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Transference (Review)

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Transference is a VR Experience that I've been anticipating ever since I first encountered it back in December 2017:

I dedicated today to going through Transference, start-to-finish, in one-sitting. This is a 2-hour experience that attempts to capture fear derived from Anxiety and Madness (as opposed to straight PeePee Pants City "jump scares"). There is a real story here with real actors. The theme is professionally done in every regard:
  • Unique Visuals
  • Exceptional Audio
  • Quality VR Implementation
  • Full 360 immersion
  • Optimal use of "hand presence"

Many times I was afraid to open doors or look behind me. The game creates a sense of anticipation and dread at varying intervals that blend extremely well with the overall purpose of the Experience. The Player can expect to go back-n-forth between a VR Metaverse and Reality as you will often encounter recorded media depicting real people (not animated avatars). And this is executed in creative ways throughout the game:

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You can also watch the Video Logs you collect in a "void theatre" that is reminiscent of the first Dead Secret title for the Rift.

I found myself comparing Transference to films starring Keanu Reeves. Not just the Matrix movies either... but also A Scanner Darkly. When you are not looking at true real life scenes, you are engulfed in a world that is very much Adult Animation:

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Color scheming is also taken full advantage of throughout this Experience, to help create strong atmosphere and heighten feelings of anxiety:
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Aside from the fantastic visual elements, the game-world has a strong sense of being in The Matrix. Rooms load like "constructs" (something anyone with Rift Core 2.0 has experienced plenty), and there are tons of "glitches" that add an impressive uniqueness to the immersion.

Transitions from one world or metaverse to another happens through this "construct loading" process.

You begin in total darkness with the world slowly loading to completion:
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The puzzle elements tend to be quite technical as well. With "missing file" annotations appearing every so often. It actually tricked me at first, as I thought that my Oculus software was generating an error lol

But the game takes place inside a Virtual World (it is part of the plot and theme), so technology plays a crucial row. You can expect to be on the lookout for various "glitches" in the construct. In fact, in the very beginning of the game I was walking up a staircase and felt like Neo when he first saw that Black Cat...

(the game world is dark; I brightened the below screenshot which lessens the quality)
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The Puzzles are unique and well-crafted. You will often need to travel between 2 different metaverses to complete a puzzle. My favorite thing about this is that one metaverse has the "horror" element, while the other has the "madness" element.

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There are several Jump Scares throughout the game, but it does not rely on them. I actually found these Jump Scares to be my absolute favorite of all the Jump Scares I have ever encountered from the multiple horror experiences I've gone through since 2016 (Affected, Elevator Ritual, Emily Wants to Play, etc).

Your main enemy is some sort of Shadow Creature, and for most of the game I found myself wanting to avoid encounters with it. However, by the ending sequences the story and overall gameplay becomes so intriguing that I started to intentionally seek out the Shadow Creature head-on. Silly as that may sound, it's the first time I've been that involved with a villain in a VR Experience. I wanted that final showdown!


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Overall, I can easily give this game 5 out of 5 stars.

Yes it could be longer. Yes it could be cheaper. Yes the puzzles could be more challenging. But this is such a complete package that has no inherent flaws. It set out to portray horror, madness, and anxiety with a strong sense of sophistication; and it does that very well.

I'm looking forward to a second playthrough asap.

For anyone who purchases this Title, I highly recommend going through it in one-sitting. Doing so really does allow you to capture the full depth of anxiety, fear, and madness.
31 REPLIES 31

Rob_In_Phoenix
Rising Star
Wow, great write-up Zen.  I didn't know anything about this game and it definitely sounds very immersive.  The fact that it's only about 2 hours actually makes it more interesting to me as I don't have tons of time to invest in longer games and I don't need a longer backlog than I already have.

Thanks for the game summary.

LZoltowski
Champion
Great write-up as always. Thank you! Already downloaded and ready for my weekend playthrough!

