There’s a very special kind of fear that permeates your gut in a VR horror game. When you’re playing a horror game on a PC monitor or TV screen, it’s easy to remind yourself that it’s not real. You can shut your eyes, look away, or leave the room — but in VR, you feel trapped. Even if you close your eyes, you’re still there in that house, or stranded in that forest. Turning your head might work for a moment, but it just delays the inevitable of when you must look at something horrific or you must physically walk into the room that you know holds something dark and twisted.
In short, VR horror games are special because therein lies the difference between watching a scary story play out on a screen and experiencing the nightmares for yourself. And that suffocating tension is at the heart of what makes Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul work well.