Moss developer Polyarc announces live service multiplayer VR game Glassbreakers

eurogamer.net:

I don't think I've ever been quite so enamoured by a menu screen. Spinning wheels and pressing buttons to make selections. Picking up figurines with my hands to inspect them closely. Looking down at the dusty library below me from my cosy attic — a library Moss fans will certainly be familiar with.

That's the power of virtual reality, something developer Polyarc is particularly adept at harnessing. Moss and its sequel remain two of the best adventures playable in VR; now there's Glassbreakers, a game set in the same world but with totally different gameplay.

Polyarc describes the game as a live service 1v1 real-time battler. In practice, it's you against another player online aiming to take control of a hex board using three champions who auto-battle in real time. You strategically manoeuvre your characters across the board to destroy your opponent's tower. It looks a bit like holochess in Star Wars, but with woodland creatures instead of aliens.

A great touch is being able to see your opponent above the board. Look around and each board is located in a different area from the world of Moss — a giant forest in the demo I played at Gamescom — and players can freely lean in, move and rotate the board for a better view. Looming ominously across is your opponent who, like you, takes the form of a masked spirit — again, just like Moss. Thanks to the VR controllers, you're able to see the real time movement of your opponent's hands, something you can use to your advantage with feints and misdirection.

Before all that, there's the menu. A table is laid out before you covered in mechanisms and gadgets that transform at the — literal — push of a button. Customisation of characters will be a major part of the experience, all