cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

MADiSON VR - one of the best and scariest VR experiences ever - the game has just launched

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

MADiSON VR is out:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2414550/MADiSON_VR/

 

 

The VR version got a rare 10/10 rating here:

 

OculusScreenshot1714771150.jpeg

Screenshot taken while playing the game using Rift CV1 ss 2.5 (27 mill pixels per frame)

 

If you do not have a very fast rig, the PSVR2 version may be preferred. The PCVR version is extremely demanding, devs recommend:

RECOMMENDED:

    • OS: Windows 11
    • Processor: Intel i9 or equivalent
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia 3080ti or equivalent
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 15 GB available space
    • VR Support: Vive, Index, Pico4 and Meta Quest controllers and headsets supported.

I enlarged the text about the gpu. I tested the game using both Rift CV1 and Valve Index. The game is awesome - I haven't been this much immersed for long. But maybe you need to enjoy horror movies like Saw, The Exorcist, The Conjuring, and Evil Dead. Comparing to Alyx is a big thing and overused, but Alyx also is a horror game (Jeff, jumping spiders, headcrab zombies etc.), and in Madison the story works 10 times as adrenaline-pumping as Alyx, lol.

 

download (1).jpg

download (4).jpg

In MADiSON VR you start in an faintly lit room - your father has locked you in the room, screaming you have done something terrible to the rest of your family - this is a very disturbing game - this is your hand covered in blood

You're a 16 year old boy in the game - but that's the same age as my own son. He's got quite big hands, I'd say the hands you have in the game are too small for a 16 year old, but fit a boy aged about 10 or 12 years. I think the devs went for 16 years instead of 10, because having a child below 15 commit utterly terrible and disgusting acts of cruelty may be too disturbing for many players. But I still think you play a boy only 10 to 12 years old. 

Many may stay away from this game due to the horror - and it's there, but this is also an exciting adventure game where you pick up items and use them.

Like Alyx, the game can be set to auto-adjust the res (super-sampling) to maintain 1:1 fps:hz-ratio, which works fine. I did try using 80 Hz, Ultra graphics, DLSS Quality, Index res 300% with an RTX 3090, and performance was far from 80 fps with fixed res - but using auto-res worked wonders.

Graphics settings - way beyond the PSVR2 version:

download (2).jpg
This is one of the best-looking VR games for long, textures, lighting, dynamic shadows all look great. 


Here're examples of the real-time lighting, when moving away from the light sources:

download.jpg

download (3).jpg

OculusScreenshot1714770346.jpeg

 

Textures and assets are great too - MADiSON PCVR is 10.9GB, the PSVR2 is only 5.7GB:

OculusScreenshot1714771042.jpeg

Looks real to me! 🙂

 

OculusScreenshot1714771018.jpeg

I think this clock may be a puzzle... 

 

OculusScreenshot1714771357.jpeg

The photo has a glossy bumpy surface - you need to see this in 3D

 

OculusScreenshot1714772105.jpeg

Opening a lock I need a 4 digit code - I wonder where the code could be... 

 

download (5).jpg

Really a boring shot - but just to show the common level of detail in  wall and wood textures, which aren't bad, but of course could be even better too. Important objects have ultramersion high-res textures though

 

If you beat Jeff, you can do Madison VR too. This game is a VR diamond in the rough, it's not to be missed,

The game uses OpenXR, so you'll get optimal performance using Meta, Index, etc.

First I got annoyed with the lcd blacks using the Index, and I switched to oled (Rift CV1). Oled is better, and this game looks incredible with the Rift CV1 - but I found that I really had no issues using lcd, my issue was not related to lcd.

For now this game could be game of the year 2024, but I need to play it more. Sure, it's a VR port of a 2D game - but that's probably why it looks so amazing. Btw, often you do stand still when picking up an object (and cannot move in the game), but there are also items you can hold in your hand while moving. There are several objects you can pick up and interact with, and the game feels like a great VR game and not some lackluster 2D port.

For now my rating is 9/10, but I need to play it more.

PS. The game looks extraordinarily great using Rift CV1, seems designed to hide the SDE by not using many red colors - or it could be a coincidence. It's one of the best looking Rift CV1 games ever - oled does shine, sound is awesome with the CV1 headphones and deep bass. I'm considering using the Rift CV1 instead of the Valve Index for this game - and that really says a lot. 

