Arken Age On Quest 3 Looks Like A Promising Port

Arken Age is making its strategy to standalone VR subsequent month and I obtained the prospect to take an early have a look at the upcoming recreation on Quest 3. How nicely does this bold PC VR and PS VR2 title maintain up after making the bounce to cellular {hardware}? Learn on for my impressions of the sport’s first three ranges.

The Sights, Sounds & Really feel of The Bio-Chasm

On PC and PS VR2, Arken Age shines with its dense environments, wonderful use of scale, and intense physics-driven fight, all wrapped up in a futuristic narrative-driven sci-fi storyline. Most of these parts are excitingly nonetheless right here on Quest 3, however naturally, compromises needed to be made to get this bold title operating on the headset’s standalone {hardware}.

Let’s begin with the visuals. Textures look scaled again, and the lighting feels barely flatter in most areas, nevertheless it’s a powerful port. The sport’s world nonetheless seems to be wonderful on Quest 3 and offers a novel combination of sci-fi parts and fantasy design. It holds up surprisingly nicely on the standalone lower-spec {hardware}.

Sound design exhibits no important variations between the PC VR and Quest 3 variations, which is nice as a result of Arken Age has a number of the greatest ambient music I’ve heard in an journey recreation in a very long time. The sound results and world noises really feel becoming and mix properly with the musical backtrack. After taking part in the sport for a couple of hours, I could not get the music out of my mind, and now I would like an OST.

For efficiency, Quest 3 handles Arken Age’s intense fight higher than I anticipated. Climbing specifically feels responsive, and hanging off cliff faces nonetheless provides me that gut-drop sensation. Swinging my sword and whipping out my spring-loaded climbing picks stay clean, and I didn’t run into a lot of the stuttering I’ve typically seen with different standalone ports, like Alien: Rogue Incursion earlier than it obtained patched.

A few of the extra closely populated fight sequences noticed occasional framerate drops, however none that disrupted my immersion to the purpose of frustration or affected my gameplay.

Fight additionally feels satisfying, with the sport giving me the flexibility to seamlessly swap from melee to ranged weapons or a mixture of them on the fly. Blocking oncoming strikes together with your sword or vitality defend has weight, and touchdown a superbly timed counterstrike makes you’re feeling highly effective.

The Half-Life: Alyx-style telegrab mechanic, mixed with climbing in a number of locations throughout every map, affords fight type variation and extra freedom of selection in easy methods to take down every new enemy. Having this potential so as to add some aptitude to my fight type feels wonderful.

Early Verdict on Quest 3

We positively reviewed Arken Age earlier this 12 months, and we’ll make sure to take a better have a look at the Quest 3 model when it releases in October. Till then, my impressions of the primary three ranges on Quest 3 are favorable. For a recreation of this scope and scale operating on a standalone headset, it’s a powerful port.

The Bio-Chasm nonetheless feels alive, physics-driven fight nonetheless lands a heavy-handed blow, and the sense of scale is preserved throughout techniques properly. For those who’ve solely obtained a Quest 3 or 3S, you’re not lacking out on the guts and soul of this expertise, simply that further layer of constancy you’d anticipate for PC VR video games. Proper now, it is a terrific begin.

Arken Age reaches the Quest 3 household on October 30 on the Meta Horizon Retailer, and it is obtainable now on PS VR2 and Steam.