Well this is an odd one – an official, limited-time Pokemon virtual theme park just launched, and you can visit it in VR. Meet Pokemon Virtual Fest.
Pokemon Virtual Fest is open from today through to August 31st and can be played in browser, on smartphones or with a PC VR headset via SteamVR. After downloading Cluster, a Japan-made virtual events service, you can launch into the park to try out rides and minigames. The app is online, too, so you can explore with friends. A word of warning, though: the entire app is in Japanese.
So, yes, it’s all a bit strange. I booted up Pokemon Virtual Fest, gave myself a Scorbunny avatar (because of course) and found myself in a lobby with giant Pokeballs, holographic projections of Pikachu and Polygon, and several doors. Some lead to minigames, like a decidedly un-Pokemon virtual maze with passwords that I had to get other players to basically do for me. Check out our gameplay below.
Behind one door, though, is the park itself. It’s a colorful VR space with a giant Pikachu statue in the middle and a few attractions to visit. I stepped onto a Pokeball Ferris wheel, for example. But that’s about all you can do without clearing the other missions. Solve those (easier said than done if you don’t speak the language) and you can also ride a trade, visit a beach or head to an events stage to dance along with an army of Pikachus.
It’s a fun little experience, if still a far cry from the full Pokemon VR game we’re all dreaming of. In fact, the unofficial fan game for SideQuest gets a lot closer to that vision than we’ll see for a while, we suspect.
Will you be heading into Pokemon Virtual Fest this month? Let us know in the comments below!
