Moss: Book 2 announced for PlayStation VR
Quill joy.
Acclaimed VR adventure Moss is getting a sequel, Moss: Book 2.
Developer Polyarc revealed the follow-up this evening during Sony's July PlayStation State of Play broadcast.
A trailer shows Moss' lovable protagonist Quill back in action, taking on new enemies and solving new puzzles. Here it is:
Moss: Book 2 is designed to be accessible to newcomers, but will pick up the story right from the moment the first game ended, design director and principal software engineer Joshua Stiksma told Eurogamer via video call earlier this week.
A veteran of BioWare and Bungie, Stiksma is again helping lead the small team at Polyarc which has been working on the sequel for some time.
"We continue right from there, you discover there's more arcane dangers and the world of Moss needs saving," Stiksma told me. "We revealed in the trailer this winged tyrant which will be hunting Quill down and forming this present sense of danger for her. Quill needs to get a plan together for how she'll overcome this giant challenge, but thankfully she won't do it alone, as she'll have friends old and new."
The sequel will offer a range of new environments and enemies, plus new ways of interacting with the world through combat and puzzle-solving, such as the hammer shown in the trailer which can be used for either.
Polyarc is keen, though, to once again focus this new chapter on the physical interactions with Quill and the emotional bond which players form with her.
"It feels very good to reach in and move things, then see Quill climb on those things or give players a high-five," Stiksma said. "It's not just an adventure in the classical video game sense, it's an emotional journey with someone you may view as friend. We want to strengthen that for Moss: Book 2."
"Our structure works well for a linear story, but that doesn't mean our geography has to be completely linear," Stiksma continued. "There's going to be more opportunities to go off the path - this is about expanding the world, the journey with Quill but also the story of these environments, why they're like they are."
Don't expect multiplayer in this chapter, however - this would change the dynamic of the game too much, Polyarc has decided.
"We have something that works really well with the style of game we want to create - it's one-on-one, it's intimate," Stiksma said. "While I totally feel there's opportunities to explore, I think that's a different style of game from the one Moss represents."
Moss: Book 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but it sounds like PlayStation VR will be the first place it launches. (It's worth remembering that the original Moss later launched on various VR formats.)
So how about those new PlayStation VR controllers? Could they be used to detect the American Sign Language which Quill uses to interact with the player?
"I don't think I can share too much on that front in terms of specifics," Stiksma concluded. "For Moss: Book 2 we will support the Dualshock 4 with the PlayStation Camera, and then we're just really excited for the future tech PlayStation is putting out and the oppurtunities it provides. You called out something which would be very interesting to start looking into for the future..."