Eagle Flight
More actions
| Eagle Flight | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| VR/AR | VR |
| Developer | Ubisoft Montreal Studio (FunHouse division) |
| Publisher | Ubisoft |
| Platform | SteamVR, Oculus Rift (Platform), PlayStation 4 |
| Device | HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR |
| Operating System | Windows, PlayStation 4 |
| Type | Full Game |
| Genre | Action, Simulation, VR |
| Input Device | Gamepad |
| Play Area | Seated |
| Game Mode | Single Player, Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op |
| Language | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese-Brazil, Russian |
| Rating | Everyone 10+ (ESRB) |
| Review | Mixed (Steam user reviews, October 2026) |
| Release Date | October 18, 2016 (Oculus Rift); November 8, 2016 (PlayStation VR); December 20, 2016 (HTC Vive, Steam) |
| Price | US$39.99 on Steam at launch; US$19.99 on Steam and the Meta Horizon Store (October 2026) |
| App Store | Steam, Meta Horizon Store, PlayStation Store |
| Website | http://eagleflight.ubisoft.com/ |
| Infobox Updated | 02/15/2017 |
Eagle Flight is a virtual reality flight action game developed by FunHouse, a division of Ubisoft Montreal, and published by Ubisoft. The player controls an eagle flying through Paris 50 years after humans have disappeared, steering by tilting their head rather than with a stick, and can play a single-player campaign of challenges or team-based online matches for up to six players.[1][2][3] The game is exclusive to VR headsets.[4]
Patrick Plourde, vice president of FunHouse, called it Ubisoft's first virtual reality game.[2] It was released for the Oculus Rift on 18 October 2016, for PlayStation VR on 8 November 2016 and for the HTC Vive on 20 December 2016,[5] and cross-platform multiplayer across the three headsets was added on 29 November 2016.[6] The developers built the control scheme and several visual effects specifically to limit motion sickness, and the game won the Immersive Reality Technical Achievement award at the 20th D.I.C.E. Awards in February 2017.[7][8]
Description
Developed exclusively for VR Eagle Flight sends you to the skies of Paris to experience the freedom of flying like never before!
Fifty years after humans vanished from the face of the Earth, wildlife and nature reclaimed its cities, leaving you with a breathtaking city playground in Paris. As an eagle, you soar past iconic landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame Cathedral, and dive through narrow streets in order to fight opponents and protect your territory. Eagle Flight gives you the absolute liberty to explore Paris from a bird's eye view!
Experience a true multiplayer adrenaline rush with up to 6 players! Use your piloting skills to lead your team to victory in the multiplayer mode, and engage in heart-pounding multiplayer dogfights.
Whether you always wanted to experience Paris from a birds eye view or wanted to live the thrill of hunting like a bird of prey, Eagle Flight lets you fulfill your dreams!
Gameplay
The game is played in first person from the eagle's point of view, and the player steers by moving their head. In a hands-on report from the 2016 Game Developers Conference, SiliconANGLE described head tilting for turns, the controller's shoulder buttons for speeding up and slowing down, and the X button for a screech attack.[9] Road to VR's review likewise noted that no joystick is used for steering: the trigger buttons boost or brake, and the face buttons trigger combat abilities.[1] On PlayStation 4 the game uses the DualShock 4 controller and requires the PlayStation VR headset and PlayStation Camera.[10]
Single-player
The single-player mode is a series of challenges set in a Paris abandoned by humans for more than 50 years, where wildlife and nature have reclaimed the city.[2][4] Destructoid's review describes progress through five districts of the city, with challenges such as flying through rings, and notes that only a minimum score is needed to advance.[11] Road to VR counted 23 story missions spread across five Paris landmarks plus 17 expert challenges, with 129 stars to earn; its reviewer finished the campaign in about six hours with roughly 60 stars. The open city also contains collectible fish and feathers.[1]
Multiplayer
Online multiplayer supports up to six players.[3][10] At launch there was one team mode, which Destructoid described as a 3v3 variant of capture the flag.[11] According to Road to VR, matches range from 1 vs. 1 to 3 vs. 3, and each team tries to capture the prey and return it to its nest.[1] Cross-platform play between Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and HTC Vive players was enabled on 29 November 2016.[6][12] On PlayStation 4, online play requires a PlayStation Plus subscription.[10]
Comfort design
According to a VRDC presentation by game director Olivier Palmieri, reported by UploadVR, the team designed the game around several techniques to reduce VR sickness:[7]
- Head movement is the main control, instead of steering with a hand controller.
