MADiSON VR - PSVR 2 Review

a bloodied hand holds a polaroid camera against the floor. below the camera the word Madison can be seen

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MADiSON VR is a VR port of the 2022 first-person psychological horror puzzle game, MADiSON by Bloodious Games. Available on the PS VR2, and PC VR. The game covers themes of Demonic possession, Suicide, and Murder.

The Possession At Hale House

You awake in a Dark room, lit by a flickering TV. A Man is banging on the door. As you escape from your home into your grandfather’s house the horrors start to begin.

You play as Luca, a Teenage Boy covered in blood, who is trying to escape his grandfather’s home after a mysterious event. To escape Luca must use his Polaroid camera to assist in solving puzzles and unlocking memories as you work through the horror experience of MADiSON to unearth the truth behind the Hale Houses and Luca himself.

Gameplay

screenshot from Madison VR. white dirty tiles run across the wall. a bloody hand holds a mirror showing its back with the words Blue Knees is real written in blood. the subtitles "the pipes must be clogged" float in the middle of the screen — blue knees?

MADiSON VR requires you to use the Polaroid camera to track clues, unlock doors, trigger events, and solve puzzles. MADiSON VR requires plenty of backtracking to be able to progress further in the game. This is not an issue however because the areas are reasonably small.

The puzzles are varied from needing to crack codes to finding the right item to place in the right location to math puzzles. These often require the use of the camera to reveal hints about solving the puzzle or unlocking the doors. We didn’t find any puzzle in MADiSON VR too challenging. The hardest one for us was navigating the first maze in the game. Where the corridors blended into each other, making it easy to get turned around. It was only after getting back to the same point and getting the same jump scare for the umpteenth time. We realised the game was using the jump scares as a hint on where to go. After this, We solved the puzzle fairly quickly.

The game has 2 difficulty modes Normal and Hard. Normal difficulty highlights the places to use the camera and when you can pick up and interact with objects. Hard difficulty doesn’t highlight where you should take pictures or objects you can pick up, and the monsters are also faster and tougher.

screenshot from Madison VR. a polaroid camera is held out in front. a theatre room for showing family photos from a projector is in front of us. on the wall a phot is projected. the back and white photo shows a young boy on a field with trees in the background — taking photos of photos

Replayability

MADiSON VR has some replayability. If you like to Platinum a game there are plenty of trophies to be found. Some can only be gathered in Normal or in Hard difficulty. Additionally scattered throughout the game are red pictures for you to photograph (one of the achievements) and in the 2^nd half of the game, you can find some blue collectables (also an achievement).

screenshot from Madison VR. a dark room, in the middle a red polaroid burns to dust. above it the text red collectible 1/20 hovers — red collectable

The Monsters

There are very few monsters in MADiSON but that doesn’t take away from the game. Madison is the first monster you encounter after about the first quarter of the game. As well as Madison there are several ghosts throughout the 2nd half of the game. Unlike Madison who is mainly for Jumpscares, the ghosts tend to seek you out requiring careful planning when solving the puzzles. These moments are seriously Anxiety-inducing. But your trusty Polaroid can help keep the ghosts at bay.

Play Time

On average MADiSON takes around 10 hours to complete. But it is feasible, once you know where all the items are and what you need to photograph. Complete the game in under 2.5 hours and net you a trophy.

Graphics & Audio

MADiSON VR relies heavily on dark, hard-to-see rooms which set the atmosphere of the game combine that with the music of the game and you have a pretty solid horror experience.

Like other horror games where you are trapped inside a house. You will find endless trash bags, bugs, and muck over everything. The moments when Luca has his visions create a harsh experience. Especially for someone who is hypersensitive to sounds like I am. But this adds to the immersive aspect of MADiSON VR. The rooms have a lot of detail. However, the harsh shadows obscure some of the details.

the audio in addition to giving atmospheric music also has sounds such as floorboards creaking, objects moving or breaking which constantly has you worried that something is about to appear even long before your first jump scare.

screenshot from Madison VR. say cheese achievement shown below and in the top right. the picture shows a small poorly lit room with water up to the waist and two white pillars supporting the ceiling. — Say Cheese

Final Thoughts

MADiSON VR combines many classic horror themes across games and film to bring together an effective, immersive, anxiety-inducing Horror experience that is not for the faint-hearted. The deep lore you discover throughout the playthrough (if you read every note) builds up the world of the Hale house. As someone with vision issues related to my pupils adjusting correctly to light meant that the pure black parts of rooms against the dimly lit sections caused me some issues but without this, they would struggle to hide the jump scares. MADiSON does a great job at creating the experience of being possessed and the confusion that it induces on Luca. I hope that Bloodious games continues to build up their world and the lore around it.

I’m pleased to give MADiSON VR the Thumb Culture Gold Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

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GeekyN8

Hi we’re Nate of the GeekyN8 channel. big lovers of video games especially Indies.

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MADiSON VR – PSVR 2 Review