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VR Grapple Shooter SWARM Swings Its Way Onto Headsets This Summer

Spider-Man meets classic Centipede in this arcade-style VR shooter.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from games like Windlands and the Spider-Man: Far From Home Virtual Reality Experience, it’s just how fun swinging in VR can be when done right.

Greensky Games’ SWARM aims to capitalize on that fun, offering players an action-packed arcade shooter in which they’ll battle gargantuan mechanical opponents while swinging across brightly-colored environments like a futuristic Spider-Mans. The players primary tool is their grappling hook, which they’ll use to swing from a series of yellow platforms scattered throughout the map as they dodge incoming fire.

At the same time they must use their dual pistols to battle swarms (see what I did there?) of robotic enemies, from small drones to giant mechanical serpents. According to the developer, SWARM takes heavy inspiration from fast-paced arcade classics, the most obvious of which being Atari’s legendary shooter Centipede.

“From the start we were focused on building something where you can jump in for a 10-20 minute session and make progress,” states Greensky Games founder Peter Le Bek in an official release. “We also wanted to build a game with an incredible motion mechanic. We’d been enjoying grappling in Windlands and we felt like grappling in VR could feel even better.”

“We spent 4 months iterating on grappling, and had a breakthrough when we gave the rope some elasticity and tension simulation – suddenly it felt like we had more control and power, more like Spider-Man. From there we considered building a 3D platformer, or a racing game, but we settled on the arena shooter because swinging through explosions and plunging down on enemies while shooting them was just ridiculously fun!”

SWARM will include globally competitive leaderboards upon its release this Summer on Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift/Rift S, and Steam. The game will support cross-buy between the Rift and Quest. For the best possible experience, however, Le Bek recommends the Oculus Quest due to it’s wireless capabilities.

(Image Credit: Greensky Games)

“We developed early prototypes of the grapple mechanic on Rift,” continues Le Bek. “Trying it on Quest for the first time took the feeling of freedom to a totally different level. The combat in Swarm is truly 360 and being able to spin around to shoot an enemy chasing you feels 100x better without a wire in the way.”

Feature Image Credit: Greensky Games

About the Scout

Former Writer (Kyle Melnick)

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