Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate is getting closer to release, and there’s now a playable demo on Steam for PC VR users. It’s a small slice, but it offers a first look at how the time-traveling adventure has evolved since the original launched in 2022.

This isn’t a simple update. The team behind the game has rebuilt it from the ground up, switching engines, redesigning interactions, and turning a solid indie hit into something more ambitious.

A Full Remake, Not Just a Visual Upgrade

Originally built in Unreal Engine 4, the new version runs on Unreal Engine 5, and that upgrade isn’t just cosmetic. The environments now have more depth and lighting nuance, giving each era in the game a stronger sense of place. Historical settings like 1960s Berlin or ancient ruins feel more grounded, and small details now carry more weight in VR.

The remake also ditches the teleport-based movement system in favor of full physics-based traversal. Climbing, swimming, and object manipulation now rely on body movement and momentum rather than scripted interactions. It’s a notable shift that puts Wanderer more in line with titles like Boneworks or Red Matter 2, where the player’s physicality matters.

Hands-First Interaction Adds Immersion

One of the biggest changes is the shift toward hand-tracking and manual controls. The original game leaned on traditional input shortcuts. In Fragments of Fate, you actually reach, grab, twist, and move objects the way you would in real life. It slows things down a bit, but also adds weight to puzzles and exploration.

That design decision plays well with the game’s time-manipulation tools. The wristwatch device, which lets you shift between moments in history, now has a more tactile interface. It feels less like a menu and more like a physical tool, anchoring the player’s relationship with the game’s core mechanic.

Story, Setting, and Timeline Tweaks

The demo focuses on an early part of the game, reintroducing the player to the central mechanic of traveling across different time periods to influence outcomes. It’s not linear. You’ll be solving puzzles in one timeline that affect what’s possible in another, often revisiting the same location across centuries.

What’s new is how the story has been slightly restructured. Events unfold with more visual context, and the pacing has been adjusted to ease players into the new interaction system. Voice acting and sound cues have also been remastered, and the result is a smoother narrative flow without compromising the original’s tone or mystery.

Coming to Multiple Platforms, Demo Now on Steam

The full release of Fragments of Fate is still on the horizon, with confirmed plans for PSVR2, Meta Quest 2 and 3, and PC VR. But for now, only Steam users get early access through the playable demo. That version supports both wired and wireless headsets, depending on your setup.

This new approach to Wanderer isn’t trying to reinvent the genre, but it is pushing for more immersive storytelling and physically grounded gameplay in a space that’s still often dominated by arcade-style or passive VR experiences. It’s a project that feels like it knows its medium and wants to explore what VR can do without making a spectacle out of it.

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