Experience history in Hindenburg VR, a fascinating journey into the past
The Hindenburg VR experience is a shining example of how history can be told through virtual reality. A must-see.
LZ 129 Hindenburg is the first paid DLC for the VR time travel simulator TimeLab and is available today on Steam.
The DLC is dedicated to the legendary airship named after the president of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, which was the pride of German engineering until it burst into flames and crashed in 1937. The so-called Hindenburg disaster shattered confidence in the safety of zeppelins and sealed the end of this mode of transportation.
I tried the PC VR experience and found LZ 129 Hindenburg to be one of the best historical VR experiences of the last decade. Read on for my impressions.
A painstakingly detailed recreation of an engineering marvel
The experience begins in the future, in a TimeLab room with equipment reminiscent of Dr. Kleiner's lab from Half-Life 2. I start the time machine's reactor, step onto a platform, and insert the Hindenburg time travel module. Before I begin my journey through time, I am given facts and background information about the Hindenburg on screens, while a hologram floating in front of me illustrates the structure of the airship.
After this brief introduction, I launch the simulation and find myself aboard the Hindenburg, on Passenger Deck A to be exact. From here, I explore the dining room, lounge, and smoking room, and take a look at the cabins on the upper and lower decks as the airship flies over the Atlantic.
Looking at historic photographs of these interiors, it is clear that they have been reconstructed with great historical fidelity and attention to detail. Walking through these corridors and rooms gives an accurate sense of what it must have been like to travel on the Hindenburg. Much more luxurious and spacious than today's airplanes, with a unique view of passing landscapes and cities through the angled windows.
The VR experience eschews boring text panels in favor of voice over commentary in each room and sometimes on individual objects of interest, providing context to the Hindenburg's furnishings, functionality, and technical innovations.
A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1930s
After a detour into the control gondola, I move on to an entirely different experience that depicts the zeppelin's flight over New York in the second half of the 1930s. We experience the airship's arrival from a boat that takes a tour of Manhattan Harbor and learn all about the skyline, which has been faithfully recreated for virtual reality. This VR experience is a visual highlight of the time travel and would be worth the download on its own.
The VR experience ends with a scene that reenacts the crash of the zeppelin in nearby Lakehurst. The disaster is shown from a perspective familiar from historical film footage and, frankly, does not add much to it.
The Hindenburg was a gigantic airship: more than three times as long as an Airbus A380 and more than a hundred times as large. The sheer size and scale of the airship could have been conveyed in virtual reality like in no other medium. Unfortunately, it never is, as you only see the zeppelin from the inside or from a distance. The last scene would have provided the opportunity.
At the very least, I would have liked to be able to walk around the outside of the zeppelin to experience its gigantic size.
Conclusion: Absolutely worth a trip back in time
The Hindenburg VR experience shows how powerful virtual reality can be as a visual learning tool. Being able to explore the passenger compartments of the Hindenburg in such a cohesive and detailed way has a completely different quality than looking at pictures and reading text.
Unfortunately, there are very few VR experiences of this type and quality, even though they would add a lot of value to schools, museums, and the lives of anyone who likes to immerse themselves in the past. LZ129 Hindenburg is a polished and visually stunning experience, presented in a thoughtful and entertaining way, which is why I recommend it even for people who are not interested in (aviation) history.
All in all, the VR experience takes about an hour to complete, not including the mini-game in which you steer the Hindenburg through the urban canyons of New York, which I did not try for this review.
You can purchase LZ 129 Hindenburg as DLC on Steam from today.
The DLC is part of TimeLab, a free VR time travel simulator that offers two additional historical experiences: In "Falkenstein" you can visit a replica of Ludwig II's unbuilt dream castle, while in "Apollo 11" you can experience the first moon landing up close. More time travel modules will follow in the future.
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