Mini Review: No Man's Sky (PSVR2) - Explore an Infinite Universe on a Whole New Scale

I leapt into this one all excited after getting the headset day one. I immediatly pumped the breaks when i saw the visuals and integrations were quite subpar (e.g no difference from PS4 pro version). Im going to hold off until i see an uppdate..

Thanks for the review. I tried this on PSVR2 and I was a little confused as it did not give any instruction on how to use some of the controls. I used a previous save, so I think I need to start over. I hated the movement with the teleportation, so I am very happy to hear that can be switched to normal. I guess I will just need to get used to the controls. But, one cool thing...using the jetpack for the first time is pretty awesome. Truly feel you lifted off.

Definitely needs an upgrade for PS5/VR2, the visuals can be painful at times. The immersion can be fantastic though, and some biomes and objects visually appealing, but large amounts of the game, amounting to entire planets, can make you feel like you are inside a PS2 game. Which is still somewhat amazing, but not what the hardware deserves.

Game did not get more over the PS4 Pro version sadly. Only change is haptiks and controlls. I will wait for a fidelity upgrade. They will deliver as always. Just have to be patient.

@Wolfie_Pie
That’s very strange about your tracking, I’ve never had an issue on any game, including all the games you mentioned. Maybe we have different arm lengths or something, and yours may go out of camera view(?).

It’s concerning though because I can put my hand completely behind my back on something like a horizon, and the gyros and accelerometers are great at keeping a general position until back in view, so the software seems to be good in that respect (not sure if it’s system level or done by devs individually).

For you, does it also happen with your right hand if you switch the way you hold the gun for example? Maybe you have a dodgy controller.

I love NMS but I certainly wouldn't say the visuals are vastly improved over the PSVR version past close objects or your hands.
While I appreciate Hello games for the constant support and free updates, there are a lot of people who bought this specifically for PSVR2 hoping that it would deliver on some of the promised 'visual fidelity' upgrades, which I don't believe it hasn't delivered on. Needed a bit more time in the oven, and implementation of foveated rendering, appreciate this is easier said than done and it's still a brilliant game though.

I got it on sale about two weeks ago and put in almost 70 hours. Loving it. You can start to feel the gameplay loop, but it still has the ability to surprise me, like a planet filled with bubbles (which I renamed to Bubbleton Prime). Certainly got my money’s worth. If you like games like Subnautica, it has a similar feel

Easily my most played PSVR2 game ftom a catalogue of about 10 titles. I understand the blurriness criticism, but I've had no other problems, and I've easily sunk about 30 hours into a new PSVR2 save. Each his own, I guess

The graphics on this are definitely not one of the "Pros", however for those that tried it on day one and haven't tried again, you may want to give it another try. They did release a patch which, didn't totally "fix" everything wrong with it, but at launch even objects up close, like your mini refiner looked like Minecraft objects, and ground textures looked like they were from PS2. The first patch since fixed a texture tessellation issue with PS5, so the ground textures no longer look like they're from Quake 1, and objects immediately in front of you, while still extremely soft, no longer looks extremely blurred out. Anything outside about 10 feet though is still pretty blurry or low res and falls very short of the Fractal Patch note that specifically talks about PSVR2 graphics enhancements, is not quite as it seems. It does have long draw distances (not much pop in), and now with tesseleation fixed, better textures. I don't know if it's using SuperResolution like it says, but it's still clear PS5 can do much better than what is currently being done. It's a real shame and I hope they fix it, but after 4.12, at least it's playable but underwhelming vs the launch condition were it was Minecraft in Space and kind of offensive.

I still dream of MUCH better visuals here, the hardware can do it, but I'm not sure I see them intending to improve, and plenty of PC VR players have said that's just how the game is except if you're using an nvidia card with DLSS.

In it's current (less bad than at launch) state, I still see myself sinking some time into this one now with the first improvement. And will still hope for better.

The other game that hangs on the visual wall of shame is Light Brigade, which is, IMO, one of the best games right now, but the visuals look like they're struggling on a base PS4 running at 540p, and I do not know why. The LB devs says they're implementing foveated rendering, (even though LB shouldn't need it for its simple visuals to run well), but I don't believe Hello's engine for NMS could easily implement it.

NMS....visually it's definitely very.....ok-ish? now. But I'm still hoping they intend to clean up the image more, it's very fun to play in VR, it'll be the game I sink hundreds of hours into along with GT7, but the visuals still kill the immersion.

Looks worse than base PS4.

