Orion Drift is a bit like the metaverse we were promised
Orion Drift is the new project from Gorilla Tag studio Another Axiom. And after trying it out for myself, I'm convinced it's a glimpse into the future of virtual reality.
I'm not a fan of Gorilla Tag, but when the creators of the most-played VR game of all time are working on an ambitious new project, I have to check it out.
Orion Drift went into Open Early Access this week, which means it's open to all players now. I grabbed my Meta Quest 3 this morning, moved to a room with extra space, and launched Orion Drift.
I was pleasantly surprised by what I found in the next few minutes, in a way I wasn't expecting.
My first experience with Orion Drift
Orion Drift takes you to a space station that left me in disbelief due to its sheer size: a cylindrical construct consisting of several districts arranged in a circle, each the size of a football stadium.
Using the Gorilla Tag method of locomotion, which I am anything but adept at, I awkwardly make my way through the first district as game arenas, training rooms, and a cybercafé open up in front of and beside me.
I stop at an arena and watch a group of kids in robot avatars playing Drift Ball, a kind of handball in space. I hear their shouts and voices, and it all seems as if this event and this place really exist, as if it doesn't matter that we're all standing in our homes with computers strapped to our faces.
In the training rooms, I practice Drift Ball, but soon give up because I'm moving too uncontrollably. In the Cybercafe I meet a boy who notices my clumsiness and asks me to hold on to him. It works, and afterwards I'm flying around the space station attached to his robot body.
With the help of a zip line, I later glide up a track to the other districts, which offer completely different attractions and are still under construction.
As I lose my footing, fall out of the space station, and float helplessly in space, a friendly little drone flies toward me and offers to fly me back if I hold on to it. Back on solid ground, I accidentally discover that I have little thrusters on my arms that help me glide through space.
I wish Orion Drift had made me aware of this from the beginning. As of today, there is no onboarding or tutorial.
A touch of Ready Player One
The space station, including its four districts, is a continuous world with no loading screens. This makes it all the more surprising that I encounter human players at almost every turn. There can be up to 75 players in an instance at a time, with a cap of 200 planned for the future. That would be an impressive feat, especially considering that Orion Drift runs on Meta Quest.
After my first brief visit to the space station, here are a few takeaways: Orion Drift is a fascinating glimpse into the future of the VR metaverse. It's a combination of factors that give the experience a real Ready Player One feel: the sci-fi setting, the sublime scale and scope, the continuity, and the social vibrancy of this virtual amusement park. Watching kids move, play, meet, and communicate effortlessly and naturally in this giant space, I can easily imagine it being a second virtual home for them.
I'm probably too old for this myself. After 40 minutes, I felt a little nauseous and had a slight headache and was glad to take the headset off. But even for VR veterans, a trip to the Orion space station is worth it because there is something unique and new to experience here.
You can download Orion Drift for free from the Horizon Store.
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