There’s no official VR version of Dark Souls (yet), which leaves the door open for Chronos, a very cool Oculus Rift launch game that manages to be both a VR showcase and a good game on its own.
Here’s a short video of me playing through the first proper level:
What it is: Chronos is a third-person action RPG that casts you as a young man or woman sent out by your people on some sort of trial. It’s all shrouded in mystery, and part of the game’s appeal seems to be trying to figure out what’s actually going on.
The meat of the game, however, revolves around standard third-person RPG combat. Fight enemies, level up, improve your gear, and so on. Battles are weighty like a Souls game, though definitely not as difficult, at least not as far as I’ve played. Enemies do a lot of damage, healing items are rare, and each time you die, your character ages one year. At each ten-year interval, you get a new talent, and as you get older your physical attributes matter less and your magical attributes matter more. It’s an interesting idea and while I’ve yet to see how it plays out (I’ve only died a few times), that premise along with the game’s polish and solid gameplay are enough to immediately make Chronos more interesting than your average VR launch game.
Throughout the week, I’ll be posting a series of short videos like this one to give an idea of how these VR games work. For more thoughts on the Oculus Rift itself, check out my full write-up.