Smurfs game for HoloLens teases Pokémon Go style gaming with more beloved characters

What if, instead of playing Pokémon Go and using its legion of obscure creatures to navigate augmented reality, you could instead do it using classic characters you love even more, like, say, the Smurfs.

That's the immediate idea that comes to mind when taking a look the new HoloLens game called Smurfs: The Lost Village.

This game transports you to different Smurf locations (layered over the real world via augmented reality) and challenges you to find items to complete a mission while engaging not only the Smurfs, but Gargamel, the little blue guys' bald, hunchbacked nemesis.

The augmented reality game was developed as part of a promotion for the new Smurfs: The Lost Village film, which debuted on Friday, and will be available soon as an app on the HoloLens Store.

You need a $3,000 HoloLens headset play the game, and that's a big difference between this augmented reality game and Pokémon Go, which runs on a smartphone.

But even if the price tag automatically puts it out of reach for most casual gamers, it's evidence that more beloved characters could begin to invade the "real" world via a wide array of mobile devices soon.