Published , by Shack Staff
Published , by Shack Staff
The PlayStation VR2 is out and available for all PS5 owners to connect to their consoles, bringing a whole new generation of immersive VR. Sony and its partners have already worked to wrangle a wealth of cool games together for the opening days of the launch, but there’s still much more to come. That said, we definitely have our own opinions about what IP PlayStation should bring to the PS VR2, and we’re sure you do too! Join us as we answer the following question for our Shack Chat this week.
The PS VR2 sounds like a great opportunity to restore some dormant franchises. I realize that Sly Cooper's story was finished a long time ago, but the idea of getting into some heisting hijinx in virtual reality sounds wonderfully appealing to me. It doesn't even necessarily have to be Sucker Punch that takes Sly into the VR space, but any of Sony's first-party teams would be fine candidates to give Sly a new lease on life, as he attempts to steal rare treasures with a new VR perspective.
When I got to thinking of game franchises I love and things that would work well in VR, Ogre Battle came to mind. A beloved classic of the early days of Quest (and now Square Enix), Ogre Battle offered a very different kind of JRPG that put tactics and real-time strategy at the forefront. One of the main reasons I think this would work so well is that most of the original Ogre Battle was already in a top-down isometric view that I think would lend itself well to overhead controls and direction. You can direct units around the map, watch battles play out, and make tactical decisions regularly to win the day. It would also be incredibly interesting as we don’t have many JRPG-style games in VR. Games like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest could work in VR, but I think Ogre Battle is particularly suited to it.
Probably not a super original pick here, but while we had titles like Astro Bot Rescue Mission for PS VR in 2018, it and other PS VR games seemingly won’t be available on PS VR2. With that in mind, it’d be nice to see a brand-new Astro title developed for PS VR2, even if that’s just updating something like Astro’s Playroom to work in VR. That said, it really would be nice to see a totally new Astro game that’s designed especially for PS VR2 given how well Astro’s Playroom showed off the capabilities of things like the PS5’s DualSense controller.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Jumping Flash! does not get enough love for how great of a game it is. I can just imagine strapping into a PS VR2 for some first-person robo-rabbit fun. Sure, maybe all the leaping into the air and falling from on high might give some folks motion sickness or heart palpitations from the intensity, but I think it’d be worth it just to finally make this dream come true for me and me alone. At the very least could we please just get a new entry of some sort in the Jumping Flash! series?
While Death Stranding didn’t resonate with me, I think it’s the type of game I could learn to love if it was in VR. I want to walk through the environment and see the world through Sam’s eyes. I want to come face to face with the horrors he encounters and the vistas he soaks in. Perhaps there should be a new peripheral to go along with it, some sort of backpack with a gyro that can somehow mimic the sensation of weight. Catch me walking 500 miles carrying 50kg of gear while walking on the spot in my living room.
I missed out on the Sackboy and LittleBigPlanet train, but even I know that that franchise would work perfectly in VR. The characters, the color… it could be really immersive. As a platformer, you’d likely have to work to avoid motion sickness issues, but I think it would be pretty dope.
I think an Uncharted title made with the level of detail that other VR titles were made with like Resident Evil 4 would be really cool. There’s plenty of tools you could add to Nathan Drake’s arsenal and utilize with VR mechanics. But I also think some of the ridiculous action the franchise is known for would also be a fun experience in VR. Grabbing some ancient artifact and having to escape in VR is the kind of adventure I’d love to try.
I think it would be really neat to see MLB The Show come to PSVR2. Who doesn’t want to crack some dingers off of their favorite MLB pitchers in virtual reality? It feels like Baseball would be perfect for VR as it moves at a slow enough pace at times, having to read pitches or make plays. That being said, there are times where it’s fast enough that you have to make quick decisions, too. Having to play the field or strike out the side in the ninth would be cool in virtual reality!
That covers our answers for this week’s Shack Chat, but what about you? What do you want to see come to the PS VR2? Sound off in the Chatty section below! Be sure to check out our PS VR2 review and Day One game impressions as well!