PlayStation VR2 2024 Impressions: Powerful and Pricey Gaming

Just a few weeks ago I tweeted that I got a PSVR2, and I’ve been trying out as many games as I could to give you my impressions of this system in 2024. To give some background I’ve had quite a bit of experience in VR, this is my 3rd headset that I’ve owned, I previously had PSVR1 and meta quest 2 which I only ever used as a PCVR Headset. I played all of Boneworks and most of half life Alyx, and on PSVR1 and I mostly played a lot of Firewall Zero Hour but as we all know that headset was not a super enjoyable experience compared to the competition that grew around it. I’ve looked forward to trying this headset though ever since I edited the first Linus Tech Tips preview on the system around this time last year. With that said let's jump into my impressions

Setup

I had some minor nitpicks with the setup process, the instructions were not super clear, I was trying to set up my play area while standing up in my playspace which kept erroring out, but it worked smoothly when I sat down on the couch.

Glasses

I also want to mention that why are the most accommodating headset I’ve tried with glasses, I have a few different pairs and even some sports goggles that I would use but PSVR 2 fits all my glasses even these larger ones that I wear day to day, though I still prefer my smaller pair usually cause the prescription is not as strong and just lets my eyes relax a little more in the confined headset. The eye centering menus are really good, but I was a little disappointed at the amount of aberrations around the edges of the lenses still, but I think those are kind of unavoidable with these types of fresnel lenses.

Eyes

The eye tracking is pretty insane, the foveated rendering is basically impossible to make out while you are actually in the headset which is amazing. But yeah the eye tracking is super cool, in some instances you can use your eyes to navigate menus and such and it is just the craziest thing. And the screens are really nice, the OLED is awesome and gets super bright and contrasty and the framerates are very solid through all the games I tried. And as for the resolution I would say the pixels are small enough that you can quite make them out individually and see an obvious screen door, but not so small that you cant see the aliasing happening.

Controllers

The remotes are alright, on my quest 2 I had hand straps which I think should come standard with all VR headsets as they allow you to fully let go of controllers and it lends a lot to immersion. They are a bit confusing when you first glance or pick them up as to what hand they go in but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

I love the button on the bottom to view the exterior cameras, it;s a great way to jump in and out of the VR space besides pulling the entire headset off. Tracking seems about as good as quest 2 in my experience. I bought this unit for a really great price of $400, but the downside is that I don’t have the official included earbuds that clip into the back of the headset, but really any pair of earbuds work great and my hyperX headset actually fit over top of the whole headset so that was really great for immersion and probably better sound quality anyway. The single cable setup is awesome and I prefer having one wire over a potentially choppy wireless connection myself and it's miles better than thePSVR1 extra box and dozens of cables. And this way there's no battery life issues with the headset. The controller battery life is okay, I do prefer recharging to the double A’s of the quest 2 but I know that's up to the taste of each individual. I love having as many devices on USB C charging as possible.

But let's talk about games. I tried a bunch of different games to get a wider feel for what works well on this system, I tried GT7 and walking dead saint and sinners of course, these are some higher profile games that I just needed to upgrade from the PS4 versions. And I tried some smaller indie games like Townsmen VR, Space Docker VR, and ForeVR Bowl.

Gran Turismo 7

GT7 just blew me away, it’s hard to show on video but the menus and up until the countdown to any race is all in the typical VR virtual display, and then it suddenly jump cuts into VR in the driver's seat and it’s one of the sickest and cleanest transitions ever. And I hadn’t played GT7 with the DualSense controller up to this point either. And I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. The way the mirrors actually work like they would in real life and the immersion was just incredible. I usually hate playing racing games in first person cause it’s too hard to see corners and such but this was obviously the most immersive way to feel like you were in the car and you could really spot the track and the turns but you just happen to be driving with a DualSense lol. I can see why this got so many people hooked and wanting to get steering wheel controllers.

Walking Dead

Moving on to the Walking dead saint and sinners, this is a game I’ve tried on every VR headset I owned, and it just keeps getting better each time. The OLED really made this game pop with its dark spooky sections and dimly lit environments. I don’t know what I can say about this game that hasn’t already been said, it’s just great and one of the best VR adventure games out there and I look forward to playing deeper into the game than I ever have with this headset. And maybe I’ll check out the sequel one day if I ever get all the way through this one.

