Supermassive Games, the developer behind The Dark Pictures Anthology, is set to release a spine-chilling shooter spinoff for the PS VR2, Switchback VR, later this month. A new gameplay trailer released recently reveals a grim roller coaster ride into a series of nightmarish scenarios, made even more gruesome by the eye-tracking technology that brings enemies towards you every time you blink.
In the walkthrough, game director Alejandro Arque Galladro explains that Switchback VR puts players on the ground after a train crash, barely alive. In this in-between state, they get sucked into a terrifying vision by a demoness trying to finish the job and drag them to hell. Most of the nightmare occurs on a seemingly never-ending, rusted rollercoaster ride flanked by Dark Pictures monsters and waxy mannequins that move as your eyes do.
Galladro discussed the PS VR2’s eye tracking technology, saying, “We can see if you’re blinking, or […] where you’re looking at. So these enemies, the mannequins, […] they only move when you blink. So, if you start blinking, they keep changing positions, getting closer, [multiplying], maybe activating and attacking you. So if you can keep your eyes open, maybe you’ll be safe?”
The mannequins appear even outside their designated “don’t blink” rooms, with sinister carved smiles on their faces, also paired with eye tracking, but in a “completely different way” he didn’t elaborate on. Switchback VR will also use haptic feedback in the PS VR2’s handheld controllers and headset to let you physically feel the horror.
“If you do not duck things in time,” Gallad
