Developer One Hamsa aims to take racquetball to the next level with Racket: Nx, a room-scale virtual reality game for HTC Vive headsets that adds a unique target-tracking twist to traditional handball.
By merging racquet-based sports with brick-breaking arcade classics like Breakout and Arkanoid, Racket: Nx challenges players to break shifting targets using a virtual tennis ball that they aim using timed swings of a motion-sensing controller.
Initially pitched as a demo application for audio tools developer Waves, Racket: Nx has since transformed into a fully featured VR experience in which players face a virtual wall full of breakable tiles. Depending on the game mode chosen, these tiles may move unpredictably throughout each round, making gameplay more challenging as a result.
Equipped only with a virtual handball set, players must break all tiles within each round in order to proceed. Modeled after real-world handball spaces, Racket: Nx features realistic physics throughout, and players can expect to work up a sweat as they track targets and chase bouncing balls in the game’s virtual world.
Developer One Hamsa tells Road to VR that Racket: Nx will include multiple play modes, and notes that gameplay will incorporate positional audio. Some modes feature tiles that emit specific tones when struck, and players must develop keen auditory senses in order to break bricks in specified sequences.
Players won’t see all that Racket: Nx has to offer right away, however. The game will see a slow trickle of content introduced as part of an upcoming Early Access launch, and a demo premiering this week offers up an “Infinite Training” mode that allows players to get acquainted with the game’s handball-inspired mechanics while aiming for top scores.
A demo version of Racket: Nx will hit Steam on August 17, and an Early Access release is slated for later this year.