Townsmen VR

Reminded me a lot of Black and White, but a more casual and carefree feeling since it’s not about being a literal god. Unfortunately this game made me very nauseous within 5-10 minutes of playing. I think partially due to how bright the art direction and gameworld is overall, but more so due to the floating head gameplay style and the way you navigate the game by grabbing the air around you to move and zoom in was just too much for my brain. But your mileage may vary as with all VR experiences.

Basically it’s like an RTS/city builder type game where you place various buildings and houses to create villagers that can do various tasks like collecting resources, construction, or combat if you get to some later stages. The fun thing is how you can zoom in and feel like you are standing in the middle of your town or be a god up in the sky and grab any character or object in the game world. You can grab animals, props, people to move them towards their objective or just throw them into the ocean or at each other. I was actually having issues where my omnipresent hands were causing mayhem without my intention but they luckily have a ghost-hand setting that makes your hands clip through things unless you intend to pick up them up, so that was perfect for me.

I wish it didn’t give me such a headache so I could get a bit deeper in the game and get a stronger grasp on some of the later stages with combat and such. But that’s the unfortunate reality of VR games. I hadn’t tried a top-down style VR game like this before so I’m glad I gave it a shot at least.

Space Docker VR

I really got into this game. It reminded me a bit of No Mans Sky, but a much more focussed and tight experience focussed solely in the cockpit. You are collecting cargo containers and dropping them off. It’s a really fun mix of speed and precision and I was blown away by some of the highscore times people were getting. I live the sense of momentum and disorienting nature of the controls if you're not careful, but I felt like I was a pro in no time, slamming brake and spinning my ship every which way. At one point a cargo container was shooting off into deep space which gave avery unique sense of dread as I sped away from the space dock trying to match it’s speed and orientation, with homebase shrinking away in the distance. If you really enjoy flying games, but want something a bit more involved besides just flying around in a ship, this is probably a great choice.

ForeVR Bowl

Next I tried out ForeVR Bowl from the aptly named developer ForeVR Games. I actually enjoyed this quite a bit, though I don’t have any friends so I couldn’t try out the full multiplayer aspect of it. I think this is more made to be a social bowling experience based on the controls and features it gives you. Regardless, I was impressed by the atmosphere and the amount of detail and freedom it allows for while you're in the bowling alley because of this though. The game lets you walk around anywhere in the bowling alley, and while it does’t contribute to the gameplay generally, I think having that feeling of freedom and immersion in the space is so so important in a VR game like this. If you were just locked to a couple square meters in front of your bowling lane it would feel a lot more claustrophobic and wouldn't give you that feeling of being at a bowling alley. With all that said, I recommend playing some of your own music or something cause it’s kind of eerie to be in this bowling alley by yourself with a couple of animated floating heads and background chatter going on around you. Or just play with some friends online if you have any. There’s even a camera so you could take candids or selfies with other people. There were quite a few bowling alley options ranging from realistic classic looking levels to more zany fun ones like being on the moon. And there's hundreds of really cool unlockable and discoverable bowling ball options that are all quite mesmerizing to look at.

Controls were pretty good, some choppiness, might've had to do with my hand movements going out of sight. I didn't actually do a formal tutorial as far as I can tell so I'm not sure if I was bowling optimally for the game, but I was mostly trying to bowl as I would in real life and it seems to work out well as in the physics seem quite realistic. I think I was acting a bit more restricted in my movements and steps because of my limited playspace and I didn’t want to hit my TV but I feel like everything just feels natural, which is great. If you want a VR bowling game and you have friends out of town who also like to bowl, this would be a good place to look out.

Conclusion

So is PSVR2 worth it in 2024? I think if you can find a used unit for 400 or less and you already have a PS5, yes it is. But at full price it’s a tough sell. And there has been recent news that PSVR2 will be getting PC support sometime this year and it sounds like Sony removed a lot of software roadblocks in the recent update. And most likely they will be releasing some sort of USB dongle to make it work with PCs. So if you have a PC this might actually be an option you can consider soon, but I would say it depends on your budget and playspace, because it’s a low to mid-range priced VR headset, but it has eye tracking and OLED, but doesn’t have tracking base stations so you’ll probably have to do some more research to figure out what you want and need. One thing about the lack of general support compared to PSVR1 that disappointed me is some of the ports that were left behind, like Minecraft and Hitman 3. I would love to give those a try again with this new headset.