Even after all these years, VR still feels like a secret laboratory of game development, where some of the most creative developers work with incredible technology and tight budgets to deliver mind-shattering experiences for a dedicated audience.
And few developers have been as experimental in this medium as nDreams. From city-builders to Ghostbusters, Far Cry to turn-based tactics games, nDreams's VR projects have spanned the genres, showing how each one can be adapted and improved with the unique precision and immersion of VR.
Now, with a track record of success behind them, nDreams are making their most ambitious VR game yet: Reach, a cinematic sci-fi adventure that sees you infiltrating the reality-shifting stronghold of Ferra—a lost temple filled with traps, chasms, and otherworldly enemies.
Reach brings together nDreams' experimental design approach under one roof, as it combines elements of traversal, puzzle-solving, and combat, all bound by the philosophy of giving the player a high degree of agency in how they approach each situation. A key part of this freedom comes through the game's gadgetry: a shield that you can use to block enemy projectiles, throw at walls to create climbing platforms, and of course send spinning at enemies to slice them in twain.
Get yourself up to one of your meticulously placed ledges, then use your elemental bow-and-arrow to freeze, burn, and impale your attackers, which range from human-piloted helicopters to metallic sentries and ancient demons imbued with long-forgotten powers. If you like the look of a particular gun wielded by an enemy, no problem, just blast them away then gravitationally pull it into your own hands.
During the quieter moments—when you're scaling the temple's walls or solving one of its arcane puzzles—take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the space that you're exploring. Ferra's vaults are filled with impossible rock formations, ancient architectures, and even remnants of other realities, as recognisable chunks of city streets, cars, and buildings float through its vast chambers. Figuring out the 'why' of all this is part of your mission as the hero Rosa, who's guided through this world by the temple's enigmatic guardian.
PC VR players are particularly well equipped to appreciate nDreams' work here. Compared to other platforms, on PC you get increased resolutions, volumetric fog, post-processing, and unique lighting effects. Higher-end rigs, meanwhile, get to enjoy advanced light scattering (which will, for instance, make floating dust particles glimmer in the rays of light seeping into the temple, or mysterious objects emanate alien glows off of wet cave walls).
Finally, stationary lighting will respond to you—and your enemies—as you move past them, so approaching a blue force field will cause its blue aura to reflect off your hands, while a burning fire might give away an enemy around the corner by causing their shadow to dance on the wall behind them. All these little touches of visual flair make the Reach experience on PC that bit more spectacular, that bit more absorbing. Naturally, the magic of VR is in the mechanics as well as the all-enveloping graphics, and Reach is taking steady aim at both of those targets.
If you're interested in this next evolutionary step of one of VR's most prolific developers, head over to Steam and wishlist it now ahead of its October 16 release. The work at nDreams doesn't stop at Reach though, so if you want to see what they're working on in their VR lab you can follow them on X, Instagram, and TikTok.
