Video games as a medium continue to evolve every year and because of the personal involvement of players, they can be a great way to experience stories. VR games have taken this to the next level by immersing players into locations and narratives as much as possible, an aspect that Ubisoft’s VR firefighting game is bound to amplify. The Notre-Dame on Fire experience that’s being developed by Ubisoft is in collaboration with a docudrama of the same name directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud that explores the efforts of Parisian firefighters on April 19, 2019, when the Notre-Dame cathedral erupted in a blaze.
It was a shocking moment that gripped much of the world as it happened. While the cathedral of Notre-Dame wasn’t completely lost the structure did suffer severe damage but has since been able to raise an astounding 1 billion euros for restorations. Still, what happened that day shocked many, and the effort that emergency services put into saving the historical site is noteworthy. As both the Notre-Dame on Fire VR experience and movie explore this, audiences around the world will be able to get a gauge of what actions were necessary to preserve the cathedral against all odds.
Ubisoft's Notre-Damen on Fire
This collaboration between Notre-Dame on Fire and its VR experience sets it apart from similar films that have been created over the years. Documentaries and docudramas as a whole can be informative and exciting ways to learn about the world around us but tying them into VR experiences points towards incredible possibilities in the future that are both engaging and accessible. While for some VR headsets are annoying the format still opens up a world of possibilities as demonstrated by the development of Notre-Dame on Fire.
The cooperative puzzle-solving that makes up part of what people should expect from the Notre-Dame on Fire experience might not be perfect for documentaries, but Ubisoft’s project can lay a promising foundation. Instead of focusing on streaming documentaries through services like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix in the future, VR experiences could be released as a way to deeply immerse people in the stories they tell. Traversing through tropical rain forests or creeping along the caldera of a volcano could replace sitting down to watch a nature documentary on a rainy night. This approach is something that would be as exciting for adults as it is for children, pushing more people to learn through these unique avenues.
The engagement found might also hold people’s interest longer and as active participants, viewers could have more intimate experiences with the subject matter. Seeing a shift in documentary experiences that considers this and uses the storytelling format of VR as a tool is something that could become more frequent as filmmakers and developers experiment with the medium. Especially with features like Sony’s 3D scanner for VR in the works, more directors and studios could see the stories they want to tell come to life as VR and its products become more accessible.
These might be high hopes for the relatively small steps taken so far, and the creative choices of Notre-Dame on Fire will likely set it apart from more documentary-style VR experiences that could be released in the future, but it’s still a great sign for how the medium can be used. Mountains of information and beautiful landscapes could become seconds away for people that might not otherwise be able to experience them in great detail. Advancements in new hardware also make these kinds of innovations exciting as home VR kits, like Sony’s upcoming PSVR 2, become more powerful. Viewers could soon be greeted by experiences that rival some of the breathtaking exhibits in museums without having to leave their homes freeing up time and helping more people get the opportunity to experience the world they live in.
Notre-Dame on Fire launches as both a VR experience and a movie in March 2022.