Gear up for our newest content update packed with antique action in the 194X alternate history scene "Dark Skies". Set in a dieselpunk dirigible, Dark Skies draws action inspiration from the classic airship scene in Ninja Gaiden, as well pulp comic lineage from Rocketeer to The First Avenger. The Dark Skies Update also includes 3 new wartime pistols as part of the "Antiques Collection" and a new metal finish for all weapons.



Dark Skies is our first update to include polish and quality of life changes, with a focus on improved usability of UI and menus. We have a big overhaul planned for later this year, and these changes are just the beginning.

Dark Skies is the penultimate entry to our monthly Pistol Whip updates as we begin to move toward our long-term roadmap. We have a big vision for Pistol Whip including new scenes, new modifiers, and new ways to play, always empowering your unique styles.

We hope you enjoy the Dark Skies scene and pistol collection in this highly thematic update. Let us know what you think in the forums, on our discord, or on twitter @PistolWhipVR!

Love,
Cloudhead Games

• Added "Dark Skies" Scene (3 difficulties)
  
• Added 3 new pistol models: Antique Collection
  
• Added 3 new weapon wraps
  
• Added 6 new weapon metals and 3 colours
  
• Added new metal shader to all weapons
  
• Added new enemy spawn/death VFX
  
• Added toggles for in-game UI elements (Threat Paths, Score Pops, Ammo Count)
  
• Improved usability of UI and menus
  
• Improved weapon behaviour during tracking loss
  
• Tuned visualization when approaching obstacles
  
• Tuned visualization during nobeat sections
  
• Fix for obstacles/enemies occasionally occluding menus

Today we’re putting the pedal to the metal with Full Throttle, our biggest update yet, packed with a hardcore Mad Max-inspired new scene, two new modifiers, and new customization options to boot. Fans of "Black Magic" and "Death" will recognize LeKtriQue who’s back for his third Pistol Whip scene alongside Midnight CVLT in Full Throttle. Shoot, dodge, and whip your way through the desert in the midst of a rampaging vehicular rally filled with surprises along the way. Full Throttle is our hardest scene yet, and is the first to introduce scene events, a new way for us to add synchronized animations to scenes for spectacular flair.



Also included in this free update are two new modifiers: Scavenger, and One-and-Done. One-and-Done is one of our most highly-requested modifiers, turning all armoured enemies into one-shot kills. This gives you a new way to tackle the enemy density of harder difficulties without needing the fastest trigger finger in the west.

Our second new modifier, Scavenger, is a whole new way to play. With Scavenger, the only way you can reload your weapon is by pistol whipping -- if you want ammo, you’ll have to take it. This modifier can make it difficult just to get through scenes, and adds new strategy as you conserve ammo, dodge more, and pistol whip any chance you get.

We’ve also added a bunch of new customization options, including the Tac-Ops weapon collection featuring three new pistols. Check your gun crate for 5 new wraps (including companions for High Priestess, Akuma, and Full Throttle), 3 new colours and metals (including the long awaited Gold), and a slappy new SFX option inspired by the pistol in Half-Life 2.



If you think you’ve got what it takes, Full Throttle is featured in this weekend’s ESL Pistol Whip Play Cup. Practice with Deadeye and Hardcore, and compete this Sunday for glory and the chance to win a Rift S from our partners at the VR League and Oculus. Check out more details and sign up on the ESL website.

We have two more monthly updates leading up to this summer, each including a free new scene, so make sure to join our discord or follow us on twitter @PistolWhipVR to stay up to date with all the latest.

• Added "Full Throttle" Scene (3 difficulties)
  
• Added new modifier: Scavenger (Melee reload only)
  
• Added new modifier: One-and-done (No armoured enemies)
  
• Added 3 new pistol models: Tac-Ops Collection
  
• Added 5 new weapon wraps
  
• Added 3 new weapon metals and colours
  
• Added new weapon SFX
  
• Fix for various desync issues
  
• Expanded gun pitch angle options to +1/-1
  
• Solved rare crash
  
• Minor fix for High Priestess
  
• Updated results screen with new poster
  
• Improvements to level design tools for future content

We're back with a quick fix for the pause exploit reported to us in the forums -- thanks to everyone who reached out about the issue.

• Fix for pause exploit
  
• Backend work for upcoming content update

We've got a juicy update lined up for you in March, including another free scene as we continue our monthly release schedule.

And don't forget, the first bracket in our Pistol Whip tournament season starts this Sunday, with the ESL Play Cups. Make sure to visit the official VR League announcement, and sign up before the tournament starts on March 1!

