Temple Run VR, a first-person version of Imangi’s popular infinite runner game, is now available as a free download for the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition headset. The casual, Sisyphean dash to safety that never comes is amplified with an immersive perspective designed to give you the feeling that skull-faced demon monkeys are really breathing down your neck in hot pursuit after you snatch an idol from the eponymous temple.
This time the action is transposed to perilous, snowy peaks, where one false step can send you plummeting into the valleys below. The opening has been greatly expanded to increase the player’s sense of immersion. You begin inside the temple and are free to look around before snatching the idol and incurring the wrath of its primate guardians.
As you run through endless mountain paths and temple tunnels, it is now possible to look down into the pits you avoid, or look back over your shoulder and see just how close you are to being mauled. You can control the game with an attached gamepad or the Gear VR’s built-in touch pad, though Polygon reports that the latter is somewhat unwieldy.
The Samsung Gear VR headset is one of the first consumer virtual reality headsets to hit the market after Oculus VR revitalized the long-promised field. It requires a Galaxy Note 4 phone which plugs in to serve as the screen and processor for the headset. The quad HD 5.7-inch screen and Snapdragon 805 processor give this phone enough muscle to provide a convincing virtual reality experience on the go. The Gear VR was developed in partnership with Oculus.
“This wave of VR is in its infancy,” explained Imangi co-founder Keith Shepard to VentureBeat. “There’s tremendous buzz around Oculus. This is the first stab at having a dedicated platform for VR games. We’re excited to see how many are going to play this thing,” The Gear VR Innovator Edition is available for purchase now through Samsung or AT&T for $200. Temple Run VR is available as a free download for early adopters.
