Battleships the classic guessing board game where players have to find their opponents fleets on a grid has been around for decades. It’s now been given a virtual reality (VR) makeover by indie developer Fred Sauer with VR Battle Grid for the HTC Vive head-mounted display (HMD).
Taking the same mechanics as the boardgame, VR Battle Grid challenges players to hunt down six classes of hidden ships: Aircraft Carrier, Amphibious Assault, Cruiser, Littoral Combat, Destroyer and Submarine.
Place your ships anywhere on the grid then it’s time to take turns working out where your opponents forces are. VR Battle Grid is single-player so you’ll be up against an AI but the developer has noted in the Steam Early Access listing: “If there’s a lot of interest, I might consider adding online multiplayer game play.”
To add some immersive VR elements to the game play players will be able to see and here the incoming salvos of rockets as they whizz by towards the game board. The title uses true spatial audio to create an involving experience, so that when a rocket is directly behind you it sounds different from one directly ahead, and splashes at your feet sound different than one above you.
Sauer is looking for community feedback to help finish and polish VR Battle Grid. He already plans to add a win/lose tracking system and redesign the fleet to make each ship look unique.
Apart from being able to play Battleships in VR, the other big draw is the price. VR Battle Grid is completely free to download and begin playing. It’s been designed so the HTC Vive players can use it seated, standing, or in full Room Scale.
VRFocus will continue bringing you the latest VR releases on Steam, as new content arrives.
