Cool Stuff: Sandbox VR Is As Close As You Can Get To Ready Player One's Oasis (For Now)
In the big-screen adaptation of "Ready Player One," the citizens of the world are obsessed with a virtual environment that preoccupies all of their time. It's called The Oasis, and it's basically an extremely advanced virtual reality platform that puts the user in a simulated but ultra-realistic environment with almost anything at their disposal, from deadly weapons to pop culture vehicles like the DeLorean time machine, and even their own secret lairs. Today's virtual reality is a far cry from the kind of immersive experience that director Steven Spielberg created in "Ready Player One," but if Sandbox VR is any indicator, The Oasis is getting closer to becoming a reality.
Sandbox VR is a virtual reality experience crafted for groups of six to participate in together. Teams compete and cooperate in the same physical space and play out an adventure that feels like you're inside a video game. The company notes that they were inspired by the Holodeck of the "Star Trek" universe, and they use motion capture cameras, 3D precision body trackers, custom hardware, and haptic suits to put players in the action. Thanks to the in-person group element and the custom hardware, it's a step up from experiencing VR in a headset at home.
Just recently, Sandbox VR unveiled a new experience inspired by the Netflix thriller series "Squid Game," one of the streamer's most popular shows of all time. With the launch of the cinematic tie-in experience, Sandbox VR invited me to check out their platform in Chicago, one of nearly three dozen sites in North America, including locations in Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Toronto, and more. Not only did I get an opportunity to jump into their new "Squid Game" challenge, but I also played one of their regular VR shooter adventures, "Deadwood Valley," featuring hordes of zombies descending upon your party of armed soldiers.
More than a headset
If you've played virtual reality games on PlayStation VR or the Meta Quest (formerly Oculus), then you're familiar with the headsets used to immerse you in a video game environment in the comfort of your own home with reasonable open space around you for safe movement. Sandbox VR utilizes a similar headset, but it brings headphones, body censors on the wrists and ankles, a haptic vest, and handheld hardware (basically controllers shaped like various weapons) into the fray for an even more enveloping experience.
The handheld hardware adds a new level to the immersion, as does the haptic vest. Even though the vest only vibrates, it adds another layer of making you feel like you're within the game, as it vibrates when you're attacked or penalized, depending on which game variant you're playing. So let's dig into the two game experiences that Sandbox VR set up for me to try out.
Get in the Squid Game
Turning the dark "Squid Game" series into a video game might seem morbid, but there are a myriad of video games out there focusing on gruesome violence and more than morally questionable premises, so we can only gripe so much. At the very least, it's not as tone deaf as putting real-life competitors into a reality game show competition based on "Squid Game," so there you go.
In Sandbox VR's "Squid Game Virtuals," players compete against the other people in their party in several mini-games inspired by the Netflix series. You're all in the same virtual room for these competitions, as well as the in-between lobby that recreates the massive player bunk room to great effect. You're represented in the game by an avatar of your choosing, with a variety of different looks, including those inspired by but not direct representations of characters in the "Squid Game" series. That bunk room starts feeling bigger and bigger as more players drop off between rounds. And don't worry, no matter how poorly you might do in each of these mini-games, you'll never be kicked out of the entire "Squid Game" event.
As for the games you'll participate in, there's the infamous red light, green light game that's part of the equation, albeit with a far less deadly setup and an added feature that forces you to collect coins. But each game puts players in some kind of virtual peril, typically a steep drop that makes your stomach sink due to the immersive virtual reality headset, or a penalizing vibration, though nothing that registers as remotely painful.
For example, one challenge is comparable to the "Beat Saber" VR game, where you must pose a certain way to keep censors in a position or risk being penalized. Another game has players choosing one of four platforms to stand in before a certain number of them disappear and plummet players to their virtual demise. But unlike the other Sandbox VR experiences, the "Squid Game Virtuals" games don't put any hardware like weapons in your hands. You can get a tease of all the games in the experience by checking out some videos showcasing my experience with "Squid Game Virtuals" right here.
Having this kind of VR experience unfold in the same room with your party creates a stronger sense of competition. And yes, some of the games may find you running into the other players in the real-life space, which adds another challenging wrinkle to this kind of VR experience. However, I must say that this game variant feels like it's a bit more basic and skews closer to the kind of VR experience you can get at home, and I'm not sure it's the one that I'd go out of my way to try again with a return trip to Sandbox VR.
