Enormous BETA right before your eyes?! Muv-Luv VR demo event report

A demo event was held on April 3 recreating the world of the visual novel Muv-Luv.

Titled the Muv-Luv x HTC Vive Demo, the event showcased a virtual game paralleling the world of the 2006 game Muv-Luv Alternative in which players become soldiers and fight against the massive extraterrestrial life forms BETA using the VR system HTC Vive. The game was created entirely for the event, and since there are no plans of releasing it either, anxious fans amassed in force in front of Belle Salle Akihabara, creating a long line hours before the event began.

When it became time to try out the VR game for myself, I grabbed the controller and took on the enemy BETA, noticing the gameplay devices incorporated to match the thrill of combat, including enemies firing at me from outside my field of vision and my gun jamming in the heat of combat. In particular, the feeling of enemies approaching and not being able to fire back was quite terrifying – so much so that my hands, and whole body for that matter, were covered in a cold sweat.

During the event’s presentation, Mr. Iwanaga from the development department at Degica and Muv-Luv original creator and production head Koki Yoshimune each took the stage to discuss the inside story behind the game’s development and their outlook for the series.

What was particularly of note during the presentation was Mr. Iwanaga’s comment that it only took them one month to develop the VR game. They used assets and 3D model data produced for other games, and though they were also working around the necessity of syncing up the timing of the game’s completion with the shipment start date of the HTC Vive, it still cannot help to be said that judging from the game’s quality one month is remarkably fast. It was also revealed that during development the realism surpassed their expectations so much so that they considered the possibility that it might be too frightening to players. Their examples included players who were so shocked by the game mid-development that they accidentally bumped their head against a wall, so they ended up regulating the content of the VR game released at the demo event. This is likely to be an extremely important point of research for future production of VR content.

With the English version Kickstarter project that raised $1.25 million in funding fresh in memory, the Muv-Luv series will continue its stance of taking on new trials, including this demo event’s VR game, which is no doubt seen as extremely reassuring for fans. The Kickstarter-funded English version of Muv-Luv, as well as its Japanese version, are set to be released on Steam this August. Don’t take your eyes off of what’s next for the series.

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.