PlayStation’s New PS VR2 Is Great. Don’t Buy It (Yet).

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The PlayStation VR2 is supposed to be the perfect companion to the PlayStation 5. It isn't a truly standalone headset—Meta's Quest models are the ones to buy for untethered VR—but it is comfortable and easy to set up, it looks great, and it comes closer than any other cabled headset to bringing console-level simplicity to VR.

However, the PS VR2 requires a PS5 to use, so not only are you tethered to a console with a cable, but you also have to splurge on two devices, making it a tough sell for most people.

On top of that, the PS VR2 isn't backward-compatible with the last-generation PS VR's software library, so it lacks the plethora of games you get with Meta's Quest headsets or other, PC-based headsets.

It's a great device, but until PlayStation announces a slate of must-play games that aren't available anywhere else, most people shouldn't buy one yet.

$550

February 22, 2023

Easy setup, comfortable for a VR headset, solid design

Too few games right now, still wired

The PS VR2 is an impressive VR headset, though it doesn't exactly break the mold. Its white plastic body bears some resemblance to those of Meta's Quest headsets (the controllers also look similar). But unlike the $400 Quest 2—and the significantly more expensive $1,500 Quest Pro—the PS VR2 is not a standalone headset. It requires a PlayStation 5 console to function, as well as a television, at least initially, because that's where the PS5 guides you through the setup process before you put the headset on.

In addition to the $550 price tag of the PS VR2, you have to spend an extra $400 to $500 on a PS5 (though if you’re considering this headset, you likely already own one). This requirement makes the PS VR2 way more expensive than the Meta Quest 2. But in comparison with HTC's Vive or Valve's Index, the PS VR2 is practically a bargain, because those headsets require gaming PCs to function.

The PS VR2 is more comfortable than rival headsets, with a head-mounted display supported by a "halo" harness system that adjusts with less effort than those of the Quest 2, the Vive, and the Index. It's also easier to put on and take off than those other headsets, and it's the easiest time I’ve had adjusting a headset around my glasses, thanks to a soft, accordion-like rubber piece bridging the gap between the headset and the area around the wearer's nose.

Each eye of the PS VR2 has a 2000×2040 OLED, for a total resolution of 4K, and supports high-dynamic range. That resolution and the quality of the screens minimized any appearance, that I could detect, of the annoying "screen-door effect," a distracting visual artifact that causes loss of detail and flickering in pixel-based displays. And although the image could sometimes be a little soft in some games, generally the OLED panels provided a great-looking image with very good black levels. These displays support both high-refresh-rate modes of 90 Hz and 120 Hz, which should help mitigate VR-induced motion sickness for some wearers.

The goggles also hide one of the PS VR2's most promising features: IR cameras that enable full eye tracking. So far developers are merely scratching the surface in supporting this feature, but it works extremely well, judging by something as simple as menu navigation in Horizon: Call of the Mountain (more on that in a minute). The eye tracking could also be a great accessibility accommodation for people who are unable to hold the PS VR2's Sense controllers, but we’ll have to see what uses games find for it in the future.

The PS VR2 doesn't include built-in speakers as the Index and the Vive do, instead offering a surprisingly decent-sounding detachable pair of earbuds. I personally prefer having speakers built into a headset rather than putting rubber earbuds in, but you can also use your own PS5-compatible headphones.

PC-based VR setups like the Vive and the Index have traditionally offered the most immersive experiences, but they’re notably expensive, and they impose intensive setup processes involving external movement-tracking devices that each require their own power adapter, plus giant cables that also require a separate breakaway power adapter. The original PlayStation 4–based PS VR was even more obnoxious in that regard, with a nest of cables, a separate, large breakout box, and a required PS4 camera for tracking you around a virtual world.

Setting up the PS VR2 is simple by comparison. The headset connects to the PlayStation 5 with a 14-foot-long USB-C cable included in the box. This makes it easy to connect and disconnect, thanks to the PS5's design: The console's lone front-facing USB-C port has seemingly been waiting the past two years for this headset, and this convenience and ease of use sets the PS VR2 apart.

Like the Meta Quest 2, the PS VR2 tracks your movement with an array of cameras and sensors built into the headset itself and the Sense controllers. Once the headset is connected and updated, it walks you through the process of determining your "safe" play area, an unobstructed space within your home or office where you can move without damaging yourself or your belongings. For standing play, a 3-by-4-foot area should be fine, but if you want to enable "room-scale" experiences that account for walking around a space, Sony recommends a 6-by-7-foot area. The PS VR2 does an excellent job of keeping track of your location within the play space you define while setting it up.

That ease of setup is almost enough reason to recommend the PS VR2. But I was by far most impressed by the headset's implementation of passthrough video, which PlayStation calls See Through.

See Through enables a black-and-white, real-time video feed from the headset's front-facing cameras, allowing you to see your physical surroundings. Other headsets also offer a video feed, but the PS VR2's passthrough is mostly undistorted and lag-free. I couldn't quite read a notification on my Apple Watch, but I could acknowledge and navigate my surroundings without taking the headset off. I could even see my hands and use them, which is a low bar but one that most headsets still struggle to reach.