- The eagle's beak stays in view to give the brain an extra reference point.
- Dynamic "blinders" narrow peripheral vision during flight; the team modeled them on the focused vision of an eagle as a predator. This is a form of dynamic field of view reduction, also called tunneling.
- Particles and wind-tunnel effects mark changes of speed instead of instant acceleration.
- The screen fades to black on a collision, an approach the team took from NASA research on space sickness.
- Stereo audio is balanced to support the sense of movement.
Road to VR's reviewer reported that vignetting appears during turns and near obstacles, and that leaf particles, speed lines and the beak give the eye focal points. The reviewer played for more than 15 hours, including one continuous five-hour session, with little discomfort.[1]
Features
Development
Eagle Flight was made by FunHouse, a division of Ubisoft Montreal.[2] According to Palmieri, he gathered a small team of VR enthusiasts inside the company in September 2014. The team studied the vestibulo-ocular reflex (the link between motion sensed by the inner ear and what the eyes see) and saccadic eye movement. Palmieri described using the head as a controller as a risky choice that research and playtests showed to be intuitive; more than 300 people, gamers and non-gamers, playtested the prototype.[7]
The team joined Ubisoft's FunHouse group and took the prototype to E3 2015; the first public showing of a pre-alpha version was at GDC 2016.[7] Creative director Charles Huteau told Gamasutra (now Game Developer) that FunHouse had a mandate to build prototypes with small teams, which he said was rare on triple-A teams, and that the team found that "flight was really good to reduce motion sickness". He said the team had "this objective of creating a more mainstream and more for-everybody-oriented products".[13]
Ubisoft announced the full game at PlayStation Experience 2015 on 5 December 2015, naming PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive as its platforms and 2016 as its release year.[3][13] Road to VR noted that much of the city layout appeared to be taken from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series and then heavily customized, and criticized the low polygon counts and limited texturing and lighting.[1]
Release
Ubisoft announced the release dates at Gamescom in August 2016, alongside dates for its other VR titles Star Trek: Bridge Crew and Werewolves Within.[5]
| Platform | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oculus Rift (Windows) | 18 October 2016 | First release[5] |
| PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4) | 8 November 2016 | Requires PlayStation Camera[5][10] |
| HTC Vive (Windows, Steam) | 20 December 2016 | Steam lists SteamVR or Oculus PC support[5][4] |
At launch, Road to VR called the $40 (£30, €40) asking price of the PlayStation VR version fair, with Oculus Store prices in the same range.[1] Destructoid criticized the Rift version for presenting a Uplay login after the game was launched from the Oculus storefront.[11]
As of October 2026 the game is sold on Steam and the Meta Horizon Store at US$19.99.[4][14] The PlayStation Store listing for the PlayStation 4 version shows it as included with the PlayStation Plus Extra and Ubisoft+ Classics subscriptions.[10] The ESRB rates the game E10+ (Everyone 10+) for mild violence.[15]
Reception
On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version has a score of 73 based on 36 critic reviews and the PC version a score of 74 based on 15 critic reviews, both in the "mixed or average" range.[16] OpenCritic lists a Top Critic Average of 73 from 30 reviews, with 31% of critics recommending the game.[17]
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Road to VR | 8/10 (reviewed on Oculus Rift)[1] |
| IGN | 7.6/10[17] |
| Destructoid | 7.5/10 (reviewed on Oculus Rift)[11] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[17] |
| Metro GameCentral | 6/10[17] |
Road to VR praised the head-based controls and comfort and concluded that the game "brings the unbridled joy of flying to VR", but said that it "plays so safely within its own sandbox" that it missed a perfect score.[1] Destructoid's Chris Carter liked the flying but found that "after a few hours there really is nothing to do", calling the package "a nice little proof of concept that is past the 'tech demo' stage".[11] Steam user reviews were rated "Mixed" in October 2026, with 57% of 338 reviews positive.[4]
Awards
At the 20th D.I.C.E. Awards, presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Eagle Flight was a finalist for both Immersive Reality Game of the Year and Immersive Reality Technical Achievement.[18] It won the technical achievement award on 23 February 2017; the other finalists in that category were I Expect You To Die, Job Simulator, SUPERHOT VR and Tilt Brush. The game of the year award went to Superhot VR.[8][18]
System Requirements
Windows
Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
- VR support: SteamVR or Oculus PC
- Additional notes: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output, 2x USB 3.0 ports[4]
Setup Instructions
This VR game requires the use of a gamepad.
