Back in 2017, one of the big draw cards was the randomization of various scare elements through the game — jump scares, objects and other elements that appeared in one section of the house might appear somewhere different the next time you play. You could never be certain at which point and where you were about to be scared, as things were never guaranteed to happen in the same place twice.
This mechanic will carry over to the Quest version of the game, alongside other key features from the PC VR release such as 3D audio. There’s also the ‘Immersive Movement Role-play System (IMRS)’ which removes all directions and UI elements from the game once you finish the tutorial. If you want the ultimate immersive Paranormal Activity experience, you’ll probably want to turn this option on.
There’s no info on whether any other changes have been made that might address the design and control issues present in the original release, but from a content perspective it looks to be just a straight port without anything new added in.
I’m a huge fan of the Paranormal Activity movie franchise (especially the first two films) and have always enjoyed mustering up the courage to play horror games. With the genre now existing in VR headsets the terror experienced from playing has ramped up significantly. Instead of just watching my character get murdered on-screen in the most gruesome ways I get to experience those things for myself. I slowly walk down hallways, look around corners, and fight for my life. All of that is elevated even further with amazing sound design and 360 audio in VR.
Naturally, a VR horror game that carries the Paranormal Activity brand name has a lot of expectations. The films were founded on the Blair Witch-style found-footage premise of video cameras, webcams, and stationary security cameras recording all of the shots and piecing together the story. It’s a clever concept that did a great job of selling the believability of it all. As a result I was a bit disappointed when I discovered Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul eschewed this concept entirely in favor of relatively traditional first-person gameplay.
The decision makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but the end result doesn’t really feel like a Paranormal Activity experience and is instead just a relatively standard demonic possession/ghost story. Luckily it mostly delivers on its promises to scare you and immerse you in a dark, twisted nightmare.
The game starts with you all alone in a typical suburban house and a flashlight. The feeling of being surrounded by darkness is strong and unsettling. The loose story unfolds over the course of about an hour and a half or two hours as you solve puzzles, look for key items, and uncover secrets. That’s really the entire game. Mechanically it’s basically a scavenger hunt with demonic undertones and a varied assortment of jump scares.
In Paranormal Activity VR there is an adaptive scare system that actually places the jump scares, some items, and a few other elements organically through the house as you explore. What this means is that each time you play it or each time someone new plays it, they won’t be scared the same way twice. That room you walked in that had a figure pop out and make you jump? It might be totally innocent for your friend that plays after you. Although, this does mean that it’s possible to be inundated with too many jump scares, making them as a whole less frightening, or you could even have too few, making the game feel a bit empty. It’s a roll of the dice and it would have been nice to have more visibility in how the scares are actually produced and calculated.
The result is a unique experience for each player. This is a great way to develop a horror game and helps alleviate one of the biggest issues with linear horror games. Since the house is so large and open, reminiscent of the manor in Resident Evil 7, players are free to roam on their own and discover different puzzles and scares as they play.
Since Paranormal Activity involves so much exploration, searching, and back-tracking, movement is a huge part of the game. However, it never really felt comfortable for me. I don’t ever experience VR sickness but even Paranormal Activity made me wobble a bit while standing — even when playing roomscale on HTC Vive. And on PSVR the movement system is barely acceptable.
While playing you need both PlayStation Move controllers in your hands. This means no DualShock 4 support and no analog sticks at all. Instead, you move by pressing the actual face buttons on the controllers. It’s certainly better than the tilting “tank” movement of Loading Human but still is a far cry from something comparable to Rift or Vive. In fact, I’d wager that playing with a DualShock 4 and just getting rid of motion controls entirely in favor of pressing the shoulder buttons to grab things would have been preferable.
While exploring the house you’ll have to spend a lot of time checking drawers, refrigerators, and more as you search for items. The result is spending a surprising amount of time just trying to find objects that you can interact with and it’s never very clear which ones those are. On the flip side of that there are tons of small objects and random bits and bobs that can be picked up and inspected that have no relevance to the game’s story or puzzles at all.
It feels like a bit of an unfinished limbo in that regard. The developers wanted everything to feel like it could be touched and interacted with so it was a believable world, but they didn’t have the time to fully realize that. The visual style is quite realistic and there’s great use of lights, shadows, and sounds, so overall the illusion of realism is quite strong.
Just as things really start to click and I can feel the intensity ratcheting up, it’s over. Most people will finish the game in about two hours and even though you could play it again with a bit of differences due to the adaptive scares, it’s largely the same game. For a title that was in Early Access on Steam since earlier this year and has been playable at events for quite some time, I was hoping for a bit more. It’s a good length and can be finished in a single sitting, but after the likes of Resident Evil 7, it’s hard not to wish for more robust VR horror experiences from modern titles.
