The Gallery PC

The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed for PC is a debut title of Cloudhead Games studio. The team focuses on creating games employing virtual reality goggles only. The game itself is a first episode of The Gallery: Six Elements, a series inspired by fantasy films from 1980s. It is worth mentioning that the game has been conceived in March 2013 as a Kickstarter project, achieving considerable success.

Plot

The protagonist enters a fantastic, dark, and long-forgotten world, filled to the brim with secrets, riddles to solve, and various dangers. They are a result of strange laws that rule this oneiric environment, as well as numerous enemies that we face along the way. The story, involving the search of the protagonist’s sister, includes a lot of twists, while the new plots are uncovered through conversations with encountered characters and notes found along the way.

Mechanics

The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed for PC is a game created with only virtual reality in mind. The action is presented from a first person perspective, with the player being able to have a free look around. When it comes to movement, the developers employed a solution similar to one found in original games from the Myst series – using the controller, the player points to a place where the hero should go next. The controllers are also used while interacting with items and environmental elements, or while using the inventory elements.

The gameplay itself is based mainly on exploring the dark environment, with the meager amounts of light often forcing us to use a lighter or flares. Along the way, we find various notes, and solve numerous environmental riddles. These elements were based on manipulating the available items, or by controlling gravity, as a result forcing us to think unconventionally. This way, we unlock passages to previously unavailable locations, while unraveling the story at the same time. Additionally, our journey is often interrupted by armed enemies – in such cases, the only way to survive is to hide.

Technical aspects

The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed requires virtual reality goggles to work. Given the high quality visuals (this applies to textures, fluid animation, as well as complicated lighting effects of individual locations) the high system requirements are not a surprise – to be able to play the game without tearing, top shelf hardware is necessary. It is worth noting that the soundtrack has been composed by Jeremy Soule – the author of classic soundtracks from the series such as The Elder Scrolls, or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Last updated on 24 August 2016