Puzzle Adventure Game Mare Brings Its ICO-Inspired Platforming to Virtual Reality

Visiontrick Media's long-awaited puzzle platformer Mare has officially launched for the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 as of January 7th, 2021.  Visiontrick Media is releasing Mare first for Oculus Quest, saying in a recent statement: “After years in the works, we’re happy to announce that it will finally see the light of day coming exclusively for Oculus Quest on January 7th, 2021. Mare will deliver the full experience on both Oculus Quest 1 & 2, including 90Hz support for Oculus Quest 2; furthermore, Mare will be coming to Oculus Rift at a later date in the near future.”

Who is she? And where is she going?

Our atmospheric VR game MARE, with music by space-musician @tonygerber, is finally out on Oculus Quest, so hop over to the store and find out!https://t.co/dPT2yEBh0G#Oculus #OculusQuest #OculusQuest2 #vr #VirtualReality #madewithunity pic.twitter.com/WeaueezhWk

— VISIONTRICK MEDIA (@TheVisiontrick) January 8, 2021

Mare has players embody a giant bird that soars high in the sky, guiding and protecting a young girl as she traverses the treacherous and strange landscapes, using the motion controllers. The game spans across 8 chapters where the player explores the world and searches for lost artifacts that will help them uncover the secrets of the world of Mare. While controlling the bird, from mostly a third-person perspective, the player must solve puzzles to help their AI companion navigate the environment safely.

Mare comes with a striking visual style to add to the mysterious but beautiful dreamscape as well as accompanied with the musical composition of “space musician”, Tony Gerber, providing an ambient and otherworldly soundtrack to help players truly immerse themselves into the world.

The trailer shown at SXSW 2019 had Mare originally slated for the Oculus Rift. Seemingly somewhere along the line of production the Oculus Quest and Quest versions had become the top priority, with Visiontrick Media stating that the Rift version will be released later.

Mare wears its influence from Fumita Ueda classic, Ico, on its sleeve. Originally released for the PS2 back in 2001, Ico had players take the role of the titular character who helps a girl escape from an evil queen as they solve puzzles and the player assist her over obstacles. Team ICO went on to make other platforming classics in the shape of critically acclaimed Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian.

Visiontrick Media is a three-person team based between Japan and Sweden featuring Rickard Westman, Rui Guerreiro, and Henrik Flink. Alongside Mare, Visiontrick's other projects include Pavilion, “a fourth-person puzzling adventure. Indirect guide the unknown main character through the puzzling narrative and levels by manipulation of the surrounding environment, lights and sounds”