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Meta announced that people will have more time to claim a free copy of the game Asgard’s Wrath 2 for buying a Meta Quest 3. The offer was originally only covering up through headsets purchased in January 2024 and activated by February 2024, but now the offer lasts until June 30, 2024.

Here’s how it works. Someone first must buy a Meta Quest 3. That applies to the 128GB model that is $499 or the 512GB one that is $649. After that, go to the product page for it on the company’s storefront. Instead of showing the normal $59.99 price, you will be able to see an “install” option. Do that, and you’ll “purchase” and get the free game.

While thisis a sequel to Asgard’s Wrath, you don’t need to have played the original. The introduction catches people up with what’s going on. After a brief summary, you’re sent after Loki and deal with different other gods along the way. There are even open world elements and you can bolster your relationships with certain allies.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 is available for the Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro, and it is free with Meta Quest 3 headset purchases until June 30, 2024.

The post Asgard’s Wrath 2 Will Be Free With Meta Quest 3 for Longer appeared first on Siliconera.

It can feel like a lot of VR adventures can sort of chop an experience up into sections, not really feeling on par with a title you’d play on a console or PC. With Asgard’s Wrath 2, I felt like I was going through a definitive action-RPG that had these open world experiences and would feel as home on a PS5 or Switch as it does in VR on the Quest 3. 

Asgard’s Wrath 2 picks up where the sequel left off. Betrayed by their “mentor” Loki, the player’s fledgling god is trapped. After a supernatural creature breaks into the otherworldly tavern where you’re locked away and a brief bout with it, the three Weavers pluck you out of danger and reveal that fledgling is really a Cosmic Guardian. Loki used the power gained in the first game to head to new realms, and now the player goes from Norse mythology to Egyptian mythology, working alongside Horus and his allies to face Set and new opponents. It’s a big game that sends you off through different worlds, with four heroes and five followers to rely on at your side.

I didn’t expect this sense of scale. Aegir's Hall and the Temple of Atum ease someone into the adventure. Explore one building. Go through rooms of a dungeon leading up to the exit. But once in Horus’ hideout and the more open world, it really felt like I was exploring any other action-RPG. While Horus’ home isn’t massive, you can look up and around to see the statues’ height, peek around corners on your way to speak to Bes, and are just in this larger space. But then in the open areas of the desert itself, it just feels like there are opportunities. 

For example, not long after taking my first steps into the desert, I was following a trail of destruction while searching for my first follower. I saw one of the larger Apex Predator enemies that someone encounter. However, it wasn’t coming after me. Rather, it was attacking some of the humanoid minions of Set, wiping them out. It really helped set the scene as I watched from afar. (Later, when I’d get to face the Deathstalker and similar foes, it almost felt like okay, this is starting to feel like maybe how I’d want to approach a VR Monster Hunter game.) As I continued, I found off-the-beaten path areas with enemies three or four levels higher than I was, guarding treasure and in spaces that encouraged me to explore on my way to objectives. With that, it helped that other players may have left Dark Souls-like Cosmic Projections as a ghost “alert” to a point of interest.

Combat also is deeper than I expected. For example, your first hero Abraxas has a sword and a throwing axe, with the sword also being used for grappling in some situations and the axe for ranged attacks or hitting switches. Cyrene and Alvilda both have these ranged components, which mean you could use Cyrene’s harp or jellyfish to attack from a distance or hit multiple enemies, while Alvilda can shoot arrows with her bow, toss a mine. The different heroes’ movesets mean that you get to experiment with combat styles, then can prioritize ones you like when exploring or going into the Uncharted Rift roguelike dungeon in the Inbetween. It’s diverse, comfortable, and even feels like it’s good for accessibility considering the different melee, ranged, and control means for each type of moveset and weapon. Combine that with a skill tree for characters as they level up, the followers you can use as mounts to go around the world, and the skill trees for them, and it's all just very complex.

Even more so because these people can have some distinct personalities! When your Cosmic Guardian is riding shotgun in a hero's body, they'll banter and offer insight into the world with you. (Spoilers aside, Abraxas' initial conversations got me wondering about the differences between the Norse gods in Asgard's Wrath and Egyptian ones in Asgard's Wrath 2, as well as the relationships between the divine and mortals.) With your followers, it feels like they grow alongside you. I'd even say enemies become bigger "jerks" due to how they begin to learn and adapt to your go-to moves, unless you drop down to the easiest difficulty level that prioritizes the story.

