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You wont need prior experience with WoD games to know whats going on.
Heres the setup: youre a ghost and youre trying to figure out what the heck happened.
Youre stuck in a mansion and worse ghosts than you are trying to make you even more dead.
That may sound simple, but Id actually call it elegant.
That means youre not here to chew bubble gum and kick ass or save the town from zombies.
Your job is just to survive long enough to find out what happened.
Here, youre trying to explore a creepy-as-hell mansion while learning about your wraithpowers.
The experience
I put emphasis onpowersbecause, at no time during the wraith experience did I feelpowerful.
I just felt slightly less weak as some of the game mechanics unlocked.
But there are a few things you should be aware of before you even consider playing it.
Afterlifesucks the life out of you.
Youre given a mystery that, over time, feels like your own.
The payoff here is that you get to live inside of a horror movie.
And, if thats your thing, it completely rocks.
Brass tacks
This is a VR game.
If youre looking for a shallow jump-scare experience, keep looking.
This one uses evocative imagery and storytelling to be scary.
To that end, youll spend a large amount of time in this game running and hiding.
Theres no combat to speak of; you either get away or get your ass kicked.
Theres not really any flying, leaping, falling, or spinning in this game.
The graphics are somewhere between good and great.
I actually played it on Oculus with my original Quest and it looked fine.
I didnt get a headache from straining my eyes thanks to some excellent scaling choices made by the devs.
It looked good on Quest.
On Quest 2 and PC-tethered headsets it should look even better.
The audio was also good, not great.
I might have found something that stood out if I were using better headphones.
Gripes
My biggest gripe has nothing to do withAfterlifeitself, but with my own fanaticism.
Personally, I wish this waslessaccessible to newcomers and was instead steeped in cryptic WoD lore throughout.
Theres plenty here for WoD fans and a bonanza for newcomers.
But its not enough to tide me over untilBloodlines 2launches.
Final thoughts
Honestly, I just want other VR developers who make horror titles to play this game.
Im a lifelong horror aficionado.
It takes a lot more than gory graphics, grating music, and cheap thrills to spook me.
Once I started playing, it was hard to take the headset off.
I justhadto find out the details surrounding my death and I never got bored once navigatingAfterlifesexpertly-crafted story.
Wraith: The Oblivion Afterlifeis available onSteam VRandOculus.
According to Paradox Interactive, itll be available on PSVR later.
