Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife received another reveal trailer by Fast Travel Games, known for their work on VR titles including Apex Construct, Budget Cuts 2 and The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets. Going-all in on a VR supernatural horror game, the studio puts players in the deceased shoes of a spirit roaming the Barclay Mansion. There, players use their powers as a Wraith to uncover the truth behind their death and evade enemy Spectres roaming the afterlife.
Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife was originally announced in November 2020 with a brief gameplay demo. Fast Travel Games makes use of VR’s immersive atmosphere to eerie effects while taking advantage of the Oculus Quest 2’s hardware enhancements. The result is a story-driven horror game which puts players alone across haunted corridors. They will also be joined by sophisticated Spectres, suggesting plenty of jump scares are waiting. Footage from the demo also revealed a fully-voiced cast of characters players will meet across the afterlife and in gritty flashbacks around the Barclay Mansion. Of course, players are already dead as a Wraith roaming the halls. In VR, they can use their hands to interact with a variety of key objects, open doors and harness a few powers to navigate Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife‘s puzzles. Powers including sharpened senses let players reach out with their hand and detect noise and enemies through walls. Another ability called the Wraith Grasp offers telekinesis for standard force grabbing of objects in VR.
Shaking up Wraith’s atmosphere are cracks in the mansion’s walls, which let players travel through to an alternate dimension. Here, players can access unspoken parts of the spirit world with a narrative takeaway per visit. Some of the game’s main areas around the Barkley mansion also require players to be resourceful, including using a flashlight to spot details in the dark or vintage cameras to capture grisly details. Specifically, players would be gradually collecting clues behind the death of Howard Barkley; the mysterious owner of his haunted mansion. As a former movie producer, his home is also laid out with various themes to encapsulate a cinematic brand of terror. According to Fast Travel Games, players would be exploring “every nook and cranny” while objectives would encourage them to leave no room unchecked for information.
Players in Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife become Ed Miller, a now-deceased photographer who ventured into Barkey’s mansion to report on a séance. But the sinister ritual goes wrong, sending players into the afterlife and causing his wife Rachel to go missing. In the new and isolated realm, Ed is pursued by Spectres and special ghosts across the house. Like stealth horror games including Jurassic Park Aftermath, players have to take cover to avoid being spotted by the game’s unbeatable ghosts. They can also hide behind closets, though the trailer suggested Spectres can still find players in them. Despite the crushing atmosphere and loneliness from the afterlife, players will still be supported by a companion. Called “The Shadow,” he is a ghostly apparition who Fast Travel Games refers to as “the devil on the shoulder” and guides players towards solving the mystery. He is also a reflection of Ed as a personified version of his dark thoughts.
Players can tuck into the horrors of Wraith The Oblivion Afterlife when it releases in Spring 2021 for the Oculus Rift, Quest/2, and SteamVR supported headsets including the Valve Index and Windows MR.