Independent Swedish creator Starbreeze AB is partnering with US-based multi-award-winning entertainment company iNK Stories to deliver the unique vérité location-based VR experience HERO, which is part of the Sundance Institute’s New Frontier initiative and will be featured during this year’s festival, which runs from 18-28 January at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah.

Starbreeze Studios is already expanding the applications of immersive, large-scale, location-based VR experiences (see the news) in order to bring the audience content that can go beyond their home-entertainment setups. Through their new location-based experience, HERO, they aim to explore humanity in our modern era of civilian warfare. The user/viewer will have to face real-time critical conditions and, depending on his or her decisions, will become the real “hero” demanded by an extreme situation.

According to the company, its vérité VR blends interactivity with a cinéma vérité documentary approach by creating a ground-breaking immersive experience. This novel format of storytelling will mix in physical sensations of touch, enhanced by a deep and powerful audioscape powered by a revolutionary form of sound design and vivid environmental effects. The combination of these elements will increase the whole realistic approach, with the ultimate aim being to elevate experimental storytelling to another level.

At the 2018 edition of the gathering, the Sundance Institute is showcasing a selection of experimental media produced by independent creators that are introducing and developing new formats in virtual, augmented and mixed reality, and pioneering artificial intelligence in the fields of film, art and technology. HERO will be presented in the StarVR Virtual Reality HMD, a premium VR display that, with its 5K resolution and 210-degree field of view, is optimised for location-based entertainment.