Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is one of the first wave Playstation VR titles to release since the original release of October 2016. This second installment of Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn transforming the IP from it’s original “interactive movie” roots into an on-rails first person shooter. As some good aspects, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood gives the player a surreal sense they’re within a horror movie with a fun pick up and play style “story mode”. As some bad aspects, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood becomes incoherent at times. It can leave the player taking off their VR headset questioning what it could have been with more varied enemy types and scenery.
The story in Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is slightly short looking at about 5 hours straight through. Taking into consideration the average length of a VR game, this isn’t too short. The story plays as a guide to maneuver players from stage to stage with no real underlying story line other than completing it. This itself isn’t a terrible thing. The real issues of the lack of a story is because of the title of the game itself. The original Until Dawn title was mostly held up by story alone, so travelling so far as to have no story leads returning fans wanting more. Instances in the game where characters are recurring from the original are merely fan service, most of which not even acting similarly to their 2014 counterparts, some of which playing roles directly contradicting their past roles.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is straightforward, leading me to it’s biggest wins and toughest losses.As a win, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is easily one of the most immersive games to date for the Playstation VR. As a loss, this on-rail shooter doesn’t necessarily try anything that hasn’t been seen before, and worst of all, doesn’t try much following the first level. The levels each have the same general enemy types, same general scenery (although each of which have a distinctive theme), and each have a “boss battle” to fight at the end. Going into this with the hopes of a compelling story with returning characters, a good narrative, and meaningful gameplay, you will be disappointed. Going into this with the hopes of sitting down at a party taking 10 minute turns with your friends, you will have fun and get your intended money’s worth.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood perfects scares in virtual reality.Rush of Blood is action packed, has a certain tone that makes a horror game great, and has jump scares to have the player throw their headset in fear. Each of the seven levels have a theme to them that play as the main and large differences moving from level to level. whether it be focused on clowns, spiders, or a slaughter house, each level does a good depiction of its theme while having each section complementary.
The large underlying problem with Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is it’s use of the IP, Until Dawn. Returning gamers will notice that large roles from the original game of the IP will make appearances throughout the VR exclusive title. Without any spoilers, these characters are too obviously just placed within the game to have the largely known IP attached. Characters don’t act the same as they did in their counterpart and some even act as completely different characters, with only their skin as a similarity to their appearance in the 2014 release of Until Dawn. The inclusion of “Until Dawn” as a whole just seems to be a way to give the Playstation VR a title with a known IP in it’s library, and when all’s said and done, this is the only large underlying problem of Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, as it would be completely better off if it was just named: “Rush of Blood”.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a compelling and fun VR game that is recommended for any Playstation VR user. If you go into it not hoping for too compelling of a story, you will be pleasantly surprised that what little the game has to offer, is a whole lot of fun when sitting on a couch with friends by your side.