Featured App of the Week: Anne Frank House VR

Our featured app this week is Anne Frank House VR, developed by Knucklehead Studios and published by Vertigo Games. This historical and informative experience can be experienced by library patrons of all ages. In this virtual tour, you will explore a 3D recreation of the annex that the Frank and Pels families occupied for two years, hiding from German persecution during World War II. This rendition of the space, accompanied by quotes from Anne’s Diary, uses virtual reality and a sense of scale to give the user an experience that is more immersive and impactful.

In Story Mode, the experience starts with a small documentary film before placing the user at the entrance to the secret annex. Users move through the experience by teleporting and snap turning is enabled to reduce motion sickness. Narrated quotes can be found on the walls and on items that the user can pick up. Going from room to room and knowing how many people lived in this space gives a new level of understanding to the dire circumstances and cramped conditions faced by both families. Once completing the guided tour for the first time, you can use Tour Mode to roam freely from room to room to revisit all of the quotes and items in any order.

This app is perfect for teaching about the Holocaust in an educational setting or for library patrons with a keen interest in history. The experience itself is easygoing and is perfect for new users who don’t want to experience anything too intense. You don’t need to have a large space to comfortably run this app as the whole app is traversed through teleportation. While this app is intended for standing use, it can be comfortably run while seated (though the user might have to reach a little more). This app is also good for showcasing how Virtual Reality and immersive experiences can add new depth in exploring history, turning ‘I can only imagine,’ into ‘this is what I experienced, and these people lived it.’

The app itself is free and a perfect addition to anyone’s VR library. It is available through the Meta storefront in all Meta Quest platforms.