ECLIPSE (Capsule Review)

[Original publication: No Proscenium, 7/13/21]

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Located inside AREA15, Oz Experience currently offers three VR options, including the award-winning ECLIPSE. Co-created by BackLight and Virtual Adventure, ECLIPSE is a collaborative VR escape room set in space. Designed for two to four people, players divide into two teams, Explorers and Supporters, to investigate what happened to a sister spaceship and its non-responsive crew before a nearby red giant star explodes, destroying both crews and vessels.

The experience consists of full-body avatars and free-roam movement. Gameplay runs 35 minutes and a game master is available for guidance as needed. Our team was just two people and once we established player roles, we were physically separated into different rooms and also visually separated within the game for the majority of play.

Visual elements are beautiful, especially the red giant on the verge of supernova; I wanted more time to absorb and appreciate the extraordinary sensation of being that close to a massive, dying solar body. The free-roam aspect allows players to feel completely immersed in the experience, without tethers or other physical restrictions to pull focus.

The crux with ECLIPSE is player interaction. While the game is presented as a collaborative challenge, teams of two primarily work as individuals. One example involves the “puzzle” of a sudden fire on one of the ships, which prevents interplayer communication; while a clue is revealed in the process, the fire’s full design, and how to extinguish it, presents as more of a stalling tactic. With a team of four, ECLIPSE is a worthwhile experience, balancing player agency and communal problem solving.