The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

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Ride the rails through the Dark Pictures, and choose who rides with you.

Platforms: PlayStation, VR
Price: Paid
Rated: About 4.3 of 5 from some 2,800 ratings on the PlayStation Store; critics mixed (64 on Metacritic)
Players: 1
Controls: PS VR2 headset and PS VR2 Sense controllers, played seated
Made by: Supermassive Games
Released: 2023

What frightens In PS VR2 you ride a horror rollercoaster through the places of four Dark Pictures games, a ghost ship, a fog-bound town, a buried temple and a murder hotel, shooting creatures with pistols, flipping switches to change the track, and deciding whether the passengers with you live or die.
Content: blood, jumpscares, motion sickness.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is a PS VR2 rail shooter by Supermassive Games and the follow-up to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. You ride a horror rollercoaster through the settings of four Dark Pictures games, shooting what comes for you and choosing which fellow passengers survive.

About The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR was developed and published by Supermassive Games for PlayStation VR2 in March 2023. It is a spiritual sequel to the studio's PS VR game Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, built on the world of The Dark Pictures Anthology.

You ride a horror-themed rollercoaster armed with pistols, shooting targets, objects and enemies. The track runs through places from four Dark Pictures games: a shipwreck from Man of Medan, the abandoned town of Little Hope, the temple ruins of House of Ashes and the replica of H.H. Holmes' hotel from The Devil in Me. You shoot switches to change the route, use items such as UV lights and stun guns to get through, and your choices decide, for good, whether fellow passengers live or die. The anthology's Curator watches you along the way.

It uses PS VR2's eye tracking: in its Don't Blink sections things move when you close your eyes, which one review called the best use of the headset's eye tracking it had seen. Critics were divided overall, with praise for the scares and complaints about the length and the shooting.

It suits PS VR2 owners who liked Rush of Blood or the Dark Pictures games and want a loud, scary ride.

How to play The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

Buy it on the PlayStation Store; you need a PS5, PS VR2 and its Sense controllers, played seated.
Ride the coaster and shoot the creatures and targets around you with a pistol in each hand.
Shoot switches to change the track's route.
Choose whether to save the other passengers; your choices are permanent.