Let’s start with the material, about which we already know a lot. First, it has a much more modern look that goes well with the design language of the PS5, and you’ll only need to connect it to your PS5 with a USB-C cable. The handset itself has an OLED display, offers a 110-degree field of view and 4K HDR, and supports 90Hz and 120Hz frame rates for smoother gaming. Unlike its predecessor, you won’t need to set up external cameras to track your movements. Instead, the headphones have four cameras built into the front of the screen. The new ball-shaped PSVR2 Sense controllers include adaptive actuators and haptic feedback (like DualSense) and can also detect finger touches. Here is the headset. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge But what’s it like to actually play games on PSVR2, with all its new bells and whistles? The actual PSVR2 hardware was fine to use. Like most modern VR headsets, it allows you to adjust the head strap to make sure everything rests snugly on your thread, and you can tweak the inter-pupil distance (IPD) so that the actual lenses inside the headset are the right distance for you. The screens looked great, although sometimes things looked a bit blurry around the edges, which could happen with the first PSVR as well. Sony’s new Sense controls were a notable improvement. The original PSVR was based on Sony’s Move controllers – which, you may remember, looked like funky sticks with glowing balls on the end – and they had a few problems. The original PSVR setup sometimes had trouble tracking glowing orbs, which could ruin the immersive VR experience, and the first version of the Move controller used a Mini USB port for charging. Sony thankfully fixed that last complaint by switching to Micro USB (so maybe it wasn’t a huge upgrade). The Sense controllers, on the other hand (pun intended), look like they’ll be much better. The haptics were excellent, which may not be surprising if you’ve experienced Sony’s excellent haptics on the DualSense. Touch tracking was a really handy way to interact with VR worlds. Sure, you can pick up weapons, but it also lets you bend your fingers and interact with objects in a more natural way. It wasn’t perfect, nor was it available in every game we tested, but when it did work, it added an extra layer of immersion. The Sense controller. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge And here’s what it looks like to actually hold the Sense controllers. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Installing a PSVR2 cable was much appreciated. The original PSVR required an extra box and a bunch of cables to work, so connecting a cable directly to a PS5 is a much less complicated solution. (Though it’s not quite as cool as a fully standalone, wire-free headset like the Meta Quest series.) And usually, VR games require you to take a break every now and then so you don’t develop a severe migraine. But that wasn’t as much of a problem with the PSVR 2. You can go for a decent chunk of time without feeling the pressure. As for the games themselves, we got a few titles to try: Horizon Call of the Mountain, a PSVR2-optimized version of Resident Evil Village, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2, and the recently announced Star Wars: Tales from Enhanced Edition of Galaxy’s Edge. Horizon Call of the Mountain was the most technically advanced — probably because it was built from the ground up for PSVR2. The sense of scale in the game is amazing, and seeing a giant mechanical dino walking right overhead felt like visiting a post-apocalyptic Jurassic Park. The rock climbing was also incredibly fun, as long as you resist the urge to look down into the chasms below. The new Sense controls vibrate when you touch objects, so they add an extra level of physicality when you draw your bow and shoot an arrow. We were also incredibly impressed with how much thought went into building an interactive world. Can you just… break plates and throw boxes off a cliff? Yes! Can you pick up a hammer and strike a gong even though there’s no plot reason to do so? Also yes! A bow and arrow in Horizon Call of the Mountain. Image: Sony The other games were also fun. Resident Evil Village had an eerie vibe to it, and it’s legitimately scary when the dead rise up in your face. (Poor Ethan Winters, he’s really going through it.) Meanwhile, you can get creative with how you beat up the walkers in The Walking Dead: Saint & Sinners Chapter 2. Sure, mowing them down with chainsaws is fun, but we highly recommend making zombie shish-kebabs with katanas. One thing we don’t know yet? The cost; Sony didn’t share this as part of the hands-on event. But with Meta’s new high-end Quest headset on the horizon (a prototype of which was leaked this weekend) and Apple’s long-rumored “Reality” headset apparently close to launch, here’s hoping Sony prices PSVR2 headsets competitive (maybe around $400?) encourage PlayStation gamers to pick one up. Photo by Vjeran Pavic/The Verge We can’t wait to experience Sony’s new approach to VR once again. The “early 2023” release window suggests we won’t have to wait long until next year to finally play more — and we’d argue that buying the hardware won’t break the bank.
