One of the more eye catching VR titles at Gamescom this year was Agent Simulation from Turkish company, Studio Gamebit. Their promotional stand had strong Hitman vibes. The images and the dual silenced pistol motion controllers made me feel like I was stepping into Agent 47’s shoes. Looking at the scrolling gameplay footage, it looks like things were more action-orientated. In fact, with its emphasis on shooting and dodging, it seemed more like being in The Matrix! I knew I had to give this game a go!
Agent ready for action!
Studio Gamebit’s Agent Simulation demo is available for free on SideQuest and Steam. You can also wishlist the full game for its predicted time of release is currently November at a price of $14.99.
Keep an eye on KeenGamer for more Gamescom updates. If you’d like to get caught up on what happened at Gamescom, check out my previous article on Opening Night Live. Or you can go here for my overview of the whole Gamescom event.
Story – Greetings Agent. Let’s Go Over the Basics
The setup of Agent Simulation is very simple. You are an agent, going through a virtual reality simulation to prove your worth to your organization. The demo started in a classic white VR open space. There, a giant disembodied head told me I’d be facing a series of training challenges. The first few challenges were very tame and gentle. It took me from how to pick up my gun to shooting targets, to shooting enemies, to shooting enemies who shoot back.
These challenges get steadily more realistic, taking me to hotel foyers, night clubs and a lobby that felt very reminiscent to that scene from The Matrix! Once I’d finished these challenges, the giant head returned to congratulate me and promised me more challenges to come in the full game.
Gameplay – He’s Starting to Believe… What It Feels Like to Be a Super Skilled Agent
After the initial gentle start, the adrenaline kicks in as you find yourself up against enemy agents. Hesitate at your peril! You’ll quickly learn that you need to take out before they take you out! The core gameplay is simple. Shoot your enemies whilst moving on the spot to avoid their incoming fire. Whilst you only technically needed to move your head, I found myself moving my whole body out of instinct!
Even though I was playing this on the easiest setting, it did still feel like quite a challenge. I did have a decent amount of time to see incoming bullets, which was appreciated. However, having multiple enemies shooting at you at once, means you have a lot to look out for. It only takes one of those bullets to reach you for it to be game over! Also, you had to make sure you didn’t run out of bullets during challenges. I found this especially difficult on challenges that required you to move between different areas. You do this by shooting movement icons in the level, using valuable bullets that could have been used on your enemies.
That said, Studio Gamebit have given players to option to choose certain perks at the start of the level to help you out. These include one shot kills on enemies, extra ammo, and slow motion. Playing with slow motion is where you really start to feel like you’re in The Matrix!
Activate that slow motion perk and dodge bullets like you’re in The Matrix!
Slow Motion a very useful move to use when you’re surrounded. It gives you valuable time to get headshots on everyone whilst dodging all their incoming bullets. Using that ability to turn a fire fight in your favor can feel incredibly epic. However, you’ll need to be careful on how much you use the slow motion perk, as it only lasts 4 seconds per level. Also, as with most VR games, you’ll need to be aware of your surroundings when dodging incoming fire, especially if you’re in a crowded convention center!
Graphics and Sound: Just How Immersive Is This Simulation?
As you can probably tell from the promotional images, graphics wasn’t a huge priority for this game. The enemy agents all appear as the same identical blocky, mouthless figures and the civilians you encounter are the same way. However, as a quick firing VR game set in a VR universe, I didn’t feel it needed to be graphically impressive to work well. The characters look identifiable friendly or unfriendly to set the mood and influence your actions. Meanwhile, the environmental graphics are enough to create a sense of being in different scenarios. Most of the sounds you’ll be hearing are your silenced pistol and the satisfying sound of bullets whizzing past you in slow motion.
In short, the graphics and sound did what they needed to to immerse you in the action. The real joy of playing Agent Simulation came from feeling like an incredibly skilled agent doing incredible fight scenes against the odds and coming out on top!
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- Shooting and dodging. Agent Simulation in a nutshell.
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- Enemies can come from all angles. Keep your wits about you!
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- Dodge their attacks and shoot back or headshot them all before they have a chance to attack?
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- This lobby looks strangely familiar…
Agent Simulation was previewed on the Oculus Rift 2.
