Wait, do you hear that? Is that a Spectre creeping up from behind? Or is it the floorboards of Barclay Mansion creaking on their own? Nope, it’s just Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, touching down for the first ever month of Upload Access!
Yep, Fast Travel Game’s latest is the first title to feature in our new monthly spotlight series, announced earlier this week. All throughout March we’ll be bringing you exclusive looks at the VR horror game, including brand new gameplay and interviews with the developers.
Set in the World of Darkness universe, Wraith sees players step into the afterlife, exploring the halls of Barclay Mansion as they investigate a mystery, master supernatural powers and try to survive as they’re stalked by horrifying Spectres. Fast Travel is promising a different type of VR horror game that emphasizes tension over jump scares when the game launches on Quest and Rift on April 22nd (with SteamVR to follow May 25 and PSVR arriving later in the year).
We kicked things off today with a preview of the first hour of the game and the release date reveal, but be back here March 5th for our first deep-dive when we’ll talk to Creative Director Erik Odeldahl about the horrors of this new VR title. Then, next Monday, we’ll treat you to an all-new gameplay clip focusing on the powers you’ll wield as a Wraith, before catching up with Fast Travel CEO Oskar Burman to talk about the history of the studio on March 11th.
March 15th sees Odeldahl walk us through the World of Darkness itself and where this all-new VR adventure fits into it, and he’ll be back on March 22nd to steer us through the gameplay clip we’ll have debuted earlier in the month. We’ll close out our Wraith spotlight on March 29th with a spooky supplement; a look at the art behind the game.
Quite a lot to look forward to, then. Brace yourself, hide behind the couch and then be back here in two days as we kick off a month of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife with Upload Access!
The secret to any good horror experience is not to play your hand too early. When the air of the unknown lingers, tensions skyrocket. That’s where the real scares come from.
Interesting, then, that the first hour or so of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife does tell you quite a lot about Fast Travel Games’ upcoming VR horror title. My first steps into the afterlife brought me face-to-face with quietly disturbing terrors and a heavy emphasis on narrative, not to mention some fantastic VR design and truly impressive visuals on Oculus Quest 2. But, crucially, it doesn’t feel like we’re getting the full story just yet. Fast Travel might be lulling us into a false sense of security – there are still cards clasped tightly to its chest.
Wraith — our first ever game to feature in our Upload Access series — is Fast Travel’s first turn at horror, and I’m sure you’ll agree quite different from the sci-fi adventuring of Apex Construct and the cutesy diorama worlds of The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets. But you wouldn’t know it from talking to the team; many of the Stockholm-based studio are masochistic horror aficionados, as you’ll see in our content coming this month. With Wraith, the first VR game set in the World of Darkness universe, the developer doesn’t want to settle for cheap jump scares and loud bangs but instead pursue a slower, moodier brand of horror.
The game’s first hour certainly sticks to this mantra. You play as Ed, a photographer summoned to the brooding Barclay Mansion to capture the events of a mysterious séance. Something goes wrong and, for lack of a better phrase, Ed ends up dead. Well, mostly dead; he returns to the physical realm as a wraith, capable of seeing past echoes of the world that fill in the mystery leading up to his demise, not to mention manipulating environments with supernatural powers.
Some of these powers are reframed versions of VR staples. Half-Life: Alyx’s wrist-flicking gravity gloves are put back to work, for example, and there is a really rather ingenious objective marker that has the controller vibrate and your heart race when you’re pointing your hand in the right direction. It’s a brilliantly organic idea (though sometime prone to leading you astray when you’re searching for items).
Other abilities encountered in the demo play to more Metroidvania sensibilities; retrieving Ed’s camera lets him capture old memories that reveal more of the story (and, in turn, allow you to progress), while a flashlight burns through mystical vines that root themselves in the most inconvenient places. The light is also handy against Spectres or, as I like to call them, deadly dead people. They’re Wraith’s main source of terror, resembling other members of the séance and suitably filling in for the horror trope of “Oh god please do not get anywhere near me you are revolting.”
