Interdimensional Destruction: ‘Amid Evil’ Brings Retro-Shooter Brutality to Meta Quest 2 + Pro Today

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Apr 20, 2023

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Does the blood of the Champion run in your veins? Then pick up the Axe of the Black Labyrinth and start swinging, because acclaimed retro-shooter Amid Evil is out now on Meta Quest 2 + Pro.

No cuts, no compromises. The entirety of Amid Evil has been rebuilt for VR—every secret-packed level, every over-the-top magic weapon. Travel across dimensions and fight your way through hordes of eldritch enemies at a million miles an hour. That’s the type of ride you’re in for here. If you haven’t played the PC version of Amid Evil, get ready for one of the best shooters of the modern era, a loving homage to games like Heretic. And if you have? It’s time to take your axe to some demon faces like never before.

They even brought the cheat codes over.

We caught up with Dave Oshry, CEO at New Blood Interactive, to discuss the surprising way Amid Evil’s VR port came about, adding a third dimension to 2D sprites, and bringing a PC game over to Meta Quest 2 without compromising what made it special. Read on for more details.

First, for those who aren’t familiar—what is Amid Evil?

Dave Oshry: A retro FPS for the ages! And part of New Blood’s trilogy of critically acclaimed, top selling shooters. [Editor’s Note: The other two are DUSK and ULTRAKILL.]

If you remember games like Heretic and Hexen from the ‘90s, it’s a lot like that! Think DOOM but with magical weapons and fists instead of guns. It’s a classic FPS where you carry a lot of weapons, move around really fast and explore sprawling levels. Also, everything wants to kill you.

How did development on a VR port start? What made you want to bring the game over?

DO: Well, a dude named Andre Elijah bothered me via email starting in 2019 asking if his company could make a VR version of the game before the flat version even released! In 2021, I finally told him he could have a go at it...if he left me alone. Now it’s 2023 and we’re releasing it!

Persistence pays off…sometimes.

What do you think VR adds to Amid Evil?

DO: I think Amid Evil is uniquely suited to VR because you’ve got all these awesome otherworldly weapons with killer designs, and it’s always been a shame you can’t get up close and personal with them. Same goes for the levels. Exploring these worlds with this array of wild weaponry is something you just don’t get to do in a lot of VR games.

VR adds the ability to actually swing the Star of Torment and pin enemies to walls, throw whole planets at enemies, or just walk into a black hole you created. It’s nuts.

Amid Evil is such a fast-paced game—did you run into any challenges bringing it to VR? Was situational awareness an issue, for instance, or was there anything you needed to change? Any technical hurdles you needed to solve?

DO: Surprisingly, not really. VR actually makes the game a bit easier since you’re not limited by things like mouse input and character speed. You can just jump into the worlds of Amid Evil and swing your arms around like a madman chopping demon heads off and ducking under their attacks, without having to strafe or smash your space bar. It’s a totally different way to play the game but it works really well.

We’ve made a myriad of changes to make sure the scale and pacing feels right but it turns out Amid Evil just kinda works in VR as-is.

What’s your favorite weapon to use in the VR version and why? And was it important that you really nail the “feel” of weapons in the VR version? Is that process different from creating weapons for the PC?

DO: Well, the funny thing is that the weapons in the original game were 2D sprites created from 3D models. So we actually had to go and make new 3D versions of the weapons for VR—which is awesome because now you get to see and feel the weapons in 3D right in front of you. We had to recreate parts of the weapons you’d never seen before, something we never imagined when making the original game.

Favorite weapon? Star of Torment. Pinning enemies to walls never gets old and in VR it’s legitimately hilarious watching them fly back and splatter into bloody chunks right in front of you. The haptic feedback you get when playing really nails the feeling home. Get it? GET IT?!

Do you have any advice for other developers who want to bring their flatscreen games over to Meta Quest 2?

DO: Don’t be afraid to bring the whole experience of your game over. Players have moved beyond “cut down” versions of your games for VR. They can handle the real deal.

We could have made a half-assed wave-based magical FPS out of AMID EVIL for VR—but we decided to rebuild the whole damn game for people to experience instead. And we know players will appreciate that.

What’s next for you? Any future plans?

DO: DUSK VR and ULTRAKILL VR. Yeah, I said it.

Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

DO: A glass of scotch.

Ready to swing an axe like your life depends on it? Pick up Amid Evil on the Meta Quest Store today.