The Evil Within

[Funkmasterr]

Played this for an hour or so before bed last night, potentially not the best plan.

So far, seems pretty cool if survival horror interests you. Graphics are good (there were a few rendering/texture popping issues in the opening cutscene, but I haven't noticed any issues since), sound is great, atmosphere starts getting to you almost right away.

Parroting what I've sen elsewhere, it's reminiscent of the older Resident Evil games, but with controls that aren't clunky like they were with those games.

[Winnow]

If you enjoy horror/suspense/scary games, the Oculus Rift (or equivalent VR device) will be something you'll want to own.

I hate horror/scare stuff. I don't find it enjoyable but I figured I try out a very light "game" on the Oculus Rift. It's called "don't let go" and what you do is place your hands on both control keys of your PC and see how long you can keep them there while watching the game on the Oculus Rift.

I'll just go over the first parts. You are sitting at an office desk in what appears to be a classroom. Your virtual arms and hands are on the keyboard on the desk. (while you are IRL pressing down on the two CTRL keys on your real keyboard. The first thing that happens is a Velociraptor walks in the classroom's open door and approaches you, walking around the back of the desk to stick it's face inches from your face, it then scream (like Jurassic park). Not so bad but still pretty intense. Next bees start to buzzing around, at first just a few, and them more and more, getting closer and closer to your face (within inches). Uncomfortable if you don't like bees/bugs. Next as you are looking forward you can always see your virtual arms/hands...all the sudden some knives drop from the ceiling hitting close to your hands. I move my hands because I suck at these things! I don't know how much more there is to the game but I haven't gone back to try it.

It may not sound like much, but when you are in Virtual Reality, shit is extremely close to you and there's no pillows to hide behind and no monitor to look away from. The above is really not "scary" buy is already intense. Games like Alien Isolation that has Oculus Rift support are unplayable by some because they are too intense and scary. With a full immersed 360 degree view (with head tracking), shit can freak you out from all angles.

I think I mentioned on the Oculus or VR thread that one of the demos I tried out kept making the walls closer and closer until it was like you were inside a coffin. There's no way to experience how that really feels on a normal monitor but with the Rift, those walls really are (virtually) inches away and you feel uncomfortable...same goes for heights....you know you're in a VR space standing on a metal beam 20 stories up but it doesn't matter, you feel panic when that ibeam breaks loose and you start free falling. This same demo that traps you in an ever tighting space, next blows open the room leaving you in the vastness of space floating way above the earth with the sense of scale being incredible.

I have run into a situation with Alien Isolation and the Rift. I am literally too terrified to continue playing (I am at the area where you need to find the doctor's keycard). After trying for about 40 mins I had to stop, my blood pressure was through the roof and my pulse was somewhere around 110, my skin was clammy and my husband mentioned I looked as pale as a ghost. For now I have decided to finish the game on a regular display.

The above comments about her blood pressure:

Yes I checked it, was 148/90 which is high for me (maybe not through the roof), for comparison my resting bp is usually 115/75

I'm managing about 30 minutes a day, at a shockingly slow pace. In fact I haven't actually had a proper encounter with the actual Alien yet, but I know what you mean. The sheer suspense as I'm playing, knowing that I'm going to have to run into the damn thing at some point is terrifying. No other game, in my 30 odd years of gaming has affected me to such a degree.

I dont scare very easily having been bought up on a staple diet of horror films. Ive played every horror game i could get my hands on growing up and while playing in the dark on my own with good headphones some games managed to create a creepy vibe & only a couple of games have ever managed to give me a actual jump scare fright one being a moment in thief the dark project the other was outlast corpse swinging in that door. Which I stopped playing soon after because I want to play it with the RIFT. STILL WAITING:(

So I laughed at the people playing dreadhalls on youtube and mocked there reactions. But the joke was on me once I had started playing it when my dk2 arrived, my laugh was now an anxious laugh filled with dread of what's around the corner. Even though the game looks Like an obvious game and not very realistic I have never been so disturbed in a scary game like that it provokes a genuine fear and I love that I also hate it so much, so much so that one of my 5 VR projects is going to be a survival horror.

Its the first game ever that gives me goosebumps when Im hiding from the Alien.

I almost crapped myself yesterday when I was crawling through a vent. He grabbed me by my legs. One of the scariest gaming experience of my life

Oculus Rift type VR will be great for many things, but for sure, if you dig suspense, there will be games that will scare the shit out of you.

Sorry for the off topic comments, carry on!