Journey for Elysium in the test

In "Journey For Elysium" (we reported) you are between the world of the living and the dead. You have actually died. You have to explore your surroundings and interact with objects to learn new fragments about your past. Because you know nothing about yourself. There is no name, no origin and you also don't know why you are already paddling down the underworld river towards Hades and bone hands want to grab you.

Avoid seasickness

"Journey for Elysium" focuses heavily on explorative elements. The journey begins with a canoe on the banks of the Styx, the river that flows into the underworld in Greek mythology. While paddling virtually, we initially felt a little queasy in the stomach area until we, as inexperienced sailors, found out that the two-handed water stabbing works better if you position yourself at the tip of the boat. But not everyone is a professional paddler. Nevertheless, the game mechanics are well done. For example, you can naturally push yourself off rock faces if you're heading in the wrong direction.

No support for all game controllers

You can choose between free movement or teleportation for the controls. We would recommend free movement to more experienced VR gamers who rarely or rarely suffer from motion sickness. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are primarily supported. Although not listed as compatible by Steam, we also tested with other VR glasses and control units out of curiosity. Although the Valve Index controllers respond to the basic scheme, they pose certain problems with the narrow trackpad in the free-locomotion configuration because the control direction could not be precisely aimed, at least in our beta pre-release version. Unfortunately, the Vive Cosmos controllers were once again unusable. But then again: The support is primarily attributed to the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.

Dark scenes, beautiful castle ruins

After crossing the Styx, you will be stranded in a deserted bay, where you will now move through a multi-storey complex in search of new materials. For example, you have to climb several ladders in a building complex to search for a missing cogwheel, which you insert further down near a control dome to trigger an interaction. We don't want to reveal any more at this point. The pitch-black environment with detailed ruin walls fits in well with the action and gives this dark exploration game its very special charm.

The puzzles are kept rather simple, which is why the underworld journey is also suitable for beginners who rarely embark on virtual adventures. The duration of the game is correspondingly short. We played through the title from the two Belgian companies Cronos Interactive and Mantis Games in less than two hours. Nevertheless, the small underworld epic is still worth a recommendation. "Journey for Elysium" was released on 31 October and costs around 17 francs on Steam.