Our first look at Boneworks’ up-to-date gameplay is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Last month Stress Level Zero dropped the first look of their upcoming VR sandbox physics game, Boneworks. The 15-minute video has since sent the VR community into a frenzy as users foam at the mouth over the tight gun mechanics and incredibly-realistic physics.
Yesterday, the team released a second video, this one featuring up-to-date gameplay from an actual level within the game. Whereas the first video served as more of a tech demo, showcasing early-level mechanics, this latest release gives us a genuine look at what we can expect from the experience when it launches sometime later this year.
Throughout the nearly 20-minute video, design lead Brandon Laatsch leads a tour through one of the later levels of the experience, showcasing some truly amazing gameplay mechanics that further demonstrate the creative potential offered by the games impressive physics.
In this level, Brandon explains that you’re a VR developer putting the finishing touches on your new experience. The objective in this portion of the game is to reach and debug a clocktower accessible only by a series of procedurally-generated obstacles designed by AI technology.
Put simply, you’re trying to navigate a randomized metal jungle gym filled to the brim with destructible objects and hostile robot enemies. These mechanical, crab-like creatures are actually robotic VR headsets that want nothing more than to plant themselves on your head and immerse you into the OS even further.
Fear the mechanical crabs / Image Credit: Stress Level Zero
“You’re basically playing a VR game within a VR game, and the VR game only wants to further immerse you,” explains Brandon in the video. “It just wants to incept the hell out of you.”
The rest of the video showcases some ingenious design decisions, such as combating VR sickness by projecting a players shadow during portions of the experience where they don’t have a visual of their own body, as well as additional fine-tuning to collision mechanics between the player and in-game objects.
Once again, I have to point out the multiple similarities between Boneworks and Half-Life. The head crab-like enemy creatures and focus on crowbar-based gameplay already aroused suspicion of a link between the two properties; the realization that these critters are attempting to mount their head on the player is just too reminiscent of the legendary Valve franchise to not be related.
Could this be one of the three long-rumored VR experiences Valve promises will introduce the next wave of VR gaming? Could this be a launch title for the upcoming Valve Index?
Boneworks is currently in the Top 40 most wish-listed games on Steam and THE most wish-listed VR game.
