Virtual Reality (VR) has brought a drastic change in how we can enjoy playing video games. It enables us to immerse our senses into the game environment. And have you ever thought what games could gain the most benefit from such feature? And the answer will be Role Playing Games, of course. They have an adventurous plot, Non-Playable Characters (NPC), and vast maps. But fantasy RPG has been discussed a lot. What we should focus right now are horror RPG games.
A note for a hardcore gamer
Some of you might be hardcore gamers who would love to torture yourselves with fear and painstaking difficulties. And you might have thought that VR technology is a so-so innovation. What you need to know is that you are dreadfully wrong.
Just for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, nearly 300,000 people gave good reviews on their experience of playing the game with Play Station VR.
A postdoctoral researcher and a professor of Department of Philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg University, Dr. Michael Madary and Dr. Thomas Metzinger, have warned the game industry about the potential psychological damage of witnessing gruesomeness and getting involved visually with a sadistic-conduct by playing horror games with a VR device.
VR leaves its trace of trauma to the user because the device has managed to bridge the gap of the thing happens to the character in the game with the real thing that happens to the player. Once a player puts on the VR headset, he is no longer him/herself, but the character in the game.
For healthy people who do not have a history of mental disorders, playing with VR devices might not trigger any episodes. But no research has ever studied the impact of VR and mental disorders, so the industry must treat their products carefully. Therefore, VR is a serious tech. But for now, let’s jump to the list of best VR horror games.
Wilson’s Heart
Wilson’s Heart plays the player and not the other way around. You start in an asylum that holds a secret of your past, who you actually are, and where your heart is. Yes, you have heard it right. You play the game to find your missing heart.
As the game goes, the whole situations descend into madness and depravity. It is hard to ignore the game’s resemblance to Silent Hill game series, where the whole town has its hellish version in the parallel universe. But in Wilson’s Heart, you are at a mental hospital.
The game aggravates the horror by choosing the setting in 1940. The vintage costumes and depressing atmosphere adds up to the game very well. You will also have to deal with NPCs who have elaborated back-stories of their own. It will be very puzzling and surreal to deal with them since they are also fellow patients with mental disorders.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is exclusively available for PSVR. Its predecessor, Until Dawn, was the best game for avid fans of Life is Strange or Beyond: Two Souls. But instead of a drama, you will get terror. The Rush of Blood places the player on a roller coaster ride to Hell.
It gives you thrill as bringing back the memory of haunting spirits you have encountered in the previous installment. But if you expect a plot twist or the return of Butterfly Effect Gameplay, you would be disappointed. Rush of Blood is more like a thrill ride than an RPG.
Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation is known because it removes the arcade trait from the game. You won’t be able to fight the Xenomorph but hide from it. The timeline of the game is 15 years after the event of the first encounter between Amanda Ripley and the Xenomorph. You play as Ellen Ripley, Amanda’s daughter, who investigated her mother’s disappearance in the space.
However, if you demand some maiming from the game, the game is still for you. There are occasions when you can kill your perpetrators. But they are just limited. Most of the times, you must use the motion tracking device to outsmart the pursuing Xenomorph.
