What you need to know
- Jon Favreau's original 2016 vision has been expanded and fleshed out by VR Director Jake Rowell and Wevr, developer of theBlu.
- The game invites players to explore an enchanted forest with magic and intrigue lurking around every corner.
- Gnomes & Goblins debuts on SteamVR, Oculus, and Viveport PC VR platforms on September 23, 2020.
It's been a long time coming, but Jon Favreau's original 2016 room-scale VR demo Gnomes & Goblins is finally making its debut as a multi-hour adventure title on PC VR platforms later this month. Gnomes & Goblins sees players exploring an enchanted forest with magic and intrigue lurking around every corner, and developers Wevr say this multi-hour adventure has something to find everywhere you look. Players will find themselves befriending forest goblins with the help of Buddy the Goblin and not just exploring and interacting with the world and characters, but also finding magic artifacts, mini-stories, and mini-games in the process.
If the goblins here look a little familiar, there's a good reason for it. Gnomes & Goblins was one of the original room-scale demos that was widely used on the HTC Vive back in 2016. The goblin characters also more than just resemble Baby Yoda — they were actually one of the main inspirations that Jon Favreau used when designing everyone's favorite character from The Mandalorian. The original demo was one of the most magical experiences VR offered at the time, and Wevr's pedigree with titles like theBlu made it an ideal choice for creating an interactive world filled with living AI creatures.
Delving a bit deeper into the content, Wevr describes the game as "A welcoming safe place to discover", and says players will build bonds with the various factions of the world. While it hasn't been revealed precisely which factions this description entails, it's probably safe to say they include both gnomes and goblins. Aside from exploring a living, breathing open world, players can discover and collect hidden gems, interact with characters of all kinds, and even craft various objects.
Gnomes & Goblins debuts on SteamVR, Oculus, and Viveport PC VR platforms on September 23, 2020. The minimum and recommended specs for the game are surprisingly high, given the 2016 origins of the original VR demo, so you'll need a pretty beefy PC to be able to run it. That original demo is still available on Steam, so players can get a feel for what the world is like and get a hint of what to expect in the final version later this month. You can also check out the trailer below for an extended look into what's expected in the world.
PC and standalone VR in one package.
The Oculus Quest lets players choose between standalone VR and PC VR at any time, putting the ultimate VR experience in one simple package.
