“All the noises were made using just my mouth,” boasted Garrett Fuselier, as I took off the headset and praised the sound design of his game, Host. Host was easily one of the most interesting games on the floor of Play NYC this weekend and I definitely enjoyed my time dabbling around with it.

Inspired by nightmares of being trapped in a whale, Garrett designed the VR game Host to simulate that experience of being trapped in a monster so large it’s unaware of you. Naturally there are some puzzles thrown in the mix of exploring through the pulsing tunnels of a gigantic creature, and those puzzles make it a little bit more than just a VR maze. Tapping glowing orbs open portals and you can then use those portals to enter different “rooms.” The elevator pitch may not be the most impressive, but the experience itself is definitely cool.

As mentioned before, all the sounds in the game were done by Garrett, from the wind to the pulsing of the walls and the heavy breathing that you begin to hear when you run out of time. It’s unbelievably immersive and probably what stands out the most about the experience. As is the idea behind most VR games, everything is designed to immerse you as much as possible, and in Host you can almost feel the claustrophobic environment around you, even if it is just virtual.

The game seems to be planned out quite well in terms its narrative and puzzles, so we’re excited to see how everything works out for Host in the future. Currently the first of three planned chapters for Host is out on Steam for the Vive VR system, with potential plans to launch on Oculus Rift.