In the five minutes I spent demoing Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rick-Ality, I got to do Morty’s laundry, get shot in the face by Rick, come back to life, shoot a laser pistol at some empty alcohol bottles, and fondle the head of a plumbus. I’m still not entirely sure what a plumbus is, but I do know two things: everybody has one, and there’s a very simple step-by-step process to constructing one.
If that didn’t make a lick of sense to you, that’s probably because you’re not familiar with the utterly bizarre world of Rick and Morty. That, or you’re not as dangerously obsessed with the bizarre animated lovechild of co-creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. A weird mish-mash of Back to the Future, Doctor Who, and improvisational comedy, Rick and Morty may just be one of the best, weirdest shows to grace the likes of Adult Swim (and that’s saying something). The show’s second season wrapped up last October, with a third season set to air before the year is over.
In the meantime, there’s Virtual Rick-Ality, which is essentially a Rick and Morty fan’s personal virtual playground in Rick’s lab-slash-garage. After putting on the HTC Vive headset and being handed both controllers (which are positioned relative to where your hands are, moving with 1:1 precision), I got to fiddle around and get my bearings within a Tron-like grid before the familiar setting of Rick’s garage-lab surrounded me. In front of me stood Rick and Morty, and I was introduced as another clone of Morty, grown to do menial chores around the house. After being told to put away laundry into the washing machine, Rick and Morty appeared slightly dissatisfied with my work, and I was shot in the face.
Immediately I’m in a black room with a telephone on a table. Picking up the phone, it’s explained to me that I was killed a little too early, so if I pushed the button on the table where the phone sat, I’d come back to life. One button press later, and I’m back in the garage, sans Rick and Morty. Since I’m in a smaller area for playing the virtual simulation, I’m not able to walk around the entire area of the garage. Instead, the game instructs me to press the disc button on the center of the Vive’s controller to move through the corners of the garage.
With my newfound freedom, I immediately begin goofing off, throwing empty bottles of booze into the air and shooting them with a laser pistol, throwing random items into the laundry, and of course, trying to figure out what a plumbus actually does. Before long, the wind kicks up outside and a storm begins to form. Rick and Morty reappear suddenly, and I’m told to walk through a portal to escape the potential destruction. This being a VR game, I had to physically walk “through” the portal, leading me into empty space where I’m given a brief quip about the VR title’s development. The demo ends, and I remove the headset.
I’m still not sure what a plumbus actually does, but I can confidently say that if this small, brief demo is representative of the final product, Rick and Morty fans are in for a real treat. Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rick-Ality doesn’t have a set release date, but will be launching on the HTC Vive when it is released.
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