Download Crytek’s ‘Back to Dinosaur Island 2’ VR Demo for Oculus Rift Now

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Crytek has released their impressive VR tech demo Back to Dinosaur Island 2, the precursor to their forthcoming Oculus Rift exclusive The Climb and PlayStation VR exclusive Robinson: The Journey, to download for free right now.

See Also:  Hands-on: Crytek’s ‘Robinson The Journey’ Prototype is a Visual Feast, Built for Motion Controls
See Also: Hands-on: Crytek’s ‘Robinson The Journey’ Prototype is a Visual Feast, Built for Motion Controls

One of Road to VR‘s favourite demos at E3 2015, Back to Dinosaur Island 2 represented a milestone for developer Crytek as representing the company’s increased and impressive commitment to virtual reality game development.

The demo would later evolve into the forthcoming Oculus Rift exclusive title The Climb and features their CryEngine in full flow, generating beautiful pre-historic vistas as you, the player, attempts to scale an immense cliff. However, the demo is also the pre-cursor to the developer’s next major project, PlayStation VR exclusive Robinson: The Journey.

Back to Dinosaur Island 2 gives players the chance to get to grips with Crytek‘s ingenious gaze-based climbing gameplay, which will feature fully in The Climb to be released exclusively for the Oculus Rift later this year. The Oculus Rift went up for pre-order in January and is expected to begin shipping later this month.

Download Back to Dinosaur Island 2 on Steam for Oculus Rift

Crytek has thrown itself headlong into virtual reality development with “I’m not going to go into specific numbers, but I would argue that we’re one of the largest VR development teams on the planet today,” said David Bowman, Director of Production at Crytek, speaking with us at E3 last year. “We’ve one full team working on Robinson and that team’s growing as we speak … and of course we’re going to continue with experimentation in VR” said Bowman. “One example in the demo you’re about to see it’s possible to fall, and if we let you bounce off the rocks like we did in the first version of this demo you would get sick.” says Bowman. “So we did 20 iterations of falling ’til we got to a solution set that we like. That’s the kind of things you have to do to make great VR.”

back to dinosaur island 2 robinson the journey prototype e3 2015 (4)

Crytek said they’re releasing the demo after previously only being seen at industry events due to the positive feedback the team received. Crytek’s Executive Producer, Elijah Freeman, said, “The feedback we received from people who played Back to Dinosaur Island 2 was really encouraging, and the lessons we learned from creating it have been significant for our current VR projects. The demo goes beyond being merely a visual showcase and includes interactive elements that harness the unique power of the medium. By making this experience available for free, we hope as many players as possible will take the opportunity to feel truly present in a new world of dinosaurs.”

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Yoan Conet

    Awesome vr Content seems to arrive faster than i expected

  • mareknr

    Will Crytek add support for keyboard and mouse game control. Or other gamepads? I have Logitech RumblePad and no chance how to control the demo. I can start it and see my hands in the beginning but I can’t start climbing.

    • gothicvillas

      Don’t you have triggers? Those are for climbing.

      • mareknr

        I have triggers but they didn’t work. It seems you have to have XboX controller to get it work. Unfortunately.

        • gothicvillas

          oh bugger. I play with PS4 controller so not only xbox but i see what you mean.

  • superjaycool

    WTF? Only playable with a controller????

    • care package

      Are any VR games being developed to work with a keyboard and mouse? Using a K&M would seem to be kind of pointless since the point to VR is to be able to move around a bit.

      • Voice of Reason

        superjaycool is likely referring to the fact that the Rift does not yet have tracked motion controls, while it’s competitors have Playstation Move and Vive wands. This demo being for Rift only means it’s only playable with the Xbox controller that comes with the Rift, which is obviously an inferior control method for such a game.

        • care package

          If he’s got a vive pre sure that makes sense.

  • mpeniak

    yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, gonna get the controller now!