Prayers went up immediately after David Jaffe’s livestream comments earlier this week as fans of the Twisted Metal and God of War creators collectively prayed that his hopes for a shot at VR come to fruition.
Though much of the livestream was dedicated to a discussion of the latest God of War game and how well received it is among critics, Jaffe, nonetheless, diverged somewhat to express his desire to make a virtual reality horror game in what can only be described as a “Yes, please” moment for fans of VR everywhere.
No stranger to games development, both the Twisted Metal and God of War series are considered Sony PlayStation brand titles and each one has a trademark “dark” aesthetic to it that demonstrates Jaffe knows what he is doing when it comes to atmosphere.
Naturally, this would lead to speculation that, if any project ever came up, it would likely be a PlayStation VR title – and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Though VR has a lot of horror games on its own, the segment still lacks a Silent Hill or Resident Evil-type series.
Sure, the latest RE title, Resident Evil 7, was ported over to the PSVR but, outside of that, there aren’t any “blockbuster” horror titles and few on the horizon.
Aside from supernatural horror and puzzle solving, VR hasn’t really delved into the kinds of action-heavy titles Jaffe is known for turning out. Part of the reason behind this is how difficult it is to conceive of a control scheme that is natural and gives players enough freedom of movement to make sense. Often, VR games deploy a zip line style movement system that would take the action in a game based on tension and suspense, like horror, somewhat strange. The other option is an “on rails” experience with choices thrown into the mix. That’s not the best solution but many games choose that route.
For his part, David Jaffe is a huge fan of virtual reality games and mentioned the PSVR by name. After discussing VR games development, Jaffe then delves into his own experiences with VR gaming and how enthusiastic he is about it.
VentureBeat quotes him as saying, “Once you do it [room-scale VR] you never want to go back, it’s f***ing amazing…VR has its hooks in me so deep and so wonderfully, that if I could create the opportunity for myself to get back into games with VR, I would be all over it, that’s how transformative it can be if you have a good VR experience. The dream was always let’s make games in the holodeck, but we’re not gonna live long enough for that. Room-based VR at least makes you feel like it’s the future of interactive entertainment.”
A lot of people are looking at the VR segment and pointing out that it needs “big” name games but few are paying attention to the developers coming into the fold that can make that happen. Here’s to hoping that David Jaffe gets his heart’s desire and is allowed to make a horror title on VR. We’re certain it will be an experience unmatched by anything currently out there.