However, when it comes to one of Sandbox VR's other experiences that's available, it certainly warrants revisiting.
Entering Deadwood Valley
When it comes to Sandbox VR's other recently added game experience, "Deadwood Valley," the premise may be familiar, and the gameplay is fairly rudimentary. But just the simple enhancement of putting weapon-like hardware in your hands and being in the same room with a group of players elevates what would otherwise be a simple VR video game experience that you'd have at home.
If you've ever played a zombie game variant in a first-person shooter video game like "Call of Duty," then you know what to expect here. In "Deadwood Valley," your party is a unit of soldiers dispatched to save a doctor in the middle of a zombie apocalypse scenario. Hordes of zombies swarm in on you from all sides in the middle of a dark, debris-laden town block, and you have to gun them down in order to survive.
In your hands, you've got either a shotgun, two magnum pistols, or an assault rifle. Each piece of hardware you hold in your hands is shaped like a futuristic video game controller version of the weapon in question, rather than looking like a realistic gun. Each weapon has its strengths and shortcomings within the game too. Some game variants utilize a sword, axe, bow, and even powerful magic, but this experience did not include those, though I think there might have been a knife available.
Your team stands back-to-back, shooting out at the zombies and trying to survive. Yes, you'll probably die, but this is where a bit of the group element comes into play. In order to be revived after dying in the game, one of the other surviving players must hold their hand on your shoulder, and then you're back in action. You may also have to help your teammates by shooting off a creature that latches onto their body. The video captured of my gameplay experience (something included with your ticket price) shows a bit more about what the game is like.
Every wave of zombies comes with varying degrees of difficulty and new monsters that are more challenging to kill, all with a vibe that feels like "Call of Duty" mixed with "Resident Evil." There are cool environmental features, like being able to shoot out windows or blast a gas can and have it create an explosion that wipes out a pool of zombies. Again, the gameplay is relatively simple, but it's those added elements of being in a room with real people and hardware in your hand that create a new level of immersion. There are environment changes too, so you're not just sitting in the middle of a town block the entire time. The finale in particular makes things even more creepy, especially when you meet the final villain.
Is it worth the cost?
"Deadwood Valley" was a total blast, and it's the kind of experience that is fun to do with different people, especially those who have never played VR before. In another play area nearby, one woman could be heard incessantly screaming in surprise and fear, so this could be a fun experience to try out with the family. This particular game might be a little too scary for younger players, but there are other game variants that are more family friendly involving pirates and aliens. There's even an official "Star Trek" experience.
However, you might be wondering how much it costs to give Sandbox VR a try. Each session costs $55-$65 per person, depending on which experience you're trying and the timeslot. However, there is a discount if you want to book two sessions back-to-back in order to try a couple of game variants. After you make a reservation online, you can change the number of players and which game you want to play right up until the time of your reservation.
As previously mentioned, once you've completed a session, you're given access to a video of your party playing the game, cutting back and forth between general footage from within the game to what your party was doing at various points. It's pretty fun to look back and see you and your group frantically looking around and pointing weapons at nothing, and you can download and share it with friends and family to convince them to check it out with you next time. For a bit of competition, Sandbox VR also keeps track of each player's score and awards an MVP at the end of each session.
Though the price is a little bit steep, for a community experience, this is a nice change of pace from just getting together and playing games at a friend's house. It gets the blood flowing, and it may be a good testing ground to figure out who you want to be with you in an apocalyptic scenario, which is surely coming sooner than later. In all seriousness, it's at least worth trying out once, especially if you'd like a preview of what VR gaming is like right now.
If I had one complaint, it's that I wish the space utilized for this kind of VR experience was more expansive, allowing the party to walk through multiple rooms, maybe even upstairs on several levels, almost like a virtual haunted house. Sandbox VR is another step closer to that, and The Oasis experience from "Ready Player One" may not be science fiction for much longer. I have no doubt that VR gaming will keep advancing at an impressive rate, and sometime in the near future, our gaming rooms will literally be an entire room that can be used for the ultimate immersive video game experience.
Head over to Sandbox VR's website to learn more and see if you want to try it out.