Point-and-Click Meets Hack-and-Slash in Dead Secret VR Games

As we get closer to the release of Scream 6, I want to take a look at the one area of media that lacks slasher content: VR. There are plenty of horror games in VR, but you're much more likely to find aliens, ghosts and zombies in those titles than slashers. Nevertheless, slasher fans do have some VR choices: Dead Secret (2016) and Dead Secret Circle (2018), two VR games that were released by Robot Invader. 

Taking place in 1965, Dead Secret puts players in the role of Patricia Gable, a reporter from a Kansas newspaper who is investigating a secluded farmhouse where Professor Harris Bullard was found dead. Suspecting murder, Patricia searches for clues to validate her hunch, a search that makes her the next target of a masked killer called The Woodcutter. Dead Secret Circle advances the story to Chicago in 1971, where Patricia is still recovering from the events of the first game. After receiving an anonymous tip, Patricia investigates a dilapidated apartment building that might be connected to a serial killer known as The Laughing Man--and may also have ties to Bullard's death from years earlier.

The late Professor Bullard's home office in Dead Secret.

Dead Secret was originally intended to be a 2D point-and-click murder mystery game, but Robot Invader decided instead to make it a VR release. Surprisingly, the point-and-click gameplay works well in Dead Secret, largely due to the detailed, atmospheric 3D environment of the Bullard farmhouse that's filled with interesting clues and details. Such immersion pulls the player into the story, which takes plenty of twists and turns and provides a good list of possible suspects to investigate. The Woodcutter's presence adds suspense to the game, since all players can do is find the nearest escape route whenever the killer appears. Even though the body count in this game is low, that does not make The Woodcutter any less intimidating.

Dead Secret Circle expands upon the first game in many ways. The environments are larger, the story is more elaborate, the voice acting is better, the murders are more brutal, and players have more options for interaction and movement within the virtual spaces. Unlike the first game, Circle lets players interview the suspects to progress in the game, although players can only flee and hide from The Laughing Man whenever he appears; like The Woodcutter, the only way you can stop him is to solve the mystery. Furthermore, Robot Invader remastered Circle in October 2022, so it looks better now than it ever has before. 

The Laughing Man stalks his next victim in Dead Secret Circle.

While these titles are essentially mystery games, the Dead Secret VR games are the only ones I've played so far that capture the feel of a slasher film. You're never sure when the killer will appear and where to go when he does, so you'll inevitably approach each door and dark hallway with trepidation. (Indeed, finding where to run and where to hide are part of the puzzles to figure out in these games.) Like a good slasher movie, Circle even has an initial encounter with The Laughing Man before the title screen appears. While both games are light on gore, Circle throws in some blood spatter if The Laughing Man catches you--he'll swing his straight razor at you, and a stream of digital blood will squirt out from your virtual jugular vein. There are also elements of the supernatural and pseudoscience in both games, which reminded me of Dario Argento giallo movies such a Deep Red (1975) and Phenomena (1985). 

Both Dead Secret games take their time for players to examine environments, collect clues, read documents and solve puzzles, so gamers who prefer more action-oriented fare should probably play something else. Also, the point-and-click controls aren't always as responsive as they should be, even in Circle. Yet whatever their shortcomings, what impressed me the most about the Dead Secret series is how it has been able to do so much with so little. They don't operate at the same level of high-end VR titles such as Half-Life: Alyx or Bonelab; instead, they present well-designed locations, intriguing mysteries, engaging storytelling and a few solid scares to propel the games forward. These games even worked on the Oculus Go, which goes to show how much effort Robot Invader put into getting the most out of the production resources it had. I had a wonderful time with these games, and I highly recommend both of them to those who are looking for some slasher fun in VR.