Vertigo 2, the hotly awaited sequel to the original 2016 single-player VR adventure, has had the same demo on Steam for the past three years. Now developer Zulubo Productions has brought a complete overhaul to the free demo, which the studio says better reflects the quality of the final game.

No new content or areas have been added to the demo, although you may still want to pop your head in to see just how the update shows off “how the final game will look and feel,” the studio says.

In addition to adding better visuals and physics, the demo’s intro area has been removed altogether, something the studio says will “get new players right into action.”

Here’s the change list, courtesy Zulubo Productions:

  • Weapon interaction has been overhauled and now uses physics
  • Arm and upper body IK has been added
  • Enemy AI has been greatly improved
  • Graphics and sounds have been polished
  • Environments are more detailed and interactive
  • Lighting has been improved
  • Performance has been improved
  • Detailed graphics settings and other options have been added
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Vertigo 2 is slated to take PC VR players deep underground in the reaches of Quantum Reactor VII, again setting you on an upwards journey back to your home on the surface. You’ll face bizarre alien flora and fauna leaking from other universes—deadly android security forces included. The game is also set to feature a branching narrative, which promises plenty of surprises around each corner.

Vertigo 2 is slated to launch on SteamVR headsets on March 30th, 2023. If you haven’t had a chance to play the original Vertigo, the game’s rerelease Vertigo Remastered (2020) may still show a bit of its pioneering 2016 roots, but admittedly with much higher quality visuals and interactions. Well worth a play-through to give you something to do while you wait!

Check out the updated Vertigo 2 trailer below:

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Tommy

    Can’t wait for this release! The first one was really good and 2 looks even better.

  • NL_VR

    Must try this “new” demo.
    Really.been waiting for this game

  • Ookami

    Might be that they have too many entities at once and/or too large maps.

    • Ad

      Maps are huge, this would crush the quest.

  • NL_VR

    Its not all about graphics. But i dont thinkQuest 2 cant handle the graphics either if you considering the demo thats it out (and updated recently)

  • Runesr2

    Quest 2 uses the Adreno 650 phone gpu (part of the XR2 soc). With 1.2 tflops it has 3 (three) percent of the power of a RTX 3090 with 36 tflops.

    Quest 2 is the worst garbage – when used with its ultra-bottom-end phone gpu.
    If you want real VR, get a rig.

  • Sweet. I’ll give this a go.

  • poltevo

    At the end of the day the Quest 2 GPU is about a 5th of the power of a popular low end GPU (like a 1060 or 580). I’m not sure about the CPU but it will also be much weaker.

    Not every game can fit on the Quest: generally games will need to be heavily re-designed or built with the weaker hardware in mind. I’m sure developers around here can give some more detail about the limitations. Yes some games on Quest 2 look good, but developers use lots of little tricks to hid the limitations.

    The Quest 3 will be a lot stronger then Quest 2, closing the gap with low end PC hardware, but PC (or console) hardware will always be significantly more powerful then a standalone device.