FALCON AGE

A bird in the hand is worth a lot in PS VR

FORMAT PS4, PS VR / PLAYERS 1 / DEV OUTERLOOP GAMES

We tend to see games from the perspective of colonisers but not too many games deal with the colonised,” Chandana Ekanayake, co-founder and studio director at Outerloop Games, tells us. “It’s an old theme but we feel like we can offer a new perspective to it.”

Ara lives on a dying, resourcedrained planet, her home being stripped bare of raw materials by machine colonisers. Befriending a young falcon, she learns more about the lost art of falconry that goes back to her family roots, and joins up with the resistance to push back against the invaders alongside her new friend.

CLAWS OUT

“While we were brainstorming ideas for games we wanted to make, I saw a YouTube clip of golden eagle attacking a mountain goat that sparked my interest,” Ekanayake explains. “[When prototyping] the first time we were able to whistle for the falcon ingame and experience her landing on our hand was the moment we knew that this could work.” Played in first person, it feels perfectly natural to have your falcon friend right next you. And, of course, to have the option to play in PS VR using PS Move controllers (though you can play with a DualShock if you prefer).

“We offer comfort controls for players that are more prone to motion sickness, and also offer lots of options for players that want to customise locomotion,” Ekanayake tell us. “In VR, we default to a teleshift that teleports the player with blinks and orientation controls. Players can turn on an option to walk through the environment and use standard FPS controls if they want.”