A lot of the virtual reality (VR) industry is made up of passionate developers either working solo or in small teams. San Francisco-based Sunset Division is an indie team of four who’ve been working on space-noir adventure The Rig: A Starmap to Murder for several years. That comes to an end when the videogame launches in a week’s time.
Inspired by classic point-and-click adventures from the ’90s, The Rig: A Starmap to Murder is a story-driven experience set in 2132. You play a Mars-based travel agent called Willard Pike who’s been tasked by his sister-in-law to find his estranged, deadbeat brother Dixon.
In doing so you have to travel to the farthest reaches of space by exploring a small space-freighter as it journeys to a remote, ominous mining rig attached to the side of an asteroid. As this is a murder mystery you’ll need to unravel events by striking up conversations and solving puzzles.
All the gameplay takes place on the frigate, a fully lived-in, explorable starship designed to provide a fully interactive experience. Puzzles will be story-centric and environmental, requiring simple and more convoluted solutions.
“The Rig: A Starmap to Murder is our first game and we are excited to push the excitement of exploration and storytelling to the forefront of a tight VR experience,” explains the team. “Our aim is for anyone putting on a headset, even for the first time, to be able to pick up and play The Rig.”
Sunset Division will be releasing The Rig: A Starmap to Murder for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets in just over a week on 26th June 2020 via Steam.
Take a look at the new official release trailer below. For further updates on The Rig: A Starmap to Murder, keep reading VRFocus.
