Discovr Egypt: King Tut's Tomb

VR Review ★★☆☆☆‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
PCVR Free Travel History Comfortable Roomscale

The image shows an ancient Egyptian tomb with hieroglyphics on the walls and a golden sarcophagus in the center.

The image shows an ancient Egyptian tomb with hieroglyphics on the walls and a golden sarcophagus in the center.

Explore King Tutankhamun's final resting place in Egypt's Valley of The Kings in this virtual reality experience. Three of the four chambers of King Tut's tomb are recreated here, though unfortunately the recreation lacks accuracy and detail and doesn't do justice to the ancient artwork still visible in these chambers.

Beginning within the entrance to the tomb, the corridor heading to the Antechamber should be sloped downward yet it remains level in this recreation. Three of the four rooms of the tomb are included - the fourth is the annex, and though it is visible remains off-limits for exploration. The elaborately painted walls of the burial chamber are shown here in some detail, though there are some issues with the scale - the coffin is much larger in real life and much more intricately decorated than its portrayed here. Also, some of the wall paintings are not correctly positioned, and doorways inaccurately cut straight through them.

The opulence and skill reflected in the ancient artwork celebrating the life of this Egyptian pharaoh is perhaps the most impressive feature of King Tutankhamun's tomb, yet it is poorly represented here in this early foray into modern virtual reality. Maybe a more modern version of this experience would have included detailed 3D modelling and photogrammetry of the tomb and its artifacts like the Tomb of Nefertari, but the lack of detail included in these models means there is little to impress here.

The image shows a three-dimensional rendering of a room with dim lighting. In the foreground, there is a white, stylized sculpture of an animal resembling a dog with pointed ears and a horn on its forehead, similar to a unicorn. The sculpture is placed on a wooden pedestal or table. It has a collar with an emblem around its neck and is the most illuminated object in the scene. Behind the sculpture, there’s a shadow on the wall that resembles an antelope or deer with long antlers. To the left side in the background, there is a glowing blue information (“i”) icon, indicating additional information might be available if the setting were interactive. On the right side, part of what seems to be wooden furniture or shelving can be observed.

Despite good lighting, poor models let this experience down.

Several items are provided with an audio narration, though the learning opportunities here are brief at best. There's no introductory interpretation of the pharaoh, his relevance to ancient Egypt or the location or discovery of the tomb in the Valley of The Kings. Such detail would have been an easy way to substantially improve the educational value of this experience, but it remains a missed opportunity.

The basic controls are somewhat frustrating too; particularly curious is two-step teleportation method of moving around within the tomb, which can only be performed between prescribed points. The timed treasure hunt mode may add some longevity to the experience, but it also highlights the difficult user interface. Roomscale movement is necessary to reach and activate objects and interpretive buttons, but only possible with a left hand for some reason.

Checklist for the timed treasure hunt.

Summary:

Good basic representation of the tomb layout

Ancient art underserved by poor modelling & textures

Basic navigation is frustrating

Supported Languages:
English

Product Links:

Free at Steam
Requires a PC. View in PCVR headset or Meta Quest linked to PC.