'Twisted Arrow' Debuts On HTC Vive, Oculus Rift

Bows are in vogue. Whether it's Legolas from "The Lord of the Rings," Hawkeye from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or Katniss Everdeen from "The Hunger Games," archers have been a staple of big-screen action for over a decade. Now archery will head to much smaller displays with Twisted Arrow, a first-person shooter made by Phaser Lock Interactive for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Twisted Arrow outfits you with a futuristic bow that uses a wide variety of ammunition to combat gun-toting soldiers. An unlimited supply of Maxflight 3000 arrows lets you take down most enemies, while the Hydra Arrow MBG-5 fires up to five arrowheads that lock on to their targets. The Cryo-Shot 1-O-9 arrows freeze enemies. Other arrows let you set up proximity mines, take down enemy vehicles, and otherwise rain destruction on your enemies.

We played Twisted Arrow earlier this month. Here's our impression of the game's locomotion system and controls:

Twisted Arrow is an arcade-style FPS game, but it's not another stationary wave shooter. The game features a locomotion system reminiscent of the platform-hopping mechanic Insomniac Games used for The Unspoken. It also reminds me of Epic Games’ Robo Recall. Twisted Arrow uses a teleport locomotion system to move around, but you don’t get the freedom of choosing where to place the marker. Phaser Lock’s developers set predefined locations for you to hop to and from. To move, you must press the menu button on the arrow controller. The menu button reveals all the spots that are within range to hop to. Point at the space you wish to move to, and let go of the menu button to teleport there. Once you become familiar with the controls, it becomes second nature to switch locations in the middle of a fight to get the drop on a group of enemies. We found ourselves switching from spot to spot quickly, and taking out nearby enemies at every stop.

Now you'll be able to judge Twisted Arrow for yourself. The game features six missions and three difficulty levels. Phaser Lock Interactive told us it will release additional missions after it collects feedback on the first set; that way, the developer can make something Twisted Arrow players will (hopefully) enjoy instead of making some more educated guesses about what you might want to see from an FPS featuring a bow and arrow instead of firearms.

Twisted Arrow is available now from Steam and will soon debut on Oculus Home. It normally costs $20, but Phaser Lock Interactive is holding a launch special, so it can be yours for just $15 right now. The game does rely on motion input, so you'll need to use the HTC Vive's motion controllers or Oculus Touch controllers.