Supermassive Games dropped some exciting news this past week, for fans of The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. In a surprise update, PS VR2’s nightmarish VR rollercoaster has received an all new Horde Mode DLC, bringing the game’s fans some much needed new content, just in time for the Halloween season.
Switchback VR released exclusively on PS VR2 earlier this year, to some very mixed reviews. This wasn’t exactly surprising, given the extremely high expectations for the game, which was sold as a spiritual successor to the original PSVR fan favorite Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. What was surprising however, was the extremely poor state of the title at launch, for some players. While certain players received a game that looked good and ran relatively well on the PS5 hardware, others reported a terrible experience marred by poor performance and blurry visuals.
Luckily, within a couple of months Supermassive Games was able to “right the ship”, so to speak. A July update to Switchback VR brought with it a notable increase in graphical fidelity for all users, as well as numerous game optimizations and bug fixes. The gameplay itself even received a noticeable improvement as the studio decided to greatly decrease the game’s use of aim assist, providing players with a bit more of a challenge.
The long awaited, sizable update effectively transformed Switchback VR into one of this year’s stronger releases for PS VR2. But for many fans of the original Rush of Blood, something still seemed to be missing. Some cited a lack of intensity with regard to the gameplay and overall scare factor, while others were underwhelmed by Switchback’s somewhat slow roller coaster sections, an area where the game’s predecessor had excelled. When faced with these remaining criticisms, the team at Supermassive Games responded with just a wink and a nod, once again assuring fans that this game is far from being finished.
Fast forward to October, where Supermassive has managed to surprise the Switchback fanbase with yet another massive update. This past week saw the release of Switchback VR’s brand new Horde Mode, which came in the form of a completely free DLC pack. On the surface, this all new playable content seems to address the few remaining criticisms of the game, by providing players with a fast paced, highly challenging way to play, filled with massive numbers of intimidating, hard to kill enemies. Each room that you’re able to survive in the new DLC is immediately followed by a hardcore coaster section which blasts you to the next room at blistering, break-neck speeds.
In many ways, this free DLC is just the icing on the proverbial cake. What was already a great PS VR2 exclusive, is now even better, and the team at Supermassive has taken a huge step toward delivering the Rush of Blood successor that fans deserve. As a massive fan of the original Rush of Blood, I can honestly say that if we have now received the final version of Switchback VR, then I am satisfied. In my opinion, Supermassive has finally managed to produce a worthy sequel to their Gen 1 classic.
Still, I’ve got a sinking suspicion that the final word on Switchback VR has yet to be written. The introduction of this new gameplay mode opens up a whole new realm of terrifying possibilities for the game. Will the team at Supermassive decide to continue their work and further fulfill the potential of an already incredible title? Only time will tell. Whether this ultimately happens or not, one thing is certain: the journey up to this point has been one hell of a ride.
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