Afterlife VR Evaluation (PS5 / PSVR2)

Whereas Afterlife VR is a barebones expertise probably not doing something new, there’s a sure attraction to it that caught us abruptly. You play as Adam Bernhard, a police officer who arrives at Black Rose Psychological Hospital in hopes of finding your lacking sister. Nevertheless, one thing is clearly amiss as you navigate the power.

Horror is a straightforward promote in VR: the extent of immersion afforded by a headset makes it an ideal match for the style. The draw back to that is that many horror video games have an over-reliance on soar 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, apart from a few moments in the 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 probably 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 group, the technical features of the discharge are fairly spectacular. Sound design is a significant standout, with Black Rose being downright terrifying to navigate at occasions. A delicate, bassy hum permeates the brick and mortar, whereas the hospital is rendered in darkish shades of grey, giving all the things a deathly pallor. With the notable exception of character animations, the textures and environments look actually good.

Stage design is pretty customary, with targets largely revolving round finding keys. Discovering the keys generally is 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 influence of the sport, and the telekinesis is principally a non-factor exterior of a few puzzles. Weird.

There may be nothing model new to stay up for within the title, however Afterlife VR successfully takes a blender to plenty of horror tropes and settings, delivering a sufficiently worthwhile expertise.