Growing up with Doctor Who for most of my life I never really thought the franchise seemed very easy to lend itself to video games. Perhaps a good Telltale type episodic, make your own choices type adventure, but as far as usual games we get nowadays, I feel like tackling Doctor Who is a bit tricky. Back in 2019 the developers Maze Theory and publishers Playstack released Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, a VR experience. I haven’t been fortunate to give that game a try, but I hear for a VR game, it can be quite fun. Two years later the same team has now released Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality, this time for consoles and PC. Having watched footage of The Edge of Time, it was very easy to recognize many similarities between these two games.
To be honest, Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality feels like a very recycled game, and it probably was. Before knowing there was a previous VR game, I constantly thought to myself, “Man, this game would have been much more fun in VR.” Sadly, I cannot confirm how identical the two games are, I’m sure the stories are a bit different, but I think the team wanted a non-VR equivalent to what they had already made, change some things up and slap a fresh thirty-dollar price tag for the consumer. While I can understand that strategy, I think it can easily hinder the finished product. That all being said, doesn’t mean this is a complete disaster of a product.
It’s safe to say that if you have zero ties to the Doctor Who franchise, you will lose interest in playing very quickly. An issue that was probably to be expected early on in development, so the next best route is to satisfy the already built-in fan base as much as possible. To that degree I think they have succeeded; there are a lot of fun surprises and Easter eggs throughout, as well as visits from beloved characters and villains. Bringing David Tennant back to play the 10th Doctor (who has always been my favorite) was a very happy surprise. Seeing the daleks trying to hunt you down or the cybermen in the game is just kind of cool, but these are all feelings of someone who has some nostalgia tied into the franchise. Someone with no attachments what-so-ever will be very confused at everything I just mentioned.
The gameplay itself is very basic, since it’s a big of a recycled VR game in a way the mechanics are as simple as you can get them. It’s first person, you walk around, you can pick up and collect items (such as diary pages and items you need to help solve puzzles), as well as the good old crouch button that I never really needed to use. Frankly that’s it! The entire game feels like an elaborate escape room or maze type experience that will take you roughly four to five hours to finish the entire thing. All-in-all, Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is a bit of a hard sell, if anything, if you’re a fan of Doctor Who, perhaps give the VR experience a go instead of this one… To everyone else, this probably isn’t going to be for you.
Check Out the Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality Trailer:
Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PC.
PlayStation Review
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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