Following his VR debut with Death Game Hotel, SWERY wants to create “a multiplayer experience that no one has seen before.”
It’s been two weeks since the arrival of Death Game Hotel on Quest, a gambling puzzle horror game that was recently reviewed as having “excellent multiplayer.” While it’s White Owls Inc.’s debut VR game, it’s not Hidetaka “SWERY” Suehiro’s first time exploring virtual reality, following a 2017 VR experiment and a cancelled food-themed PSVR game.
In an email interview with UploadVR, White Owls’ CEO revealed that Death Game Hotel was conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. White Owls then presented a prototype demo to Meta.
“In a situation where going out, meeting friends, and going to the office are restricted, White Owls distributed VR headsets to all employees and held game meetings in VR. This experience gave rise to the desire to create a safe space where people can gather and connect at any time, and this project was started. “
White Owls initially considered using mahjong and poker as the basis for Death Game Hotel, drawing inspiration from Squid Game, Saw, Kaiji and Tomodachi Game, but added a twist in which players would have to “bet something beyond expectations”.
Considering that previous “death game” concepts in video games like Danganronpa have often been single-player, it was surprising to see White Owls’s constant focus on multiplayer.
“Everything was designed and developed with multiplayer as the primary experience in mind. In fact, single player was added later, like a campaign mode in an FPS game.”
Suehiro said the biggest challenge was establishing how cheating in the game would work, and when to detect that cheating. White Owls ended up limiting the timing window while providing a grace period after detection.
“Because it’s a multiplayer game, it’s really unpredictable when someone will try to cheat.”
When asked why he chose VR over more traditional platforms, Suehiro reaffirmed his belief in the social aspect of gaming, saying that the “overwhelming feeling of being together in the same place” is what makes VR stand out for Death Game Hotel.
“The tension you feel when bluffing or cheating is something that is unique to the VR platform and cannot be expressed on a flat screen. If I create VR works in the future, I would like to place emphasis on these sensations, which are difficult to reproduce on a flat screen.”
Mixed reality support was considered before the Quest 3’s launch, but White Owls concluded that MR wasn’t suitable for Death Game Hotel, as the game requires players to bring together friends from around the world in a fictional setting.
However, it’s unclear whether Death Game Hotel will be coming to Steam or PSVR 2. We’ve heard that White Owls is “implementing various strategies to bring the title to a wider audience,” but that these strategies “will not be successful” if the Quest version doesn’t prove popular.
As for what’s next, I asked if White Owls has plans to develop more VR games, and the resounding “Yes!” told me all I needed to know.
Although this was my first VR project, I believe I was able to recreate a sensation that cannot be experienced on a flat screen. I also gained valuable experience overcoming many challenges that I have never encountered on traditional platforms. I will definitely use all this knowledge when creating future games. Ideally, I would like to create a multiplayer experience that no one has seen before, so stay tuned.
Would White Owls consider adapting some of its previous games into VR, such as the 2010 survival horror game Deadly Premonition? Suehiro says it’s up to the rights holder, but “if the opportunity arises, we’d love to do it.” He also acknowledged that White Owls created a Deadly Premonition VR demo during the sequel’s development, but that this was “just a test” and was subsequently dropped.
Death Game Hotel is currently available on the Meta Quest platform.
Death Game Hotel review: Interesting but not thrilling
Death Game Hotel is a fascinating VR horror title that excels in multiplayer but falls short at times. Full review.
