Is Darth Vader immortal?
(Spoilers ahead for Return of the Jedi)
No.
But our favorite armored and insecure Dark Lord of the Sith is looking for the key to everlasting life in Vader Immortal, Episode I, which launched last month on the brand new Oculus Quest VR system (system? console? I’m unclear on this point).
This is a bit of a strange review to write: sure, there’s the story, but there’s also the mechanics, the feeling of being in Star Wars, and, of course, the price point and accessibility to consider. So many different threads of the Star Wars experience come together in Vader Immortal – and that’s the point, really. It’s not a movie; it’s not a video game – it’s an experience, and I say that with only the slightest hint of sarcasm, because it truly is.
The story opens with you, an unnamed, unseen smuggler (there are no mirrors in Star Wars), and your faithful droid co-pilot ZOE3 (Maya Rudolph) escaping from syndicate raiders whose spice you’ve just stolen. You’re immediately thrown into the action as you physically move your hands to flip engine switches and pull a handle to jump to hyperspace. But, no rest for the wicked – you’re quickly pulled out of hyperspace and taken to Vader’s imposing fortress on Mustafar, where BBQ Anakin requires… something from you. Without delving into spoiler territory, all I’ll say is that Vader Immortal ties in very closely to the recently ended Darth Vader Marvel comic run by Charles Soule, and that the game lets you explore the castle, learn more about Mustafar, and discover what exactly it is that brought you into the dark lord’s service. It’s a short plot – only about an hour of play time – and very much an introductory chapter, but ILMxLAB is already hard at work on Episodes II and III, both of which are expected to drop in 2019. Overall, there isn’t a ton of meat to the story yet, but ask me for my thoughts again once the entire series is out.
I’m now in paragraph 5 of this review, and haven’t yet talked about how it feels to wield a lightsaber. Shame on me. But, yes – you get a lightsaber, and honestly? It’s spectacular. I went into the Vader Immortal demo at Star Wars Celebration Chicago extremely skeptical and came out a believer, and the full experience lives up to the hype – the Oculus Quest really does deliver an authentic and believable VR experience in your home. The lightsaber hums and sparks, responds pretty instantaneously to your movements, and the full six degrees of motion system (fancy tech talk for ‘you can move around’) is incredibly immersive. While movement takes a bit of time to get used to, the system as a whole is surprisingly intuitive (which matters, since you have so little time in the experience as a whole and don’t want to waste it trying to walk through doors correctly). The graphics aren’t great – presumably due to the limitations of the hardware – but the sights and sounds delivered by the Quest make you feel like you’re living the Star Wars in a very real way.
And, everything else aside, that’s freaking awesome. I tend to hate it when people (and it’s always white dudes, go figure) say things like “it feels like the Star Wars I grew up with” or “it made me feel like a kid again” and mean it as an objective value judgement of greatness, but it genuinely pulled me into the experience and reminded me of being a kid and imagining myself as the next coming of Luke Skywalker. It’s really, really cool.
But, as cool as it is, we live in a capitalist society (which, not cool) and an Oculus Quest doesn’t come cheap. The system retails for $399, plus $10 for the game itself – that’s a lot of money to shell out for wielding a lightsaber for a few hours. If you’re crazy like me maybe you forgo food for a few months and live off of the adrenaline of your childhood dreams instead, but that’s just not an option for a lot of people; between Vader Immortal and the newly-opened Galaxy’s Edge theme park at Disneyland, it’s not a fantastic time to be a fan without disposable income to burn. Also, while I had a blast whirling around batting away blaster bolts, there are absolutely major accessibility concerns here – I’m physically able-bodied, but I haven’t seen any reactions to Vader Immortal from those who are not, and I suspect it’s because they just have no way of experiencing it (and also, probably no one asked them). This is not an experience that everyone will be able to enjoy, and while that’s a predictable outcome to expanding the Star Wars universe into new and cutting-edge media, it’s still frustrating to know that there are people who will never get this particular experience.
There’s no doubt, though, that this game/experience/new exercise routine in the lightsaber dojo mode are a major leap forward for Star Wars and for VR technology, one that’s both exciting and well-executed. The price tag may not be manageable for everyone, but if you have a way to play it, it’s an extremely fun experience that will leave you coming back again and again, and has me hyped for the next two episodes and whatever comes after them. I came away from Vader Immortal feeling like Lucasfilm and ILMxLAB are only scratching the surface of what’s possible with interactive storytelling – we’ve just taken our first step into a larger world, and what a step it is.
