Pudica is a mixed reality musical journey that you can experience on Sony's enterprise XR headset.
Directed by Keisuke Itoh and co-produced by CinemaLeap and Sony Corporation, Pudica takes its name from a flower and sees you explore the world of Plantonica. As a guided journey with no dialogue, Pudica tasks you with mapping out your living space before this magical plant invites you to explore this "fantastical" realm, delivering an MR audiovisual experience.
Here's the official synopsis:
The world of Plantonica is filled with beautiful music and tranquility. In this magical realm, you will meet three more friends, each with their own unique musical tones. Together, you will host a concert, creating a symphony that blends your heart with gentle sounds, fully immersing you in this enchanting world. As this peaceful time draws to a close, you will sense the beginning of a new world.
While the trailer shows the experience on Quest 3, my demo at Venice Immersive 2024 used Sony's new standalone enterprise headset with the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset that they've called the "Spatial Content Creation System." I found Pudica to be a relaxing but limited room-scale experience, and the headset's small field of view ultimately hampered my immersion.
It's unknown if Pudica will receive a home release, and we'll update this article if we learn more.