All the ingredients are here for a tense VR adventure equal parts stealthy and spooky, then. Key to Wraith’s unsettling aroma is its imagery, which is among the most genuinely harrowing I’ve seen in VR. Spectre designs are ghoulishly detailed and there’s some absolutely incredible animation work behind some of the demo’s most memorably unpleasant moments which I don’t want to spoil here.
In fact, broadly speaking Wraith is easily one of the best-looking Quest 2 games I’ve seen so far; Fast Travel pulls off incredibly crisp texture work inside a mansion littered with ornaments and, well, litter. A sweeping view of the gardens from the balcony is particularly impressive but special mention has to go to the player’s hands, which spare no grimy detail with bloody cuts oozing and finger nail dirt gnawing away at my own personal sense of hygiene.
There will be an argument, I suspect, to playing Wraith on PC over standalone beyond the usual benefits, though. The opening hour of the game features mainly well-lit environments that provide a bit of a security blanket, while the few darker areas drop right down to pitch black. I haven’t seen the PC VR version, but if that edition of the game offered more nuance to the lighting effects that helped maintain a better atmosphere then that would be my preferred place to play. Fortunately the Quest version includes cross-buy with Rift, so you can always try that out with Link or VirtualDesktop, should you have a PC.
And, in fairness, Fast Travel is trying to make something people will actually play here. Yes, Wraith’s visual design is unnerving and it has all the ingredients for some serious scares, but the first hour of the game at least is completely free of cheap jumps and sudden bangs. It’s a carefully calculated concoction that allowed even me, a self-professed VR coward, to sheepishly continue on, keeping a fragile flame of confidence alive as I pulled back the door to another room.
To true horror devotees, that might be worrying. Even the demo’s closing encounter with a Spectre is an oddly manageable affair, mainly scripted and asking you to trace a linear path to safety.
Were this the only hint of the coming encounters in Wraith, I’d be a little concerned. But — and this is perhaps the most important point of the demo — the halls of Barclay Mansion carry a lot of hints about what’s to come. Broken glass peppers the floor of a party hall, crunching loudly under your footsteps, and a storeroom closet allows you to take shelter for — at the time — unknown reasons. Approach the walls in certain rooms and you might find shadowy decals bleeding into sight which, as we already know, will eventually allow you to traverse between areas.
All of this hints at something deeper and, yes, scarier than Wraith’s opening hour. Fast Travel has the foundation for a troubling horror throwback with a layered approach to stealth and a memorable VR location to explore, it’s just a question of if it will meet that potential. So much of Wraith is still unknown, and that’s exactly where it should be.
Straight arrives on Oculus Quest and Rift on April 22 for $29.99. It’s coming to SteamVR on May 25 and PSVR a little later on in the year.
Fast Travel Games’ promising VR horror title, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, hits Oculus Quest and Rift next month, with other platforms to follow soon after.
The game, which is the first VR title set in the World of Darkness universe, will arrive on Facebook’s headsets on April 22nd. There’s full cross-buy support, so buying one version on the Oculus Store nets you the other one too. A SteamVR launch will follow on May 25 and the PSVR version is scheduled to arrive later this year. The game will cost $29.99.
Wraith Release Date Revealed
In Wraith, players take on the role of a recently-deceased photographer that returns to the place of their demise, Barclay Mansion, to investigate the mysterious events surrounding their death. As a wraith, you’ll have access to special powers that allow you to manipulate the environment, walk through walls and more.
We just got our first taste of the game in an hour-long preview. We think it holds a lot of promise, but it’s greatest potential still likes in the unknown.
Wraith is also our first ever Upload Access game of the month! Announced on Monday, Access is our new series of month-long deep dive features, videos and exclusive looks at the biggest upcoming VR games. Check back later this week when we’ll be talking to Fast Travel about the horror behind the game and, all this month, we’ll be debut new gameplay and more interviews for the title. See the full schedule below.
