After winning several awards at film festivals in 2019 virtual reality (VR) animation Gloomy Eyes was confirmed for public release last month for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest. The launch has taken place today but only on Viveport for PC VR headsets, with Oculus Store users now having to wait.
The launch was supposed to coincide across both platforms but for some undisclosed reason has only taken place on Viveport today. With Viveport being platform-agnostic for PC headsets, this means only Oculus Quest owners won’t have access. HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Cosmos, Oculus Rift/Rift S, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets are all supported. Gloomy Eyes was previously available exclusively through Viveport Infinity, now non-subscribers have access.
Gloomy Eyes is a three-part poetic love story between a zombie boy and a human girl in a sunless town, written and directed by Fernando Maldonado and Jorge Tereso and co-written by Santiago Amigorena, published by ARTE.
Inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas the synopsis explains: “When the sun grew tired of humanity, it hid, never by to rise again. This darkness awoke the dead from their graves. In the midst of chaos, a zombie kid named Gloomy and a mortal girl, Nena, fall in love and form a deep connection that not even the most powerful man in town can destroy. Together, the star‐crossed lovers from different planes of existence may hold the key to bring light to the endless night.”
The English version is narrated by Hollywood actor Colin Farrell, with four other language options available: Tahar Rahim (French version), Max Riemelt (German version), Jorge Drexler (Spanish version) or Jam Hsiao (Chinese version). The animated series has won awards at events such as Sundance 2019, South by Southwest 2019, Annecy 2019 and Newlmages Festival 2019.
Gloomy Eyes can be purchased on Viveport for £11.40 GBP. Details on the Oculus release will be announced at a later date. When that happens VRFocus will let you know.