Dark Days is an upcoming GearVR mystery-thriller debuting June 2016. We sit down with CEO and Game Director of developer Parallel Studio, Ronan Coiffec.

VReview: Thanks for sitting down to chat with us. First off, how did you get into the video game business and into Parallel?

Ronan: We are a team of 4 who work in the video game industry for about 10 years. We have worked in many big studios in France like Ubisoft, DONTNOD Entertainment, Quantic Dream and EdenGames. After ten years of great experiences in big projects, we have decided to run something more “indie” and more interesting for us in terms of creativity, etc.. So we have had the chance to create our first game called White Night, an “old school” survival horror in black and white, inspired by Hitchcock movies and German expressionism. Then, 9 months ago, we got some Gear VR headsets and we decided to create something in VR, called “Dark Days”.

VReview: What are some of your notable previous works?

Ronan: So as I said before our first indie game was White Night, published by Activision on PS4, XboxOne, PC, Mac & Linux. We have made this game through a primary studio called Osome Studio which is also a company I’ve created with other guys to develop a specific engine. Just before White Night, we had worked on Life Is Strange (DONTNOD Ent. – Square Enix) where I was the very first game director and was in charge to create a complete team and design the main game concept of the “rewind” gameplay feature. I worked with Jean Luc Cano who is the writer of Life Is Strange and Michel Koch, artistic director. I was in charge of Life Is Strange because I was previously Lead Designer on Remember Me (DONTNOD Ent. – Capcom) and was in charge of the cinematics and the “memory remix” sequences in this game.

VReview: Favorite game(s)?

Ronan: I would say Ico then Shenmue, MGS2, Alone in the Dark, Ishar, etc..

VReview: What was your first experience with VR?

Ronan: My first experience in VR was with the Gear VR headset that Samsung sent to us.

VReview: How do you like it? How do you see VR impacting the gaming industry?

Ronan: Yes, I have personally a Gear VR and I have to say that it’s for me the best device today for VR. Of course it’s less powerful and without positional head tracking like the Rift or the HTC but the fact that it’s completely portable, without any cables and really easy to use – plug and play – is for me something really really important and cool, because it’s really easy to share it (for example at a party, in the street, at home, etc..). At the beginning, one year ago, I think I was like everyone, a little confused in the exact viability of video games in VR, because I was thinking that the headset for a long play session would be too uncomfortable for the player. But today I have to say that playing on consoles or PC and use a stick or a mouse for just look behind or move simply the camera seems to me archaic. So I really think today that VR could improve many classic games in terms of immersion, emotion and empathy also because the immersive effect really catches the player and immerses him in the story.

VReview: So, what is Dark Days, and what will it be about?

Ronan: Dark Days is a narrative game, a story about Jade Lacroix, a girl lost in Death Valley looking for a motel to have a break in her life. The player will have to explore many places, rooms and learn more about this motel and what is hidden in it. So the game is a mix between exploration and “escape-the-room” style game focusing on the story.

VReview: What inspired Dark Days? Any influences? How did Oculus Studios get involved?

Ronan: Our main influence is X-Files, for the kind of story, the mix between investigation and supernatural elements while offering great thriller elements. First, the main concept of the game was to explore the “escape-the-room” side of a narrative game, because we thought it could be something really interesting for a VR game. So, after making a short demo of the game, we sent it to Oculus and they really liked it!

VReview: How is it like working in VR? How do you think being immersed in Dark Days will affect the player?

Ronan: Working in VR is quite difficult as there are a lot of technical constraints which can affect the player’s experiences and because it’s a new technology, some really simple things are really complex to do, for example UI, moves, etc.. In Dark Days we have really worked in 360°. Each scene was crafted to dive the player in a strong virtual world, with a strong ambiance all around the player, not just in front of him.

VReview: When will Dark Days be releasing, and how can we get it?

Ronan: We are excited to reveal that info really soon!

VReview: Where can we expect to see Parallel in the future?

Ronan: We hope we will work on more games with a strong universe and many great stories!

Parallel Studio can be found at their site, parallel-studio.com and on Twitter @FromParallel.