Per Somnia is a virtual reality game that takes you on a magical journey through a series of enchanting dream worlds which are designed to soothe the mind.
Breathing Techniques
The journey begins in a mysterious cave with glowing crystals. An audio track encourages you to sync your breathing to the glowing and dimming rhythm of the crystals, teaching you yogic breathing techniques which help to alleviate stress and anxiety. After a few breathing cycles, a portal is triggered, transporting you into the next world.
A Meditative Experience
The game promotes focused meditation by diverting your attention to simple, repetitive tasks, such as popping floating spheres, simulating plant growth, and lighting up various elements. Once the tasks are completed, you may enter into new portals.
Explore each world at your own pace, taking in the peaceful sights and sounds of your surroundings. You may wish to stay in specific worlds for longer, and turn on a meditation audio guide.
Navigation
You navigate your way through gaze tracking, a VR technique which enables objects in a virtual space to maintain fixed positions, regardless of which direction you look in.
In order to move through each world, you must direct your gaze towards glowing orange semi-spheres, and as soon as the swirl button loads, you automatically start moving in that direction. This eliminates the need for constant clicking, creating a more hands-free and relaxed experience.
Binaural Beats
The background surround audio track is composed of binaural beats that use an audio stimulus to synchronise your brainwaves in order to enhance a specific brainwave pattern, which, can help to reduce heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels (the stress-causing hormone). This, in combination with simplistic world exploration and meditative game mechanics, allows you to be induced into a trance-like state, sending you into deeper levels of relaxation as the game progresses.
