Windlands: Spider-Man Meets VR - Gameplay Overview

Justin and Griffin strap on an Oculus Rift and do some Spider-Man stunts in Windlands.
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[@ihatevoyager]

this is as exciting as when games first went 3d. It's simplistic now, but you just know by the time ps6 comes out we are going to have some truly mindblowing VR experiences.

[@AustinEEEE]

Is that the same Justin from Sawbones podcast?

[@SeventhEve]

yes. and MBMBaM, The Adventure Zone, and Besties. And the Daddy & Charlie Show.

[@trulyAmatulHaqq]

This is the cutest comment I've ever seen on a Polygon video no lie

[@stanthonyspray]

i got the tummy tingles of being really high up just from watching this

[@bravetherainbow]

great ending is the Mirror's Edge prequel gonna be in VR? because damn that needs to happen

[@falkenfluegel]

This is one of these games that would be boring without VR. But with VR it just makes sense.

[@MamaDespik]

I played this game for HOURS on DK2, I just lived in that world. I'm happy to see they've fleshed it out, and if there's one thing that convinces me to buy a rift, it might be this.

[@simianswing250]

This game is like the opposite of the big launchtitles for oculus rift. Maybe mostly to Luckys tale. The other games is made to make VR look AAA from a aesthetic angle, but the core mechanics is not so deep that it would make you continue playing after finishing the game, and you basically already master the game from the first minute. Windlands is skillbased and you continually master it more and more. It might not be superfun the first time, but the more you get gud the more fun it gets. It gets very punishing a bit into the game, and at the same time the level of mastery you achieve makes you able to pull of the craziest stunts. I spent a lot of time with Dark Souls 1 cause of the depth of the mechanics, and Windlands, not Chronos, is filling that spot for me when it comes to vr. Going from sensing that something is impossible, to the sense of achievement, then to the sense of mastery. The mechanics are soo well made, soo fine tuned, and gives the game a very strong personality.. This game is really for the harcore gaming crowd and speedrunners, not for showing of VR to casual gamers.

[@simianswing250]

+Christian Andersson Oh. I should add that the simple aestetic of the game lets everything in the level be rendered with the same textures no matter how far away it is. This is really important for VR. If the resolution of textures keep changing based on your distance to them, and if things just pop out of nothingness at a certain distance, it breaks immersion a lot in VR. It seems to work on normal computergames, but in VR it really disturbs. The levels in Windlands are huge, but there is never any popping up. I tried Subnautica, and there the textures and objects are constantly popping up around you, and you cant look in the distance to see whats there. You will only find out if you get close. It might look like the graphics are good if you take a screenshot, but really they suck for VR. The consistency of the world, that you can see whats in the distance and go there without the object changing, is what makes the graphics in Windlands really good for VR.

[@gelusvenn5063]

Man, that game is fun as balls. I did get a little nauseous, but that wasn't until I'd been playing for an hour and a half, so really very little of that. And spidermanning around was just such a satisfying experience.

[@kempyboi123]

I got motion sick just watching this video... on a 2d screen :c fuck, why does my body not want me to enjoy the next step in games :'(

[@abboud9897]

Its like having attack on titan gear.

[@henrikeatworld]

Griffin says there's so much to do, but there's not much to do, you jump and you swing,. It's not enough... man :(

[@NjordsWolf]

On the Vive this is even better. You don't need to jerkily turn, you can just walk around in your space and turn your body.

[@roidroid]

I remember being perplexed 20 years ago why games like this didn't exist. Finally we're getting there, it's very exciting seeing these small indy and game-jam games for all this new VR and motion capture hardware, these small teams really know howto have fun.

[@Lozian]

This is so much better now with 2 motion controllers

[@ethan-loves]

This is a great video! I found it only slightly nauseating and very immersive.

[@AbsoluteTravisT]

Hmm, the only thing that's making me doubtful at the moment with all the new VR games like this is as fun as they are (for maybe a weekend), in 6-12 months there's gonna be an actual Spider-Man game using this template with better graphics, more variety of locations, more in-depth mechanics and some semblance of story to keep you playing. So good fun, but in time all the games coming out now are gonna be massively improved upon in about a year.

[@AnnDVine]

Wouldn't you say that of every game? I think it's safe to say better stuff will come out in a year. A year is a whole year! Early adopters aren't worried so much I think about anything but the cutting edge, as apposed to that edge's trajectory.

[@AbsoluteTravisT]

Okay, so after E3 I'm glad to see that there are now 'full' games coming to VR which is what I wanted to see, I know this tech has been shopped around for ages but I guess now VR gaming is a reality.

[@magicman9218]

I'm gonna just sit out on the vr thing until we get a fullblown star trek holodeck

[@AllenBoone]

Is this going to be available on Vive? It would be incredible to use the two motion controls to grapple. Then you'd be Spider-Man, body and soul.

[@chunkylover5367]

+Allen Boone Yeah I saw a different channel using the Vive for this title

[@RedFlyer350]

how many game hours is it? does it require a gamepad?

[@RedFlyer350]

***** thanks

[@gabrielm4204]

It's parkour for gamers

[@RickSatan]

looks boring

[@harnusa]

Vive gameplay of this game looks way better

[@henrikeatworld]

This game looks really boring and repetitive

[@PeterKoperdan]

Dude, you're actually pretty bad at this 😵 I could swing better after my first hour in Swarm. Is being bad at games a Polygon specialty? 🤔

[@lvnz2689]

We need a fucking Spider-Man game.

[@deathpresent101]

You're gonna have to wait for the next movie to come out. Before they do that.

[@lvnz2689]

Ori I want a VR game though.

[@IPman77]

you sold me on it