As soon as the PlayStation VR was placed on my head and controls in my hands, the disappointment of not hearing any news about the device at Sony’s CES 2016 press conference quickly sank away. The CES showroom floor disappeared into a dark, strange world where I was on a roller coaster shooting at various ghouls and ghosts that came my way.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood from Supermassive Games is a first-person rail shooter. It’s fast-paced, scary, addictive and fun. Your entire journey is from the front seat of a roller coaster car where you shoot at objects being thrown at you by spirits, obstacles in your coaster path and the monsters themselves.
The shooting was easy to pick up (as any arcade inspired game should be). Using a PlayStation Move controller in each hand you were able to fire rapidly and to reload you simply flicked your wrist upward toward your body. There’s unlimited ammo and unlimited carnage. Another cool aspect of the game is it required you to duck and dodge various branches and boulders that were falling or in your way on the track. You had to literally duck or turn left/right to avoid unnecessary damage.
While Until Dawn: Rush of Blood takes cues from arcade games it’s scarier than any arcade game I’ve played. Obviously being fully immersed and surrounded by things trying to kill me had a hand in that but the timing of the scares was on point. There were definitely a few times when you had to turn left or right to shoot something and when you faced the front again there was suddenly a monster attacking your car. Those moments came unexpectedly and made the jump scares all the more effective.
The demo lasted around 10 minutes and ended with a large boss battle with a screaming girl appearing and disappearing, dozens of bats attacking and a giant, bleeding heart for you to shoot until it explodes. There was not much of a storyline or why things were all going to hell, but it didn’t matter. This VR first-person shooter, which was designed specifically for the PlayStation VR, could be a great first entry for shooter fans onboard with Sony’s VR push.
I’ve used other VR platforms prior to using the PlayStation VR but this was my first experience with a game designed specifically for VR. To my surprise, going from a brightly lit room to a dark game where you’re moving very quickly, it was not disorienting at all. No dizziness or motion sickness. The graphics were clear, no lag, it was simple to use and most importantly, enjoyable.
Supermassive Executive Producer Simon Harris first announced the game as a PlayStation VR exclusive in October 2015.
“We’re incredibly excited to be developing for PlayStation VR as this allows us to bring games to PS4 with a level of immersion and involvement never before experienced by players,” Harris wrote last year.
There is no official release date for the Sony PlayStation VR, only “2016.” No release has been set for Until Dawn: Rush of Blood as well.
