Biolum
NarrativeBiolum is a 30 minute narrative experience with light interactivity.
ABOUT BIOLUM : TAKE THE PLUNGE
Biolum brings us on an immersive mission into the deepest depths of the ocean to explore the abyss through the perspective of scientific researcher Rachel, voiced by Dominique Tipper (The Expanse). Rachel is guided by expedition leader Eva, a renowned marine scientist, played by Charlotte Rampling (Denis Villeneuve's Dune). As we discover the mysteries of this bioluminescent VR underworld, it becomes clear that this relationship is not as simple as we thought…
PARASITIC BIOLUMINESCENCE
Rachael discovers that a luminescent parasite is infecting the ocean flora and fauna. Glowing hybrid underwater oddities swim around us as Rachel and Eva try to understand the scientific meaning. The beautiful bioluminescence is wreaking havoc on the natural ecosystems. How could this have happened and what does it mean ?
COSMIC WONDER OF THE GREAT UNKNOWN
In this VR story, nothing is as it seems. What’s beautiful very quickly reveals itself to be contagious, and perhaps more dangerous than ever imagined. As Rachel gets infected by these parasites, she faces a mesmeric fight for her mind and body. Inspired by the beauty of deep sea life, Biolum blurs the lines between biological truth and sci-fi and taps into existential themes and cosmic wonder of the great unknown.
Directed by Abel Kohen, co-written by Jon Rowe and Abel Kohen.
Produced by IKO, Reynard Films, prefrontal cortex.
| comfort | ⦾ Not rated |
| age rating | 0+ Everyone |
| website | astreaimmersive.io |
| developer | IKO, Reynard Films, Prefrontal Cortex |
| publisher | Astrea Immersive |
| connection | Internet required |
| app version | 1.0.1.367 |
| languages | English ∙ Chinese ∙ French ∙ German |
Reviews 13
Quite unique experience but
We who use Quest 3 need a graphical update with better non-blurry and detailed textures, better lighting to make the experience more immersive. I'm curious if anyone can answer if something like this is ever planned.
WoW 😮😍😍👍
Wow fantastic, great, I love it 👍😍
A Trippy, Enthralling Experience
It's well worth the small cost, in my opinion, for this mini deep ocean experience. Graphically it's stunning! If you're fascinated by bioluminescence imagery and a little bit of underwater suspense, you'll enjoy this a lot. The adventure is brief, but the dev's description was straightforward about that, which I appreciate. Most aren't. And it's something I'd want to replay anyway.
Controls are minimal - just moving forward when prompted, mostly. You're on rails, so to speak. I didn't experience any glitches with controllers or anything, however there are a couple moments whilst traveling through a narrow tunnel where my body was clipping through the rockface (I was sitting in stationary boundary). They did a good job of making motion not feel queasy, when often smooth motion in VR can do that to me somewhat.
Overall, very cool ride and I am left wanting MORE!
strange
It was so so.
Good that it said before how short it is.
Overall, I found it rather disturbing, good job I did not care about any of the characters, else I would have felt really disturbed in the last third of the experience.
The idea and story were interesting.
Good experience, beautiful graphics.
If you can't move, Re-open the game and turn off WiFi to play.
Very cool, just buy it for the price!
Biolum has a really interesting (albeit short) story, pretty good graphics and I experienced very little bugs. Underwater experiences are pretty cool if made well, and this one may be short, but it is very well made, and I highly recommend it!
I bought this when it was discounted and didn't read anything from the apps description - and I would advise anyone to do the same.
Some critisism:
You can clip through walls occasionally when you move too much, and I am not sure the limited locomotion is a good idea.
I get that you should not move all the time during narrative sequences, but maybe a rollercoaster type experience would have been better here so that you can never move on your own and are not annoyed when locomotion is suddenly taken away from you.
Also, it is highly irritating that in some sequences, your characters arms move on their own ignoring every input.