The present’s made of virtual insanity.
Obvious Jamiroquai references aside, that’s one major takeaway of the tech landscape in 2023. Major companies from Meta to Valve (and allegedly Apple, soon) have all jumped on the tech-headset bandwagon with VR and AR-enabled devices over the last few years.
Now, more than six years after Sony entered the fray with PlayStation VR, a true successor has emerged for PlayStation 5 in the form of the aptly named PlayStation VR 2.
This $550 headset pairs impressive specs with a much more agreeable price point than other high-end VR setups, though the need to own a PS5 is obviously a substantial hidden fee. That said, with built-in cameras, eye tracking, and new Sense controllers, PSVR2 mostly delivers the goods on the hardware front, even if the software suite at launch feels a little lacking.
Handsome headset
If you’ve been following along with Sony’s “futuristic white plastic” aesthetic of the PS5 era, you’ll be unsurprised to find out the PSVR2 headset is in lockstep with that.
Almost its entire exterior is white, largely with the exception of black rubber in spots where it’s conducive to user comfort. The plate on the front of the headset has four cameras for tracking, eliminating the need for a separate camera peripheral that bogged down the original PSVR headset. The area where the lenses are housed also has some handy device controls on the outside: A scope adjustment button and lens adjustment dial on top, with a power button, a function button (more on that later), and a built-in microphone on the bottom.
On the very back of the headset, there’s a button for releasing the headband (it’s locked in place otherwise) set inside a dial for tightening it once you have the PSVR2 on your head. The underside of the headband hides a few very interesting characteristics of PSVR2. First, there’s a 3.5mm audio jack that’s meant for a pair of wired earbuds that come with the device due to a lack of built-in audio output. Second, there’s a big ol’ wire protruding out from this portion of the device for power.
Let me get one very important thing out of the way right now. PSVR2 is more than comfortable enough by VR headset standards. I have a personal distaste for being in VR for longer than about 30 minutes, but in this circumstance, that had nothing to do with comfort. If you can stand being in VR longer, you’ll have no issue doing that here.
That doesn’t mean it’s a perfect experience. Wired earbuds are fine, but onboard speakers like the Quest 2 has would’ve been preferable as an alternative. On the plus side, Sony’s Pulse 3D wireless headset fits over PSVR2 like a glove, so you could theoretically use that while you play, too.
The actual biggest complaint I have with the physical side of PSVR2 is the wire. It’s almost assuredly a necessary evil, as wireless VR introduces nasty inconveniences like “battery life” that you don’t have to worry about here. Even having said that, I still had a hard time dealing with the presence of the wire, as someone whose VR experience has largely taken place in a wireless setting. I don’t like being tethered to a console and I don’t like being able to feel the wire (which juts out of the left side of the headset) at all times. I fully understand that this may have been the only reasonable way for Sony to design PSVR2, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Luscious lenses
Once you find your way around the headset, most likely via a short and simple setup process that takes place on the PS5 itself, things start to pick up. PSVR2 is a powerful headset that more than holds its own against the competition once you’re actually wearing it.
You can see how its specs compare to other popular headsets via our friends at IGN, but the main thing to know is that its 2000x2040 lens resolution is higher than that of PSVR1, Quest 2, and Valve Index. Images generally look sharp as long as you have the lenses and scope calibrated correctly, and the 120Hz refresh rate keeps things believably smooth.
Though limited in use at launch (at least in the software I tested), probably my favorite aspect of PSVR2 is the eye tracking. The headset is impressively able to track where your eyes are looking, regardless of which direction your head is facing. Unfortunately, I didn’t find many ways to take advantage of this. The launch title Horizon: Call of the Mountain allows you to navigate menus this way, which is both effective and absolutely mindblowing.
Seriously, it’s so much faster than moving a cursor around manually. I was able to whip through Horizon’s settings menu, calibrating the game exactly to my wants and needs, almost entirely with my eyes alone. It’s fluid, responsive, and I couldn’t find a way to fool it or glitch it out. Big ups to Sony for this feature. Hopefully it gets more use over time.
Remember that function button I mentioned earlier? Press that while in VR and the headset will switch to a black and white passthrough view. Despite the lack of color, the image quality is sharp enough that you can navigate around your space (whether playing seated or standing) with ease.
