PREVIEW – Those who enjoy the adventures of terror has an unmissable appointment in a few weeks with The Inpatient, the new adventure that prepares Supermassive Games exclusively for PSVR that we have already been able to test.

Until Dawn was one of those titles that got me surprised. An adventure that I did not expect much and that ended up becoming one of the adventures of terror with which I have enjoyed more in recent times. Well, on November 22, Supermassive Games, its original creators, will bring us the prequel to that production, a game that I have already enjoyed for almost half an hour in the recently opened VR Psychiatric Center. Enclosure (installed in Calle Montesa 39 in Madrid) where it is possible to try several VR experiences, the main attraction being the game above The Inpatient … and with good reason.

This work is one of the highlights (along with the Gold reissue of Resident Evil VII: Biohazard that will appear on December 12) that PSVR users will be able to taste in the face of this Christmas campaign. A work that far from being a minor production, is going to be a complete adventure and, as I have seen, very well recreated.

The plot will tell what happened 60 years before the events occurred in the aforementioned Until Dawn. We will assume the role of a patient (male or female of our choice) who will be admitted to the Blackwood Pines medical center, specializing in psychiatric treatments … among other things that we will gradually discover.

Terror with ramifications

Baffled and not knowing exactly how or why we will have arrived at the sanatorium, we will have to go on investigating and knowing multiple details about our supposed mental illness … as well as the rest of the patients that will be part of the elaborate plot. As we play new questions will arise and still more problems than we will have to us so that the tension will be assured of each game.

The version I could try seemed very advanced and, in fact, was even localized completely to our language, enjoying for sure a really good dubbing. The conversations between our character and the different types that will appear on the screen will be fundamental and, in many cases and as it happened with the original Until Dawn, we can choose the answers we want. This feature was very applauded in the original work and thanks to it we could enjoy a good portion of different and exclusive sequences that were taking place depending on our choices, as well as witnessing several different endings.

Well, that same thing will happen once again in this title, which will ensure a very remarkable replayability, one of the main disadvantages that tend to occur in the titles developed for PSVR.

Apparently, it will be necessary to play with the Move commands (in the demo we were not allowed to play with a DualShock 4 controller), although we will also have the opportunity to use voice commands to choose between the different answers. The range of actions that we can carry out will be very limited, being able to walk, interact with objects, dialogue … and little more for what I could experience in the game session. A pattern that will shape a very slow and calm gameplay, at least when we are not scared to death.

Indeed, the atmosphere of tension will be very successful, and from the first moment we set foot (virtual) in Blackwood Pines we will suffer a permanent anguish, moments that will reach their zenith in certain circumstances that will make us take more than one jump. In fact, during our game session and despite using headphones, we could hear a couple of shouts from other journalists while playing.

Jaw-dropping

This will contribute a lot to the graphic section, which I found quite convincing and well recreated, taking advantage of the fact that the adventure will be mostly in closed environments and small dimensions. The effects of particles and lights and shadows seemed very good, as well as the recreation of the characters, quite solid. Thanks to that the adventure gave off a good level of realism, fundamental to get into the environment and suffer from the psychological terror that is going to propose this adventure.

I was eager to play more; I have to confess and know what else this terror adventure will bring. Will there be interesting puzzles? Can we control more than one patient? Will we get to leave the premises or will the whole adventure take place in the said medical center? What I do know is that The Inpatient can be one of the most prominent PlayStation VR games so far this year. Will The Inpatient be profound, dense and complex enough to be considered one of the new referents of the genre of terror in general? For that, you have to wait a few weeks.

-BadSector-

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Developer: Supermassive Games

Genre: Horror adventure

Relase date: November 21, 2017