The 2089 update to Pistol Whip arrives December 1 with a pulse-pounding 5-act campaign added to the hit arcade shooter.
The update rounds out what we already reviewed as a 5/5 game at release a year ago. Developer Cloudhead Games regularly updates the title with new scenes and gameplay elements, with the previous update adding new modifiers that change the feel of the game in significant ways.
With 2089 — which comes to PC VR and Quest first with PSVR support in 2021 — Cloudhead is challenging players who already found their rhythm with the core arcade elements to see if they can keep their adrenaline going across several songs and scenes. At least, that’s how I saw it after beating the campaign on hard in less than an hour. Cloudhead recommends some experience with the arcade portion of the game before attempting the campaign and I certainly had that covered, so your mileage may vary of course.
2089’s story is delivered by a combination of voice acting and comic book-like immersive illustrations made by artist Fico Ossio. The illustrations string together the moments between scenes — they’re just long enough to give you time to catch your breath — and the voice acting is pretty strong as well. A couple of the scenes destroyed me repeatedly, but only in that very particular way Pistol Whip developers seem to be honing in on with each update. In other words, losing just made me angrier and move a little quicker until I beat it.
You can see the start of the 2089 story in the video below, if you don’t mind the spoilers:
One act focuses on a rapid-fire gun that sprays the world in bullets while another offers you no bullets at all. Are you ready to Pistol Whip your way through that one?
The cinematic campaign is described as the game’s “first-ever”, so there’s hope that 2089 will eventually be joined by other narratives.
Cloudhead says its next major update, Concierge, will be out in Spring 2021. We don’t know what that update will entail just yet. 2089 is Cloudhead’s last update for Pistol Whip this year.
You can get Pistol Whip on the Oculus Store or Steam and look for the update arriving soon.
