Swarm puts Spider-Man-style swinging into a VR arcade shooter

We've seen a few Spider-Man swinging demos on the Oculus Quest and PC VR (both official and non-official), but now an upcoming VR game is set to take fun web-swinging mechanics and apply them to an arcade-style arena shooter with a new property.

Swarm is an upcoming title from Greensky Games, releasing this summer for PC VR via Oculus and Steam and Oculus Quest. It'll be a cross-buy for Rift and Quest.

As you can see in the trailer, the game is a frantic arcade shooter that employs Spider-Man-like swinging mechanics for what looks like a whole lot of hectic fun. “Armed with just a grappling hook and your handy pistols, you'll be plunged into a flow state as you grapple, shoot and battle your way to the heart of the Swarm before it's too late,” reads Greensky's description.

“The gameplay is fast-paced and intense,” said Peter Le Bek, the founder of Greensky Games. “You're moving all the time, swinging through explosions, plunging down on enemy bots while showering them with fire. It's the most intense movement experience you can have in VR without getting dizzy or motion sick.”

Le Bek says the team spent four months iterating on the grappling system alone, to make it feel satisfying, before fleshing out the rest of the game. They made a breakthrough when they added elasticity and tension simulation to the rope, making it feel “more like Spider-Man.” From there, they settled on an arena shooter genre to implement their grappling mechanic, resulting in Swarm.

“We were really worried that the movement would be too intense for most people,” said Bek. “So when we tested with everyone in our office – most of whom had never tried VR before – we were really surprised that no one complained about motion sickness.” After further testing with “hundreds” of VR newbies and veterans, Le Bek says they've still had no complaints about nausea, but have added comfort settings just in case.