Valve’s Destinations app already lets you explore some fascinating locations in VR, including the lobby of its own offices. But now you can explore scenes from some of your favorite videogames too.
Jane Ng, an artist at Firewatch creator Campo Santo, has brought one of the game’s most iconic locations to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift via the app. Ng recreated the lookout tower that protagonist Henry occupies in the story-driven adventure using Valve’s Source engine. You can head into the tower and inspect Henry’s belongings that he gathers during his stint looking for fires at Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming as well as explore the surrounding balcony area. Using the app’s features you’ll also be able to share the location with friends.
Not only is the Destination accurate to the game, it’s also based on official Shoshone National Forest Service blueprints, meaning it actually looks like the real world location. Both the app and this space are free to download. Destinations itself remains in Early Access for the time being, and a VR headset is required to use it.
It’s about as close as fans will get to actually playing Firewatch in VR. The game first launched earlier in the year, and its focus on exploration and beautiful visuals had many hoping a VR port might be possible at some point down the line. You can also now view the lookout tower in VR using Sketchfab.
Ng isn’t the first developer to bring scenes from a game into VR with Destinations. Earlier in the year The Talos Principle developer Croteam brought an area of its popular puzzle title into the app. It’s certainly an interesting way to bring some titles that might not necessarily work as full VR ports into headsets.
We’d love to see some other developers try their hands at Destinations experiences. Imagine revisiting your first steps into BioShock‘s Rapture in VR, or touching down on Metroid Prime‘s rainy Tallon IV.
