The Twilight Zone VR is a Virtual Reality adventure game based on The Twilight Zone developed by Pocket Money Games Ltd., and published by Fun Train. It was released in 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and Oculus Quest. The game consists of three chapters: Character Building, Terror Firma, and Deadline: Earth.
Tropes:
- Alien Abduction: The protagonist of Deadline: Earth, who was writing a story about an alien invasion, ends up abducted by an alien himself.
- After the End: Terror Firma starts with text stating that a failed experiment to study the sun caused it to expand and kill 97% of the world's population, with its protagonist being one of the few that took shelter underground.
- Bad Boss: Jordan, a manager at Stave One Games and the protagonist of Character Building; the very first scene after Character Customization is them being called by HR over psychologically tormenting an employee into quitting.
- Character Customization: Character Building begins with the player having their voice tested by reciting some lines, and then get to create a character, adjusting their appearance (including gender) and stat points. However, it soon becomes clear that the player didn't create the protagonist, but the antagonist, and the "vocal test" was so it could taunt the player with their own voice.
- Continuity Nod: Deadline: Earth begins with a radio announcing the experiment to probe the sun that was the instigating event of Terror Firma. Additionally, its protagonist, Sam, is a writer that used to work for the gaming company in Character Building before getting frustrated and quitting.
- Dead All Along: In Terror Firma, Hope was actually one of the first casualties of the sun's expansion.
- Gender-Blender Name: The protagonist of Character Building is named Jordan, a unisex name meant to hide the fact that they're not the same as the male or female character the player just created until said character comes out of Jordan's computer screen.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Character Building ends with Jordan being killed by a character based on themself, brought to a "Game Over" screen that states they've attempted to escape over three million times, and forced to start over from the call received by HR.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Due to an In-Universe case of Christmas Rushed, Character Building takes place during the winter holidays after Jordan has forced their employees to work overtime in order to meet a deadline.
- Inside a Computer System: One of the major twists in Character Building. It's initially set up to seem like Jordan is escaping from a game character that's manifested in the Stave One offices, but after leaving the building, the outside world lacks textures and it turns out that Jordan's been in a game all along.
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: Character Building has the Bad Boss protagonist Jordan receive a file named "Rodman's Revenge" from a developer they had harassed into quitting. As soon as they boot it up, the character the player designed at the very start comes out of the screen to attack Jordan with a knife.
- Psycho Knife Nut: The character created at the start of Character Building is equipped with a knife after their stats are allocated. Once manifested, it will immediately try to kill Jordan with that knife.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Terror Firma ends with the revelation that the protagonist was the prime minister who authorized the probe that ended up expanding the sun, and the monsters he'd been seeing are imaginary creatures based on his daughter Hope's drawings.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: At the end of Deadline: Earth, Sam is victorious against the aliens, assuming it was an abduction just like in the story he was writing, only to learn they were trying to save him from the After the End situation depicted in Terror Firma and be left on Earth without any protection from the sun's deadly radiation.
