On April 3, 20th Century Fox’s FoxNext VR Studio will release “Crisis on the Planet of the Apes,” its first virtual reality game, for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. Priced at $14.99, the first-person game is set between the stories of the “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” and allows the user to experience the world from the point of view of an ape captured by humans who attempts to escape the research facility. According to Variety, “the game was produced in partnership with UK-based Imaginati Studios, and was first announced at CES 2017.” 

“VR has always held the promise of bringing together the cinematic storytelling of film and the deeply immersive interactivity of games,” said FoxNext VR Studio senior vice president/general manager Brendan Handler. “‘Crisis on the Planet of the Apes’ VR takes this potential to the next level. We set out to give the fan a lead role in this dark Planet of the Apes world — to feel the ape’s strength, power and movement as he fights his way to safety.”

Fox’s first commercial VR project was “The Martian VR Experience” in early 2016; it recently also released a behind-the-scenes VR experience for director Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” produced by Felix & Paul Studios.

VentureBeat reports that, in “Crisis on the Planet of the Apes,” “players can expect to band together with other captive apes, confront human violence and channel primate instincts to survive.”

“The Apes franchise supplies the perfect opportunity for players to become part of an apocalyptic world from the perspective of a different species for the first time ever,” said Imaginati Studios chief executive Martin Alltimes. “We wanted to balance visceral combat with a plot-driven narrative that leaves you questioning your innate allegiance to humanity.”

FoxNext is currently exploring PC, mobile and now VR games, “where it won’t encounter the biggest competition.” It also relies on Fox IP, with plans to make a mobile game based on Fox property “The X-Files.”