Whereas Afterlife VR is a barebones expertise probably not doing something new, there’s a sure appeal to it that caught us unexpectedly. You play as Adam Bernhard, a police officer who arrives at Black Rose Psychological Hospital in hopes of finding your lacking sister. Nonetheless, one thing is clearly amiss as you navigate the power.
Horror is a simple promote in VR: the extent of immersion afforded by a headset makes it a terrific match for the style. The draw back to that is that many horror video games have an over-reliance on leap scares, the bottom type of horror. Utilizing them an excessive amount of is tiresome greater than scary, so it’s good that Afterlife VR doesn’t rely too closely on them, except for a few moments in direction of the top of the 2 hour marketing campaign. The vast majority of the sport duties you with exploring a surprisingly nuanced and ambient psychological hospital, which will likely be acquainted to these of you who’ve performed video games like Outlast, however continues to be unexpectedly properly realised.
Whereas a small title made by a small crew, the technical facets of the discharge are fairly spectacular. Sound design is a significant standout, with Black Rose being downright terrifying to navigate at occasions. A refined, bassy hum permeates the brick and mortar, whereas the hospital is rendered in darkish shades of grey, giving every little thing a deathly pallor. With the notable exception of character animations, the textures and environments look actually good.
Degree design is pretty customary, with goals largely revolving round finding keys. Discovering the keys could be a chore, as interactable gadgets are solely well-telegraphed within the pitch darkish. After which getting the proper gadgets out of your stock is equally clunky, although you’re going to get used to it pretty rapidly. After the primary few fetch quests, a handgun and, extra bizarrely, telekinesis are launched. The gunplay is surprisingly good given how insignificant it feels on the impression of the sport, and the telekinesis is mainly a non-factor exterior of a few puzzles. Weird.
There’s nothing model new to look ahead to within the title, however Afterlife VR successfully takes a blender to a lot of horror tropes and settings, delivering a sufficiently worthwhile expertise.
