Westworld won’t return for its third season until the early part of 2020, so HBO is partnering with game studio Survios on a virtual reality game called Westworld Awakening to help fans pass the time. If there’s any franchise better to a VR experience than this one, we don’t know what it is.
According to The Verge, in Awakening, players experience life as Kate, a “recently self-aware” host. The game starts with Kate receiving voice commands from a human. Failure to comply results in a murderous robot killing Kate with a Bowie knife, so…maybe play it on an empty stomach.
This trailer makes Awakening out to be some sort of horror VR game like Don’t Knock Twice or Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
Awakening is the first-ever fully-fledged VR game set in the fictional world of Westworld (HBO created VR experiences for SXSW ahead of seasons 1 and 2, but Awakening is a standalone story). In the game, players swing their arms to move. The faster they move, the faster their host runs. As The Verge’s Nick Statt puts it, this mechanic tricks your brain “into thinking you’re actually running, which helps to reduce nausea.”
Here’s HBO’s official description:
"Step into the park and bring yourself online with the VR experience Westworld Awakening. As a Mesa facility host driven to survive by your own self-awareness, you’ll encounter iconic scenes and settings from the series, solve puzzles and interact with other hosts to answer the biggest question of all: Do you have what it takes to conquer a world designed to destroy you?"
You can purchase the game now through Viveport, Oculus, and Steam for $29.99.
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