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Virtual reality Sadako lets anyone experience crawling through a TV and scaring people to death

Master Blaster Jun 24, 2016
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Having seen through the eyes of Sadako, we can now definitively say: Yes, the hair is a huge nuisance.

The video demo comes from Twitter user @tatsunoru who makes a variety of unique smartphone and VR games along with other digital artistry.

▼ “I got into the Sadako vs Kayako movie, so I made a Sadako VR prototype. It’s a game to experience the toils from Sadako’s side of things. Parting through the long hair, phoning people who watched the cursed video tape, and then coming out of the TV to kill the cursed person.”

映画「貞子vs伽椰子」が面白かったので、つい「貞子VR」を試作してしました。貞子側の苦労体験ゲームです。長い髪をかき分け、呪いのビデオを見た人が現れたら電話をかけて、テレビから飛び出して呪い殺します。 pic.twitter.com/qVoycSsJvN

— tatsunoru@DOFI (@tatsunoru) June 21, 2016

Indeed Tatsunoru’s take on the Ring franchise is very eye-opening. Sure we’ve all assumed it wasn’t great to be Sadako since she was a murderous and moldy rotting corpse, but she was also magic and immortal – and those are some really big pluses.

In her downtime, I always figured Sadako could kick it on a beach or finally finish that novel she’s been working on, but no. Being her simply sucks 24-7 and even comes with a set of rules. Upon starting Sadako VR you are presented with a list of them.

Sadako Rules

1 People who watch the cursed video appear and then the connecting TV lights up.

2 Creep up to the place where the TV is.

Argh…this hair can f**k right off already!

3 Call the cursed person on the telephone.

4 Enter the TV.

And that pretty much sums up what it’s like to be Sadako…day in and day out…forever. Sure you got your magically postmodern well equipped with supernatural rotary phones and CRT television sets but I imagine that gets old real quick.

Off to work we go! Climbing up the well allows gravity to give us a brief respite from the hair. Then it’s time to make a phone call and enter the TV portal.

Immediately you’re face-to-hair with your victim who is experiencing a terror unlike any they have ever felt. Meanwhile you, as Sadako, couldn’t be more bored by the tedious endeavor. It’s a fascinating juxtaposition of emotions.

After the job is done, it’s right back in the TV we go. No raiding the victim’s fridge or using their phone to make calls to psychic hotlines; being Sadako is all business.

It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing a final release of Sadako VR for obvious reasons, but conceptually it is an awesome game and as rough as it is, it was very nicely executed by the off-beat genius of Tatsunoru.

Tatsunoru has been getting attention from some of his other VR projects as well, such as his game aptly titled VR Futile Effort, which is more eerily similar to my dreams than I’d care to admit.

▼ “I made VR Futile Effort in a rush. You have to stack stones in a dry riverbed at a constant height, but you also have to fend off demons coming to knock over your stones by throwing the stones at them. I wonder if it’s OK to apply for the Unity VR Expo Akiba.”

突貫で「VR賽の河原」作った。河原に転がってる石を積み重ねて一定の高さにしないといけないんだけど、鬼が崩しにやってくるから石を投げて撃退するゲーム。Unity VR EXPO AKIBAに応募しても大丈夫ですかな… pic.twitter.com/oTJLXlqer1

— tatsunoru@DOFI (@tatsunoru) June 17, 2016

And then there’s the game in which you spin kimono-clad women like tops by yanking on their obi belts. It’s exactly as bizarre as you might imagine.

Again, these games all merely concepts, but if there are more creative minds like Tatsunoru out there providing unique and intriguing content, then VR may enjoy a long and prosperous future in the home entertainment market.

Source: Twitter/@tatsunoru, Kai-you (Japanese)
Images: Twitter/@tatsunoru