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Obduction E3 impressions (including VR, from the creators of Myst)

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
As someone who wants to see a real resurgence in the first person adventure genre all of this sounds just dandy

http://uploadvr.com/hands-on-preview-obduction-myst/

My preview began in the valley between two tall mountains, pictured above. Immediately, I was blown away by how beautiful this strange, new world appeared. Anyone that’s played the game’s Cyan is known for – Myst and Riven, primarily – will have an intimate understanding of the type of environment on display.

What those games can’t prepare you for, however, is how immense and immersive the world of Obduction is. Throughout my 30-minute preview build, I was constantly stopping to stare at the sky, or gaze off of the edge of a cliff, or just gawk at the colors and atmosphere. It was breathtaking.

At first, I can teleport to different blue “nodes” on the ground at preset destinations simply by moving the Xbox One control stick. I can turn the sticks to rotate my view, or simply turn my head and body to reorient myself. Alternatively, I can click the left stick to activate a free movement mode. For someone with extensive VR experience, it may not cause any type of VR sickness, but for the less initiated it could present some issues, thus the creation of the teleportation mechanic.

The first puzzles I found included pulling levers, turning wheels, and exploring my environment to uncover hidden passageways. Everything felt very natural and, in many ways, much like an authentic Cyan Worlds game, which is clearly by design.

First-Reveal-Obduction.png


http://www.gameinformer.com/games/o...2/obduction-is-deeply-rooted-in-myst-ery.aspx

There are lush environments to explore (in fully rendered 3D), buttons to press, levers to pull, and cryptic clues are everywhere, and there's even a sense that some of the architecture comes straight out of the Myst-world that redefined the exploratory adventure. My journey took me through a variety of areas, remnants of a once-successful town or village in an arid, rocky zone and a mysterious cavern area filled with strange lights and steampunk-esque designs. We're given only the barest of narrative threads to pursue, but like Myst, I'm assuming that many answers will come from the initial deluge of questions about the characters and world.

The touch of a button raises many questions as figures appear in brief video sequences to illuminate the world around you, and off vague hints about some of the wonders – and dangers – that it contains. I found myself carefully examining every discarded note, every outcropping of rock, and every lever, wheel, and crank. The puzzles seem quite robust, if openly obvious to how they function – manipulating switches to make a train track function properly, or turning a wheel around to provide access to new platforms.

Hunrath.jpg
 

Inkwell

Banned
I need this now :(

Seriously the game I'm most looking forward to playing. Can't wait to hear and read more impressions.
 
This is on Vive too right?

Doesn't look like it

Obduction’s VR version launches on July 26th exclusively on the Oculus Store, and is priced at $29. Owners of the VR version will be able to also play the desktop version, but take note that the only way to access the VR-enabled game is via Oculus Home. The developers made no comment regarding the possibility of supporting additional headsets.

Probably timed exclusive like the rest. Here's hoping Revive still works by then, one of my more anticipated VR games :/
 

Vexidus

Member
Wow, I just found out that this game is coming out soon, and I was a hardcore Myst fan and excited about the game. Where is the hype? I find this pretty worrying and feel concerned for Cyan. Not to mention that I just checked the Steam page and my PC is nowhere close to the minimum requirements. This is also quite concerning to me, as I feel the target audience for this game will mostly have modest computer setups.

I don't want to be a downer but I feel like this game is going to bomb really hard, regardless of how good it may actually be. I'm excited to play it though, as a fan of their previous work, but it will have to wait for a PC upgrade which could be a while. Hell, I meet the No Man's Sky reqs just fine. The minimum specs needed for this game seem insanely steep. I am hoping the best for this game though!
 
Wow, I just found out that this game is coming out soon, and I was a hardcore Myst fan and excited about the game. Where is the hype? I find this pretty worrying and feel concerned for Cyan. Not to mention that I just checked the Steam page and my PC is nowhere close to the minimum requirements. This is also quite concerning to me, as I feel the target audience for this game will mostly have modest computer setups.

I don't want to be a downer but I feel like this game is going to bomb really hard, regardless of how good it may actually be. I'm excited to play it though, as a fan of their previous work, but it will have to wait for a PC upgrade which could be a while. Hell, I meet the No Man's Sky reqs just fine. The minimum specs needed for this game seem insanely steep. I am hoping the best for this game though!

Really? Seems reasonable to me:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/306760/

MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer
Processor: CPU Intel i5-2500 equivalent or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce 660 GTX w/1GB / AMD 7700 series w/1GB equivalent or better
Storage: 20 GB available space

But yeah this game has gotten next to no coverage. Been ages since a meaty proper Cyan game, hope it does well.
 

prag16

Banned
May not be thread worthy since there seems to be ZERO hype for this. But per a backer update yesterday afternoon, this has been delayed again, pushed back to Deus Ex week. That is unfortunate timing. :(
 
May not be thread worthy since there seems to be ZERO hype for this. But per a backer update yesterday afternoon, this has been delayed again, pushed back to Deus Ex week. That is unfortunate timing. :(

They may really need that extra time not just to polish but to help spread awareness for the game. I just haven't seen much discussion or anything at all for a game with these credentials that was also planned to release next week. I feel like "Myst creators' new successfully kickstarted game out next week" should be a bigger deal than it's coming across. Perhaps The Witness stole a lot of the thunder from another game of its ilk in the same year.
 

prag16

Banned
They may really need that extra time not just to polish but to help spread awareness for the game. I just haven't seen much discussion or anything at all for a game with these credentials that was also planned to release next week. I feel like "Myst creators' new successfully kickstarted game out next week" should be a bigger deal than it's coming across. Perhaps The Witness stole a lot of the thunder from another game of its ilk in the same year.

Yeah, they definitely need to raise awareness somehow. There's been nothing other than a handful of VR focused E3 articles.

Honestly not sure why The Witness garnered such an insane amount of prelaunch hype by comparison. (and Obduction is almost guaranteed to be a vastly better game at least in my opinion; The Witness was creative and fun, but there wasn't much else under the surface and there was definitely no story/payoff whatsoever to speak of..)

As hyped as I am for Obduction, my Deus Ex hype dwarfs it, which will probably cause me not to bother even launching Obduction until well into to the fall. Oh well.

Either way I hope they get the word out and raise some awareness.
 
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