On the surface, Ubisoft`s new first-person psychological thriller, Transference, is a pretty spooky descent into one man`s misguided efforts to transfer someone`s consciousness onto a computer. As is the case with most fictional mad scientists, Raymond Hayes decides he and his family are the best subjects for his final test and attempts to upload himself, his wife Katherine, and their son Benjamin all into the same simulation. Things do not go well.Transference picks up at the conclusion of Raymond`s experiment. You take control of a nameless protagonist who stumbles upon Raymond`s work, but instead of a happy family living in never-ending bliss, you discover a twisted digital reality that`s partially incomplete and fractured into three different perspectives.During a Ubisoft pre-Gamescom press event, I played a 15-minute Transference preview demo on the Vive, but the game is available as a non-VR title as well. After donning the headset, I explored a crumbling reality, navigating a single apartment complex through the eyes of four different characters--the three members of the family and the neutral protagonist who can view the simulation without bias--to escape a collapsing digital world. Despite the urgency of the situation, I was often drawn to stop and watch the emotional distress that had befallen the Hayes family. I desperately wanted to know what happened and solve their mystery. Transference preys on this desire, the need to solve mysteries and fulfill patterns, throughout both its storytelling and puzzles.`We wanted the player to use their observation and the simple interactions in the game to solve the puzzles,` said Transference producer Kevin Racape. `The more the player progresses, the more the walls starts closing in. You`re a prisoner of this world. You feel trapped within this simulation--this crazy experiment--and that`s the feeling we wanted to give to our players.`Every clue you need to make it to the next area can be found in your immediate ...
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