Regardless of whether you are in favor of virtual reality or not, there is no doubt that the Playstation VR was an unexpected success. The helmet of the house Sony, in fact, it has managed to enter the homes of millions of users all over the world despite a prohibitive price - albeit lower than its competitors - a line-up that is anything but unforgettable and, above all, a general but palpable distrust of a technology that is still immature and currently plagued by more or less felt shortcomings. However, the situation has now changed considerably, at least in terms of costs for the public and available titles, and this interesting peripheral full of potential continues to knock on the door of more and more players. Despite a certain shortage of high-budget productions, We have seen dozens of videogame works worth buying, creatures with varied play structures that have been able to win over critics and audiences for their qualities. Precisely for this reason, it is therefore a real pleasure to see how the Japanese company continues to show its support towards VR, on the one hand through a pounding marketing campaign and on the other hand with the continuous announcement of new titles designed exclusively for such peripheral. Among the latest great presentations made in favor of the Playstation VR, figure in particular Déraciné, a peculiar first-person narrative adventure developed by the boys of From Software. Such a change of style after the works placed on the Souls series certainly could not go unnoticed in the eyes of the public, who in fact began to examine the development of the entire project with genuine interest. After a long wait and endless speculations, we were finally able to touch the new creature of Hidetaka Miyazaki enjoying it in its entirety, and now we're ready to give you our final verdict on it.
The gentle spirit
Around us stands the desolation of the indisputable darkness, the darkness seems to pervade every inch of the unknown place in which we find ourselves and silence represents the only company with which we can entertain. Suddenly, however, a distant voice arrives that helps us to better understand our situation. We are a spirit, the soul of a recently passed man who has now gained the opportunity to move through time to explore all of creation. A few seconds and here we are given two important objects, the ring of life and the clock of time. The first allows you to steal the vital time of any living being to give it to someone else or, again, to give energy to the time clock, an instrument with a prodigious power that will give us the opportunity to move through the folds of time to cover entire years in seconds. After having better understood the functioning of the two instruments, another voice comes to keep us company, a sweet and youthful voice that seems to be invoking our presence. The clock clicks, the hands move and a light pervades everything around us, transporting us to the heart of an educational institution where a little girl is looking for a spirit with which to make friends. Starting from this premise, From Software has been able to give shape to a narrative adventure that stands out for evidently fairytale traits capable of making the progress of the having always pleasant to follow.
Déraciné touches a new frontier of narration with a successful mix of emotions that keep the player glued to the chair with the genuine curiosity to continue
That of Déraciné is a story that starts from simple bases but able to become more and more tantalizing as you go on playing, where there will also be some nice twists to season everything. The real fulcrum of the experience, however, is made up of the group of guys with whom we can interact from time to time, well-characterized carefree young people who manage to immediately conquer the player for their attitudes and ways of doing. Miyazaki has given shape to an experience in which we are almost in the background, intent on moving around the institute listening to the past memories of the students and reading the different written notes scattered around, all in order to better understand the cryptic script. which has always distinguished the development team. Sometimes we will laugh and in other cases we will find ourselves wounded, with a tight grip on the heart, while we will witness the inexorable passage of time, understanding better and better the situation in which the institute and its inhabitants find themselves, with whom we will establish a unique and special friendship. In conclusion, déraciné touches a new frontier of storytelling with a successful mix of emotions that keep the player glued to the chair with the genuine curiosity to continue to find out how the events will develop, a result of undoubted depth that unfortunately lacks in terms of longevity, given and consider that 4/5 hours will be more than enough to reach the end credits.
Broken happiness
Playfully speaking, the first peculiarity we will notice in-game will be the movement system. From Software has in fact decided to eliminate free movement to make room for a teleportation system in which the movements are deliberately mechanical. If moving your head to observe what surrounds us is natural and harmonious, each step we take will instead seem like a small leap forward. Looking around we will in fact notice on the ground some points of interest illuminated by an intense blue light that, with the press of a button, we can reach in the blink of an eye. The system was clearly designed to minimize the risk of motion sickness, which is totally non-existent here, and it takes very little to learn how to move around the institute with a harmonious naturalness which, however, is partly broken by commands that are sometimes cumbersome. In fact, sometimes we end up with confusion by pressing the wrong button at the wrong time while, in other cases, we may mistakenly move to some place that we did not intend to reach. The result, indeed, does not cause major problems for the player and the few difficulties experienced were fortunately not able to ruin the experience. It is important to point out that the game requires the use of moves to play, these being used as if they were our hands. The digital alter-ego that we will control will be able to move within time itself, which in our eyes will remain as immobile, enclosed in an interminable second.
The player's task will be to listen and discover a well-rounded story
In this peculiar condition, however, we will be able to interact with the vivid memories of the students who live in the institute, memories that will be activated when we have touched some specific object of our interest. But unfortunately, it is precisely in the interaction with the surrounding environment that Déraciné shows the side of some too many critical issues. Basically, each chapter of the adventure will allow us to interact with some specific objects in order to overcome puzzles and puzzles of various kinds, yet the vast majority of the elements on the screen will not be touched by us. There is no doubt that the environmental interaction is a prominent element with the productions designed for virtual reality and it is therefore a real shame to note how many objects, once reached after having extended the arm, cannot be taken or examined, a static nature that it will remain very palpable throughout the adventure, regardless of whether we are talking about an eternally closed door or a book nailed to the shelf. It is clear how From Software wanted to create an experience where, first and foremost, the player's task will be to listen to and discover an all-round story, rather than playing it in the true sense of the word, but at the same time a greater variety of playful options would not mind us. Technically speaking, Déraciné showcases technical work that, wearing the Sony helmet, makes a good impression. Although the production has to deal with the obvious technical limits imposed by the technology itself, the great artistic work carried out by the team has been able to present itself to us with disruptive force, conquering and fascinating us. Obviously, it is then impossible not to talk about the sense of identification that one feels while playing, a magical feeling of belonging to the playful world that will soon make us forget that, in reality, what we are experiencing is only a ' videogame work. Finally, an audio sector of undoubted quality takes care of everything to close it all on a soundtrack perfectly blended with the many situations that we will experience in-game and on an excellent dubbing in other languages.
