Sony is once again venturing into virtual reality with the PlayStation VR 2 (PS VR2). If you connect the glasses to a PlayStation 5 and put them on your head, you can suddenly ‘really’ walk through games. We were able to test the glasses last week and have listed five things that stand out.
A few years ago, virtual reality was the showpiece of the tech world. By placing a screen and a pair of lenses right in front of your eyes, you can look directly into a virtual world. At the same time, motion sensors register which way you are looking. This makes it feel like you are really somewhere else.
Sony already had such VR glasses for the PlayStation 4 and is now taking another shot with the PS VR2. The price: 600 euros, plus the cost of a PlayStation 5 to connect it to.
1. Easier than the PS VR1, the same as the competition
The first PS VR was kind of a hobby project, with cameras and colored lights to monitor your positions. You also had to connect all sorts of devices and cables to make it work. As a result, using the headset was anything but user-friendly.
The PS VR2 has improved considerably in that area. You connect it with a single USB-c cable and connect the corresponding controllers wirelessly, after which everything works as you expect. That’s better than Sony’s previous attempt, but also somewhat the norm. Competitors such as the Valve Index and Meta Quest are just as easy to connect.
2. The controllers are slightly more advanced than the competition
With the PS VR2 you have two controllers, each of which you hold in one hand. The cameras on the glasses see the positions of those devices, so you can see in the game where your hands are ‘really’. The glasses also see where some fingers are on the buttons, so that you can point or make a fist, for example.
The devices are largely identical to the controllers of the Quest, Valve Index and other modern VR glasses. With one big difference: the triggers can feel in different ways. Strike a bow and you feel extra pressure under your index finger, with a gun trigger you suddenly feel a click. The same system is also in the regular PlayStation 5 gamepad.
It makes games feel a little more immersive, although games must support it. This is variable with the PlayStation 5, and with the PS VR2 not every game works with those special triggers.
3. Eye tracking makes games stunningly beautiful
The screens of the PS VR2 add up to the resolution of a 4K television. For VR that is razor sharp. And also a requirement: because your eyes are flat on the screen, you can often see the space between the pixels at lower resolutions. As a result, a kind of screen hangs over the world. That is not the case with the PS VR2.
Strictly speaking, there are higher resolution VR glasses out there, but in our experience games on the PS VR2 are prettier. This is due to built-in sensors that monitor your eyes. The glasses always know what you are looking at, so that this part of the game world is displayed a little better. Games made exclusively for the PS5, such as Horizon Call of the Mountainare therefore stunning to see.
4. There are very few games, but Horizon is very good
Sony boasts with dozens of games for the PS VR2, but in practice it is disappointing. Many of the ‘new’ games have appeared before, for example for the PS VR1 or competing glasses. If you look at the list of really new games, it concerns a few.
The Dutch Horizon Call of the Mountain is one of the few truly new titles and also makes a very good impression. You play a mountaineer who is looking for his brother, in the world of the earlier Horizongames. It’s one of the most beautiful VR games we’ve ever seen. The creators have combined elements from other, smaller VR games to build one big, immersive experience.
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5. The price makes it a niche product
With a price of 600 euros, the PS VR2 is even more expensive than the game console you need to use the glasses. If you include that game console, you pay more than 1,000 euros to use this headset. And then the necessary PlayStation 5 is also poorly available.
It makes the PS VR2 a real niche product for the most avid gamers. Especially compared to competitors such as the Meta Quest 2: it works independently without an extra game computer and costs about 400 to 450 euros. Most PS VR2 games also run on that, although they look significantly less beautiful.
