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<\/p>\nTransference definitely deserves the title of \u201cUbisoft\u2019s strangest game,\u201d if not the entire show!<\/p>\n
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Before we can try it out, the developers offer us a very poor-quality video, in which a university professor talks about an experiment with a new virtual memory reconstruction technology that, while advanced, isn't perfect yet. We're then given a document approved by an ethics committee, which briefly explains the type of experiment we'll be undergoing: we'll be reliving the experience of a subject suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In short, it's a foray into the world of gaming worthy of being included in game design textbooks!<\/p>\n
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Once the introductory part is over, the developers help us equip the HTC Vive, and we find ourselves in a virtual reality house. After a few steps, the silhouette of a child appears, turning off the light, and the scene changes with a psychedelic effect: the apartment, which had a warm and familiar feel, suddenly becomes shabby, dirty, and seemingly devoid of any life. It feels like we've leapt back in time. We explore the various rooms, using our two hands to pick up and analyze certain objects, and we move toward the cellar, where a silhouette armed with a rifle shoots us... and we find ourselves at the entrance to the house! As you may have guessed, the game offers a series of puzzles, which help us unravel, step by step, the traumatic event suffered by Walter, the man whose memory we're exploring. From what we saw in the scene specifically constructed for the demonstration, the puzzles can be of various nature: going to a specific place, searching for a particular object, perhaps combining it with another, etc. For example, we particularly enjoyed a sequence where we had to find a key, insert it into a lock, and then actually turn it! In addition to the more conventional puzzles, the demonstration also featured more convoluted puzzles: for example, at one point we found ourselves in a room with strange parallelepipeds suspended in the air, which seemed to be disrupting the virtual scene. As we moved around, we realized that it was actually a specific shape, identifiable only at the right viewing angle.<\/p>\n
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The thriller Transference made a very positive impression on us: the narrative is disconcerting, and it seems the developers are making good use of virtual reality and the new ways of interacting that technology offers. If the final game lives up to all the promises made in the demo, we'll be looking at one of those games that truly justify the purchase of a VR system.<\/p>\n
The game is expected to be available in spring 2018 for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR. And, more difficult to predict except for financial reasons, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.<\/p>\n