u/cusman78

I have uploaded gameplay from my fresh experience with the game here if you want to see how it looks / plays. My first impressions are shared below:

Based on my limited time with it, I do recommend playing Myst on the PSVR2, at least if you can play on PS5 Pro where I had better experience than what my friends on base PS5 have described, so it may be situation like The Midnight Walk where it ran well (or well enough) on PS5 Pro, but not on base PS5.

It is a puzzle adventure game where you start on an island with no instructions and progress purely on the basis of exploring while making observations to start to unravel the story / mystery and needing to solve some puzzles along the way by finding the clues needed for things like time to set, safe combination, or symbols to set.

The puzzles themselves don't feel difficult or obtuse after you figure them out and the game is providing enough information that I've been able to proceed unimpeded in what I've played so far, but it does require figuring out how the puzzle mechanics will work. For example, for the clock tower puzzle it is essential that you realize holding the lever will make the center piece move just by itself or you won't be able to get numbers to align as you need (17:25). Another example, in Mechanical Book / Age, you have to realize while trying out the Rotation Simulator that it makes different sounds depending on the destination (27:30) because when doing the actual rotation, you only know where you stopped by the matching sound.

Speaking of Books / Ages, the structure of the game and how you progress is non-linear. In the starting Myst island is a library that has a number of Books you can pick up and read about the corresponding Age (12:30). The puzzles on this island once solved will teleport you to one of these 5 Books / Ages when you uncover & touch the Book. In the teleported Book / Age, you need to solve some puzzles to find the Book that teleports you back to the starting Myst island. Then you use the map in the library to choose next destination (41:15).

While you are at a destination, I think you are meant to be finding Blue and Red pages that reveal more of the story where I think each page relates to one of the sons (Achenar & Sirrus). I think "we" are playing as the mother, Catherine or someone receiving messages meant for her by the father, Atrus (6:35). I am positive these Blue / Red pages can be missed, but you can also go back and look again. Your save file (auto or manual) shows how many Blue / Red pages you have collected.

Graphically, the game has a soft look due to use of reprojection but generally looks fine or even beautiful (sky in distance 20:18 or anything near you), but there are cases where something in the distance can look blurry like using library rotating tower to see where you can find next Book (15:35) that corresponds to the Access Key (9:40). There is shimmer on the text for the menu screens and you can see shimmer on some distant objects (like trees) but the draw distances are good and environments both indoors and outdoors feel immersive to be in with stable framerate. You can see ghosting from reprojection on the subtitles (2:15) so I turned them off and for some of the objects in the environment as you move by them (16:30). I think the game is using the OLED HDR because the colors in general and particle effects in particular are vibrant (22:45) and it does use true-blacks some of the time in the headset unlike the video capture which shows gray around the black boxes for the logos as game is starting (0:05).

Audio is uncompromised with no critiques. The soundtrack, ambiance, limited voiced dialog all feel on-point as do the directional mechanical and electrical sounds as well as your footsteps on different surfaces.

Haptics are completely missing for the VR player. There is a setting for enabling vibrations that is on by default, but I assume that is for non-VR players of this hybrid game playing with DualSense. I never felt any haptics in headset or controllers and it doesn't use adaptive triggers for anything either (like shooting arrow from crossbow 22:05). The game has lot of optional things you pickup or interact with (23:55) so the absence of haptic feedback as you do is missed even more.

For Settings (0:40), it provides option for Smooth or Teleport movement, Snap (with angles) or Smooth Turns (fixed) and whether you prefer to play Left or Right hand dominant as well whether you prefer movement orientation by Head or Controller (or Unlocked). You can play it seated or standing with X button able to auto-adjust height and you can toggle sprint on / off using L3 (when playing right hand dominant). Additional comfort options include Quick Travel for Ladders, Stairs and Vehicle Transitions. The ladders are a little finicky to disembark because you have to land your feet before it will let go, but it works well enough that I left Quick Travel on default (off). There is also setting to enable Classic Video Mode to get original FMV. I also noted the Help option exists when in-game to unstuck you (5:57).

