''Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series'' is a series of three

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

games originally released on May 21, September 25, and November 21, 2019, respectively, for the

Oculus Quest The Oculus Quest is a virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Oculus, a division of Meta, Inc., released on May 21, 2019. Similar to its predecessor, Oculus Go, it is a standalone device that can run games and software wirelessly under an ...

and

Rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...

systems. A

Playstation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...

version was later released on August 24, 2020. The story, split up into three chapters, follows a

Force-sensitive The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. "Force-sensitive" characters use the Force throughout the franchise. Heroes like the Jedi seek to "become one with the Force", matching their personal wi ...

smuggler taken captive by

Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

, who requires the smuggler to find an ancient artifact.

Gameplay

The game is composed of three chapters, with each one focusing on the usage of different abilities. Each episode includes a dojo which allows players to practice against waves of enemies using a

lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the ''Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the or ...

and

Force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...

powers. The player follows a linear path through the game, able to use the Force to do various things as necessary to move forward to the next area.

Synopsis

The series, taking place between the events of ''

Revenge of the Sith Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

'' and ''

Rogue One ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (or simply ''Rogue One'') is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. The screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy is from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. It was produced by Luc ...

'', follows a

smuggler, a descendant of the famous Lady Corvax, who is taken captive by

(

Scott Lawrence Scott Lawrence (born September 27, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role as Cmdr. Sturgis Turner on the CBS series '' JAG''. Lawrence played the role from 2001 until 2005, when the series ended. He is also known for being the maj ...

). Vader requires the smuggler to gain access to the Bright Star, an ancient artifact that once destroyed nearly all life on

Mustafar Mustafar () is a fictional volcanic and lava planet in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced in the final prequel film, ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005), it also appeared in the films ''Rogue One'' (2016) and ''Episode IX – The Rise of Skywal ...

. Aided by his droid ZO-E3 (

Maya Rudolph Maya Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), and later played supporting roles in the films '' 50 First Dates'' ...

), the Mustafarian loremaster Vylip F'alma ( Keith Ferguson), Corvax's husband Black Bishop (

David Sobolov David Sobolov (born October 23, 1964) is a Canadian voice actor and director, best known for his roles as Depth Charge in '' Beast Wars: Transformers'', Gorilla Grodd in '' The Flash'', Drax the Destroyer in various media, Shockwave in '' Transfo ...

), and a Mustafarian priestess (

Folake Olowofoyeku Folake Olowofoyeku (born 26 October 1983) is a Nigerian actress and musician. She currently stars in the Chuck Lorre CBS sitcom ''Bob Hearts Abishola''. Early life, family and education Olowofoyeku was born in Nigeria to Nigerian politician ...

), the smuggler goes on a journey through Mustafar, learning lightsaber combat and harnessing his Force powers along the way, before facing off against the cybernetic Imperial admiral Gable Karius (

Steve Blum Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his most well-known roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series '' Cowboy Bebop'', Garazeb Orrelios from the animated series ''St ...

) and Vader himself, who seeks to use the Bright Star to bring back

Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala Naberrie is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, appearing in the prequel trilogy portrayed by Natalie Portman. First indirectly mentioned in ''Return of the Jedi'', she is introduced in ''The Phantom Menace'' as ...

(

Natalie Portman Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...

Development

All three chapters were written by writer

David S. Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for several superhero films, including ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (film), Nick Fury: Agent ...

and directed by special effects artist

Ben Snow Ben Snow is a special effects artist who has been nominated four times at the Academy Awards. He works at Industrial Light & Magic. Early life Snow grew up in Australia, where he attended Narrabundah College and the University of Canberra. His u ...

. According to Snow, the premise of searching for an ancient artifact was inspired by the movie ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...

''.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

version a score of 69 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Critics praised the game's story, but criticized the gameplay as not being mechanically deep.

Awards

The first game of the series, ''Episode I'', received the inaugural PGA Innovation Award at the 31st Producers Guild of America Awards.

Notes

References

External links

* Episode I * Episode II * Episode III {{Star Wars games 2019 video games Episodic video games Meta Quest games Oculus Rift games PlayStation VR games category:Star Wars video games Video games developed in the United States