Cosmodread

About Cosmodread

Cosmodread is the second VR horror game from White Door Games, the small studio behind Dreadhalls. It came out on 25 March 2021 for PC VR on Steam and for Meta Quest, and on 24 May 2023 for PlayStation VR2 on PS5. It was announced under the name Cosmophobia.

You wake aboard a spaceship that is falling apart. Each run lays out the rooms, corridors, items and hazards differently, so you cannot memorise it. With your own hands you open doors, drawers and lockers, gather basic materials, and craft weapons and equipment at fabricators from blueprints you find: a crossbow, bolts, traps, grenades and more. Keycards open new sections of the ship, batteries from wall panels power lights and machines for a limited number of charges, and you have to watch your oxygen.

The horror is the dark and what lives in it. Most of the ship is pitch black, with only a small light on your wrist and some hall lighting. Something organic has grown over parts of the ship and makes a wet, pulsing sound as it spreads, and each creature has its own noise, so you often hear one on the other side of a wall or in the vents before you see it. Ammunition is scarce and the creatures are deadly, so you crouch behind cover, set traps, or throw an object across a room to draw one away. Death ends the run.

Audio logs and text logs tell the story a piece at a time, and the logs and blueprints you unlock stay unlocked when you die, so every run adds something. A winning run takes about one to two hours by the maker's estimate, and finding all 41 logs and 23 blueprints takes far longer.

It suits VR players who liked Dreadhalls and want more to do, with crafting and some fighting, and players who like the slow dread of creeping through a dark ship. Reviewers have noted that many rooms look alike, which makes it easy to get lost.

How to play Cosmodread

1. Wake aboard the ship and search the first rooms for supplies.
2. Open drawers and lockers by hand and collect materials, batteries and blueprints.
3. Craft a crossbow, bolts and other gear at the ship's fabricators.
4. Find keycards to open new sections and use batteries to power lights and machines.
5. Avoid or fight creatures: hide behind cover, set traps or throw objects to distract them.
6. Complete the ship's objectives and escape toward Earth. If you die, start a new run; your logs and blueprints stay unlocked.

Tips

• Do not waste bolts; distraction or a trap is often better than a fight.
• Search everything, crafting materials are your lifeline.
• Save battery charges for rooms and machines you really need.
• Keep an eye on your oxygen.
• Listen: each creature has its own sound, and you can often hear one through a wall or a vent before it sees you.
• Use the comfort settings that suit you; teleport, dash and snap turning are available.

Questions