The best way to get closer to your favourite franchises is undoubtedly virtual reality (VR). In VR you can become much closer to the worlds and characters you’ve loved for years, which is why we’re seeing so many license holders jump on board with brand new VR experiences. Of course one of the very biggest franchises, and therefore one of the most exciting experiences, has to be Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, a VR experience which we saw launch last year. Now we’ve got a brand new video which shows us some behind the scenes goings on and impressions from fans who’ve experienced it for themselves.
Star Wars fans in the United States and United Kingdom can still go experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire for themselves. If you’re located in the UK, you can see the experience for a limited time in Westfield London. Fans in the US are luckier, with new locations opening in California and Nevada in 2018.
The experience was created by ILMxLAB and The VOID using the Unreal Engine 4, which of course we know is a powerful and versatile engine capable of making a variety of realistic 3D worlds for VR experiences, videogames and even TV and film.
In the video you can see developers and executives from the companies, such as The VOID CEO Cliff Plumer evangelise the experience. Plumer says; “You’re smelling things, you’re feeling heat, cold, you’re touching things. We utilise a lot of digital technology and physical effects to create a hyper reality experience.”
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire uses IKinema full body tracking to ensure users in the experience have a believable and realistic experience, with no concerns of losing track of body movements in VR, removing players from the immersion of the experience.
Watch the full behind the scenes video embedded below to see absolutely everything that Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire has to offer. User testimonies seem resoundingly positive with many users in disbelief at how believable the world was. Should we ever hear more about new locations or dates for Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, you know you’ll read about it first on VRFocus.