For full details on our tournament schedule, check out our previous announcement.

Think you've got what it takes to whip it in the big leagues? Test your might starting March 1 with Pistol Whip tournaments from ESL and the Virtual Athletics League (VAL).

It all kicks off this Sunday with the first of four weekly Play Cups from the ESL VR League.

Cups will be live at set times in North America and Europe, where contestants will play 3 rounds (one round per scene). Each round will be 30 minutes, where players must record or stream and then submit the VOD of their best run completed in that time frame. For more details, check out the full announcement from VR League.



You can also join the social media contest starting March 1, with categories including "Best Dressed", "Best Deadeye score", and "The Whip Challenge." Make sure to download LIV and follow Pistol Whip on Twitter for more details.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/755540/LIV/

Then, on March 13, the Virtual Athletics League tournament begins, featuring a $10,000 prize pool. Play from home on March 13 and 14, or from your local Springboard VR arcade from March 19 to 22. The top 3 finalists will earn an all-expenses-paid trip to VAL headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah and a spot in the Grand Finals on March 29th, sponsored by iBUYPOWER and Oculus.



Visit the VAL tournament homepage for more details, and make sure to sign up before the event, and encourage your local arcade to sign up as well!

With over $10,000 to be won in cash and hardware prizes, our first Pistol Whip tournament season is gearing up to be one of the biggest in VR history.

Sign up today, get practicing, and we hope to see some of you in Salt Lake City!

We’re live now with our second major update for Pistol Whip, featuring the cybernetic new scene “Akuma”. Starting with Akuma, we’ll be whipping out monthly updates, each including a free new scene, leading to E3 2020 in June. We’ve got a ton in store for Pistol Whip this year, and Akuma is just the beginning.

Inspired by the Neo-Tokyo of anime action classics like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, Akuma is a rhythm-heavy scene set in a cyberpunk Japan. Clean up the futuristic streets and alleys in a colourful splash of action and glitchy techno.



New changes include improvements to the results screen and leaderboards, with a new “Beat Combo” metric, and % displays for both accuracy and on-beat scores. These changes allow you to more accurately track your performance across accuracy and rhythm, as well as compare performance with your friends and competitors in the leaderboard details panel.

This update also includes major bug fixes for the single eye / double vision rendering issue for both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards (including those on Windows 7) -- thanks to everyone who helped by sending reports!

Over the winter, we were honoured to have Pistol Whip featured on a bunch of “best of” lists, as well as earn industry recognition as a finalist for both the Game Developer’s Choice Awards and DICE Awards. Pistol Whip has been named one of the best VR games of 2019, and with our continued support this year we hope that continues through 2020.

In the coming months you can look forward to more scenes, modifiers, customization options, unlocks, achievements, and more!

We’ll be back next month with another new scene and update as we work toward our long-term roadmap. For now, we hope you enjoy Akuma -- and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @PistolWhipVR, or join our Discord to discuss the game, feedback, and suggestions with the dev team.

• Added "Akuma" scene (three difficulties)
  
• Fixed double vision rendering issue for AMD GPU
  
• Fixed one-eye only rendering issue (including Windows 7)
  
• Revamped timing calculations to resolve potential desync
  
• Adjusted metronome haptics timing
  
• Introduced "beat combo" and "on-beat %" to end result details
  
• Homogenized leaderboard details
  
• Fixed reversed score breakdown in leaderboard details
  
• Floor visualization now disables during "nobeat" sections
  
• Removed erroneous badge indicator
  
• Fixed enemy geo collision issues in some areas
  
• Fixed geo to geo collision issues in some areas
  
• Fix for ranged pistol whip exploit
  
• Improved clarity of difficulty buttons
  
• Fix for crouched enemy sequence used in "R U Afraid"
  
• Improved some enemy synchronization in "The Fall"
  
• Improved some enemy spawns in "Trap Requiem"
  
• Minor bug fixes to "Death", "Lilith", "Download the Future"
  
• Game now launches in fullscreen by default on Steam
  
• Backend work for monthly content updates
  
• Minor text fixes

Today we're launching our first free update to Pistol Whip, including a killer new scene (complete with three difficulties), 2 new modifiers, and scoring improvements to Deadeye and Dual Wield.

Inspired by the hallway fight scene in the movie Oldboy, "The High Priestess" is a melee-heavy scene that puts the name into Pistol Whip--bash your way through a synchronized gauntlet in this punchy new track by Sam Lamar & CMOR. Fans of our Gallery adventure series (60% off during the Winter Sale) might even see some familiar faces...



