Space Pirate Trainer is a virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter developed and published by I-Illusions. It was one of the earliest wave shooters utilizing the VR game-play environment. The game was released alongside the HTC Vive and featured in VR arcades. In 2018, it was also released digitally through the PlayStation Store.
Gameplay The game places the player on a platform in space while waves of robots come down and attack. The player has a choice between a pistol, shotgun, laser, machine gun, grenade launcher and laser sword to fight off the robots. Players can physically move within the play area to dodge incoming fire from the robots.
Development The game was developed by Dirk Van Welden, with the team drawing inspiration from 1980s arcade games such as Space Invaders and Galaga. Welden was skeptical of developing a game for VR since in past experiences he had experienced severe nausea using the platform. Once motion tracking had improved Welden developed a demo for a game and posted on a forum. He was then contacted by Valve and told that he should work on a fully-fledged game. The game left early access with its 1.0 release on October 12, 2017. The update introduced additional enemy waves, a boss encounter, turrets, power-ups and checkpoints.
In 2021, Space Pirate Trainer DX introduced an Arena multiplayer mode designed for a 10 by 10 metre physical play area. The mode uses players' physical movement through the space rather than artificial locomotion.
Reception Space Pirate Trainer received "mixed or average reviews" from critics according to Metacritic. During the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Space Pirate Trainer for "Immersive Reality Game of the Year.
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