At CES 2023, I finally had the chance to try out the Sony PlayStation VR2 and Horizon Call of the
Mountain. Although my experience with it was short, at about 20 minutes, the experience was
amazing overall. However, it wasn't perfect. Today, I'll share my initial thoughts.
I'm Cas, and I just got back from Vegas, so I am a bit tired right now and caught a little cold. It's
not covid; I tested, but you can probably hear my voice is slightly off, so I'm sorry about that.
My full CES video with all the highlights is also coming this week so subscribe if
you haven't yet to follow everything about VR and AR. Now, join me beyond reality.
First, a little update, during Sony's keynote, they talked about their latest updates. There
wasn't a lot of PSVR2 news, but the two things they announced were that Gran Turismo 7 will
be VR-compatible when the PSVR 2 launches.
I know a lot of people were waiting for this,
so here it is! And we also got Beat Saber confirmed.
If you missed it, the PSVR2 is coming out on February 22nd, and you can preorder one for
at least 550 dollars. If you want to know all the specs and new features, I recommend you to watch
my previous videos, which I'll link below. So at the show, this is where I got to
try the PSVR2. On the screen, they showed my gameplay in real-time.
After a quick introduction, they let me put on the headset myself to show how easy it
was. The strap is almost the same as with the first PSVR. It's a Halo strap with a wheel at
the back to tighten it. You can stretch the headstrap to wear the headset, and there's a
button at the bottom to move the screen closer to your face. You can even put it against your eyes
if you want to. The benefit is that there's more freedom in making it comfortable for your eyes,
and you can maximize the field of view. The first thing I noticed is that the comfort is
fantastic. It was just like the PSVR1. There's absolutely nothing to complain about this,
but of course, I only tried it for a short period, so my opinion on
all of this might change after my full review. My guide also turned on the passthrough so I could
see what he was doing. I tried moving around while looking through the headset, which was a very
comfortable experience as it was depth correct. I could easily see things around me and grab the
controllers he handed me. It IS too bad that it's still black and white, but the quality is
noticeably higher than Quest 2's passthrough. The lenses were a bit too far apart, so we went
to set my interpupillary distance (IPD). It was great as it uses eye tracking to guide you to
adjust the lenses perfectly for the distance between your eyes and to make sure the headset
is correctly positioned on your face. This is such an important step because if
you don't get this right, the screen will look blurry, and you might get a headache.
Sony seems to understand this and made this effortless, which wasn't the case with PSVR 1.
Then I got to see the eye tracking in action. When we finished calibrating it, I was impressed
with how fast and responsive this was. The PSVR2 is the first consumer headset
that includes eye tracking, and it's exciting because you can use it for
really fun stuff in VR games, like social interactions becoming more life-like, and for
features like eye-tracked foveated rendering. In Horizon Call of the Mountain, the VR adaptation
of the critically acclaimed Horizon series, they use eye tracking to navigate the menu. You just
look at the menu item and then click using the controller. It made navigating faster.
So now I'll share some gameplay impressions and thoughts on the
display, tracking, and haptics. Right after starting the game, it will
ask you what comfort mode you want to play; of course, I went with VR veteran, which removes
the vignette and gives you smooth turning. The character in the game had floating hands
and not a full body, which is a bit sad as I would have loved seeing my
changing outfit like in the original games. But one of the first things I noticed when I
started the game was how beautiful the graphics were. Light, reflections, shadows, everything
looked amazing. The new OLED panels seem to really shine here with beautiful colors.
The screen looks NOTICEABLY A LOT better than the PSVR1, but I'm not sure if it looks better than
other headsets. There was something off with the display. I noticed a bit of chromatic aberration,
like colors overlaying each other. It was the most noticeable when looking at text in the menus. I
also saw some kind of pattern noise constantly, which could be mura or screen door effect. I'm
not sure yet, but I guess this is the disadvantage of using OLEDs instead of LCDs. We'll have to test
this side-by-side when my preorder comes in. Even tho the headset still uses fresnel lenses,
which are known for having glare or god rays. I didn't notice anything like that so far.
I thought the screen looked good and sharp overall despite these inconsistencies. Field
of view looked good, too, wider than PSVR1 and kind of similar to other headsets, maybe slightly
wider if you can bring the display closer. A new feature that none of the other headsets have
is head-haptics. Developers can make your headset rumble during in-game events. Unfortunately,
I didn't feel this much or totally forgot about it while playing the game. I talked
to others who also tried the headset, and they told me they felt it at the beginning
during a boat ride and that it was awesome. My guide skipped this as I was a little late
to my demo, so I didn't experience this. The controllers also have new haptics, and like
the PS5 controllers, they have adaptive triggers. I did feel the haptics on the controllers, which
felt great, as expected, but I didn't notice the adaptive triggers much during my short time with
the demo. I'm guessing that's because there weren't many moments that used this yet.
I love the ergonomics of the controller, though. It fits SO NICELY in my hands,
and I love the fact that I could roll them on my arms so I could have my hands free to do stuff.
The headset finally uses 6DoF inside-out tracking, which means you can turn and walk
as much as you want as long as the cable can reach it. I had to get used to the cable again,
but by now, I'm a pro at that and I'm sure you will get used to it too.
The controller tracking was pretty good. I didn't notice any drift, controller occlusion problems,
or latency. I had a great time with the bow and arrow, where I had no issues tracking the
controllers beside or behind my head. Climbing worked great 80% of the time. Inside-out tracking
performance can depend on the environment. I lost controller tracking sometimes; at one time,
it made me fall and die. So my guide told me that it was because of the people on the other
side of the screen, which could mess with the tracking, and that it won't happen at
home. We'll have to test this more later. My time ended way too fast. Twenty minutes
felt like only a minute. I guess Horizon VR was just a great demo. In just a short time,
I got to try everything I wanted. Climbing, combat, and facing the huge machines in real
life. At one point, a Snapmaw, Horizon's enormous crocodile enemy, jumped over me,
and I could see the actual scale of those crazy things. It was just amazing, especially
if you're a fan of the original game. I wondered how they would make the combat,
as it's pretty intense and fast-paced in the flat game. Something that would be
hard to do in VR. They showed some of that when I fought a Watcher; they seemed to be
slowed down by ONLY allowing me to sidestep in a circle. It was still pretty fast and intense,
but just the right amount to give me adrenaline and not make me feel totally hopeless. I loved
what I experienced and can't wait to see what else the developers have done with the game.
So far, I am impressed with what I could try on the PSVR2. It's a huge step up from the PSVR1,
and compared to other headsets, I think it will be the best overall experience.
It's truly a next-generation headset that will set a new benchmark for VR gaming.
Yes, I did notice some things Sony seemed to compromise in, but it all seemed like
a conscious choice where the things they did include seems to make up for a lot. Honestly,
I don't think these "issues" will matter much, as you will probably forget about them when playing
an immersive game. As a reviewer, I intentionally look for flaws, but if you don't look for them,
you might not even notice them unless you're sensitive to visual detail.
And Sony already has a strong content platform, so it's undoubtedly a high
recommendation if you own a PS5. Whether you should buy this headset over others,
you'll have to subscribe and wait for my full review ;-) Let me know in the
comments below if you have any questions about the PSVR2, and I will take them into account.
Like this video, while you're at it, please, as it supports us a lot. See
you in the next video. Special thanks to our Champs and VR on. Dag.