Many years ago, virtual reality equaled or even surpassed the fantasies that science fiction literature and cinema imagined for years. Today, putting on a PlayStation VR2 headset is equivalent to instantly transport yourself to the most diverse environments, from magical worlds to real locations that force you to make the mental effort to remember that what you see is not real. Videos on YouTube of people hitting each other or even breaking expensive televisions for getting too into the game show that this isn’t always easy.
However, there was still and perhaps is a lot of room for improvement. Sony has demonstrated this with the launch of PlayStation VR2, a greatly improved version of the glasses that came to light in 2016 for PlayStation 4 and that now on PlayStation 5 offers an even more immersive experience.
The best example of what this evolution means is Horizon: Call of the Mountain, a game created expressly to fully exploit the possibilities of PlayStation VR2: the adventure begins and you see nothing, you only hear voices, a man removes your hood that you were wearing and a whole world of light and color explodes around you, you are advancing in a canoe through a river next to that guy and a woman with a clearly hostile attitude, everything around you is beauty, water, vegetation, high mountains that in distance are seen with unusual clarity.
Here is the first proof that something has changed compared to the previous generation, the landscapes, and objects that are far away are no longer blurred or faded but with very high definition and graphics like those of any top-level PlayStation 5 video game.
This is just the beginning of the story. Just a few seconds after this shocking first impression, the creatures that populate the Horizon universe and that fans of the saga know well begin to appear. It is not about normal fauna, but about gigantic machines that look and behave like animals and dinosaurs. The sight of some of them takes your breath away. Then comes the exploration, the climbing (making the corresponding gesture with the arms and that can really get tiring), and the combat, bow in hand, with some of those imposing mechanical beings.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain is the example to follow in a catalog that already includes other prominent titles such as the distressing VR version of Resident Evil Village, not suitable for sensitive hearts, or an update to Gran Turismo 7 that allows you to get behind the wheel, almost literally, of the spectacular sports of the game.
Also read: The Chinese Company PICO Unveils its Best Mixed Reality Headset
PlayStation VR2 With Better Techniques
Beyond visual quality, PlayStation VR2 includes new features that make everything much more comfortable and accessible. The improvement in resolution and the greater field of vision, for example, considerably reduce the risks of dizziness, one of the ills that have been associated with this technology since its inception, since many people do not tolerate the feeling of displacement well when actually standing still. a place.
The reduction in wiring is also very welcome, which in the original device was almost excessive. There is no longer a processing unit or an external camera to place on the television, now it is enough to connect the helmet to the PlayStation 5 via USB.
Another very practical improvement is a button that allows, even with the PlayStation VR on the head, to see the outside, the room in which we are. And, even more impressive, an eye-tracking system has been implemented that detects with maximum precision where we are looking. This allows, for example, to select the menus of a game with your eyes, but also to create interesting and innovative mechanisms. In the upcoming The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, for example, there will be creatures that only move when we’re not looking at them, something that Doctor Who fans will be reminded of the famous Weeping Angels.
One last change, also very relevant, is the replacement of the elongated PS Move wand-type controllers with the PlayStation VR2 Sense, much more versatile since they have the same sticks and buttons as a conventional PlayStation controller.
With all this, there is little left for the universe of Ready Player One to be more than a book or a movie. If the metaverse ever prevails, it will clearly be through virtual reality.
