The Metaverse is a big deal, and with every passing day, more projects are being launched as companies increasingly seek to expand their offerings and leverage the power of Web3 technology. In a press release that came out a few hours ago, Eros Investments , a multi-billion dollar holding company, announced the launch of Immerso , an expansive metaverse heavily influenced by ancient mythology and science fiction. So is this the Metaverse we’ve been waiting for? What is Immerso? And what have they got for us to to try out right now? Let’s find out!
What Exactly Is Immerso?
So from the information I’ve been able to gather, Immerso is a sci-fi metaverse where you’ll be able to explore worlds, go on adventures and do all that good stuff. According to their press release, Immerso can pretty much be summarized as follows:
It is an expansive universe filled with 14 realms (Lokas) scalable through planets across each realm. IMMERSO offers a unique multi-user experience, where decentralized interactions will help build communities to pave the way for virtual socialization, entertainment, and commerce. IMMERSO is embodied with mystery, wisdom, and advanced technologies where users can play, create and dream like never before.
Now that all sounds great, but if you visit the Immerso website right now, you’re not going to really find all that much. At present the project seems to consist of little more than some concept art, some lore and this trailer:
There does appear to be some in-game footage, but other than some ships flying across desert sands and a few seconds of third-person combat, there’s not all that much to work with, and at present, there’s no way to even try Immerso out (although the site says this is “Coming Soon”). OK, I know they’ve just launched, so it’s obvious the project is in (very) early development, but something about launching without some sort of alpha feels a little premature to me. I’m not saying that there isn’t a game or that things aren’t happening, but generally speaking, you want some kind of product to showcase when you announce something this ambitious. But maybe that’s just me.
Wait a Sec…All of This Feels Kind of Familiar?
Well yeah, that’s something else myself and our designer here at MSQ.io realized when we took a look at some of the concept art from Immerso and compared it with another very well-known franchise. Take a look at these screenshots and tell me if you can see any similarities:
OK, so I think you get the idea here. Every single one of these pieces of concept art (and there are more) look exactly like they’ve been ripped straight from Star Wars . Look, I’m not saying it isn’t cool to be influenced by probably the biggest sci-fi franchise of all time (and inevitably there’s no way to avoid all of the overlap), but for crying out loud, this is verging on theft of IP! I also get that designing your owns worlds, cultures and aesthetics is no simple task, but this just feels pretty lazy.
Needless to say, this doesn’t make me feel very confident in Immerso as a project, and ultimately it’s all entirely derivative. OK, the 14 realms thing is interesting, and it’s entirely obvious the project’s lore is based on Hinduism, but I don’t feel that influence anywhere in the concept art. I don’t know all that much about Hinduism, but it would be awesome to see the lore and aesthetics of the world’s oldest religion transposed into the Metaverse. Now that’s something I can get behind!
Beyond the Star Wars facsimiles, Immerso seems to be going after Web3 project Star Atlas which has well over 300,000 followers on Twitter and an existing community of players within the game they’re still in the process of actively developing. I’m not suggesting that Immerso shouldn’t go for it, but there’s already a project that’s well ahead of its competitors and is pretty much the premiere Web3 sci-fi Metaverse (for now, at least).
So Should We Be Excited?
The main issue here is that there’s just not all that much to go on. There’s a trailer, there seems to be some gameplay in that trailer, and then there’s some lore and concept art. That’s it for now. Heck, you can’t even see who the team behind the project is yet. Do they even exist? Is all of this entirely AI generated? We may never know…
I’m always excited when there’s a new metaverse project, and I really do hope Immerso is actually something that becomes a thing and develops its own unique approach to the Metaverse. That said, if it just rips off Star Wars and doesn’t develop its own aesthetic, culture and playerbase, then I just don’t see this going all that far, if anywhere at all.
Bear in mind that my appraisal here might well be premature as there’s still much we just don’t know, but at present, this is one to keep an eye on. Whatever happens, I’ll be sure to check back in on Immerso and see how things are progressing…
So what do you think of Immerso? Is this something you’d be willing to try out? Or do you think it’s just some virtual Star Wars knock-off? Let us know your thoughts!
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