The game is featuring a Platinum. The trophy list is 100% secret trophies to avoid spoilers, so I haven't reviewed but I have noted that some people have already unlocked 100% so I don't think any trophies are glitched and I doubt there are any grindy / annoying trophies in the mix. I do think it probably requires completing the game multiple times for potential of different endings or if you choose to play Classic or Randomized at the start (1:55).

My biggest concern going into this was my poor experience with Firmament from same developers which ran poorly for PSVR2 in 2 of the 3 larger outdoor areas even on the PS5 Pro (and I know it was worse for base PS5). For me, Firmament was a game that I would have to play non-VR if I wanted to continue unless they did significant patching to improve it. I know Firmament did receive some patches beyond when I last played so it may be improved to be more stable / acceptable, but what I had tried closer to launch was not something I wanted to spend time in. That is not the case here where I like the game itself more (the structure, story / lore, puzzles), the quality & quantity of VR interactivity (haptics still felt missing) that is generally jank free and I also find it immersive enough (audio / visual experience) to spend time in the game without the kind of performance or really poor resolution issues which pulled me out of Firmament.

It would be great if this could look as sharp as the Red Matter games, but accepting some visual compromise and lack of haptics, it is a very well designed puzzle adventure game.

It is very rare for any game to get above Gran Turismo 7 on the PSVR2 best sellers list because it is by recent revenue and GT7 is one of the most persistently popular having revenue from both VR and non-VR players, including both new and existing players (microtransactions).

Nice to see that for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 where I think both VR Mode becoming available on retail version and 20% off sale has contributed to them moving to top spot. Before the sale, MSFS 2024 was only below GT7.

PS - I'm also impressed with how well I Am Cat is doing since its release staying consistently above Beat Saber for a VR only game.

I hope that means even for base PS5, the time between releases (Quest to PSVR2) has been well utilized to make the game look & play better, and then pushing it even better for the PS5 Pro users.

I'm still going to wait until closer to release for more information to come out before pre-ordering for the discount, but I am encouraged by this.

I have uploaded gameplay from my fresh experience with the game here if you want to see how it looks / plays. My first impressions are shared below:

Based on my limited time with it, I hesitate to recommend playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on PSVR2 even though I am overall happy with it and expect to play a bunch more of it.

It is a Flight simulator game that lets you fly a large variety of aircraft at the scope of the entire surface of planet Earth across a variety of modes.

The most casual friendly mode is probably the World Photographer Mode (12:17) since it starts you in the sky with no need to takeoff or land where it lets you pick from big list of categories of iconic destinations and then a number of places to visit in each of those categories with specific photography objectives. So you can fly around admiring the sites, but also have objective of flying into optimal position and then switch to Photo Mode that pauses your flight and lets you float and reposition camera view to take picture that completes those objectives.

The deepest mode is probably the Career Mode (23:22) that is structured to have a story-mode where you begin as a new pilot first earning your Private Pilot License (PPL) and then having flexible path of additional certifications to become a professional pilot including specializations like air ambulance, aerial firefighting, crop dusting and executive transport. Your career starts limited to Cessna in your home city airport (you can choose any location) and after an assisted trial flight where you aren't given enough instructions but have a co-pilot handling certain things, you are free to go through many optional Training steps to help prepare you before you take your license test that will I've read give better instructions. I opted to go straight to the first license test because I've played other flight games and it let me (34:40).

Other modes include Challenge League where you can participate in Red Bull Air Races, Rally Races, precision landing and other challenges against other players. There is an Activities Mode where you will find content like the Netflix Stranger Things experience that lets you fly through the fictional supernatural world from the TV Series. There is Free Flight sandbox mode that lets you fly any aircraft, any time, in any weather, to any destination that uses real-time traffic and animal migration tracking. The game also includes on-foot exploration if you want to land your aircraft and go exploring the airport terminals or other landscapes on foot.

There is also a Marketplace that I haven't explored, but I think it provided World Update 21 (Australia) as a free content update (4:30) while it also contains other things someone may choose to buy. I think I've barely scratched the surface of all the playable content the game includes.

