When the award-winning Archangel launched last year, developer Skydance Interactive was praised for its unique combination of storytelling, shooter, and mech gameplay in VR. Today, Archangel: Hellfire, the successor to Archangel, brings giant multiplayer mech warfare to Rift (including multiplayer PVP available to all players for free), with David Jagneux of VentureBeat and Upload VR describing it as “the VR mech combat game I’ve been waiting for.”

A cross-platform release across Rift and HTC Vive, Archangel: Hellfire offers a comprehensive single-player campaign and multiplayer package consisting of co-op gameplay modes and free-roaming, competitive multiplayer warfare set against a landscape of destructible environments. The choice of six unique combat mechs and 13+ choices of weapons and special abilities await players inside Archangel: Hellfire.

Archangel: Hellfire also made use of Oculus Medium, one of our proprietary development tools that allows concept prototyping in VR.

We sat down with Skydance Interactive VP of Global Interactive Marketing Guy Constantini and concept artist Bryant “Momo” Koshu to get the latest insight on Archangel: Hellfire and how players can gear up for the battlefield.

How does Archangel: Hellfire build upon the single-player narrative-driven campaign of Archangel? What kind of community response have you seen thus far?

Guy Constantini and Bryant “Momo” Koshu: At the end of Archangel’s single-player campaign, a serious blow was leveled against Humnx, the tyrannical corporation born out of a desire to “heal the world,” no matter the human cost. The US Free Forces (USFF) finally stood a chance to upset the balance of power in the world with the Archangel weapon. However, Humnx never sleeps. With quick reverse engineering, they built several mechs to compete with the USFF weapon and, before long, mechs could be seen further ravaging the broken landscape of our future. Archangel: Hellfire drops players in the middle of the Mech Wars.

The community really seems to love the new modes and maps we’ve added, and it has been great to see the response during Early Access, or “Battle Training,” as it’s internally called. We can’t wait to see how players will choose to play now that the game is available.

Will Rift players who previously purchased Archangel be able to access all of Hellfire as a free update, or is there paid DLC involved?

GC + BMK: For anyone who has purchased the original Archangel, Archangel: Hellfire is available to them, free of charge. But it doesn’t stop there—friends can be enlisted for PVP as long as they have a VR headset. The full PvP mode in Archangel: Hellfire is available for free.

What’s new with this multiplayer update? What are you most excited to see players get their hands on?

GC + BMK: Archangel: Hellfire introduces six new, completely free moving mechs in three exciting classes. They’re armed to the teeth with arm-mounted weapons, as well as spectacular special abilities and hover propulsion, turning each map into an intense theater of war. The game is incredibly hardcore and deep with power management, energy management, team tactics, etc. We’re really looking forward to seeing what the players do with this arsenal.

The combat in this game is fast and intense. Do you have any tips and tricks to share with new players? Favorite mech and loadout to start with? Best team-up combo?

GC + BMK: I would start with a heavy mech (USFF Golgotha or HX Behemoth), switch their weapons to rockets and flak cannon, and set the speed / damage preset (top of cockpit, lower right button). This combination will give you a really tanky mech that moves and can decimate the smaller mechs up close and personal. Once you master movement and basic combat, you can start playing the energy game and explore playing with a quicker, more nimble mech. Those are super fun as well. Once you master the glass cannons and the tanks, the medium mech has some really cool distance strategies. You can really help your team out with that one.

Who did you work with on the game’s soundtrack and overall sound design? What was that experience like?

GC + BMK: Our internal audio engineers Brooke Yap and Michael Peter really came together on this project. You get the feeling of impending doom, as well as really feel like you are piloting a building-sized weapon. The onboard computer in Archangel: Hellfire is also one of my favorite cockpit elements, reminding you it’s time to rain death on your enemies.

Archangel: Hellfire is a natural fit for competitive tournament play. Is there anything coming up for the community to test and hone their skills?

GC + BMK: Yes, we’re supporting weekly community tournaments. You can find out more about it on our Discord channel and at gather.operaevent.co/hellfire. They’ll all eventually roll into the Mech Ascent Championship, where you can win $2,000, Mech Pilot Jackets for you and your wingman, and a Golden mech trophy.

One aspect of development we worked closely with you on is the use of Oculus Medium, which allows you to prototype concepts in VR. How did that tech impact your development and production pipeline overall?

GC + BMK: Yes, Oculus Medium is a pretty amazing tool. It allows our artists to create in a virtual environment and prototype quickly and effectively. It’s sort of a return to the feeling of being a sculptor, except you wield any material and can easily erase mistakes. Nothing short of amazing.

What advantages have you found when prototyping with Medium that wouldn’t have been possible with previously existing tools?

GC + BMK: One of the biggest advantages we found with Medium is the ability to use the entire space as an art canvas. This especially came in handy while working on bunch of cockpit concepts. Traditionally, we had to sketch the cockpit in 2D space using Photoshop, and stitch the scene together in Zbrush or 3DS Max. The problem with the traditional method is that some of the design gets lost when transitioning from Photoshop to other 3D programs.

With Oculus Medium, we’re able to mitigate the transition by sculpting the cockpit around ourselves since we are able to freely sculpt in the VR space. We’re able to sculpt the cockpit seat and place myself onto the seat while sculpting the other pieces around me. This is something that only a VR sculpting program like Medium can achieve.

What advice would you give to a game developer considering whether or not to incorporate Medium into their own workflow?

GC + BMK: Definitely worth trying it out, especially if you work on VR games. We create all the visuals in VR space, so it’s great to be able to sketch out all the ideas close to what you will be seeing as accurately as possible. And this doesn’t only apply to artists; we feel like VR game designers can also benefit from blocking out the world in VR space using Medium and use it as a proxy model for the Concept and Environment artists can build off from. Whether you’re a game developer or not, we highly recommend Oculus Medium to anyone. It’s super easy to learn and extremely fun to play around with.

Thanks, Guy and Bryant. We’re excited to see the Rift community out there raining warfare on the battlefield in Archangel: Hellfire.

— The Oculus Team