There’s been a few cinematic and virtual reality (VR) tie-ins, with The Walk and Ghostbusters being two recent examples. One of the most well known and eagerly anticipated is The Martian: VR experience, which debuted at CES 2016 back in January. Today Fox Innovation Lab at Twentieth Century Fox has announced that PlayStation VR and HTC Vive users will get to enjoy the experience tomorrow.
The Martian VR Experience is described as an “interactive, immersive adventure with viewers participating from astronaut Mark Watney’s perspective, performing tasks that will facilitate his chances for survival. Viewers can fly onto the surface of Mars, steer at zero gravity through space, drive a rover navigating over craters and experience key scenes from the hit film in a 360-degree virtual reality environment.”
When VRFocus previewed the experience we said at the time: “The Martian: VR Experience is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful VR titles VRFocus has yet witnessed. Putting most other Oculus Rift and HTC Vive titles to shame, [it] presents a landscape that is truly unbelievable.”
In the trailer Ridley Scott, Executive Producer of The Martian VR Experience says: “I’ve always tried to approach film-making from the standpoint of creating an immersive experience. Now with the tools that are available to us in virtual reality, we can raise the bar even higher. The audience can experience storytelling in ways we previously could only imagine.
“With VR you’re inside it you’re the person walking on the planet, it’s uncanny. Mars has never been closer to being within our grasp and I’m so thrilled that we can invite people into The Martian VR Experience,” he adds.
The title will be available to purchase for $19.99 USD from the respective headset stores on 15th November. While no date has been confirmed for Oculus Rift, as the original CES debut did include Oculus Touch compatibility its likely that the experience will arrive around the same time as the controllers next month.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of The Martian VR Experience, reporting back with any further updates.