Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is the first World of Darkness VR video game that gets the player in the plasm of a recently deceased spirit or "wraith." Ed, a photographer for the rich and famous, just passed away in the fabulous and spooky Barclay Mansion, and his first order of business is to find out what happened. Was he murdered? Posessed? Who is responsible, and where is his wife, Rachel? Unfortunately for Ed, his only guide is his Shadow, who, like all shadows do, wants to push him to absolute destruction (the "oblivion" of the title) or, barring that, to break Ed's will and take over his spirit.
In Wraith: The Oblivion, a person's physical death separates its soul into Psyche (the rational, "good" side that aims for truth and illumination) and Shadow, the dark goblin that lives inside every one of us.
"The Shadow has a will of its own, it relishes watching the struggle as it slowly pushes the Wraith one step closer to Oblivion, the end of all things. The Shadow is the manifestation of your dark subconscious and something that can never be truly vanquished or avoided - it is a part of you now, for better or worse," said Telltale Games. "Think of the Shadow as a devil on your shoulder who also happens to be the only thing that can help you piece together the truth about what happened to you and everyone else in the mansion."
The Shadow is probably the most inventive creation of the World of Darkness. In the TTRPG version, the Shadow of each character was interpreted by another player or, barring that, by the Storyteller (World of Darknesses' Dungeon Masters). This is the aspect that made Wraith: The Oblivion the most difficult game of World of Darkness. If it was tricky to guide a narrative-based RPG with such dark themes, it was even more to find players who would properly embody a Shadow and constantly act as the direct enemy of another player at the same table.
The Shadows of Wraith can be loosely classified into different archetypes, depending on the darkest tendencies of the player Psyche. These archetypes are called Shadow Natures and are as toxic as they are diverse, ranging from the nagging Perfectionist that will always find a fault in everything to the Master Manipulator who is pulling the threads behind the scenes to the incredibly cruel Voice of Hope, who keeps insisting that the wraith is not really dead, but in a dream from which they will soon wake up. They are akin to that little voice in your head that will get you into trouble if you heed its advice.
A Shadow's main source of energy is Angst, which can be acquired in several different ways: either by convincing the Wraith to fulfill one of the Shadow's Dark Passions (which are contrary to the best interest and objectives of the Wraith,) by "helping" the Wraith by offering them Shadow Dice that increase the Angst level or by interacting with certain objects called Arcanoi. Angst can be spent to apply Thorns -- refined forms of torture -- to the Wraith or, if the Angst is overflowing, to enter Catharsis, take control of the Wraith's corpus for a full scene and do their very best dark bidding to drive it to Oblivion.
Ed's Shadow is definitely not a Voice of Hope. This Shadow is insulting, grating and bullying from the get-go, even as it barks exasperated instructions to a shellshocked Ed. Every single one of its helpful tips is accompanied by a barb that would be passive-aggressive if it wasn't delivered as the hard-boiled threat of a chain-smoker.
"You can see and hear everything if you want it bad enough. Try and use it, see if you can find me. Maybe it will make you feel less useless?" it says, showing the player how to use the Enhanced Senses of a freshly awakened spirit.
Ed really wants to find out if his wife Rachel survived whatever happened in the Barclay Mansion -- that's his main Passion and the reason why he feels so powerless as a ghost; he truly has no idea if he can protect her from beyond, or if she's moved beyond any protection. A proper Shadow would choose the path that would lead Ed to Oblivion the fastest -- if the game unveils that Rachel died because of something Ed did, that might be the best way to make Ed give up and enter Catharsis. However, if Rachel is fine and on the path to recovery, maybe the Shadow will want to mess with Ed's memory of the events.
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