PlayStation Plus has quite a few interesting free games for the month of December as revealed on their official blog. First up is Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition which features all existing DLC content. There is also Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends in which players can fight as iconic characters from the world of Kung Fu Panda. 

PlayStation VR game Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is also being offered to PlayStation Plus members. This bonus game will be available till January 2, 2018. One of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2018, Monster Hunter: World will also be available to test out for PlayStation Plus members from December 9 to December 12.

The remaining games in the line-up include  the following.

• Syberia Collection PS3
• Xblaze Lost: Memories, PS3
• Forma.8, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
• Wanted Corp, PS Vita

Of the many VR titles that will be launching with PlayStation VR in October is Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, a spin-off of the cinematic adventure title for PS4 but providing a more on-rails experience.

In a new developer video where members of the team talk about scaring players and just about anyone willing to step into the VR realm, we get a peek at some new gameplay footage. Check it out below, if you dare.

It will be interesting to see the reception to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood especially with other horror titles on the horizon for VR. This includes Paranormal Activity, Here They Lie and Resident Evil 7. The very fact that there’s a market for people who want to be so immersed in terror is saying something though.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood releases on October 13th alongside PlayStation VR. Will you be playing it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

First off, I know this is a simple demo of a full game that will be released later on, so hopefully this experience is still in early, early Alpha stage and my impressions are completely wrong upon its release. But I highly doubt that. As the VR headset lit up, I was put into this on-rails world inside of what looked like an deadly roller coaster within an evil carnival. Yes, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a completely on-rails shooter which means that there is no means of moving around freely. I assume this decision was made early on to allow the team at Supermassive Games to push out an exclusive game for Sony’s VR as fast as possible. And it showed in the show floor demo.

"Then I was shooting pigs."

One of the first things I think anyone would want to do when first putting on any VR headset is to look all around. And I did. I looked in nearly a 360 degree motion to see if everything was there, and it was. There wasn’t a single inch that didn’t have something I could look at from any angle in all directions. It was quite unique. After I learned my way around the controls with a pistol and shotgun — shooting a couple boxes with bull’s eyes on them — it was time for this roller coaster to finally pick up some speed and get moving onward. As the roller coaster went slowly forward through a dark and twisted house, I was shooting vases and more boxes, but the way the coaster began to travel up and down, faster and faster, it was beginning to feel real. Then I was shooting pigs.

Then the creepiness of the evil carnival started to emerge as the roller coaster came to a stop from point to point. Devilish looking clowns began to come at the screen slowly, but went down with only a couple shots of my controllers; Aiming in real-life and in real-time felt natural with the Move controls and aiming at the evil clowns and boxes felt smooth.

"As the very short ride came to a close, there dropped a horde of zombie clowns all wanting to rip my head off."

Upon moving on towards a more twisted environment, giant saw blades and things that wanted to cut me in half started swinging all around. I was forced to swerve my head comically about from side to side as onlookers were (probably) making fun of my movements. It was indeed immersive, or at least forced me to be if I wanted to survive.

As the very short ride came to a close, there dropped a horde of zombie clowns all wanting to rip my head off. I reloaded my shotgun and pistol and unloaded on those heaps of enemies coming from all around. As I mowed them down I felt like a champion, and I was told the demo was over.

"The graphics were not as good as those you’d find on a PlayStation 2 game, yes, I said 2!"

Those were most of the good things to say about this experience. What were unfortunate were the fact that this game was nothing like Until Dawn on PS4. It felt like a low budget horror flick. One of the most important features of Until Dawn was the story experience and moving around not knowing what’s going to happen next or even what will affect the story. Rush of Blood is an on-rails shooter on a roller coaster; and as sad as it is to say: that is literally the very first idea that everyone comes up with when it comes to a first person VR experience. There was no originality put into the idea at all.

The graphics were not as good as those you’d find on a PlayStation 2 game, yes, I said 2. Sharp edges where they should be round, low resolution textures throughout — looking at the graphics was the real nightmare behind the whole experience. But what disappointed me the most, from the instant I put the VR headset on until the last second was the actual resolution of the screen. It was pitiful. There were dots everywhere and in every direction. I’m not sure how Oculus Rift portrays, whether it’s in hi-def or not, but Bethesda’s Fallout 4 VR on HTC Vive was impeccable, much like the game would appear on a hi-def TV screen.

So it saddened me and made me wonder if other PSVR games would look similar, but at this stage it’s nearly impossible to tell until I’ve seem them all. But so far, Rush of Blood was not what I would consider to be a good first impression for a PSVR experience.

While many assumed that the PlayStation VR exclusive Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was meant to be a follow up in response to the surprise success of Until Dawn this year, it turns out that the game had actually been in development for quite a while- as a matter of fact, before Until Dawn even launched.

“Obviously the success of Until Dawn is a great starting point for Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, but we were well into the development of this as a VR game before we knew exactly how Until Dawn was going to be received,” said Executive Producer Simon Harris talked about the game in a recent interview with Game Informer. “I guess the success has ratified our choices and we hope that players will be excited to play a completely new VR experience in and beyond that world.

Supermassive also confirmed that Rush of Blood uses all new techniques, and in general is a new style of game, one that works uniquely well in VR.

“Until Dawn taught us some tricks about building tension and fear, and then capitalizing on that with moments of shock and horror. Some of those visual and audio techniques do transfer across, albeit with some adjustment for VR, but on the whole it’s an all-new approach.”

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is due out for PSVR some time in 2016.

When Until Dawn: Rush of Blood was announced for PlayStation VR at Sony’s Paris Games Week conference, the considerable excitement around a new Until Dawn was tempered by questions surrounding its nature- exactly what the hell was Rush of Blood? An update for the existing game that made it VR compatible? A brand new game? An Until Dawn themed tech demo? DLC?

It turns out it is a brand new game, so fans of the first game have plenty of reason to be excited, especially since Supermassive Games says that the game will be fairly substantial as well.

“It’s a completely stand-alone product,” said Supermassive executive producer Simon Harris to VG247. “It’s not DLC, or anything like that. It’s its own product for PlayStation VR; it’s just set in the world of Until Dawn.

“This game charts the descent into madness of one of the characters from the Until Dawn universe. As they play through, fans of the series will start to recognize very familiar locations, some things around the characters and other similar aspects.

“It’s very much set in that world and that universe, but it’s a completely separate game.”

That sounds pretty exciting! Plus, I am sure that fans of the first game are intrigued at the premise for Rush of Blood. Let’s hope it is every bit as exciting, then!

PlayStation VR is due to launch some time next year.