Howdy partner! It’s your old pal McCree. Or maybe Woody. Or John Marston. Or Clint Eastwood. Anyways, I’m just your regular cowboy. Not a space cowboy, like that one lanky smokin’ fella. I live out in the wild west, with just my trusty revolver, horses, and boots to keep me company. Oh, if you could see me right now. Writin’ this here story down on a scrap of paper, tumbleweeds passin’ me by at all times, just because.
Duels are short, like the ones I experience every goshdarn day
Anyways, I’m here to tell you about a fancy new VR game. VR, as in virtual reality. That thing where you put on a headset that makes you see things all around you that aren’t actually there. Or at least I think that’s what VR is. I wouldn’t know, since I am just a lone ranger after all. Unforgiven VR, from Spain-based developers Delirium Studios, wants to take you to a place just like my own. A thrilling western world of duels and moonshine, but this game is primarily hosting the former.
The HTC Vive-powered game is simple in its concept—you roam around the land to find another cowboy to duel. And from there you enter a duel, which I know all too well, being a gunslinger myself. Unforgiven VR’s duels are short, like the ones I experience every goshdarn day. You prepare, standing face to face with your challenger. Once both of y’all’s hands are at the hip, the countdown begins. Easy on that trigger though buddy, if you try to fire too early, you get penalized. Once the countdown ends, the fastest person to draw, aim, and shoot their opponent wins. If you both miss and run out of bullets, well sir or ma’am, that’s what I like to call a draw.
Unforgiven VR will have a Most Wanted list displaying your rank in the game. Also, names will be generated dynamically, according to your cowboy’s habits and performance. “Dirty John” or “Merciless John” are just a couple of the examples tossed around by the developers; the first for always firing at an opponent’s groin, the other for killing opponents even after they surrender. “In the West your name is all you have, fight for it,” wrote the developers on their TIGSource devlog. And I reckon, not a truer statement has ever been told.
Unforgiven VR is still gearin’ up for an eventual release on the HTC Vive, and you can follow its development here.
