Sony: New Moss Book II Game
Published on February 10th, 2022 | Updated on February 10th, 2022 | By FanFest
Sony packed up and moved on to the next wave of independent showcases this week, with Moss: Book II being the first in a series of games. The second game in Polyarc’s virtual reality series, which began with Moss for PlayStation VR, was revealed on the PlayStation Blog this week, along with a couple of features and details that the developer has included in the game to further immerse players. The sequel to Moss, entitled Book II, is yet unconfirmed, but it will be published sometime during Spring 2022. Once again, Moss: Book II stars Quill, the mouse who explores a world vaster than her pet to assist her to navigate the environment and all its challenges and dangers. To strengthen the link between players and the protagonist, Polyarc has been “chaining existing gameplay logic and animations together” to provide a more immersive interaction between cinematics and player-controlled segments.
“Quill’s personality, expressive movements, and interactions with us make her the real star of the game, so we made sure there were even more moments to deepen our bond with our pint-sized companion,” said Mike Felice, the engineering director at Polyarc. “This means more cinematics, interactions, reactions, and character-based storytelling to color the world and further strengthen our relationship with her.”
Polyarc has said that for players who played the original game and wished they could revisit past events to explore at their own pace, it’s heard those worries and made Moss: Book II’s world responsive. The developer said that it has added the option for players to return to areas in the game to explore them further or look for more collectibles this time around.
Polyarc stressed that while the game’s appeal lies in its VR element, it also introduced a new technology called “Boopables” to better aid players feel like they’re part of the experience alongside Quill.
“Controllers vibrate when possessing enemies, blocks glow as we get near them, and Quill looks at us and reacts to our gestures and touch,” Felice said. “But to get that true sense of immersion, we focused on the subtleties that could take us out of the experience by designing a system called Boopables that gives our virtual bodies a physical presence that impacts the virtual world around us. Similar to real life, grass and ferns move when we brush our hands through them, candle flames flicker as we move past them, and water ripples when we touch it.”
Book II, which will be released in Spring 2022, will contain several additional features and information.
