Even at this early stage of growth for VR horror, the trends are already largely predictable. The majority of titles, good or bad, follow the same concept of throwing things in your face for a (usually effective) scare. That’s fine of course, after all, it works so very well in virtual reality, but the difference between those and the few that truly embrace the benefits of immersive horror are very noticeable. The Exorcist Legion VR, by Wolf & Wood, is one of that few.
The Exorcist is a classic book, an iconic movie (with some lesser sequels), and an underappreciated TV show, and it’s managed to add an effective game to the legacy with the final release of Legion.
Split into five 30-40 minute chapters, The Exorcist Legion VR takes the form of five connected, yet distinct, stories concerning a Boston detective and his investigation into a series of murders that have ties to the occult, and likely to a demonic entity. If you want short bursts of murder, demons, and light detective work in VR, then you’ll be in for a treat here. It also fits the canon of The Exorcist III (which was itself adapted into the novel Legion by The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty).
The five chapters are accessed through a central hub in your office and this serves as your first taste of the level of interaction you can expect. Gameplay is fairly light throughout, but Legion makes meaningful use of VR’s interactivity by allowing you to fiddle and prod with most of the environment (though trying to get a coffee from the vending machine is very much like trying to do the task in real life if you happened to be wearing boxing gloves). In the office, you choose your case (chapter) from the caulk board and dive into the action.
Action might be a bit strong though. It’s not unfair to call The Exorcist: Legion VR slow-paced because it is. Rather than be a criticism, it’s largely a snug fit for the horror it produces and for the medium of virtual reality itself. VR is nearly always best when you can soak in the ambiance and take your time, and that’s a great strength of Legion. The scenarios are short and restricted to a handful of rooms of areas, but it does make the most of that space, even if it’s sporadically handled in an arduous manner.
In the opening chapter, you head to a Church where a grisly murder has occurred and you’re the lucky sod that gets to wander about in a dimly-lit area that’s occupied by an especially nasty-looking corpse. Your parameters are fairly clearly-defined, but the hushed voices you can hear via the audio, and the unsettling gloom just beyond the central space you stand in, give you just that extra bit of hesitation about each step you take.
Once the initial bit of atmosphere-building is out of the way, The Exorcist Legion VR ever-so-slightly lets the mask slip to reveal its true mechanical nature. You see, the game’s investigative puzzles are simple, multi-part affairs, which is fair enough when they flow nicely. It’s when you find yourself seeking out what to do next for too long when it falters a little.
The answers are ordinarily obvious, but occasionally trial and error is the only realistic solution, and you end up interacting with everything, moving back and forth between areas, just to trigger whatever is supposed to happen next. This is nothing new for games, it’s just unfortunate here because it takes you out of the moment, diffusing the slow-building dread. You can almost blame how effective the majority of each episode is at ratcheting up the terror for how noticeable it is when you’re taken out of it.
That terror really does deserve more words too. The use of audio and virtual reality’s ‘in-your-face’ bag of tricks are key ingredients of many a VR horror title, but so rarely make such great use of it as Legion does. The horrific reveals are often striking, built to with confidence and sureness. Every chapter maintains a sense of unease from start to finish, only ever faltering slightly with the odd puzzle frustration. As a crescendo of madness and horror is reached and deescalated, the unease never leaves.
Each chapter offers up some form of new horrific lunacy too. The locations and the threat within them are different, and it’s great for keeping things fresh both in terms of the horror itself, and in the puzzles, which may be simplistic, but are applied in a variety of ways thanks to the shifts in the locale. By the time the fifth chapter reaches its conclusion in a creepy old tomb, nearly everything’s been tied together and things have got decidedly dicier. In an uneven Exorcist extended universe, Legion tells one of its finest stories, and it does so by encompassing everything good VR brings to the gaming table.
Plus, this is a game that lets you wield a crucifix and holy water, so you can get swept away in holding back a demon and shouting ‘The power of Christ compels you!’ loud enough to wake the rest of your household (which is totally not what I did).
The direction The Exorcist Legion VR takes virtual reality horror in is one I’d love to see more of in future. This very much feels like the nucleus for something more elaborate as the hardware grows and adapts. It doesn’t do anything revolutionary, but it does understand what can be done with VR horror so much better than most. It doesn’t outstay its welcome and rarely resorts to cheap tricks to unnerve and unsettle you.
The Exorcist Legion VR PSVR Review code provided by the publisher.
The Exorcist Legion VR is available now on PSVR, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift/