Whilst Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is supposed to belong to the same family as the 2015 cult-hit thriller Until Dawn, outside of a few cameos from some of the characters, there really is no reason for this to be grouped into the Until Dawn franchise.

Instead, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, is a fairly competent lightgun shooter. You’re placed on-rails through a number of compromising situations and have to shoot your way out of trouble. Between all the jump-scares, you’re tasked with shooting a number of targets. It’s fairly simple and they do a great job of taking your eyes off the inevitable jumpscares that are about to occur.  

The shooting actually works well, and surprisingly is extremely enjoyable. Your arms are well represented out in front of you and aiming works well. I felt overpowered having two guns, which potentially worked against the scare factor of the game. You’re able to increase the firepower of your weapons by shooting crates which allow you to have a slight power up for a short amount of time.

Each level in Until Dawn has a different theme. Without spoiling too much, these range in spookiness from clowns to pigs and spiders (plus more!). Every level has its own quirks and they all greatly range in how much they’ll freak you out. The one thing that is consistent between all of them is the constant jump scares, which do get a little old after a while. I realised that the game was able to create tension in a player when I grabbed one of my coworkers on the shoulder whilst he was playing and he instantly fell to the ground in a fit of fear. I’m still not sure he’s recovered from the traumatic incident.

Outside of the shooting and jump scares, the game is primarily made up of rollercoaster segments. These sections were my least favourite parts of the game. Whilst the rollercoaster sections change up the pace of the game, they can also be incredibly nauseating, although it doesn’t feel like this is the kind of nausea that I’ve experienced in other VR games. It legitimately feels like my stomach drops when I’m going down a huge section of the roller coaster, which is the feeling I’d expect to have when going down a rollercoaster. It would subside on the flatter segments and the developers have done well to make sure there’s a good mix in there.

Ultimately like most other VR games available on PlayStation VR, the experience is a little shallow. I was satisfied, but outside of going back to gather a number of collectables, and trying to beat other people’s scores by hitting more targets and being more accurate, there isn’t a whole lot more to enjoy once you’ve completed the story which consists of about seven levels.

CONCLUSION

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a solid game. It doesn’t do anything ground-breaking, but it’s one of the better games in the PlayStation VR launch lineup. It immerses you in a series of haunted rollercoasters without making you feel too sick and it has basic fun gameplay that doesn’t feel tacked on. It won’t last you all that long but at $25, you’ll get your money’s worth.