Dreadhalls is an objective-based horror game in which you must collect various items (keys) while avoiding contact with any enemies. To make this challenging, the path to each room’s key is procedurally generated, so no two playthroughs are alike. The controls are fairly basic; look where you want to go and either push or pull triggers to move forward or turn respectively.
The premise of Dreadhalls might be simple but it scares the hell out of you. The game starts small, giving you a flashlight that slowly runs out of battery power and forcing you to start moving before it goes out completely. Before long darkness descends upon the entire world, making every bump in the night terrifying since you don’t know who or what might be lurking in the blackness.
The one mechanic that really brings Dreadhalls to life is the way it uses sound design. Each room has its own unique theme that makes you dread entering; wind howls through caves, metal clanks and reverberates in an abandoned foundry, waves crash against rocks outside a cell with no escape. All of this is punctuated by the screams, growls, and moans of creatures who would like nothing more than to make you their next meal. As if all of this wasn’t enough there are secrets hidden throughout each level for intrepid explorers to uncover. Each secret comes at a cost though; pick up too many items and they will become heavier (slowing your movement) and eventually break (rendering them unusable).
When all these elements come together Dreadhalls becomes one of the most terrifying games you can play, especially if you enjoy horror games. It isn’t without some minor flaws though; items are pretty small in size making it difficult to find what you’re looking for, the pathfinding mechanic only tells you which way to go rather than how many steps to take, and using your flashlight leaves you vulnerable to attack.
Dreadhalls is available on PC through Steam or Oculus Home for $9.99. I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys horror games or wants something different compared to other VR titles. The game has an average playthrough time of around 10-15 minutes and can be experienced in virtual reality or without.
I hope you enjoyed the read and found my opinions helpful! If I had to give Dreadhalls a score out of 100, with 100 being perfect, it would be 88/100