If you’re anyone who knows anything about virtual reality, you’ve most likely heard of the title that goes by the simple name of Accounting . It was designed by a company that was founded by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. The game also sports some of Roiland’s signature Rick and Morty voices. Especially when it comes to Tree Guy, who just does a whole lot of yelling.
If you’ve heard of Accounting , you’ve maybe also heard of Accounting+ , the expanded PlayStation VR exclusive version of the game. Even further, it’s possible you’ve heard that there’s a free update that adds a brand new level to Accounting+ . It’s called the Waterpark Update because it adds a Waterpark level to the game. Imagine that!
Enough rambling about the game versions and updates, let’s focus and get to the point. I think, and this is just my opinion of course, that Accounting , Accounting+ , and The Waterpark Update all smash banged together can be considered the pinnacle of VR. I understand that’s a wild claim I’m making here with seemingly nothing to back it up. But oh-ho! That’s where you’d be wrong, kiddos. Let’s crunch some metaphorical numbers and discuss why I think Accounting is one of the best things to ever happen to virtual reality.
First off, let’s start with something we’ve already mentioned, the Waterpark Update. Virtual reality games are not the norm quite yet, and even less normalized are content updates for them. Yet here’s a moderately successful VR game that’s putting out extra free stuff. The Waterpark level might just be the start of Accounting+ ‘s post-release content. Maybe developers Crows Crows Crows will have even more bigger and better updates going into the future? It’s an exciting thought and would certainly keep the game in the forefront of people’s minds if they knew the adventure wasn’t over yet.
Next, there’s the fact that Accounting and Accounting+ manage to tell engaging stories very simply. This is something that all VR developers are grappling with in the beginning stages of the technology. How do we draw people’s attention organically to tell a story, while still giving them the freedom to look and move where they want? In the Accounting games, you can look around wildly all you want, but the game will only move forward when you interact with the things that you’re meant to. There are plenty of auditory clues to help you along the way if you get stuck. I mean, Tree Guy is pretty blatant about what you should shouldn’t do, at least. If a simple game like Accounting can figure out how to best tell a story in VR, then there’s hope for all the other VR developers out there.
Last, and certainly not least, Accounting is the height of current VR games because it utilizes the controls completely and effectively. In VR, you want the controls to feel natural. You don’t want to feel like you’re interacting with a fake world with two hunks of plastic. The ultimate immersion means feeling like you’re actually picking up that stapler from a real desk.
Plus you want to have a variety of different things to do. Want to play music on a skeleton with two bones? You can do that. Want to pick up tiny people between your fingers and toss them around? You can do that. Want to interact with objects like putting a tape into a cassette player? You can do that too. Accounting has all kinds of different varying levels of interactivity that keep you interested. This is certainly more entertaining than one or two actions that you repeat throughout.
All of these things in Accounting , and Accounting+ make it some of the best gaming VR has to offer. It’s got all kinds of different actions you can take, it tells a story (however “out-there” that may be), and it has gotten at least one further update. If the rest of the VR gaming industry manages to do even these three simple things, the entirety will benefit tenfold.
What do you think of my extreme claim that Accounting is the best VR has to offer? I’d love to hear your thoughts!