Fast Travel Games’ Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife lands on PSVR nearly six months on from launch on other platforms.
Update: Wraith’s PSVR launch has been pushed back a few weeks to October 27. Close to Halloween, at least! Original story is below.
The narrative-driven horror game hits the platform on October 7 and will cost $29.99/£24.99. Wraith already released on Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets towards the start of the year, but Fast Travel confirmed the PSVR version would launch later ahead of that release.
Wraith: The Oblivion PSVR Version Inbound
Wraith is the first VR game set in the World of Darkness tabletop universe, which has also spawned games like Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The game casts you as the titular entity, with your character Ed searching for the reason behind his recent demise. As you explore a Hollywood mansion, you’ll encounter ghoulish specters to sneak past and use a variety of powers to unlock new paths. It’s a slower, atmospheric brand of horror that hopes to build a sense of dread more than deliver outright terror.
We thought Wraith was a worthy addition to the World of Darkness universe thanks to a strong story that stays true to the franchise. In our 4/5 review, we said that “it doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares, creating a disturbing atmosphere which plays to VR’s strengths well. Sadly, Afterlife’s slower paced gameplay won’t suit everyone but for survival horror fans, we’d recommend taking a look.”
We’re still waiting for some other PSVR ports to hit this year, including the excellent puzzle adventure, Floor Plan 2.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife and Apex Construct developer Fast Travel Games raised over $4 million in another round of investment.
Brightly Ventures lead the latest round for the Stockholm-based studio, which was started by former members of studios like DICE and Rovio. Brightly joins previous investors Creades and Inbox Capital.
As part of the news, Fast Travel Games CEO Oskar Burman announced that the company generated $2.4 million in revenue last year. In that window, the team continued to see strong sales of both Apex Construct and its second game, The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets, on the Oculus Quest.
Burman also noted that the studio was also “on track to double” that amount this year. A few months ago the team launched its next major project, a VR horror game based on the Wraith side of the World of Darkness tabletop universe. Again, it came to Quest as well as PC VR headsets, with a PSVR version coming later this year too. The CEO also reconfirmed the team is currently working on multiple new projects that are exclusive to VR.
We sat down with Burman earlier this year to talk about the studio’s past, present and future. “We’re not going to be a horror studio from now on, we are going to move between genres, definitely,” the CEO said about what’s next. “Because I think we have the capability to do that and we have a great team that spans over different genres and games. So it’s going to be a variety. There’s a lot of stuff in the works. I really can’t say much more than that.”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is available now on SteamVR, after previously launching on the Oculus Store for both Quest and Rift. The launch also coincides with an update for all platforms that adds some minor new content and addresses some bugs in the previous release.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a new VR horror game from Fast Travel Games and the first VR entry in the World of Darkness series, which otherwise mainly consists of horror-themed tabletop RPGs.
The game released first on Quest and Rift in April, and now, a month later, is available on SteamVR with support for HTC Vive and Valve Index headsets. It’s listed as$29.99 on Steam, but will be available at 10% off until May 31 to celebrate the launch. As previously announced, a PSVR version will launch sometime later in 2021.
The SteamVR launch also brings an update that applies to all platforms and introduces a small amount of new content. According to the patch notes, the update adds 10 new collectibles spread across the Barclay Mansion, which give “additional context to some of the characters and the story.”
There’s also a plethora of bug fixes that amend some issues present in the Quest and Rift release – you can view the extensive list of those in the full patch notes.
Fast Travel Games’ unnerving VR horror, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, is now out on Oculus Quest and Rift. How does the standalone version stack up to the PC? Find out in our Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife graphics comparison!
Traditionally in our Quest vs PC graphics comparisons, we find a fair few differences. Most of the time it’s noticeably higher resolution textures and better lighting on PC, but in more interesting cases it’s also assets and effects in the PC version that can’t be found on Quest. What’s impressive about Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is that, although it’s a great-looking game on PC, the Quest version fights tooth and nail to achieve as close to the same results as it can get pretty much across the board. Check out our comparison in the video below.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife Graphics Comparison – PC VR vs Quest 2
Wraith is a dark game, both tonally and visually, but the shadows aren’t hiding blurry graphics. On PC you’ll find Barclay Mansion littered with remnants of the real world and an overlay of the supernatural – tree roots twist and pulsate across bookcases whilst dingy light fights through grime-stained windows. The character model for your Shadow, your more sinister other-half, is particularly unsettling.
