This may not be the popular opinion amongst the population, but since its introduction, I have pretty much always believed that VR is just a fad and that it will go the way of motion control, leaving behind very few memorable games. After E3 2018, however, my stance on the technology has changed drastically, and I now see the benefits of being fully immersed in a game. While I played a few VR games during my time in Los Angeles, a couple of them stood out to me as being the most unique by a country mile, and one of them is Arca’s Path.
I’ll be sincere, going into Arca’s Path, I had absolutely no expectations. I had no idea what the title was about, and frankly, I had never even heard of it before. So when I saw images from the game at the show, I was very skeptical as to what it would entail. Little did I know that when I would get out of the demo, I would have experienced one of the most creative and relaxing VR games I’ve seen.
The plot of Arca’s Path is quite simple. You attempt to guide a girl, is represented by a tiny ball, through a mysterious world. The real exciting part, however, is how the game plays. While the game is technically a platformer, it’s like no other. Instead of using a controller to move, you tilt your head in different directions to move the ball. This, in turn, is meant to bring a more relaxing experience, and boy does it work.
In the full version of the game, players will be able to find collectibles and, once they’re all found, players will be able to see how fast they can complete each level in Time Trial modes, however, for the sake of the demo, I didn’t experience any of these things. In addition to that, the full version of the game will feature music from the British electronic music producer Raffertie.
Of course, easily the most memorable part of the demo was the controls. Maybe it was the fact that I had the demo on the last day of the convention and I was exhausted, but being able to sit down, turn off the outside world, and immerse yourself in a new one was terrific, which if you think about it, is the whole point of gaming in general.
I got to play the game for around thirty minutes, but during that time, I was only able to play the first two levels of the game. Because of this relatively short exposure, I’m unsure about other aspects of the game. The length is the primary concern for me. This is a game that I don’t want to run out of content quickly, so I hope that if the length is short, the game gets DLC in the future.
All in all, Arca’s Path is easily one of the most creative VR games I’ve ever seen. As a college student with a hectic life, it’s honestly convinced me to pick up a PlayStation VR at some point in the future, just so that I can come home from school and relax for two hours. While other games have allowed me to unplug from the world in the past, no title has done it as well as Arca’s Path.