Human Within may not be a complete VR game, but it certainly offers more engagement than your average interactive fiction. It skillfully combines aspects of both genres, moving fluidly between immersive virtual reality gameplay and carefully crafted 360-degree live-action sequences where players can influence the story with their choices. Interestingly, this game uses cutting-edge technology to explore the possible dangers of technological progress.
In Human Within, the focus is on a groundbreaking technology that allows individuals to harness the complete computing capabilities of the human brain by transferring their consciousness into a digital environment. Players step into the shoes of Linh, or more accurately, the digital version of Linh after this transformation. As a result, players will explore cyberspace and engage with live-action sequences as the narrative progresses. In a conversation with Game Rant, creative director Avi Winkler and director Anne Weigel shared insights on how the team achieved this.
How Human Within Blends VR and Live-Action
The narrative of Human Within unfolds through immersive 360-degree live-action scenes, frequently captured in one continuous shot. To add an extra layer of complexity, these scenes are influenced by player choices, leading to different outcomes based on their decisions. One of the major challenges Human Within encountered was managing camera angle shifts during these sequences, which can often be jarring for virtual reality players. Winkler shared insights on how Human Within addresses this issue.
In VR, users can look in any direction during a scene. However, since the choice mechanics in Human Within are based on gaze direction, we know roughly what their head orientation is when a choice is made. Choices are related to focusing your gaze in the direction of a particular detail in the scene. When a choice is locked in, the camera cuts to a new position in the room with the user’s center of focus oriented toward that same detail – acting as a visual anchor point of sorts.
While the perspective of the space changes, the main central element of focus remains the same. This allows for camera cuts in VR that are not disorienting and also serve as a visual confirmation that the choice has been made.
This method of dialogue in Human Within offers numerous advantages. By allowing players to make choices through their gaze instead of using a traditional dialogue wheel like in Dragon Age, the camera can smoothly shift toward a chosen focal point, creating a more immersive experience. Additionally, this approach provides clear feedback that a decision has been made, enhancing the feeling of player agency.
Human Within’s Story Enables Its Gameplay
Human Within tells a compelling story that could serve as a fantastic foundation for a story-driven VR game, allowing players to experience a variety of viewpoints. Winkler highlighted that the blend of live-action and digital scenes in Human Within provides fresh narrative and experiential insights.
In the 360 scenes, you make choices about what happened in the past, and in the internet space scenes, there are forms of interaction where the scene won’t progress until you solve a puzzle or interact with certain panels to get things going.
The point cloud sequences are where the most interaction is in the experience. They were designed for players to engage in the story and the environment in a way that the 360 memory scenes and the internet space scenes couldn’t.
Human Within offers a unique take on storytelling through its live-action scenes, presenting a dual perspective. Visually, players are immersed in a live-action format, while narratively, they explore their character’s history and shape their backstory. When not in these live-action moments, players find themselves back in the present, where Linh exists as a digital consciousness. These interactive segments challenge players to confront the consequences of their past decisions, creating a captivating connection between the scenes that enhances the overall narrative. It’s intriguing to see how the experience of Human Within is deeply intertwined with the story it unfolds.