Many videogame fans hope that virtual reality (VR) technology will enable them to realistically wield weapons in intense combat experiences in the future. There are some input issues to solve before that can truly happen, although sword-based battles can be accurately recreated using motion controls. This week has seen the launch of both a Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight campaign for a title that is looking to do just that with the help of the Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD). That title is Reverence.

Reverence is both a first and third-person combat title that’s developed by indie developer Mantis Studios. Players are granted complete control over their movements, allowing them to deliver accurate, deadly attacks with a blade or other weapons such as axes. The title utilises what the developer calls the Muscle Memory System, allowing players to set up their own ‘assumptions’ about how a character should move and fight.

“With Muscle Memory,” the developer explains, “we can use 2 axises (up,down,left,right) of input (i.e. mouse or gamepad) to control the movement of the shoulder. Based on the position of the shoulder, our finer arm movements (wrist rotation, forearm rotation, etc) will automatically adjust according to what we setup in Muscle Memory. However, we always have the ability to override any of these movement assumptions in real time.” Some videos of this system in action can be seen below.

The title has been designed with VR in mind and already supports Leap Motion wireless hand-tracking and smartphone control. The Kickstarter campaign is looking for $5,000 USD, with four weeks to go until its 1st August 2015 closure. VRFocus will continue to follow Reverence closely, reporting back with any further updates on the project.