You can tell that there’s a lot of curiosity about the PlayStation VR2 from the waiting list to try it out at the Sony pavilion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: an hour after the gates open, there’s already no more room, with around fifty of people waiting in the hope that someone will forfeit.
Luckily we moved in time and can calmly access one of the four stations where it was possible to try Horizon: Call of the Mountainspinoff of Horizon: Zero Dawn which obviously is told in the first person and not in the third person, and has a different character from Aloy as the protagonist.
The calibration of PSVR2 is very similar to that of other more recent VR devices and, thanks to the solutions already used in the first model, adapting it to your head is particularly easy: just put it on and use the rear knob to tighten it until it is stable enough and then adjust the distance from the face and record the movement of the eyes. This last part is very important, not only because we will be able to use our gaze to select menu items, but because PSVR2 is equipped with “foveat rendering”, i.e. the ability to concentrate the graphics capabilities of the PS5 only where we are looking, so as to lighten the load on the rest of the scene and give us maximum visual detail on what is in the focus of our gaze.
Once everything is ready, all that remains is to pick up the controllers, equipped with haptic feedback and finger tracking, to start our adventure.
welcome to the Jungle
Over the years we have tried many VR games and technologies and, after the fiasco of the nineties, today all in all we take virtual reality for granted. And yet, perhaps only VR manages to restore that sensation of technological leap that players once felt when moving from the first PlayStation to the second or third, because the first minutes of Call of the Mountain they are the typical experience that after a few seconds takes the form of a smile full of wonder and amazement. The 2000×2040 OLED screen in HDR with a double refresh rate and a 110° field of view immediately let you know that we are far, far ahead of the previous generation.
It happens to see VR games that look great on paper, but then visually they can’t compete with what consoles offer, but here that line seems to blur, while you find yourself on a boat and look down to see the details of your hands they move in real time, the reflections of the sun, the crystal clear water that flows next to you where you can see the seabed and the impressive creatures of the game that move around you. It’s the classic amusement park moment, which serves to immerse you in the game world, filling you with wonder and anticipation, and it works very well.
It’s a long way to the top
After this brief introduction, the game finally begins and does so with climbing, a classic of VR titles, and given the visual rendering of PSVR2, we feel we can say that it is not a moment suitable for those suffering from vertigo, but perfect for those who want to enjoy a breathtaking view without moving from the living room. Thanks to the tracking of eyes, fingers and hands, the moment of initial loss passes quickly, and after a few seconds we climb as if we’ve always done it, carefully choosing between lianas, protrusions and various holds to climb higher and higher, until we we find the next step of this brief introduction: the bow.
If to fight in Horizon: Zero Dawn it’s a matter of dodging and having the right weapons at the right time, in Call of the Mountain it’s all much more human, close, brutally honest: we are not Aloy, with her prophetic warrior skills, and as much as our alter ego behaves like a valiant warrior to stretch the bow and take aim, it’s us. And it’s always us who has to take every arrow by putting a hand behind his back, losing precious seconds. But first, there’s one more movement to learn: how do you walk? In many VR games you just need to tilt an analog stick forward, but here we have to press a button for each controller and move our arms, swinging them back and forth, just as if we were walking at a brisk pace. It seems little, but it is often all that is needed for our brain to believe in magic.
After yet another climb, we arrive at an abandoned outpost, where we can play a bit, interacting with the environment. We take an apple and bring it to our mouth, to eat it and recover some energy, we lift the lid of a barrel and throw it far away, observing as it breaks a plate, the pieces of which we move with our fingers. We grasp a club with two hands and strike a gong, simply because we can. On the other hand, the beauty of VR is all here: in making things special that perhaps we wouldn’t even do in a normal game.
After passing the camp, here is finally a fight with one of the biomechanical creatures of the game, whose leap causes the haptic feedback to vibrate near our face to give us an idea of what we are about to face.
To avoid making things too complex the clashes of Call of the Mountain predict that you can only move on fixed paths, using your hands to dodge attacks or distance yourself, but the thrill of having to aim, nock a second arrow, move and maybe finally hit the monster’s weak points is an ancestral thrill. For a second we are no longer human beings in 2023, but hunters in a post apocalyptic world.
Unfortunately, it is precisely at this point that a hand rests on our shoulder, and it is a real hand, not a virtual one. Our time in the world of Horizon it’s over.
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See you in February
As you will have understood, PSVR2 has undoubtedly convinced us: from a technical point of view it is a significant leap forward and, just like the previous model, draws its strength from being linked to a very specific hardware, which the developers and designers know well and that can give a lot of power to Sony’s virtual reality, using a single cable, and with one of the most comfortable and accessible devices, especially for those who don’t want to spend more time trying to make everything work well than playing games. Another important detail: after removing the visor, we realized that we had sweated a little around our face, yet the visor, thanks to a small fan positioned on the lenses, didn’t fog up even in the most agitated moments.
Above all, PSVR2 reminds us that VR is a living sector, even if it hasn’t yet fully realized its potential in the mainstream market, and its promise to blow us away has yet to be fully fulfilled, but Sony definitely seems willing to go for it. . Obviously, doubts about the cost remain on the plate, because we are talking about 599.99 euros, and the availability of the console, which is still difficult to find if you are not willing to give in to the blackmail of speculators. Sony Interactive president Jim Ryan said that the dark times are over and that the PS5 will soon be available without problems. We’ll see, February 22, the day of the release of PSVR2, is not that far away.
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