Rise of Insanity – Episode I (Oculus Go & Gear VR)

System: Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Go
Price at Time Of Review: £2.99 ($4)
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Horror
Input: Touchpad, Gamepad, Gear VR Controller
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: 15+

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Description: Rise of Insanity is a first-person psychological horror game, with additional support for VR, which draws inspiration from the greatest psychological horror movies such as The Shining, The Exorcist and Silent Hill.

Set in America in the 1970’s, the story centers around Dr. Stephen Dowell, a renowned psychologist faced with a difficult patient who shows distinct yet contradictory symptoms of different mental disorders. The life of the doctor himself is also shrouded in mystery – you must step into his shoes to find out the truth.

Review: When it comes to horror games in VR even the bad ones can be good thanks to the levels of immersion VR brings. The good news is Rise of Insanity – Episode I isn’t one of the bad ones, in fact, its one of the very best horror games I have played on the Gear VR. Sure, this game has some great looking graphics, good voice acting, good music and some very effective jump scares thanks to the dark and scary atmosphere from start to finish, but it also had a pretty intriguing storyline that compels you to go on even though you really don’t want to.

Sure, it only lasts for a few hours tops, but for those few hours, you will so deeply immersed in the game you will start to fear for your own real-world life. This is not one to play on a dark night all alone that is for sure. And besides, it doesn’t cost that much at all and with the promise of more episodes on the way its a storyline that has a real future. Even if many genres fail to take VR into the mainstream, horror games (esspecialy ones that are this good) will carry it on their own back.