Also new are two of the most highly-requested modifiers: Unarmed Foes and No Obstacles. Unarmed Foes gives you a new way to practice without the fear of elimination, while No Obstacles removes obstructions for accessibility and standing-room play.

For Deadeye and Dual Wield, we've heard your feedback and have made some scoring adjustments as a first step. First, players wanted Deadeye to be more punishing for missed shots, so we revamped the scoring system to account for misses, creating a larger delta in player performance. Deadeye hitboxes have also been repaired -- thank you for the reports!

Next, players felt the Dual Wield modifier penalty was too strict, so we've brought it down to -10% from -25%. We'll see how this change affects scores and determine whether we can eliminate the penalty altogether. In the future, we also plan to add leaderboard filtering so you can earn top scores regardless of your modifiers.

With the new scene and scoring changes, we're initiating a one-time-only leaderboard reset so players can start fresh and chase new scores with friends over the holiday season.

Thank you all for an amazing first month. We hope you enjoy the new scene and continue to share the game with your friends and family over the holiday season. We'll be back with additional scenes, modifiers, customization options, and more over the coming months.

Love, Cloudhead Games

• Added "High Priestess" scene (three difficulties)
  
• Added 2 modifiers (Unarmed Foes, No Obstacles)
  
• Revamped Deadeye scoring system
  
• Adjusted Dual Wield penalty
  
• Improved enemy hitboxes (including fix for Deadeye)
  
• Improved player collision (resolved "big head syndrome")
  
• Modified save spec (some players may see purple gun skins until selecting a new skin)
  
• Forced menu close on game start
  
• Longest combo now correctly displays
  
• Personal best now correctly displays at all times
  
• Friends leaderboard now shows friends' scores even if player has not posted
  
• Backend work for upcoming achievements + unlocks system
  
• Fix for silencer SFX bus
  
• Bullet SFX now occur even after retry
  
• Added modifier descriptions
  
• Minor text fixes

Wow. Thank you all for an incredible first few weeks. Pistol Whip is officially one of the highest-rated VR games of the year! Thank you for trusting us to deliver a unique experience in VR—something familiar but different. We've been loving all the different videos and seeing all the different ways the game can be played, from tactical to musical, from shooter to rhythm.

We want to keep Pistol Whip alive; we've been cataloging feedback, chasing bugs, and starting work on our first big content update. We plan to post regular announcements to the community on our progress as we work out our roadmap.

Announced this morning, we'll be releasing our first major update on December 19, including a new scene inspired by the hallway fight in the movie "Oldboy." Check out the video we did below for the UploadVR Holiday VR Showcase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PInkAiZX1g

Also included in the December 19 update are two new modifiers: No Obstacles and Shooting Gallery, expanding the accessibility of the game and offering a new way to practice scenes without the risk of being eliminated.

Beyond December, we plan to add more free scenes, modifiers, unlockables, achievements, and even an Expert difficulty. Improvements to the Deadeye modifier are also in the works.

Please continue to leave feedback in your reviews and forum posts and make sure to share the game with your friends and family over the upcoming holidays. If you love the game, you can even throw us a vote for "VR Game of the Year" in the annual Steam Awards, ongoing now!

Thanks again for all your support, and we can't wait for you to play High Priestess on December 19.

Love,
Cloudhead Games

Pistol Whip is a first-of-its-kind VR action-rhythm FPS with unprecedented player agency and a surprising level of depth. Bring your own style to the game, from tactical to musical, and become the ultimate action hero badass.

At launch we have 10 scenes based on music from our exciting launch partner, Kannibalen Records. Rather than voids, these scenes are full environments, with unique enemy engagements and fever dream locales, encouraging replayability as you find the perfect groove.

Today is the first day in a long road for Pistol Whip, as we plan additional music, scenes, modes, modifiers, and customization options to build Pistol Whip into the ultimate action-rhythm FPS.

Thank you for being a part of our journey.

Cloudhead Games

This morning we released our first full-level MR gameplay video to give you an idea of what high-level Pistol Whip play feels like. You can watch the Beta playthrough below.



Pistol Whip is a shooter first, and it feels unlike anything else in VR. The default one-handed mode (note: dual wield is optional!) lets you feel tactical and precise. From there, you can choose to add rhythm to your style, making every run a unique action soundscape.

We're excited to launch November 7 with support for LIV mixed reality capture so you can create your own badass "John Whip" moments.