Who needs Kratos’s big blades? VR shooter Dream Tango: Ascension will let you take on a god at a marginally more sensible distance.
Update 06/06/2022 2:38 BST: Dream Tango: Ascension’s launch has been slightly delayed so while it should be arriving soon it won’t be released this week.
Coming to Oculus/Meta Quest, it’s the first entry in the Dream Tango series which has nothing to with slapping people on the ears and everything to do with annihilating wave after wave after wave of celestial foes. You’ve chosen to engage in the Trials of the Citadel (you can tell it’s important because of the capital letters) which ends with you facing off against the Goddess Hecate-Astraea.
Why? Your protagonist’s memory is so fuzzy they can’t recall. We guess those meditation classes were a big waste of time – this cosmic journey isn’t so much about wisdom as it is enraging a god then (aided by the odd power-up or two) firing etheric energy into their minions’ faces.
At least, we think those are their faces. It’s hard to be sure because Dream Tango: Ascension has a very cool aesthetic going on. It’s almost pre-Columbian, with both your enemies and your surroundings looking a little Incan/Mayan, all lines and symbols. That said, there’s also a dab of H.P. Lovecraft in there, minus the racism.
Developer Uncloudy & Co is also fleshing out the game’s mythology with a web-based feature, dubbed “Somna” that’s unlocked by discovering codes in game. Andreas Panagiotopoulos, Uncloudy & Co’s creative director, has big plans for the Dream Tango universe, including “off-game elements, like comic strips, mini films, and website unlocks… perhaps even a Netflix Pilot”.
It all sounds a little optimistic; personally, we’d have waited to see how Dream Tango: Ascension fares before making such grand declarations. But who knows, maybe the full Dream Tango, er, dream, will become a reality.
Playable on Quest or Quest 2, Dream Tango: Ascension is set to launch soon. You can also check out the beta version of the next Dream Tango game here.
