Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife

Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a virtual reality horror video game in development by the Swedish studio Fast Travel Games. It is based on White Wolf Publishing's 1994 tabletop role-playing game Wraith: The Oblivion, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. The player takes the role of a wraith that has recently died, as they explore the Barclay Mansion and uncover mysteries of the afterlife. It is made as an exploration of what it means to be human, and is influenced by the horror in games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation.

Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife
Key art
Developer(s)Fast Travel Games
Director(s)Erik Odeldahl
Designer(s)Daniel Kihlgren Kallander
Programmer(s)Casper Renman
SeriesWraith: The Oblivion
ReleaseTBA
Genre(s)Horror

Overview

Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a horror game, and is played with a virtual reality (VR) headset. The game is narrative-driven, and is focused on exploration and stealth in a first-person perspective.[1][2][3] As the player continues to explore the game world, the protagonist grows as a wraith and unlocks new abilities,[3] which can be used to interact physically with the environment.[3][4] Although not a focus of the game, it also features combat.[3]

The game is set in the modern Barclay Mansion in the World of Darkness, an urban fantasy setting shared with games like Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, where monsters secretly exist within human society.[1][5] It has the player take the role of a wraith[1] – a recently dead person's spirit – who uncovers mysteries of the afterlife after having died in the mansion.[6][3] In the beginning of the game, the protagonist awakes without remembering how they died, and is guided into the mansion by their shadow – a sinister voice representing a wraith's self-destructive aspects.[3]

Development

Afterlife is developed by the Swedish studio Fast Travel Games, and is directed by Erik Odeldahl,[1] designed by Daniel Kihlgren Kallander, and programmed by Casper Renman.[4] It is based on White Wolf Publishing's 1994 tabletop role-playing game Wraith: The Oblivion;[1] it is the first time Wraith: The Oblivion is adapted into a video game, and the first World of Darkness VR game.[5] It is however still designed to be accessible to players who are new to Wraith: The Oblivion and World of Darkness, intended to be enjoyable by fans of story-driven horror in general and serving as an introduction to the setting.[4]

Odeldahl was influenced by horror games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) and Alien: Isolation (2014), and felt that their type of horror would work well in a VR game;[1] the developers described the horror design as psychological and "under-your-skin" rather than reliant on jump scares.[4] Odeldahl had wanted to create this in the form of a World of Darkness game, and thought that Wraith: The Oblivion was particularly well suited, due to its mystique and the richness of its setting.[1] The particulars of VR influenced the game's design: whereas other exploration-based games often let the player find and read documents throughout the game world as a way to learn backstory, this would be less doable in a VR game. The developers also found that cinematic cutscenes do not normally work well in VR, and had to find another way of handling them.[3]

Although Paradox Interactive, the owner of the World of Darkness series, were the ones who approached Fast Travel Games about developing a Wraith: The Oblivion game, Odeldahl had thought about adapting Wraith before, and had written a concept document for a Wraith video game adaptation when Fast Travel Games was formed, although Afterlife ended up using a different concept.[4] As he saw Wraith: The Oblivion as being about personal horror, this was also used as the starting point for Afterlife's story,[4] with the game seeking to explore what it means to be human by letting the player take the perspective of a monster.[1] The game is not designed to follow all gameplay rules from the tabletop game, but does use its lore.[4]

The game was announced in June 2020 with a teaser trailer, and is planned to be fully unveiled at Gamescom in August 2020 with a gameplay trailer.[1] It is set for release for multiple VR platforms, including PlayStation VR, Oculus and SteamVR at an as of yet unannounced date.[3]

Reception

Destructoid liked the game's concept, hoping that the developers would succeed in realizing it,[2] and Rock, Paper, Shotgun considered it a game of interest for those who can handle horror games in VR.[7] FZ looked forward to the game, calling VR horror an effective concept.[8]

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References
  1. Romano, Sal (2020-06-09). "World of Darkness game Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife announced for "all major VR platforms"". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  2. Devore, Jordan (2020-06-09). "Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is a World of Darkness VR horror game". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  3. Caicoya, Bea (2020-07-07). "Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife: Everything We Know About the VR Game". Comic Book Resources. Valnet. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  4. Odeldahl, Erik; Renman, Caspar; Kihlgren Kallander, Daniel; Juliusson, Andreas (2020-06-17). "AMA with developer behind World of Darkness horror game 'Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife'!". Fast Travel Games. Retrieved 2020-06-25 – via Reddit.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Okutani, Kaito (2020-06-17). "ワールド・オブ・ダークネスをライセンスしたVRアクション「Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife」がアナウンス。亡霊レイスが主人公に". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  6. Lawardorn, Damien (2020-06-09). "Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife Brings VR to Vampire: The Masquerade's Universe". The Escapist. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  7. Morton, Lauren (2020-06-10). "VR horror game Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife will share Vampire: The Masquerade's universe". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  8. Johansson-Sundelius, Carl (2020-06-10). "Behöver du mardrömmar? Spana in VR-spel baserat på World of Darkness-världen". FZ (in Swedish). Geeks Publishing. Archived from the original on 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
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