I Expect You To Die

by BadDad · Published May 10, 2020 · Updated January 15, 2022

This is the first computer game I have bought for myself in a very long time, I started gaming when home computers just started becoming available.
My parents being teachers meant they could bring home a BBC Micro fairly regularly and I started copying in game code from magazines and experimenting with BBC Basic programming. One of the first games to catch my attention fully was ELITE a very crude, by any standard now, space game but was one of the first 3D world games.
As a student I played the original Wolfenstein and Doom and continued playing games all the way to the final Half Life, Far Cry and Fear (that really got my heart thumping).

These were all submersive 3D games where you explored a world and each held an excitement to me as the graphics and interactivity of the worlds developed over the years.
A combination of having children, a lack of time and the high cost of upgrading PC hardware stopped me from continuing and perhaps I grew out of the shoot them up genre.

So when we bought a Oculus Quest to help with the boredom of Covid19 lock down for the kids I found quite a new and still developing world of VR. So after looking at reviews and playing some of the titles the kids wanted I decided to buy this puzzle game – “I Expect You To Die”

Jo and I have completed a number of escape room games with friends which I really enjoy and this game is sold as such. So I bought my first computer game in years.

Game play

I expect you to die is created by Schell Games and has been released on a number of VR platforms but we are reviewing the Oculus Quest version.

You are set as a James Bond styled operative in a retro environment and each challenge is set in a small contained space, you play the whole game sat down which is unusual for VR games.

The graphics aren’t attempting to be anywhere near photo realistic as some of the games I used to play but they are very convincing. You really do feel like you are in a car or train cabin as you try to solve the puzzles.
This becomes evident when you want to stop and you take the goggles off and are jumped back into reality, a situation I still find odd (probably my age).

The story line throughout is loose but enough to link each of the “puzzle rooms” together and the narration provides a very effective theme feeling to the game that helps submerse you in the puzzles.

I’m not going to give away any spoilers that aren’t contained in the press release clips, the puzzles are all logical with plenty of hints to help you, you just have to listen and look, remembering clues and notes from other environments. There was only one time I got really stuck and that was a control issue that my mind hadn’t figured and should have (a head slap moment).

Having said that the controls are very easy and the environments help you identify what you can and cannot interact with by highlighting items with a blue circle.
Please try and refrain from watching too many YouTube videos on the game, as I write this and look at some I’m glad I didn’t as some I think give away far too much.

The whole game probably took me four hours to complete but left me wanting more.