Improve your teamwork skills through fast-paced vertical combat.
Believe it or not, esports got its start in the ’60s when members of MIT’s “Tech Model Railroad Club” battled each other in a game of Spacewars, a game where players pilot a spaceship crippled with limited fuel and ammunition while attempting to outwit their opponents until there’s only one ship left standing. To make matters worse, players had to do this while navigating their spaceship against the gravitational field of a nearby planet.
This moment is considered by many to be the very first eSports event, and since then, the industry has absolutely exploded.
Since then esports have expanded into one of the fastest-growing competitive sports in the world, currently on track to surpass $1.5 Billion in 2023. But as the global pandemic decimated most live sporting events (though that market is slowly coming back with limited attendance), eSports continued to move forward showing 25% growth during COVID-19.
One VR company looking to ride the wave of eSports is indie developer studio Tomorrow Games with Grapple Tournament, a vertical PVP experience that’s as much fun to watch as it is to play.
Grapple Tournament is a VR arcade shooter where you must leverage quick thinking and physical movements to outwit five other opponents while moving in and out of a 3D arena. Oh, and did I mention you have a powerful grappling hook you can use to launch yourself into the upper levels of the arena? You’ll also have dual-wielded multifunctional weapons at your disposal to take on your opponents in a variety of multiplayer game modes and co-op missions.
Underneath the surface of this high-speed FPS shooter, however, lies an educational team-building activity that could prove immensely useful in a learning environment. Featuring up to six players at a time, teams will take on numerous challenges that require a considerable amount of collaboration, team building, and problem-solving; just some of the many skills you need to survive at work and school.
Three multiplayer game modes will be available at launch:
Free For All: Everyone against everyone, up to 6 players. It can be messy and chaotic and the game isn’t over until only one player is left. Can you outwit your classmates who are coming at you in all directions? If you lose, can you learn from your mistakes for the next round?
Team Deathmatch: Fast-paced, frantic 3 versus 3 combat. Get your weapons and defeat the enemy team with pure skill and finesse. Teamwork is essential here: shield your allies, assist in attacks and if one of your teammates is down, you can use your grapple hook to get to them and heal them! It’s about sharing your resources to help others.
Capture Point: Strategic point capture mode to spice up 3 verse 3 team battles. Stay in the point areas to capture them and utilize all your arsenal to keep them at all costs. The team with the most points walks away victorious! This is where the accounting department can face off against the mobile sales team. Learn strategy and come up with a plan on the fly.
To keep things interesting, you will visit a plethora of carefully-crafted arenas, both outdoors and indoors, for an all-terrain grapple experience. From sci-fi factories and expansive cave systems to Japanese temples or Greek monuments, there’s no shortage of colorful locales in which to shoot your buddies. To help you navigate these environments, players can find special 3D maps scattered throughout each arena. Work smarter…not harder!
Once you master your grappling hook, your enemies (like Kyle in communications or that kid who didn’t pull his weight on the group science project) will never know what hit them! Combine that with the plethora of weapons at your disposal, and you’ll be unstoppable.
Grapple Tournament will be released in Early Access for Steam supporting all major VR headsets around late October 2020 with Oculus and Viveport versions soon to follow.
If you want to apply for the beta test, click here. Join their Discord for more information.
Image Credit: Tomorrow Games
