Eric Chahi and his studio Pixel Reef are readying a new sandbox mode for their PlayStation VR game, Paper Beast. This is said to be a completely standalone game mode that will allow players to "create their own unique, freeform virtual domains, from the fantastical creatures that inhabit it, to the weather and the terrain itself."
This sandbox mode will allow players essentially play god. They will be able to mess around with the game's ecosystem on multiple levels. This includes influencing the water and screwing around with the "deep physics engine" that Paper Beast utilizes.
Players will find out just how creature behavior is tied to the elements. There will be a "special focus" given to immersion and simulation of the environment. There will also be eleven different animal hybrid species that they can interact with. There are also plans, geological elements, and even the Sun. Some tales even suggest that the Sun is a deadly lazer.
This sandbox mode for Paper Beast will exist alongside the story mode of the game. Paper Beast's core mode allows players to "discover a blossoming virtual world where the environments and quirky animals have independently evolved from lost code and forgotten data." There is no spoken dialogue in the game, allowing players to experience the story through the environment, environmental puzzles, and through interactions with the game's wildlife.
Paper Beast and its sandbox mode will launch on PlayStation VR in Q1 of 2020. Eric Chahi and Pixel Reef previously created games like Heart of Darkness, Another World, and From Dust.
