Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakablehas some impressive systems under the hood. Not only doesAttack on Titan: Unbreakableconvert the series' action into virtual reality, but the title takes full advantage of UNIVRS' anti-motion sickness tech.
Plunging the series headfirst into VR,Attack on Titan: Unbreakableadapts the anime’s signature high-octane, omnidirectional action. The title, now available on sale at the Meta store, may be a short experience, but it nonetheless attempts a highly mobile (and somewhat complex) style of gameplay that has the potential to go awry in VR. Game Rant sat down with chief content officer Hiroaki Yotoriyama and chief operating officer Naoya Koji, both of whom spoke about how the team at UNIVRS was able to get the game’s systems working in VR—and how UNIVRS' unique tech factored in.
Attack on Titan: Unbreakable’s VR Achievements Explained
Bringing Attack on Titan’s Mobility Gear to Virtual Reality
Attack on Titanentering the VR spacewas always going to be an event. The anime adaptation ofAttack on Titanwent great lengths to cement its style of action into popular consciousness, and it’s been extremely successful in this matter. Having characters swing through the air with steampunk-adjacent tech, defying the odds against colossal foes and civilization-level stakes, is an image known to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the series.
A VR game would have to replicateAttack on Titan’s fights, and this combat style would make such an adaptation tough. While the VR medium has come a long way from its initial boom last decade, its games still rely on limited mobility, avoiding scenarios that would create a dissonance between physical reality and the virtual world. Swinging through the air of a fantasy world while fighting Titans is one such scenario, and Yotoriyama spoke about the lack of precedent in this regard.
“While we were inspired by certain existing works, there were very few precedents for implementing omnidirectional mobility in VR, so in reality, it was a series of entirely new challenges. Our goal was to balance realistic body movement with intuitive controls, and we went through numerous prototypes before arriving at the control system we have today.”
Yotoriyama also spoke aboutAttack on Titan VR’s successwith finally finding a gameplay loop that fit the VR mold. He stated that “While respecting the original work’s world-building and scale, we’ve aimed to fully leverage VR-specific tools like immersive direction and sensory presence. Our goal was not just to create combat, but to make players feel that they themselves are truly fighting against Titans.”
UNIVRS' Anti-Motion Sickness VR Technology
Motion sickness has been a major bugbear for VR in general and, withhowAttack on Titan: Unbreakableworks, had every potential to be a figurative and literal headache for UNIVRS' project. Koji spoke about how motion sickness affects working in the VR space, and how UNIVRS' unique tech combats the problem, as well as how this technology was pushed further withAttack on Titan VR: Unbreakable:
“The mechanism behind VR motion sickness is quite similar to that of carsickness. For example, when your body remains still but your field of vision moves, the brain is tricked into thinking you’re in motion. This disconnect between what your body feels and what your eyes see often leads to discomfort and nausea.
At UNIVRS, we’ve developed a proprietary locomotion system aimed at resolving this disconnect between the body and vision. The core idea behind our design is inspired by the fact that car drivers are generally less prone to motion sickness than passengers. This is because drivers are actively steering and controlling the direction of movement, which helps their brain align motion with visual input.
[…] In Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable, we’ve fully leveraged this technology to deliver the exhilarating experience of flying with omnidirectional mobility gear—something fans have long dreamed of—while minimizing the risk of VR- induced discomfort.”
