Doll-CityVR Demo

Although VR technology is still not quite there yet, it did manage to rise a lot in a very short time period. Hence, the first few prototypes were released only a few years ago, yet they are now powerful enough to render almost life-like environments, thanks to graphics engine like Unreal Engine 4, or CRYENGINE 3.

Doll-CityVR is a different kind of VR experience, because it doesn’t necessarily assault you with in-your-face special effects and various other such tricks to take advantage of the medium. Instead, it’s actually just a very intriguing platformer in which you control a small girl trying to make her way around all sorts of obstacles and traps, as well as a few enemies later on.

The story and the setting are very peculiar as well, although it’s also worth noting that it can be a tad disorienting when it comes to figuring out what’s going on. The cyberpunk theme is quite obvious, but there are not many clues regarding what your purpose might be, or what the main character’s story is. On the other hand, this is merely a prototype to present the idea to the public, so it’s OK if the details are not sorted out yet.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, there’s not much to do yet, other than jump and destroy a couple of boxes. The goal is to keep moving forward at all costs, since there’s always a way to overcome obstacles and continue your journey. As mentioned before, there are no enemies as of right now, but you can get a sneak peek at what’s coming, and it should be mighty interesting to say the least.

The level design is worthy of a mention as well, as disorienting as it may sometimes be. However, the cyberpunk world is certainly memorable, at least if a bit more background story is added until the full release. The game uses Unreal Engine 4 as its graphics engine, so it obviously has all the power it needs at its disposal.

In the end, Doll-CityVR might be pretty and all, but it needs to say something as well. Thus, while the idea certainly has merit, there’s a long way to go until this can turn into a playable game, and a good one at that.