Variety reports that Ubisoft is working on a VR game in which players become members of the Parisian fire brigade fighting the fire that severely damaged Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in 2019. The one-hour experience is being made in partnership with a docudrama with which it shares a name: Notre-Dame on Fire, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates, The Name of the Rose).
"Like any escape game, it's a question of puzzles and co-operating with your teammates," Deborah Papiernik, senior VP of new business and strategic alliances at Ubisoft, told Variety. "The idea is to make your way through the cathedral to find relics and to fight the fire, because you have to save Notre Dame [before the clock runs out]."
The 2019 fire burned for approximately 15 hours and resulted in the cathedral's main spire collapsing, as well as the destruction of much of the roof. The towers were saved, however. Reconstruction work is ongoing, and the cathedral isn't scheduled to reopen until 2024.
Ubisoft had made a detailed 3D model of Notre-Dame for Assassin's Creed Unity, and used that model to make a previous VR experience called Notre-Dame de Paris: Journey Back in Time, which is available for free.
Notre-Dame on Fire, both the movie and the VR game, will launch in March. Which hardware it will be available for has yet to be announced.