The design of it also makes me feel like it’s skirting the line between accessible and showcasing VR game staples while doing so in an integrated way that doesn’t make them feel like a gimmick. Yes, there’s a fishing minigame, but you catches could be used as components when creating items or as a follower gift. You could go through minigames that involve using a slingshot to hit targets or sliding disks on a grid to land on certain spaces and appear on a leaderboard. Even the Uncharted Rifts roguelite dungeons can feel like a short combat experience more akin to other VR fantasy adventures focused on going through a few challenges and facing foes. The only time I felt like things were leaning into territories where it was a bit frustrating or unnecessary involved some context-sensitive actions for certain moves or actions. A good early example involved throwing Abraxas' axe, holding a trigger, then making a motion with your hand to alter its path to hit switches. Learning the proper and timing frustrated me a bit.

I also appreciate how it almost feels like Asgard’s Wrath 2 is breaking the fourth wall in its adventure. It acknowledges that when you’re using these human heroes, there are moments when you’ll hold Y to step back into your full, Cosmic Guardian god form. This larger being has a greater view of the world around them and can influence the environment in different ways, allowing for some really fun puzzles. Especially when they also involve realizing when to transfer your consciousness back into the hero you’re controlling for the next steps.

It also feels like it strives for the sort of interactions between characters that we’re seeing in games like God of War and Mass Effect. There is actually a relationship system with followers that allows you to become friends with them via interactions like gifts. Your characters gain new skills via a tree, and so do them. You have additional side quests you can take, though that could involve a fetch quest like grabbing some ingredients while you’re doing other things in the world. You’re able to go out of your way to hunt or fight these optional, stronger than usual enemies like Apex Predators, take those items to cook or craft equipment, and benefit from it. 

Also, given that Asgard’s Wrath 2 and Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR are the two big Quest games recently, I sort of feel like I can’t talk about one without touching on the other. It feels like Asgard’s Wrath 2 is, at times, a more cohesive game with experiences that lead one into the other. You aren’t going through scenarios, with the various acts from each part of the story tying in well to each other. However, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR can sometimes feel technically impressive in another way. There are times when the textures here are noticeably weird or character models are taking a bit of a hit more, perhaps in part because Sanzaru Games is doing so much, while the environments and elements looked more realistic in Ubisoft’s latest. (For a great example, approach the telescope in the one room of Horus’ hideout.) While both games felt quite stable, I felt like that Asgard’s Wrath 2 seemed like it offered a more consistent frame rate and smoother experience overall. I did run across some bugs in my time playing, but the patches and updates appeared so frequently that any of the issues I had should be remedied by now.

I know I touched on accessibility earlier, but Sanzaru also included an array of options designed to help ensure anyone of any skill level or VR familiarity could play Asgard’s Wrath 2 on the Quest 2 or 3. You can set the difficulty, of course. But you can also do things like set up blinders on the sides during moving, set turn speeds, or choose to have a reticle to prevent motion sickness, with presets and customizable fine-tuning available. There were a few instances in Uncharted Rifts and boss fights with a lot of movement where I did still feel the effects of VR, especially when I used Alvilda, but it’s quite manageable. 

I’ve referenced the Asgard’s Wrath 2 Uncharted Rifts mode a lot by this point, and its inclusion almost made me feel like I was going through two Quest 3 VR games at once. This is an optional feature that lets you head into procedurally generated dungeons for roguelike runs in the Inbetween area. You’ll see enemies and sorts of situations like you would in the main game. The rooms could feature fights, an area you need to explore to reach the end, a chance to get items by finding or buying them, or a boss. You can also get modifiers to help with each playthrough and collect items you can use in the main game. Most of my focus was on the main campaign, so I only dabbled with a few runs, but it’s like a genuine, spin-off complement that lets you focus on the combat and exploration mechanics if you really enjoyed them in the main game.