Are you going to be checking our Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife? Let us know in the comments below!
Fast Travel Games offered a new peek inside its upcoming VR horror game Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife and confirmed a spring 2021 release window for the title.
The new trailer shows a look at “The Shadow” — a guide and narrator throughout the game. Check it out in the new teaser:
A post on Facebook’s Oculus blog from Fast Travel Games creative director Erik Odeldahl offers some new details on the story in the game:
Photographer Ed Miller dies during a mysterious seance and becomes a Wraith, one of the Restless Dead who has unfinished business in the land of the living. Suspended between life and death, Wraiths must deal with the challenges of their new existence, and the trappings of their old lives. Playing as Ed Miller, you must enter the Barclay Mansion – an opulent residence filled with Hollywood decadence and occult research – and use your supernatural Wraith abilities to uncover the horrifying truth about your death and the mansion’s dark history.
Miller is trying to unravel a mystery surrounding what happened to his wife after a séance and The Shadow can, “help you achieve this, or complicate things instead.” In December, Fast Travel revealed 5 minutes of development footage offering a look into the game which is set in the World of Darkness universe.
The game is planned for release on all major headsets, including Oculus Quest, with the updates today confirming the title is slated for release sometime this Spring. We’re looking forward to diving deep into this title in the coming months.
It might be the festive season, but we’re always down for a good few scares. Today’s Winter Wrap-Up debut certainly delivers.
Fast Travel Games is stopping by with the first Quest 2 development footage of its highly anticipated VR horror game, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. Yes, this is the first World of Darkness game ever for VR headsets, and the first game in general to focus on the Wraiths. But what does any of that really mean? Fast Travel walks us through five reasons to enter the afterlife (in the game) below!
New Wraith VR Footage
Becoming a Wraith isn’t just a story feature. As you can see in the video, it will also grant you new powers, like the ability to manipulate objects from afar and pass through certain passages. Plus we get new info on the game’s story and setting.
On top of new details about how the game plays, the video also gives us our first look at Wraith running on Quest 2. This is still early development footage, so don’t take it as final, but there is plenty of new content here that you won’t want to miss.
Many thanks to Fast Travel Games for giving us the first look at Wraith running on Quest 2. Wraith’s due out on most VR headsets next year.
We’re now just about at the halfway point in our Winter Wrap-Up week! Check back later today when we’ll be live in our studio talking about our most anticipated games of 2021. And be here tomorrow for fresh updates on Traffic Jams and Unplugged before we debut new gameplay of Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual on Friday! Check out our full schedule below.
Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know what you think are the biggest stories in VR this year?
Finally, 2020 is almost over. In what will go down in history as one of the most tumultuous ever experienced, a lot has happened. Amidst everything else, we’ve obviously had a burgeoning VR industry continue to grow spurred on by new hardware, groundbreaking software, and a nurturing base of followers and fans.
One of the biggest headlines this year is of course the various ways the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has impacted the market. From shuttering location-based VR arcades to leading towards wider adoption overall for in-home VR, it’s had a dramatic impact.
We’ve continued to push forward with our own remote solution — The VR Download — which you can see a snippet of above. It’s a virtual studio in which we stream live podcasts from, while interacting with chat, using our VR avatars in a custom-built studio. It continues to get better and better as well!
Then we’ve of course had amazing VR titles like Half-Life: Alyx and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners setting new bars of quality for the entire industry to aspire to going forward. There are tons of great VR games on the horizon too, such as Lone Echo 2, Hitman 3, and Maskmaker to look forward to next.
Let us know what you think was the biggest or perhaps most surprising headline for 2020 down in the comments below!
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife got a creepy new trailer this week. We sat down with Fast Travel Games’ Erik Odeldahl to unearth the secrets that lie within.
Wraith is a VR horror game set in the World of Darkness universe. Players take control of a Wraith in the grim confines of Barclay Mansion and set about investigating a gruesome mystery. Odeldahl shared six crucial insights into the game to give you an idea of what to expect.
