Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood PlayStation VR Review

The PlayStation VR has launched with a surprisingly diverse range of titles including a fair few horror themed numbers of which Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood is the most prominent. As a premise a horror themed on-rails shooter is a fairly average idea, yet when incorporating the wonder of PlayStation VR it becomes something terrifyingly engaging and pulse pounding.

Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood is as intense as it is unnervingly scary. Sitting down late at night while all was dark around and the house was quiet really helped add to the scares, though I fear my often noisy jumps as the game threw all sorts of surprise scares at me may have awoken my housemates. The game is initially set up as a roller coaster ride pop-gun shooter in a slightly creepy, but not overtly scary abandoned theme park, but things rather quickly take a dark turn.

Through the influence of darker forces, your character becomes kidnapped and treated to a gas induced hallucination which brings on all hell of a visual and audible assault to your senses. The game suddenly gets incredibly intense, with in your face scares, hectic action and plenty of creepy visuals to keep you unsettled at all times. These visuals really help sell the horror element of the game, and whilst it's got big scares the gameplay and action is well balanced to make you feel like you're never powerless even though the game in turn likes to toy with your expectations when you get comfortable.

The gameplay is infectious and so much fun, I played using two PlayStation Move controllers which effectively made me feel like a dual pistol wielding badass. For the most part the controllers were well calibrated and felt on point with a few minor kinks here and there in terms of syncing but nothing that ever detracted from the game. The steady drip feed of better weapons like Shotguns, Magnums, Uzis and more helps balance out the ever increasing intensity of the threats, but Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood ensures you never have quite enough firepower to handle everything it throws at you.

Chances are this pretty fellow may haunt your dreams after playing...

Graphically the game is solid, it's not the prettiest thing you'll have ever played and it can at times feel a little rough around the edges but it's so incredibly immersive that this is nothing more than a very minimal passing observation. Once the game gets in full swing, you'll have long forgotten about the slightly lower fidelity as you'll be disturbingly invested in keeping your in game character away from harm that you'll not even notice it.

For me Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood is an excitingly gripping and intense experience that's a perfect fit for VR especially when combined with the PlayStation Move controllers. It's action packed, unnervingly creepy and feels just right in terms of balance between horror, gameplay and experience. If you're getting a PlayStation VR and your up for the scares then this is a must buy and at only £15.99 it's hard to argue with the quality of the game. Just be warned, it's definitely not for the faint hearted.

8/10

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Ben Corbett-Mills | @benleopards