War for the Planet of the Apes wrapped up the story of the genetically modified chimpanzee Caesar in 2017, and it was followed by a short adventure game, Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier later that year. Now, the talking apes are making their way to virtual reality, and you’ll be able to become one very soon. Crisis on the Planet of the Apes hits virtual reality platforms this April.
Launching for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR, Crisis on the Planet of the Apes takes place five years after the outbreak of the Simian Flu we first saw at the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This places it in between that film and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and it addresses the large gap in time between the two. Half of humanity has already been wiped out, and you play as an ape captured and held in a “guarded scientific facility” in California as they search for a cure. Your goal is to escape the facility and make it back to Caesar.
It won’t be a lengthy game, with FoxNext director of VR production and design Ben Miller calling it “an exciting couple of hours” in a post on the PlayStation Blog.
“When you walk, you won’t do it by just holding a button or warping through the world,” Miller continued. “You’ll have to learn how to move like an ape — swinging your arms in the real world as an ape might move.”
By using the VR headset — and the Move controllers with PlayStation VR — you’ll be able to climb nearly any obstacle, and a combat system built from the ground up for virtual reality promises to make you feel like an ape. To draw your weapon, you’ll have to physically pull it off of your back with motion controls.
Over the course of three films, the new Planet of the Apes made us question the role of humanity in the future of Earth, and whether or not we do more harm than good. Luckily, the world isn’t being annihilated by a pandemic just yet, so we have some more time for self-reflection.
Crisis on the Planet of the Apes will be available for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive on April 3.
