We’re presently residing in a golden age of online game remakes. Simply this yr, we’ve gotten industry-defining trendy revisits of classics like Lifeless House and Resident Evil 4. Although much more thrilling is a a lot quieter wave of retro reimaginings which are sharpening up foundational classics that newer audiences won’t know. We bought a brand new tackle Colossal Cave in January and a strong System Shock remake in March, however probably the most fascinating undertaking remains to be to come back: The seventh Visitor VR.
In the event you’re a youthful participant who’s by no means heard of The seventh Visitor, I can’t say I blame you. On the time of its launch, the 1993 PC title was a groundbreaking puzzle journey recreation. The atmospheric haunted home story was each bit as vital as Myst, pushing the boundaries of 3D graphics on the time whereas delivering a extra “grownup” tone. Regardless of its historic significance, it’s not precisely a family title with youthful gamers. A VR-exclusive remake isn’t more likely to change that, however it does give developer Vertigo Video games an opportunity to attract a line connecting the technical improvements of yesteryear with these of in the present day.
I bought to see that in motion throughout a 30-minute demo of The seventh Visitor VR on the Meta Quest 2. It’s a radical reinvention of the unique — a lot that it’s onerous to name it a remake — and it’s already fascinating me as a historic undertaking. An old-school journey recreation turns into an escape room puzzler in VR, a shocking change that connects the dots between the evolution of online game genres.
Escape mansion
Upon beginning The seventh Visitor VR, it was instantly clear that I wasn’t in for a trustworthy 1:1 remake. I start the demo on a shoddy boat, as I seize a paddle and push myself to a dock. There, I choose up a lantern, which I can shine on damaged buildings to repair them or reveal secrets and techniques. I exploit that to get into the unique recreation’s haunted mansion, shining my mild to restore a damaged statue, snagging a gem out of its eye, and inserting it in one other statue to unlock a gate key. In the event you’re acquainted with the 1993 recreation, all of that in all probability sounds alien.
As soon as I’m within the mansion, I can totally stroll round in 3D. Shortly after coming into the lobby, I get to see one in every of its greatest remake reinventions in motion. The unique seventh Visitor was notable for its use of live-action footage, inserting actual actors in environments utilizing a ghostly graphical trick. That’s revisited right here in a formidable trendy trend, as actual actors seem earlier than me utilizing volumetric tech that enables me to see them from each angle. It’s the primary second the place it turns into clear what the VR undertaking is getting down to accomplish. It’s not a lot remaking the unique as it’s preserving how spectacular it felt within the second.
In that sense, using VR is ingenious right here. Regardless of adoption struggles, the tech nonetheless typically seems like a futuristic magic trick in comparison with conventional gaming experiences. By recontextualizing The seventh Visitor in that means, I’m extra simply in a position to put myself in a 1993 headspace than I’d be if I had been taking part in a easy rerelease (which you’ll play on PC, Nintendo Change, and cellular units).
That swap to VR does name for some radical reimagining, although. The unique recreation’s puzzles are very a lot constructed with a flat display screen in thoughts; it wouldn’t be all that thrilling to flip playing cards or full line puzzles in digital actuality. As an alternative, Vertigo Video games has turned the mansion right into a sequence of tactile escape rooms which are much more concerned than something within the unique. I’d get to play a type of in my demo, which centered round a magician visiting the home.
There’s some intelligent puzzling in that change. An early puzzle has me making an attempt to seize two keys from a cupboard — a job simpler mentioned than carried out as a pair of strain plates conceal them each time I get shut. As I search the room for an answer, I discover two magic hats. Once I stick my hand in a single, it pops out of the opposite. I place one hat subsequent to a cupboard and again off the strain plate to unveil the important thing. With a little bit of magic, I stick my hand in a single hat and it comes out the opposite, letting me snag the important thing with out getting close to it. Voila!
Different puzzles have me utilizing my lantern to disclose hidden clues. To open a chest, I must shine a lightweight to search out symbols indicating how I ought to align two sliding blocks. Not each puzzle I performed through the sequence was a revelatory use of the tech, however every has that very same tactile satisfaction that makes VR standouts like The Room VR: A Darkish Matter so memorable.
Hidden affect
What I’m particularly fascinated about, although, is that escape room framing. I’d by no means given it a lot thought earlier than, however The seventh Visitor VR makes the case that early PC puzzle journey video games had been prototypical escape rooms. In titles like The seventh Visitor, you’d want to resolve a sequence of puzzles that progressively opened the mansion up. The VR model takes that concept to its subsequent logical step, making for a extra interconnected sequence of puzzles that extra intently resemble trendy escape room design. Doing that shines a lantern on the unique recreation, revealing its hidden affect.
The seventh Visitor VR looks like a radical method to a online game remake up to now. I’m already discovering some shocking worth in Vertigo Video games’ unorthodox undertaking, although. It’s a real reimagining that takes its supply materials and asks gamers to mirror on the scope of its impression. If the nuances of which are misplaced on gamers, no less than they’re getting a spooky little puzzler that’ll give them a great purpose to mud off their VR headsets.
The seventh Visitor VR launches on October 19 for VR headsets, together with Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR2.
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