Star Wars Vader Immortal is a three-episode experience that’s not only one of Quest’s best immersive narrative experiences, but also an awesome introduction to VR for any Star Wars fan. While you’ll soon be able to pick up the trilogy at a steep discount, it’s a real shame the series isn’t tapping Quest 3’s potential.
With Star Wars Day (‘May the 4th’) fast approaching, Meta shared an interview with one of the developers behind the Vader Immortal games, and confirmed the trilogy is getting huge 66% discount from May 4th through the end of May 5th. If you’ve ever considered playing the series, this is the moment! You’ll be able to get all three episodes basically for the price of just one—the best discount the series has seen.
Even without any visual upgrades that are specific to Quest 3, the Vader Immortal games are still among the best looking titles on the platform. That’s no doubt thanks to the work of ILM Immersive, the interactive entertainment division of Lucasfilm, which has a high bar for authenticity when it comes to Star Wars content—not to mention access to the vast archives of assets that have made the franchise’s works so iconic.
The Vader Immortal series—consisting of a trio of hour-long-ish episodes—looks, sounds, and feels like Star Wars. Rather than the typical ‘run, gun, rinse-and-repeat’ games you’ll often find on Quest, the narrative is really infused into the experience. The games do a great job of creating moments that are both fun and intuitive, making the series an excellent introduction to VR for Star Wars fans, even for people who wouldn’t consider themselves gamers.
And it’s for exactly those reasons that it’s a serious shame the Vader Immortal games haven’t been given a proper Quest 3 upgrade.
Quest 3 not only has much more power than its predecessor, it also has a generational leap in clarity thanks to higher resolution and incredible lenses. But very few Quest games are visually matching the headset’s potential.
Because the Vader Immortal games basically run thinking they’re still on a Quest 2, it’s easy to see that the game hasn’t been optimized for these improvements. Textures and text clearly aren’t as sharp as they should be, and the game isn’t using any advanced graphical effects that would be possible with Quest 3’s extra processing power.
Not having these optimizations for the newest headset isn’t a deal breaker; Vader Immortal is still worth playing. But now that Quest 3 has the potential to make these detailed worlds and characters look even better, it’s starting to feel like these gems have been left to dull, despite still being some of the most polished content on the platform.
It’s especially strange that we haven’t seen a Quest 3 upgrade for Vader Immortal considering there’s already PSVR and PC VR versions of the game with improved visuals. Leaning on those improved assets and visual effects would make a Quest 3 upgrade much easier than doing things from scratch.
But there’s a hundred possible reasons why the games haven’t gotten a Quest 3 upgrade yet. Maybe Meta doesn’t want to pay for it. Maybe ILM Immersive doesn’t see the value proposition in it. Maybe the teams that originally built the Vader Immortal games have gone on to bigger things, and familiarizing new people with the game’s code base and asset pipeline would be too costly. Maybe ILM Immersive’s team is busy working on a newer VR project and simply doesn’t have bandwidth even if everyone wanted to give Vader Immortal the Quest 3 upgrade it deserves.
If there was going to be a proper Quest 3 upgrade for Vader Immortal, the interview Meta shared with the developer seemingly would have been the time to announce it; as mentioned, May 21st will be the five year anniversary of the first episode of Vader Immortal. Alas, while the text has some interesting behind-the-scenes development tidbits, there’s not even a tease that the games could one day see an upgrade for Quest 3, let alone even an acknowledgement that such an upgrade would be desirable.
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Fitness and Fun on Quest: For fitness in VR that's as fun as it is physical, check out our suggestion for a VR Workout Routine.
Relaxing in VR: Are you less of a competitive gamer and more interested in how you can use VR to chill out? We have a great list of VR Games for Relaxation and Meditation.
Flex Your Creativity in VR: And last but not least, if you're a creative type looking to express yourself in VR, our list of Tools for Painting, Modeling, Designing & Animating in VR offers a huge range of artful activities, with something for everyone from fiddlers to professionals.