Pavlov has been a staple in the PC VR industry for over two years and it only continues to get better. This game has been in early access for the entire time it has been on the Steam Store, and it has felt far from a finished project for the majority of the time on the SteamVR Store. With games like this, you can expect that kind of experience. With the developer releasing a new version of the game this year, it finally might be playable.
Pavlov Lite (official name pending) is shooting for a December release. The 19th of December is going to be the day it hits the Oculus Store, but that could very well change any time. With big projects from small developers, timing can be a bite of a guessing game, even if they say its not. The game will be completely free to play, and will not be cross playing with the PC VR users from Steam. This is likely because the Lite version is going to be much different and more basic than the original $10 version.
Dave Villz, the developer of the game, tweeted back in May a video of him playing the game on the Quest. We aren’t sure if that is the same gameplay we will be experiencing in a few months, or if this was done through side loading the game. We do know that this wasn’t done through Oculus Link, as that technology had yet to be fully developed. Either way, the video is going to give us a somewhat clear look at what he will be delivering to Oculus during this upcoming holiday season.
With Oculus Link hitting the masses in less than a couple weeks, Quest users are going to play this game a bit earlier than anticipated. Of course this is going to be a tethered experience, but it is going to be the full version of the game on your once wireless headset. This is going to bring excitement to many, as Pavlov and many other large title VR games are going to be playable on your Oculus Quest.
Villz is looking to bring Pavlov to all headset users for free in the future. He has said that once this game is out of early access, he hopes to bring it free to all. It has been proven that games like this can be extremely successful, although we have yet to see that inside of the virtual gaming world. We have seen Fortnite have extreme success in this area. The game has had massive adoption because it is free to play, and has made insane amounts of money from having a battle pass and skins to enhance the aesthetics of the game.
Apex Legends has done the same thing, but it did take a little bit of time to get the battle pass going for this game. The first few months Apex Legends was on the gaming store, it saw more success than Fortnite. Now of course, Epic’s baby has taken the spotlight once more, but both of these games have proven that free-to-play can be extremely successful in todays gaming world.
We aren’t certain of how Villz is planning on making money off of his game. Whether it be buyable bonus traits or a battle pass and skins like Fortnite, we are sure this game is going to continue to be in the spotlight for the time going forward inside of virtual reality. For more virtual gaming news and community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
