The experience of watching a horror film is often one that is unique among all the genres of cinema. Nothing quite taps into our primal senses of fear quite like a horror film does and whether it is a psychological thriller that plays on a person’s innermost fears or an outright visceral slasher, horror films ignite certain parts of our brain that remain largely dormant in the modern world.
A classic among classics, The Exorcist film is often remembered for both its cinematic impact and the cultural controversy it caused when the film first hit theaters in 1973. Ask many people of this era what the scariest movie they’ve ever seen is and many will reference The Exorcist, making the franchise a bit of a cultural touchstone in the world of film.
As you can imagine, any video game based on this experience would have a lot to live up to in terms of both content and scares.
And if Upload VR is to be trusted, The Exorcist: Legion VR, a virtual reality adaptation of the popular Hollywood horror franchise, is an experience that is a must-play on VR.
First, The Exorcist: Legion VR has a lot of competition when it comes to virtual reality horror games so calling it one of the best is something that designates a real gem.
Second, The Exorcist: Legion VR is actually quite beholden to older game tropes that many gamers might realize upon first glance.
Cast in the vein of a detective game, the title’s mechanics are reminiscent of games like Myst, Seventh Guest, and even Phantasmagoria. If you don’t remember these PC classics that’s ok, just know that they also sought to recreate the look and feel of a cinematic experience within a game. One thing they did very well was surrounded the player with a believable atmosphere, and The Exorcist: Legion VR has this in spades.
As a detective in the Boston Police Department, you’re tasked with figuring out just what in the hell, literally, is going down. Divided into five thirty minute chapters, The Exorcist: Legion VR never lingers too long on one experience and that’s probably why it is so resoundingly scary to play. It never lets you dwell on it for too long – and that’s often part of the magic with horror in general. Part of contributing to this is a robust soundtrack and sound effects both of which add to the atmosphere of horror surrounding the game.
Judging by that alone the devs over at Wolf & Wood have done an outstanding job with this title. Some complaints about the game’s somewhat brief interactive elements and the disjointed nature of the self-contained episodes are to be expected given what the title is trying to do here and that distills a horror experience first born on film and retrofitted for a g
