Emperor is a captivating VR movie that you can watch for free on Meta Quest
Emperor tells an emotional story in a unique visual style. This extraordinary VR movie is available on Meta Quest for free.
Emperor is inspired by the true story of a man who, after a stroke, lost the ability to speak, and his daughter, whose life was forever changed by this event.
The film uses virtual reality to transport us into the man's world. It is accompanied by the voice of the daughter, who brings us closer to her own inner life and the father-daughter relationship.
The plot is loose and consists of a multitude of visually striking, often dreamlike scenes. Sometimes we participate in therapy sessions with the daughter, sometimes we are immersed in fragments of memories. We experience a sleigh ride, a fall from an airplane, a desert landscape. The same motifs appear again and again, mysteriously connected.
Haunting images
Emperor has a unique visual style, depicting places and situations as monochrome spatial drawings. Directors Marion Burger and Ilan J. Cohen use this visual style and a great deal of ingenuity to create scenes of great beauty.
The environments are rendered in real time, so you can physically move through the animated scenes at will. But that's not necessary: the VR movie is designed to be experienced sitting down.
Emperor is interactive and relies on simple hand interactions (preferably using hand tracking). To advance the story, you must point at doors and locations, pick up objects, or otherwise interact with them.
In one scene, you sit at a table with the daughter and have to complete a word by drawing letters with your finger, which Emperor intentionally makes more difficult. In this and other ways that will not be revealed here, the VR film makes the father's aphasia more tangible.
A deeply moving VR experience
Emperor is a very personal film. It does not show what it is really like to suffer from aphasia. Rather, it is an empathetic artistic treatment of a neurological disorder and the trauma that occurs when you lose a loved one or significant parts of what made that person special. Emperor is a moving tribute to the fragility of life and the emotional bonds between people.
The worlds we immerse ourselves in through virtual reality completely surround us, and therefore can be cognitively overwhelming at times. This fact, and the way Emperor tells its story, left an emotional mark on me.
You can download Emperor for free on the Horizon Store. The VR film lasts around 45 minutes.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
