The 23rd annual D.I.C.E. Awards were held this week and there were some surprising winners and losers across the various categories, not least the virtual reality (VR) sections. While big-name titles like Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding only took home two awards from eight nominations, Cloudhead Games and Sony London Studio were the big VR winners from the event.
In the category of ‘Immersive Reality Technical Achievement’, Asgard’s Wrath, Blood & Truth, Pistol Whip, Stormland and Westworld Awakening were all nominated. Blood & Truth was the eventual winner.
One of VRFocus’ favourite PlayStation VR titles of 2019, Blood & Truth mixes high action gameplay with a tightly woven storyline and cinematic cutscenes as you play a Special Forces officer trying to take down a crime lord. It got a full five-star review: “While you don’t have the freedom of Borderlands 2 VR for example, with Blood & Truth you have a far more focused videogame that knows what it wants to achieve, and that’s put a smile on your face. From start to finish Blood & Truth is one hell of a ride, a finely choreographed John Woo movie that’s all about sheer entertainment.”
The other category was ‘Immersive Reality Game of the Year’ with Asgard’s Wrath, Blood & Truth, Pistol Whip, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets and Trover Saves the Universe all up for the coveted award. That went to Cloudhead Games’ rhythm-action shooter Pistol Whip a videogame which has received lots of positive feedback from players. VRFocus’ review went onto say: “Pistol Whip is huge amounts of fun even on the easiest difficulty setting, suitable for VR players no matter their skill level.”
Pistol Whip arrived in November 2019 supporting Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. December saw the studio release the “High Priestess Update” adding a new scene and updating the modifiers. Cloudhead Games recently released a new scene called “Akuma”, inspired by the Neo-Tokyo of anime action classics like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The update also laid the groundwork for monthly content updates, each including a free new scene, leading up to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2020.
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via Mint VR