‘Paranormal Activity’ Is Getting a Virtual Reality Game

What’s spookier than found-footage ghosts? That’s easy: Virtual reality ghosts.

The decidedly low-fi horror series Paranormal Activity franchise is getting a major technological upgrade next year. Via a press release, Paramount announced they’re turning their long-running found-footage series into a virtual reality game; Paranormal Activity VR is coming in 2016 “for all major head-mounted displays including HTC Vive, Sony’s Project Morpheus, Oculus Rift; PC; mobile; and consoles, including Xbox One and PlayStation 4.”

The release doesn’t include any additional details about the game beyond promising “incredible immersion” into the world of Paranormal Activity, and “not only be the scariest game you’ve ever played, but the scariest experience you’ve ever had.” Scarier than the time my flip flop fell off and I stepped in toilet water in a public restroom in Grand Central Station? I find that hard to believe.

Still, Paranormal Activity VR certainly has the potential to be mighty interesting. Pundits keep hailing VR as the future not only of gaming but all entertainment, yet the progress toward that future remains pretty slow. Teaming VR with a major franchise could be a big step forward, and while it might be hard to explain why someone is just randomly wearing a 360 degree 3D camera (“I found it in the basement in a box of dad’s old stuff! Supposedly it can record ghosts! Let’s put it on and go to that abandoned mental hospital and see what happens!”), but the first person perspective of found-footage movies like Paranormal Activity should mesh nicely with a VR game. Plus, the Paranormal Activity film franchise continues as well; Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension opens in theaters on October 23, 2015.