Virtual Reality headsets are still finding their way in a world filled with consoles that force the players to remain in boring old regular reality.  Some games attempt to create an immersive experience that simulates an interesting real activity while others try to take a popular game format and bring new life to it.  The technology, while still being relatively new, has not yet reached a holodeck level of realism inside their virtual worlds, they have succeeded at creating a level of immersion that recreates the feeling of actually living inside of a video game, which was a secret wish of a much younger me.  Wrath of Loki:  VR Adventure fits in the category of attempting to make a familiar style of gameplay seem new.

As one may have guessed from the title, Wrath of Loki takes place inside a fantasy world inspired by Nordic legends.  The VR headset teleports the player to Asgaard which is where all the cool Nordic gods call home these days.  As is typical of the Asgaard neighborhood, Loki is up to no good and trying to bring about Ragnarok, aka the end of days.  The player, stepping into the goatskin boots of Thor, ventures out to put an end to the mischievous god's act of no goodery.  Stopping Loki's nonsense requires a magic artifact known as the Horn of Heimdall, which just so happens to be conveniently disassembled across several lands.

The several lands that are explored are three domains of the Nordic gods, which would be Thor, Freya, and Odin.  Each land has a section of the magic artifact but the player has to collect a certain number of component pieces.  These pieces are hidden everywhere, and the player needs to look in every direction to find them.  Some of the pieces are tricky to find but none of them border on impossible.  There is a a hint option included for situations where 19/20 objects have been found and you just can't bring that final object into focus.

The final confrontation with Loki occurs after all pieces of the Horn of Heimdall have been acquired and the artifact is reassembled.  The battle with Loki is fought in the same style as the rest of the game, where different symbols in the sky need to be connected in order to stop his mischief.  It doesn't feel like much of a battle and finding the symbols to connect is less challenging than some of object hunting leading up to it, but it does provide a unique boss battle.

Wrath of Loki plays like an old point and click adventure where the player searches for hidden objects.  The twist is the player is standing in the middle of a three dimensional and has to search for them the way one would look for things in real life.  To find an object in the sky the player has to tilt their head up to see the sky.  Objects behind the player will become visible if the player physically turns around.  When an object is highlighted simply tap the side of the headset and the item will be acquired.

I can only imagine what people were thinking when they observed me playing this game at PAX.  I was walking in circles, tilting my head up and down, while randomly tapping on the VR headset.  Everything I was doing made perfect sense to me inside the game world, but to an onlooker with no context for my behavior it was probably somewhat amusing.  I was mainly surprised I didn't clumsily crash into the computers that were running the displays at the demo station and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Closing Comments:

Wrath of Loki:  VR Adventure is a rather short game that is designed to be completed in twenty to thirty minutes.  This was a deliberate decision of the developers based on being able to complete the game in one session without playing long enough to experience any discomfort from the headset.  I have to admit that playing Wrath of Loki was an enjoyable experience.  The hand drawn environments look great in the headset and getting to play as Thor is a definite plus.  This title is currently available for the asking price of about three bucks, which is well worth it for a VR title that forces the player to get off the couch and move around.  This title alone is not justification to run out and purchase an Oculus Rift, as Wrath of Loki requires that device or Gear VR or Google Cardboard, but people who already have a VR headset owe it to themselves to check out this title.