It takes a great designer to make a game about taking a walk sound interesting, but that's exactly what Monument Valley creators Ustwo Games seem to have done in Land's End, which hits Gear VR next month. Just as with the MC Escher-channeling puzzler before it, Land's End focuses on experience, intuitive controls, and truly artful landscapes to pull players into a world they don't really want to leave—finishing Monument Valley was one of my most bittersweet gaming moments.
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The game takes place on an archipelago, which players navigate by simply focusing their eyes on "lookpoints" which move them forward and activate each part of the puzzles. Land's End has a very different interface from its viral predecessor, but it still captures the meditative qualities that made the smartphone game so accessible. "It’s the difference between painting and sculpture," technical director Peter Pashley explains to The Verge. "In VR, you can’t even really think of it as a screen, what you are in is a place. So it’s kind of like large-scale sculpture."The Land's End trailer dropped this morning, offering a tranquil glimpse into the familiar-yet-alien "large-scale sculpture."
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