Train Trek's VR mode had no body in it, and Aixceptional has rebuilt it around hands

Aixceptional has rebuilt the headset half of Train Trek, and the starting point was that players had no body in it. "We put on a headset, looked down, and our Pioneer wasn't there. That's fixed", the studio writes in an update posted to Steam on October 18.

One of Train Trek's own Steam store screenshots. Steam lists the game under Action, Casual, Indie and Strategy, and as VR Supported. Image: Aixceptional

Head and hands are now attached to the player's character, the arms reach to wherever the controllers are, and the world is scaled to the player's own height so that hands come out "the right size instead of toy-sized". The studio gives the update no version number.

The portals were disagreeing between the eyes

The most VR-specific fix is a stereo one. "The board wraps around you on a gentle curve now, and portals finally show the same picture to both eyes", Aixceptional says, "which your brain will appreciate".

Another store screenshot. The flatscreen crosshair has been halved in size, and in the headset there is no crosshair at all. Image: Aixceptional

Each eye needs its own view of one scene for depth to read correctly, and a portal is a second view drawn inside that scene, so a portal that disagrees between the eyes is a fault nothing but a headset will show. Aixceptional describes the fault and the fix without quantifying either.

Train Trek is listed on Steam under Action, Casual, Indie and Strategy, and as VR Supported rather than VR Only, which makes the flatscreen build the default and the headset mode the optional half. PC strategy has mostly reached headsets the other way round, through mods: a UEVR mod put Manor Lords in VR a week after its Early Access launch, with no work from its developer.

Companions now carry a weapon, a utility and a power each, and two can be equipped, one per hand. Image: Aixceptional

Each hand gets a laser pointer and a tool wheel

The crosshair is gone in VR. "Each hand throws a laser pointer, blue on the left and yellow on the right, with a dot where it lands", the studio says, and in train mode the same lasers point at the board, where a pull of the trigger presses whatever they are on.

Each hand also carries its own tool wheel, holding the grapple, both portal colours, the train's turrets, a sonar ping, the spotlight and that hand's companion abilities. Both portal colours sit on both wheels, so one hand can open a pair by itself, and Aixceptional says every new word on the wheel and in Settings is translated into all 31 languages.

Movement is body-relative on the left stick, with a flick of the right stick for a snap turn or a hold for a smooth one, and there is a VR Seated mode in Settings. That is the sort of comfort option we have argued VR games should stop treating as optional. The studio also says "VIVE Focus 3 and Cosmos controllers work", which is a claim about the controllers rather than about the Focus 3 headset itself.

A fourth store screenshot. Every car has been rebuilt as a stack of decks with stairs between them, with an observation deck at Level 3. Image: Aixceptional

Companions arrive with a weapon, a utility and a power

The other half of the update is the companions, who used to light the way and comment on the driving. Each now brings a weapon, a utility and a power, two can be carried at once, one per hand, and in a headset "the trigger fires your companion and the grip fires your own tool".

Seven are named, from Leonidas, whose Shred strips a target's armour, to Eloch, who brings guided missiles and a shield. Every seven cores raises all of them a level, and they share that level, so one found late never starts behind.

The train itself was torn down and rebuilt as stacks of decks with stairs between them, with a lobby and a companion deck in the locomotive, quarters and a double-height bridge above it, and an observation deck at Level 3. The soundtrack was re-cut at the same time, with awkward loop seams re-joined and some songs dropped.

Train Trek has been in Early Access on Steam since August 18 at $14.99 in the US, with no discount on the US storefront, and there is no Quest or other standalone build. Aixceptional has posted an update on the game roughly every week since early September.