New Campaign Weapons and the “Hardest” Challenge Ever Made. Enter Espire 1: VR Operative with Latest Free Content Update
Publisher Tripwire Interactive and developer Digital Lode are proud to announce their continued commitment to improving Espire 1: VR Operative, the award-winning virtual reality stealth experience and top-selling Oculus Store title, with today’s launch of the Espire 1: VR Operative Spectre update.
Enhanced for the new Oculus Quest 2 and Oculus Quest, today’s update introduces two new playable weapons to the title’s campaign, offering stealth savvy veterans a new way to enjoy the game. Also included are two brand-new, ultra-difficult challenges that will test the mettle of even the most experienced Espire Agents. For full details on the Espire 1: VR Operative Spectre update, please visit the official Tripwire Interactive forums.
Espire 1: VR Operative Spectre Update Highlights
New Campaign Weapon: Sawn-off Shotgun
- Playable for the first time in the campaign, the Sawn-off Shotgun offers Espire Agents the option to forgo stealth with this extra loud boom stick. This is the perfect weapon for “tanking” your way through the campaign, guns blazing. The Sawn-off Shotgun’s compact size allows for it to be holstered as either the primary or secondary weapon – and is reloaded via magazine clips. So, there is no need to worry about individual shells. Complete the Shotgun Virtual Challenges to unlock this new weapon for the campaign.
New Campaign Weapon: Spectre SMG
- Playable for the first time in the campaign, the Spectre SMG comes equipped with a suppressor and an extended 45-round magazine. With it’s unique firing mode, Espire Operatives can fire a round on a trigger squeeze with a second round firing upon release with reduced recoil. Complete the SMG Virtual Challenges to unlock this new weapon for the campaign.
New Virtual Challenge: Furcata
- Described by the Digital Lode developers as the “most difficult” Hostage rescue challenge ever made, Furcata features multiple starting points, skilled marksmen, and well-guarded hostages.
New Virtual: Mangua
- This brand-new Takedown challenge offers branching paths and rewards players who explore with special weapons to help complete their objectives. As always, keeping an eye out for guards patrolling above you and using zip lines to get the drop on enemies is critical for success.
To celebrate the Espire 1: VR Operative Spectre update, Espire 1 will be featured as a Daily Deal on the Oculus Store today (19th March) and discounted 25%! If you don’t already own Espire 1 for Quest here’s your chance to grab it now here. See store page for sale details.
Espire 1: VR Operative aims to set the new gold standard for the stealth genre in virtual reality –introducing the “Control Theatre,” a unique solution to the challenge of VR motion sickness for first-person titles. Espire 1: VR Operative drafts players as drone operators of the future. Players become “Espire Agents” and use cutting-edge Virtual Reality hardware to remote-operate the Espire model 1 from the safety of their Control Theatre.
The technology behind the Control Theatre and the game’s approach to movement lie at the heart of Espire 1: VR Operative’s gameplay and intuitive VR control system. Any time a player performs any artificial locomotion, the game world shrinks down to the size of a floating tablet, with the Control Theatre visible in the player’s peripheral vision. This “VR within VR” system allows for precise, full freedom movement, while maintaining immersion, and eliminating “VR motion sickness” for almost everyone. The Control Theatre is fully customizable to suit the player’s level of comfort, and can be fully disabled for those already comfortable moving in VR.
This unprecedented freedom of movement allows the title’s stealth and action gameplay mechanics shine. Make sure to check out our press kit for series of curated gameplay gifs, showing an Espire Agent stealing a guard’s gun to neutralize him, using the voice command “Freeze” to immobilize a guard, throwing a spare ammunition clip to cause a distraction, and activating bullet time to headshot multiple guards while dropping down from the ceiling.
To stay up to date on the latest news as development for Espire 1: VR Operative continues, be sure to visit the official website – and follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
© Espire VR Pty Ltd Designed in Melbourne, Australia
About Tripwire Interactive
Formed in 2005 as a humble independent developer founded by gamers who found success in the video game modding community, Tripwire Interactive has developed and self-published multiple critically acclaimed titles in the wildly popular Killing Floor and Rising Storm franchises, which have collectively sold over 20 million units to date. The studio’s latest project, Maneater, breaks new ground in the popular action RPG genre and finds players taking on the role of a deadly shark with the uncanny ability to evolve as it feeds.
Since then, Tripwire Interactive has expanded its business and now turns its experience and resources to include publishing titles spanning multiple platforms and genres from other talented independent studios. Led by John Gibson, the publishing division aims to help like-minded independent studios bring their titles to market, including Chivalry 2 developed by Torn Banner Studios, Espire 1: VR Operative developed by Digital Lode, and Road Redemption developed by EQ Games and Pixel Dash Studios.