Chase the ever-elusive snitch, cast various spells, and discover magical creatures in this fan-made broomstick flying simulator.
Available now on Oculus Quest 2 headsets, Seeker VR is a Harry Potter VR game developed by fans for fans. You can navigate the sprawling grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, chase the Snitch across the Quidditch pitch, and cast spells with your trusty wand. As you explore, you’ll unlock additional trophies and discover fascinating magical creatures.
Seeker VR features over a kilometer of grounds to explore, including Hogwarts Castle, Hagrid’s shack, the Forbidden Forest, and the Black Lake. Using your Touch controllers, you can take hold of your very own Nimbus 2000 flying broomstick and effortlessly soar throughout each of the aforementioned locations at speeds of up to 100mph. You can even ditch the broomstick and physically climb each and every structure in the game. In addition to Hogwarts castle, there’s also an interactive Quidditch pitch where you chase the golden Snitch, shoot Quaffles, and evade rogue Bludgers.
The developer, a one-man team referred to as Team Eldritch, took its time crafting a painstaking recreation of the Hogwarts campus based on the original movie blueprints, and the results speak for themselves. Flying through the archways leading the Hogwarts Castle and skimming the water of the Black Lake at 90mph feels incredibly satisfying in VR.The game even features built-in flying lessons for all your first-time flyers. According to the developer, the Oculus Quest 2 serves as the perfect home for this active VR experience.
“There’s no joystick on a broom, so you have to physically point the handle where you want it to go,” said the developer in an official release, “which is brilliant, because it feels like you’re really up there gripping this thing and making hairpin turns. But if we had a cable attached, players would get wrapped up in it very quickly. On Quest 2, you can pull off a 720° turn if you want with complete freedom – it’s awesome.”
“Speed is a huge part of the game,” continued the developer, “and it’s probably the thing people associate most with the scenes in the movies. At the start of this project, I wasn’t sure how far we’d be able to push it – but the hardware gets better every year, and our testers kept asking if they could go faster. So in the final build, you’re pretty much only limited by how often you want to jetboost…”
In order to avoid any backlash with Warner Bros. Studios, Team Eldritch has made Seeker VR available 100% free of charge on itch.io. For more information visit the official SideQuest page here.
Feature Image Credit: Team Eldritch