Until Dawn Devs Are Creating a PSVR2 Horror That Punishes You for Blinking

Until Dawn and Dark Pictures Anthology developer Supermassive Games has revealed a pretty interesting aspect of their upcoming PSVR2 title, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. In keeping with horror movie tropes involving mannequins, blinking even for a second makes them move around. This was, of course, first popularized by the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who.

The news came in the latest issue of EDGE Magazine, via MP1st, which detailed the mechanics, seen below.

A door painted with the instruction ‘don’t blink’ opens up into a room of blood-smeared mannequins in harlequin masks, their bodies twisted into unnatural poses. Eventually we can’t help it any more, and let our eyelids flutter closed. When they open again, the mannequins have been rearranged – or have rearranged themselves. Another blink, and it happens again, except that one of them has now come to life. As we repeat this process, we learn to use our eyes tactically, only blinking once our guns are readied.

EDGE Magazine Issue #380

While this sounds pretty scary, Switchback VR will follow in the footsteps of Supermassive Games’ previous PSVR title, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, and will be an on-rails shooter. So while you will have to deal with not blinking around mannequins, you at least won’t have to run from them as well.

The ability to tell when you blink is no doubt thanks to Tobii, the company that Sony partnered with for the PSVR2’s eye-tracking software.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR will be released as a launch title for the PSVR2 headset on Feb. 22.