New York and LA-based Psyop announced today it has developed Kismet, a novel new VR activity suite meant to be experienced daily.

Featuring an animated automaton and a mix of Tarot Card readings, a daily astrology and horoscope session and even “A Game of Wit”—the 3rd millennium BC board game known as Ur, one of the oldest on the planet—the set of experiences attempts to push VR in a much more contemplative, less violent direction.

Available soon on Oculus Home, the VR content can be purchased now until May 8 for $4.99 on SteamVR for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. It will retail for $6.99.

screenshot_kismet_001

Kismet was written and directed by David Chontos, a 10-year Psyop veteran who served as art director and technical lead on CocaCola's award-winning commercial "Happiness Factory" (watch the full-length 4:13 minute movie here). More recently, Chontos worked on Supercell's popular Clash of Clans 360, a VR edition of the mobile multiplayer video game. “I’ve been obsessed with mechanical fortune-telling machines ever since I was a child,” he said of Kismet in a prepared statement. “Virtual reality has given me a platform to not only create one of those machines entirely from my own imagination, but to step inside of it, and to invite the rest of the world inside with me.”

Kismet-Cards

Aiming for a wider, more general audience not addicted to hardcore gaming, Kismet's mystical setting and dispensed advice is equal parts Harry Potter and Game of Thrones lite and a daily affirmations session. (Even if Venetian masks give you the willies, most will find Kismet herself gentler, if a tad too perky, and less creepy than she first appears.) The content's algorithm provides a unique outcome based on the calendar day, the viewer's birthday, and the cards they choose from the hand-drawn and -painted Tarot deck. Another nice touch is an accurate real-time map of the solar system that calculates the alignment of your particular stars at the time of viewing.

Take the 360 VR playthrough demo below to see how Psyop created the many different angles of Kismet's world.