But what’s remarkable about all of this is that the Quest version is at times identical and at others very nearly exactly the same as the PC version. The disgustingly gruesome hand models, for example, holds up just as well on standalone as they do on more powerful hardware, with bloody cuts and maze-like veins all captured in uncomfortably high fidelity.
Differences vary by the environment. In the Séance Room seen early on, there’s more light coming through the windows on PC, casting a slightly different look for the ghoulish Shadow. You can also see at the very start of the game that Ed’s death is depicted in complete darkness on Quest but actually has a floor on Rift. But these differences are rare and hardly ever meaningful.
Rest assured, then, that you’re really not missing out on much playing the Quest version of Wraith over PC. Fast Travel has delivered perhaps one of the most impressive examples of parity across the two releases we’ve yet seen. We’ll look forward to seeing if it can maintain that quality on PSVR when it releases there later this year.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a single-player horror-adventure set in the storied ‘World of Darkness’ universe. You don’t need to be a Masquerade fan though to step into the game’s sprawling mansion, dodge howling ghosts, and unravel a pretty interesting story centered around a cabal of Hollywood types who are suitably creepy from the get-go. It can be a little rough around the edges at times, but it basically delivers on its promise of frights, intrigue and plenty of Alien: Isolation-style hiding.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife Details:
Available On: Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift Release Date: April 22nd, 2021 Price: $30 (supports Oculus cross-buy) Developer: Fast Travel Games Reviewed On: Quest 2, Oculus PC (Quest via Link)
Gameplay
You’re a photographer named Ed Miller, and you find yourself tied to the the place of your death after a séance gone awry. You’re not sure what happened beyond that, but your dark alter ego has some ideas as he guides you down a path of discovery, danger, and maybe even redemption.
For a ghost you’re surprisingly corporeal, at least at the beginning before you can learn to walk through walls. You don’t learn that right away though, so most of the time your only real power is to force-grab small items and either pop them in your floating inventory (no holster system), or toss them to distract enemies from your immediate location. I wouldn’t call hiding in a closet a super power, but I was super good at it, so there’s that.
Looking through a slat to see my pursuer | Image captured by Road to VR
Most of the game’s push to make you explore the house is typically centered around fetch quests. I would otherwise call that a plain negative, but the story moves quickly enough, and ghosts are frightening enough to make it less of an issue personally.
Enemies are faster than you in all cases, and are sensitive to the noise of your footfalls, which gives you some leeway if you can toss a bottle across the room to draw their attention. Although there’s a few enemy styles, they aren’t varied much beyond their physical size. And you can’t kill them either; all of them can be distracted and confused by your only real weapon, a camera flash that can be used both as a flashlight and as a way to temporarily blind baddies. I wish I could move faster when in ‘sprint mode’, but then enemies would probably be stupidly fast to compensate, and that wouldn’t be fun.
Image courtesy Fast Travel Games
Using the camera flash requires ‘Pathos’, which you can either pick up around the game in the form of found photographs, or get a top up at save points once they’re unlocked. You can decide to use the camera flash to light your way, but you may need a burst of its energy at a critical moment, so I was usually much happier to fumble around in the darkness if it meant I was full-up on juice. It’s a harrowing experience being without camera battery when you’ve just been informed that you better not make any sudden moves, otherwise some howling banshee will beat you to death.
Since most of the game is based around fetch quests, there’s also a helper mechanic to get you from point A to point B. A glowing yellow force displayed in your arms tells you whether you’re hot or cold on your way to the next objective, which feels less cheap than having a magic path drawn for you. You have to physically toggle it, which is best when you’re just hanging out.
Light up tats and veins do the trick |Image captured by Road to VR
As for the bad guys: enemies don’t pop up randomly, which offers a bit of relief from the madness, letting you focus on the story and navigate the palatial home. You’ll typically have some sort of warning too, either from your dark alter ego buddy or a visual cue, like an encroaching darkness, that lets you know trouble is around.
