SVRVIVE: The Deus Helix was one of the first games I played during my initial review of the Vive in 2016, and even in that Early Access/demo state I knew it was going to be a big hit. Now that the game is officially released I have been able to explore beyond that first “escape room” scenario and the rest of the game is just as good, building on some great VR investigative gameplay in immersive 3D environments mixing in just the right amount of puzzles.
Interestingly enough, the game starts out with you dying, as you hear the heart monitor’s slow beep turn into a steady whine and you slowly go into the light, but before you can settle down in your eternal resting place you are snatched from the afterlife by a group of cosmic detectives in search of the Deus Helix, a DNA-like artifact that has been scattered across both time and space. If you are able to recover all the pieces they will bring you back to life. If not, the galaxy is doomed anyway so no biggie.
Operating from a central hub you pick your assignments and enter a portal to arrive at numerous destinations like a futuristic city on another planet or some dingy apartment that is home to a psycho serial killer. Conceptually, there are no limits to the number and variety of places such a design could take you, so the potential for future DLC missions is exciting if the developers continue to support the game.
The first mission is also the demo that I played last year, and I was pleased to see they mixed things up a bit. I started to race through all the steps I had done at least a dozen times prior only to find objects were no longer in the same place or even missing entirely from the game. The singular moment from the demo that sold me on this game was when I changed the “lighting conditions” in the main room to reveal a jaw-dropping scene that caused me to gasp aloud. Even months later in the final game that same moment had just as much impact.
SVRVIVE is mostly about exploration and discovery and then what to do with the stuff you find. In this respect the game is surprisingly linear in that items that could conceivable have multiple uses can only be used to solve the scripted puzzle. It’s not any different from a standard adventure game, but the feeling of immersive reality you get while in VR carries over to the assumed logic of the items and environment, so when that reality is broken by “game rules” so is the immersion.
Another concern I had was with the lighting, or rather lack thereof. Many of the areas in SVRVIVE are dark – some pitch black – and your flashlight is about as bright as holding a lit match out in front of you. You get a small viewable circle but very little ambient light beyond that, so playing in a dark area is like viewing the world through a paper tower tube.
There is a modicum of trial and error required to solving some of the puzzles, which can range from painfully obvious to rather obscure in their solutions. One domed room had me replacing missing hexagonal wall panels, which at first seemed totally random until you saw the faint matching symbols on the pieces that had to be paired with a corresponding wall socket. There is no in-game hints or even a nudge when you get stuck, but solutions to every puzzle are always nearby, so it’s only a matter of time.
Despite these few nagging issues I found SVRVIVE to be an awesome adventure game from start to finish; a journey that can take 5+ hours depending on how good you are at these types of games. Sadly, once you have solved all the case and finished the game there is no reason to replay since none of the variables change on future trips through the game. There is definitely some joy in watching others play the game, but just go in knowing that your $25 is going to net you maybe six hours of entertainment.
SVRVIVE uses a teleport movement system which certainly helps to avoid motion sickness. There is great use of physical space using room-scale, so you can walk around within the boundaries of your play space and interact with the world using the motion controllers. I found the entire experience of SVRVIVE quite comfortable in both visuals and controls.
While it would be easy to dismiss SVRVIVE: The Deus Helix as just a series of escape rooms it goes much deeper than that. There is an interesting story going on here told through frequent interruptions by your boss over the com-link as well as info you obtain throughout the missions. I didn’t realize how engaged I was with this game until it was over and realized there was nothing quite like this available to keep that feeling alive. SVRVIVE is a totally unique and original concept with fun levels, moderately challenging puzzles, and the perfect implementation of VR that anyone with a Vive should check out.
