Reviews// Until Dawn: Rush of Blood

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood successfully delivers an action-packed on-rails arcade light gun game that's fun to play and full of jump scares to keep you on your toes.

Guildford-based developer Supermassive Games has been pretty busy during this PSVR launch period. Not only has it released the excellent VR puzzle game Tumble VR, it's also used its critically-acclaimed Until Dawn IP; turning it from an interactive horror adventure into a light-gun shooter that has more in common with arcade games from the 90s than it does its predecessor.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a first-person, arcade-action, on-rails shooter set on the roller coaster ride from hell.

Throughout the game you'll visit haunted lodges, horrific hotels and ghost towns as you shoot your way through seven levels full of ghosts, zombies, spiders and even screaming pigs.

The game can be played with the standard Dual-Shock controller or two Move controllers, each acting as a gun and flashlight that you can use to not only shoot anything that gets within two feet of you, but also illuminate the way ahead. The beam of light also provides a clever way of showing the player where their guns are aimed without requiring a potentially immersion-breaking crosshair on the screen.

And you'll be waving those guns around a lot. Although the first level starts off easy, by the second level you're constantly looking around and firing at waves of enemies that try to attack you from every side, and by the final few levels you're ducking and leaning out of the way of huge circular saws and all manner of enemies. Not to mention also looking around for distant targets and secrets to shoot along the way.

The game is genuinely scary as hell at points, too. Not only because of the atmosphere and the visuals, but 3D audio plays a huge part of the overall experience as well, directing you to threats around the level. While there are a fair number of jump scares in this game, towards the end of the game these moments start to feel rather telegraphed, losing their effectiveness somewhat.

Thankfully there's plenty of replayability in Rush of Blood, and with the game including friends', local and global leaderboards, there's always another score to beat.

Also adding to the replayability are railway switches that you can shoot throughout the game, allowing you to change tracks and take a different route through a level to find the all-important collectibles.

This is yet another strong effort for PSVR, and once again shows how horror games are using this new platform to good effect. With fun shooting mechanics, good replayability, some genuine rollercoaster thrills and scares along the way, there's plenty of reasons to pick up Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.

Pros:
+ Simple but fun shooting mechanics
+ 3D audio is really well implemented
+ Plenty of replayability

Cons:
- Arms can get tired holding them out for a long time
- Uninspired enemy design
- Players who haven't played Until Dawn may feel like they're missing elements of the story.

SPOnG Score: 7/10