{"id":51237,"date":"2018-08-28T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joypad.ch\/?p=51237"},"modified":"2018-09-26T15:45:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T13:45:42","slug":"transference-preview-played-at-gamescom-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joypad.ch\/en\/anteprima-transference-giocato-alla-gamescom-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Transference Played at Gamescom 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transference is a game we've been following for some time now. We first got to know the title, currently in development at SpectreVision and Ubisoft Montreal, at E3 2017 and then at Gamescom 2017. Now, over a year later, we're back to try out this exciting VR title, coming out in September on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PS VR.<\/p>\n

The demo we saw in Germany, fortunately, is neither the one shown in Los Angeles nor the one already available online. Transference, for those unfamiliar, is a truly strange game. It's a virtual reality adaptation of an escape room: the player must solve a series of puzzles using wit and reflection. In the game's story, we enter the consciousness of three members of a family who have undergone a strange thought-transfer experiment. Following the perspectives of all three, we must hunt for the truth while attempting to survive the horrors of the human psyche. One of the main characters, the professor, announces to the player that he has succeeded in creating a consciousness transfer that opens the door to, no less, eternal life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\nIn the roughly 15-minute demo we played, we explored a three-story building, including a basement. We interacted with the game world using two controllers\u2014in this case, the Oculus Touch controllers, which represented our hands. We were immediately struck by the clarity of the image. This is probably the VR game that has most impressed us for the graphical quality of the world around us: clean, tangible, and consistent. This is by no means an easy result to achieve, and very few have yet achieved what SpectreVision has achieved.<\/p>\n

At the start of the demo, we're immediately drawn to the sound of thumping on the upper floor. Unfortunately, once we climb the stairs, we find ourselves facing a barred door. On the other side, the noises continue incessantly, and if we listen carefully, we even hear human voices. There's nothing around the door to help us open it. We leave the landing frustrated, searching for clues, and finally, reaching the corridor outside the cellar, we find the doorknob of apartment C, the same one from which the noises are coming. Upon returning, however, we realize the doorknob is still in place... do we have a duplicate? Part of solving Transference's puzzles requires the player to change perspective by interacting with the light switches. Half a flight of stairs down from where we are, there's a button; pressing it switches between the perspectives of one character and another, in this case, switching between the father and son of the family we're investigating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As soon as we change perspective, we realize something's wrong: it's dark, with shades of dark red, and drawings covering the walls, written by a child with disturbing messages such as "Don't go into the darkness" and "Help me!" Many drawings, done in black pen, reveal the poor boy's distraught state of mind. We also notice that the doorknob we're holding is missing, and once it's in place, we unlock corrupted data from the simulation we're in. The door opens, and we're inside the apartment. Once again, messages and dark omens greet us. If we change perspective again, we find ourselves in a normal apartment, where nothing is particularly out of place except a message on the answering machine from a woman worried that no one has heard from her in weeks. In the child's version, however, the environment is increasingly dark, sickly, and distorted. We explore the rooms in both versions a bit, until we reach the kitchen, where we find a radio. By interacting with a knob to tune the frequency, we can hear a father and son arguing: the father tries in vain to calm the son, who is clearly terrified by something that is hunting him. After the conversation, we discover that the initial professor is none other than the boy's father, and that he accuses himself of being a terrible parent who failed to help his son. The demo ends with a black monster attacking us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\nTransference is incredibly intriguing and truly kept us on our toes. Unfortunately, it doesn't completely eliminate VR nausea because, to move around the game world, we use a classic movement system rather than teleportation (already used by other games), which eliminates motion sickness. The game will also be released in 2D for those who can't or don't want to play in VR, although this is the mode the game was created for. We can't wait to try the final version.<\/p>\n