Song in the Smoke is a prehistoric, survival horror RPG all wrapped up in a VR environment.
Song in the Smoke is the first VR outing from 17-Bit.
Founded in 2009 as Haunted Temple Studios, 17-BIT began as a small Seattle studio composed of veterans from Sega Japan and EA Los Angeles. Now based in Kyoto, Japan, 17-BIT offers it's maiden voyage into VR on both PlayStation and Oculus platforms. I reviewed the game on Oculus Quest 2.
I'll admit I was a little resistant to the premise before I actually played the game. I was sent a review guide along with the game, that detailed some in depth crafting processes core to survival. While I aim to be as impartial as possible going into any gaming experience, this PDF screamed tedium at me.
But how wrong I was!
The first thing that you notice about Song in the Smoke are the aesthetics. The level of polish and optimization make it difficult to believe the Oculus is at the heart of the experience, pumping the gameplay along.
In much the same way as clever use of cell shading wrung out incredible performance in Botw, similar artistic styles were used to parallel effect here.
It strikes a balance of visuals and performance not usually seen in PCVR, let alone on the OC.
The game is set in a prehistoric wilderness and has a very supernatural element evident from the intro. Whether this is a genuine other-worldly threat, or merely symbolic of paleolithic man's limited understanding of his environment, only time will tell.
A tutorial familiarizes you with basic traversal and crafting mechanics which are core to exploring your environment and staying alive. Contrary to my earlier PDF trepidation, this was all extremely intuitive and the control system felt very natural and representative of whatever task was at hand.
You must progress though semi open world stages, developing, improving equipment and surviving. In addition each stage has a mystical stone that must be found and a boss to be beaten in order to open up more of the map.
Campfires are core to game. Both acting as a save point, crafting area and line of defense against the darkness. The darkness stalks you and can only be fended off by light either from your camp fire or crafted torches.... Think Pitch Black but without Vin Diesel.
Subsequent stages offer more resources to further evolve your gear, as well as greater challenges both in terms of traversing the environment and threats from predators.
It's really up to you, how and when you take on these extra challenges and you are offered a lot of freedom to your approach.
Overall Song in the Smoke is a visually impressive, well crafted survival experience and one of the standout titles currently available from the Oculus store. It's well worth anyone's time and a rewarding VR adventure.
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