I don’t know about you but I have always wondered that can we replicate the Sword Art Online VR experience in real life? After watching this anime, my first thought was, I want a game like SAO.
Of course, none of us want to get stuck in a death game like Kirito and the others, but the overall SAO VR game concept was intriguing. So, in this article, I have analyzed the possibilities of experiencing something like Sword Art Online VR Game in real life.
Moreover, I have given my POV on some frequently asked questions such as “When will virtual reality like SAO be real?” or “Is Nervegear possible?” So, stick with me to explore every aspect of the Technology shown in Sword Art Online and if it is achievable in our world.
If you want to look at the VR headsets for PCs specifically, click here. If you’re a huge gamer and a fan of Skyrim, see here for an article you’ll love! If you don’t want to go into the hassle of buying a VR-compatible device, just see these top VR standalone headsets. If you’re really looking for high quality, you can see the best Oculus VR headsets. If you don’t have a VR device yet, you can buy a phone suitable for VR headsets here.
Analysis of Sword Art Online VR Concept.
Sword Art Online brought along a very innovative concept for Virtual Reality. It would be amazing to achieve something similar to the Sword Art Online VRMMO game concept.
But first, let’s analyze the futuristic concept that SAO virtual reality game showed us. In the anime, Sword Art Online was an MMORPG game that required the Nervegear virtual reality headset to play.
Nervegear used microwaves to alter the five senses of the player’s brain, so they can feel every aspect of this game.
Which meant that the players felt Sword Art Online in real life. And when I say real life, I meant real anime life.
Is Nervegear possible?
Yes, in the future achieving a few aspects of NerveGear is definitely possible. We might not manage to include all the features of the original Nervegear but with the rapid improvement of VR technology. We can expect a fully immersive and improved VR soon.
I think the hardest or the impossible thing to replicate will be the taste and smell aspect of the Sword Art Online headset.
Can we make Sword Art Online in real life?
I think we can only capture the essence of Sword Art Online in real life. That being said, technology is evolving so rapidly that we might be able to replicate a lot of stuff from SAO.
So if you ask me, will Sword art online ever be real? My answer to you will be very straightforward. Yes, it’s partially possible because if you look back a few decades. You will see how much we have accomplished so far. e.g. smartphones, Supercomputers, self-driving cars, AI, and also VR.
And when it comes to Virtual reality, we are using it to perform rehabilitation as well. So, I can safely say that there is no harm in keeping our hopes up.
SAO VR Game Alpha Testing By IBM.
Back in 2016, IBM Japan started an alpha test for its SAO Virtual Reality Game project. This project had 208 Alpha testers. But this alpha test was performed to find out if our current technology can replicate some aspects of the Sword Art Online VR Game.
For this test, IBM created custom Sword Art Online Headsets to provide participants with the correct feeling. However, the reason for this experiment was to test out the limits of our current technology. For this SAO test Oculus rift was used. This project was named Sword Art Online: The beginning.
I still come across questions such as, When is the release date of Sword Art Online: The beginning? However, this was just an experiment, not an actual development. So, the date of release for this VR game does not exist. But we might see these tests evolve into real results in the future.
When will virtual reality like SAO be real?
After the IBM experiment, I think virtual reality like SAO can become partially real in the next 5-10 years. However, it all depends on the technology we develop. Currently, we don’t have the perfect immersive VR technology. Yet, we have developed the baseline for an Immersive VR experience.
For now, I would recommend trying Sword Art Online Helmets as your VR cover to get the feeling of SAO. You can buy these Sword Art Online Helmets online. Yes, I know they might be uncomfortable but remember it’s all about the feeling.
The first time I saw Oculus Rift S, I thought it resembled SAO Nervegear VR. So, being a pure Otaku, I always wanted to buy Oculus Rift to play any SAO VRMMO game. But to my surprise, there were none available. For now, you can use it in games like VRchat. For more info look at our detailed resource on the Best VR headsets for VRchat.
I do hope that someday we will be able to play any Sword Art Online on Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, or any other VR headset.
Are there any Sword Art Online MMO Games till 2022?
Yes, there are many Sword Art Online MMO games available. You can use different platforms to play these games. Ironically though most of these games do not support VR. Except for a few mobile games, most of them are PC based.
The latest Sword Art Online MMORPG game is “Alicization Lycoris”. It’s not a Sword Art Online VRMMO but rather a regular PC, Xbox, and Playstation game. The release date of this SAO MMORPG was 10 July 2022.
You might be wondering if there are any SAO Virtual reality games. The answer to this question is yes there are a few SAO games that support mobile VR. e.g. Lovely Honey Days. This mobile-only game cannot provide you an immersive VR experience so, I cannot classify it as a true VR Sword Art Online game.
There have been many attempts to create VR games like SAO. Some of them showed promise however most of them are not Sword Art Online style VR Games.
Here are a few games that I can list which use the current VR technology to partially replicate SAO. They do seem to replicate Virtual reality just like it is portrayed in SAO but obviously, they are not perfect.
1) Nostos
Nostos is a room-scale VR game released in the Q4 of 2019. The features in Nostos looked similar to Sword Art Online. But this game had so many bugs and couldn’t capture the essence of Sword Art Online Game VR.
But still, it was a very close replication of the SAO VR game. This game was released on VIVE port and steam. VR headsets such as Oculus Rift were compatible with this Sword Art Online Inspired game.
However, after the pandemic hit, the developers were forced to shut down the servers. So, as of now, this is Ghost Game.
In this MMORPG game, you can play with your friends in a VR environment. You can discover different historical sites or you can build shelters in-game. You can also go on quests with your friends.
2) Orbus VR
Orbus VR is another room-scale VR game that was released before Nostos. So, it is considered a true Sword Art Online VR game adaptation. Although, it’s not exactly an SAO VR game it was inspired by the concept.
It features different quests, dungeons, and different bosses and it has a storyline. So, it has a few similar features to the Sword Art Online VR Game in the anime.
These are the two games that partially bring the SAO VR Game concept to reality. Even if they are not perfect, they have laid down the groundwork for a Sword Art Online VR game.
Furthermore, i recommend that you should learn how to play sims in VR because it can actually provide you with a similar experience. or better yet try other similar Anime VR games from our list.
Conclusion:
It would be awesome to experience Sword Art Online VR in real life. But for now, we are limited to the available technology. So, we can expect a similar experience to Sword Art Online VR game in the future.
However, I still think that we are far away from developing a technology that can replicate all of the aspects of SAO.
But do you think it would be possible for someone to replicate something this complex and offer it at a cheap price?
I think even if this becomes a reality, we will not be able to afford the equipment. So, in our lifetime at least, it might take years for us to experience the true Sword Art Online VR game.
While VR still might not have reached SAO levels, however, you still get a lot of cool features in it such as flying real-life drones with VR. Check out our related article on Best VR drone for more details
Oculus Rift is great, but so are other VR headsets. Check out our related material for more guidance.
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