Startenders, a new VR game coming to PSVR and Quest next month, will let you live out your intergalactic bartending dreams, mixing cocktails for some of the galaxy’s finest.
Announced earlier this week, the game is being developed by Foggy Box Games and published by Yogscast Games. Foggy Box co-founder Chris Youles gave some insight into the gameplay and design behind the game on the PlayStation blog.
“At its heart, Startenders is an intergalactic bartending game with a key focus on getting the player moving around and using machines, pouring drinks and memorizing the bar,” said Youles. “The game allows you to enjoy the life of a cosmic mixologist – with a narrative that runs alongside your progression, albeit one you can take at your own pace.”
As you can see in the announcement trailer embedded above, it looks a little bit like a cooking simulator or recipe-based game like Cook-Out, but remixed into an intergalactic setting focused all around cocktails and bartending.
There are over 100 recipes in the game, each a different combination of 32 available ingredients, 13 garnishes, 12 machines and 3 cups. While making cocktails, Foggy Box Games wanted to make sure the player was getting the most out of VR interactions — you’ll be pulling levels, smashing buttons and interacting with the bar and its machines in ways that should feel quite satisfying.
There’s an adjustable difficulty setting and procedurally generated levels for replayability. As you progress, you’ll unlock more machines and upgrades for them, expanding your cocktail repertoire.
Main campaign aside, there will also be other game modes that should keep you coming back for more, such as a ‘daily play’ mode that will refresh daily, giving the same shift to every player over that 24 hour period. You’ll have a chance to set your best score and top the leaderboards for that day.
Likewise, there will also be support for a ‘Pass the Headset’ multiplayer mode where each player takes a turn at putting on their best bartender performance — the player with the most tips wins.
Startenders launches March 17 for Meta Quest, Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR for PS4 and PS5. The game is also available to wishlist on Steam for PC VR, but without a set release date yet.
