Explore an ancient temple using your own two feet in this unique room-scale VR experience.
Originally released on PC VR headsets back in 2021, the incredible room-scale VR game Eye of the Temple will soon be heading to Meta Quest headsets, according to developer Rune Skovbo Johansen.
This immersive VR experience tasks you with exploring a seemingly-endless labyrinth of deadly traps and environmental puzzles housed within a mysterious jungle temple. Instead of using artificial locomotion or teleportation, you navigate the sprawling complex by physically moving around in the real world.
Thanks to some clever level design, you only need about 2m x 2m (6.56ft x 6.56ft) of free space in order to play this expertly-crafted room-scale experience. The game uses a series of moving blocks and rolling cylinders to make it feel like you’re traveling long distances while keeping you contained in a small space IRL.
As you make your way through the temple, you’ll interact with ancient traps using your trusty torch and whip while dodging a wide variety of killer traps. There are also secret areas to discover and treasures to collect, offering much in the way of replayability. And if you’re feeling competitive, the game features additional speedrun challenges where you can race through the temple at a faster speed.
“I’ve worked extensively with Salmi Games to bring my vision of Eye of the Temple to life on the Quest 2,” said Rune Skovbo Johansen in an official release. “A lot of the game’s visuals, such as the lighting and water effects, had to be reimplemented from scratch in order to retain the same aesthetic on the lower-powered hardware.”
“We also had to create our own manual occlusion system to supplement the engine’s built-in solution in order to support the game’s expansive world,” he added. “We’re proud of the result and can’t wait for players to experience the game on its new platform.”
Personally, I can’t get enough of these experimental room-scale VR games. It feels as though Meta’s standalone Quest headsets were tailor-made for these types of untethered VR experiences. Hopefully, the response is positive enough on Quest to encourage more developers to explore this style of locomotion.
Eye of the Temple is available now for $19.99 on PC VR headsets via Steam and “coming soon” to Quest 2 and Quest Pro, according to the developer. For more information visit eyeofthetemple.com.
Feature Image Credit: Rune Skovbo Johansen
