ILMxLAB has announced a brand new Star Wars virtual reality project called Vader Immortal. The first instalment of a new three-episode experience will launch on the new Oculus Quest headset in Spring 2019.
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Revealed at Oculus Connect 5, shortly after the Quest itself, the experience will sit between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope in the Star Wars canon.
The experience has been made in partnership with Oculus Studios, and will seemingly commence with the player summoned to Vader’s palace on the planet Mustafar, by the newly-minded Dark Lord of the Sith himself.
You may remember that planet because it’s where Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi fought to near-death and the former was transformed into Darth Vader. Vader’s palace also appeared briefly within the standalone Rogue One movie.
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Unfortunately, those are the only details we can glean right now, but you can check out the official teaser trailer below:
There’s not a lot to go on here either, but the line ‘you may wonder why I have brought you here’ is intriguing. Whether you’ll be representing Vader, or fighting against him, we can hope for a little VR lightsaber action involving Star Wars’ most iconic baddie at some point.
If you aren’t planning on grabbing the new Oculus Rift standalone headset, there’s still hope it’ll appear on headsets from other companies. Oculus is only the “premier partner” for the game so, while we’d assume the Quest will have first dibs, its likely to eventually appear on other VR platforms.
This won’t be the first time Star Wars has made an appearance in the VR realm. During the build up to The Last Jedi, the company offered a number of rudimentary experiences via Google Cardboard. ILMxLAB also launched the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire and Trials of Tattooine experiences arrived in 2017 and 2016 respectively.
Will this be reason enough for you to grab the Oculus Quest headset when it arrives next spring? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.