Graphically, the aircraft interiors seem to be very detailed and highly interactive and videos the game plays are high quality, but when you are out flying around the world, there is a difference between the level of graphical detail when you visit a place that is part of World Photographer Mode and what you may get for your home city airport and surroundings. If you look for lower resolution textures, you will find them easily if you are on foot or lower to ground, but when you are up higher, everything outside your cockpit still has a softer look, but it doesn't look bad / blurry. The sky with features like sunset and clouds are visually much better than Aces of Thunder. When going through menu screens, the borders and text within can look shimmery. I didn't see any signs of reprojection in my time with it but I also I left all VR Graphics options on their default where many are set to Low or Off. I could also be that I didn't visit a location that would make the PS5 / PS5 Pro struggle more. I am playing on PS5 Pro, but I don't know that it will be any different other than possibly more stable framerates than base PS5.

Audio features an unintrusive hardly noticeable background soundtrack, a voiced co-pilot / guide for the Career Mode, voiced dialog from air-traffic controller, and authentic sound effects related to flying. The only odd thing I noted was the co-pilot sound volume changed in a way that I didn't understand. Maybe he was harder to hear when the engine was on with us flying and then louder when we back on the ground with less engine noise for realism?

Haptics are completely absent from the VR2 Sense controllers, but are present when using the DualSense. I could hear my DualSense getting the vibrations even when I was playing with the VR2 Sense controllers. No haptics in headset.

Settings (6:40) don't provide any VR comfort options so no option for Snap Turns, Teleport Movement or Vignette, but it is full of options including Sound, Controls, Assists, Accessibility, VR Graphics and VR Mode. Maybe there is a way to get things working better in these options, but this game seems to have similar issue that Aces of Thunder did where you had to have VR2 Sense controllers on even if playing with DualSense or HOTAS. Here, it seems the DualSense must always be on but interactions in the cockpit are more natural to do with the VR2 Sense controllers, so I was switching between them as needed. I have yet to try my HOTAS and I think I will need to figure out how to improve some controller mappings. For example, Square should be crouch for both DualSense and VR2 Sense controllers, but for some reason the VR2 Sense Square button is set to re-center you (when you can already do that by holding Options). I also couldn't figure out why I can't just grab yoke and control using motion controls instead of using thumbsticks when I had setting on default of Hold.

The game is featuring a Platinum trophy, reserved for those pilots that earn 20 base certifications in Career, Complete 100 weekly challenges in Challenge League and accumulate 100 Stars as a World Photographer.

The UI difficulties needing to use DualSense necessarily in some parts of it or VR2 Sense necessarily in others is my main hesitation in recommending it because neither works as well as it should just by itself. Some people may also expect higher fidelity graphics in VR than the game provides, but it is Earth scale and it is beautiful, just not all the time. Lastly, flying requires learning a lot and having master of controls and instruments that would take time and even plane specific training, but I think the default assists you start with here make flight really easy, provided you figure out the planes enough to get them started and off the runway. So in some ways it is not casual friendly and in other ways very casual friendly.

It isn't as easy and friction-less to move from non-VR to VR and have that just be an upgrade without compromise like Gran Turismo 7, but for my interest in learning to fly variety of aircraft and visit many places all over the world, it is worth the effort.

Detailed Patch Notes: https://acesofthunder.net/en/news/40

It took a few extra days but I wanted to wait until it is tagged for discoverability as a PSVR2 supporting game before I buy it.

I think it will be a good competition for the top spot between the driving & flight simulator games going forward.

I have uploaded gameplay from my fresh experience with the game here if you want to see how it looks / plays. My first impressions are shared below:

Based on my limited time with it, I do recommend playing I Am Cat on the PSVR2, but you should read more to decide if it would be a good fit for you or not.

I am categorizing it as a Platformer due to physical movement controls similar to Gorilla Tag, No More Rainbows and Stilt where you use your virtual arms to move, climb and jump around the sandbox environments doing variety of activities being a mischievous cat, but it is much easier than either of those because it has more of a sandbox design and expects less precision / mastery of the controls to be successful.

