The Exorcist: Legion VR review

Reviewed on: PS VR

The devil has invaded virtual reality in The Exorcist: Legion VR, a horror game inspired by the famous Exorcist franchise. The game is, specifically, inspired by The Exorcist III, which was released in the 90s and directed by the author of the book himself, William Peter Blatty. The game is based on the events of the film, but, despite the relationship with the feature, it is not a direct adaptation, bringing in its plot only links to some events presented in the film.

As a Boston police detective, tasked with solving several crimes involving macabre rituals, the game arrives in VR divided into chapters, and the first three are the subject of this review, available individually or together in a kind of season pass. The first three chapters reviewed are respectively First Rites, Idle Hands and Skin Deep.

Since the game has no translation and no subtitles, and the events developed in the plot are presented to the player through conversations, recordings and written material found by the player as they advance in the story, if you don’t know English, only the scares will be left along the way; so, to understand the plot and get more involved with the game, a good knowledge of English is recommended.

The game creates a constantly macabre environment, placing the player with light and shadow effects, as well as carefully crafted sound effects, in a constant horror mood – with jump scares here and there, but that is not the focus – following the line of the first film: with psychological horror permeating all three first episodes tested.

Movement, believe it or not, works better with teleport than with free movement, which can also be configured. Even though I always choose free movement in the vast majority of games, in this one teleport worked better, and both the Move and the DualShock 4 can be used. However, since the player will interact with many objects around the scenery, I believe the PS Move is the best choice, not least because the PS Move usually provides greater immersion.

The episodes last around 30 minutes; the first is the investigation of a priest’s death in a church, where you will collect some items that will be present throughout the other chapters, such as holy water, a cross and other objects that will serve as protection tools against the “devil”. In the second episode, you will investigate a teacher who is committed to an asylum because she performed occult rituals, and you’ll need to investigate the facts in order to help her. In the third episode the investigation takes place in a house where a young couple has a baby who is being pursued by some hidden, evil presence, and you’ll need to unravel the mystery and try to protect the child.

The game, despite having no replay value, does its job well, giving the player a real horror atmosphere, even creating a certain discomfort, and the division into episodes is a good solution, also to let the player step out of the immersion the game provides a little, giving breaks at the end of each episode to regain courage. If you are a fan of a good horror game and enjoy occult-related themes and like playing detective, investigating environments, The Exorcist: Legion VR was made with you in mind.

Plot score: 7.0

Technical score: 8.0

Gameplay score: 6.0

final score: 7.0