The Climb – the most head-spinning virtual reality experience yet

Crytek's new project for the Oculus Rift shows us exactly where VR gaming is going - towards heady and experiential gameplay

Above you, the craggy face of the cliff seems to stretch up endlessly toward the sky, offering perilously few footholds. In the far distance there's a small village by a beach, bathed in orange sunshine - an exotic idyll. But below you there is ... nothing. Nothing but a long deadly drop into the crashing sea far below. Your only option is to keep climbing.

Crytek has always been interested in pushing graphics technology. In the mid-2000s, the Frankfurt-based developer and publisher achieved wide acclaim for its visually spectacular first-person shooters Far Cry and Crysis; although several years old, both are still widely used as a benchmark for near photo-realism in games, especially in terms of environmental detail. With its steamy tropical rain forests, Far Cry presented a lush counterpoint to the genre's obsession with steel grey interiors.