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Polyarc Games today revealed it’s releasing a flatscreen adaptation of VR puzzle-platformer series Moss, which follows the cancellation of a “major project” last month.

The News

Polyarc announced it’s bringing Moss (2018) and its sequel Moss: Book II (2022) to console and PC in a new flatscreen game called Moss: The Forgotten Relic, slated to arrive sometime this year.

In the game’s Steam page, Polyarc says Moss: The Forgotten Relic brings both previously VR-only games as “one complete, enhanced experience debuting on PC for first time.”

Moss: The Forgotten Relic is also slated to arrive on PS5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and Xbox.

In addition to being a flatscreen port of both games, Moss: The Forgotten Relic promises enhanced visuals and performance, new handcrafted cutscenes, a “smart follow” camera, the ability to skip combat, and all ‘Twilight Garden’ DLC.

This follows recent turmoil at Seattle-based Polyarc, as the studio announced last month it was reducing headcount by two-thirds following an “unsuccessful team-wide effort to secure funding following the cancellation of a major project,” the studio said in April.

Notably, Meta’s recent shift in priorities at its Reality Labs XR division not only prompted the closure of a number of several internal game studios, but also the revelation it was pulling funding from a number of third-party VR projects.

This includes the closure of Meta-owned studios Sanzaru Games, Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR port) and Twisted Pixel (Deadpool VR), with affected games including the reported cancellation of a Harry Potter VR game for Quest, which was supposedly being developed by Skydance Games.

My Take

While both are distinctly VR natives, Moss and Moss: Book II are one of the handful of VR games to use a third-person POV, which could make for a smoother transition to flatscreen.

Moss does engage players with first-person tasks, like reaching into the world for direct interactions, although most of the action is directed at controlling the series’ pint-sized protagonist Quill via gamepad controls, so it’s not difficult to see how the games might be adapted for flatscreen.

I definitely don’t want to conflate a few flatscreen release to an outright abandonment of VR games, although we have seen a few high profile exits in the past, specifically from studios behind popular VR platformers—which is worrying.

One of the firsts was Playful’s Lucky’s Tale (2016). It was one of the most talked-about VR games of its era, as it came for free with the original Oculus Rift as a platform exclusive, and successfully mashed up 360 immersion with traditional platforming action.

Lucky’s Tale eventually came to PSVR and SteamVR headsets in 2022, although not after the studio released Super Lucky’s Tale for console and flatscreen PC in 2017 and its re-imagining New Super Lucky’s Tale in 2020. Yes, the studio did eventually bring the original game to Quest, PSVR and SteamVR headsets, but it was essentially just a remaster with a drip of additional content at that point.

Then there was ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission (2018), Road to VR’s first [10/10] game, which was created by Sony’s Tokyo-based Japan Studio. When Team Asobi, the studio’s spiritual successor, announced a sequel was coming in 2024, VR fans were basically left in the dust, as the studio implicitly told VR players not to hold out hope for support.

Neither Playful nor Team Asobi have produced anything in VR after their respective forays. And frankly, it’s hard not to see this as a Hail Mary by Polyarc, as a flatscreen adaptation is a cheap way of putting out something following its major downsizing in April.

That said, it remains to be seen whether the studio’s recent project cancellation was indeed another mainline entry into the Moss franchise, or something altogether different. Whatever the case, it seems to have taken the wind right out of the VR veteran’s sails.