Best PSVR 2 games: what to play first on your PS5 VR headset

The best PSVR 2 game for storytelling

Horizon Call Of The Mountain is the first game by Firesprite Studios since Sony bought the dev and ear-marked it for virtual reality projects. Firesprite released one of PSVR's best games, The Persistence, and is made up for former WipEout developers. Given the studio's pedigree I'm sure this will be one of the best PSVR 2 games at launch.

Horizon Call Of The Mountain is a story-driven adventure in first-person featuring new characters to the Horizon universe and delivers a new level of world interaction. In our Horizon Call Of The Mountain review we found the seven-hour campaign features breathtaking visual detail and Sony's keen eye for storytelling, and it will easily be one of the best PSVR2's games you'll play in 2023.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for jump scares

UK developer Supermassive Games has built a reputation for atmospheric horror games and The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR is its PSVR 2 spin-off from the The Dark Pictures anthology series. Unlike the main series, which are choice-driven adventures, this is an on-rails shooter akin to the studio's Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.

With nightmarish and horrifying branching paths based in settings from the anthology – a ghost ship, 17th century witch trials and desert cave demons – this is a thriller. It also makes full use of all PSVR 2's tech to bring its horrors to life, including headset rumble, haptic feedback and tension in the adaptive triggers to bring these nightmares to life. (Read my Switchback VR first-play feature for more details.)

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for Star Wars

Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge comes close to Horizon Call Of The Mountain as one of PSVR 2's most immersive games. In our Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge review we found this to be incredibly realistic, with superb 1:1 accuracy and a clever use of VR for everything from shooting to puzzle solving.

Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge is a neat set of stories framed around a tight yet functional first-person shooter mechanic. Particular attention has been paid to character performances, and the tales put you in a variety of Star Wars situations. It comes into its own when you access the Jedi mode for incredible lightsaber duels.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game VR racing

Gran Turismo 7 launched in 2022 to mixed reviews; this is a serious racer with a slight arcade leaning that can have a steep learning curve. In PSVR 2, however, the fun is immediate – our GT7 review explains how you feel like you're actually sitting in the driving seat of some of the world's most exotic cars and the use of haptics brings the whole thing to life with a new sense of physicality.

There's a slight visual downgrade from the flatscreen version, but honestly, when in the middle of a race and you're physically glancing around at the competition speeding up on the inside, you won't care. Brilliant.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for horror fans

To date Resident Evil Village is one of the most complete games yet seen running on PlayStation VR2. The is already available on PS5 but this virtual reality version gets you closer to the world of Lady Dimitrescu, werewolves, vampires and other foul creatures.

Played in PSVR 2 Resident Evil Village is a visual treat. The ornate castle interiors demand you stop and admire the work put in by Capcom's artists and the whole thing runs smoothly and quickly. This is not just a technically impressive VR game, but makes the horror of Resident Evil Village feel even more pronounced and spookily realistic.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for exploration

No Man's Sky on PSVR 2 squeezes an entire universe of exploration into the new VR headset, and it's incredibly impressive. This game has been around for a while and continues to be upgraded for free, this PSVR 2 edition takes all of the procedural generation fun - new planets are created ad-hoc - and enables you to explore in VR.

Few other games on PSVR 2 feel as organic and alive as No Man's Sky due to that procedural generation. The planets you explore are one-of-a-kind but nothing is infinite and it can show repetition. But, if you want to experience true VR you won't find much better.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for relaxing

The best PSVR 2 games aren't games, as such, but experiences, and Kayak VR: Mirage is one of the best around at launch. Virtual reality works best when it places you in a 'real' space and lets you explore, and there's nothing more immersive and rewarding than paddling around some of the world's most exotic seas and rivers.

Kayak VR: Mirage makes fantastic use of PSVR 2's new Sense controllers, and the new tech such as haptic feedback, to make it feel like you're actually holding a canoe paddle and interacting with water and the physics of paddling a kayak. It helps that everything looks stunning too, and the world is filled with wonderful incidental moments, such as whales breaching in the arctic. Wonderful.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for storytelling

Play through the life Benjamin Brynn and then reflect with honesty on your decisions. The catch? This game uses eye-tracking to control events, meaning you can literally blink and miss something important. It's an incredibly rewarding way of interaction and makes full use of PSVR 2's eye-tracking tech.

In my Before Your Eyes review I found this mix of new technology with a subtle art style evoked genuine feelings of regret as I missed moments in the characters life with accidental blinks. Gameplay, art and technology marry together in Before Your Eyes to deliver a unique and engaging experience where player choice is physically manifested. Brilliant.

Score: 5/5

The best PSVR 2 game for open world survival

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution is the sequel to one of PSVR's best and most popular games and continues the same game loop of exploration, looting and zombie smushing.

This sequel offers a zombie-ravished New Orleans survival sandbox to explore and pick for loot. Rival gangs as well as zombies inhabit the world and you'll need to decide when and how to fight. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution features plenty of explorable buildings, weapons and items to craft and the kind of emergent gameplay usually found outside of VR.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for adorable characters

These two games are already available on PSVR and developer Polyarc has released revamped editions together in one package for PSVR 2. These are the same games but enhanced to make use of haptic feedback and a new control scheme that takes advantage of using two PSVR 2 controllers.

The Moss games takes place inside a storybook and has you guiding and helping a mouse called Moss by solving puzzles and interacting with the world. It's a beautifully animated adventure with a sense of scale that takes full advantage of virtual reality.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for puzzles

Tetris Effect is one of my all time favourite games on the original PSVR hardware, so naturally this PSVR 2 edition is gong to come highly recommended. If you own the original PS4 version then you can upgrade to the PS5 edition and get the PSVR 2 mode for free.

