PSVR News Roundup: Six New Game Updates

Last month PlayStation Senior Vice President Hideaki Nishino announced that a successor to PSVR would be coming in the future. As well as a continued commitment to supporting the current PSVR hardware. Specifically name-dropping After The Fall, Sniper Elite VR, and Humanity. The entire blog post gave me the feeling that we won’t be seeing PSVR games in any State of Play any time soon. With that, I was not surprised PSVR was completely left out of the February 25th State of Play. Fortunately, Sony followed up with a make good this past week by holding a makeshift PSVR State of Play over on the PlayStation Blog. We have rounded up all of the news here.

Doom 3 Is Coming To PSVR

Notably, it is interesting to see Bethesda’s continued commitment to PSVR. After bringing Skyrim along with Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot to the platform, it is refreshing to see they are still creating games in the VR space. Even if that commitment is in the form of a nearly 20-year-old game. Doom 3: VR Edition will bring along its two expansions. In addition to some VR-related quality of life improvements over Doom 3’s 15-hour campaign. We will not have to wait long for Doom 3: VR Edition, as it is launching on March 29th. 

Song in the Smoke

Over on the PlayStation Blog Rich McCormick, Producer details the survival elements found in Song in the Smoke. He describes a gameplay loop where you will craft and make choices on how you will survive against the game’s monsters. Something that stuck with me was, “Every time you play Song in the Smoke, we want you to be asking yourself these same questions. Should I craft a new bow, or make do with old faithful? Is this the perfect campsite, or should I pack up and move into that cave on the cliff side? Am I ready to fight that strange shimmering monster that I saw stalking just over the ridge line?” As long as there is a narrative or some sort of story pushing you to move forward. It sounds like Song in the Smoke could have potential when it releases later this year.

Fracked

Fracked is a cell-shaded first-person-shooter, exclusive to PSVR, releasing this summer. At first, Fracked reminds me of Blood and Truth. Yet Creative Director, Steve Watt details the gameplay as,  “Skiing, running, climbing, base jumping and ziplining are all possible and all happen seamlessly and fluidly. No on-rails gameplay and cinematic cutscenes here, everything is 1:1 and driven by the player’s controls, movements, and actions.” This is somewhat confusing as the trailer shows free movement as well then Watt also notes a requirement of the Move Controller. Which of course does not have an analog stick. I wonder if this is incredibly careful wording and video editing? Or maybe you use the buttons on one of the move controllers as a directional pad? Fracked does look like a fun PSVR game to keep an eye on in the coming months. Especially as one of the few PSVR games to take advantage of the PS5 hardware. 

I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy And The Liar

The follow-up to action spy movie satire I Expect You To Die will be out on PSVR later this year. For fans of the first game, it appears like this could be more of the same. For those who have not played the first game, you can pick it up on sale this week for $12.49. It is often included in both indie and VR-related PlayStation store sales. If you do hope to try the original game first. Although while I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy And The Liar is a follow up to the first game it appears that it will also be friendly to new players. Expect to die sometime this summer, as Community Marketing Specialist, Adam Kuta hopes to have another update “very soon.”

Zenith

The small team of seven over at Ramen VR is working hard on MMORPG-inspired Zenith. When first announced over on Kickstarter in August of 2019 it was fully funded within four hours. Following that were over 3,000 backers bringing the game across six stretch goals. As well as receiving the “Project We Love” badge from Kickstarter. I find it hard to believe that this small team can deliver on the promise of a worthwhile MMORPG in VR when AAA companies struggle to keep audiences satisfied. Although the physical demands of standing hours on end could be exactly what the MMORPG genre needs in 2021. Zenith’s inclusion of cross-play between all VR platforms is a nice addition that will surely help. 

After The Fall

When After The Fall was first announced for VR platforms I was concerned that PSVR would not hold up to support the game. It is such a relief to see Sony talking about this game again in 2021. Especially after Oculus’s big push when it was announced back in 2019. The developers behind Arizona Sunshine, are bringing After The Fall to PSVR this summer. A co-op action-adventure shooter with horror elements. Along with having the full support of the Aim Controller. Just like Zenith, After The Fall will support cross-platform play over nearly all VR platforms. This run of PSVR announcements on the PlayStation Blog is letting us know the summer is going to be packed with some cool stuff. I am a little worried the new trailer lacks real gameplay. Yet fear not as TamTu Bui the game’s Community Manager noted that gameplay is coming within the next “couple of weeks.”