@AdamNovice TBH the virtual flight stick is really reliable, I don't think the analog sticks are needed. Or as much fun. It's not Ace Combat, so you don't need super delicate combat precision.

But the graphics.......yeah... IDK if it'll actually ever be updated, but it would be....really nice. The texture update after initial launch definitely helps it not be horrible but it's also not visually excellent, either.

Wish I could get my money back. Awful graphics, menus are extremely cumbersome. Least favorite PSVR2 game so far. Get Gran Turismo and pistol whip and call it a day.

@NeonPizza my Tetris effect is one of the best games in 10 years. My only problem with it in vr is you have to focus on the 2d board do much you almost never actually see anything 3d. It's a shame but it's still great

@thefourfoldroot1 IDK about nms at this point making improvements but I mentioned Light Brigade and that games getting great support. They just updated to a new patch today and the patch notes are loaded with big qol. Improvements, and on psvr2 they boosted it to native 90fps, AND improved the sharpness to not be a blurry mess. WAY more playable now. It's not perfect yet, but they said foveated is coming in a future update. Theyre also releasing more biomes and new enemies over time. Qol tweaks for buttons, restocking ammo etc. Still not perfect. had to shoot hoverdog at least once lol. I'll never love rogues. I didn't quite get into Hades despite the hype. But lb hooked me for now. In a way returnal didn't. It isn't the prettiest game, but it still will get better in the future with foveated coming (they just added for quest pro and are working on it for ps). I think I'll never go into tons of repeat plays deep into the rogue but there's enough grinding for upgrades and unlocking new classes, and as a shooter it's really intense. I can't believe I like a rogue, I wrote out off at launch but I think it's one of my top 10 vr games now in a list with gt7, nms (despite the gfx), sw, etc.

https://funktroniclabs.notion.site/Update-1-Community-Feedback-Patch-d0d29d95826e49b0809b48d5ed5fd170

Saldly all the recent nms patches have been big fixes with no mention of foveated. It could really benefit from that

I bought the bartending game btw. I actually love it! Like a vr Overcooked kinda.

@NEStalgia
Thanks for the update on light brigade. I too am not that into roguelites. Although I did love Children of Morta, that one really got its hooks into me due to the constant progression, good story, and interesting yet achievable trophy campaign. It’s on Extra if you have it. Definitely worth a play if you can get back into flat games at all (I’m having difficulty going back to Hogwarts).

I’ve already decided to pass on NMS for now. Maybe in a couple of years if they really improve it and add content. I just ruined it for myself by finishing it pre-VR.

I got the plat for CotM yesterday, so am moving on to something else today. Can’t play Resi until they add trophy support which is really disappointing, bored of Kayak for now, so might have to get into Demeo (a bit tricky, as it’s a great game but really designed for co-op fun) or buy something else that I can knock out before Switchback arrives next week, or that isn’t too involved. I’m thinking cave digger 2 sounds addictive even though it’s also a roguelike. Maybe the bartending game is a shout, but was thinking of the Moss games too…

Been playing the Moss games, Call of the Mountain, and RE8 first and I've been saving NMS until the end...cannot WAIT to play it again on VR2. It was soooo ugly on VR1 and the controllers were beyond bad but the game was so awe-inspiring I couldn't stop playing. This is gonna be epic......

@thefourfoldroot1 Yeah I'm having that problem with flat games too. I keep telling myself I want to put the vr down so I can finally get into hfw and finish kiwami 2..... And then I it just seems so simple and bland and then pick up vr and play..

I think I have to ban myself from vr for a few months if I'm ever to get through the games I planned to!

I'm so a rough spot in brigade...pistoleer class. Going to be a slog grinding that up to lv5 to unlock the next class because I really just suck at managing loading dual wield guns and not getting killed..... Plus pistol aim isn't great and 8 round mags is torture. I'm looking forward to the future foveated patch though. It looks decent now, and it's 90fps. With foveated it can look really good, or get fps to 120.

Yeah nms is a massive grind great, though, so I can see not wanting to do it again if you already platted it. But it's a shame because it like a game thatwas meant for vr... It really just wants to be in vr. Even if the graphics are poop, and they are...

I own nearly everything but horror and zombie's at this point.. vre8 is half price, $20. I'm half tempted yet I know it's absolutely not for me... Really hard to not give into the impulse even though I know I wouldn't play it If you haven't done the moss games you can never go wrong. I will haven't started 2 yet though, still working through replaying 1.

Cave digger is actually shockingly good. And addictive. Also a rogue but I do also like it, and due to it having more of a looter shooter loop or doesn't feel roguelike. More, for lack of better words, diablo like? Kinda?