It's £20 on the store, might sound expensive for a 2-hour experience but if it's of the quality you describe then it's like a  well produced 2-hour interactive movie experience, which in London is the price of a cinema ticket plus a box of popcorn 🙂 Sounds like it worth it.
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Be kind to one another 🙂

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Cool man, nice summary. I didn't even think about the Matrix when playing, I felt the game was more akin to Observer, but then again Observer shares elements from the Matrix as well - such an influential movie. Is there a 2D option available because if not then the Oculus version is not as good value as the Uplay one.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Nope, the "start in Desktop" mode option is not currently available when launching from OH. I never use that option for any games that support it, but good to know for anyone who does.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
I think you would find going back to the 2D version after experiencing it in VR would be underwhelming at best.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
How do you choose the 2D version if you get it from the Oculus Store?

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

RedRizla said:

How do you choose the 2D version if you get it from the Oculus Store?



You don't sir. It's currently VR only on OH.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Great review - but there seems to be a severe Uplay issue? 

42% of current ratings are just 1/5 stars, like:

1. "Not working
Not working I can't start the game because of Uplay authentification issue"

2. "Not working
I can't start the game because of Uplay authentification issue. I tried lots of things, downloaded latest Uplay version, uninstalled and reinstalled the game, restart everything countless times, check uplay-oculus account linking ... I contacted support.ubi.com a few days ago, including reports and config files in my email, but I didn't get any answer yet. It seem to be an issue shared by most users and I'm very disapointed."

3. "Game finally launches...
Initial issue: Failure to start / load due to Ubisoft's broken Uplay service. Fix required opening a ticket with Ubisoft support who had to manually tweak my Uplay account licensing to get issue resolved. With that said Transference still suffers from the exact same Uplay startup issue that plagues Star Trek: Bridge Crew. Every time you open a UbisoftVR app in Oculus you will be told that you are not logged into UPlay (despite UPlay being up and running / logged in) ST:BC/Transference will then prompt you in-headset to log into UPlay and restart the experience. On the second launch ST:BC and Transference will actually start up. It's an annoyance that could be avoided if Ubisoft would ditch Uplay and let the Oculus app manage the licenses. Maybe at some point I'll actually play through the experience and come back to write an honest review of Transference."

So it's seem the game simply doesn't work for many users - but you didn't experience any problems?

See the many negative reviews here:

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1319276384868331/

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
The game got a 100% (= 5/5) rating on VR Focus:

"If you love a good horror experience then Transference should be on your to buy list. It’s a videogame that should come with a heart warning, not because of jump scares, just merely due to the fact it’ll get your heart racing for the entire duration. Ubisoft and SpectreVision have done a commendable job entwining both live-action story and gameplay elements to make Transference one of the best psychological thrillers for VR."
Source: https://www.vrfocus.com/2018/09/review-transference/


And 8.5 on RoadToVR:

"'Transference' is a short adventure through a family's corrupted digital minds, taking you into their fears and preoccupations that seem to have reshaped the world around them after an experiment to copy their biological selves to the digital medium. Much of the thrill lies in the game's realistic (albeit fractured) atmosphere, although a few jump scares await that should get the pulse of even the bravest horror fan thumping. It treads a fine line between adventure game, with its puzzles and found objects that tell a story, and a dark indie film that sweeps you along at a fast clip. While too short for some, in the end the experience reflects concise storytelling that may have ultimately suffered with a longer format. 
Gameplay: 8 | Immersion: 8.5 | Comfort: 9"
https://www.roadtovr.com/transference-review-thrilling-film-like-adventure-digital-age/


UploadVR rated the game 9/10:

"There is a lot to unpack in Transference. It deals with several heavy themes that will likely make players uneasy, and from what I can tell, that’s sort of the point. Ubisoft and SpectreVision have mixed the stylings of Black Mirror and The Matrix with a twisted vision of the future that feels dangerously honest and realistic. While I’d have certainly loved for it to be a bit longer, I also appreciate how well-paced and polished it feels at the same time. It’s not without its flaws, but Transference is an unforgettable VR experience that I won’t soon forget."
https://uploadvr.com/transference-review/


Steam reviews are mixed - many users seem plagued by the Uplay issue - some complain about "terrible" Touch controller support:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/647570/Transference/

https://youtu.be/8jQYGPDoafU

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"