This is used for another nifty trick: Automatically setting your play area. During the initial setup, PSVR2 needs a moment to scan the room around you. Once that’s done, it has the ability to dictate a play area without your intervention when you boot up a game. It’s so much faster than Quest 2, where you have to draw (and re-draw, frequently) a play area by hand.
My only complaint is that I like to play seated, and the default play area for that is a bit small. My hands frequently crossed the invisible boundary, making the grid interface pop up and killing the immersion for a second.
There is another standout new feature of the headset that I, unfortunately, can’t tell you much about because I haven’t seen any notable uses for it in software. The headset itself has haptic feedback, creating cool opportunities for immersive vibration. However, the small batch of launch titles I tested didn’t take advantage of this in any ways that stood out to me.
Sense-ational controllers
The original PSVR was held back by two things: The camera and the controllers. Sony retrofitted an old camera peripheral and an even older set of PlayStation Move controllers from the PS3 days to work with PSVR. While effective, it always seemed slapped together. I’m happy to report that PSVR2 is much more cohesive.
Meet the PSVR2 Sense controllers. They come with the headset (likely contributing to the pricetag) and work excellently. Each one is roughly shaped like half of a PS5 controller, minus the big touchpad and plus a big white circle that you put your hands through in order to hold the controllers properly. There’s an attached wrist strap for safety, analog triggers on each side, and R1 and L1 buttons that sit approximately where your middle fingers rest.
The Sense controllers track hand motion admirably and are sublimely comfortable to hold. The two analog sticks are a little on the small side, and the face buttons suffer from a kind of awkward layout that takes getting used to, as a longtime PlayStation fan. There are two buttons on each controller, laid out next to each other vertically. Triangle and square are on the left, while circle and cross are on the right.
I often found myself momentarily confused when a game asked me to press a specific button because I no longer had the positional muscle memory I’d have when holding a traditional PlayStation controller. This is, of course, something that you’ll get over in time, but it is kind of a strange choice nonetheless.
Oh, and the face buttons are slightly too clicky for my taste.
Like the headset and the normal PS5 controller, there are haptics inside each Sense controller. Aside from minor vibrations when climbing in Horizon, there weren’t too many instances of cool haptic feedback in the games I tested. That is, sadly, also the case with regular PS5 games far too often.
Still, despite a few little gripes, the Sense controllers are a huge success for Sony. Abandoning PlayStation Move for something newer and better is one of the best aspects of PSVR2.
PSVR2 games: Searching for a killer app
This is a hardware review first and foremost. If it isn’t clear by now, the PSVR2 headset and controllers look cool and feel great to use. All of that is great and might be enough to sell you on PSVR2 alone, but if you do buy in at launch, you may find the amount of truly new VR experiences here lacking.
You can see the whole launch lineup on the PlayStation Blog, and it’s not insubstantial by any means. There are around 30 titles supported by the headset at launch. That number sounds impressive, but your enthusiasm may cool down a bit when you realize that almost all of them are VR experiences that are already available elsewhere, be it PC, Quest, or the original PSVR.
Beat Saber, Moss, Rez Infinite, and No Man’s Sky are just a few of the VR retreads on display. To be clear, those are all great games that are definitely worth experiencing both in and out of VR. It’s just that we’ve seen them before. And since the PSVR2 headset isn't backwards compatible with the original PSVR, you may have to buy some of these games a second time.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain seems to be the big new killer app, but the first few hours haven’t been amazing enough to sell me on a $550 headset just to play it. It’s a cool little action-adventure game with a whole lot of climbing and archery (both of which wear my arms out quickly) and seriously impressive visuals, but if you’re like me and don’t particularly like the Horizon games, it doesn’t seem like an absolute must-play.
With that in mind, I think PSVR2 is probably best suited for people who have never experienced VR before and already have a PS5. It’s graphically capable of much more than Quest 2 and costs about half as much as an Index. The eye tracking, device haptics, and excellent Sense controllers make it a joy to use. And if you’re not a VR veteran, you’ll have an amazing time trying out some of those games I mentioned before.
If you are a VR vet, however, be prepared to play the waiting game for more exclusives.
Topics Gaming PlayStation Virtual Reality
