Of all the big virtual reality news coming out of E3 2016 last week, one thing that might have slipped by is this new trailer for the upcoming PlayStation VR-exclusive, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. The game is a direct sequel to Double Fine's cult classic 3D platformer, Psychonauts, and takes place soon after the end of the first game.
The trailer shows just under ten minutes of pre-alpha gameplay footage, with the action now taking place from the first-person perspective of protagonist Raz. As a Psychonaut, Raz is able to use is psychic powers to affect the world around him by looking at objects and using the DualShock 4 controller to interact with them. For example, he is able to select a psychic levitation power to lift and move objects.
Even more interestingly, Raz has a unique method of VR locomotion that also ties into his psychic powers. He is able to enter the minds of other characters and then see the world from their own first-person perspectives. Using this, Raz is able to essentially move around the demo environment by hopping across fixed perspective points.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is set to release sometime in 2016, after the PlayStation VR hardware is available on October 13. The game will bridge the gap between the original Psychonauts and its upcoming full sequel, Psychonauts 2.
