Path of the Warrior is VR’s Streets of Rage, and it’s out now

The studio that created the black-and-white psychological thriller Wilson’s Heart for virtual reality is back. Developer Twisted Pixel Games launched Path of the Warrior tonight during The Game Awards live from Los Angeles. The game puts players inside of a classic beat-’em-up that you would find in the arcade or on an early console. But Path of the Warrior is available now for Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift headsets.

Twisted Pixel is very upfront about its inspirations. The trailer starts with a sidescrolling brawler that looks exactly like Streets of Rage. But the perspective quickly changes to Path of the Warrior’s first-person view. The game world, however, still looks like it would fit right at home in an arcade cabinet.

“Some of my earliest memories in gaming were beat-’em-ups like Double Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, and later on Streets of Rage and Final Fight—the genre was huge in its heyday,” said Oculus Studios executive producer Mike Doran. “When we had an opportunity to sign Twisted Pixel to create a Quest title with a blank slate when it came to genre, an arcade action beat-’em-up was at the top of their list, too.”

Path of the Warrior works a lot like those older games. Players must work through five environments plagued with low-level enemies. Those then lead into different boss fights. But unlike Double Dragon, you are standing inside of the fully interactive environment. If you see a pool cue in the background, you can go pick it up and use it as a weapon.

Twisted Pixel began work on the game in October 2018, and Doran said the studio has a lot of ideas that it may still put into the game.