There’s something always interesting about VR games. Being able to use your body completely to move around a space to make it feel like you’re fighting enemies and God’s, like in Asgard’s Wrath. Or to make the world seem larger than life, or tinier than like in mind-bending puzzles games such as A Fisherman’s Tale. But developers nDreams had something a little more quiet and undercover in their minds when working on their upcoming VR title Phantom: Covert Ops.
To be fair, however, this game is a combination of two different projects nDreams was working on: a kayak simulator, and a stealth game. Combine them together and what do you get?
Stealthy kayaks.
In Phantom: Covert Ops, players take on the role of a single man doing the heavy work of preventing a war by infiltrating bases and taking people out. All while in, get this, a kayak. But a really cool tactical kayak. This kayak needs to be controlled with both hands, as one would in an actual kayak. Steering, stopping, turning, all the joys that come with kayaking, but now extra stealthy. Well, stealthy if you so choose.
There are two paths that players can take: the stealth route, using the kayak to maneuver through spotlights and enemy sight lines to get to where they need to go. Or the lethal route, armed with a pistol, a sniper rifle, and a whole lot of bombs to blow up some detonators that might cause a bigger explosion than you think it would. Though it is wise to be careful with how you go about being lethal, getting spot is not an ideal situation as the kayak moves and works like a real kayak. Meaning, it doesn’t turn fast, and it only goes as fast as your arms can make it go fast.
Phantom: Covert Ops is set to come out some time in 2019 for Oculus Quest and Rift. Safe travels in that stealthy tactical kayak.