Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife
- May 25, 2021
- Fast Travel Games
Agatha Christie was never this scary... then again, I never experienced her in VR.
Get on Steam"Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife" is a horror exploration game where you play as a recently deceased photographer, turned Wraith, exploring the Barclay Mansion to uncover the truth about your death. As a Wraith, you can use supernatural abilities to move through walls, track other spirits, and manipulate objects to discover the mansion's dark secrets. The mansion is filled with dangers, including vengeful spirits and terrifying monsters, and it's up to you to uncover the truth behind your death while avoiding these dangers.
Reviews
- The game features impressive graphics and sound design, creating a rich and immersive atmosphere that enhances the horror experience.
- The story is engaging and well-integrated into the gameplay, with unique monster encounters that keep players intrigued.
- The game offers extensive customization options for comfort settings, making it accessible for players with motion sickness.
- The slow movement speed and lack of checkpoints lead to frustrating gameplay, making it feel tedious and unfair at times.
- Stealth mechanics can be overly punishing, with enemies that are much faster than the player, resulting in frequent deaths and backtracking.
- The game suffers from technical issues, such as sound problems and awkward controls, which detract from the overall experience.
- story24 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with many praising its rich world-building, engaging atmosphere, and well-developed characters, particularly for fans of the genre. However, some players found the narrative to be average or unremarkable, with pacing issues and a reliance on puzzles that detracted from the overall experience. Overall, while the story has its strengths, it may not resonate with everyone, especially those seeking a more fast-paced or innovative plot.
“As a huge World of Darkness and Wraith: The Oblivion fan myself, I'm loving playing this game. It is so true to the world-building and lore, and features great storytelling. It's a lot slower-paced than some people might like, but I've been loving it.”
“The inclusion of quality voiceovers, characters, dialogues, and story is evident.”
“The setting is interesting, the story is fast-moving, and keeps you engaged as you navigate throughout the mansion.”
“I suppose soft jumpscares might help keep you on your toes, but considering that the story is nothing special, they’re more inconvenient than immersive.”
“As Wraith progresses, the abundance of door/key puzzles and the unremarkable story drains most of the motivation to push past the stress.”
“I couldn't get interested in the story, and navigating the mansion started feeling like a chore.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a slow pace that caters to players with motion sickness, which some find frustrating and tedious, particularly in a game that features a rich story and polished VR mechanics. While the mechanics are well-designed and the game offers extensive customization options, the gameplay loop primarily consists of fetch quests and lacks engagement, especially in the early hours. Despite its atmospheric tension and effective stealth elements, the overall experience may feel monotonous due to the deliberate pacing and repetitive tasks.
“In a world filled with numerous short-length and mindless sandbox games, a game boasting a complete story campaign, substantial length (I completed it in almost 7 hours), polished VR mechanics, smooth gameplay, and impressive graphics.”
“The game showcases flawless VR mechanics, such as well-designed hands with inverse kinematics (IK) arms, precise finger positions around grabbed objects, and various VR-related options in the settings.”
“Pros: rich and interesting story + great ambiance + no cheap jumpscares but tension + very realistic hands and arms + easy puzzles and object use that add variety to the gameplay.”
“This game really elevates this mechanic to a frustrating degree.”
“I think the main reason for things being so slow is to cater to people with motion sickness problems, which I can respect, as they also go as far as providing extensive customization in the options menu for motion sickness. However, if this is the reasoning for making everything so slow, it just cripples the gameplay and flow for something that people get used to after a few hours in VR.”
“Gameplay is slowly moving throughout the house, taking pictures to trigger past events/memories where you watch characters engage in dialogue, which I found very boring.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is generally praised for its strong environmental design and sound quality, creating an immersive experience that effectively builds tension. However, some players find that the atmosphere can become tedious due to slow movement mechanics and random ghost encounters, which detract from the overall enjoyment. Despite these criticisms, many appreciate the atmospheric moments that balance tension with opportunities to explore and absorb the game's eerie setting.
“People who gave a negative rating are tripping; maybe it will get worse towards the end, but the atmosphere and environment design are on point, and the controls are pretty smooth for a VR game.”
“I very much admired the story, the atmosphere, and the whole experience.”
“Both the sound design and voice talent are top-notch; the game is dripping with atmosphere and really knows when to pack a punch and when to let you breathe.”
“Atmosphere sound-wise was pretty alright, but I never really felt tense.”
“While the slow movement might be a deliberate choice for encounters with opponents or stealth mechanics rather than comfort concerns, it often makes the game feel tedious, especially in a desaturated grayish indoor atmosphere.”
“These moments are more akin to 'The Room VR' where drinking in the atmosphere without having to brace for impact on scares is an intoxicating sensation.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game are generally praised for their impressive quality, featuring consistent lighting and antialiased visuals. While some players find the visuals to be good, others feel they could be better, especially for a PC VR title released in 2021. The game's graphics contribute positively to the overall experience, enhancing the immersive storytelling and gameplay.
“In a world filled with numerous short-length and mindless sandbox games, a game boasting a complete story campaign, substantial length (I completed it in almost 7 hours), polished VR mechanics, smooth gameplay, and impressive graphics.”
“The game makes a notable effort to deliver impressive graphics with consistent lighting and antialiased visuals.”
“For a first impression, it seems to be an interesting game with good graphics; not so scary the first hour I played, more chill, but I can imagine that it gets a little more intense the further you get.”
“For $30, I would have appreciated some better-looking graphics for a PC VR game in 2021.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of "Afterlife" is characterized by a slow pace and tedious stealth mechanics, which some players find detracts from the overall experience, making it feel laborious at times. While the game successfully delivers moments of fear, the repetitive nature of the gameplay can lead to frustration, prompting some players to seek alternative ways to experience the story.
“While the slow movement might be a deliberate choice for encounters with opponents or stealth mechanics rather than comfort concerns, it often makes the game feel tedious, especially in a desaturated grayish indoor atmosphere.”
“I think that the 'hide and seek' mechanism of the encounters could be done better; it became a bit tedious over time, but yet it was scary and enjoyable.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for lacking any sound, including background music, which significantly detracts from the overall experience.
“For some reason, there is no sound at all in the game, not even background music.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report that the stability of the game is compromised by awkward and buggy interactions, particularly when using index controllers to open doors.
“Opening doors with index controllers is very awkward and buggy.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable.”
“I experienced constant frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
Critic Reviews
Wraith : The Oblivion – Afterlife VR Review Quest 2
Agatha Christie was never this scary... then again, I never experienced her in VR.
82%Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife review
Thanks to its creeping sense of dread, Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is probably the best VR horror game you will play this year.
80%Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife Review
Imagine dying in an old mansion, then “waking” to discover the walls have turned to blood and sinew, and tortured, agonised faces scream from beneath the fleshy floorboards.
80%
