An asymmetrical horror game from Switzerland

Bright Eluja was the name of the horror game that the young team of Oniroforge at World VR Forum has presented.

The game has a really funny game principle. Two players play against each other. One player is in VR and the other has an iPad in front of him. The player in VR - the hero, so to speak - has the task of searching for a total of four keys in a creepy labyrinth. He has to be careful not to get caught by the monsters that the other player - the dungeon master - sends after him. The player on the iPad has a map in front of him on which drops of blood keep flashing. If he collects enough blood, one of the monsters is unlocked. The most favourable monster is a kind of camera, which he can then place anywhere on the map. The camera has a small radius, but when the player walks into this area in VR, the dungeon master knows approximately where the hero is. If the master then manages to activate another monster, he can place it in this region and the monster picks up the scent.

The trailer gives a brief insight:

The short demo with the Gear VR was fun. The graphics were well developed. You could control your hero by turning in the direction of travel and the movement itself was controlled via the touchpad on the headset. It couldn't be simpler, and yet: the player in VR has a hard time finding the four keys. None of us managed it at first go. A game with potential, in which many more ideas can certainly be incorporated. Of course, the keys can be found somewhere different in each game round, so you can play the game several times. In addition, more maps are being planned.

I particularly like the feature "Awaken your sadistic inner self. You can incarnate the Evil Boss and scare your friend".

Swiss company with drive

Oniroforge is based in Fribourg and is made up of artists and game developers. The team with Alexis, Qui and Yann has actually only recently come together. In 2015 and 2016, they participated in several game jams. They quickly created 20 prototypes during only two jams.

Hell Eluja also originally came out of a game jam; but not yet in VR. During the same time, however, they have been getting more involved with VR. Actually, they had planned an asymmetrical game with a guardian and a prisoner in VR. But then they decided to merge the dungeon with this game principle.

A good decision. The release of the game should still take place in the second quarter of 2017.