How Is The PS VR2 Game Library?

UPDATE: Sony will hold a State of Play on Thursday, February 23rd at 4:00 PM ET and show five new PS VR2 games. They have also added 10 new games to the “launch window” lineup.

Our PS VR2 hardware review can be found here. Concurrently we wanted to separate the conversation around the game library from the hardware itself. While these are both equally important, they are totally separate conversations. Especially given the speculation around Sony’s commitment to VR, which we wanted to remove from our objective hardware overview.

The Good

The good news is that there is a compelling list of “launch window” games. Between now and March 16th, there will be a little over 40 games in the library. Among them are two AAA console-quality games you can’t play anywhere else, Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7. Then you have compelling games in Horizon Call of the Mountain and No Man’s Sky. These are four of the top 15 VR games of all time.

This launch lineup is so packed I do not think it makes sense for Sony to start adding more big titles. Hopefully, there is a roadmap for VR that we are about to see that has more games like the heavy hitters we have at launch. If Half-Life Alyx is ready for PS VR2, I don’t think it makes sense to put it out against Resident Evil and Horizon. Plus I personally believe Sony will have something big for the holidays. So if you are worried about the library of PS VR2 games, I suggest you wait and see what is about to be announced. Give the launch lineup time to breath.

The Bad

A recurring theme across nearly every PS VR2 hardware review is the perception of a lack of commitment from Sony. While I am not sure how fair it is to ding Sony on a future hypothetical, especially in a hardware review. The launch games are solid but, these influencers are right. Currently, it is unclear how committed Sony is to the platform. Hopefully, they can do something to change that perception this year or PS VR2 may never have a meaningful install base. This is a problem that could become exponentially bad for Sony as AAA third-party publishers need a large install base to sell games to.

While Firewall Ultra and Beat Saber are on the way, there is not much else. Of course, Sony can fix this any day with an update. Although for some reason, all of their VR game announcements have been delegated to blog posts.

Personally, I’m OK with the 30 or so launch games. This is more than enough to get me through to Firewall Ultra. My complaints come from a lack of wellness titles and the completely missing community hub. The Quest has a few community hub apps and game games, like Horizons and Rec Room. Along with some really great games for exercise. I thought for sure somehow Sony would bring back PlayStation Home as a community hub. I also thought there would be ports of games like BoxVR.

Indie & AA PS VR2 Games

Starting off with Moss and Moss Book II, I can not say enough positive things about these two. You can get both for $40 in a new bundle, they have been upgraded for PS VR2. You can read our PS VR review for Moss Book II here. Demeo has been a significant game within our community, it is currently one of the most popular live service games on our site. Demeo is a four-player co-op tabletop dungeon crawler, plus now it has cross-play.

Tetris Effect Connected may be the best way to play Tetris today. It too has cross-platform multiplayer modes, and believe it or not, VR adds a nice twist to the classic franchise. Vacation Simulator and Job Simulator are funny quirky bite-sized indie games. These are slow-paced and a great place to start for beginners in VR. For something much faster, Pistol Whip is almost a workout. Dip duck and dive from bullets as you play through a rail shooter that moves to catchy beats. 

While many of these games are available on other platforms, they help build a deep library for PS VR2. Sure they exist elsewhere but, they exist here too with the AAA VR games that you can not get on those other platforms. Although as more and more ports come to PS VR2, they will have to be accompanied by high-quality unique experiences.

Better Games Overall For PS VR2

Another good thing about the PS VR2 library is the lack of “VR experiences.” Typically VR games come in one of four categories:

• AAA, this is incredibly rare I honestly do not believe there are more than five or ten of these games, and three of them are on PS VR2. 
• AA and Indie, are smaller VR games, usually under 10 hours. Examples of these games include Vacation Simulator, Pistol Whip, and Demeo.
• Community Hub, games like Rec Room, Meta Quest Horizon, and VRChat are examples of where players can converge together and often include mini-games or live events.
• VR Experiences, these are glorified demos, and there was a ton of them on PS VR. Games like Arkham VR, and Mars Odyssey. To call some of these games walking sims would be giving them too much credit. Often these games are less than five hours long and have almost no gameplay.

I believe these “VR experiences” are of the past and will not fill up the PS VR2 store page. You really do not see many of these games coming to current VR platforms and I do not see any slated to come to PS VR2. I believe the genre has moved forward in this capacity. I will say, something like NFL Pro Era does start to orbit this category as the gameplay mechanics are so limited.

PS VR2 Launch Games We Recommend

Demeo
Resident Evil Village
Moss & Moss Book II
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Call of the Mountain
Pistol Whip
The Last Clockwinder
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge
Tentacular
Job Simulator & Vacation Simulator
No Man’s Sky
Tetris Effect Connected