Almost two years have passed since PlayStation VR was first released, causing a cry of synchronized amazement as hundreds of thousands of players caught up with the new technology.
Now that the initial euphoria has subsided, however, developers need to show us that virtual reality has gone from its novelty phase and bring us games that meet the considerable promise of technology, and with that in mind we we are heading to the expansion PSVR booth at the Tokyo Game Show 2018 to play some of the titles that both established and new studios expect to be executed soon.
After participating in various PSVR games, from abstract rhythm games to simulators of ruminant walks. We can say with confidence that things look promising. Virtual reality games have matured and hardened in the last two years, and here are five upcoming PSVR games that prove it.
Déraciné
The fire may have been extinguished in the Dark Souls series (for now), but FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki are still a busy group. In addition to working on the vicious Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the studio assigned a small team to the more tenuous task of making a virtual reality game about a fairy floating around a Victorian boarding school.
Déraciné is a smooth experience, with echoes of a point-and-click adventure in the old school, since its movement is restricted to teleportation (good to avoid those tides of virtual reality). During our practice, we freely explored a large part of the school, reading letters, solving riddles and fluttering around schoolchildren and peeling their hats to convince them that we existed.
There's nothing in your face about Deraciné. His palette of sepia colors, his lilting violin score and his sense of stillness (the characters do not move until he interacts with them) give him the sensation of exploring the vague memories of someone who lived 100 years ago. We have very little idea of the actual plot during our time with the game, but Miyazaki's ability for environmental narration assures us that it will be something special.
With the PSVR lacking in nuanced and slow-paced games, Deracine is shaping up to be a welcome title of coming of age for the platform.
Out: November 6, 2018
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
With names of long-running 3D platforms such as Mario, Crash and Sonic, which maintains its absolute dominance over the genre in popular imagination, it is not easy for a new IP to be established. However, virtual reality remains an unexplored territory for those big names, which gives promising newcomers like Astro Bot the opportunity to leave their mark.
The beauty of Astro Bot is that you are a third person presence in the game. Look down and you'll see a virtualized gamepad in your hands. Look forward and you will see Astro Bot surrounding colorful worlds of platforms at your command. The camera rests mainly at fixed angles, moving only when you have completed a section of a level (an elegant solution for motion sickness). This camera also means that sometimes you need to do small things like lean forward to tilt your head around the corners when you run Astro Bot out of sight.
It's a classic 3D platform game, with staggered levels, fisty attacks and jump pads, with an added Smart VR Layer, breaks the fourth wall. For example, some enemies will attack you, the player, instead of Astro Bot, splashing goop on your screen. Other times you will need to use the controller as a first-person weapon to help Astro Bot (whom you also control).
It is a master class of virtual reality based on what we have played, and a complete platform game. of tidy touches and tricks that drag you to your capricious little world.
Release date: October 3, 2018
Beat Saber
In the rhythm action game mode, it was between Beat Saber and Space Channel 5 VR for this place on the list . And although we love the space dance of the 60s of Dreamcast, Beat Saber feels like the most precise and precise game of the two.
The premise is simple: motion controllers are two blades similar to a lightsaber, and must make its way through a host of box conveyors that reach the rhythm of electronic music big-bass-y . And before you say 'Fruit Ninja', something else happens here, since you have to cut the boxes in specific directions, sometimes with both hands at once, and dodge the obstacles. It is a healthy and high energy fun.
It's always a good sign when a rhythm game engages you so much that you're making your own hand-to-hand movements to help keep your flow flowing, and Beat Saber made us jump. our arms around like the hyperactive conductor of a Philharmonic Orchestra (now there's an idea for a virtual reality game …)
For something similar, if it's more aggressive, check out the excellent Thumper, which slipped a little under the radar when it was launched with PSVR in 2016.
Out: Q4 2018
Effect Tetris
When you think of Tetris in virtual reality, you may visualize the 3D Tetrominos that they slide through space, which you have to reposition manually. your controlling hands of movement But then you remember that this is Tetris. And as the old saying goes, Tetris never changes.
With the revered creator of Rez and Child of Eden, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, at the head of Tetris Effect, we experienced many fireworks, brilliant visual effects and soft electronic music like us. He devoted himself to the sisiferous task of stacking blocks, only to see them disintegrate again.
The actual playing area is flat, but each level receives a distinct flavor thanks to the lovely deep backgrounds that include star fields, forests and more abstract geometries. compilations. Crucially, the visual elements are more environmental than excessive, as in the first level we play, where the large rocks below the game area would glow softly in blue when we place something.
While the Tetris Effect does nothing strictly progressive for VR (or for Tetris), it doubles to make this timeless game feel more hypnotic and absorbing than ever.
Departure: November 9, 2018
Blood and Truth
back to the days when manually reloading your gun and shooting a bully with a bicycle seemed like the coolest thing you can imagine in VR (and let's not kid ourselves, it's still up there).
Blood and Truth is the first time – human shooter from Sony London Studio, the same group that made The Heist show in London (and The Getaway games, for older readers). It is set in an environment similar to that of Guy Ritchie, London, with smoke-filled nightclubs, boxing rooms draped in red and bald-suited jackets.
When playing the game, it seems that the studio has been closely watching the evolution of virtual reality games in the last two years. Years, taking into account the improvements made by others and making adjustments in all the right places. Where London Heist was a nervous rail shooter, Blood and Truth feels heavier, giving you more control as you lock locks, actively crouch behind the deck and terminal hacks. During a sequence, we even tried our hand in stealth, hitting a guard with a silencer behind the cover. Basically, it is Cockney Deus Ex minus the increases (and free roaming, and the protagonist who is self-pity).
The theme of the British gangster may have been destroyed over the years by too many half-cooked Danny Dyer films. , but Blood and Truth is seen and felt in each of the parts of the VR action game.
Out: TBC
- If you can not wait a second to get some new PSVR titles in your hands, that's fine, we understand. That's why you should take a look at our summary of the best PlayStation games VR you can play at this moment
