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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

LZoltowski
Champion

Zenbane said:


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.


Yup, it's £17 at my local cinema per movie, if you count a large popcorn and a soda in that is £26 roughly

Transference is £20

Added bonus: my partner can play this too at no extra charge! 🙂
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cybereality
Grand Champion
Looks awesome. Will have to check it out. I'm okay with 2 hours long, time is at a premium these days.
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RuneSR2
Grand Champion

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. 




Some dude wrote that it took 2 hours to complete Moss, it took me 8 hours (admitted, other reviewers also stated 6 to 8 hours), and Zenbane has already considered a second Transference playthrough. I usually spend a lot of time checking everything including textures ( :blush: ), so I'm hoping to spend more than 2 hours in Transference. RoadToVR and UploadVR did finish the game in just 90 minutes, so maybe 120 minutes is for the slow old-timers... 😉

I also just bought Solo, Infinity War and Ready Player One on blu-ray 3D each for the same price as Transference, had I waited a year, I probably could have gotten them for nearly half the price, but I don't want to wait that long - and I applied the same logic to Transference (due to awesome reviews and it seems that the Uplay issue has been solved to some extend). Finally I like to support when a major publisher spend time to develop a VR game - and even makes it available in the Oculus Store (=optimized for the Rift).

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"

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
I already completed a second playthrough of Transference, because I was missing 3 media files after my first playthrough. I found 2 more and was having an impossible time finding the final media file lol

Now that I found everything though, it was nearly 4 hours total. And of course, a lot of that time depends on how quickly you can solve these puzzles.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Zenbane's review feels spot on (although I haven't finished the game). It is truly an awesome game - but I do feel kind of stressed, like "I need to finish the game in 90 or 120 minutes or everyone will think I've got severe learning disabilities"  😄  
I probably already spent an hour just checking textures - and the quality is awesome, maybe not "Ethan Carter"-awesome, but still quite awesome. The SPUD-effect is very noticeable and quite annoying in some of the very dark locations, but that has nothing to do with the game, and I'm kinda used to it. Sound effects were awesome too - I've already jumped a lot more than when watching Hereditary - alone - in the dark. Hereditary never really got to me, but VR horror/suspense works every time  :#
Again, graphics are awesome, just check out the bricks in the building when you start the game - it simply looks real. I tried maxing all settings (=bloom + very high shadow detail) while using super sampling 2.0 and I still got solid 90 fps, no re-projections, so many persons should be able to enjoy the game, it doesn't require a 2080 ti at all 😉 Animations are top-notch, the game oozes of quality. Touch controls are working just fine, I don't have a problem with the movements (although walking is slow, maybe I just haven't found the always run button yet :blush: ) - there's full locomotion, HMD directed (like in Doom VFR, but that's my favorite method). 
Love how they made the hands matrix-style, using ss 2.0 you can really see almost every pixel. Like Zenbane described, it's a game like no other, and it may take some time getting used to the logic. 

Starting the game wasn't easy though. After downloading the game I just started it, there was some loading, and *blink* I was kicked back to Oculus Home. Had to take off the HMD, and saw a small window from Uplay where I had to log in. I  had to create a new account, then to associate it was the Oculus app - but still the game wouldn't start (at this point my mood wasn't the best). Then I gave in, had to install Google Authenticator on my phone and use a few codes (like Steam Guard), but then suddenly everything worked. 

For persons not used to Uplay, it may take some time (15 minutes?) to get everything working - patience is key, and the game is worth it.

https://youtu.be/Gjw1DHJWhTA

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"

rh_galaxy
Heroic Explorer
The UPlay issue has not been solved.

How can they let it be this way for months... It's been 3 days since I created a ticket with ubisoft, and I'm still not allowed to start the game.

"...a problem authenticating the ownership..." I have linked Oculus with UPlay account, what more is there to do? The game exists with OH and does not exist in UPlay. Clearly there are faults that need fixing between UPlay and Oculus...

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

rh_galaxy said:

The UPlay issue has not been solved.

How can they let it be this way for months... It's been 3 days since I created a ticket with ubisoft, and I'm still not allowed to start the game.

"...a problem authenticating the ownership..." I have linked Oculus with UPlay account, what more is there to do? The game exists with OH and does not exist in UPlay. Clearly there are faults that need fixing between UPlay and Oculus...



It is horrible with Uplay, but the game is truly amazing, one of the best ever within its genre (especially due to VR), so it's definitely worth the hassle.

Hmm, the game can be completed in a couple of hours, maybe I should get it finished - but it's like having a great cake, if I eat it all then I don't have it anymore, 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"

rh_galaxy
Heroic Explorer
Well, I got it running by requesting a refund on day 13 as ubisoft didn't resolve my ticket, then bought it back (now not on sale of course). I still think new users will have this issue with UPlay, believe it worked for me the 2nd time because I now already have UPlay installed, have a user, was logged in, and have linked the UPlay and Oculus accounts. Seems you only get one shot at activating the software at ubisoft, if something is not right the chance is gone...


But I now have a problem with controls. I can't crouch. (Using the Oculus store version, not Steam).

Maybe by using the keyboard (use L or R, it says in the settings) but I don't want that, and the setting is broken (stuck on "Stick Sensitivity"), button "A" does nothing, can't select any other control option, just go back to the previous menu. Xbox controller doesn't work ok either.

The only way I can reach objects on the floor is to stand up (for real), reset view, crouch down (for real) and pick up before the view is reset automatically (after 2 sec maybe) and you don't reach it any longer...

Installed today, so maybe I have another now broken version than what you used... (miss seeing a date on when last update was made, we see only release date).

It's not playable like this. How did you do it?

rh_galaxy
Heroic Explorer
Ok, so I'm stupid. I had to press L or R sticks down to crouch. But still, they have reset view on Y and B (a common button for an uncommon action), and this crouch on an uncommon button for something you have to do all the time... Well, it works now so that's good.

Still this question is valid:
-Why can't I change the controller settings (stuck on "Stick Sensitivity"), pressing "A" does nothing. Can only go back to the previous menu.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
I agree that the crouch button is a bit strange in terms of placement. It threw me off the first time it happened; I thought my game had glitched lol

The game doesn't allow changing up the controller mappings. But honestly, there isn't much to it since 90% of the game involves using your hands to manipulate things. As for crouching, I can only think of 1 time where I had to do it as part of the game.