The Coolest VR Game Ever!

The Coolest VR Game Ever! is a 2022 animated science fiction comedy film co-directed by Carlos Fidel and Tim Ryder, based on Brock Hendren and Julian Windsor's 2018 children's book of the same name. The film stars Steven Joling, Andrew Beardsmore, Beth Goertzen and Daniel Brook, playing various gamers selected to beta test a virtual reality role-playing/hunting game. The film, an international co-production between Patagonia, the Guianas, Canada and Borneo, premiered at the 76th Borneo Film Festival on March 5, 2022.

Plot
30 years after World War 3 (the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was the cause in the initial release) led to a small-scale nuclear exchange between the US and Russia, the world has been given a cyberpunk aesthetic due to the nuclear war's environmental ramifications. In future Monttsburg, ten gamers are selected to test out a new virtual reality RPG/hunting game titled Secret of the Gems. The gamers are as follows:


 * Redwolf (Rodney Sweeney), a typical gaming YouTuber, based in Toronto, former Canada
 * Tanuki_Ninja (Brandon Grey), an anime fan from San Francisco
 * Rainbow_Husky (Roseanne LeBlanc), a fursuiter from Rivadavia City
 * Tomz4Real (Thomas Warwick), a London-based member of the logo community
 * Prussian_Mapping (Joel Vonnegut), a mapper/alternate history fan from Minneapolis, former United States
 * TeonCoaster (Theodore Nelson Willis), a roller coaster enthusiast from Atlanta in a reformed, non-racist Confederate States
 * Alexacutie (Alexandra Reid), a female Roblox YouTuber based in Sydney, Oceania
 * Cyborg_Cat (Charlie Dempsey), Alexa's boyfriend also from Sydney
 * MrMario (Randy Leigh), a retro video game player from Johannesburg
 * MinerGuy (Jake Knox), a Minecraft speedrunner based in Vancouver

The ten enter a room where are given motion-capture suits and VR armor, and are told by a voice that if they die in-game, they are out, although they can still spectate. When they put them on, the surroundings transform into a medieval-style village, presumably in England, while their clothing is replaced with knight armor. Redwolf suggests this to be a fictional realm instead. An NPC villager then arrives and are told that the realm is under attack by orc-like creatures, and they have been sent to stop them.

They are led to a forest where they are ambushed by an onslaught of orcs. They manage to fend them off, although Prussian_Mapping is killed. An upset Prussian_Mapping walks out of the room, but the voice returns and says that he can still spectate, as he mentioned in the opening. Encouraged, Prussian_Mapping chooses to see his friends play again and returns to the room.

Meanwhile, in the game world, the group find a garnet, and a wizard NPC appears telling them this is one of the eight Gems of Light and Magic, the only objects that can kill the Orc Emperor, leader of the invasion. They proceed on to another village, where shape-shifting orcs have hidden among the inhabitants, and are told that they must kill anyone who has a purple aura around their body. They do so, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants, but halfway through, the orcs blow their cover and declare that the townsfolk have fallen for their trap.

However, the group rush in and defeat all the orcs, retrieving an amber gem from the lead orc, although Alexacutie is injured in the chaos. They find a potion in their inventory, and MinerGuy, being a strategist, takes one to heal Alexacutie. They finally visit the kingdom's capital, although they are advised this is only the third level and there are five more.

Just then, a mystical bard arrives, and the wizard NPC tells them she is not what she seems. Although Cyborg_Cat and MrMario fall into her trance, MinerGuy snaps them out. The bard shapeshifts back into her true orc form and attacks the gang. While MinerGuy is killed in the process and chooses to join Prussian_Mapping in watching the remaining players, they, led by the wizard NPC, manage to kill the bard, and finally reach the city limits, which are being razed to the ground.

The onslaught of orcs massacres the townsfolk and in the process take Cyborg_Cat with them. He, unlike the first two, chooses not to spectate and leaves the room with dignity. The group do manage to take the emerald from the lead orc (which he originally sported on his forehead), and advance to the more affluent area of the kingdom's capital, which appears pristine.

The group then see that it is being run by slaves and the orcs have occupied it first. The orc running the slave colony is ambushed by the group and killed, with the aquamarine being extracted from his neck, and the group finally proceed on to the town market where a parade has been massacred by the orcs. They realize the orcs are more powerful, but they valiantly fend them off. They lose Tanuki_Ninja and Tomz4Real and finally enter the castle gates to retrieve the eighth gem.

Suddenly, the lights in the castle go out and the wizard NPC betrays the group, turning out to be the Orc Emperor himself. Immediately, Redwolf takes out the gems and tells his teammates to figure out what to do with them until he inserts one of the gems into his shield. It fuses with the shield and inadvertently merging the sword with it, it becomes a Swiss Army knife-style weapon.

Redwolf uses it to his and his friends' advantage. Reminiscing a quote about teamwork, Ralph helps the last five members defeat the Orc Emperor and restore the kingdom to its original state. The inhabitants celebrate, and the Game Master tells them all ten will receive the grand prize of free tickets to a DJ Meow Meow concert in New York City, regardless of whether they had won or not. Redwolf refuses the tickets, choosing to return home to his less-polluted, solarpunk hometown of Toronto.

In a post-credits scene, Redwolf is seen talking to his parents about his "adventure" and his father asks his son if they could see DJ Meow Meow. Redwolf shakes his head and dashes off, presumably to do his homework.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Gamers

 * Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek as Rodney Sweeney
 * Daniel "TheBlackWeeb" Manneh as Brandon Grey
 * Elizabeth "MayPlayz" Goertzen as Roseanne LeBlanc
 * Hugh "Robby" Lyons as Thomas Warwick
 * Steven "Zoltan" Joling as Joel Vonnegut
 * Bilal "Tyrone Jones" Razak as Theodore Nelson Willis
 * Rubiana "Rubix" Othman as Alexandra Reid
 * Andrew "XJ" Beardsmore as Charlie Dempsey
 * Daniel "BobbyBloxer" Brook as Jake Knox

In-game characters

 * Jacob Arcenaux as The Wizard
 * Frank Wijdenbosch as the Orc Emperor
 * Melanie Scarborough as the Bard
 * William LeBlanc as the King of Lenia

Other characters

 * Renald "Joebloxian" Lévesque as the Game Master
 * Laurie Winterfield as Rodney's mother
 * Jack Locke as Rodney's father