Indie VR studio iTales VR has released a free demo version of Dark Trip, a surreal escape room experience blending horror, psychedelia, and detective mystery. The game hit some roadblocks on its way to release given its dark, adult themes, but with that horror (pun intended) out of the way, VR gamers can enjoy the Dark Trip demo now.
What is Dark Trip?
Developer iTales VR bills Dark Trip as ‘one of the most unique and bizarre VR experiences’. You take on the role of an investigator searching for a missing woman, and for some reason are forced to consume drugs during your mission.
In the game, the boundaries between reality, virtuality, and hallucinations dissolve, immersing you in a Lovecraftian nightmare. In a seemingly abandoned laboratory, you’ll explore room after room uncovering evidence of twisted experiments, scattered notebooks of employees, and disturbing accounts from test subjects. The gameplay revolves around solving intricate puzzles while piecing together the unsettling truth of the past.
Something Something ‘Adult Themes’?
Last month, XRSource reported on the hurdles Dark Trip had to jump through in order to reach launch. iTales VR has deemed this issue a ‘bureaucratic back-and-forth’ with Steam’s review team. At the end of March 2025, Dark Trip finally secured its presence on the Steam platform. So what was the issue?
Steam reviewers insisted on seeing a full demo build due to the game’s psychedelic narrative involving Nazi themes. Without a complete build for review, Steam refused to approve the page’s publication. Following this, iTales VR were requested to upload the build via SteamPipe, only for SteamPipe to malfunction until the page was first approved. Certainly a catch-22, which the developers overcame by packaging the build into a password-protected archive and sending it via Google Drive to Steam’s review team. So, all’s well that ends well, then?
Dark Trip Demo Details
Dark Trip‘s first installment, known as ‘Episode 1’, launched in Early Access for Meta Quest earlier this year. The new Dark Trip demo includes early levels that form the prologue of Episode 1. This gives players a chance to explore its unique mechanics before deciding to purchase the Early Access version on Meta Store.
The free demo features three rooms and is available on Sidequest now.
“We wanted more people to experience the weirdness of Dark Trip before making a decision to buy. SideQuest is a perfect place for that,” says Alexander Nasonov, game’s producer and co-founder of iTales VR.
Have you been playing Dark Trip? Will you be downloading this new demo? Let us know in the comments below!
