PSVR2 Reviews
Review The Light Brigade (PSVR2) - Solid Rogue-Lite Doesn't Need to Reinvent the Wheel
Look for the light
Developer Funktronic Labs is no stranger to crafting interesting, meaningful roguelike experiences. Look no further than Nova-111, a fantastic game released back in 2015. Fast forward a handful of years, and the developers have revisited this ever-fruitful well, delivering the rogue-lite The Light Brigade for Sony's new headset...
Review The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR (PSVR2) - Lousy Rails Shooter Is a Supermassive Shame
Ride it out
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, a rails shooter with a rollercoaster theme, was one of the surprise highlights of PSVR’s catalogue, so there was understandable enthusiasm surrounding the announcement of Supermassive’s spiritual successor, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. Unfortunately, this is a dour shadow of a follow-up, let-down by...
Mini Review Job Simulator (PSVR2) - A Port Worthy of a Promotion
Jobsworth
Job Simulator’s enduring popularity is no coincidence: it is, after all, the quintessential virtual reality game. Spread across four impressively interactive occupations, you’ll turn your comically exaggerated hands to all kinds of amusing tasks, like cooking the books as an office worker and dealing with a robbery as a convenience...
Mini Review Unplugged: Air Guitar (PSVR2) - An Entertaining Rhythm Game, Warts and All
This game’s got the beat
Originally released on the Meta Quest, Unplugged: Air Guitar is a rhythm game where you, well, play an air guitar. You strum with one hand and move the other to different parts of the neck according to a note chart similar to games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero. With a core track list of 20 plus tracks from across the...
Mini Review Puzzling Places (PSVR2) - A Lovely Game with a Few Problems
Puzzle me this, Batman
Puzzling Places is absolutely lovely — that’s the best way to describe it. A puzzle game best described as a 3D jigsaw, this is far and away the most relaxing time you can have with your PSVR2. The game leans into its unique appeal, allowing you to put together 3D dioramas of things that under normal circumstances would be...
Mini Review The Last Clockwinder (PSVR2) - A Satisfying, Chilled Out Puzzler
Going it a-clone
In a nutshell, The Last Clockwinder is a blend of solving puzzles and building factories. It's not the most original idea, but it's executed really well, taking advantage of virtual reality's unique perspective to create some truly engrossing gameplay. Set within the Clocktower, an enormous tree acting as a safe haven for various...
Mini Review Pistol Whip (PSVR2) - Still One of the Best VR Games You Can Play
Whip it
Upon its PSVR launch, we found Pistol Whip to be a sublime experience, brilliantly blending rail shooter and rhythm mechanics. How does the upgraded version fare? Well, even better. Unlike some of the PSVR2 upgrades, Pistol Whip doesn’t make a huge impression graphically. It was a stylized title with a solid aesthetic on first attempt, so...
Mini Review No Man's Sky (PSVR2) - Explore an Infinite Universe on a Whole New Scale
Space is big
We've revisited No Man's Sky a number of times over the years. It only seems fair to check in every once in a while considering how much changes with each major update. The latest of these, Fractal, adds full PSVR2 support, allowing you to explore planets, space stations, and everything in between within Sony's new headset. The initial...
Review Before Your Eyes (PSVR2) - Eye Tracked Tearjerker Will Move You
Blink and you'll miss it
There will be no dry PSVR2 headsets among those who choose to try Before Your Eyes. This truly unique 90 minute narrative experience asks you to set aside your DualSense, and relies on the headset’s eye tracking as its primary form of engagement. Rather than using the controller, you’ll instead blink to interact with...
Mini Review Rez Infinite (PSVR2) - PSVR Classic Remains a Must-Play on PSVR2
To Infinite and beyond
Rez Infinite was a transcendent experience on PSVR. A game originally from the PS2 days, the title seems at home in virtual reality to such a degree that it might as well have been made with that in mind. And the PSVR2 glow-up actually makes things even better. First and foremost, the graphical upgrade is immediately...
