Wayward Sky Review (PS4 / PSVR)

Risk virtual life and limb exploring a mysterious floating fortress, as Wayward Sky puts you directly into the shoes of young Bess, a pilot whose father has been kidnapped. In order to rescue your dear old dad, you must guide Bess through various puzzles – it's a bit like playing with a toy figure who you can 'jump into' and experience the world from their point of view at points.

The point and click gameplay sees you as Bess searching for her father and trying to escape from a crumbling airborne fortress. The main controls work fine with a DualShock 4, but for real "ooh factor" this is one of the VR launch games that works even better if you're packing two PlayStation Move controllers which become your virtual hands for the up-close puzzling.

The sky base environment viewpoints look great from both third and first-person perspectives. There can be a little vertigo when you switch from Bess' viewpoint to the God-like perspective looking down on the action like a benevolent giant, but we found it was soon second nature and didn't create the dreaded motion sickness. Before long you'll be scampering up and down ladders, pressing buttons, turning handles, moving walkways, and opening doors as you time your platforming to avoid the prowling enemies. Oh, and there are zip wires, water canons, collapsing walkways, and madcap chicken assisted flying to add to the fun.

Wayward Sky feels a bit like an ultra high-tech pop-up book where the story progresses as you move through sections (chapters), racking up clues in order to discover how to free your dad and save the day. The baddies of the piece are robots, led by a particularly nasty giant bot (who gets a very memorable VR moment that really should be in all the trailers for PlayStation VR), some of whose minions you might be able to recruit to fight for your side on the way.

Graphically the game rocks a classy but simple art style which complements the emotionally charged action. The robots are the stars of the show, but the flying fortress is a well realised vision of the future.

Quibbles include some occasional control issues where the virtual hands don't do quite as you ask, but we didn't encounter anything game breaking. The only other downside for some could be the simplicity of the missions which might put off those looking for a hardcore VR challenge.

However, the compelling story invests a good amount of time on Bess and her father's relationship and works well enough to keep you wanting to see it through to the conclusion. It isn't that long, though, with the game running in the region of four hours or so, but there are some collectibles such as eggs and chimes (which you'll need to mend), so if you miss any, it's a good excuse to go back through the story again.