The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

It's a fun roller coaster ride.

Supermassive provides a (slightly) deeper experience than you might expect from a VR lightgun game, although overall replay value remains questionable. [Issue#27, p.74]

Switchback is a compelling ride – it’s spooky and adrenaline-pumping and exactly what players want out of a rail shooter… but it could have been so much more than it is. There are flashes of innovation and brilliance, but I wish some of that kind of forward-thinking design had gone into the metagame. It may have been released in 2023, but the lack of features and replayability make it seem more like an arcade machine from 1996.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback is a confident rail shooter that celebrates Supermassive Games’ unrelenting knack of horror, but not even the PSVR 2’s impressive use of eye-tracking can save this ride from a nonexistent story and cheap thrills.

Switchback VR is an impressive showcase for PSVR2 and its new features, I just wish it was scarier.

Switchback VR delivers what it sets out to do with an on-rails shooter that is low on the story but high on the shooting action. While the fun may not last for a long time and the genuine scares are few and far between, it is still a good demonstration of what the PS VR2 brings to the table. Just like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood set the stage back in 2016, hopefully, this will only be the beginning when it comes to exploiting the full potential of PS VR2.

Switchback VR is a fun, albeit flawed, arcade shooter. While the game lacks enemy variety, has disappointing bosses, and has some graphical issues, the core gunplay remains fun and the variety of locations you’ll visit keep the game entertaining throughout the rather short campaign. While I wish the rollercoaster theme was utilized for more thrills, it is still a blast to take down a horde of enemies as you ride through a burning house or a creepy backwoods road.

Switchback VR is one of the best games currently available on PS VR2. At the same time, it's a disappointment in terms of graphics and can be completed in one evening.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is a really solid PSVR 2 shooter with some fun uses of the headset's eye tracking and haptics, though it is sadly let down by some annoying technical hitches.

Switchback VR is fun, and tries to make the most of the PSVR2 but its wildly bouncing storyline and one-trick-pony gameplay means you’ll tire of it fairly quickly. An okay if not amazing VR title for the Playstation.

It’s a decent enough arcade shooter, and if you look at it that way, the length and mood of the game make sense. However, it doesn’t make as much sense as a game with the Dark Pictures moniker. As widely varied as the quality of those games have been, they take the time to tell a story. Switchback doesn’t. It focuses on the gunplay, action, and thrills. While it does a decent enough job of that, the performance issues bring even that end down a bit. If you’re a fan of Supermassive’s brand of horror, it would be hard for me to recommend this over their other games. If you want to play something more like a modern light gun horror that makes decent use of the PS VR2’s technology, then you could do worse than Switchback, but you could also do better.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is a fun on-rails arcade shooter, even if it’s one that takes less than a day to complete. It’s also one of the first games in the PS VR2’s library to really take advantage of the headset’s eye-tracking tech in an interesting and exciting way. However, the lack of scares, weak story, and occasional performance issues keep it from being a must-buy for PS VR2 early adopters.

While this review may sound very negative, you can have some fun with The Dark Pictures Anthology: Switchback VR. The problem is, we just expected it to be better. While we didn’t find it scary at all, some might. We at least appreciated that a number of its scenarios put us under pressure. It’s perhaps apt that it puts you on a rollercoaster, as like a real rollercoaster ride it’s full of highs and lows, both technically and mechanically. At the end of the day, there are better on-rails shooters available on PSVR 2 already. And the unique elements on offer here just aren’t accomplished enough to draw us away from them.

Switchback VR is a steady rail shooter that offers decent variety and an interesting tour through some old levels, but never tries to earn The Dark Pictures name. The choices don’t matter, the Curator is just a creepy Where’s Wally?, and the stakes or even setup for rescuing characters was lost on me. However, it’s reliably spooky, action-packed, and has the best designed villain in the series. It’s a rail shooter obsessed with its own past, so it makes sense that it’s two steps forward and one step back.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is not a bad game, but it is certainly a disappointment. We expect more from Supermassive. Similarly, we expect more from PSVR 2. The gameplay is too ordinary and schematic, lacking more interesting ideas and features. Although the action is still fun, that is no longer enough.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR offers cheap chills and thrills along with eye-catching lighting effects, but not much else.