There are a few moments in which you can grab your controller and choose which item you wish to interact with (in my case I made a ball fly out of the window and smack someone on the head to show that my spirit was still there), having your choice change the narrative just like whichever person you choose to watch does. It’s a very seamless and interesting way to create a VR experience out of an FMV video. Yet, if you were looking at the father, you would have stayed and watched him. For example, when the mother walks off after a conversation with the father, if you’re looking at her walking out the room, the viewpoint will change and you’ll now see what she gets up to in the other room. Previously, with subtitles on, moments like this were visually represented so I didn’t miss anything.Īs far as I understand, there was something that meant they could only get subtitles to work in 2D-mode – but they have said that they will try and address this with future releases (if the hardware permits it).**Īs Afterlife is basically a pre-recorded video, how does this work as a ‘game’? Whilst watching the events act out in front of you, the game reacts to where you’re looking without actually specifically letting you know that it’s doing this.
The new path I took this time involved your sister overhearing your parents in another room, yet all I could hear were mumbles even though she could clearly understand what was being said – this was with headphones on and the volume quite high as well. Seeing as you have to turn the subtitles off to enable the 3D-mode, I had trouble understanding some of the dialogue. This increased my immersion when I played through the entire experience once more, but this actually brought with it its own disadvantages… This gives the illusion of depth and correct perspectives as if you’re actually sat there in the middle of the performance. However, if you turn the subtitles off, the video becomes stereoscopic 3D. **Update – as advised by the Marketing Director from Signal Space Lab, enabling the subtitles (either French or English) forces Afterlife to run as a 2D (flat) 360-degree experience. As such, the Japanese video immersed me and made me feel like I was actually there much more than the flat presentation of Afterlife. If I compare Afterlife to a random Japanese Idol FMV VR demo, which I just found on the Japanese PSN store, that one also has FMV but it’s stereoscopic, so there’s depth to the video making the scenes seem 3D even though it’s all pre-recorded. The issue for me here is the lack of depth – it’s a flat 2D video that you’re watching as you spin around. There are sadly no rotation options on either controller to help those who can’t turn around fully, such as those with mobility issues or lack of space – thankfully though, the majority of the action takes place within the frontal 180-degrees. This means that the entire experience is played out in front of you in real-time, forcing you to literally turn your entire body 360-degrees on the spot if you wish to look at the events happening all around you. You get to watch the family, and how they try to cope with this tragic event, through the ghostly eyes of the deceased child, a silent apparition that can either interact with his grieving loved ones or sit back and observe.Īlthough I’ve played ‘similar’ titles which combine 360-degree video with gameplay and choices – such as the free-to-play “The Ministry of Time VR: Save the time” – Afterlife is 100% video without any green screen, virtually created environments, or VR depth. The father is trying to move on, the mother can’t quite acknowledge that he’s gone, and the sister is stuck in the middle of her parents at polarising emotional stages.
Afterlife is the story of a family who is struggling after the death of their five-year-old son.
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