First Look at VR Video Game Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars

You play Ryland Grace “at a pivotal, untold moment in the Hail Mary mission.” Here’s the official blurb:

The ship’s systems are failing. Deep space grows increasingly uncertain. Using mixed reality, the Hail Mary itself bleeds into the player’s physical environment. They reach out to diagnose the problem, improvise the fix, and push the limits of what science and engineering can do under pressure. Humanity’s last hope is in the player’s hands.

Rocky, Grace’s hugely popular alien companion, is of course in the game. You build the bond we see develop in the book and movie “through cooperation, problem-solving, and evolving trust. It is, as Weir intended, a story about the first true friendship between species, and mixed reality makes that feel real in an entirely new way.”

Based on the footage we see in the video, you can do the Rocky interactions now made famous by the movie, and Rocky will respond as we expect. For example, you can thumbs up, and Rocky will respond with his own thumbs down (one day he’ll get it right). You can do jazz hands and Rocky will do the same. And, of course, you can ‘fist my bump.’

“Since creating Project Hail Mary a few years ago, fans have been waiting for more,” Andy Weir commented. “This is the first step outside of what happens in the book and movie, something you can only experience in mixed reality.”

So, after this VR game what’s next? Well, Project Hail Mary is doing so well at the global box office that there’s already talk of turning it into a franchise with a sequel. However, Weir, who also wrote The Martian, is said to be “in the driver’s seat,” which suggests he’d have to write a Project Hail Mary follow-up for further adaptations to take place.

Is this likely? In a recent interview with The New York Times, Weir was asked if he would ever do a sequel in some way. He replied: “Absolutely, I have ideas for sequels for Project Hail Mary, but I just don’t have a good enough one yet. My next book, the one I’m working on now, is not a sequel to anything that I’ve written.”

Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars is due out on major mixed reality and VR platforms late 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.