It seems we cannot get enough of the Titanic. Just last year there was a blockbuster exhibition at the Melbourne Museum that displayed various artefacts rescued from the doomed ship, and now the global premiere of Titanic: A Voyage Through Time has reached our shores. Only instead of visitors confronted with actual objects repatriated from their watery grave, we’re asked to put on bug-like bulky VR sets and experience for ourselves what it probably would have felt like to not only to tread the boards of the Titanic, but to also see its untimely demise at bottom of the sea.
Notwithstanding the matter of commodifying disaster for entertainment, our morbid and hubristic fascination with the luxury ship continues apace. But while Titanic: A Voyage Through Time is an interesting concept in theory – who doesn’t want to walk around the ship’s opulent interiors? – in execution it’s less than ideal.
You are asked to separate yourselves into groups of five (or less), place your names (they can be made up) into a computer, before being led to a large open room and then directed to put on the headset, which then teleports you to various all-immersive scenes. Once in this realm, you can see other people as alien-like outlines, with their names floating about their heads. Each group is distinguished by different colours. Despite ‘seeing’ others in your field of vision, there’s still a bit of bumping into people as everyone acclimatises to a new reality.
The experience begins, oddly enough, not aboard but underwater. And this is where the first problem arises. The whole point of an all-encompassing experience is to be transported into the story and yet while we are descending into the depths to see the carcass of the ship, in the near distance (alongside some strategically placed deep-sea creatures) you can still see the eerie glow of other people milling about. And we’re supposed to be 4000 metres beneath the surface of the ocean, in the blackness of the sea. It does spoil the illusion somewhat.
Audio is also problematic. If there’s a setting to increase the volume, we were not informed about it. So this means this although each scene is helmed by a virtual guide telling you various factoids about the Titanic, it is difficult to hear him above the chitter chatter of others moving about around you.
You do get to look around the decks of the ship, as well as its luxurious interiors (including first-class quarters) and certain items glow – which means you can ‘pick’ them up and interact with them. It’s a cute touch, but those expecting to see fine details of objects and furnishings will be disappointed – the art generated is more broad strokes. The developers should also rethink the part where you’re shown the grand staircase and directed to walk down the steps. It is headache-inducing to navigate because there’s a cognitive dissonance between what you know to be true (you’re actually walking on a flat surface) and what you see before you (gradually descending steps).
The whole experience lasts around 45 minutes, but on opening night, my system crashed towards the end (the screen went black and then an ominous message about the server needing to reboot appeared). Which leads you to wonder how frequently these glitches occur and what happens when they do?
If you’re not used to VR it is a discombobulating and dizzy sensation, and here’s a pro tip: do not drink too much alcohol beforehand like my friend did, because the disorientation will be even worse as your depth of field and sensory stimuli are overwhelmed. And, no, you’re not allowed to lie down (or run or walk backwards for that matter).
Titanic: A Voyage Through Time tries hard in its digital recreation, but it falters in various ways. The technology needs to be fine-tuned, the numbers of people better controlled per session to lessen the likelihood of stumbling into others or even seeing outlines of them in your peripheral vision when you’re trying to imagine in your own eye the grandeur and the fall of a mighty vessel.
Titanic: A Voyage Through Time will be open until 29 June 2025. Tickets: $29-$36.