You start the game with a dream-state tutorial where a person on series of TV screens demonstrates your controls for movement (including climbing & jumping), grabbing and using small items, and carrying items using your mouth before you end it by taking a Cat nap. As you wake up to the main game, you start in Granny's House wearing a wrist watch that vibrates and upon interaction, gives you a series of tasks to complete which earn you fish-coins that you can use to buy cosmetics for your Cat (29:37) and will eventually open up more of the game world including other locations including Garage, Street, Butcher's Shop, Mill, Beach, Submarine, Light House, Rocket & Glacier (11:00).

While you go about being a Cat or as part of your assigned tasks, if you break stuff or otherwise make her upset, it will make Granny take out her frying pan and come after you slowly to bonk you (3:40). If you get bonked, you wake up to a reset environment or you can choose to go to your bed and take a Cat-nap to reset the environment any time. You can also knock Granny out by clawing her or throwing something at her or just stay out of reach long enough to make her give up. When not angry at you Granny is harmless and will watch cat videos on TV or come and pick you up to dote on you (3:05).

Other than navigation related tasks like reach locations, touch paintings and pop balloons, you also get tasks to complete mini-games such as:

• Whack-a-mole (5:45)
• Ball Game (23:35)
• Play Melody on Piano (25:25)
• Hunt Mechanical Mice (26:00)

It is on these mini-games where the game can require more precision (or luck) in your controls mastery and they can be a progression block to get next set of tasks, but it is much less demanding of controls mastery than other games that use these types of physical movement controls. I don't think the controls are unintuitive, but they are also a bit strange because there is a 4-legged Cats body attached to your arms and the way climbing and other actions work is as if you have that weight behind your arms while you only see and try to use the arms. In terms of jank, there were few times where I would struggle climbing over ledge (25:05 & 29:05) while majority of times, it works fairly consistently and feels pretty good (17:35).

Graphically, the game is crisp and clear with no signs of any reprojection. The art style is on the cartoon side, but everything feels high resolution to where you can clearly see any scratches you make in the textures and I like how your environmental interactions / chaos persist until your next nap that resets the environment. The higher resolution is most evident in the quality of any videos being played on TV screens that include photo-realistic cat videos.

Audio includes radios in the environments that you can change channel on or lower / raise volume, but otherwise things you don't control like sound related to a mini-game or something Granny is watching on TV. The rest of it is sound effects related to whatever you are doing. The Granny is voiced but don't expect variety of sentiments.

Haptics are present in the controllers, but very weak and mostly feel absent. There are no headset haptics for getting bonked by Granny.

There is no Settings menu or options aside from limited audio related interaction you can have with radios in the environment. You have Snap Turns on your right-thumbstick or you can turn in-real-life. The game does have heights and big jumps with no comfort options like Vignette or Teleport.

The game is not featuring a Platinum trophy and getting 100% of the trophies will just require playing enough of the game to break 150 items and complete 100 tasks. All other trophies will likely unlock well ahead of reaching those tracked trophy milestones as part of completing tasks required to progress. I think the trophy list is based on original release Achievements with much less content than the game now has with all the post-release content expansion (new locations) that is included in the PSVR2 release.

One thing not included in the PSVR2 release is the multiplayer mode which is separate from the main game and may or may not get added to the PSVR2 version (depending on adoption?). I wasn't aware of it missing when I played the game yesterday and was enjoying it just fine as a solo game. The main motivation to complete tasks for me is not to unlock cosmetics you can only see in mirrors (or to spruce up your multiplayer cat), but to unlock new locations and enjoy more of the sandbox platforming mischief of being a cat.

Note: While the game has trophies, they have not yet been published to production, so you can only review them on your PS5 while you are offline (by going to settings and disabling Network connection). Once the trophies are made live on production, when you have Network enabled, they will sync to your PSN account with your original timestamps.

Update: A friend of mine that is further into the game has informed me that there is a problem in the Garage level where he can't clean the interior of car (game gets unstable), thus progression blocked. He has reported it on the developers Discord as a bug.

