Wilson's Heart

This is a VR game that will inspire others to make their own VR games. It's a high-quality product that makes me upset it's an Oculus exclusive. I still think that VR games have a long way to go, but Wilson's Heart is a strong foot forward towards realizing the true impact virtual reality can have. It doesn't rely on jump-scares to freak out the player but instead opts to make them uneasy and uncomfortable with its environment and brilliant setpieces. If you have the capacity to play Wilson's Heart, do it. Then send me a PM so we can talk about all the super cool spoilery moments that are unmatched in the medium and genre.

Wilson’s Heart for Oculus Rift is an absolute amazing VR gaming experience that harkens in tone and style to the old style classic films of Hollywood horror and the old Hammer Horror films. The presentation is even in black and white and lends its self-well to the adventure the player finds himself or herself thrust on. Furthermore, Wilson’s Heart is one of those diamonds in a sea of cannon fodder games for VR… not to say this diamond does not have a few flaws.

Good acting, a formidable world and a truly interesting story: Wilson's Heart is a great adventure game. Especially in VR the game is breathtakingly beautiful and creepy at the same time. Sometimes it feels like the studio does not trust the gamers though.

Sometimes the search for clues leads me into unpleasant surprises. During my demo, I asked the developer for a heads-up whenever any jump scares were coming up. I'm a total coward when it comes to horror. But I suspect horror fans will take these moments in their stride. The story evolves to include monsters, mysteries and special powers, as I earn abilities to best foes in set-piece action scenes. Otherwise, my character proves to be an agreeably grumpy fellow who just wants to know what the hell is going on. Wilson’s Heart looks like a solid narrative adventure that merges puzzles with combat in a stylish world.

Wilson’s Heart is good, even very good at points. Expertly mixing its story, sound and visual aesthetics into a solid experience that’ll draw you in and keep you engrossed for hours. But there are some niggles with the constrained gameplay mechanics that hamper its ability to be a great title.

With its unique 1940's monster movie aesthetic and excellent voice casting, Wilson's Heart feels like the first "can't-miss" VR game. Too bad it's a Rift exclusive.

Wilson's Heart is a visually-stunning adventure offering a host of expertly-crafted immersive environments, complete with realistic characters and competent voice acting. A thin sheen of '40s campiness coats what turns out to be a horrifying and surreal nightmare world. While puzzles are interesting and varied, the game disappointingly suffers from inconsistent object interaction and lack-luster monster battles. [Tested with Oculus Touch]

While the beginning is almost everything you could wish for from a classic horror experience, Wilson’s Heart soon loses itself in uninteresting “explore, pick up, use, repeat”. It still shows how effective subtle horror can be in VR even though it never gets to prove it fully.