There are two main control options available to you-DualShock 4 or Move controllers-and neither manages to unleash the full potential of where you might feel Skyrim VR should get to.
Pulling off these moves, however, is where some of the weaknesses with PSVR start to reveal themselves. The horror aspect isn’t something you may have considered beforehand, but for some sensitive souls, having to fight colossal freaks at every turn will not be for the faint hearted. It’s one thing seeing them on a big-screen TV, but another thing entirely when they’re right in your face, rearing up and shooting venom at you. Fighting giant spiders that genuinely appear enormous to your brain is something you may be unprepared for, however. The physicality of being able to slash these creatures up close is something else. The extra peripheral vision and precise head-tracking visual freedom that VR brings means you get a much better sense of where danger resides, and you rarely find yourself ambushed by enemies as a result.Ĭombat, too, can benefit from the enhanced field of vision that VR brings, and it’s highly satisfying to be able to sneak up on foes and unleash vicious stealthy attacks, or just wade in and flail wildly. In VR, however, there’s no need for that. In the original Skyrim, you might have wanted to switch to third-person simply to improve your situational awareness and see more of what we immediately around you. Seeing as you’re viewing the game through your own eyes, Bethesda has dispensed entirely with the third-person view, which is wise under the circumstances. The slight softening of the visuals helps distract you from some crude environmental texturing and-for the most part-VR brings the game alive in a way that makes it a real thrill to run through it all over again. The character models and environments have long been bettered, but this is one of those occasions where the lower fidelity of the PSVR’s display actually works for a game like this. It’s rare to be able to play a proper AAA game in VR, but here it is, and it works well most of the time.ĭespite being more than six years old, Skyrim still looks solid for its age-especially in VR. The novelty value of moving around in 3D space has worn off a little with repeat exposure to VR, but nothing has felt quite as fully formed as what’s available here.
As with Resident Evil 7, the sense of place you get from exploring the environment in VR is astonishing, except in this case the size of the world is comparatively vast. Dragon-rebornįirst the good stuff: being able to fully observe everything in the entirety of Skyrim is wonderfully evocative. On the other, there are control and interface headaches that make you want to Dragon Shout both Bethesda and Sony in righteous indignation. On the one hand, you’re able to experience one of the most beloved RPGs of all time in an incredibly immersive way. Playing through Skyrim VR is simultaneously a brilliant and an infuriating experience.