VR Stealth Game ‘Espire 1’ Coming to Vive & Rift in 2019, Teaser Trailer Here

11

Espire 1: VR Operative is an upcoming single-player Metal Gear Solid-style stealth game developed by Melbourne-based Digital Lode and published by Tripwire Interactive. It not only aims to be the “definitive VR stealth experience,” but also looks to kill VR-related nausea with its unique locomotion system.

Players take on the role of a drone operator of the future in Espire 1: VR Operative, wherein you remote-operate the ‘Espire model 1’ stealth robot from the safety of what the studios call the ‘Control Theatre.’ Outside of silently shooting down baddies with an arsenal of silenced weaponry, Espire 1 offers up a locomotion system that Tripwire and Digital Lode say eliminates VR motion-related sickness “for almost everyone.”

When a player wants to move across the map, an extreme version of what some developers call a ‘comfort cage’ will automatically pop up, reducing the size of the game world to a small window.

Image courtesy Digital Lode

Once you’ve made your move, chosen your angle of attack and come to a full stop, your peripheral vision comes back in. Tripwire and Digital Lode maintain that the Control Theatre is fully customizable, and depending on player comfort, can be completely disabled provided you can handle full locomotion.

The game is said to include a single-player story and scenario missions that reuse story environments for short challenges. Dozens of weapons will be available including assault rifles, silenced pistols, tranquilizer pistols, and deployable spy cameras in order to complete your mission objectives. A global leaderboard will also award players a competitive score based on mission time, movement, stealth, ammo conservation, and takedowns.

SEE ALSO
Tactical VR Shooter 'Zero Killed' to Arrive on Vive & Rift This Month, Gameplay Trailer Here

Using the VR headset’s on-board microphone, you can also make commands and perform actions simply by speaking, although any noise could draw the enemy to your location. AI will respond to light, sound and other factors that could end your mission.

Espire 1 is Digital Lode’s debut title. Besides acting as publisher of the game, Tripwire has also lent Digital Lode its producers, marketing, tech, art and audio leads to assist on Espire 1’s development.

There’s no exact release date yet, although the studio is shooting for release sometime in 2019.

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.


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 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • MasterElwood

    This looks awesome

    • jj

      it really does! and im happy someone is finally using voice recognition in vr

  • Foreign Devil

    VR will really be mainstream when titles stop having “VR” in their name.

  • Jinral Tao

    This looks interesting. There’s a possibility it cld rival Ready At Dawn’s “Lone Echo”. That wld be so awesome. This kind of gameplay is right up my alley. Looking forward to it.

    • Lucidfeuer

      Interestingly enough, Lone Echo too does have freedom of movement without motion sickness and inaugurated the “grab-to-move” mechanic displayed here.

  • johnny

    Looks amazing

  • VRgameDevGirl

    Omg… looks amazing!!!!

  • johnny

    The “free movement without motion sickness” feature sounds promising, I hope it indeed solves motion sickness, I hope this game will be great.

  • Lucidfeuer

    You had me at “freedom of movement without motion sickness”…I mean, yes?

    Oh right, there actually too few that even tried to figure it out, so it’s great news, and the game looks great. Hopefully, since they mention MGS, they didn’t forget to put ton of little easter-egg and interactive details.

    • NooYawker

      Smart way to combat it as well, I hate the black out tunnel vision. I can’t wait to see how well this works.

  • brubble

    Wherefore art thou CV2?….Lament.