You were the chosen one, together with a bunch of other humans, you were on your way to discover new life in the endless universe. The Persistence was a beacon of hope, a spaceship that would change our lives forever. The accident changed all that. The Persistence is on its way to a black hole and the entire crew has been mutated into dangerous monsters. It’s up to you to stop them and save the spaceship before it’s too late.
Strong atmosphere
At first sight, The Persistence is your standard horror game set in space. The story is far from original and the actual spaceship reminded me of games like Alien and Dead Space. Of course, things are a lot more intense playing it in Virtual Reality but during my first minutes in the game, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen and played this before. Things changed when I died for the first time. Unlike other popular VR horror games, this one is a Roguelite game, meaning you’ll lose everything you worked so hard for. All your experience, all your equipment, everything is taken from you and you have to try again. The goal always remains the same, reach a certain room and change the destination of the spaceship. How you’ll reach that goal is entirely up to you.
You might wonder how a Roguelite works in a serious setting like this. How can a reset work when the story is clearly aiming at a realistic experience? Well, every time you die, your memories are transferred to a new 3D-printed body somewhere in the spaceship. This makes sense in this futuristic setting as popular television shows like Westworld also used this technology. Now, changing bodies isn’t the only thing that happens when you die. Every time you restart your quest, the rooms of the ship are randomly generated. This means you never know what to expect and each run will feel like your first one. It’s great for the gameplay but it’s hard to believe that the spaceship ‘resets’ all its rooms due to an unknown error. It’s a bit of a shame the developers didn’t search for a more plausible explanation.
You’re never the hunter
Although I struggled with the credibility of the story and the mechanics of the spaceship, I did enjoy this game a lot. What it does best is giving you false hope of your own strength. When you upgraded your weapons during one of the more successful runs, you’ll feel invincible, you’ll feel like you’re in control of the situation and you’re just hoping you’ll spot some mutants to gun them down. It’s at moments like these that the game likes to throw the unexpected at you. Just when you thought the room was safe, a bunch of enemies will attack you in the back, leading to your death once more. It’s crucial to remember that you’re not the hunter in this game, you’re always the prey and being aware of your surroundings is way more important than being in control of your weapons.
This is what I like most about this game, you never know what to expect and you’ll always have to adapt to new situations. I normally don’t like Roguelite games that much but this one is certainly an exception. That being said, there are some segments in the game that never change, rooms that are fixed and events that are scripted. Although it works in favor of the immersion, it’s a lot more predictable than the rest of the game. During these scripted moments, you’re anticipating the jump scare and it takes the horror away. Needless to say, this is the opposite in the randomly generated environments where you never know what to expect. All in all, the scripted rooms aren’t as scary but they are still well-balanced with the horror found in the main game.
Work together as one
The Persistence is meant as a solo experience in VR but you can get help from another player thanks to a fun little companion app. If the other players downloads this app, he or she can see the enemies and interesting items on a small map. Since you’re wearing the VR helmet, you can’t see the map and you’ll have to listen to your friend in order to get what you’re looking for. Of course, this can go both ways. Your friend can guide you away from the enemies or he/she can lead you straight to them as a prank.
It really doesn’t matter how you play but if you play it seriously, it offers the best experience in my opinion. When your friend is sitting next to you, guiding you to safety, it feels like you’re stranded in this spaceship of horror with only a radio connection left to the real world. Although it’s never promoted as the way to play, I think this co-op experience really lifts the overall game to new heights.
Conclusion:
The Persistence is one of the better PSVR games on the market without a doubt. The atmosphere is really strong and the Roguelite approach works to elevate the suspense. It’s a shame that we’ve seen this setting in other games before and the story struggles to justify the resetting of the spaceship. That being said, it’s one of the best horror experience in VR and it’s definitely worth your time and attention!
