reminds me of Painkiller, Dark Souls and after finishing the city then Diablo 1 (going down further and further) - but at least this vid does not ruin the game by using too wide fov:

 

 

Again, this game does require a fast gpu for 1:1 fps:Hz, and for now may be considered primarily for high-end VR enthusiasts - although motion smoothing may be able to help slower gpus to some degree.

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 wrote:

w may be considered primarily for high-end VR enthusiasts


Hmm, I'm really not a fan of these types of labels (high-end VR enthusiast). There seems to be too many labels in VR used to describe personal preferences as opposed to labels that define a genre. Plus, labels like this are far too broad.

 

For example, when I read the phrase, "high-end VR Enthusiast," I tend to think of someone who:

  • Spends lots of time honing their skills in order to compete against other skilled players.
  • Also spends lots of money to make sure they have the best gear, so that gear is not a roadblock or barrier when they are showcasing their skills.

 

Both are required, not just one or the other when thinking of a "high-end VR Enthusiast."

 

Honing skills and pitting those skills up against others is the hallmark of a high-end Enthusiast for any hobby or sport, if we really think about it.

 

Single player experiences where you are either "not competing" or "competing against non-Human characters" is more for the casual player.

 

I think there is a place for both, of course. I tend to fluctuate between casual single-player and multiplayer PvP. It depends on how much free time I have. But overall, high-end enthusiasts compete against other high-end enthusiasts. That's what makes them... high-end enthusiasts. 😊

 

Everslaught does look cool, and I can see the Doom Eternal parallels. But Doom Eternal has Multiplayer, allowing high-end enthusiasts to showcase their skills against one another. Whereas Everslaught is single-player only. At least for now. To truly target high-end VR Enthusiast, Everslaught needs some multiplayer PvP!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Another dude thought the game is like Doom Eternal: 

 

Unavngivet34554.jpg

 

And one wrote elsewhere that EverSlaught is the game that Doom VFR should have been. To the latter I'd say that Doom VFR is quite similar to EverSlaught in the big battles, seems that some haven't played Doom VFR using full locomotion... Or have forgotten how fast-paced you can play Doom VFR. 

 

That said, maybe a word of warning - EverSlaught is made for VR veterans, the devs have officially stated:

 

"Fast-paced gameplay
All gameplay is tailored towards hardcore VR players! Bring on the swiftest, least restrictive movement and combat you've ever seen in VR! (Warning: Play this only if you don't feel like puking every time you take two steps in VR!)"

 

Having played Furious Seas for hours, EverSlaught is indeed a walk in the park, lol. 

 

Btw, regarding walking in parks, the graphics are so awesome in the ruined city, it really feels like visiting some old museum-like city in Egypt or close. Some shots for inspiration:

 

downloa2343d.JPG

Maybe devs got slightly inspired by City 17, you do have a gigantic tower in the middle of the city. Check out those (hand) textures and the lighting - it looks awesome, and totally smooth gameplay using Index res 200% with a RTX 3090 

 

Removing the hands and closing in a bit, standard buildings and walls look much like this, perfect for some interesting sightseeing, lol:

 

download (1).jpg

Just to show some surfaces with the awesome textures. There're strange writings many places. I wonder if some tessellation was used... 

 

For now we don't know what happened to the city - but some (fun) places we do get a hint that inhabitants were killed in an instant:

 

download (2)2354.JPG

 

I need to play the game more, but I'm now in the Diablo 1 style randomly generated catacombs - if you have played the game, do post what you think in this thread! 

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"