I didn't think I'd like it a lot but got hooked on it when I last played. It's pretty good. Simple in areas, and wall mining can get tiring, but I didn't know it was as much of a action shooter as it is. They makes it much more exciting than I thought. And already doesn't feel redundant with light brigade which is very challenging and very intens e but less than pistol whip. Cave digger is more relaxed. Bartender I haven't played a whole lot but I love that I've played so far. So much other good stuff to though!

@NeonPizza YEAH! I had that same experience with 3ds as well! That was actually my most used console last gen until switch replaced it. It's amazing how a third dimension made a 4.5"screen seem bigger than a 32"screen. But alas the world rejected 3d, most people turned off the 3d and called it a useless gimmick nobody uses, and half the later games didn't even use it.

When I first got psvr1 I wasn't sure how much I'd like it. My last vr experience was Virtual Boy in 96 and Virtuosity arcade machines Dactyl Nightmare.... I put it on, and the first thing I ran was moss, and I'm just looking around the cathedral, jaw on the floor thinking "omg it's like 3ds but big and all around!"

There's so many big games coming I REALLY want to play and I have a backlog 250 titles deep. Starfield....I wait a decade for a Bethesda rpg and it sounds amazing......... But I've now played Skyrim in vr.... How do play it in 2d? . And I really really want to play hfw. I finished up hdz, got platinum just before vr and the plan was to do cotm then hfw.... But I've now climbed a life size death bringer, and Horus tentacle, and I've looked... Down at little Aloy....... It seems so underwhelming in 2d. It's like going from a PS5 to a GBA. It's going from a holideck to a PlayStation.....idk how to get excited for it now. Playing bartender in VR is more exciting than fighting snapmaws in 2d

I have to force myself out of vr and do it...... But not this week... 😂

@NeonPizza I'll still just sad that nobody actually liked the 3d. I'm like you, the third dimension just makes everything more tangible in games. But everyone else just wanted a price drop and a GBA2. So Nintendo stopped caring about 3d, plus the 3dtv fad died fast and that was that. I dream of switch 2 that gives it 3d again but iwata is gone, fun Nintendo is gone. But I still dream of switch 2 bringing back the 3d or a vr base. I like the switch but it's a bit of a letdown in only 2d..

I mostly never touched my PS4 and just played 3ds most of the time even on the couch. Not ironically PS4 started getting more use, including 2d, after psvr launched!

I always regretted getting Cosmo black instead of aqua blue but I made up for it with..idk the color name... Something amnythist? The purple one... My favorite! Though the new xl added eye tracking witch to me was a major upgrade. Yeah the 3d was less impressive but it worked at any angle which to me made it better still.. but I still love my purple!

Lol 8k per eye... 16k rendering at 90fps.. we still can't get 2d 4k with stable resolution and solid 30fps. I think we're looking at ps9 at the earliest for that to happen. And by the time that happens consoles probably won't exist anymore and cloud will be normal which won't be vr friendly. This is why it's still too soon for vr. We need data center hardware just to get good pictures lol.

Lol I thought Apple vr would launch at 1200-1500 and would be doa. Plus what good is 16k if you're running on mobile hardware that probably struggles to render 4k90? At 2000 plus, for a device theres literally no demand for, not only will they be better off tossing it in a landfill with the funco pops, but like virtual boy is actually going to hurt the whole vr market heavily for a decade as the signal that even Apple had a rare failure with vr will ensure no company will touch it or take it seriously.. Instead of the stable niche we have now it'll make it a quick burn tech industry fad that'll be market toxic for years..... Enjoy what we have now before it goes the 3dtv route!

Idk about the simple graphics thing. At first I want to agree. But they more I play horizon the more I'm impressed by how real it is. And the more immune to the weird effects I become. I'd never use smooth turning (ever!) Or Max brightness. But it's really seriously growing on me. And the gfx oddities are beginning less visible. Idk if it's screen breaking in, my eyes adapting, or what, and to either end I've spent a LOT of time in it since launch. Maybe it's just better sweet spot adjustment. But I'm kind of settling in with the hardware. I'm not constantly wishing for better optics anymore. Just like leaning to play vr on general for a lot of people, maybe it just takes getting your psvr2 legs and training your brain to adapt honestly I think I'd prefer psvr2 as is but with a ps6 running everything 120 then quest 3 with better lenses but it's still just a tablet at the end of the day.

