Back in 2020, I got really excited forHalf-Life: Alyx. And, when it came out, I played it and enjoyed it. That game launched just as the pandemic was breaking out across the United States, and I got permission to set my Index up in the conference room of my wife’s office while it was empty.
That, temporarily, gave me a space to get lost inVR. After Alyx, I left it set up for a while and played through Pixel Ripped 1995, too. But, at some point, everyone went back to the office, I put my rig away, and it has stayed packed up in a bag behind my couch for almost three years.
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AsSonyhas ramped up to the release ofPSVR2, I’ve largely been uninterested. I didn’t finishHorizon: Forbidden West. Why would I shell out for the hardware to play a VR spin-off game in the same universe? I didn’t, and I probably won’t.
But, Journey to the Foundation has me wondering if maybe it’s time to make room in my life, metaphorically and literally, for VR once again. The game, based on the book series by legendary sci-fi author Isaac Asimov, got a short trailer at this week’s State of Play and, in that one minute and 15 seconds, sold me on getting back into VR.
The trailer begins with a quote from Asimov’s Foundation that applies surprisingly well to playing video games: “To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.” Given that the game looks like a pretty straightforward shooter, the improvisation will likely be limited to seeing your opponent draw a gun, then yes and…ing a hail of bullets their way. To be honest, nothing about Journey to the Foundation looks especially remarkable, so I’m having a hard time putting my finger on why I resonated with it.
As a big sci-fi fan, I have a soft spot for unremarkable games as long as they’re set in space. Half-Life: Alyx was a great shooter, but what really drew me to it was the opportunity to poke around in a VR version of City 17.Guardians of the Galaxywas a so-so shooter, but it offered the opportunity to explore a colorful Marvel cosmos. I’m a big fan ofStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderbut I have no idea where my love for Star Wars ends and my affection for the game begins. Sci-fi fans use the word “evocative” a lot, and I think that’s because even when a work is broadly average, evoking something greater can be enough. If a game manages to gesture at some of the transcendent, overwhelming beauty of space, that’s sometimes all it takes to get me on board.
That describes the bits of Journey to the Foundation we saw in the trailer. The world mostly looks a little lifeless, a little lacking in texture. But, the trailer has one really great shot of the stars through a space station porthole. I’m not sure if that’s enough to get me to pony up for an expensive headset, but it’s at least enough to get me thinking about it.
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