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[DHC-Shannow]

In the here and now I can see VR apps like sisters being the reason why people get to try VR - the reactions you get are so funny to watch that people want to see their friends and families experience it. Just youtube cardboard sisters reactions to see what I mean. Stuff like this is what will spread VR to the average person I think.

I got the mother-in-law to play PT last night hohoho

As for the future, yeah I can see a raft of warnings being required on the more immersive / realistic titles and an easy way to leave the experience quickly when it all gets too much.

 

[hiex_]

VR horror is what I'm looking forward to the most. It could be so hard to get through a game.

 

[magnumpy]

In the here and now I can see VR apps like sisters being the reason why people get to try VR - the reactions you get are so funny to watch that people want to see their friends and families experience it. Just youtube cardboard sisters reactions to see what I mean. Stuff like this is what will spread VR to the average person I think.

I got the mother-in-law to play PT last night hohoho

As for the future, yeah I can see a raft of warnings being required on the more immersive / realistic titles and an easy way to leave the experience quickly when it all gets too much.

easy way to leave the experience: just take off the VR headset. an even easier way to leave the experience: just close your eyes.

have you ever blinked before? then you have practice on how to leave the experience.

 

[DHC-Shannow]

easy way to leave the experience: just take off the VR headset. an even easier way to leave the experience: just close your eyes.

have you ever blinked before? then you have practice on how to leave the experience.

Have you played PT? The sound is a big reason it's so damn creepy and closing your eyes doesn't stop that... Just hitting the PS button will work anyway and is prolly a better option that trying to quickly rip off the headset.

 

[finalflame]

Been exposed to a ton of "horror" VR demos by now. None of them have really made me feel any more "scared' or unsettled than playing on a screen, and I'm not particularly fond/Mr. Tough Guy playing horror games.

I think this will depend on the person, but even when using a VR headset, I still feel I know I am not actually IN whatever place the experience is trying to put me. Essentially feels like having a really big screen up against my face (which it is).

 

[magnumpy]

Have you played PT? The sound is a big reason it's so damn creepy and closing your eyes doesn't stop that... Just hitting the PS button will work anyway and is prolly a better option that trying to quickly rip off the headset.

I would imagine that just listening to the experience is by far less frightening than actually watching it. besides, PT is defunct abandonware that will never have support for any VR headset on any platform anyway. it will never be released beyond the demo, and even that has been taken down.

 

[PeskyToaster]

I want to have co-op VR horror experiences. Basically replicating the group of teens horror setup.

 

[DHC-Shannow]

I would imagine that just listening to the experience is by far less frightening than actually watching it. besides, PT is defunct abandonware that will never have support for any VR headset on any platform anyway. it will never be released beyond the demo, and even that has been taken down.

Yep PT is never going to be released as a full game but it's the best psychological horror game on current consoles and its simplistic nature (single repeating L shaped corridor with 1 room and some stairs) and slow movement speed means it's an experience that could be reproduced in VR without too many problem's and would be a pretty frightening proposition. Just hearing the ghost moaning behind me sends goosebumps up my arms whilst playing on a tv, having that in VR and fighting the urge not to turn around and look, yikes!

As for the whole closing your eyes thing, if you are in a scary situation in the real world would you just stand there and shut your eyes? VR done well makes you believe in the deep animal part of your brain that you are actually in the situation you are experiencing, just fighting the urge to look around might be harder than you think....

 

[gmoran]

Horror movies are flat out not scary for me, and yet good horror games definitely are, to the point of sometimes being unpleasant. PT was ace, but I found it very difficult to play (did complete it).

I think the difference is the interactivity, you can do something and that might trigger the scare.

Add VR Presence, and I concur, I don't think its something I could do.

I tried a DK1 horror game, basically a corridor thing, and I played it for about 30 seconds, I couldn't force myself to open a door.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

I played this one demo for an episodic game called Albino Lullaby last night and actually achieved presence briefly, though thankfully it wasn't during a jump scare or something spooky. It occurred during this pretty jarring transition between the in-game menu and loading the demo proper, which btw is a great way to get players acclimated to a game world in a "safe zone" where there's no movement. You're in a multi-colored room with Victorian style furnishings and a standard menu floating in the air at one side of the room. After selecting start the demo the screen goes black and all of a sudden you're thrust into a car that's barreling down a road.

There was something about this transition from the menu staging area to being in the car that flipped a switch in my brain that for some reason just sold me on being there. It took about a second or two for the rational part of my mind to pipe up practically yelling "wait a minute! you're not really here!" It was a really jarring feeling and after having played tons of games and demos over years of having devkits I can't say I felt a similar experience in that span of time. It was almost like some parlor trick or visual narrative device used in VR to suck my mind into the world even further.

The game itself is not a jump scare style affair, it's an atmospheric puzzler that takes place in a strange afterlife, in between place reality. Very cool experience and it's this sort of "horror" I think that should be championed for VR and not the coronary inducing Slender clones that are littering the scene. It's better for the medium and better for people's overall sanity.

Albino Lullaby

 

[Machinehead]

I would imagine that just listening to the experience is by far less frightening than actually watching it. besides, PT is defunct abandonware that will never have support for any VR headset on any platform anyway. it will never be released beyond the demo, and even that has been taken down.

Have you ever been in a spooky house, listening to sounds coming from unlikely places, without seeing what was generating such sounds?

I have, and I can tell you, it crapped the hell out of me. Even more than being at gunpoint.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Have you ever been in a spooky house, listening to sounds coming from unlikely places, without seeing what was generating such sounds?

I have, and I can tell you, it crapped the hell out of me. Even more than being at gunpoint.

There's a demo for the Rift called "The Apparition" that has a "progressive spook system" that utilizes all sorts of ambient sounds that randomly play as you explore this dark mansion. Probably one of the creepiest things I've tried in VR just due to the audio, I seriously wanted to pry the thing off my face at certain points it was unnerving me so much, and none of that was from jump scares, just good ol atmosphere.

 

[Teppic]

I played this one demo for an episodic game called Albino Lullaby last night and actually achieved presence briefly, though thankfully it wasn't during a jump scare or something spooky. It occurred during this pretty jarring transition between the in-game menu and loading the demo proper, which btw is a great way to get players acclimated to a game world in a "safe zone" where there's no movement. You're in a multi-colored room with Victorian style furnishings and a standard menu floating in the air at one side of the room. After selecting start the demo the screen goes black and all of a sudden you're thrust into a car that's barreling down a road.

There was something about this transition from the menu staging area to being in the car that flipped a switch in my brain that for some reason just sold me on being there. It took about a second or two for the rational part of my mind to pipe up practically yelling "wait a minute! you're not really here!" It was a really jarring feeling and after having played tons of games and demos over years of having devkits I can't say I felt a similar experience in that span of time. It was almost like some parlor trick or visual narrative device used in VR to suck my mind into the world even further.

The game itself is not a jump scare style affair, it's an atmospheric puzzler that takes place in a strange afterlife, in between place reality. Very cool experience and it's this sort of "horror" I think that should be championed for VR and not the coronary inducing Slender clones that are littering the scene. It's better for the medium and better for people's overall sanity.

Albino Lullaby

Sounds really cool. Will keep an eye out for this game. I wastly prefer an experience like this to cheap jump scares. Kind of like an haunted house or fun house experience.