The prospect of virtual reality immediately brings several possibilities to mind. For most, it’s probably porn, but for some, it’s the idea of some sick Star Wars lightsaber action.
HTC and Lucasfilm revealed Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine a few months back, but their VR gaming experiment is now finally available through Steam. Oh, and it’s completely free – provided you’re in possession of a HTC Vive headset.
The move to make the title free to download and play isn’t entirely surprising. Trials on Tatooine really is more of an interactive tech demo than anything, albeit an incredibly awesome one.
Here’s HTC’s description:
Developed under the guidance of Rob Bredow, Lucasfilm’s chief technology officer, and co-written by Bredow and Star Wars canon-keeper Pablo Hidalgo, Trials on Tatooine allows you to truly step into the Star Wars universe for the first time. Now anyone with a Vive can pick up a lightsaber and help defend a galaxy far, far away.
There isn’t much more to it outside of deflecting blaster fire with your lightsaber – but who doesn’t want to do that for a few hours, especially if it’s free?
As a result of this experiment, it seems Lucasfilm now feel confident enough to move forward with a canonical VR ‘storytelling experience’ focusing on Darth Vader himself.
This proposed interactive tale is set to be helmed by Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice writer David Goyer, though it’s currently unclear whether it’ll be more story than it is game, or vice-versa.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind a VR experience that allows us to torture Jar Jar Binx to the point of insanity with nothing more than a bread knife and some salt. We can but dream.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.