A visit to the VR City in Zurich

Our small VR Room team recently met for a team event at VR City in Zurich. A really cool location with potential and ideas.

We must have had tomatoes on our eyes when we arrived at Baslerstrasse 30. Basically, the VR City There, the location was perfectly located and was signposted in large letters several times (on the illuminated sign by the road and above the entrance). However, our VR Room team only just managed to find the amusement centre. January, maybe it will work better in the virtual world. After a delicious Vietnamese meal, we planned to check out some VR experiences in VR City.

The first impression inside was already very good: a spacious, bright hall with a small and a large VR arena, 2 racing simulators, a bar and two grandstands awaited us. Contrary to expectations, there was still a lot of activity after 8.00 pm. Michael Köchler, the owner, greeted us straight away and directed us to the cloakroom; he would be with us shortly. We gladly got rid of our jackets, as it was quite warm in the hall and anyone who has ever worn VR glasses and moved around with them knows that it doesn't get any cooler.

1:0 Switzerland v Russia

We were immediately instructed by Michael and told how to put on the trackers and what to expect in the shooter called Blackout. No sooner said than done, we found ourselves as a special unit in the virtual world. Even here in VR City, we are not entirely free of technical problems. For example, the gun didn't work for me at first. However, the error was quickly rectified and we were able to set off on our mission. The beginner's game was easy to grasp: shoot down the enemies cooperatively, don't get hit yourself and occasionally take a lift up or down.

The game was fun to play, but it is inferior to the trueVRsystems zombie shooter due to a lack of variety. 1:0 in favour of the Swiss developers; the Russians still need a bit of coaching in Switzerland.

Fun and social is a top priority

After the full body tracking VR experience, we also enjoyed a round in the small arena, where you just use a headset and controller. Various games from Steam are available there, as well as selected titles such as RevolVR, which has a very high fun factor despite being very simple.

In the meantime, Michael picked up another group who were having fun with a VR party game. The screens not only allowed us to watch them in real life, but also to see what they were experiencing in VR: Dancing, dodging, running over falling plates and so on and so forth. The game looked really fun indeed.

This is also the primary aim of VR City: the games should have a high replay factor so that visitors want to come back and the social component is also very important. In addition to private individuals, VR City also wants to appeal to companies, which are generally less in favour of shooting games.

Their concept seems to be working so far. They have been open since October last year and so far they are very well booked, so that there are hardly any free places for spontaneous visitors, especially at weekends. So make a reservation, people! The number of bookings from companies is strongly linked to the coronavirus pandemic, Michael also explained. "Now that the numbers are rising again, there are probably a few cancellations." In general, however, they have coped well with the lockdown and he is full of zest for action. The next project on the agenda is a VR tournament, which we will certainly be reporting on again.