Mini Review What the Bat? (PSVR2) - Bonkers, Bite-Sized Fun Ideal for Beginners
Going batty
What the Bat replaces your arms and hands with a pair of baseball bats, and has you swinging through a series of short but sweet levels in an attempt to live a normal life. It's madness, but works wonderfully. This PSVR2 curio makes solid use of the hardware to deliver one of its silliest yet most appealing launch games. Playing is so...
Mini Review Garden of the Sea (PSVR2) - Cutesy Farming Adventure That Exudes Tranquillity
Animal Crossing VR
Garden of the Sea is a relaxing farming adventure from Neat Corporation, the developer behind Budget Cuts VR. Set on a series of islands in the middle of the ocean, you're tasked with returning a dilapidated farm back to its former glory. You are eased into the game by the village creatures offering simple fetch quests in the form...
Mini Review Zombieland Headshot Fever Reloaded (PSVR2) - A Simple Yet Fun VR Zombie Shooter
It's time to nut up or shut up
With close to 50 games launching alongside the PSVR2, it’s easy to overlook some of the smaller VR ports like Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded. This is a VR zombie shooter that drops you in the comedically violent world of the 2009 cult classic Zombieland. On first impressions, this isn’t going to be anything to...
Mini Review After the Fall (PSVR2) - Standout Co-Op Apocalypse Shooter
Left4Dead VR
After the Fall is a co-op multiplayer, post-apocalyptic, first-person shooter from the developers of Arizona Sunshine, Vertigo Games. Decades after the 1980s apocalypse turned Los Angeles into a frozen wasteland, you join a group of underground survivors becoming what’s known as a Harvest Runner. Tasked with expanding your group’s...
Review Cosmonious High (PSVR2) - Job Simulator Devs Return with a Vibrant, Playful Sandbox
School simulator
Developer Owlchemy Labs quickly found a winning formula with its virtual reality titles, most notably Job Simulator. It's widely regarded as one of the medium's early successes, giving the player lots of things to interact with and entertaining spaces in which to play. You can feel that same core running through Cosmonious High, a...
Review Pavlov VR (PSVR2) - A Must-Buy for PSVR2 Owners
Get ready to shoot, lie, and shoot some more
Pavlov VR has nestled itself among the roster of PSVR2 launch games, crossing from PC to console for the first time. On the surface, this tactile online shooter is all about the guns, with everything from heavy-hitting snipers to revolvers. In our first session with the game, we were starry-eyed over the...
Mini Review Synth Riders: Remastered Edition (PSVR2) - Back and Better Than Ever
Ride the wave
Synth Riders was a highlight of PSVR: we loved it back when it launched in mid-2021. For a more explicit explanation, you can check out our original review, but know that this is a rhythm title played on a “note highway” and it’s excellent. One of the strengths of the game the first time through was its exceptional soundtrack,...
Review Resident Evil Village (PSVR2) - An Even More Intense Version of a PS5 Great
VRillage
Rather than following gaming trends in search of profit, Capcom is beginning to create another of its own: high-quality, big-budget VR ports. After Resident Evil 7: Biohazard successfully translated Ethan Winters’ plight to save his wife into the world of virtual reality, the developer has done it again with the follow-up. While we feel...
Mini Review Ragnarock (PSVR2) - Viking Rhythm Game Has Just Enough Fun to Fill a Stave Church
Tempest rising
Ragnarock is PSVR2’s other launch title about drumming — alongside Drums Rock — though it approaches things differently. Developer WanadevStudio has crafted a rhythm game about Viking boating crews racing each other. The more notes you hit, the farther your rowing team travels as you compete against bots, or more excitingly,...
Mini Review Tetris Effect (PSVR2) - Stunning Puzzler Now Looks Better Than Ever
Memory blocks
Back when Tetris Effect launched on PS4, it was with full support for the original PSVR. At the time, we thought it was glorious, but realistically, the hardware's limitations meant the picture was never super clear. The spectacle of this flashy take on the familiar falling block puzzle game wasn't lost on us, though, and it remains a...
