Pistol Whip released two years ago this month with a simultaneous release on PC VR and the original Oculus Quest.
The new shooter from Cloudhead Games marked a key moment in VR’s shift toward low-cost standalone systems with tracked hand controllers. Pistol Whip placed PC VR and Quest on even footing — eventually accommodating PSVR too — with a forward-facing title that could be picked up and played almost instantly. It exchanged the slow burn discovery and puzzling elements of Cloudhead’s previous VR games for what’s basically an exhilarating shoot-and-run tour through the most action-packed moments in cinematic history.
I wrote that Cloudhead hit a bullseye with its release in November 2019 and, while the game debuted with just 10 songs, they were already deeply replayable with built-in modifiers like deadeye dramatically changing the level of challenge. In the two years since release, Canada-based Cloudhead transitioned to remote work amid the pandemic and still made good on its promise to expand Pistol Whip, with 28 scenes now available. There are also two campaigns — 2089 and Smoke & Thunder – stringing together a handful of individual scenes with stylish fast-paced narrative and voice acting.
Underpinning it all is a robust new “styles” system with a range of weapons and modifications to Pistol Whip’s rules offering each player a wide range of ways to compete for a spot on the leaderboards. It is such a bigger package than what Cloudhead launched with, and the developers want to keep adding more, that Cloudhead opted to grandfather in all existing buyers to the updates so far and up the price for the entire package for new buyers to $29.99.
So, what’s next for Pistol Whip? We’ll be asking Cloudhead that very question in a live studio interview looking back at two years of Pistol Whip development. Check it out live from our studio in virtual reality at 1 pm Pacific today — video embedded below — and you can drop in a question or comment into the YouTube comments.
Or check back here later for updates and a replay of the conversation!