Images and Videos
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Matthew Magee (2016-10-18). "'Eagle Flight' Review". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/eagle-flight-review-vr-psvr-htc-vive-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Giancarlo Varanini (2016-12-20). "Eagle Flight Now Available on Oculus VR, PSVR, HTC Vive". Ubisoft News. Ubisoft. https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/2nsXiMDn1PhKho3eo71cmb/eagle-flight-now-available-on-oculus-vr-psvr-htc-vive. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mikel Reparaz (2015-12-05). "Eagle Flight Announced as Full VR Game for PC, PS4". Ubisoft News. Ubisoft. https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/2x8m0eV8hTIcYbbdI4nhZ9/eagle-flight-announced-as-full-vr-game-for-pc-ps4. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Eagle Flight on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/408250/Eagle_Flight/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Jamie Feltham (2016-08-17). "Ubisoft Dates 'Eagle Flight', 'Star Trek' And More". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ubisoft-dates-eagle-flight-star-trek/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Giancarlo Varanini (2016-11-28). "Ubisoft's VR Lineup to Support Cross-Platform Play". Ubisoft News. Ubisoft. https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/18xkN3eMr5PqjoNrCwRJxI/ubisofts-vr-lineup-to-support-crossplatform-play. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Ashley Whitlatch (2016-12-10). "Tunnel Vision: How Ubisoft Created 'Eagle Flight', A VR Flying Game With No Nausea". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/how-ubisoft-created-eagle-flight-sickness/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jamie Feltham (2017-02-23). "Superhot, Pokemon Go Win For VR/AR At 2017 DICE Awards". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/superhot-pokemon-go-win-vrar-2017-dice-awards/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ Robert Pleasant (2016-03-15). "Ubisoft's 'Eagle Flight' soars at #GDC". SiliconANGLE. https://siliconangle.com/2016/03/15/ubisofts-eagle-flight-soars-at-gdc/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 "Eagle Flight". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/concept/216171. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Chris Carter (2016-10-18). "Review: Eagle Flight". Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-eagle-flight/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ Matthew Hughes (2016-11-29). "Eagle Flight and Star Trek: Bridge Crew to support cross-platform VR play". The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/news/eagle-flight-now-offers-cross-platform-vr-play. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Christian Nutt (2015-12-05). "Ubisoft soars into the VR space with Eagle Flight". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/ubisoft-soars-into-the-vr-space-with-i-eagle-flight-i-. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ "Eagle Flight". Meta Horizon Store. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/experiences/pcvr/eagle-flight/1003772722992854/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ "Eagle Flight - ESRB rating search". Entertainment Software Rating Board. https://www.esrb.org/search/?searchKeyword=eagle%20flight. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ "Eagle Flight". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/eagle-flight/. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 "Eagle Flight Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/3462/eagle-flight. Retrieved 2026-10-09.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 "20th D.I.C.E. Awards Immersive Reality Finalists Announced". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. 2017-01-25. https://www.interactive.org/news/2017_immersive_reality_finalists.asp. Retrieved 2026-10-09.