It’s now available on Quest 3 as
Party Versus, a mixed reality party game. Here’s our full impressions.
Developed by Schell Games (Among Us VR, I Expect You To Die), Party Versus is the multi-location mixed reality title previously teased before the launch of the studio’s recent Apple Vision Pro exclusive, Puzzle Sculpt. This game allows you to play 16 minigames in a shared area that can accommodate two or four players. I recently played Quest 3 for about 40 minutes, with three Schell Games developers. Studio recommends 2m by 2m space for play, with the option to choose a corner of the room that will display other players when playing minigames. Party Versus has two modes of play: Quick Party allows you to select minigames which are free for all or require teamwork. Each features a ‘Twisted’ variety that keeps this interesting with varied effects like another player’s room being turned “upside down.” Party Playoffs takes the longer approach, where you compete for a Party Crown over six minigames.
There’s a few highlights so far. Hot Potato is a game that’s similar to real life. The winner of the Hot Potato competition will be the person who throws the potato into the other player’s room last before the explosion. Pop Pals is a creative team-based variant of Pop Pals where only your partner can see what number the balloons are in. I enjoyed Pop Pals’ creative team-based variant where only your partner can see what number is on your room’s balloons, so you have to communicate.
Screenshots taken by UploadVR on Quest 3
The minigames I’ve tried are mostly straightforward, and what’s particularly good is how Party Versus uses your room. You can hide thrown items like the hot-potato behind furniture that has been scanned, adding depth to your aiming. Spike Attack allows you to use furniture for cover and avoid balls. In
to a lesser degree. The full-body images of developers were surprisingly well integrated into my playing space. Two of the developers had smaller rooms while my living room is (thankfully) larger. This means objectives are spread out across a wider space for one player over another, which could make some minigames unbalanced.
Screenshots provided by Oculus Publishing
From a technical perspective, Schell Games has brought this together well. Party Versus has a competitive aspect that I liked, but it is more than the sum of its components. This is not an exception to the problem that minigames collections aren’t very deep. This is all tied together by the sense of social interaction that this brings. As such, I can see this being a good introductory experience for MR newcomers on Quest.Last StandOverall, it’s been an enjoyable experience and Party Versus makes entertaining use of mixed reality for multiplayer. It’s an entertaining, if somewhat simplistic minigame that showcases social mixed reality. It’s not a complete review because I haven’t played through it all yet. But it is a great start.