A free-roaming immersive VR installation in New York City explores the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912.
Titanic: Echoes From The Past comes from Eclipso, a company focused on large-scale location-based experiences. The experience lasts over 30 minutes and takes guests through a walk-around virtual reality experience aboard a modern marine research vessel exploring the remains of the infamous North Atlantic shipwreck in April 1912.
Titanic experience
After a brief narrative setting that places guests as explorers aboard a research vessel, the experience begins with a 3,800 meter descent along a deep-sea submarine to the Titanic sinking site. The wreckage of the broken ship is scattered on the ocean floor, and the atmosphere immediately becomes somber. From there, the experience transitions into a dramatic re-enactment of the ship’s ill-fated maiden voyage, following the fictional perspectives of real passengers.
Inside the engine room, VR’s ability to convey a sense of scale is fully demonstrated. The ship’s massive steam-powered machinery towers overhead, its massive rotating components working in unison to propel the ship forward. Standing beneath it, it’s easy to appreciate the industrial power required to get a ship of this size across the Atlantic.
When you leave the engine room and step onto the boat deck, the ocean stretches out in all directions. This is one of the first moments where the size of the ship really hits home. There’s space to walk, stop, and look around, and the open feel of the deck contrasts sharply with the enclosed space below.
Captain Edward Smith is introduced shortly thereafter, and guests are free to walk the deck with him. Nothing feels rushed. This experience allows you to explore at your own pace and interact with specific items in each scene. A quick stop in the ship’s gym provides a quiet moment and a glimpse into daily life on the Titanic before everything changed.
The experience then moves to one of the most prominent locations on the ship, the Grand Staircase. Standing beneath the glass and wrought iron dome, the scale is impressive. Characters move through space on a human scale and carry on conversations that can be heard as they pass. This scene allows the environment and its inhabitants to do some storytelling.
The penultimate sequence takes place on the bridge in the moments leading up to the collision. Guests can watch the iceberg slide past the ship up close, and its size is hard to ignore due to its close proximity. Then, take one last look at the ship before it sets sail.
Eclipso is located on West 57th Street in Manhattan. Photo: Craig Storm
experience technology
Eclipso’s New York City location occupies 10,000 square feet of space on Manhattan’s west side. Guests arrive and are guided through a hallway that provides background information about Titanic before entering the experience. When you are ready, your headset will be fitted by an Eclipso staff member.
This facility uses the HTC Vive Focus 3 standalone VR headset. Each headset is paired with plastic ear covers that direct audio to your ears while also reducing ambient noise from other guests. The result is a more focused audio experience without completely isolating participants from their surroundings.
What immediately stands out is how simple and smooth the setup process is. Guests don’t need to wear body trackers, attach external sensors, or strap on their PC backpacks. Within approximately 1 minute of donning the headset, participants are free to begin exploring. On-site staff say the majority of guests at this location have never used a VR headset before, and ease of use is clearly a priority.
In the scene where guests are transported down through the opening of the shipwreck, a holographic grid appears below them to ground the visuals and reduce potential movement discomfort. It’s a touch that reflects a thoughtful design choice aimed at maintaining a comfortable experience without sacrificing immersion.
shared experience
The combination of simple and effective VR hardware and thoughtfully designed software creates a completely engaging experience. As I moved through various scenes, I found myself purposefully moving toward the edges of physical space in an attempt to trigger a virtual boundary system. Most of the time I was able to walk freely without being disturbed. I only encountered boundary walls a few times, and if I hadn’t been actively testing the limits of space, I probably wouldn’t have noticed them at all. This experience is so freeing that many may be tempted to test its limits.
Other participants appear in human forms with ghostly outlines. I was surprised at how natural the interaction was between us. Because the space is so large, we often spread out and focused on different details within the same scene. I kept calling out to him to come see what was nearby. Simple white outlines now make it easy to understand where others are placed without introducing complex avatars that can draw attention away from the environment itself.
shock and memory
For those not interested in experiencing it for themselves, there is an open seating area with large windows to peek into much of the VR space. However, there are no monitors visible in VR, so people who watch the group walk out into the space while wearing a headset may worry they’re missing out.
After completing the experience, I spent some time watching other groups finish their sessions. I could tell that one group had arrived at the staircase scene because they started dancing together. Seeing this type of immersion involving historical events that took place more than a century ago has reinforced the use of immersive VR as a powerful tool for learning, even though its entertainment value remains clear. In these guided, shared environments, immersive technology can make history more accessible and memorable in a way that traditional museum exhibits often cannot.
Eclipso staff members said schools have been successful in booking field trips to the facility and have received positive feedback from students and educators alike. When you observe the reaction directly, it’s easy to understand why. This experience shows how immersive VR can complement existing approaches to history education by creating moments that students can experience with a sense of scale and realism, and are likely to remember long after the lesson is over.
Windows covering the exterior of the Eclipso facility. Photo: Craig Storm
final thoughts
Titanic: Echoes from the past guide the environment. The experience is guided by a narration, leaving room to look around, walk around, and absorb the scale of each location. Standing under the engine or walking on deck is effective when using VR in this way because it gives you the time and perspective to capture those moments.
This experience is very easy to get started, and that’s very important. Setup is quick, the headset isn’t distracting, and the process isn’t scary. Seeing first-time VR users comfortably move through a space shows us that ease of use wasn’t an afterthought here, but a true priority.
By the end, it felt like I had actually spent time there, rather than just watching a reenactment. Soaking worked. Leaving the Manhattan location, I found myself ignoring the historical features of director James Cameron’s romance and people like the “unsinkable” Molly Brown to visit the ship and soak up its scale and atmosphere. The scale of VR and the immense freedom of walking majestically across the Titanic gave me a deep and lasting feeling of being somewhere I had never been before on a ship.
Eclipso operates a network of locations in other major cities, with additional experiences planned in places like New York. Tickets for Titanic: Echoes from the Past start at $31 per person at the time of writing, with quotes available on request for group outings.
