The Persistence

The Persistence is a smart, and genuinely scary, mix of horror and roguelite elements that takes full advantage of VR.

The Persistence is a unique and unsettling sci-fi horror roguelite that does an excellent job of transferring its tense atmosphere and absorbing gameplay loops from its original VR form to the Nintendo Switch. There are tons of weapons and toys to tool around with as you run the gauntlet, the permanent aspects of the gameplay are refreshingly generous and survival mode and New Game+ provide a properly stiff challenge for those who prefer their roguelites to be tough as nails. Firesprite Games has done a fantastic job of porting the entire ghoulish affair over to Switch, with flawless performan...

It’s 2521. You are in deep space. Your ship, a colony vessel named the Persistence, is damaged and on the edge of being sucked into a black hole. All hopes of escape lay on your shoulders. Oh and there’s a further fly in the ointment – you’re dead.

In The Persistence, the team at Firesprite have concocted a rogue-lite survival horror whose atmosphere and hard hitting combat feel fantastic in VR. Thanks to an impressive array of comfort options it’s also amongst the best PSVR experiences we’ve had, and for owners of Sony’s headset it’s damn near essential.

Originally released as a PlayStation VR exclusive, the space horror roguelike The Persistence made the jump to PC (and all the major consoles) complete with tweaks that allow the game to be played without a VR headset. These jumps are usually not without issues, so how did developer Firesprite handle the conversion? Pretty well, as it turns out.

The Persistence is worth playing overall, but the game is unfortunately plagued with artificial difficulty solely to pad out the length.

The ominous music playing over the menu of The Persistence immediately sets the scene for the horror sci-fi roguelike. You play as a clone of security officer Z

A sci-fi horror that gets better with perseverance, The Persistence is worth delving into, despite more than a few frustrations. Give it time, though, and you'll ultimately discover a rewarding roguelike experience.