See Through is extremely useful, because after you establish your surroundings for the PS VR2, the headset lets you know if you’re pushing up against them while playing a game. It's also convenient to be able to see what's going on outside of the large piece of plastic strapped over your eyes when, say, you need to pick up a controller or check to see why your cat is screaming at you. Passthrough activates when the PS VR2 determines that it's needed, but you can also activate it with a button on the lower side of the display.

PlayStation will likely talk up eye tracking as one of the PS VR2's most exciting features, but passthrough represents such a remarkable step up in overall convenience that it's hard to imagine using a headset that can't match how well the feature is executed here. Meta's Quest Pro slightly one-ups it with full-color video passthrough, which hints at possibilities for augmented reality that just don't seem practical for the PS VR2, but the Quest Pro is also $1,500 and a worse headset in most other ways.

The PS VR2 looks and feels good to use, but where it falls short is the availability of games to play—arguably its key reason for existing. Of the dozens of games set to launch on the PS VR2 by the end of March, few are exclusives, and only one of those is the kind of big, flagship release that players have come to expect from PlayStation.

That game is Horizon: Call of the Mountain, a new standalone companion game to PlayStation's popular Horizon series. Call of the Mountain features a brief appearance from the series's main character, Aloy, but it's driven by a new main character who climbs his way through a mountainous robot-ruled post-post-apocalyptic landscape. Call of the Mountain is gorgeous and immersive, and it supports cool features such as a menu that you can navigate with eye tracking. The game allows a lot of customization to make it more comfortable to play, too. But while Call of the Mountain is everything VR promises to be, it also doesn't solve some of VR gaming's most persistent issues.

VR-induced motion sickness can be caused by games that involve free, fast movement using an analog stick in first-person perspective. I’ve made the mistake of trying that exactly once, on purpose, and I am unlikely to do it again.

Horizon: Call of the Mountain requires you to make motions to simulate free rock climbing. That means you have to do a lot of head turning and looking up, and the experience involves quick changes of perspective. Even using the default, limited controls, which make forward movement quite slow, I felt a little funny after 45 minutes of Call of the Mountain. After another 45 minutes, I felt hot, and my hands were sweating. I wasn't nauseated, exactly, but I also wasn't feeling well. I spoke with a couple of other people who have played Call of the Mountain on the PS VR2, and I’m not the only one to experience this sort of discomfort.

VR-induced motion sickness isn't unique to Call of the Mountain or the PS VR2, and I think players could avoid it by playing shorter sessions spread out over a longer period of time. But even without the motion sickness, Call of the Mountain's initial hours are similar to those of other high-profile VR releases: It's a beautiful guided experience that relies on immersion to compensate for the challenges of actual traditional movement and gameplay in VR. I can play a satisfactorily immersive PS5 game for hours on end, but I can't say the same for a PS VR2 game. I had fun for a while free-climbing steep mountain faces, but soon after I was a little tired and a little sick.

Over time other games will come and try to solve this problem, but prior to the PS VR2's launch, big releases have gotten rarer as stakeholders have stopped investing significantly in games that will probably lose money in an effort to sell more VR headsets and build a sustainable market. And other than Horizon: Call of the Mountain, PlayStation isn't demonstrating a willingness to commit to such larger experiences yet. Games coming soon to the PS VR2 are largely ports of older games, a few of which, like Song in the Smoke, feature some improvements that promise to make them a better experience in VR. Other popular games such as Resident Evil Village, the PlayStation-exclusive Gran Turismo 7, and No Man's Sky will support the PS VR2 soon.

But most of those games are already playable elsewhere. Some are more than six years old, and few offer free VR upgrades for people who bought them last time around. If you haven't played those games yet because you were waiting for the right moment to get into VR, the PS VR2 can be a great way to play them. But the Meta Quest 2 is much cheaper, and it can play just about everything other than true PS VR2 exclusives.

The PS VR2 has a better screen, passthrough, and motion tracking than the Meta Quest 2. But the Quest 2 has other advantages, namely that it's wireless and capable of playing games without any additional hardware. That portability makes sharing VR experiences with a group much easier. The Quest 2 is also a lot cheaper and often comes with additional free games from Meta's VR storefront. Overall, the Quest 2's library of compatible games easily surpasses that of the PS VR2—you can find titles on the Meta Quest storefront and Steam, which are playable via a connected USB-C cable or even wirelessly with controllers that are similar to the PS VR2's Sense controllers.

To make the PS VR2 worth buying, PlayStation needs to offer must-play, exclusive software. Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7 are a start, but they’re not enough. At launch, the PS VR2 simply doesn't justify its cost—even if you already own a PlayStation 5. I was surprised to find that I liked it as much as I did, and its convenience, comfort, and quality might be enough to convince me to put it on once in a while now that I have it. But I can't recommend it over a Meta Quest 2 until more games, especially more compelling exclusive titles, arrive.

This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry.

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