Arca’s Path hands-on — navigating a sci-fi fairy tale by sight

Arca’s Path gently guides you through an alien world full of soft colors and exotic plants — and you’ll never have to pick up a gamepad or controller. It’s a virtual reality platformer that you control with just your headset, and developer Dream Reality Interactive and publisher Rebellion plan to release it later this year on Oculus Rift, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, and PlayStation VR.

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show last week, I donned a PSVR headset to try the demo. After crash-landing on the planet Arca, the nameless protagonist begins her journey through a lush low-poly world. She’s represented by a little ball, which I controlled by using my headset to point a cursor at where I wanted her to move. Each level resembled a roller coaster, with a single track winding through with dips and turns that could get a little tricky if I moved too quickly.