A lot of PlayStation VR demos showed thus far aim for playable action sequences (London: The Heist) or more passive, observatory experiences (Summer Lesson), but how long with the novelty of virtual reality keep you interested enough after the initial hour or two? Gameplay with enough variety or with multiplayer hook, as R.I.G.S. does, are routes that may keep you invested longer. But video games have also grown to become a storytelling medium we can invest our attention and emotions into thanks to the interactive agency we are given. Virtual reality can heighten our immersion in a story by quite literally putting us in a protagonist’s shoes. Loading Human is one PlayStation VR game in the works with the aspirations of being a compelling narrative experience on the platform.
The developer behind this ambitious title is a young studio named Untold Games, which is a team-up of Italian actor Flavio Parenti and the Foofa Studios. Founded in 2008, Foofa Studios has created games running on Flash, for online, or for mobile. Most importantly for its latest venture, Foofa has developed 3D simulations and games, both to educate and entertain. Parenti serves as Untold’s CEO and Creative Director and hopes he can bring the skills and knowledge he’s learned from the film world to craft Loading Human into an emotional, cinematic triumph in the VR space.
At PlayStation Experience 2015, I had the opportunity to embody Loading Human’s protagonist named Prometheus, an adult male pilot who is tasked with saving his father from death by retrieving the universe’s most powerful energy source named the quintessence. I was told not everything is as it seems in Prometheus’s situation with hints of betrayal and deceit by people in his life. In this particular demo, I would be escaping from danger and meeting Alice, the love interest and assistant to Prometheus’s dying father.
Loading Human is controlled with the PlayStation VR headset and two PlayStation Move wand controllers, each controlling Prometheus’s respective hands. I found myself literally stepping into the shoes of Prometheus as I could see his body, legs, and feet beneath my head and his arms as I moved mine. To further your embodiment of the protagonist, you hear Prometheus narrating his inner thoughts, providing additional perspective on the story. To walk forward, you press the right Move wand’s large, center PS button while the other face buttons include one for crouching and another for situational actions. Pressing and holding the left Move wand’s PS button brings up a path reticle that allows you to quickly center your perspective in a pointed direction once you let go. The direction you move can be gradually guided by moving your head as Prometheus walks. Finally, the Move wand’s triggers controls each hands grips, allowing you to pick up items, hold on to objects in the environment, and more.
My demo found me in a research facility caught on fire and my objectives being to save Alice and escape safely. With so many areas blocked off by the consuming flames, I needed to acquire the closest fire extinguisher. Once I found it in a protruding cabinet, I picked up the hammer hanging beside it to break the cabinet’s front safety glass. I could now grab the futuristic fire extinguisher designed with the appearance of a Star Trek phaser and shoots flame retardant agent in what looks like rapid smoke rings. Quickly, I gained a good grasp on the controls and was breezing through and clearing a path through the environment. Eventually, I reached a section featuring growing flora-like trees and spotted Alice, whose legs were caught underneath a downed wood log. Here was the demo’s most dramatic and interactive segment, as I had to crouch Prometheus and physically lift the burning log off of Alice, grab her hand, and then quickly guide her to a safe hallway nearby. As thanks for saving her life, Alive gave me a kiss – my first virtual kiss – and yes, it is as awkward as it sounds and may be one emotional moment VR may never quite nail.
Some of you may have just read this anecdote of my experience with Loading Human and thought the gameplay sounds somewhat mundane. The same could be said for actions that adventure games so far make players do. But we do them anyway if there’s a world worth exploring or characters or a story worth caring about. I believe the same principle applies to how much success Loading Human achieves, especially as the novelty of virtual reality fades away as time goes on. I walked away from my demo feeling hopeful for Untold’s sci-fi adventure and look forward to finishing Prometheus’s saga someday.