Image courtesy Fast Travel Games
This cuts down on the prospect of jump scares by a fair bit, but that doesn’t mean your heart rate won’t shoot up as a rotten, broken woman crawls on the ceiling, drops down, and mauls you to death (despite the fact you’re already dead). I probably don’t need to say it, but there are a fair number of murders and depictions of suicides in the game, so plan accordingly.
Death is frustrating, and maybe not for the most obvious reasons. Loading time between deaths is annoying, but much less annoying than having to redo bits because you forgot to manually save at predefined save points.
Touch the orb to save (and do it often) | Image captured by Road to VR
I would regularly go out of my way to backtrack to a save point than have to repeat multiple fetch quests in a row because I wasn’t offered a convenient one in the area. I wished it had a more intelligent checkpoint system so I could focus on objectives and the narrative more clearly.
The story is well orchestrated, and is doled out like breadcrumbs on a trail. You experience the narrative piece by piece through notes found throughout the game, ghostly reenactments unlocked by using your trusty camera, and voice overs from your not-so-friendly wraith companion.
Image captured by Road to VR
Low level tension is at a near constant, and when the game tells you it’s going to punch you in the gut, it doesn’t lie. You just have to find out what it’s going to use to make you jump, run and hide.
Although I was satisfied with the game as a whole, I was a little disappointed with the ending. I like when games give me the tools to feel clever, but really the only thing I felt throughout Wraith was heart-pumping fear the overwhelming sense of relief when it was finally done.
From start to finish, it took me around six hours to complete. There aren’t any difficulty settings, so the only way to lengthen that gameplay time is by collecting Easter eggs and uncovering each ghostly story reenactments. Fast Travel Games says it takes between six and eight hours to complete.
Immersion
My overall impression of Wraith in terms of immersion aren’t plainly negative. I have some concerns about polish, but all of the moving pieces of game work fairly well in spite of this.
The Quest version doesn’t have the highest graphical fidelity I’ve seen in a game native to the platform, but it sets a suitably dark and dreary scene to make it believable enough to my lizard brain, which just wants to hide in one of the many closets dotted around the place. If it could manage dynamic lighting, it would have been a much scarier and realistic experience.
Image captured by Road to VR
I would say the same is true for the narrative in terms of polish contrasted against its overarching ability to tell a story. Voice acting reminds me of a made-for-TV movie from the SyFy network, and scripted lines feel stilted and pulpy, but I was never bored and I never felt like I was being explained something I didn’t need or want to know. The story had enough momentum to keep me moving along with it. Also, I would strongly suggest turning off the default subtitles if you want a more immersive gameplay experience.
As far as graphics go, the version for PC VR offers a higher fidelity experience. Almost all textures seem to be sharper and more legible when playing on Rift S or Quest 2 via Link. It’s clear the game was designed first with Quest in mind though, as both versions lack the more graphically intensive effects we’ve seen in high-polish PC VR titles like Asgard’s Wrath (2019) or Lone Echo (2017).
Image courtesy Fast Travel Games
Enemies are well-designed and genuinely unsettling, but can feel a bit clunky at times. More than once you can see them clipping slightly through walls and doors in a very non-ghostly manner. My favorite immersion-breaker was when I tried holding a door shut so a particularly lanky ghost couldn’t get me, which made both the door and long-boi ghosty start a hilariously janky battle of colliding objects.
My biggest gripe is pure pedantry, I know, but every swinging door in the house is a Norman Door—i.e. there is no clear indication of how you’re supposed to open it since they appear identical from both sides. This adds some frustration to the whole thing when you’re trying to bolt down a corridor and find yourself pulling a door when you should push, or vice versa.
Comfort
Wraith can be played both seated and standing, however standing will offer you the most bang for your buck when it comes to the full range of motion and ability to physically cower behind objects. If you remain seated, you can also make good use of the artificial crouch button to bypass obstacles and hide.
The game offers a full array of comfort options for almost every player type. There’s head or controller-oriented smooth locomotion, and a sort of teleportation whereby you ‘drive’ your avatar in the third-person, then snap to the new location. Both smooth turning and variable snap-turn is available, both of which includes toggleable vignettes to increase user comfort.
As part of the Oculus Gaming Showcase today, we got another look at Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.
This time it was the debut of a new launch trailer. Check out it below.
