I sit down when I play VR games, so I like it when the character I’m playing is also sitting. Turns out I also like it when the character I’m playing has telekinesis. In the stylish puzzle game Esper 2, you play as a telekinetic spy who sits. Best of both worlds!
Here’s a quick video of me playing some of the game. Sorry there’s a mouse pointer in the clip; I didn’t notice it until I’d already recorded. Hopefully it’s not too distracting.
What it is: Esper 2 is made by a British game studio called Coatsink. It’s a sequel to Esper, a similar puzzle game they put out last year for the Samsung Gear VR. You play as an psychic secret agent in the 1970s; in this world, spy work mostly consists of sitting in a chair and solving an increasingly elaborate series of physics puzzles.
You can only manipulate objects in the environment by “grabbing” them and them moving them with your head. Esper 2 is stylish and good-natured in a way that channels Quantum Conundrum with a dash of No One Lives Forever. As you’ll see in the video, the puzzles eventually get pretty trippy and the game messes with you by changing things around when you’re not looking. If it weren’t for the weirder stuff I’d probably lose interest, but thanks to the second level I show in the video, I’m definitely going to keep playing.
I’ll be posting a series of short videos like this one to give an idea of how these VR games work. For more thoughts on the Oculus Rift itself, check out my full write-up.
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