As I went through Asgard’s Wrath 2, I started to feel like it’s the Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt VR equivalent for the Meta Quest 3. It’s basically a pack-in, since everyone with that headset gets it for free so long as they buy the headset before February 27, 2024. It’s a showcase of everything the device is capable of, much like Nintendo’s pack-in. It also offers a sense of versatility and variety, while still catering to any sort of audience. It’s a genuinely cool, well-crafted endeavor, and the fact that the only real flaws I encountered when playing had to do with its textures sometimes looking a bit outdated, some actions were a little frustrating, and some bugs that should already be fixed in the build everyone will get left me very impressed.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 will be available on the Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro on December 15, 2023. 

The post Review: Asgard’s Wrath 2 Brings a Console Quality Action-RPG to VR  appeared first on Siliconera.

The action-adventure genre is one of the kinds of games best-suited for VR experiences, with the original Asgard’s Wrath being an early Oculus staple. After going through part of Asgard’s Wrath 2, it feels like Sanzaru may be building even further on the original while incorporating staples from console action-adventure and action-RPG staples.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 begins shortly after the first game, but in such a way that it invites newcomers into the adventure. Loki, as the god often does throughout many forms of media, betrayed the player and sought power on his own. After breaking out of the tavern where they were trapped, the player character is attacked by what looks like a griffin with Egyptian ornaments and is picked up by the Weavers. (Think of the three as being like the Norns in Greek mythology.) After dubbing the player a Cosmic Guardian, they send you out to track down Loki again.

It’s then that the story begins in earnest and I was able to really get an idea of what challenges Asgard’s Wrath 2 would present. I watched as a tomb raider named Abraxas broke into the Temple of Atum, encountered the imposing goddess Sakhmet, and fell low. It’s then that I was able to essentially possess him and step into his shoes, escaping the temple with him and starting the journey to find Loki together.

I suppose one of the things that first really impressed me about Asgard’s Wrath 2 is its dynamic nature. A lot of this isn’t all that much of a shock. The first game did a lot to really be active and immerse players, and we’ve seen games like Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR feature a lot of exploration and movement. But even the initial looks at the Temple of Atum, before our escape alongside Abraxas, help establish a level of motion, exploration, and puzzle-solving along the lines of a Tomb Raider or God of War game. 

Especially the moments when I’d step outside myself. I didn’t expect to suddenly stop possessing Abraxas early on and then step into my more godly role to solve a puzzle. But this extra degree of inventiveness showed how Sanzaru is willing to incorporate different sorts of VR experiences and elements into what would otherwise feel like a more traditional action-RPG and adventure. The godscale moments felt like a chance to play around, and I felt it was almost like a fourth-wall-breaking moment when such chances would happen.

Likewise, the combat early on impressed me and left me feeling more like I was going through a Skyrim sort of affair than a typical, detached VR “experience” in the best sort of way. Your weapons are easily accessible either via pulling them from your waist or by heading into the menu. Since Abraxas was my host at the outset, I could wield a sword and a throwing axe. While tossing it around involved a bit of a learning curve with regards to aiming, the actual combat was just easy to get into in the first few hours. With the exception of an early boss-type encounter with set patterns, I could just dash up to standard enemies and start attacking or throwing the axe at them, not waiting for their reactions. If there were unholy, humanoid minions and wasp-like enemies around at the same time, I could dodge so the wasp’s poison would hit the humanoid enemies and harm them. It really felt like I could experiment and play around within the confines of the “rules.”

Also important is that Asgard’s Wrath 2 almost immediately helps you find the comfort level that works for you in of accessibility and controls. It allows you to set up attacking, movement, and visual options to ensure you don’t encounter any motion-sickness and it is easy to play for extended sessions. When going through more dynamic moments, perhaps involving a ladder or rope, you can touch certain items to immediately trigger the movement from different positions. There were also multiple points that “saved” my progress and where I was, in the event my Quest 3 battery failed me.

It really feels like Asgard’s Wrath 2 could be the sort of game that gets referred to on the same level as other action-RPG adventures, rather than a VR adventure with setpiece moments that happens to have the same sort of approach as a God of War or Skyrim. It feels like Sanzaru could really be branching out and trying something with the game, and I’m curious to see how the rest of the adventure goes.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 will come to the Meta Quest 2 and 3 on December 15, 2023. 

The post Preview: Asgard’s Wrath 2 Feels Like a VR Adventure Packed with Action appeared first on Siliconera.