Time to Get Schwifty with ‘Rick and Morty’ in VR

By Danny Cowan Published July 15, 2016

The world’s greatest grandfather/grandson Sci-Fi adventuring team is entering the world of virtual reality, but you won’t be able to take Roy off the grid. Instead, Adult Swim’s instant classic animated series Rick and Morty will tap into the world of virtual reality with the upcoming launch of Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality for the HTC Vive VR headset.

Developed by Owlchemy Labs, creator of the popular VR game Job Simulator, Virtual Rick-ality will be full-blown Rick and Morty game, according to studio CEO Alex Schwartz. Virtual Rick-ality will also feature voice acting from the series’ original cast, according to RoadToVr.

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Initially pitched as an off-beat parody of the Back to the Future film series, Rick and Morty chronicles the chaotic multi-verse sprawling adventures of alcoholic scientist Rick and his grandson Morty. Creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are currently working on a third season for the series, which is slated to begin airing as part of Adult Swim’s late-night programming by the end of this year.

Gameplay footage featured in Virtual Rick-ality‘s debut trailer resembles developer Owlchemy Labs’ previous work within the world of virtual reality. Like Job Simulator, Virtual Rick-ality allows players to pick up and interact with a number of objects. In the trailer, the player is seen interacting with a regular old plumbus, just like the one everyone has in their home.

Job Simulator boasts a greater depth and variety of content than many experimental VR releases to date, and Owlchemy Labs assures that Virtual Rick-ality will follow suit. The team even mentioned Rick’s portal gun, which will work perfectly

“Were building it into a full game,” Owlchemy CEO Alex Schwartz stated in an interview with Road to VR. “We don’t know how long it’s going to be, or price, or anything like that. It’s not a marketing experiment, it’s a game.”

Schwartz continued: “[Justin Roiland] has been helping with the vision and the funny jokes. Generally it’s been a great relationship working back and forth and they’ve given us carte blanche on what to do with the story. The Rick and Morty IP is very open – if people get killed off you can say it was another universe. It’s just a great game to be experimenting with and the stories and characters are easy to play around with.”

Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality will be publicly playable at next week’s Comic-Con International event in San Diego. Even Mr. Poopy Butthole doesn’t know when the game will actually release, however.

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