The Inpatient is the brand new PlayStation VR horror experience from the makers of the surprisingly excellent Until Dawn.
Dropping players into the very same Blackwood Pines Sanatorium that featured in the aforementioned teen slasher, The Inpatient is a prequel set 60 years in the past when the hospital was still active.
“Awaken into a living nightmare as a patient with no memory of who you are – in a spine-chilling mystery set 60 years before the events of PS4 hit Until Dawn,” reads the official description.
“Live the horror through the immersion of VR as deep, personal fears, psychological terror and heart-shredding jump scares wait in the darkness.”
Fans of Until Dawn can expect a similar choice-based narrative, a branching story and one or two spine tingling jump scares that aren’t for the faint of heart.
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Is The Inpatient a worthy prequel to Until Dawn? Check out our pros and cons review gallery to find out…
The most immediately impressive thing about The Inpatient is how good it looks.
Whether you’re strapped to the treatment chair, being wheeled through the hospital or staring through the bars of your cell, you won’t fail to be bowled over by The Inpatient’s superior visuals.
The detailed character models, grimy cells and surreal dream sequences really draw you into the action and heighten the atmosphere.
The ability to actually converse with characters through the microphone increases the feeling of actually being trapped in the Blackwood Pines Sanatorium, and is much more immersive than selecting responses using the DualShock.
Utilising the same Butterfly Effect branching narrative as Until Dawn, fans also have reason to revisit The Inpatient after the first playthrough, although some of the jump scares will lose their impact on the second run.
Unfortunately, however, while Supermassive has done a fantastic job of creating a sense of time and place, there’s not much meat on the game’s bones.
Not only is The Inpatient a rather short experience, but there’s very little variety throughout.
Movement is extremely limited, it’s almost impossible to examine objects using the DualShock and the script isn’t on par with the game’s visuals. There are a couple of moments in the story that could have had more impact with better dialogue.
The Inpatient isn’t lacking in atmosphere, but it is short on variety and is over far too quickly considering the premium price tag.
However, while it’s not on par with Supermassive’s breakthrough hit Until Dawn, the use of virtual reality elevates a mediocre experience into something far more memorable.