Supermassive Games has a reputation for crafting spooky choose-your-own-adventure-style horror games. Until Dawn and The Quarry were both bonafide hits, and The Dark Pictures anthology series has a dedicated audience. So it’s more than a little surprising that the studio’s first PlayStation VR2 game is a Dark Pictures title that ditches the established slow-moving dramatics and character-driven plotlines, and replaces them with an on-rails shooter that takes place on a roller coaster. The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR ($39.99) shares some DNA with its predecessors, employing choice-driven scenarios, puzzles, and numerous jump scares. However, Switchback VR doesn’t bring anything fresh to the table, and its House of the Dead-style action quickly grows stale.

Switchback VR Gameplay

Switchback doesn’t follow the narrative beats that fans of The Dark Pictures have come to expect. In fact, Switchback employs little story. You begin the game on a train with a few characters from other Dark Pictures installments. A few moments later, you awake in a fiery train wreck with the series' omnipresent antagonist, The Curator, staring at you. You're soon strapped onto a roller coaster to ride through the locales featured in the anthology's first season (Man of Medan, Little Hope, House of Ashes, and The Devil in Me).

The gameplay consists of shooting various monsters and other targets while barreling down the coaster track. Switchback may not share much of the Anthology's beat-by-beat gameplay, but that's largely because it's a spiritual sequel to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, Supermassive’s VR shooter for the PlayStation 4.

On the surface, not much has changed, though Switchback VR leverages the PlayStation VR2's many features, tapping haptic feedback, eye tracking, and rumble to pull you into its world. Aiming and shooting felt good in testing, and my stomach dropped as it would on a real roller coaster. In fact, I let out an audible yelp on more than one occasion.

Switchback VR wants to scare you, but it doesn’t necessarily care how it goes about doing that. The game is determined to swing at just about any low-hanging fruit from the horror genre. Zombies, gargoyles, murderous surgeons, rat swarms, and creepy baby dolls all pop up at some point or other.

There's a schlocky bounty of horror cliches that give the game a carnival ride vibe—intentional or not. Sometimes you’ll come across a fork in the road, which adds replayability to the game’s brief, three-hour run time. Each level is broken up into two parts, with a boss fight at the end.

When you’re not shooting or dodging, the game stops to drop a puzzle. More than once, I was grabbed by a ghoul or accidentally killed an innocent person because I simply did not know what the game wanted me to do. Although I appreciate the attempted gameplay mix, the puzzles come across as confusing set pieces that end in death if you don't act fast enough.

Not Enough Grease on the Wheels

Visually, Switchback VR is all over the place. Although it has impressive lighting, the game features texture pop-in and janky animations. Some effects, such as blood and water, resemble flat, shiny objects. The game's performance fares better, though there's noticeable hitching at the transition points between level sections.

In fact, aside from the menus, the game’s overall presentation is shoddy. Character models look good enough, but they have a sheen that makes it seem like they were smeared with Vaseline. The 3D audio, however, is excellent, employing creepy sounds that add to the game’s spooky atmosphere.

Unfortunately, Switchback VR doesn’t do anything new with the genre or the virtual reality medium. Like the House of the Dead Remake that shambled onto the Nintendo Switch last year, Switchback VR feels dated despite the new tech—and even more boring to play than Sega's game, which has campy nostalgia in its corner. $39.99 is a steep asking price for what amounts to a virtual haunted hayride that quickly overstays its welcome.

Seek Thrills Elsewhere

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is entertaining in short bursts, but unless you’re a committed fan of the anthology series it’s based on (or you’re desperate to show off your new VR headset), it probably won't be much more than a brief diversion. If you’re thirsty for PlayStation VR2 horror, you should check out Resident Evil 8's recently added (and free!) VR mode.

For more virtual reality games, check out The Best VR Games. And for in-depth video game talk, visit PCMag's Pop-Off YouTube channel. Eager to see the new titles on the horizon? Visit The Best Video Games Coming Out in 2023.