The minds behind the well-executed-but-a-little-too-expensive The Martian VR Experience are working on a new immersive tie in for the next entry in the Alien movie franchise, Alien: Covenant.
Movie tie-ins, once reviled in the gaming community, often viewed as worthless, lazy cash-ins, may see a renaissance with the advent of consumer virtual reality technology. There have been a handful of genuinely interesting, worthwhile immersive experiences launched over the last couple of years to lend credence to this assertion too – the most recent and notable being Fox Innovation Lab’s The Martian VR Experience. It’s an example of a thoughtful, immersive extension to the original movie experience and, although it was too short and perhaps a wee bit too expensive for many to consider as a purchase, it nevertheless sits as a high watermark of what can be achieved in the space.
Now comes news from the team behind The Martian VR Experience that they’re working on a similar virtual reality tie-in for the incoming and highly anticipated Ridley Scott directed Alien: Covenant, the latest installment in the Alien franchise and direct sequel to the 2012 Scott-helmed Prometheus. A new trailer for the film was released over the holiday period and it’s garnered much interest, especially from those (myself included) who felt that the original had a tad too little actual Alien in it (among many other issues which I’ll not anger myself or bore you by going into here).
Off the back of that trailer comes news from Fox Innovation Lab that a new VR experience is in the works and will arrive after the film’s release in May this year. Unfortunately the press release has scant information on exactly what form this new VR experience will take (and when we say scant, we mean none) but, as with The Martian VR Experience, Ridley Scott takes the Executive Producer credit.
We’re hoping that the same level of polish, creativity and immersion seen in The Martian VR Experience transfers to this new project. Those who had the chance to dabble in the hidden VR functionality and play the excellent Alien: Isolation immersively will likely attest to the terror VR can induce when your senses are thrust into such a well known horror universe as Alien. We’ll leave you with the teaser paragraph taken directly from the press release, and we’ll of course let you know once we learn more.
The VR Experience for ALIEN: COVENANT is a dread-inducing journey into the depths of the Alien universe.
Viewers will discover the true meaning of terror as they navigate through horrifying alien environments and a story where every decision could mean the difference between life and death.