Dark Escape 4D is amazingly excessive

I'm a college student with a huge passion for gaming; horror being my favorite genre. I like to write about games in my spare time. When I'm not writing, I'm playing or talking about them. Hopefully this continues into what ever future employment I find myself in.

Namco Bandai has raised the bar for arcade shooters. Recently announced by the company was Dark Escape 4D–a House of The Dead-esque on-rails shooter that immerse players by interacting with their multiple senses.

How does Namco Bandia hope to achieve a 4D experience? Well, Dark Escape will put two players into a specialized booth made for the game that includes wind machines, 5.1 surround sound, and vibrating seats, along with a 3D screen and a heart rate monitor attached to the game’s controller; players will be fully immersed in the game whether they’re comfortable with that or not. Sadly smell is not included.

Dark Escape 4D is said to cater the game to the player’s heart rates in order to personalize the scares. Panic attacks being used as a point system for who’s bravest. The environmental features in the arcade booth will also aid in the fear of the players. I don’t know what Namco was thinking, but this game looks hilarious. I would love to try it out. Hear that, Namco? Send over a review unit.

Dark Escape 4D is said to be coming to North American arcades (those still exists without sucking?) by the end of this year. Hopefully I stumble upon one before it gets all nasty from too many people playing it. I guess the smell component will be a feature that needs to be added by players.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1362074323 Christian Joseph Brandt

    I haven’t played HotD4 on PSN yet- but I would LOVE to play HotD4 Special. I guess only a handful of them are in amusement parks or casinos around the US. This game looks amazing; I really hope companies keep faith in the arcade and continue to make awesome games like this outside of your home.

  • http://www.facebook.com/steven.bayne1 Steven Bayne

    Wow! This is amazing! I would love to find an arcade with this game when it gets released over here. It is really damn hard to find a good arcade anymore though. I am totally a sucker for on rail shooters (especially house of the dead)

    • liam

      I live in london and I cant find any arcades any more :(

  • liam

    4d gaming would rock at home someone make it happen lol

  • http://twitter.com/otnielonthel Otniel Nanlohy

    I just played this yesterday with my friends…they’re scared as if they’re playing Amnesia. However, one of them cheated by switching the vision from 3D to 2D and by holding the controller with 1 hand, they got “Undecided” when their heart rate is checked. But it’s kinda expensive, though worth it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000164611080 Sandra Lee

    Played this at Round 1 (bowling place) and my friends and I screamed our heads off. Pretty sure everyone was looking at us funny. The booth is very dark, and the 3D is AWESOME. Would love to play it again.

  • Mike Groves

    Played this a few days ago and it’s not bad. The game is incredibly loud and obnoxious, but it uses the 3D, surround sound, and wind machines well to immerse you into game. I wouldn’t say the game was scary so much as it was startling because of its constant jump-scares at headache-inducing volume, but after you get used to something screaming in your face every ten seconds it starts to lose its edge. Luckily, it is a genuinely fun shooter with great enemy variety and has amazing graphics for an arcade game, and that alone makes it worth playing.