PSVR2 notes

• Beat the Beats VR was an exclusive for PSVR2 until it recently went multi-platform announced level editor coming soon for Steam Workshop
• Sweet Surrender new free update released today
• Roboquest VR Co-Op releasing May 21st
• Compass releasing May 28th
• Apple Vision Pro GOTY Remastered got PSVR2 controller support

Games shown I wish were also confirmed coming to PSVR2:

• Wordbound
• Crossings
• Deadly Delivery

PS - Wasn't announced during this, but I Am Cat also released for PSVR2 today

I feel terrible seeing this as both Creed and Alien: Rogue Incursion are consistently in the top 10 best sellers for PSVR2.

Feeling sad for all the talented developers that are being let go. I hope they can find new opportunities and keep doing what they are good at elsewhere.

I have uploaded gameplay from my fresh experience with the game here if you want to see how it looks / plays. My first impressions are shared below:

Based on my limited time with it, I highly recommend playing Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic on PSVR2.

It is the latest light horror game in the long-running Five Nights at Freddy's series where you enter the abandoned workshop of Murray's Costume Manor and are tasked with surviving and uncovering the Secret of the Mimic, a prototype endoskeleton that can adapt to any costume and become any character.

It is a free-roam game where you use the Data Diver gadget on your holster to open doors provided you have unlocked the security clearance needed for that type of door, so it has a metroidvania structure to where you can go until you have required access but it also has a linear feel (at least early in the game) where you are being directed by the story. After the introductory car ride where you have some steering control (2:30), the game provides further story exposition through environmental storytelling, fully voiced & animated cutscenes (8:45), plenty of additional radio dialog (16:40) and features set piece moments for your encounters with the Mimic (25:15 & 38:25).

As you explore, you also find variety of collectibles (13:40) from present boxes which once deposited into the Inventory stations show up in the Moon (text adventure) computer game on H.E.L.P.E.R. terminals (28:45) where you can also see Logs and Maps (15:55). It seems finding these collectibles will be key to being able to complete the Moon game. There is an additional Parachute computer game that can be unlocked as well. The majority of the game is solving simple puzzles using variety of interactivity.

Graphically, this is crisp and clear with highly detailed environments and no signs of any reprojection. It provides you option to adjust the brightness to your liking. The best part is the quality of the animations of the various animatronics and the immersion of chase set piece moments with destructible environments.

Audio is also top notch including thrilling unnerving soundtrack during set piece moments, environmental ambiance, moments of silence with directional creepy sounds, and excellent voiced dialog that fits the tone of the Fazbear Entertainment world.

Haptics are present in the controllers for menu and other interactions. Missed opportunity that the jump scares don't use the headset haptics to complement the audio visual impact.

Settings (0:55) let you choose between Snap and Smooth including angles / speed preference and let you enable / disable vignette. It lets you choose whether movement should be based on head or controller and lets you choose whether actions like sprinting and crouching are a toggle (default) or hold.

The game is featuring a Platinum trophy where vast majority of trophies are hidden, but for those that are not hidden, there are trophies for finding all collectibles, finding all text logs, completing all repairs and getting high scores in all carnival games. There is also a reference to a ball gun I haven't gotten yet so there is much more to experience in the game beyond where I am with it. There is a 5-star rated trophy guide with over 20,000 views on PSN Profiles for those that would need it.

The game is very polished and while it started as non-VR, it feels like it was made for VR. That said, it is not without jank. It can be a little frustrating using the various computer terminals accurately where you can either have accidental presses or clicks that fail to register (34:25). Hiding in a closet can leave you outside the closet and feeling exposed until you take a physical step back (25:53). The cranks on the collectible present boxes don't highlight as simply as they should (36:15 & 47:15).

In what I've played so far, it is a puzzle game with some stealth and thrilling chase set pieces with jump scare consequences set to a story in an experience focused game. It is free-roam and I think it will inevitably become more open, but at least early on you are being lead in a linear direction in a game designed to creep you out a little with the environment and give you some thrills with set piece moments as you make your way through a kind of haunted manor.