Final Score:6/10 – Decent
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul is a relatively solid VR horror game. There is a strong foreboding sense of terror, a thickly developed atmosphere, and excellent use of sound and lighting to convey a real sense of fear. The adaptive scare system also works well, for the most part, and keeps you guessing. However the poor control system, occasional bugs (which will likely be addressed soon with patches,) short length, and inconsistent pacing keep it from being as successful as it could have been.
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul is now available on PSN for PlayStation VR (PSVR) and Steam with official support for both Rift and Vive – it costs $39.99 on both stores, but is currently on sale for launch with a 25% discount. Check out these official review guidelines to find out more about our process.
Just one single release awaits you on PSVR this week (unless you count a demo for Starblood Arena). It’s a pretty big launch, but it’s yet another horror game, so it’s only for the bravest of the bunch. Don’t worry if that’s not you; there’s always next week. We’ll have a full review of it soon.
If you missed last week’s releases then you can see them here. UploadVR has also launched the ‘UploadVR PSVR Community’ on PlayStation 4! Join up, find other gamers to play with, and engage in discussions with them.
Also, don’t forget to check out our list of the 9 Best PlayStation VR Games if you need any extra inspiration.
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul, from VRWERX
Price: $39.99 (Currently discounted)
The popular horror movie franchise makes its way to VR headsets for the first time. Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul has been built from the ground up for VR and tells an original story in which you explore what at first seems to be an idyllic home in a neighborhood. It’s not long before things go wrong, though, and you find yourself up against the terror.
Recommendation: Only for those brave enough. The first time we saw it demoed a woman threw off her headset in terror.
The VR videogame entry into the Paranormal Activity franchise is coming out on HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift soon and VRFocus reported Nina braved her terror or horror games to bring us her verdict.
The original Paranormal Activity movie came out in 2007 and depicted the life of a family that is haunted by a demon that stalks, and eventually murders, several members of the family. The series made use of footage made to resemble security cameras and other recording devices to present the films as what is now referred to as ‘found footage’.
You can watch Nina experience the terror in the video below. Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul will be available on Steam Early Access on March 14th 2017.
VRFocus will bring you more information on VR games as we get it.
If you love the horror genre then virtual reality (VR) has got you covered. VR allows for a much more intense experience than film or standard videogames, as such developers have been readily exploring new ways to scare players. One of the most popular film franchises of recent years has been Paranormal Activity, andthis March a VR adaption arrives on Steam Early Access.
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul has been in the works since 2015 – under the previous title Paranormal Activity VR – appearing at several events along the way. Created by VRWERX, the experience isn’t based on any one of the films previously released, simple set in the franchises universe. Story line details haven’t been released yet, but VRFocuspreviously reported that the studio is planning a fairly sizeable videogame with a run time of around 10 hours.
To coincide with the March release announcement VRWERX has unveiled a new trailer which plays on the whole horror atmosphere of Paranormal Activity. Gameplay wise very little is showcased, with the camera slowing moving down a dimly lit corridor towards music playing in a a distant room. Do you want to go inside? What’s in the room? You’ll have to wait till next month to find out.
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul will launch for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive though Steam on 14th March initially, with a date for the PlayStation VR version still to be announced.
For any further updates for Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul, keep reading VRFocus.
The Paranormal Activity franchise may no longer be haunting the box office, but it will soon be possessing a VR headset near you.
Paranormal Actvity: The Lost Soul, as the game is called, will be launching in Early Access on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on March 14th 2017, with a PlayStation VR version coming later down the line. That is according to a new trailer for the game, hosted by IGN, that you can see below. It doesn’t tell you a whole lot about the upcoming project, but then again the best horror experiences keep things a mysterious.
The game is being developed by LA-based VRWERX in partnership with Paramount and was originally announced all the way back at E3 2015. An Early Access launch means the game won’t have all the content of its final build, but will have at least some form of playable content. We’ve reached out to VRWERX to clarify exactly what will be included in the release and when a full version of the title might launch.
A very short gameplay teaser was also released last month, though it doesn’t tell you much.
One thing’s for sure: the game’s going to be pretty scary. In fact, we saw someone tear off and throw an HTC Vive being used to demo it at GDC last year (don’t worry, it wasn’t damaged). From what we’ve played of it, it’s a fairly traditional first-person horror game that got our own hearts racing. If that’s enough in a post-Resident Evil 7 [Review: 9/10] world remains to be seen, but a little competition is a very good thing, especially for horror fans.
