DYING: Reborn is the longest and appears to be the most thought into of the titles published by Oasis Games, and it echoes many similar themes to other critically acclaimed films and games that it should gear you up for a quality game, however from the lack of completion there is still a lot left to be desired.
When starting up DYING: Reborn there isn’t the usual menu to choose a game, but instead the player must walk into a certain room to start the chapter, and just from first impressions it gives off the rather putrid air of something you’d see in a Saw movie. The graphics are edging on to hyper realistic as much as it possibly can in VR, and the quality of it is actually quite crisp compared to many other titles. To enter the first chapter players are to lean into the bed, which is actually quite puzzling but undoubtedly sets the mood.
What was shown off during the preview, which is all that is polished off for now, was not much at all, except for the promise of the overall experience. What kicks the title off is wandering around a dark and dingy room that you’re locked inside of where in the centre is what seems like a hospital bed – but not quite. Surrounding the bed were various bits of furniture, such as a piano which was where you have to solve your first puzzle. Compared to most other puzzles that feature in VR titles like these, such as in Weeping Doll or The Assembly, which can sometimes come across as patronising, DYING: Reborn goes the whole mile in racking your brain and can easily have you sat there for a good 10 minutes.
Using the Dualshock 4 controller, players move freely around the setting, but because of the cautious nature of the title there is no need to run around and test out whether or not you feel like chucking up your lunch. However, this only counts for moving forwards as you turn in 90 degree angles as the screen fades to black for a moment. With this feature you are, however, prone to miss out on some of the small movements, such as when the cover of the piano keys falls without any prompt.
What does give it a nice touch is the Silent Hill-esque writing that comes up as you inspect objects and so on, which is another familiar feature to give you high expectations. Considering it is in VR, it is done well as it sticks to the middle of your gaze.
Before you are able to finish up escaping the room to embark on your eerie adventure, there is a moment where it appears as though you are listening to a fuzzy television, but in actuality it is you conversing with a paranormal voice, which explains the dilemma that you’re in. This stirs the feeling of a thickening plot, but as soon as that is done you’re out of the door and that’s it.
DYING: Reborn right now is the kind of game you have every finger crossed for to form into something of real substance, or, at the risk of sounding cliché, into a real game.