Seeking Dawn in the test

More and more studios are conjuring up larger VR worlds in front of our lenses. Among them not only dim survival horror outings like "Resident Evil 7" in full length, but also many refreshing concepts with glow stick gymnastics à la Beat Saber and duck hunting reissues based on nostalgia of the Duck Hunt classic. There are numerous new additions that could be listed. But there is still a lack of picturesque VR time-outs with depth. Stranded on a mystical alien planet, "Seeking Dawn"Your fight for survival, the back story of which is told from voice recordings. You must first build a protective base from limited resources and look for well-scattered survival equipment. If only there weren't evil primordial creatures crawling out of every corner. According to the Californian developer studio Multiverse, it took more than two years to create "Seeking Dawn", which the makers classify as a sci-fi adventure. This is also indicated by the visuals of the detailed worlds. We take a VR diver.

"Seeking Dawn" was released on 12 July 2018 for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. Those who had pre-ordered the shooter early were allowed to feast on one of the 500 beta keys, with which access was already available more than ten days ago. This included, among other things, the entire single-player campaign. Also for PlayStation VR a realisation is planned for this year. It is quite possible that it will take longer for the console because the Aim Controller support is still being worked on. The gameplay with the pistol gadget could work similarly well in terms of speed and control as in "Farpoint".

Much love for detail

The neo-apocalyptic work of art has already made VR hearts beat faster in many trailers and gameplay videos lasting several minutes. At the very beginning, you had to fight your way through a dark cave with extraterrestrial nasties, but suddenly you find yourself on a mystical bridge with flashing floor panels, while beautiful luminescent jellyfish buzz around you from the ether. It's those moments that make a player pause: spherical music, massive Stegano dinosaurs in a jungle clearing and whipping rubber trees from another world. One likes to stop for a moment and look in all directions. In this respect, however, the game also demands a lot from the PC hardware. With an older mid-range high-end graphics card, you might as well get a pack of gag bread.

Something for hunters and gatherers

The control with the optional full locomotion locomotion felt very smooth on the HTC Vive. There are two HUD menu rings, which take a little getting used to at first, because one option wheel serves as a quick menu, while the other is intended for closer inspection of all the utensils. There are all kinds of things to collect: wood, rock crystals, medicine, but also fruit, water and alien hamburgers. Whether many players are passionate about collecting is another question. The ammunition runs out so quickly, which means that you have to search the same jungle corners over and over again in the epic-long Turok manner. After all, you only want to build the next superwhammy. Medicine and drinks, however, are in short supply.

Too many objects

The fact that the protagonist then cries out for water and food every 15 seconds in an overlapping soundtrack bark can upset even the most daring of patience seekers. The mission tracking is also not entirely self-explanatory. Sometimes a next target is buzzing in front of your eyes, recognisable by a distance marker. Sometimes you are already in the next level, but the pointer that should guide you to the next target has suddenly disappeared. Worse still: Multiverse makes little effort to scatter a few hints about where to find a certain crystal or a type of wood for the next weapon. It helps to invite one to three VR veterans to a co-op mission. For example, after a long search, it was only through a sidekick that I became aware that certain trees could be made to explode with a weapon gadget. Multiverse: Just take out a few items and adjust the difficulty.