Powers Are Unlocked Through Progression
Yesterday’s trailer came with the reveal of some of the player’s powers, like the ability to walk through walls and manipulate objects from afar. But you won’t have access to all these powers when you first boot up Wraith.
“The powers are all unlocked through progression in the game,” Odeldahl revealed. “They are tied to our protagonist’s insights and growth, the gradual discovery of his role in the story and in the mansion. All powers open up new avenues for you to explore, both in terms of environments and systems. In the beginning, you will take your first steps as a Wraith after having died for a reason you will find out while playing the game, with almost no powers at all.
“Finding the right balance between giving the player more options, and not making them too powerful is… well, a balance. Besides the Wraith powers, there are also other things you find in the game that give you even more options, but we’re not talking about those just yet!”
Enemies Will Always Be Stronger Than You…
Like many great horror games, combat is not a focus in Wraith. Fast Travel wants you feeling vulnerable and in danger every time you dare to open a door in the mansion.
“The player will find ways to defend themselves in some ways, but this is not a game where you can “win” against your enemies,” Odeldahl revealed. “They are always stronger and more dangerous than you. Using caution and elements in the environment, and sometimes plain out hide, are all important actions to make sure the Spectres do not see you, and to be able to progress deeper into the mansion.”
…But You Have Some Tricks Up Your Sleeve
You’ll have to rely on your wits and powers if you want to survive, then. Wraith’s powers won’t just be for progression in puzzles and environments, but can also come in handy for survival.
“The enemies in the game are Spectres, spirits of the dead that have lost all touch with their humanity,” Odeldahl explained. “They do rely on vision, but also hearing, so making sure you don’t make too much noise is very important. But maybe you can use that against them somehow? Once you unlock the ability to make yourself insubstantial you can definitely use that to escape them. The problem is that they might also have that power…”
You’ll Have A Subconscious Companion
Yesterday’s trailer showed ghostly projects that help flesh out the events that piece together the game’s main story. It’s one of the main ways Wraith will reveal its plot, but not the only means. You won’t be entirely alone in this horror experience – you’ll have a voice to help guide you along the way.
“The other main element that helps deliver the plot, is the protagonist’s own dark subconscious called the Shadow. The Shadow functions as the companion throughout the experience, it will talk to you and sometimes help push you towards different objectives or understand certain circumstances. But that’s not saying the Shadow should be trusted all the time…”
Barclay Mansion Isn’t Your Usual Horror Setting
When you hear a game is set in a mansion, you immediately think back to classics like Resident Evil and assume you’ll know what to expect. But leave your preconceptions at the door of Barclay Mansion as there is far more than meets the eye.
“First I want to say that the Barclay Mansion is far from the classical gothic mansion that we often see in horror games!” Odeldahl reasoned. “Instead, it is a modern building filled with Hollywood decadence and occult research… As for the size, it’s pretty big! Exploring its many different rooms and floors is an integral part of the main experience so we do not want to give too much away, but there is indeed a light Metroidvania element in the game that lets the player access areas previously inaccessible, once certain Wraith powers have been acquired. We are also adding quite a lot of background story to the different characters and the Spectres, that might not be required to unravel in order to just complete the game… but that will give the player a better understanding of the story and the mystery.”
The Horror Won’t Just Be Cheap Jump Scares
Odeldahl makes clear that the scares will dig in deep under your skin – no cheap thrills here.
“Well, I want to make one thing clear: Afterlife will be scary. Very scary. We even have trouble finishing our own playtest sessions sometimes! That said, we are not going for an experience filled with cheap jump scares – instead, we are aiming more towards tension and
suspense, the “under-your-skin” kind of horror, which is what Wraith: The Oblivion is all about. The player WILL, of course, be shocked at times, but the horror elements really go into all parts of the game.
