VR Mech Combat Game ‘Vox Machinae’ is Back with Motion Input, Closed Beta Coming Soon

By
Ben Lang
-
15

With VR’s strengths for cockpit-based games, you’d think that there would be more quality mech titles available to today’s headsets. Alas, a killer VR mech game hasn’t reared its head just yet; Vox Machinae, a promising VR mech combat game that has been running silent on development for a long time, has reappeared, now set for release in 2018.

Vox Machinae first appeared on our radar all the way back in 2014—back in the Rift DK1 and DK2 era, and long before motion input. The game appeared quite promising back then, and while indie studio Space Bullet only rarely surfaces with updates on development of the title, we have been assured that it’s still in development. What’s happened between now and then?

“Well, we’ve been spending all that time polishing the game up, now we’re ready to reveal to you the latest developments,” says Space Bullet’s Jakub Czeszejko-Sochacki. A new video published by the developers shows a more polished version of the game now featuring native motion input support for controlling and piloting your mech.

In addition to the new video, Czeszejko-Sochacki says that the studio is soon to be running a closed beta for Vox Machinae, hopeful test pilots can sign up here. He also says that the studio plans to release the game in “one form or another” this year. The studio says players can expect the following:

  • A unique mix of weighty and tactical simulation with responsive action.
  • Pilot a hulking robot across hostile planets with your computer AI for company.
  • Choose between five distinct Grinder chassis, each with their own benefits.
  • Customize your loadout an array of devastating weaponry.
  • Immersive physics simulation drives movement and combat.
  • Play offline, on a local network, or online with up to 16 players.
  • Optimized for smooth VR performance and visual quality.
  • Full motion controller support for the ultimate immersive experience.

Motion Input

Image courtesy Space Bullet

Space Bullet has clearly spent a lot of their recent development time revamping the game for native motion input. The studio gives a taste of the way you can interact with your mech through the cockpit, including an awesome looking eject handle:

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We’ll be looking forward to our first taste of the game now that it’s been reworked for motion input, and hoping for a substantial release this year.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • J.C.

    I hope they’re gonna rework those walking animations. The graphics are quite nice but the way EVERY mech moves looks terrible. They don’t shift their weight at all.

    • Raphael

      Nothing wrong with the walking. The walkers have platform stabilisation to aid the pilot.

      • M.W.

        No he’s right, as an animator myself, those walk cycles are the first thing I noticed in the video because they are unnatural.
        Platform stabilization explains the rotational stability of the cockpit, but not the lack of left/right balance in the walks.
        It’s possible they are prioritizing cockpit stability first, as otherwise it may induce nausea.
        I’m sure there aware of it (it’s glaringly obvious) and will fix it before release.

  • Firestorm185

    COUGH – Hawken, anyone? xD

    • Oleg Stepanovich Kamureg

      Alas, this one seems to be more like MWO.

      • Donna

        Gℴℴgle is offereing to each its worker 98 US dollars every hour to do some small tasks off a home computer .. Easily do work only for just few peroid of time daily & live happy more time with your loved ones … You can also have this online service…on Friday I bought a gorgeous Citroën DS after I been earnin $14625 this-past/five weeks .no doubt it is the best job however you can now not forgive yourself if you don’t test it.!ve732z:=>=>=> http://GoogleDailyConsumerAppleTechJobsOpportunities/easy/jobs… ♥♥♥k♥♥♥l♥♥e♥♥♥a♥f♥c♥♥t♥♥w♥♥♥g♥♥d♥♥g♥♥e♥♥b♥♥♥d♥♥♥n♥♥♥k♥y♥♥♥x♥♥♥y♥l♥♥g♥v♥♥q♥♥t♥♥j:::::!bw992i:chgw

      • Jerald Doerr

        Yep Mechwarrior gameplay with Hawken style mechs and real-world stabilized mech animations. I’d be happy to try out the beta. Still looking for a kick-ass Mech VR game.

      • Firestorm185

        Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Hoping we’ll get something good soon. >w<

    • Devin C

      I was thinking the same thing but I loved Hawken so this actually excites me!

      • Firestorm185

        Yeah, Hawken was one of my favorite shooters before it went down. Hoping it’ll be something like that! >w<

  • oompah

    no money
    no cry

  • Raphael

    Tried the demo for DK2 ages ago. Looks like they’ve improved it a lot.

  • Mac

    This was one of the best demos on the DK2. Looking forward to the full version, especially with hand controls.

  • SandmaN

    Looks fun enough to tide us over until we get a true official Mechwarrior/Battletech VR game.

  • Armando Tavares

    «With VR’s strengths for cockpit-based games, you’d think that there would be more quality mech titles available to today’s headsets.»… says you

    With VR’s strengths for cockpit-based games, you’d think that there would be more quality cockpit-based titles available to today’s headsets. … say I

    While every frigin game studio is trying to come up with the ‘next big thing’ (and FAIL!!) they all seem to forget the obvious: movement free, cockpit related games: Cars, karts, planes, tanks, mechs…. whatever.

    Why do we keep getting, what feels to me, like revamped Wii games??? Said it once, I’ll say it again: I HATE most VR games we have available today. If I want to wave my arms around while playing a game I’ll go fire up the old Wii.

    On the other side everyone fails to realize that many (and I do mean MANY!!!!) would like to try out our current game catalog IN VR. How hard can it be to replace current look around input/devices, with VR? Here I blame the hardware companies because their job is to sell hardware, regardless of what users will do with it.

    Oculus/VIVE are too busy milking the gaming cash cow and providing a way for us to play WoW/GTA/Overwatch…… whatever, would be against the nature of what they are trying to do so, I call upon the ‘Devil’: Microsoft :P to provide a proper, supported, updated whenever it needs to be… way, within W10, for users that get WinMR devices to play their current game catalog.

    I don’t care if some one (or even, most) thinks that GTA (just an example) is unplayable in VR. I don’t. Provide a PROPER way and let users decide for themselves.