The game is set to launch today for Oculus Quest and Rift. It’s set in the World of Darkness universe, where you’ll be stepping into the afterlife and exploring Barclay Mansion. You’ll be stalked by spooky Spectres as you try to unravel mysteries and master supernatural powers. It’s a horror game, but Fast Travel is promising something that’s less focused on jump scares and more about building tension.
If you’re looking for more info on Wraith before it launches, you’re in luck — it was our Upload Access game of the month in March, so we’ve got a wealth of stuff for you to check out.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife launches for Quest and Rift tomorrow, April 22. It will release on SteamVR next month, on May 25, and then on PSVR sometime later in the year.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife presents an interesting challenge for concept artist Henrik Lundblad.
Yes, it’s a horror game with expected tropes, but Lundblad was also tasked with visualising a universe with little in the way of visual assets. World of Darkness, the universe in which the game is set, is a pen & paper RPG, and not something that has an abundance of reference points to touch upon, save for the game’s original rulebooks. That’s especially true for the Wraith factions, which have never had their own game to help inform the art.
For Lundblad, then, this is a different type of project. Tonally, topics of death and the afterlife are very different to the subjects Fast Travel approached in Apex Construct and Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, but the artist was also given a lot of creative freedom inside an established universe. As part of our final entry in our Upload Access spotlight on the game, we spoke to him about the challenges of bringing the World of Darkness to life.
UploadVR: Tonally, working on the art of Wraith must have been a big change from your past projects, how was that to handle?
Henrik Lundblad: Yes, Afterlife is a very different game from what we as a studio have done before. In this project we were dealing with a much darker subject: death and what follows there after. Naturally, we wanted to use a slightly different art style than what we have done in the past. A style more suited to tell the story of Ed and his dreadful fate in the Barclay Mansion. Choosing a much darker tonality and more close to reality look for the game felt like a good match when visualizing this alternate reality. This of course came with challenges, both technical and creative, but also interesting new ways of expressing our ideas.
Our ambition was to be a horror game but also to bring something new to the table visually. Instead of basing the environments in the game on, say, a more classic looking Victorian haunted mansion we let ourselves be influenced by more modern architecture.
UploadVR: As a pen & paper game, there aren’t a lot of visuals assets for Wraith out there – were you given a lot of freedom to envision the universe?
Henrik Lundblad: The original rule books for Wraith the Oblivion actually contain a lot of interesting artwork. This helped us as visual stepping stones when developing art for this game. Sure, we were given a lot of freedom, but felt it important to still let the mood and tonality influence the art of the game. It was interesting to see how concepts from the pen and paper game had been visualized previously and come up with creative ideas for how to realize them in a VR game.
UploadVR: Did Paradox give you any directions for the art behind the game and the designs of creatures/environments?
Henrik Lundblad: I think Paradox really gave us a lot of creative freedom. At the same time they also helped us to stay true to the World of Darkness IP. During the project we bounced a lot of our ideas with some of the lore experts over at Paradox and got many useful insights.
UploadVR: Did you look to other WoD properties for inspiration? What were some of the guiding influences?
Henrik Lundblad: It was important to us that Wraith: The Oblivion Afterlife felt like it was a part of the WoD family, but also mixed with other visual ingredients that felt important to us. Early on, the team studied films from the same era as the original Wraith: The Oblivion as a source of inspiration.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is coming to Oculus Rift and Quest on April 22nd, with a SteamVR version following on May 25th. A PSVR edition is coming later down the line, too.
Fast Travel Games’ upcoming Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is an all-new experience, but some fans will already be very familiar with its setting.
See, Wraith isn’t really a new IP, it’s actually set in the World of Darkness, a series of pen and paper role-playing games with horror themes right at their core. Wraith is just one pillar of the wider universe, others of which have already have their own videogames. You’ll no doubt be familiar with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines or the recent Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. Wraith, however, isn’t just the first VR game set in the World of Darkness universe – it’s the first game to feature the titular beings at all.
You won’t need any prior knowledge of the series to enjoy Afterlife, then, but Creative Director Erik Odeldahl is on hand to bring you up to speed.
“Wraiths are, well, they’re dead,” Odeldahl tells me. “They’re the souls of the dead with a strong tie – they’re vectored to the Skinlands, to our world, to the world of the living. And they’re very much driven by their passions – stuff that was important to them in life that transcends over to when they’re dead.”