“Being a Wraith does not mean you have the advantage against the threats inside the mansion however. On the contrary – you need to use both stealth and elements in the environment to proceed in the game. Of course, this is a game primarily made for horror game fans but there is also a heavy focus on making the gameplay fun and the narrative interesting, so I think Afterlife will feel extremely rewarding also for players who simply enjoy a strong story with interesting characters and who love to explore an interconnected and unique mansion.”
There Will Be World Of Darkness Easter Eggs
Wraith, if you didn’t know, is set in the World of Darkness universe, first envisioned for tabletop gaming. But the series has crossed over with videogame before, including the Vampire: Masquerade series. Die-hard World of Darkness fans can expect some nods to the wider lore here.
Says Odeldahl: “This is something we are not quite ready to talk about just yet, but let’s put it like this: If you intend to fully explore every nook and cranny of the Barclay Mansion, there might just be an easter egg or two that fans of World of Darkness find interesting…”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife hits Quest, PC VR and PSVR in early 2021.
The first gameplay trailer for Fast Travel Games’ Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is here, and it makes great use of mixed reality.
We first showcased Wraith at the Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition back in June. The game is set in the World of Darkness universe and promises a full-on VR horror experience. This trailer certainly delivers on that aspect; Fast Travel teamed up with LIV and Splitverse to deliver a stunning mixed reality angle that really captures what being in the game might actually feel like. It’s one of the best integrations of MR in a trailer we’ve seen – check it out below.
Wraith: The Oblivion Gameplay Trailer
It helps that the game itself continues to look promising. Wraith takes place in Barclay Mansion where the player, themselves cast as a recently-deceased Wraith, is stalked by terrifying Spectres. As you can see in the footage, stealth will play a huge element in the game, with the player hiding from enemies in closets and trying to sneak past undetected.
But the footage also gives us our first look at some of the powers you’ll wield as a Wraith. This includes Wraithgrasp, which allows you to grab objects from a distance, manipulate them and even change the environment around them. Also, Sharpened Sense will help you track movement of spirits, and Insubstantiality lets you walk through walls.
Along with the trailer’s release, Fast Travel finally confirmed that Wraith is coming to pretty much every VR headset there is — Quest, Rift, Vive, Index and PSVR — in early 2021. We’ll have more on the game later this week, so check back soon. What do you make of the Wraith: The Oblivion gameplay trailer? Let us know in the comments below!
The first VR game in the World of Darkness universe — announced a little earlier then expected last week — is being developed by Fast Travel Games. The first full gameplay trailer is set to arrive in August, but Fast Travel has pulled together a very, very early look at the of the game’s environments in a new clip below exclusive to the Showcase. Check out the content, introduced by Fast Travel’s Erik Odeldahl.
Again, this is just a small peek, but you can already get a sense of the atmosphere Fast Travel is going for. As the teaser trailer (also embedded in the trailer above) reveals, at least part of Wraith will be set inside the confines of a creepy mansion, and it looks like that’s what we’re seeing here.
Fast Travel says Wraith is a full-on horror VR game, inspired by the likes of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation. Other details are thin on the ground right now, but it seems safe to say this will be a terrifying VR adventure. Fast Travel previously worked on Apex Construct, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, and Budget Cuts 2, so it’s safe to say this is a change of pace for the Stockholm-based developer.
Stay with us on the Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition. We’ve got plenty more to come including the latest look at Low-Fi and Vertigo Remastered. You won’t to miss this!
Well, the surprise may have gone live a little earlier than intended, but we still have some new goodness to share on Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.
Fast Travel Games will debut exclusive early development footage of its next title at the Showcase on June 16th (starting 9am PT). We have to stress this will be a very early sneak peek; the full gameplay trailer isn’t set to debut until August.
Wraith is the first VR game set in the World of Darkness universe and, as the name suggests, focuses on the Wraith faction. Fast Travel is promising a full-on horror game akin to Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Alien: Isolation.
Wraith is just one of over 25 games joining us for the Showcase this Tuesday. We’ll be celebrating with new game reveals, brand new trailers and a heck of a lot more. You won’t want to miss it.
