Augmanted Reality

Video games created for Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have made a major leap forward in 2016. Multiple VR headsets have hit the market, along with some mind-blowing titles that are changing the very nature of gaming. As you’ll see below, VR has gotten off to an exciting start, but it’s AR gaming that has already seen its first mega-hit. Here’s our list of the Top 5 Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality games of 2016.

It’s official: Pokémon Go has taken the American by storm! Produced as a joint venture between Niantic, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo, Pokémon Go has been nothing less than a cultural phenomena since it’s release in early July. The game has spawned dozens of news stories, seen mobs of people playing it in public, and is so popular the game’s servers keep crashing under the strain. While there is some debate about whether or not Pokémon Go is a true AR experience, the game is close enough to the real thing that it’s being credited with bringing Augmented Reality to the masses for the first time. A number of Marxent employees have been playing, and their enthusiasm only continues to grow. That said, Marxent AR Developer Patrick Rasmussen got an interesting reaction when demoing Pokémon Go for his significant other. “When I showed my wife me walking around my apartment on the map system in Go last night she said that was creepy,” he reports.

House of the Dying Sun is a tactical space shooter that puts you in the cockpit of “the universe’s most terrifying starfighter” for Virtual Reality space combat. The game will appeal to anyone who saw Star Wars and thought to themselves, “I’d LOVE to fly that X-Wing and blow up the Death Star!” — so everyone, basically. Marxent Marketing Creative Director Joe Johnson has played through House of the Dying Sun, and calls the game “An example of how VR can completely change the gaming landscape, reviving a long dormant game archetype. It’s outstanding.”

Superhero titles and VR seem like a match made in comic book heaven, and early looks at Batman Arkham VR have fanboys counting the days until they can put on the mask and fight crime as the Caped Crusader. There’s a natural synergy between strapping on a VR headset and donning Batman’s cowl, which will make it easy for players to suspend disbelief and get lost in Virtual Gotham. The teaser trailer has us excited, as does the advance hype on the game, which is calling it “the beginning of the Virtual Reality experiences we need.”Batman Arkham VR is expected to be released in October, along side the heavily anticipated PlaystationVR.

Though Elite: Dangerous has been floating around since last year (by late last year you could get it to run on the Oculus Rift developer’s kit with minimal hacking), we’re going to consider it a 2016 release since the official Rift version launched in March. The game itself is pretty spectacular, and has really grabbed the attention of Marxent Program Manager Shawn Rothery. “I like it so much I’m building a cockpit with motion simulation for it!” he says. “For the record, Elite looked like this the first time I played it: Keep the ‘You’re so old…’ jokes to yerself. Newbs.”

Vanishing Realms gets my vote.  While Vanishing Realms is still in early access, the developer is using an episodic content release schedule, which means the first two chapters are out now (providing 3-4 hours of content) and other chapters will follow in the coming months. Project Engineer Chris Jones has been playing Vanishing Realms, and says “The mechanics and overall feel of the gameplay is fantastic. Sword/shield combat, bow and arrow, or using magic — it all *feels* great. The haptic feedback of the Vive controllers add a lot to the experience of fighting enemies. The game itself feels like a combo of Dungeons & Dragons and The Legend of Zelda, with the art style coming across as very Torchlight-y.” Chris’ final take: “The game looks, performs, and plays great. Plus, you get a decent workout playing through it! While the game progression flows very linearly, there’s honestly a good amount of replay value in just letting other players try it out. It’s a very entertaining title to both play and to watch. It’s easily the most interactive and immersive VR experience I’ve had.”

Marxent front end developer Trace Palmatier went outside the box by highlighting The Foo Show, which is more interesting concept related to VR gaming than a video game itself. It’s basically a talk show in VR, with the first episode featuring the developers of the game Firewatch. They are interviewed about their game while virtually walking around inside it using Vive headsets, picking up 3d models and talking about them. You can also download the episode through Steam and walk around with them. “A lot of the animation and 3D models look pretty goofy right now,” Trace points out, “but they’ve talked about how as their tech improves, they’ll be able to go back and update the visuals of past episodes after the fact. Pretty cool.” Here’s the first episode: