One of the games shown in Sony’s PlayStation VR montage at E3 this year was ‘The Inpatient’, a a VR horror game by the studio behind the 2015 horror hit Until Dawn. Eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice that a building featured prominently in one scene was actually one of the main locations from Until Dawn: The Blackwood Pines Sanatorium. Supermassive later confirmed that yes, this game is in fact a prequel to the earlier teen horror.
The Inpatient is set 60 years prior to Until Dawn, in the same sanatorium that featured prominently in the game’s later chapters. The sanatorium looks a little less rundown this time, however. From Supermassive’s blog post:
Anyone familiar with Until Dawn will recognize the imposing sanatorium but this time you’ll see everything as it was during its 1950s heyday. For newcomers to the story, don’t worry – you don’t need to have played Until Dawn to be able to enjoy The Inpatient; it’s an entirely standalone title with a brand new story and cast of characters to meet.
You play as a character with amnesia who’s being held in the sanatorium, with the goal of piecing together the clues that will reveal why you’re there in the first place. While the game is a fully standalone title that ostensibly just shares a setting with its predecessor, it could potentially tie back in other ways as well.
If you pursued the lore in Until Dawn, you may remember that the original wendigos came into being in 1952 at this very sanatorium — meaning the time frame of The Inpatient could align perfectly with the transformation of those first wendigos. Wendigo miner backstory in VR? We can only hope.
While the VR format means it’ll be quite a different experience to the Until Dawn we all know and love, and you’ll need a PlayStation VR to play it, The Inpatient looks like a perfectly creepy take on first-person VR horror. Until Dawn scriptwriters Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick were also brought back to help with the project, so we can only hope The Inpatient turns out to be a worthy entry in the Until Dawn world (unlike certain disappointing Until Dawn VR experiences).
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/06/hidden-agenda-is-basically-until-dawn-with-co-op/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/06/HiddenAgendaChoice-410×231.jpg” title=”Hidden Agenda Is Like Until Dawn With Co-op” excerpt=”A new original game from Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games was quietly dropped at the beginning of Sony’s pre-show. It’s called Hidden Agenda, and it’s described as “a gritty crime thriller” supporting one to five players. The best part is, the devs looked at how people were playing Until Dawn and, with their next game, worked those trends into the gameplay of the new title.”]
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