A month ago, the best you could do for dogfighting in PC games was a tussle with one of Wolfenstein’s metallic hounds. Now look at us: Elite: Dangerous’ premium beta on one shoulder, Star Citizen’s Arena Commander module on the other, and a headset-full of Eve: Valkyrie on the horizon. We’ve more space than we know what to do with.
Elite’s cockpit view is already something to behold, but Valkyrie has the advantage of being just the dogfights. Its team don’t need to worry about MMO shards or interplanetary trade – only what it feels like to fire a laser. Here’s how they’re getting on:
Valkyrie was prototyped at CCP’s Icelandic HQ using the earliest Oculus Rift devkits. Intended only as an Eve Fanfest treat, the demo inspired such fervour that the studio flew over a few of their top staff to head up development in Newcastle.
Now Eve: Valkyrie will be an Oculus Rift launch title, and its lead designer hopes it’ll be a VR system seller, just as Halo was for the Xbox. Are you sold on its low-level asteroid field antics yet?