The Inpatient – The Review

There was something special when Until Dawn came to PlayStation 4. From the graphics to the story. Something just kept wanting us to be in that world. Then here comes Until Dawn: Rush of Blood for PlayStation VR. A roller coaster shooter of a nightmare that made us jump in Virtual Reality.  So what does Supermassive Games do? They took what works in Until Dawn and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and made a prequel worth playing in The Inpatient for PlayStation VR.

Like I mentioned, The Inpatient is a prequel to Until Dawn that has psychological elements thrown in. The era of the game is set in the 1950s and Supermassive Games have not allowed the atmospheric tone to escape this era and I appreciate that. Forget what you may think you know or what you need to remember because all your memories are taken away. This is really a good choice as you are playing as someone with amnesia.

But before you can really begin, you have some choices to make. Choices are a good thing, so go ahead and select your gender and the tone of your skin. There is no assuming here. You will also need to decide if you want to play with two Move Controllers that will allow you to make more realistic adaptiveness with your arms being shown or sometimes the ease of the Dualshock 4. And lastly, do you want to enable voice controls? The choice to add voice controls is smart and it so works and adds to the atmosphere of being an inpatient. Are they the voices in your head…or are you actually speaking. And while you are playing and if you come to a part where you might start to get scared, take a second and listen to how you may sound based on the situation. Well played Supermassive Games…well played.

What I really thought was interesting is the way you are being tested for the experiments. Being able to answer the questions in a way you think you would answer them or how you think the one asking the questions would want to be answered based on the way they are asking. And yes, the questions and your answers, do affect how the game may play out. The Butterfly Effect works so amazingly well, that based on the outcome, you might see yourself coming back to find a different outcome than the one you may have been looking for.

Graphically speaking, the game will make you really appreciate the immersiveness that Supermassive Games knows how to brings to PlayStation VR. From the equipment that you see that would be banned in today’s standards to the view of your room, it’s here. With a world such as Until Dawn and bringing you into its world, it’s important that the graphics be as good as they can get and they are here. But along with graphics in Virtual Reality and I have said this before, sound also plays a part in how immersive one can be. And I am happy to say, the sound is on par with where it needs to be. From the simple radio at the beginning and playing that 1950’s music to the screams to the delusional breathing of other patients, it looked, felt and sounded like I was in a sanitorium in the 1950s.

Now I know some have mentioned the controls. Some stay they did not like it. There are options to change it to 15, 30 and 45 degrees. For me, I left it on default, but I noticed something as I was playing. After having experiments done on me and being injected with who knows what would I then be able to walk or move normally? Probably not. So the question remains is this something that can be fixed with a patch? Maybe. But what if this was intentional? What if the way we move was to be a result of how one was treated and what they were treated with? If this is the case, then bravo team…bravo.

Now as you can tell, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone. If you love Until Dawn and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and you really enjoy the Until Dawn universe, then do yourself a favor and go play this now as it could only really be brought to life in Virtual Reality. If you are new to the Until Dawn universe, you just might find your inner persona that has been locked up and looking to be freed by playing The Inpatient.

The Inpatient is out now on PlayStation VR.

To learn more about Supermassive games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.

In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I need to head back to the Blackwood Pines Sanitorium.

Mr. PSVR, Febuary 3, 2018, theplaystationbrahs.com