The hour-long immersive experience, which is available for free and for a short time only on visionOS, will be a treat for Apple Vision Pro users. What If… is a stunning demonstration of Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 combined with Apple’s new M2 chip. I was amazed by the smoke effect that obscured the edge of an animated screen, the reflections in liquid and a blinking stars field in the darkness of Vision Pro’s OLED displays. I was also impressed with the facial expressions of multiple animated characters who were addressing me in a theater-in-the round. Marvel Powers United, a VR game from Sanzaru that explored superpowers using controllers was released in 2010. Avengers: Damage Control followed a few years later with hand tracking at The Void. In What If… ILM Immersive brings that formula back home again while bottling it into a tightly satisfying experience.
So what exactly is What If… and why does it work so well? Marvel can explore alternative, far-fetched scenarios using beloved characters like Agent Peggy Carter as Captain Carter. What If… is an animated series on Disney+ that highlights the multiverses of alternate realities observed by The Watcher. The 48 interactive moments have been carefully fine-tuned to ensure that you don’t feel like there is too much “right” while still feeling the impact of the story. Without giving away too much in terms of spoilers, there’s 48 interactive moments and each one has been carefully fine tuned toward the goal of not requiring you do too much “right” while still giving you the sense of impact on the world.
Put another way, even if they might technically have similar mechanics, What If… is absolutely an interactive story from Disney in VR and nothing like Space Pirate Trainer.
“What is the amount of time to bring certain things in? What is the amount of time to bring certain things in? Dave Bushore is the director of Marvel Studios and the executive producer for this project. He noted that there was internal discussion about how much support to give in interactive moments. There’s a spreadsheet in Excel with many words. You can watch me stumble my way though the gestures below, and I still got where I wanted to be.
I don’t believe people watch movies or TV shows just to watch. The goal is to inspire. Bushore added: “They want to play and be children. From a fundamental perspective, I think we created a great VR short film.” It’s just not possible. How far can you push your storytelling? How much can we increase the immersion level? How far can the imagination be pushed? The arrival of Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator for Apple Vision Pro will see some of VR’s most popular games
; What If… however is an experience that every Apple Vision Pro user should see. It is the first time that Disney has shown its ability to tell a story using VR in a way Meta and The Void have not. What If… was only an hour long, but my heart ached in the final moments of this story as I felt like I had personally closed the book on the characters.
Where The Void was kept at the periphery of Disney parks in Florida and California, I think What If… is an experience one should be able find at Disney locations worldwide. The experience is a result of an exclusive Apple partnership and costs $3500. However, Disney, ILM and Marvel may already be thinking about this. The content team is focused on getting as many people as possible to participate in the experience. “