Shed no tears.
PS VR horror I expect to be a big draw and appeal to the new PlayStation accessory. With the limited launch line up of a new VR tech to the system comes the good and bad. On one hand, players can experience a lot of different games to test the new hardware. On the other hand, developers know there isn’t a huge library for gamers to choose from, so the more the merrier. This leads to some games coming out that offer little reason to experience them or seemingly rushed to the crowd to get those early adopter sales. Weeping Doll cries for players dollars, but probably shouldn’t get it.
“Want to play?”
A virtual reality game about a weeping doll sounds like the premise for something absolutely terrifying if done right correct? So far be it for me to say that I expected to get scared playing a game called Weeping Doll. Let’s get this out of the way, I wasn’t scared, terrified, or remotely disturbed playing at all during my 45 minutes of gameplay. As readers can probably tell, this is already off to a bad start. 1. A scary game without being scary. 2. A game that is extremely short. Now I do honestly believe most scary games are very subjective when it comes to what scares a player. From supernatural entities, to killer clowns, we all have deep seated fears. Here, it just feels like it’s pandering to the horror crowd with the most bottom of the barrel horror tropes, and even then, it does nothing new or even remotely scary to try and get a reaction. I thought for sure there would be a ton of jump scares; nope, not here.
MSRP: $9.99
Price I’d Pay: $1.99
Multiplayer: N/A
How long to beat: 45 minutes
The story behind the game isn’t even exactly clear. Playing as a character visiting a house? There isn’t much to go off of other then an extremely blurry opening moment with a book involving a family and something happened, blah, blah, blah. Sorry it was so uninteresting and typical it’s not even worth remembering. This might sound harsh, but it’s just that basic and uninteresting. That aside, the gameplay here is decent, taking place in first person, though to prevent motion sickness, players don’t have free movement of the character. Instead there are short cuts to change direction, and placing a silhouette of your character moves players forward in quick jumps. It really does a great job of minimizing motion sickness, which is a huge plus for me when it comes to first person games in VR.
Aside from the interesting movement mechanic, gameplay boils down to some slim puzzle solving that most will be able to figure out fairly quickly. A clock and tile puzzle for example, leading way to some very easy to use and easy to solve puzzles. I never got stuck trying to figure these out, and progress was pretty straightforward aside from figuring out which key goes where. This is a game that most can enjoy and not get too stumped on.
Visually, it’s sort of a blurry mess, even when up close to paintings or environmental objects. It’s one of the most blurry VR games I’ve played since launch. The house design is decent for a house with a few surprises here and there, but it’s also sort of basic. The sound design is also just basic. Nothing extremely creepy or unsettling. Voice acting is pretty average also, with a very long winded plot drop towards the end that had me scratching my ears in horror at the performance.
I weep for this game
So the game seemingly started to feel like it was getting right to the precipice of getting scary and dark… and then it ends, I think? Yes, the game was finally starting to grab me ever so slightly and then it just sort of ends. It makes me wonder if the game was even finished, or they just decided to wrap up and release. There are no conventional credits, and the only way I knew I had seen what the majority of the game offered was when a room unlocked and I could see staff names and developer pictures on the wall. It was such a lackluster experience and pay off that I didn’t even know it was about to end. Everything in Weeping Doll just seems pandering to the horror crowd for a quick buck, but it’s not even terrifying; the only thing scary is how disappointingly mediocre this experience is. Ultimately I was disappointed, and even the most interested players should think twice before giving Weeping Doll any time.
Did it make me sick: Not at all, the movement for FPS here is the best way to handle motion sickness in my experience.
Favorite moment: Solving some of the easy puzzles, still felt good.
Worst moment: It ended, but did it end? That was it?
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
