Also in this 2021 some software houses decide to let some works dedicated to virtual reality blossom, a world that shows no sign of stopping and instead demands ever higher quality standards. While the larger developers have fully focused on this growing market, offering real games suits for the aforementioned universe, others have based their productions only on some more marginal aspects of VR, to be able to concentrate and make fans of certain genres happy. Ready to rule the world of puzzle titles, Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis therefore today makes its debut on the platform of Steam thanks to the developer and publisher Orichalcum Pictures, who collaborated on the occasion with Ebim Studio, Digiteyes e VR-Connection.
Taking us in an adventure halfway between history and fantasy, the player will in fact have to use physics - and his hands - to solve many puzzles, which together with some moral choices mark the flow of events up to the credits. So let's analyze what Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis offers specifically, which we had the opportunity to try out on Oculus Rift S over the past few days.
Towards the destiny of Atlantis
A little because of the classic impact of VR, a little because of the peculiar story of Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis, at the first encounter with the game world it will be easy to find yourself somewhat lost. Fortunately, a tutorial quickly clarifies the main game controls, as well as the narrative incipit of the experience. The user plays the role of a customer, who travels to a particular agency for retrace the events of Atlantis first hand, with the aim of avoiding its fall. Some moral choices during the experience will also change the game ending, for a total of four possible combinations.
The narrative proceeds rather slowly, being a title based on puzzles, it is necessary that the player obviously solves the various puzzles to advance in the scenarios, thus continuously breaking the rhythm. This is obviously a necessity of this kind, which is compensated by the presence of a rather interesting narrative sector, although not superlative. Advancing in the story the player finds himself living in every scenario of the puzzles designed for VR, which would not have long life except for the viewers. These form practically the entire play sector and are fortunately the most successful part of the game, but they do not easily leave you speechless.
Their being relegated to viewers is actually a strength and weakness. On the one hand, putting your hand (for real) to mechanisms to make them work is extremely fascinating, in fact, it happens to solve puzzles by carrying out simple but realistic actions, such as taking an object under a table while bending for real. However, the whole does not shine particularly for the genius and the puzzles do not make you cry for a miracle for their construction. The very few interactions with the world are then rather approximate and not at all preciseand in the long run really irritating, it's easy to put an object in your backpack by mistake, or drop it and can't find it anymore. It is then really difficult to be able to do what you want on the first try, especially when the gameplay is enriched by the arrival of further mechanics. There is no sprint that can make VR puzzles truly unique, which is found only in flashes of some sessions, where the fourth wall is successfully broken for a few moments and no technical problems are found.
The VR world of Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis
Graphically, the game starts off on the right foot, offering interesting glimpses on several occasions, without however reaching the level of other productions and resulting rather limited in good or bad all the re-propositions present in the various scenarios. On the artistic level - although there are interesting goodies, which will make happy anyone who is passionate about the story of Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis - the whole is rather anonymous and bare in the construction of the various models and scenarios, which do not shine in particular despite being somewhat restricted and with little interactivity possible. It will hardly occur to you to approach a given object to admire it, nor is it often possible to see the game world react to the player's actions.
Approaching Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis you will be able to set some details, both in terms of graphics - with aquite successful optimization in general - both for localization. Unfortunately, although the texts have also been translated into our language, the work carried out was not particularly successful, but the sentences still manage to be clear in almost all situations. On the other hand, the possibility of unlocking linear movement for VR is completely missing, both when you physically move the character, and as regards the shifting of the view, everything is done in jerks to avoid motion sickness. If on the one hand the latter risk is eliminated, most of the players would obviously have preferred to experience the game with the linear and classic style thanks to the normal movement systems, currently not available. The last - serious - technical defect lies in the vibration dedicated to the backpack. In fact, to open the inventory the player must bring one of the controllers towards his back, but as soon as one of the two hands disappears from the main view it begins to vibrate quickly, thus forcing the player to adapt accordingly.
