As I was wandering the ever so vast internet, I stumbled upon this very interesting open world game called Nostos, an open-world VR game created by NetEase. Nostos is a simulation technology with real physical environment, a giant and seamless world map, freely moving system and oriental animated film art style build up a “Pioneer” image for this game.
Here’s a quick rundown of this game before I give my thoughts on it:
Players will play the role of explorer in Nostos to adventure, combat, build up and save the world with their partners. A variety of terrains, miraculous ecological communities and meteorological system, special doomsday costumes, as well as realistic combat experience will offer players extraordinary immersive gaming experiences.
● With a series of physics rules in real life being introduced, players can freely explore the game world, climbing cliffs or driving vehicles.
● Nostos shows a lively open world where organisms in the ecosystem can breed on their own. A sapling planted long ago might grow into a forest.
● The survival game which is set in the last days of the civilization may gradually reveal the stories of the mysterious ancestors on the land of Nostos.
● Nostos shows the world’s end with some sci-fi elements incorporated. It adopts the style of the traditional oriental animated films.
● Nostos is NetEase’s first self-developed VR multiplayer online game with an open world setting, supporting players on both PC and VR platforms playing together.
This game looks extremely interesting because it’s built with VR in mind first. Come on, I know what you’re thinking. Is this the SAO we’ve been waiting for? I’m not saying that just yet as I feel the technology for that type of immersion is too far off, however, this game might be able to emulate that feeling of entering a brand to new world. What drew me into checking out the game was the art-style of the concept art.
They were so damn beautiful and captivating that I just had to at least find out what material it was related to. Then I dug deeper and found their website, which by the way is also pretty damm amazing to look at. As I learned more about the game, I started to find out that there’s some notable names like Emi Evans & Kevin Fenkin who composed music in Nier Automata & Made In Abyss respectively, attached with this project. They’ve even gone as far as to to make their own language, which is crazy!
Now, this sounds all amazing but lets not forget that this is still a survival open world with sand box elements to it. We’ve seen time and time again were developers rely heavily on the gamers to come in and build the world themselves and on paper that sounds fun, but 80% of the time that’s not the case. I’m going to be upfront and say that I’m not sure were this game will be in the next few months but I’m very interested to see how they’ll avoid such a fate with Nostos. I like the aesthetic, the music, the atmosphere and just the overall concept for the game.
I’m also glad that the decided to make is a VR and a PC game to ensure that as many people will try the game out. Nostos will be out on both PC and VR platforms (STEAM VR, HTC VIVEPORT, PSVR and OCULUS STORE). Players can play with others from different platforms no matter on PC or VR.