Also using LCD, you can clearly spot when the game lowers the res (using auto-res like in Alyx), as jaggies become easy to spot - but not using Rift CV1, I rarely see any jaggies due to auto-res, it's a much more coherent and uniform experience. 

That's the thing about Rift CV1, yup it's getting old, but in some special cases it's still the best you can get - or close enough. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

10 REPLIES 10

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

I've still been working with finding the best image quality - and just wrote to a dude on Reddit:

"DLSS introduces blur through temporal antialiasing (TAA), but has the best performance by far. The blur goes away the higher the res in SteamVR. I've set an application specific res of Index 300% in SteamVR, forcing the game to use a res of 27 million pixels per frame combining both eyes. Using DLSS Auto (works better than DLSS Quality and I cannot see any difference in image quality) I get solid 80 sharp (=non-blurry) fps in 80 Hz using Ultra graphics setting - but you need an RTX 3090 or better for that. Motion smoothing deactivated - as this reduces performance slightly. Motion smoothing also does not work great in the game, feels jerky and stuttering, not smooth, so better avoid it (Meta ASW 2.0 seems to work great though through Meta's OpenXR drivers).

FidelityFX with TAA (FXAA and SMAA create more jaggies) provides the best image quality, but the performance hit takes me down to res 175% or so. I prefer res 300% with DLSS Auto.

Yes, spent much time on getting optimal image quality and solid 80 fps last night 🙂

Btw, the above is for lcd hmds like Index and Quest2-3, where DLSS and TAA causes blur. If you have an old Rift CV1, TAA and DLSS look very sharp thanks to the SDE - and oled is great for this dark game. Using CV1 ss 2.0 - 2.5 (18 to 27 million pixels per frame combining both eyes) gave me surprisingly great image quality and performance, felt like solid 90 fps - using DLSS Auto."

So what image quality are we talking about - it's about seeing all the skin details in this hand for example:

download (8).jpg

See the fingerprints? Probably one of the best hands in VR - and you got full arms in the game, like in Vampire Justice. 

 

There's also a fingerprint on the glass here - can you see it? (I didn't touch the glass 🙂)

download (6).jpg

The tiny details and reflections greatly fuel immersion and presence - and in this game also fuels fear 🙂

 

Can't help it - I do love these nice plates, let's get closer:

download (5).jpg

Still looks very real, even if the walls could use more high-res textures - also this is using DLSS Auto, you get more crisp image quality and textures using FidelityFX, and I'd love to do that when I get my RTX 5090 Ti 😉

 

The game still primarily feels like an adventure games, but I do have a feeling something is lurking in the shadows...

Word on the streets is that some have issues developing the photos you take with the in-game camera. So far I've hard no trouble with the Index and Rift CV1.

Also some say graphics settings do not save - but DLSS Auto does, my Ultra settings does, and FidelityFX does. But using DLSS Quality will still show as DLSS Quality after a restart, but will now work as DLSS Auto, but will now use some very pixelated res, which normally is not part of DLSS Auto. Now, if DLSS Auto is directly chosen, this will work even after a restart, and will not include any very pixelated res. 

In short - use DLSS Auto, and push res as much as possible using SteamVR, Oculus Tray Tool or similar external programs. If using SteamVR, disable motion smoothing. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Hmmm, after a few days in MADiSON VR, I don't feel traumatized at all! And have gotten quite used to be in the house 😇 

Admitted, mostly I just like to stand still and watch this cough! ... lamp ... humming loudly to myself to drown out any distracting noises 😇

download (10).jpg

It's a nice lamp - as long as I stand still here and do not move, I feel safe 🤗 Love having mentally calming meds near me too 👌

 

Also I like to study the photographs on walls, no clue who these people are, but they look nice-ish:

download (11).jpg

Might be a photo of my in-game grandfather getting married - so might be grandma beside him 🤔...

 

Btw, you get a safe to store items, because you can only carry 10 items - and there's a tape giving you some background info - admitted, not exactly great background info - I mean, those who tend to easily worry, do not play the tape! 🤗

20240506191426_1.jpg

In the safe you can store inventory items for later use

 

Well, the good thing about being an lcd hmd user is that I can't see that much - even if I had a strange eerie feeling that something was wrong when visiting this location:

20240506195944_1.jpg

Great thing about LCD is that you can't see that much 🤗

 

Also found a red door, I'm not sure I like red doors... 🤔

OculusScreenshot1714938879.jpeg

Good door ... or bad door ... 🤔

 

Then I remembered - I've seen a movie about a red door - that certainly was no good door 😬

The_Red_Door.jpg

insidious-5-the-red-door.JPG

😱

 

What is there more to say of positive things - did I mention you get your own indoor pool? 🤗

20240506195111_1.jpg

Time for a swim!

