This PlayStation VR game is based on a haunted arcade game that may or may not be real

So here's one hell of a weird game coming to PS4's virtual reality headset: Polybius. But unless you frequent the dark corners of the internet, you may not have heard of it. So let me explain, because I want you to appreciate how truly and wonderfully weird the world of gaming is about to become.

Back in the '80s, there was a game called Polybius that, depending on who you talk to, was either a mind-control experiment created by the government or just straight-up haunted. Those who played it suffered headaches, insomnia, and night terrors, yet the game also instilled in them an addictive need to continue playing. Time spent away from Polybius was agony to them, and they began to mumble incoherently about men in black tracking them.

At least, that's the story.

Today, game developer Jeff Minter has announced his plans to remake the game for PlayStation VR - and yes, I said "remake". Minter insists on the PlayStation Blog that he played the game, describing it as a psychedelic trip that he struggles to recall. "The overriding thing was a tremendous sense of speed, rushing through geometric structures, the impression that I was surrounded by bright structures and pulsating light, particles that sleeted through my very brain, it felt like," he writes.

That's definitely an apt description for what we see in the new Polybius' gameplay:

Well kiddies, I don't know about Minter's tale being true, but I look forward to trying an adaptation of this legendary scarcade game when it comes out. AH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

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Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.

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