The lore behind Wraiths, as you can probably imagine, goes deep. Odeldahl touches on the sprawling underworld cities that Wraiths roam. But that isn’t the setting for this game.
“What we’ve chosen to do in Afterlife is to not just overburden the player with all this information but to introduce them to it in a nice way and basically build a game that plays out in what’s called the Shadowlands,” he explains. “It’s like the part of the underworld that’s the closest to the world of the living. And basically, we gradually introduce [players] to what a Wraith is. You learn by playing, you learn what you are.”
You’ll also discover more about yourself through what’s called your Shadow. Odeldahl describes this being as your “dark half” that wants to influence your actions. He can be of use, telling you about the world, but he’s also out to manipulate you and can’t always be trusted.
“And the relationship between the player and the Shadow is a huge part of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.” Odeldahl says. “I think any Wraith game– it’s such a huge part of Wraith, so you have to consider the relationship between the player and the shadow.”
Other aspect to learn will involve exploring the new powers you’ll wield as a Wraith, while you’ll also dive into a story about why your character, Ed, has become one himself. What you probably won’t learn, though, is how the original pen and paper game itself really works.
Odeldahl notes: “For this game we chose to build on the concepts rather than the mechanics of the pen and paper game. I love role-playing games but, for Wraith, we wanted the player to focus on the narrative and the horror rather than numbers and those type of mechanics. So there are basically no visible numbers in the game at all in the game.”
Some players, however, will “recognize parts of the ruleset” in this experience. They’ll also likely notice call-backs and easter eggs to other areas of the universe. “So in our game, even though it’s very much about Wraiths and Spectres, Vampires exist there, werewolves exist there, etc. So it’s all like this super-rich world.
“There’s so much to build on. So the world is very much a thought-through world, people have thought about this for a long time. And it’s an awesome place to build our corner in.”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife arrives on Quest and Rift on April 22nd, with a SteamVR version following May 25th. A PSVR edition will launch later this year. We’ve got more Wraith coverage as part of this month’s Upload Access, so stay tuned!
Last week brought plenty of new details about Fast Travel Games’ Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife but, today, we’ve got brand new gameplay as part of Upload Access.
Fast Travel is sharing over four minutes of footage from its upcoming VR horror game, focusing on the powers players will wield in the adventure. In Wraith, you embody the titular entity, granting you access to supernatural abilities. You’ll need these to unlock new areas of the Barclay Mansion as you search for answers surrounding your death. You’ll also want to use them to get out of tight spots when hunted by the horrific Spectres.
Check the gameplay out in action below.
So, to recap, there’s:
Wraithgrasp – The ability to manipulate objects from afar, including heavier items you might not be able to move at the start of the game.
Insubstantiality – When certain markers appear on walls you can open up gateways, of sorts, to pass through them into the next room. Essential for quick escapes.
Sharpened Senses – Essentially the game’s compass, this lets you reach your next objective by scanning the world with your hand. The controller vibrates and you’ll hear a heartbeat and see your hand glow when you’re on the right track.
We’ll be diving into these powers later in the month as part of our Upload Access coverage on Wraith. We’re also speaking to Fast Travel about the studio’s origins and taking a look at the art of the game. And don’t miss our preview of the game from last week alongside our deep dive into the horror aspect with Creative Director, Erik Odeldahl.
Wraith launches on Oculus Quest and Rift April 22nd, with a SteamVR version following May 25th. A PSVR launch is planned for later in the year.
I would say fear not, but I suppose that sort of defeats the point; Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife will be a scary VR game.
I’ve played it and I can attest to that. But Fast Travel Games — better known for the decidedly less terrifying efforts of Apex Construct and The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets — is going for something a little different than your usual shock-fest with its horror debut. The Stockholm-based team wants to make a full, multi-hour campaign people will actually play. Wraith won’t be a VR dare akin to Face Your Fears – something you might pluck up the courage to play and then rip off of your face moments later. Wraith is a slower, moodier alternative.
“If shock and jump scares is all you rely on, it won’t be much of a lasting experience,” Creative Director Erik Odeldahl tells me, acknowledging that the games that do go for that do it very well. “It’ll be something you try it out, you show it to your friends, they get scared, you all laugh etc. And that’s a great thing. That’s not necessarily what we’ve been going for. We wanted to create a longer game, a full game with a full narrative and a lot of exploration and hopefully some really, really scary setpieces.”