Tetris Effect is a reworked version of the classic puzzle game that introduces music and rhythmic gameplay to the puzzles and a number of modes and challenges. In virtual reality it's a spectacle of particles, exotic lighting and creative animation that creates a relaxing, almost hypnotic, experience and really enhances the classic puzzle gameplay.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for VR combat

Song In The Smoke was one the best VR games released in 2021 and this 'Rekindled' version made for PSVR 2 cements indie dev 17-Bit as one of the best for immersive gaming. This game focuses on a combat and crafting loop set in a fantasy world where there's a toothy danger around every rock and shrub.

Our Song In The Smoke Rekindled review found this to be one of PSVR 2's most immersive games. Improvements to textures, a solid 90fps framerate and good use of haptic feedback ensures clambering around this world feels real.

Score: 4/5

The best PSVR 2 game for fitness

Creed: Rise to Glory - Championship Edition brings together the previous PSVR boxing sim's career mode with a new chapter based on the Creed III movie as well as new fitness modes and fighters. While it's pitched as an arcade-like boxing sim, this is actually a fitness game – you will get sweaty.

This PSVR 2 edition boosts the texture detail and speed but it's the 1:1 accuracy that really makes the difference. You'll complete the career mode in around four hours but keep coming back to the fitness games, which is Creed: Rise to Glory's real triumph.

Score: 3/5

The best PSVR 2 game for tension

Jurassic World Aftermath Collection brings together the two story parts of this VR game series in one package on PSVR 2, representing great value for money. This is also a superb game full of tension in VR as you essentially play out that kitchen scene from the original Jurassic Park movie across a broader game world, and with a good mix of classic dinosaurs, too.

In our Jurassic World Aftermath Collection review we found that, despite the unique cartoon visual style, this is an incredibly tense game full of surprises. The only downside is it can get a little repetitive.

Score: 3/5

The best PSVR 2 game for light fun

Cosmonious High is the latest VR game from the award-winning team behind Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator on PSVR. This one's set in a colourful alien school.

Like previous games from this studio Cosmonious High is built around the fun interactions virtual reality offers. To make the most of PlayStation VR 2 the game features 4K rendering at 90fps, real-time shadows and PS VR2 Sense controllers and headset feedback enable you to feel the world of Cosmonious High. It's a little light on depth but is always a fun and truly 'VR' distraction.

Score: 3/5

The best PSVR 2 game for innovation

One of the most innovative games coming to PSVR 2 is VR Skater, an immersive sim that enables you skate and jump across obstacle courses using motion, haptics and more.

I've already declared I think VR Skater could be one of PSVR 2's most exciting new games, and perhaps the one to kickstart more interest in Sony's headset. There really is nothing quite like it. An arcade points-scoring game loop grounds the action, but its the physicality of skating in VR that impresses.

Score: TBC

The best PSVR 2 game for classic gaming

Travel back in time to play games within a game, in ARVORE's Pixel Ripped 1974. Atari is on board to tease Easter eggs for fans of retro games as well as recreating classic 8-bit games from the birth of video gaming.

There is a story to follow but really you'll play Pixel Ripped 1974 to get a hit of pure nostalgia and play some of the best video game design ever created, now in VR. Being able to explore the 1970s Sunnyvale Atari studio in VR is a bonus, too.

Score: TBC

The best PSVR 2 game for future sports

C-Smash VRS is a VR future sports sim inspired by the classic Sega Virtua Tennis series. Bringing arcade tennis to PSVR 2 and set in visually arresting courts, and with music from Rez's DJ Ken Ishii, this is pure arcade fun.

C-Smash VRS will feature S Single Player, Versus and Co-Op modes as well as Infinity mode that is focused on fitness exercises over points scoring. Created by VR experts Wolf & Wood along with guest artists and musicians C-Smash VRS could be one of 2023's best games yet.

Score: TBC

The best PSVR 2 game retro horror

Resident Evil 4 on PS5 continues Capcom's commitment to its classic games by updating this iconic title with new gameplay and graphics, making full use of the excellent RE Engine. This upcoming PSVR 2 mode should be akin to the one added into RE Village (above).

As you become Leon Kennedy, the hordes of Las Plagas move up close and personal as you fend them off. Resident Evil 4 is already available on Meta Quest 2 but this edition is the remake that's just released on PS5 to rave reviews, so expect improved textures, lighting and animation as well as a better VR mode made using the hew tech.

Score: TBC

The best PSVR 2 game for co-op shooting

Crossfire: Sierra Squad is a new VR game from developer Smilegate, and promises to make full use of all the new features PlayStation VR 2 has to offer, for example the PSVR 2 controller sensors enable you to make finger gesture commands the AI understands and responds to in real time.

This is a first-person shooter built around fast-paced combat and team work make full use of PSVR 2 to bring the action to life in new and intriguing ways. While the developer is renowned for its realistic AI-based shooter Crossfire, this VR spin adds an arcade mode and 60 campaign missions as well as solo and co-op gameplay.

Score: TBC

The best PSVR 2 game for replays

The Light Brigade is a first-person shooter that mixes a standard roguelike structure (dungeon-crawling role-player gameplay) and places it all in a fantasy realm where bullets mix with black magic. This PSVR 2 game has an unusual mix of gameplay and a clean, stylised art direction.

PSVR 2 is used to give the gunplay a unique physics-based realism, with different weapons handling and feeling completely differently. Likewise you'll be able to learn magic spells and abilities that will feel unique. The Sunken World in which The Light Brigade is set features a variety of environments, so there's reason to explore. And if you die, it all begins again.

Score: TBC