MUSEUMS

Objective: Develop curiosity about the story of human evolution and learn how to use the VR controllers.

Overview: This introductory experience welcomes players into the game and sets the stage for the journey ahead. Its central idea is connected to the fossil remains of our ancestors discovered so far — they are surprisingly few in number, so few that they could all fit into an ordinary lorry. The introductory experience also helps players develop essential VR skills, including using the controllers, moving through the environment, and more.

Objective: Identify key hominin species and place them within the broader story of human evolution. Compare physical differences between ancestors.

Overview: Set in a Neoclassical rotunda, this experience pays tribute to Charles Darwin and his work "On the Origin of Species". Through skull comparisons and narrative guidance, players are introduced to our ancestors, from Ardipithecus ramidus to Homo sapiens. The experience helps players understand that human evolution was not a single great leap, but a long and complex process shaped by many different species.

Objective: Understand the environmental pressures that shaped early human evolution. Explore why moving from the trees to the ground was a major evolutionary change.

Overview: Set in the savannah, this experience immerses players in a world of danger, change, and adaptation. By following Ardi and confronting the challenges of life on the ground, players discover why leaving the trees was such a revolutionary step in human evolution. The experience shows that descending from the trees and stepping onto dangerous ground was not a voluntary choice, but a necessity forced by changing conditions.

Objective: Understand why the Laetoli Footprints are important evidence in the story of human evolution. Learn about cultural heritage and its connections with art history.

Overview: Returning to the rotunda, players begin collecting Ancestral Knowledge. At the centre of the experience is the discovery of the Laetoli Footprints — one of the most important pieces of evidence for early bipedalism. The experience also connects science with cultural heritage: the ancestor statues are inspired by classical works of art such as Michelangelo’s David and Myron’s Discobolus. In this way, the story of human origins is interwoven with the artistic traditions through which people have represented the human body across time.

Objective: Understand that life on Earth developed over vast geological ages. Explore how important biological traits emerged through evolution, including the general principles of heredity, body symmetry, the skeleton, and many other features that testify to a long and continuous history of development. The experience helps players understand that many features of the human body have deep evolutionary roots shared with earlier life forms.

Overview: Set in a fantasy environment, this experience takes players on a journey to the very earliest beginnings of life on Earth. Players move along the Evolution Path and encounter major stages in the development of life — from cells and DNA to embryos and depth perception. By turning scientific concepts into memorable experiences, the experience helps players understand evolution as a long and interconnected process.

Objective: Understand that evolution followed many different paths, and that not all of them ensured survival. Learn about the development of early stone tool industries and the greatest achievements of the ancestors who lived within them.

Overview: Set in a maze, this experience symbolises the many possible paths of human evolution and shows that the story of human development was not a straight line. In the maze, players discover early stone tool industries and experience how one evolutionary breakthrough led to another. The main character of the Lomekwian industry, Australopithecus africanus, helps players understand the importance of bipedalism; Homo habilis reveals the importance of bone marrow; and Homo erectus introduces key inventions. With the help of Homo erectus, players journey out of Africa, conquer Asia with the hand axe, and eventually reach familiar Europe.

Objective: Understand how empathy, cooperation, and care may have improved survival in early human communities. Explore how art, music, and rituals provide evidence of prehistoric people’s emotions, symbolic thinking, and social relationships.

Overview: Set in a cave system during the harsh conditions of the Ice Age, this experience explores empathy and its role in human evolution. Through encounters with a Neanderthal and Homo sapiens, players discover that survival depended not only on strength and skill, but also on care, imagination, the arts, and companionship.