Cyberphobia

Almost everyone has some kind of irrational fear of something, or a phobia as it’s called. Whether it’s heights, spiders, birds or anything else, the person in question usually knows that the fear is irrational, but there’s nothing they can do to stop being afraid. Obviously, it’s possible to get over it after a while, especially with a bit of conditioning.

Cyberphobia is a non-interactive horror experience designed for Oculus Rift, in which you get to watch a series a of horrible situations unfold in front of you. In short, the game is all about putting you face-to-face with your phobia, whatever it might be. Obviously, it only features some of the most notorious phobias, but the selection is great enough to make almost everyone uncomfortable.

The experience puts you in the role of a student who falls asleep in the middle of his psych class, only to wake up when the section about phobias is being shown. However, all of this is in his head, because the phobias discussed on the screen quickly turn to reality for the student in question. You are taken for a ride as well, so you’ll be able to see whatever the student sees as well.

Although the experience starts with a pretty tame jump scare, things get more personal after that, so you may want to make sure that you can handle a bit of stress. Whether you are faced with huge spiders that jump on your face or you find yourself hundreds of feet up in the air with nothing to hold onto, the experience only gets more exciting. In fact, you’ll visit hell itself before it’s all over.

To make sure you are as immersed as possible, the game features extremely detailed graphics, aided by beautiful special effects courtesy of the Unreal Engine 4. Everything is covered in high-resolution textures as well, so you shouldn’t worry about noticing any pixels. On the other hand, this means that you’ll require a powerful computer in order to run the game smoothly.

In the end, Cyberphobia is one hell of an experience, especially if you are having trouble with any of the pictured phobias. Not only that, but it is also directed very well, although it’s a shame you cannot interact with anything.