System: Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: £7.99
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: Interactive Experience
Input: Gamepad
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: 15+
Description: When the CEO of the world’s leading Virtual Reality company is murdered in VR, Detective Jules Dover is pulled down a rabbit hole that could threaten the very fabric of real life. Set in the year 2040, Halcyon is a dark vision of the future that feels closer to reality with each passing day. Halcyon is a futuristic murder mystery that explores the dark side of Virtual Reality (VR). The 15-part series includes 10 short-form episodes, interspliced with 5 interactive VR episodes that take you deeper into the story. For the ultimate experience, the Halcyon VR app for Oculus Rift and GearVR contains all 15 episodes, allowing you to experience the show through an interactive 3D world and discover the evidence for yourself.
Review: To be honest, it’s pretty hard to describe exactly what Halcyon is. This TV show / Web Series / VR Interactive Experiences is what might well be the future of how we interact with our favourite TV shows. The idea is, you watch the TV shows and webisodes, then get even more involved with the show with this VR app.
In this first little interactive VR episode, you get to explore the history of Halcyon, taking a look at various VR headsets that changed the fortunes of the company (maybe there are some clues to who the killer is here) and a interactive crime scene where you walk about, examining fingerprints and any other evidence you can find. With simple look and click actions it is pretty easy to get around and to be fair it looks amazing.
I’m not sure what to make of this yet, so I will reserve judgment of it until the end of the first season. Only then will I know whether or not I found this app to be a worthwhile addition to the TV shows and online episodes. So if you are interested in my thoughts, do come back here after the TV show finishes.
