''Trover Saves the Universe'' is a 2019

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

game developed and published by

Squanch Games Squanch Games (formerly known as Squanchtendo) is an American video game development studio based in Burbank, California. The company was founded by Justin Roiland in August 2016. The studio is most known for developing '' Accounting'' (2016), ...

for

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PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

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Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

Oculus Quest The Oculus Quest is a virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Oculus, a division of Meta, Inc., released on May 21, 2019. Similar to its predecessor, Oculus Go, it is a standalone device that can run games and software wirelessly under an ...

. Envisioned as a comedy game, the title features an optional

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

component.

Justin Roiland Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the co-creator of Adult Swim's ''Rick and Morty'' and its subsequent Rick and Morty (franchise), franchise. H ...

, who was the founder of Squanch Games and the co-creator of ''

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

'', provided voice work for many characters in this game. It received generally positive reviews upon release.

Gameplay

In the game, a being named Glorkon has kidnapped the dogs of the protagonist and sucked their essence into its eyes, granting him incredible powers that could end the universe. The player assumes control of a nameless Chairorpian, which is "a race of humanoid aliens confined to chairs", and they must rescue their dogs and defeat Glorkon in order to save the universe. Throughout the game, the player is accompanied by Trover, a purple alien monster. In the game, which is played from a second-person perspective, the player is always holding a

video game controller A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generation ...

and they issue commands to Trover, telling it to run, jump and attack. As the player progresses, players can upgrade the protagonist's chair and unlock the ability to pick up and throw objects, or levitate between three different height levels. The chair also serves as the game's

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

, displaying information about the player's power and

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. Players can also unlock Trover's combat abilities. The game was designed for

(VR) headsets, though players can still play the game without using a VR headset. The game features five major levels at launch.

Development

The game was developed by

, which was founded by ''

''s co-creator

, It was the studio's third game. ''Trover'' was mainly designed to be a comedy game, with Tanya Watson, one of Squanch Games' co-founders, adding that "if people don't laugh when we intend for them to laugh, then we know that something isn't working". While Roiland initially believed that the game would be well-received as long as it had good gameplay, as development progressed, he felt that the game "needed to be just as tight and funny as a TV production" because some of the in-game jokes were not working effectively. While Roiland and his team had laid down the foundation of the story, the voice actors were given a lot of room to improvise. Roiland himself also recorded more than 20 hours of lines for the game. The team also observed playtesters' interactions with the game's world, and added additional lines in order to react to these possible actions. However, nearly 40% of the recorded lines were not used in the final game. Roiland envisioned the title as a virtual reality game after being impressed by VR technology in 2015. Two important goals for the team were to instill a sense of exploration to the game and ensure that players would not get

motion sickness Motion sickness occurs due to a difference between actual and expected motion. Symptoms commonly include nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, tiredness, loss of appetite, and increased salivation. Complications may rarely include d ...

while playing. The game is also playable without using a VR headset as the team feared that it would limit the game's audience. According to Roiland, "everything is just as funny and amazing" even when it is played without a VR headset. The game was announced during

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

's press conference at

E3 2018 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 (E3 2018) was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...

. It was released for

and

PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...

on May 31, 2019. The PC version was released on June 4, 2019.

Gearbox Publishing Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, se ...

assumed publishing duties for the boxed version. Squanch Games released a trailer featuring

Rick Sanchez Rick Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and voiced by the former, Sanchez is a misanthropic alcoh ...

and

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, Sr. is one of the eponymous characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former, Morty is a 14-year-old boy loosely ...

from ''Rick and Morty'' in June 2019. The developer supported the game with free

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

with the release of "Important Cosmic Jobs" and "Jopo Mode" following the game's launch. In November 2019, Squanch Games announced that the game and its DLC would be launching on

and

on November 28 and December 3 respectively. An Oculus Quest version was released on June 18, 2020.

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews upon release according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Critics generally agreed that the game was very funny and that it would appeal to fans of the ''

'' series, though some reviewers noted that the gameplay was too basic and simple. The game was nominated for Best VR/AR Game at

The Game Awards 2019 The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Lo ...

and "Immersive Reality Game of the Year" at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Justin Roiland 2019 video games 3D platform games Action video games Gearbox Software games HTC Vive games Nintendo Switch games Oculus Rift games PlayStation 4 games Indie video games PlayStation VR games Single-player video games Squanch Games games Unreal Engine games Video games about extraterrestrial life Video games adapted into comics Video games developed in the United States Video games set on fictional planets Virtual reality games Windows games Xbox One games