In January Immersive VR Education – the team behind Apollo 11 VR – launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a virtual reality (VR) experience called Titanic VR, successfully completing the funding in March. Now the studio has announced the release of an early access version on Steam for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
The educational experience is set in the near future, but explores a more-intact 1985 model of the wreck. Players take on the role of Dr. Ethan Lynch, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology at the fictional University of Nova Scotia. With funding from a mysterious investor, Dr. Lynch and his PhD Candidate Jean Robinson have set out aboard a research vessel to dive the wreck and answer questions that have remained submerged for a century.
Being interactive players will be able to follow the storyline, or explore the wreck in an open sandbox mode. They can navigate around and inside the wreck using their submersible and ROV, completing bonus missions such as rescuing a lost ROV, creating a photo mosaic, placing research equipment, and working with a world-famous Director. Additionally, players will need to clean and preserve recovered artefacts, upgrade the ROV, and learn all there is to know about this infamous wreck.
“We’ve used comprehensive maps to create a realistic 3D model of the wreck site. We used motion capture, face-scanning technology and professional voice actors to immerse users in the story. We wanted to create an accurate portrayal of events so that it is not only educational, but also emotionally engaging,” said David Whelan, CEO Immersive VR Education Ltd in a statement.
The early access version features seven dive missions and seven lab missions, with additional content to be added over the course of the next 6 to eight months. Immersive VR Education will also create an animated 1912 experience based on historically accurate recreation of events, from eye-witness testimony and substantial research. This will be released at a later date.
Titanic VR is available for purchase on Steam for £19.49, supporting both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. A version will be released via Oculus Store in the future and a PlayStation VR version is in the works as well.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Titanic VR, reporting back with the latest updates.