 

Also found more great stuff - got my own walkie-talkie, awesome!

20240506195817_1.jpg

Strange how that police officer talks - one should think officer Russel would be thrilled to find the missing people - well, some persons are just never happy or satisfied about anything!

 

Btw - forgot - I found the attic!

OculusScreenshot1715024460.jpeg

Or maybe the attic found me 🤔 Some puzzles are not easy - you'll have to spend some brain power on this game - or find a walkthrough

 

I'm going back to stare more at the lamp later tonight - I love knowing that if I don't move, then the hideous nightmarish things in the darkness also do not move 🤗 🤞 I guess that's kinda like playing SuperHot VR, but in a strange way 😅

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

chris.o.yul
Adventurer

Why is this posted here?

Because it's a vr experience......😁

 

I always enjoy the comments to your screenshots @RuneSR2 😄

Good question, it's posted here because MADiSON is a VR game - in case you think I'm posting images from my real-world life in here 😉

The game is here: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/2414550/

It works perfectly using OpenXR drivers with Rift CV1, Rift-S, Quest 1, Quest 2 - and Quest3! 🤓 See the supported hmds and more here:

RECOMMENDED:

    • OS: Windows 11
    • Processor: Intel i9 or equivalent
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Nvidia 3080ti or equivalent
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 15 GB available space
    • VR Support: Vive, Index, Pico4 and Meta Quest controllers and headsets supported.

Actually the game works with many more hmds, including the Rifts. 

Btw, I'm preferring Rift CV1 for this game - I like to see what moves in the dark corners of the house 😀 And DLSS is sharp and not blurry with the CV1. Well, optimal hmds for this game may actually be Quest 1 or Vive Pro due the not too high-res oled hmds. The devs recommend an RTX 3080 Ti for the game, so BigScreen Beyond may not be a great choice before the RTX 5090 is here 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Thanks, just updated a few lines to correct some grammar and more. 

Forgot to mention that the devs seem to have smoked something really bad and then made a patch removing DLSS support - but they listened to all the angry voices and DLSS was back within 24 hours. 

Some had issues developing photos in the game which stayed black, some had controller issues - but everything should be fixed in the latest patch. 

Pretty sure the devs primarily used Meta hmds to test the game, I've never had any issues with the Rift CV1, no black photos, no controllers issues etc. Did have a few non-serious issues with the Index, which are fixed now. 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

AliceinVRworld
Retired Support

WOW!!!!!!!!! I love horror/scary movies! This game looks awesome! Thank you for sharing will need to check both of them out!

We are all mad here.

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Just to mention it, MADiSON is the scientifically proven most scary game in the world:

"MADiSON was scientifically recognized as the "Scariest Video Game of All Time", by The Science of Scare Project from Broadband Choices who has set out to scientifically measure the scariest forms of entertainment available. 200 participants were invited to play over 45 horror games released in the last three decades. In each case – the subjects’ heart rate was monitored during the game. The heart rate was measured while resting, right in the middle of the game, and the highest jumps in heart rate were recorded. The respondents playing at Madison recorded an average of 97 beats / minute, and at the peak this rate stopped at 131 bit/s, with the new IP beating off established franchises such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill.[17][18]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MADiSON_(video_game)

https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/science-of-scare-games

scariest-video-game.jpg

- and the VR version is like 10 times worse than 2D, lol. I also got to a quite creepy location last night and thought to myself, "let's continue here some other day, it's time for some Extreme VR Kayaking!" 😁

So while Alyx is the reference for 1st person VR shooters, MADiSON is the reference for horror games - and not to be missed 🤗 😈

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Btw, this is the Low graphics setting:

Low.jpg

 

- and this is Ultra:

Ultra.jpg

 

Especially texture res is affected, but also the lighting quality. 

Also I posted some images on Reddit - now 60,000 views and 90% upvotes, follow the comments here:


https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/1cpf0r0/madison_vr_impressions_from_maybe_the_scari...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/1cpfc8b/madison_vr_impressions_from_maybe_the_scariest_...

 

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"