PlaySide Studios, Australia’s largest indie game studio, announced the psychological thriller virtual reality game Shattered for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S VR headsets.

The Melbourne-based studio bills the game as a groundbreaking mixed-reality labyrinth of escape rooms and mind-twisting puzzles. The intent is to enshroud players into an immersive experience where reality and memory intertwine, challenging both perception and problem-solving skills.

Shattered is a single-player game set to release late 2024, and you can see an exclusive look at the gameplay in the video.

I spoke with Jamie Bentley, vice president at PlaySide; executive producer Ivan Ertlov and game product marketing manager Aaron Krause at Meta.

“Prepare to lose your mind in the world of Shattered, where reality is just a puzzle waiting to be unraveled,” said Bentley. “We are excited to be working with Oculus Studios to bring this gripping escape room thriller that blurs the lines between memory and madness to Meta Quest users. This December, immerse yourself in a game that transforms your reality—literally.”

Unique gameplay

Shattered invites players to step into the shoes of a private investigator named Jessica, who is tasked with unraveling the dark secrets of a twisted mental health facility. This mixed-reality adventure transforms your living space into a dynamic playground, allowing you to interact with your environment in unprecedented ways. Navigate through eerie vignettes filled with intricate puzzles and unsettling scenarios, all while exploring the fragmented memories of the enigmatic Jessica.

In Shattered, reality is just a puzzle waiting to be unraveled. Trapped in a mysterious mental health facility, your perceptions cannot be trusted. To escape, you must turn your physical space into a labyrinth of escape rooms and manipulate objects across virtual and mixed reality to solve complex puzzles. Investigate and alter memories to bend reality itself to your will as you collect the necessary evidence to expose the secrets of Greyvale and escape to safety.

Shattered doesn’t put you in a state of psychosis or cause psychological discomfort beyond the usual suspense in a thriller. Rather, Shattered lets the player experience distortions of reality and subjective memories through the eyes of the protagonist (Jessica), whose perception of reality seems to be heavily altered. This can be compared to our inspirations like the classic psychological movies Shutter Island and Inception. The question of what is real and what not is one for both the protagonist and the player.

Ertlov noted he was a psychologist before he got into game work. In this game, the story delves into the concept of subjective memories, which means that your memories are not reliable and are constructed in some kind of biased way.

The investigator Jessica experiences old memories that are distorted, and she has to manipulate the environment in order to come to alter the memories and get to the next stage.

“We have different levels of reality, and none of them is reliable,” Ertlov said. “You have to constantly question what is real. What is a memory? What is an important memory? And if I change something in the memory, how does it affect the next level of reality?”

It’s a little like the film Inception in this way, with mind-bending puzzles, Ertlov said. The team worked on the project for about 2.5 years. For parts of the game, it can only be done in VR, Bentley said.

“There’s no mixed reality game like this,” Bentley said. “We can keep you engaged for six to eight hours in mixed reality.”

I saw a bit of a demo of the game. You can see your own room through the mixed reality imagery of your VR headset, but there are things like cracks in the walls that give you a window into another place. It looks real because the virtual room aligns with the dimensions of your physical room.

The game takes place in a city like Boston in the 1990s, so there are no ubiquitous smartphones or digital recorders and such.

You can Wishlist the game now and find more information about Shattered on the official Meta Quest
Store. Shattered is intended for ages 13+. Ratings vary by region. The game will sell for $20 in the U.S. and the equivalent price in other countries. It doesn’t have a launch date yet but is coming in December.

Background

PlaySide Studios has made games such as Age of Darkness: Final Stand, and the Dumb Ways to Die franchise, and it’s the publisher for Mouse, Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown and Dynasty of the Sands.

Following more than a decade of games development, and over 70 titles launched across mobile, PC, and
VR/AR, PlaySide Studios’ recent original IP launches have included the award-winning RTS Age of Darkness: Final Stand, and have seen the studio recognized as Studio of the Year at the Australian Game Developer Awards 2023.

The company was started by Gerry Sakkas as a mobile studio in 2011, with hit games like Catch the Ark. The company expanded into work for hire. It added PC and console games, and then moved into VR. It worked on games for others like Dumb Ways to Die and more. It started working with Meta as the company launched its Meta Quest headsets and financed a lot of VR and mixed reality games.

In 2020, PlaySide went public, and it has since grown to three studios and 370 people in Australia and New Zealand. Lately, it is doing more original IP than work-for-hire games. This particular team had about 50 people on it. In VR, you can make that kind of investment and get a good return, the company believes.

“It’s a new ocean,” Bentley said, regarding VR. “The ecosystem for the headsets is getting more stable. There are millions of headsets out there.”

The game doesn’t really go too far into horror, as that can inhibit demand. It walks a balance between compelling narrative and thriller moments.

Krause at Meta said, “This is a unique title. We know our audience really loves new experiences. This is something that hasn’t been done before, but also is something that people will appreciate — those who love puzzles, love escape rooms, love the thrills and something completely different.”