Though intensely realistic activity simulators such as Fishing from Dovetail Games perform extremely well on virtual reality (VR) headsets, there is absolutely still room for titles that take a more lighthearted approach to these hobbies, titles that appeal to casual audiences rather than niche ones. That was the appeal of Resolution Games’ title Bait! when it was released for Samsung Gear VR earlier this year.
Where Dovetail’s Fishing aims for a lifelike fishing experience, Bait! takes a slightly less serious approach, introducing fantasy wildlife, simple controls, and a colourful art style that clearly wasn’t aiming for intense realism. Bait! even introduces a story and characters to gameplay, taking players to Bait! Island where they are tasked with helping their boss catch a rare fish as they try to save the failing aquarium where they work, making friends with the locals as they do so and finding their loyalties between these people and their boss split.
This was obviously the right approach to take as, since its release, Bait! has racked up over 500,000 downloads. This news was announced today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) taking place in Los Angeles, where it was also revealed that the title has now been localised for several more European counties including Germany, Spain, Italy, and France, with plans for more additional global localisations in the coming months.
Resolution Games also announced that there will soon be a new fishing destination added to the title that will include even more fish species for players to wrangle with.
“It’s very exciting to see so much interest in a single game this early in the evolution of VR,” said Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games. “The first consumer devices are just now hitting the shelves with consumer and market interest steadily impressing us and driving us to keep pushing the limits and setting new standards for VR.”
Bait! is free and available for Samsung Gear VR users in the Oculus VR Store. Keep reading VRFocus for more news on Bait’s additional localisations as they’re revealed and more news from E3.
