This new VR experience is called Homebound. Created by a veteran 3D artist promises to put you inside a crippled spacecraft, bound for a crash landing on earth and it features some of the most compelling visuals I’ve seen in a VR title to date.

There’s no doubt there’s a sizeable portion of our readership out there for whom travelling beyond Earth’s atmosphere into the vast beyond would make the perfect VR experience. But what if that experience also put you aboard a virtual, crippled spacecraft, hurtling back through that atmosphere, bound for earth and a collision of unquestionable finality? Yep, still piles of interest then …

Enter Homebound, the creation of one Wiktor Öhman, a nine year veteran 3D artist from the games industry and sole developer of Homebound, which Öhman describes as “a frantic VR Experience.” Built on Unreal Engine 4, Homebound is a VR experience which puts you through a series of catastrophic events beginning with you escaping a disintegrating mini-space station which is falling apart thanks to an unknown event. Your job, as you’re put through a series of increasingly hair-raising set pieces, is ‘just’ to survive.

What strikes you about Homebound‘s visuals is the sumptuous detail, with some stunning lighting to boot and a general level of production design and polish which seems entirely beyond a one-man project. Öhman works for Swedish company Quixel, who claim to be a leading light in the field of computer graphics tools, supplying companies like Tesla, ILM and (appropriately) NASA.

We asked Öhman what inspired him to take on such a mammoth development. “I’ve always been a huge sci-fi fan and I’ve been following SpaceX’s endeavours closely,” he says, “The whole environment started out with me wanting to create a SpaceX-styled environment, similar to the prototype Dragon V2 capsule.”

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On that decision to work with Epic’s Unreal Engine 4: “While creating the environment I kept envisioning all these cool scenarios that could take place there, so I started looking into how [UE4] Blueprints worked in order to try these ideas out. I’d never used Blueprints or scripted before, so it was all new to me. This all happened around the same time as Unreal Engine 4 got better VR support, so I thought I’d give VR game development a go as well. It felt like a very natural thing to do as the environment is very high res with a lot of cool material definition going on. There was a lot of firsts and a lot to learn, but I’m incredibly impressed with how easy UE4 is to learn”

The experience was developed for both the HTC Vive with motion controllers and Oculus Rift with joypad, and the project was recently Greenlit by the Steam community to appear on the software portal when it launches on October 1st. Update: We’ve been informed by the Quixel that the experience will launch soon, but the October 1st date as see on Steam was erroneous.

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Paul James
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.
  • Pete

    Hot damn!! Looks amazing!!! Launch day purchase for me!!!

  • James Friedman

    WOW! Adrift looked great but THIS looks incredible!

  • DExUS

    I had tried Adrift, and the experience was not plesent. Looks great, but feels bad.
    And I am no noob in VR, spending 6+ hours in VR games every day.
    This looks almost exactly the same as Adrift, even down to the HUD.
    In any case I will give it a try, let’s hope for the best.

    • Raphael

      So you’re saying that if i play adrift i will feel sick? As you say.. You’re no vr noob but adrift makes you feel uncomfortable. Well let me tell you… I’m no vr noob and my vr use extends back to the days of io systems pc3d. I’ve spent hours in adrift on vive and oculus and not even the slightest feeling of vomiting all over the carpet. So i guess that makes me a true vr veteran eh? :)

      • Get Schwifty!

        Wow…. really man? Feeling pride over an early interest in VR and high tolerance to motion sickness is something to feel proud about? That just kind of sad really…. he was referring only to himself as someone with some experience, injecting yourself into it his use of the term “noob” shows some kind of defensive narcissistic compulsion at work. Don’t take it all so seriously, it’s just VR dude….

        • Raphael

          Wrong. The implication was that because he was no vr noob and had no issue with long spells in vr that adrift was something that even the hardiest vr users would feel uncomfortable with. If he’d simply said adrift makes him feel ill that’s very different from explaining that he’s not a vr noob and it takes a lot to make him feel ill. Marked difference in the two approaches. Note that my response wasnt attacking him and i added a smiley at the end of my statement. All i did was state that I’m also not a vr noob and i have no issues with vr. Whilst im sure he will appreciate you leaping to his defense like a moderately well trained yorkshire terrier… It’s futile.

          Unfortunately for you the internet isn’t fully regulated and controlled yet. Thus i am able to offer an alternate perspective without your consent.

          I don’t even know where all that horsecrap came from about the pride in vr history? Pride doesn’t come into it in any shape or form. Merely offering a different perspective on a game i have zero issues with. If you can’t deal with that then i recommend cognitive behavioral therapy which is all the rage now.

          • beestee

            You drew a lot of your own conclusions from his simple statements.

            He did not speak to his hardiness as a VR user. Only that he spends a lot of time in VR and is still affected by motion sickness in Adrift.

            You did not state that you are “also” not a vr noob, you said that you are a “true vr veteran” implying that he is not a “true” vr veteran. So you are claiming superiority on the subject on the basis that either:

            1) You do not get sick playing Adrift, i.e. pride in your personal physiology as it pertians to VR use

            or

            2) You have been exposed to VR much longer, i.e. elitism

            Also, it is entirely relevant that he spends a lot of time in VR yet Adrift is an exception that makes him ill. Simply stating that Adrift makes him ill without that context could mean that any VR experience could make him ill.

            It is difficult to note that you were not attacking, considering that you at the same time feel that someone was futilely defending.

