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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

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
I set up my UPlay account over a year ago when Eagle Flight game out for the Rift. Never had any issues.

Glad to see that other outlets are giving Transference near perfect ratings as well! It certainly deserves it.

nrosko
Superstar
Unfortunately like many others i had issues starting the game. Even though Uplay has worked fine with Eagle Flight & was linked with my Oculus account it just didn't show up as a purchase. It was sorted within 24 hours & i changed my review to 5 stars. 

 

LZoltowski
Champion

Pabbert said:


Zenbane said:

I set up my UPlay account over a year ago when Eagle Flight game out for the Rift. Never had any issues.

Glad to see that other outlets are giving Transference near perfect ratings as well! It certainly deserves it.

Do you need to set up Uplay for the OH version?

Yes, Uplay is required for any Ubisoft title on any platform, it's their DRM on both Steam / OH etc
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Be kind to one another 🙂

Anonymous
Not applicable
So, if the game is less than 2 hours long, you can finish it, then ask for a refund because you played less than 2 hours, right? I don't think I would do that myself, but in case somebody is bothered by the short lifespan, that may be a solution.

I just discovered the game (well, had already heard of it but didn't look much into it), it does look interesting!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion


So, if the game is less than 2 hours long, you can finish it, then ask for a refund because you played less than 2 hours, right? I don't think I would do that myself, but in case somebody is bothered by the short lifespan, that may be a solution.

I just discovered the game (well, had already heard of it but didn't look much into it), it does look interesting!



I'd love to try and support the game, but I'd like to see at least 5 to 10 reviews stating the the UPlay issue (and other issues) is solved - and then just 3 hours ago there was a new 1/5 star review in The Oculus Store:

"WHY THE ANNOYANCE OF GOOGLE AUTHENTICATOR??!?!"
Source: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1319276384868331/

It's really sad that playing such a potentially great game gets severely hampered by the use of such security requirements - there should be enough anti-piracy measures build into the Oculus platform not to require Uplay? - And maybe Ubisoft just switched to something else, I have no idea what "Google Authenticator" is... But I guess is this  B)

https://youtu.be/17rykTIX_HY

With such a limited audience, VR devs must be extremely careful that their games get an awesome start - early bad ratings work like a red flag to many, and the impact of early bad ratings takes so much time to reduce (like Seeking Dawn, sigh).

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
I liked this review on Steam:

"Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers.

So I bought the game today, post-patch fixing all the reported issues with the Oculus. I am happy to report that I did not experience a single issue during my full playthrough of the game. It look me about 3 hours to finish the game, however, it can probably be finished in 2 hours. I got stuck on one easy puzzle that I thought was more complicated than it was. I then noticed a number near the laptop which soon made the answer obvious.

So this is a puzzle adventure game that does feel like a walking simulator except that there is always a puzzle to solve to get to the next stage. So I would say this falls closer to a puzzle adventure game than a pure walking simulator. Some of the puzzles are very easy. But I found at least one puzzle difficult, mostly because I was looking in the wrong places. It's easy to look in the wrong place because this game is all about perspective. You will experience things differently as you go along.

It's no coincidence that the family dog Laika is referenced throughout. Laika is also the famous name of the dog that was sent into space to die a horrible death by those crazy Russians. That space incident is also the repeated concern of the little boy in the 1985 Swedish movie My Life as a Dog in which the boy is obssessed with that incident in the context of perspective ... how things are bad but how in perspective they are not so bad, just look at what happened to poor ol' Laika. So yeah, the reference is no coincidence.

This is a narrative driven game. It does have a creepy atmosphere but it is not a horror game. I would say if anything I would call it a psychological thriller / mystery. The graphics are gorgeous. There's lots of details in this world. There are several things to pickup and interact with. However, those interactions are limited and only certain items are interactable. So a lot of the assets are just there for the visuals. A slight disappointment, but It does make the puzzle solving easier though so it makes sense.

You can pickup audio and video logs. Then you can play them. They are well acted. Although, to understand the story you will need to find them all and try to play them in some semblance of order. Otherwise, it will just be a hodge podge of mixed ideas and themes.

I enjoyed the experience. It has AAA production values. However, it is not game of the year. I think it could have been better. When I think of strong narrative driven games I think of What Remains of Edith Finch. And this game is not on that level. I also don't think it's as good as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. However, it has very strong production values and you can tell it was built from the ground up specifically for VR. While not a must have, if you love VR, I think it is something you should consider purchasing to support a big developer putting out original VR content. "
Source: 
https://store.steampowered.com/app/647570/Transference/

I wonder if Steam requires Uplay too - most reviews on Steam are now (very) positive in contrast to the many negative reviews in the Oculus Store. But I wouldn't dream of buying Transference other places than the Oculus Store 
o:) 

BTW, just saw Hereditary last evening - that must be a great warm-up to Transference  😄

https://youtu.be/V6wWKNij_1M

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"

KlodsBrik
Expert Trustee
Yeah. Just realized this is a must have game. No doubt !
Awesome review as always Zenmate.
Be good, die great !

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Ok, Uplay demon here I come, can't resist anymore, I'm in too  o:) 

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"

MowTin
Expert Trustee
2 hours?! Is that a record for shortest VR Game? Some movies are longer. 

I would buy for $10 which is the price of a 2-hour movie. 
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

MowTin said:

2 hours?! Is that a record for shortest VR Game? Some movies are longer. 

I would buy for $10 which is the price of a 2-hour movie. 



Not in my City. $15-$20 is the standard for a good theatre. $10 barely covers popcorn and a drink.

Plus, 2 hours in VR is far more entertaining than 2 hours sitting in a theatre. Not to mention that you own the VR title for that cost; you dont own the movie you watch at a theatre. If you wanna see it again you have to pay again.