VR & FUN's Review
Review 9.1
Early this year Sanzaru Games along with Oculus announced a new type of game called Asgard’s Wrath that was suppose to deliver AAA like gameplay in virtual reality. While there have been many titles that have come up to the plate, only a few games so far have been able to live up to the expectations. Now we are here to examine Asgard’s Wrath and its quality.
The story
Your story begins in medias res with a dramatic, action-packed encounter with Loki, the trickster God while fighting off a Kraken. After successfully saving him he takes great interest in your potential and offers to give you with befitting a true god. But before that can happen, Loki has several requests where you must aid groups of mortal heroes on their quests.
Gameplay
As you go on aiding groups of mortals you will notice that you can take control of these units and view the world from the mortal’s perspective. You will be able to switch from mere mortal to god which adds a refreshing feature in VR. Players can even move the followers by hand in god mode such as placing them on cliffs to unlock certain things.
The details in these situations are what makes the game shine. While developers could have simply made units basic, you will notice that they make certain sounds when you move and pick up the mortal units. While it may not do anything to effect gameplay, it moves up the immersion one notch and helps you become more vested in the game.
You will also find that puzzles are an integral part of Asgard’s Wrath. There will be a variety of challenges from puzzle symbol matching, item collecting, gate puzzles, and shooting objects which will unlock rewards. This includes weapon loots which you will need to defeat the more difficult bosses.
To solve these puzzles you will have to use a mixture of gods view along with going in to mortal form. By combining the two, you will be able to see the mixture of the land to find secrets and solving the puzzles.
Mechanics
The sword and the shield will be your vital items in the game. The enemies will vary in difficulty but most can be taken down by timing yours attacks, dodging, parrying, and blocking.
For the more high level bosses, you will want to focus your attacks and make sure you use the valuable items you have found on your journey. They have much higher HP and can deal damage at a higher level so you can’t just so “HAM” as they say. They also have shields which must be taken down before effectively damaging them. And with the VR feature in play, you need to be able to gauge distance and put in great swings that you will get used to over time.
Some may find this to be repetitive or similar to games played before which is the small drawback. But that’s not to say that most games borrow mechanic identities from other games as well. It’s just that, it’s not anything you’ve never seen before.
You will find that the mortals will assist you in battle which makes things a little bit more exciting. And once again, the attention to detail is what puts the extra notch into the game. You will notice things like if you put a thumbs up to your ally, he will reciprocate the gesture by putting their thumbs up. Even a fit bump is possible in the game which increases overall morale. We haven’t seen many games deliver that type of detail that makes the game more fun. While it isn’t essential, it is a key touch that makes a game from good to great.
To further increase immersion you can turn off the HUDs on enemies to remove the floating bars above them. Some may enjoy seeing the HP and date but some of you may enjoy just playing the game for what it is in virtual reality.
The graphics in the game is also pretty solid considering the amount of details you see in the game. While you might see a few off pixels here and there on characters, you will not be disturbed by flaws when it comes to graphics. That may be the reason why it takes up 160 GB to install the game, but it is certainly worth it. As a side note, make sure to save the game to a SSD drive for faster loading times.
Length
There are six sagas in Asgard’s Wrath. They will take place in your God form and the mortal form where you follow various heroes on their personal quests. We don’t want to go to far into detail with this to keep the storyline fresh for you.
The studio has promised a game that will be able to last a great length and they do hit the notch on that part. While you can finish the game in around 20 – 25 hours, the game can definitely be lengthened to around 40 hours if you change up the difficulty and choose to do all the side-quests. It’s hard these days to find games that deliver quality at great lengths but you can definitely stretch that fun time in Asgard’s Wrath. For that, we definitely need to give the game an applause.
Overall
While there’s always certainly room for improvements, Asgard’s Wrath comes out as one of the best AAA VR titles we have played thus far. It provides a deep Norse mythology storyline that is intriguing. People are familiar with some of the stories so being able to relate to it is a great thing. The gameplay is very fun with your mortal hero allies that are there to help you combat enemies. Also the signature details just brings it up a notch. The mechanic, while not unique, provides a solid combat system that doesn’t make things feel like its always on replay. For that we give the game a 9.1 out of 10. Asgard’s Wrath is an exclusive title to the Rift and Rift S so if you do have those HMDs, make sure to give it a swirl.