







CounterStrike Developers Are Working On A VR Game And It Is Amazing!





Let's face it, virtual reality is getting pretty dang sweet. While the area hasn't reached extreme mainstream success, throwing the headset on and diving into a fully immersive virtual environment is going to become a norm in the future of gaming. Aside from the general queasiness, we've become quite impressed with this new area of gaming.





What the virtual reality industry needs is a true gaming powerhouse to set the standard and bring the innovation. A highly skilled, dedicated developer that will give the virtual reality world a boost into the future. That company is Turtle Rock, and that game, is The Well.





Virtual reality has never looked so good. From the developers of Left 4 Dead comes The Well, a turn based fantasy role playing game that is already giving the gaming community goose bumps for it's magnificent blend of artwork, action and immersion.





Keeping with the genre, there is a class system in The Well. You'll take the role as either a Mage, Warrior, Rogue or Druid, on your journey to defeat the demonic powers that be, known as the Tesh, all the while exploring the ancient world of Tholl in stunning virtual reality fashion.





Each class of course has specific abilities, characteristics, and spells. Players will need to work with their companions and level up through a turn based combat system, collecting gold and picking up some sweet, sweet loot. The enemies are masterfully crafted, beautifully colored, and unique. Justin Cherry, the lead artist for The Well, has yet to fail us, and his artwork has remained a talking point amongst the video game connoisseurs. The game's map is decently sized and features multiple locations for battles and dungeon adventures.





























The Well has numerous environments, each as crisp as the next, but with variations amongst coloring and enemies, the feel of each world is unique. This only adds to the immersion that you'll get with the Gear VR system.





The Well utilizes primarily text for covering the dialogue between characters as well as the story. There is voice over although it is quite minimal. The true experience here lies in the immersive roleplaying gameplay, of which we've yet to truly experience with virtual reality thus far. Sorry Bethesda, but gamers don't want another variation of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.





The Well is set to debut Oct. 11th of this year, offering roughly six hours of gameplay. But fear not, the characters and enemies you'll encounter are procedurally generated. Each play through will be slightly different from the last. Add in the various classes, and you've got one heck of a deal.





The art style has been described as dark and dreamy, and is certainly unique with its coloring and character designs. There is a distinct storybook feeling with The Well, and it certainly pairs well with the hardware of Samsung's Gear VR.





A Virtual Reality Maestro





























Turtle Rock has some experience within the emerging realms of VR gaming, having designed a few titles for Facebook's Oculus Rift. Working from Orange County, California, they've released four virtual reality games thus far, including Face Your Fears, for those who need an added dose of fear. Otherworlds, which puts you inside a painting (all with 360 degree views and audio). And of course, Blade Runner 2049: Replicant Pursuit. Each title has been hailed for the stunning artwork that Turtle Rock has appeared to master. As you may very well know, Turtle Rock Studios was formerly known as Valve South, was founded mid-2002, and has helped develop some of the Counter-Strike ­games. They are in many ways at the pinnacle in the realm of video game creation. Between the years of 2011 and 2014, Turtle Rock grew from six employees to seventy, many of which are experts in both first-person shooters and casual gaming. The Well is gearing up to be a truly innovative virtual reality experience, and the company has now dedicated around thirty employees to strictly VR development.





Turtle Rock President Steve Goldstein on the company's emergence into the VR sector,





'Wow, this could be something real.' We've built an entire 30-person team to work strictly on VR stuff."





To put it simply, The Well is a gorgeous experience for virtual reality, and Turtle Rock is easily the best studio to develop such a title, the company has partnered with Oculus to secure the funding necessary for heavy development in the genre. Goldstein said of Oculus' partnership,





"As an independent developer, it would be tricky for us to just be able to put a bunch of money into our own VR products, but that's the same thing as if we were putting a bunch of money into our own game. It's just very difficult for us to do given the types of budgets that we're used to working with on the games front."





This new role playing game might be too gorgeous, in fact, The Well could quite possibly innovate the role playing genre for virtual reality gaming. The Well is incredibly immersive, lead artist Justin Cherry designed a beautiful world full of magnificent colors, and the dream like environment is unlike anything we've seen before with VR gaming.





It's easy to see why Oculus has partnered with Turtle Rock. They've created some amazing artistic VR games thus far, and The Well is no exception. The overall art style is cartoon-like and well detailed, yet still retains that dreamy sensation we all crave with virtual gameplay. Movement depends on utilizing the Gear's hand controller, with various swipes and points for navigating the world and interacting with menus and other items.





It is rumored that The Well will have support for the Gear's gamepad as well, however the critics are already anticipating The Well to set the bar high for virtual reality role playing games.





Releasing on the Oculus Store, The Well is going for around $10. And if the game is anything like we've come to expect from Turtle Rock, we will be in for one hell of a ride.



