A new VR game entering early access for Halloween this year lets you send jump scares from a simple webpage to a friend wearing a headset.
Reiko’s Fragments from Pixel Canvas Studios looks like fun for the whole family, except maybe the person who is in VR.
Reiko’s Fragments sees one person explore a haunted house in VR, while friends, family or stream viewers can use any Web-enabled device to place traps and send jump scares to the VR player as they walk around and solve puzzles.
If you’ve ever played any of the Jackbox games, you’ll be familiar with the way in which you use your phone or computer to participate – logging in and joining the game works in a very similar fashion.
Don’t let the Jackbox comparison fool you though. The only similarity between the two is the way in which they use a web interface allowing others to participate. Reiko’s Fragments is a genuinely scary horror game.
The VR player is placed in a haunted house with two floors, which they’ll explore while pursued by a ghost. They can throw items to distract the ghost, but the main objective is to escape by finding a creepy doll hidden somewhere in the house. The catch? There are several fake trap dolls placed around the house by the non-VR users before the game begins.
But wait! There’s more spooky stuff – as the VR player explores the house, the non-VR players can send different types of jump scares to creep the VR player out. You can choose between flickering the lights, slamming a door, or sending a gush of wind their way. However, you can only send them every so often, with a meter that builds up allowing you to send scarier jumps the longer you wait.
We tried out the beta and Ian got genuinely scared exploring the house while we sent door slams and gushes of wind his way, as you can see in the footage above. The version we tried currently only has one map – Reiko’s House – and one difficultly available. The main menu indicates a second map and more difficulties will be available at a later date. The game will launch in early access later this month on the 28th, with support listed on Steam for Vive, Index and Rift, as well as the Oculus Store and Viveport.
If you want to try it out ahead of time, however, Pixel Canvas Studios is also selling the beta version on its site right now. A tweet from the developer says you can also use the code “SPOOKTOBER” for a 33% discount via the website until Halloween. The web interface for non-VR players is available online for free.
