It seems as though the lands where meditation originated from has the right idea, and with the power of virtual reality (VR) there is no need to physically get away when Lantern brings multiple worlds to your head-mounted display (HMD) to immerse you into a harmonious sense of peace but not as yourself.
Developers Storm in a Teacup have developed a pretty abstract sounding world where the player acts as a lantern that turns the world into a vibrant and lively environment, as well as igniting other lamps, restoring animals to life, and making windmills start spinning. The whole idea starts with a traditional-sounding story where there was a sad princess who experienced a lantern travelling through towns and slowly lighting up her life.
“Be the wind and guide a beautiful sky lantern that spreads the powerful message of everlasting love, bringing life and color back to the world around you. Enjoy four beautiful East Asian-inspired worlds, each with a different theme, nature and architecture.”
There are four worlds to light up, creating lantern festivals to the sound of restful music and peaceful sounds, and is self-described as “a virtual colouring book with an aesthetic atmosphere”. The story of the princess as well as the gameplay for Lantern is all shown in the announcement trailer featured below.
Lantern will be available for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift HMDs in November of this year on Steam. Storm in a Teacup will be at Gamescom in Cologne this August and will have a playable build for attendees to try out, so keep an eye out for more information regarding the event.
For more of the latest releases for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, as well as all the news and updates in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.
