Who is pulling virtual reality out of the doldrums? Big tech companies all want a shared virtual reality metaverse, but since the wireless Meta Quest (2019) there haven’t been any glasses that make VR more user-friendly for newcomers. Sony is now trying again, with a follow-up to 2016’s groundbreaking PSVR goggles.
Really good games have long been missing from virtual reality. They often got stuck on simple gimmicks: climbing mountains, fishing, a rollercoaster in which you could also shoot. They rarely came close to the quality of blockbuster games for ‘ordinary’ game computers. Only once has a game with true blockbuster ambitions been released for VR: Half Life: Alyxwhich requires a fairly heavy PC.
That’s probably why PlayStation has bet so heavily on Horizon: Call of the Mountain, a game from the Dutch blockbuster studio Guerrilla. After all, the PSVR2 needs nothing more than a PlayStation 5 to play big games.
It does impose a heavy burden Call of the Mountain, which on the one hand consists of a succession of gimmicks from existing games, but on the other hand has the storytelling and length of a blockbuster. The gimmicks – mountain climbing, archery, a mixture of other ideas – come together smoothly into one whole that is difficult to put down. A good move for VR games – but one that comes very late.
You play the warrior Ryas, who is captured after a civil war. In exchange for a pardon, he has to look for his brother. There has been good investment in professional voice actors; thanks to the eye tracking technique, which monitors the position of your eyes, all characters look at you in a natural way.
You crawl along precipices, sometimes have to hack hard with your climbing axes on a rock to climb up. Then you walk around, looking for boxes with materials, or make your own arrows with your hands. And sneaking past enemies unleashes a fantastic instinctive urge to disappear into the bushes.
That’s why it’s such a shame that Guerrilla still feels called to place all kinds of toys in your path. Drums? That feels like an old demo.
In combat, you can only move left and right. The adrenaline flows freely: bow in one hand, the other you use to grab arrows over your shoulders. Too bad the movements aren’t always intuitive – if you miss, you’ll be messing around for half a minute before you can shoot again.
The haze is gone
The PSVR 2 conjures it up beautifully on your retina. Thanks to the eye tracking, the game computer ‘knows’, for example, which part of the field of view should be the most beautiful at what time. The haze that still fell over the screens of older glasses is gone. It delivers a game world that actually engulfs you. Only that one cable is in the way – and the space in your game room.
Although the price of 600 euros for VR glasses is quite reasonable, the price of the PlayStation itself (550 euros) is also added. It remains a significant expense on an average household budget. Especially if you take into account that Call of the Mountain itself also costs 70 euros, and there are few other good games for sale.
If you want to experience the best of the technology without spending several thousand euros, the PSVR is the best choice. But a leap forward for VR? No, we’ll have to wait a while for that.