Allison Road: PT's successor in VR canceled

Summary

• Allison Road: One of the first big failures in VR?
• Towards simpler games?

Announced in 2014, PT was the crazy project of Hideo Kojima, famous creator of the Metal Gear Solid video game saga and Guillermo Del Toro, director to whom we owe films such as Pan's Labyrinth or Pacific Rim. Supposed to be the new opus of the horror series Silent Hill, the promising project will have been canceled in the bud very early. A demo at 700 dollars on Playstation 4, that's all that remains of this game today. Removed from the PS Store, the few copies of consoles still with the demo are sold on the Internet at exorbitant prices.

But fans dejected by this announcement will have finally been able to fall back on another project wanting to be the spiritual successor of the project: Allison Road. After a very interesting video presentation featuring the ultra realistic graphic style, the gameplay ideas and the polished atmosphere of the base game, it's a cold shower. Allison Road just announced its cancellation through a tweeter message.

The project resulting from a kickstarter had been a great success and the Team 17 studio joined forces with Lilith to carry out the game. Taking advantage of virtual reality and the Oculus Rift and Playstation VR headset, the game had all the cards in its hands. hand to deliver a terrifying experience. Accused of plagiarism? Technical or financial concerns? The possible reasons for her abortion are numerous and for the moment unanswered, it will be necessary to wait for the official explanations of Lilith Studio which should not be long in showing the tip of their nose.

Allison Road: One of the first big failures in VR?

It just might be one of the first big failures in virtual reality. It is rather rare for the moment to see projects in this sector fail. We mainly talk about, and you may have noticed it by reading the articles on our site, the creation of new start-ups and new projects with more or less large funding. And Allison Road was clearly one of those big projects with big funding. It is easily possible to imagine the reasons for such a failure for the firm. Developed a game of this type with virtual reality is certainly perfectly suited but it is to go into unknown land. The market is not yet stable and the impressive graphics quality coupled with a VR experience poses real technical questions that must be resolved.

Towards simpler games?

It is a risky bet to embark on such an ambitious project in a market that is certainly buoyant, but not yet stabilized. Few people are equipped with virtual reality headsets, even less with the more powerful ones like the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. It should also be taken into account that the horror video game reaches an audience which, without being a niche audience, is relatively small. Can VR Adapt to Triple A Games? This is a question to ask, it is difficult to identify the needs of the sector today when the independent and the big productions come together more and more. When it becomes complicated to define the border between the two. It is however important to note that Allison Road was not only compatible in VR and that it was therefore quite possible to play it with a simple screen (for an experience which one assumes however of lower quality) .

Another important factor to take into account is the duration of the sessions. For the moment virtual reality is only suitable for short sessions, it is a use that can be tiring, especially coupled with an experience as intense as a horror game.

The time for big virtual reality productions is undoubtedly not yet here, and we can only hope that one day they will appear, when the market will have truly penetrated the hearts of households and technologies will have more. evolved but for the moment, the use of headphones seems to be confined to experiences, certainly of quality, but of short duration.