Ghost Town Meta Quest Review
Summary: Solve puzzles to help spirits move on while trying to solve your own family mystery.
5
Puzzling Poltergeists.
VR and horror go together like… insert your favourite pairing. The intimate, personal nature of the VR experience makes everything feel more real. Fortunately (for me), Ghost Town isn’t about jump scares so much as it is about being kind to the dearly departed… in fact, you are more interested in helping them move on than “busting” them.
The game starts with you and your brother on an investigation in an abandoned theatre. Everything seems to be going well… you’ve just about helped the ghost move on… when things take a turn for the worst. The next thing you know (or at least the next scene the game jumps to)… your brother is missing and you are doing all you can to find out what happened to him and that investigation is taking you to a mysterious Scottish Island where you hope a clairvoyant can provide some answers.
From the get go Ghost Town does a fantastic job of setting the tone and the atmosphere. As I mentioned… it’s not so much about trying to spook you or give you a fright (I’m not saying that won’t happen… but each person is different)… it’s more like Dead Boys Detective agency sort of stuff. The theatre that you start in is full of character, lovely decor, fancy lights (with only some globes working… once they are on). The stage is fully laid out and you can practically feel the heat of the spotlight. The process of helping the spirit has its own visual splendour too (it’s always a fun/freaky experience being able to see out the little gap at the bottom of the head set and seeing your hand in the real world “merge” with the virtual hand in the headset).
The soundscape and orchestration really put things over the top. The voice acting is top notch (love the accents) and the music carries you along with appropriate rises and falls depending on the mood of the scene in front of you from just wandering around to witnessing a spectral scene from the past. Speaking of those spectral scenes… brilliant! The ethereal look of them feels just right as you make your way through the environments and they do a great job of giving you an idea of what you are up against.
In regards to the puzzles… they are a nicely targeted difficulty level… which is to say that with a bit of work, and or investigation, you should be able to solve them. Some are a little more obscure than others but nothing seems totally incomprehensible. If anything does get a bit too tricky, there’s a hint system that will help put you on track.
Final Thoughts
This is VR done exceptionally well! The visuals are crisp and high quality which draws you into the world to start with. The audio compliments those visuals perfectly by giving you a great mix of atmospheric noises along with fantastic voice acting and compelling music. The puzzles are challenging enough to make you think but not so obscure that you get frustrated. You can actually feel empathy for the spirits you save and seeing their stories play out in front of you is quite moving at times. An absolute must buy if you like a bit of paranormal puzzling.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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