It’s rare for a developer to show this much constraint when talking about the horror aspect of a game. So many scary VR titles are inspired by — if not outright based on — modern horror hits like the door-slamming antics of the Paranormal Activity series. The screams they result in make for great marketing points.
Wraith’s inspirations, however, are slightly different. Odeldahl himself is a horror fanatic that fondly recalls “collecting crappy VHS tapes” when he was younger
“I would say it does channel a lot of the slower, moody earlier horror movies like The Changeling with George C. Scott or The Haunting from 1963, these really creepy, moody pieces. Once you start developing for VR and horror for VR, all of those things change a lot when it comes into a game. But I think it’s certainly building on a strong horror tradition from both movies and games.”
Wraith takes these unfamiliar influences very literally. The game even roots its narrative in the seedy heart of Hollywood with its decedent mansion and cast of uptight, self-interested characters that have met an uncertain but undoubtedly unpleasant fate. Their stamp is most evident in the game’s approach to scares, though.
“I think what these movies did is they build a tension and they earn their scares,” Odeldahl explains. “And I think that’s been a mantra for us. We have to earn our scares, let’s build up to something. It might take some time but once you hit a certain level it becomes really scary and you basically never really dip down too much from that level. We want the play to be tense all the time.”
So, yes, you will jump. There will be moments of unexpected surprise either, scripted or in encounters with the game’s ghoulish enemies, the Spectres. But Wraith wants to sustain that terror without letting it evaporate in a heat-of-the-moment explosion. To pull that off, Odeldahl says, the player needs to be vulnerable. Spectres, for example, can’t be defeated, leaving hiding and distractions as your only options. The pillars you’ll take cover behind? Those are the core pillars of the game itself.
“I think, putting the player in those situations — hide behind that couch or stay perfectly still behind that pillar, because otherwise the spectre will see you — that’s the first thing we did actually, for the game. Before we nailed down art etc, we did a proof of concept. “Okay can we create an experience where the player has to hide. And it has to be super exciting, super scary and etc” and I think we’ve done that really well.”
The cluttered halls and dimly-lit corridors of Barclay Mansion itself, then, are key player in maintaining the suspense of Wraith. To Oddeldahl and team, it was crucial that this building felt “real” and not simply there to serve the player. Yes, there are closets to hide in and desks to duck under, but they won’t always be where you need them.
“We think a lot about negative space, the places in Barclay Mansion where you cannot hide,” the developer explains. “Where you’re completely– there’s 15 – 20 meters, you have to cross, there’s nowhere to hide, you know there’s a Spectre nearby. So, yes, every location, every room in the Barclay Mansion is very much considered. Every room is a stealth space, it’s built for gameplay.”
If all of this sounds a little overwhelming to you, I have to say I don’t really blame you. Horror is something I really struggle with in VR – I genuinely didn’t know how loud I could scream until I played Resident Evil 7. But, based on the first hour at least, Fast Travel is delivering on its goal of keeping the player tense while perhaps instilling just enough confidence to take that next step. Spectre encounters are creepy but manageable and the handful of sudden jumps are designed more to unnerve more than they are terrify. It’s a delicate balance, and one Odeldahl admits might not always be maintained.
“Horror isn’t for everyone and we’re definitely not half-assing the horror aspect I hope,” he says. “But I do think that, just like there are awesome romantic comedies, but all romantic comedies aren’t for everyone, there are also awesome horror games, but all horror games are not for everyone. I want to basically encourage people to try this game – I do hope they find it really, really scary but I do hope that they find more than that as well. It’s definitely not a power fantasy. A lot of games are power fantasies, this is not.”
But, crucially, there’s more to Wraith than it’s isolated moments of terror. There’s the mystery at the center of the narrative, which asks players to find out why and how they transitioned into the afterlife, and there’s also some promising foundations for a layered stealth game that not only embraces physicality but also the supernatural elements of the World of Darkness universe, allowing you to make quick escapes between walls or manipulate objects to create distractions. It’s that substance, Odeldahl hopes, that will see any Wraith player, brave soul or otherwise, through The Oblivion: “I think that part along with a hopefully gripping narrative is something that a lot of players that might not think they are horror fans will appreciate.”