Mini Review Altair Breaker (PSVR2) - Unfinished Online-Only Sword Fighter Doesn't Cut It
Altair Broken, more like
Altair Breaker is a multiplayer sword-fighting game from Swords of Gargantua developer, Thirdverse. It's set on the floating island of Vastus Isle, once a magical workshop but now turned to ruins by LAWS (Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems). As a sword-fighter, you're tasked with helping Stella, a humanoid AI, in clearing the...
Mini Review Drums Rock (PSVR2) – A Pretty Fun, but Uneven Experience
A snare drum in the plan
Ever wanted to play the drums, but never had the musical inclination? Developer Garage51 has you covered, providing a virtual space to prove that you’ve got the beat. The presentation of the game, while not bad, is familiar territory. Lots of demonic and cartoonish imagery abound, giving the title a Guitar Hero aesthetic...
Mini Review Zenith: The Last City (PSVR2) - VR MMO Is Heavy on Content, Light on Entertainment
Massively middling
Zenith: The Last City is the closest thing we’ve got to a fully-fledged MMO in virtual reality to this point. It checks a lot of the RPG boxes with dungeons to run, raids to complete, gear to grind, and sizable expanses to explore. While it’s undeniably impressive as a proof-of-concept, Zenith is an otherwise painfully average...
Mini Review Startenders (PSVR2) - A Delightful Extra-Terrestrial Bartending Experience
Just the usual, please
In Startenders you take on the role of a mundane office worker who has accidentally been abducted and forced into working shifts at the Startenders Bartending Academy. This involves you serving weird yet wonderful concoctions to even stranger beings from galaxies far, far away. It all sounds simple enough, however with a wide...
Mini Review Kayak VR: Mirage (PSVR2) - An Immersive Yet Thin Experience
Paddle away the stresses of the day
A throwback to the early PSVR tech demos, Kayak VR: Mirage is one of those games you just need to try out on PSVR2. The premise is pretty simple: you're dumped on a kayak and will use the PSVR2 Sense controllers to explore varied exotic locations. That's really all there is to it, but its kind of the point...
Mini Review Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder (PSVR2) - A Rock Solid Cave Digging Roguelike
We can dig it
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder doesn’t beat around the bush much, so we won’t either. It’s a surprisingly solid cave spelunking roguelike. It’s not here to dazzle with unprecedented visual splendour or novel new gameplay ideas. It just provides some good old-fashioned gunslinging and money hoarding fun. Being a roguelike, Cave...
Mini Review Thumper (PSVR2) - A Return to the Music Visualiser from Hell
Things that go Thump in the night
Thumper was a highlight of PSVR's launch lineup back in 2016 — check out our review through the link to learn why. It's a relentless, frantic rhythm title that has you racing through space, matching actions to the beat of the heavy soundtrack. The game is just as excellent this time around, if not better. While...
Mini Review RUNNER (PSVR2) - Akira Inspired Arcade Shooter Will Put You Through the Wringer
Too wild for you to handle
Iconic 80s anime Akira serves as the inspiration for RUNNER, a breakneck sci-fi arcade shooter which arguably tries to do too much. As a smuggler in an aggressively hostile world, you must outrun robo-cops through seven dynamically generated stages, dual-wielding pistols while you issue a little justice all of your own...
Mini Review Tentacular (PSVR2) - Physics Puzzler May (Ten)tickle Your Fancy
Release the Kraken
Tentacular is a physics-based puzzler where you take control of a tentacled monster who's raised by the townsfolk of La Kalma, a small village in the middle of the ocean. You're on a journey of self-discovery, trying to find out how you came to be and where you belong. Using your long sucker-laden limbs to manipulate objects, you...
Review Song in the Smoke: Rekindled (PSVR2) - VR's Best Survival Sim Is Even Better with PSVR2
Smoke on the water
Now virtual reality has been around the block a bit and begun to age out of its awkward teenage years, the technology has gotten a deluge of games in a small morsel of genres. First-person shooters, puzzlers, and rhythm games have proliferated — undoubtedly due to how intuitively and painlessly they make the transition to the...
