Hybrid first and third person VR game Mixture gets a March release date for PC and PSVR2
But is it a moth-st buy?
I hate moths. Stupid, silent, fluttery little things that come out of the darkness when I least expect it and flitter across the back of my neck like creepy little ghost fingers. Urrrrgh, utter a-holes the lot of 'em.
And what are they even made out of? Dust by the looks of things, and I mean, how does that even work?
I honestly don't know. But I do know that Mixture, a hybrid first and third person VR game does work, because I've played (most of) the upcoming Steam Next Fest demo for this week's VR Corner.
Along with the Steam Next Fest demo, Mixture has also, finally, been given a March 1st release date for PC VR and PSVR2, which is just over a year since it launched on Quest.
Its developer describes Mixture as a 'Self-Co-Op' game, which honestly makes it sound more like a dodgy Hentai game to me, but that's because I'm an immature idiot. 'Self-Co-Op' is actually a unique mixture (geddit?) of third and first person gameplay.
Much like the fantastic Moss games, Mixture sees you play as a gigantic ghostly figure, but here, instead of physically interacting with the world, you have to use motion controls to suck up ingredients which can be used to create alchemical mixtures of varying properties. These can then be lobbed at enemies and obstacles that will react differently to each mixture thrown.
While doing all of this you also need to use the thumbsticks and buttons on the motion controllers to move a smaller character (in this case a Moth (ewww) Knight) around the levels which, in my experience, can be quite taxing on the old brain when you're trying to do all of these things at once!
Unlike the enchanting Moss though, the visuals in Mixture are rather bland. Don't get me wrong, they can be quite stylish at times and some of the distant views are rather beautiful, but more often than not the places where the action happens feel basic and repetitive. Especially as the levels themselves seem to be little more than corridors punctuated with areas that flick between uninspired platforming puzzles and rather dull combat arenas.
The Next Fest demo is rather beefy though, I played for about 90 minutes before I realised it wasn't a game for me and by that point I still hadn't reached the end so you'll at least get a good idea of whether it'll be a game for you if you do decide to give it a download. And there's a high chance you might like it more than I did because the Quest version actually has loads of positive reviews.
Talk about a mixture of opinions!