Netflix continues to tip-toe its way into the gaming space with another interactive experience, this time with an actual VR game called Eden Unearthed.
Based on the Eden anime series, Eden Unearthed re-tells parts of the show’s story while the player navigates an animated landscape on a motorbike. It’s not exactly Phasmophobia or Beat Saber as far as ingenuity is concerned, but it is a start to Netflix’s gaming library.
What’s interesting is that the game appeared on App Lab with an April 2021 release date, so the game has been floating around for a while. It’s just getting attention now.
We already know Netflix isn’t looking to re-invent the wheel with their games, focusing mostly on simple, enjoyable, and, probably most important of all, ad-free experiences with their upcoming games. We’ve seen glimpses of Netflix's two Stranger Things mobile games that were demo tested in Poland earlier this year and we’ll likely see future games exist somewhere between mobile games and this simple VR experience.
What is interesting is how the push to VR can impact future content from Netflix, including those interactive experiences. Films like You vs. Wild or the upcoming Escape the Undertaker take on a whole new level of interactivity within a VR headset — and there’s no doubt Netflix knows that very well. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some additional VR games and experiences as Netflix continues to flesh out its gaming content.
“We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV,” Netflix said in its 2021 2Q shareholder letter back in July.
For the uninitiated, Eden is a new series directed by Yasuhiro Irie about two maintenance robots who accidentally awaken a human baby girl from stasis and secretly raise her outside of their city’s walls. You can watch the first four episodes of the show on Netflix.
Eden Unearthed is available now on Oculus Quest VR devices.
Eden
Thousands of years in the future, a city known as “Eden 3” is inhabited solely by robots whose former masters vanished a long time ago. On a routine assignment, two farming robots accidentally awaken a human baby girl from stasis questioning all they were taught to believe — that humans were nothing more than a forbidden ancient myth. Together, the two robots secretly raise the child in a safe haven outside Eden.