The Star Trek franchise has seen a resurgence over the past few years, mainly thanks to the quality of the new films. Ubisoft tapped into this with its virtual reality (VR) title Star Trek: Bridge Crew in 2017, providing a decent home co-op experience. While it provided good bridge-based gameplay, there was no face-to-face action, heading down to a planet, phasers ready, to deal with classic alien races like the Romulans or some unknown menace. That could be about to change thanks to location-based entertainment specialist Sandbox VR with Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission.
Coming to Sandbox VR locations this fall, Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission is a team-based experience created in partnership with CBS Interactive. Working closely with Star Trek writers and stakeholders, Sandbox VR hopes to make this the ultimate Star Trek experience for fans of the franchise.
Up to six players can be part of the U.S.S Discovery’s crew, finding themselves sent on an away mission to an alien planet. Utilising Sandbox VR’s free-roaming technology, players will be armed with phasers and a tricorder to help them complete their mission, running around fantastical worlds doing their best Star Trek impressions.
“We want to communicate that this isn’t like any virtual reality you may have experienced or heard about before…this is something bigger and better. For those that may not know what to expect with the graphics, the equipment, etc, we can describe the experience like it’s meant to be…it’s not a game, it’s not a movie, it’s not traditional VR, it’s a full-body experience that completely transforms you, where you become the experience itself,” explains Sandbox VR CEO and Founder, Steve Zhao in a statement.
Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission is directed by Michael Hampden, lead designer on Blood & Truth, with Mary Wiseman reprising her role of Sylvia Tilly. No footage of the title has been released just yet or whether the storyline will tie-into the series in some way.
The experience will launch in Sandbox VR’s Hong Kong, San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles locations in the fall of 2019, a full worldwide release is planned shortly after. Having announced a $68m Series A investment round in January, Sandbox VR will be opening new locations across the US including NYC, Austin, San Diego and Chicago. A total of 16 are expected to be open by the end of 2019. For further updates on Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR