Close your eyes and imagine the streets of London, somewhere in the 19th century. Scattered across the masonry of the scene are six magical bearers – witches or wizards, if you prefer those terms – swinging spells back and forth in an effort to defeat their apparent rivals. If you’ve ever read a Harry Potter book or seen any of the movies, there’s no doubt that this scene can immediately be recalled in great detail in your head.
That kind of scenario is exactly what Wands Alliances are for Oculus Quest 2 (opens in new tab) it’s all about. You and a team of two other witches or wizards – controlled by human players or AI bots – will battle a team of three others to the death, fighting 3v3 battles in large city environments using a unique tactical teleportation style of locomotion. You have a wand in each hand and four spells to cast at any time. Only your speed and your wits will save you and your team from an untimely end.
Wands Alliances is the highly anticipated sequel to the original Wands game, which was available all the way back on the Oculus Go, and was considered one of the best VR games (opens in new tab) of his time. Given how limited that system was, it’s not surprising that Wands Alliances is a huge step forward in both the visual and gameplay department. But does an improved version of an old formula still enchant me? Yes, and you’ll find out why in our hands-on preview of Wands Alliances below.
Wands Alliances includes both a single-player story and a multiplayer component, but for this hands-on preview I’ll cover just the multiplayer part. Developer Cortopia Studios invited me to a private play session, where I was able to participate in the battle with four to five other members of the development team for about an hour and a half.
The base
Wands Alliances multiplayer pits two teams of three players against each other in a 3v3 battle. Rounds are objective based and can last anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes. A round can be ended by eliminating all players on the other side or by capturing the Omega device. Think of it a bit like turning on the bomb in a Counter-Strike match (or other similar games), followed by a 45-second window where the opposing team can turn off the device.
Players must work together to arm (or defend) the Omega device. Think of it a bit like arming the bomb in a Counter-Strike match.
When playing a normal match, any character not controlled by a human player is automatically filled by a bot. In my playtest, I found it hard to tell the difference between humans and bots, so don’t expect to sail through a lap just because a team has bots on its side.
At the start of each round, players choose a class – the offer is a choice between a damage dealer, healer, or support class – followed by choosing four spells to use in battle. Dozens of spells exist in the game and they are separated by a total of six classes, each of which can be leveled up as you progress. Spells can be swapped every four rounds, but you only have a total of six spells to choose from, so you’ll need to plan wisely in advance.
While many games use teleportation as a movement mechanism, Wands Alliances uniquely uses both teleportation and room-scale movement at the same time.
During rounds, you earn XP and level up your character, which can be used to upgrade and unlock new spells. Spells can be upgraded and managed in the hub, and players are encouraged to try multiple classes to unlock everything. You can also try out spells on the hub so that you are proficient before starting a multiplayer battle. While there are dozens and dozens of spells, they all fit into the damage, healing, blocking, deflection, buff, debuff, and enemy player control categories.
At launch, Wands Alliances will offer three levels to play in: The Rookery, The Gateway, and The Maetropolis. More levels are planned for future updates.
During rounds, players will find themselves warping between several “lanterns” scattered throughout each level. While many games use teleportation as a movement mechanism, Wands Alliances uniquely uses both teleportation and room-scale movement at the same time.
Once you teleport to a lantern – done by pointing your wand at the clearly lit floating lanterns in the levels and holding down the grip button – you have a physical area measuring 2 by 2 meters to walk around. lantern stations usually include walls, wooden pallets, crates, and other obstacles that players can physically duck behind to dodge spells.
However, some spells contain an area of effect damage, so camping by one lantern can easily be discouraged by the right spell. While more than one ally can occupy some lanterns, enemies and allies cannot be near the same lantern, which could cut off an essential passage area throughout the level.
While voice chat is enabled by default in the game, the developers have thankfully acknowledged that not all players want to hear or interact with other players this way. Pointing at a lantern and tapping the B or Y button will ping that location, indicating enemy positions during the match, allowing for clear non-voice communication.
Impressive, thrilling battles await
Since Wands Alliances is a sequel to a classic VR title that has been available on many platforms for many years, it doesn’t try too hard to revolutionize the existing solid formula. Instead, a lot of the mechanics you see are evolutions of their implementations in the original title.
Wands Alliances, for example, builds on the spell mechanics of the original game. Instead of one wand with four spells (as was the case in the original game), you use two wands with two spells each. Cycling through it is as easy as tapping the A or X button.
Each spell is color-coded, making it easy enough to keep up with during those extra intense battles. It’s entirely possible to heal enemies if you’re not paying attention, for example, so players are encouraged to use this color-coding feature to better manage spells.
Likewise, casting spells is as easy as pressing the trigger button on either controller. It feels (and looks) a bit like a gun at first, but this type of mechanic is much simpler than the gesture-based system some other magic-casting games try to use in VR. That’s especially true because there are dozens and dozens of different spells, which would get very confusing if you had to remember to draw some shape while being fired upon.
It’s very possible to heal enemies if you’re not careful, so make sure your spells are good.
From the moment I booted up the game, I was amazed at how clean, clear and detailed the game’s visuals are. Levels are quite large and impressively detailed, with little details everywhere that you could very well miss during those epic spell battles.
It took me a while to get used to the unique combination of room-scale teleportation and motion mechanics, as I’m used to games that prioritize virtual motion over physical motion in most cases. While teleporting may be considered restrictive in some games, in this game, teleporting is done from station to station rather than custom locations, so you are not limited by false movement speed limits intended to replicate a person’s normal movement speeds.
Forcing players to use predetermined teleportation locations also aids in team strategy, as seasoned players can intelligently use these paths to block enemy players’ movements.
Forcing players to use predetermined teleportation locations also aids in team strategy, as seasoned players can intelligently use these paths to block enemy players’ movements; something that is especially important if you are on the attacking side and prevents the defenders from taking out the Omega device.
While Wands Alliances can be considered a “shooting game” in many ways, most shooters don’t give you the ability to dodge projectiles without slowing down time or some other sort of mechanism. Watching spells come at you from multiple locations and have the ability to physically dodge or teleport out of the way is something uniquely satisfying that can’t be found in most other titles.
Even after an hour and a half of playtime, I didn’t feel like calling it a night; I was having way too much fun and had finally gotten over the learning curve that comes with playing against people who have already put hundreds (or thousands) of hours into the game. I’m pretty sure they took me easy at times, but when they clearly weren’t, it was nothing short of magical to feel like I was in a real magic battle on the streets of London.
Since the game will only launch with three total maps and one game mode, additional options are expected to become available in updates after launch. Wands Alliances is currently an exclusive title for Meta Quest 2, but the developer says other platforms are unknown at this time, which infers that we’ll likely see the game elsewhere in the future. Watch it in the video below.