Walk with dinosaurs when ‘Robinson: The Journey’ hits PSVR in November

By Gabe Gurwin October 13, 2016

Robinson: The Journey, the dinosaur-themed science fiction adventure from developer Crytek, wasn’t quite ready for the PlayStation VR’s launch, but fans won’t have to wait too much longer — the game launches in November.

The news was made official on the Robinson: The Journey Twitter account, which specifies that the game will be available in the United States on November 8 and in Europe on November 9.

Taking clear influence from dinosaur-themed amusement park rides for its more action-oriented moments, Robinson looks to be a solid proof of concept for the PlayStation VR’s capabilities. Players can explore a beautiful lush environment, guided by a robot buddy who bears an uncanny resemblance to Portal 2‘s Wheatley. Dinosaurs aren’t necessarily your enemies, and you can even convince baby raptors to roar in order to disable barriers that otherwise prevent you from progressing.

Robinson: The Journey is one of two VR games that Crytek has been developing. While it’s exclusive to PlayStation VR, the studio’s other project, The Climb, is available on the Oculus Rift. Neither appear to be good choices for those who get motion sickness or vertigo, with heights and potentially fast movements featured in both games.

Crytek’s U.K. studio was also the original developer for this year’s disappointing Homefront: The Revolution before the location was shuttered and many of the team members transitioned to developing the game at a new Deep Silver studio.

The decision to focus on VR properties marks the second time that Crytek has “pivoted” in recent years. Shortly before the release of Crysis 3, Crytek CEO Cebat Yerli said that the company would soon transition to an entirely free-to-play business model. Its first big experiment in this field, Warface, was a particularly large success in Russia, but failed to gain much traction in the West. Crytek appears to have, at least in part, changed its decision regarding this plan, with The Climb currently available for $50.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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