Nobody is talking about PlayStation VR2. The headset launched a couple of weeks ago with a distinct lack of games and eye-watering price point. Coming in at $550 without a single game packed in, the premium peripheral costs more than the console required to power it. The fluidity and innovation it offers in comparison to its PC counterparts is impressive, so you could argue it’s worth the asking price, but not when we are still sat waiting for a game to define it as a must-own piece of technology. Right now, there is nothing to write home about. That’s a big shame, since the first iteration almost took over the world.

Horizon: Call of the Mountain is a more fully-featured experience than any of us could have expected. It isn’t just an IP-fuelled rollercoaster ride, even if Aloy does appear for a lovely bit of fan service. Firesprite crafted an extensive single-player journey that spans over a dozen hours and requires serious investment from the user. While much of it is spent staring at cliff faces as you precariously avoid falling to your death, its inventive uses of virtual reality more than make up for this predictability. There is ample fun to be found when smashing random environments filled with objects to pieces, or adorning cave walls with lush paintings thanks to the new controllers’ startling accuracy. It’s a great game, although it’s the only one this headset has right now that isn’t a port, update, or something we’ve already done elsewhere.

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Our own Stacey Henley calls out the prohibitive price in her review, and how her experience with the headset was limited to a handful of games that - while impressive - aren’t enough for the average consumer to splurge $600 at the drop of a hat. Even Sony’s messaging leading up to release has been an inconsistent mess. The games intended to show this headset at its best were mostly ports and updates, with Call of the Mountain given a very difficult task of leading the charge despite lukewarm reviews and limited appeal. I don’t know why this launch was pushed ahead with so few games for us to care about.

Horizon Call of the Mountain climbing by waterfall

It isn’t backward compatible either, meaning that the early adopters who likely spent buckets of cash on the previous iteration now have a collection of useless games that can’t be played unless they pay for an upgrade or download additional updates. I understand why it refuses to gel with existing games and how that will open the doors for more advanced experiments later down the line, but I fear those will never come if PSVR 2 can’t conjure up momentum similar to its predecessor in the first place.

That magic isn’t there anymore, or virtual reality now sits in a place where players have seen what it’s capable of and perhaps have no continued interest in coming along for the ride. Or it’s just really expensive, and the venn diagram of big Horizon fans and those with a spare $600 sitting around is way smaller than Sony thought.

Alyx putting her hands up as three Combine aim their guns at her.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is a cool exclusive, but I know it’s going to be an on-rails shooter with limited runtime and predictable scares, while the glaring omission of a Half-Life: Alyx port after it changed the medium forever back in 2020 still boggles my mind. A lack of reliable PS5 stock, far few big games, and a steep price of entry have turned what should have been a huge launch for PS VR2 into a whimper, and one I hope Sony is willing to evaluate before investing in all the right areas to make a comeback. Unless it has some big hitters waiting in the wings to surprise us, I’m not convinced it can.

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