            You are somewhat correct about the internet being unregulated and your right to post your thoughts, but that also means that other users have the same right to hold you accountable for what you say, so in a way there will always be a form of self-regulation occurring within the internet. This is what drives me to attempt to be thoughtful before I begin typing.

          • Raphael

            I can see you are very proud of your thoughtfulness. Me saying I’m a vr veteran was not something i could say with a serious face. Anymore than i could keep a straight face when someone declares they’re not a vr noob but have no issues for many hours at a time except on adrift. The implication here is that adrift is somehow so nauseating that even a non-vr-noob can’t take it. Some of my vr owning friends also have adrift and have not complained of vomiting or feeling discomfort.

            Before we again misinterpret the overall meaning… I understand that not everyone will be able to play adrift without vomiting. I simply thought it rather hilarious that the victim gave us his credentials first to highlight the severity of this game in terms of spewing over carpet, desk or hard floor.

            So… It seems that while this guy is able to share his credentials as a vr non-noob… I’m not allowed to share my credentials as a non-straight-faced vr veteran.

            As Dr Laura would say… Being proud of not vomiting in vr isn’t something you can be proud of. It’s not a lifelong study or achievement. I can’t help it that i was born of superior DNA and again that is not something to take pride in for it was beyond my control.

          • beestee

            I think you are pushing the implication to the extreme to overtly prove a point, that you want more games with typical first-person locomotion.

            I won’t disagree that developers and hardware manufacturers need to get this figured out. These alternative forms of locomotion are breaking the experience…but that does not change the fact that typical methods for locomotion do cause discomfort for many, which can in effect turn those users off of VR altogether.

            You see it as irrelevant credentials that must be countered to discredit his experience of discomfort, I see it as a relevant VR acclimation metric. Several people I have demoed VR to have extreme sensitivity to these issues, I certainly wouldn’t put them in Adrift, but maybe Hacknet.

            Do you really think Adrift can be used as a hood ornament for comfortable VR experiences?

          • Raphael

            I think certain people are sensitive to certain types of motion. You say several people you demoed vr to have extreme sensitivity to those issues. I have a friend who gets sick in any non-vr game on a 60hz monitor. Can only play at 120hz. He’s extreme and I’m ashamed to call him a friend… He will never get to own vr because that too would make him fall off his chair or topple over. I think i see a future whereby all friends and family members are carefully sifted and sorted according to vr tolerance. Any who don’t measure up will be out the door.

            My vr owning friends dont have issues with adrift. One of them is sensitive to a few vr games where i am not.

            I wasn’t aware adrift was in the more extreme category though because it’s quite slow moving.

            I read quite a lot of feedback from people who develop vr legs (albeit virtual ones) and are able to play games that previously made them ill.

            So I’m wondering what percentage of uncomfortable people stop as soon as they feel uncomfortable/vomit versus gradually extending the time they spend on such a game..

            Someone told me recently he developed his vr legs by playing hl2 in vr. Once he got used to that he’s able to play anything.

            Having said all this.. I understand there are more extreme cases where current gen vr just doesn’t work for them. We need that multi plane display for natural depth cues and the peripheral shrinky thing nvidia is working on.

          • beestee

            Adrift is a very engaging experience, and even after experiencing effects of motion sickness within a short amount of time, I personally was able to withstand it for another hour and a half before feeling compelled to remove my Rift. I went in within about 10 minutes after that and lasted for another hour.

            I have not tried it since, but I am also not a heavy VR user. I would describe myself as a casual VR user.

            I do believe it is simply a matter of time before technology advances far enough to reduce or completely eliminate these issues.

          • Raphael

            I agree. The tech will improve. The only vr game i felt slightly dizzy/uncomfortable was ethan carter vr with eggbox controller. It’s not enough to force me to stop though and i could play through it any length of time but i guess that sensation is much worse for some people.

      • DExUS

        well all of the VR experiences are individual but some games are more prone to cause sickness than the others. I had some friends over and everyone who tried Adrift felt very uncomfortable in few seconds to minutes.

        • Raphael

          Were those friends vr non-noobs? Because if you took innocent non-vr noobs and subjected them to a vr game that even a vr non-noob can’t handle then that is cruel and sadistic. It would be like me getting my sister to do the Nevada run on Dcs 2.0 sitting in the f15. I haven’t done that because she hasn’t had the chance to visit for a while.

          • DExUS

            heh, yeah, it was something like that :)
            But it’s their fault, everyone wants to try “space stuff” and they were warned.

    • beestee

      I have the same problem in Adrift if I play more than 15 to 30 minutes.

    • RedLeader

      I hear this a lot, and I’m not taking it away from you – your experience was your own. For me, I can play Adr1ft for a couple of hours and only feel slight disorientation.

      I still get pretty motion sick in other FPS experiences like Alien: Isolation or VORPX though, so there’s definitely a range.

      I think for me, the knowledge that I was in a low-grav enviro definitely helped ease the normal associations of movement that would trigger sickness.

  • Raphael

    I like the quixel suite textures but then anything with quixel looks good. Hard to get an idea about the game from that clip. It looks like another adrift although i do like adrift. Planetary descent? That would be good as part of the gameplay and not a cinematic clip.

  • DiGiCT Ltd

    Good work !
    Looks amazing

  • DougP

    Looks fantastic! Been waiting for a game like this!
    Added to wishlist, Day 1 purchase for sure.