VR Review - Face Your Fears

VR Review: Face Your Fears (free download version) by Turtle Rock Studios

Played with Oculus Quest 2.

CAUTION: I have linked some official trailers below, but since the experiences are actually quite short, I highly recommend that you do NOT watch them in entirety or at all, unless for some reason you really need to have a peek before downloading. It's not a big download and there are four free experiences.

WARNING: There is apparently some kind of issue with the developer which you can see from the reviews here so do your research before you buy any content. It appears VR development has ended and you cannot expect any product support if it doesn't work with your device. You can try a small variety of experiences for free from the Oculus store here.

There are two types of experiences here, which you access through two doors.

Door to the Left: Terror

The left side door is a single experience that plays out whether you are ready or not. It is recommended you stand so you can look around because sometimes the action happens "behind" you (compared to the initial direction you were facing).

Door to the Right: Horror x3

The door on the right has three scenarios that are set in the same room and it plays out differently from the other door. Not simply because it is more "horror movie", but because it does not simply relentless play. It actually waits for you to look in the proper direction before advancing to the next event.

The horror experience is rather cliche but it works. And for it to work well, there are two key elements:

• You are helpless to do anything except look around.
• If you try to move, for example to have a better look at something, the view just adjusts to try to maintain the proper perspective.
• This enforced helplessness is actually trying to heighten the horror experience, so don't try to circumvent it.
• You must cooperate with the experience and look where they want you to look.
• Typically you are directed by a noise or the most recent disturbance
• So if you are looking around trying not to miss something, or staring at something waiting for it to change (or maybe you hope to catch it in the act of mysteriously vanishing), that just stops the experience from continuing. It literally just waits until you do what you are supposed to do.
• If you think you are looking at the right area but the experience is not proceeding, try to look at it more directly / move it more into your field of vision.
• For example, in the Clown scenario, I was looking at the clown next to my bed, but apparently not directly enough because there was no more progress. I had to have more of it in view before the experience would continue.

It's scary enough

The scenarios may use a lot of cliches but that's why they work and they can work well enough to wake you up with a scare. Since there are free experiences, you might as well just try it if you are curious.