Now if Xbox ever partners and supports quest 3 or index THEN things will get interesting

I have over 2000 hours maybe 3000 have not wanted to look for a long while. All in PC VR. Can't talk for PS visuals, I'm using a 4090 to push top visuals on my index so the PS5 is a long way back in power output. But the VR control scheme works very well once you have the hang off it. Just turn off teleportation and use smooth movement. I also made a magnetic dock 3d printed for ship control. I imagine there will PS5 versions on line soon.

You know, this game keeps growing on me. It doesn't look great, but it looks waay better than it did at launch. And playing this in VR is just a treat. It's not the best gfx but it's gameplay vr is meant for. Just getting in my ship, flying to an on planet destination, flying back over my base, docking and watching me land in the middle of my base...... This just can't do that in 2d. At all. It's not pretty but it's amazing.

I'm hoping for a foveated patch and then it's kind of a perfect vr game.

@NeonPizza I forgot to add that in definitely expect astrobot, I mean I think that's the only reason they kept asobi alive for now.

But Skyrim.... Bethesda is Microsoft now, and ESPECIALLY after Sonys asinine antics with the ABK merger....I really am not seeing Skyrim coming to psvr2. I see starfield supporting index only on steam only before I see them doing anything for psvr2. But it's sad because I'd give Todd my spleen for Skyrim anniversary on psvr2...I want it so much much but reeeeealy doubt it'll happen. I can hope for hitman though. I love that series and never played the vr1 version.

Also, seriously, idk if it's my eyes, the screen, the firmware update, or just getting better at finding the sweet spot, but it's really been clear for me most of the time so long as I'm not trying to close focus for too long. Even horizon isn't bothering me, the lens isn't bothering me. The side/filter I can notice depending on the scene and colors but it's really nice to be now.. I'd be content with this set right now. Maybe I don't need crazy good hmds. What I do need is optimized use of the hardware to get better fps. Though right now at least in Nora territory (maybe it's better than carja area graphics wise?) I can live with the occasional game that doesn't have the best fps but can wow in visuals. I think it's a nice trade-off in the library. My opinion of the game really improved. I just fought a Strom bird atop a Horus. It was seriously way more cool than any button mashing with a lot taking them down. I can accept reprojection for that

This is the one PSVR2 game which is unequivocally better on a PC in SteamVR where you have better hand tracking and can use a HOTAS for the flight stuff.

Of course there are also games (like Pistol Whip) where PSVR2 with its awesome haptics puts the Index to shame.

@NeonPizza Have you tried Light Brigade yet? It should be right in your whellhouse. They patched it AGAIN yesterday. 90fps. They're still working on foveated so that's not in yet, but honestly it looks very good now after a very rough looking start, I actually thought yesterday added foveated because it looked better, but apparently that was just a hotfix for a few specific issues. If you want to see the OLED true blacks, though, that's a great game for it. The intermission hallways and outposts make an excellent eerie darkworled aesthetic that wouldn't work the same without OLED. (The scren does do "true blacks", it's just that a lot of SD games have broken gamma curves, like Moss that always have gray blacks, not because the screen can't do it but becase the game just doesn't call for it.

IDK, with how sensitive you are specifically to motion issues, you may never get to terms with Horizon. Somehow, I've managed to "adapt" (or the screen adapted to me") and am much more comfortable with it all now. Even at half or a click above half the motion issues just aren't really bothering me now. For Horizon specifically though it's possible that it's that the latter part of the game just looks better than the first part. There's not a lot of bright light (it's snowy mountain tops and a lot of interiors), so it's possible if I went back to the beginning again I'd have more issues. But as it is, right now in the latter segment when you're climbing horus (giant metal squid) tentacles everywhere the 3D is VERY impressive and I'm not having visual issues anyomre. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the kit, map it's just the maps....but I'm actually really liking it and feeling very comfortable with it now, at least in that area. And the rusted out old robots and the metal tentacles are a super cool 3D effect. Personally I think the "town" area is the worst part, visually. Something is just wrong with the lighting and the human characters there. That may not be entirely the VR though, I think Unreal Engine 4 has some issues with weird bright light issues, too.

I'll have to try the opening boat ride again though sometime. Plus, I do have a greater sensitivity to it all if I play when I'm tired vs not....that's a big one.

I really DO want to play so many of those console 2D games, and I know there's many that I do love...but, man, it's so hard to get back to non lifesize everything! I don't really have the OLED persistance problem so much, though I don't own an OLED TV. I have an old DLP proj for TV, and IPS monitor for gaming, which has it's own motion issues at 30fps which drives me crazy though!

And yeah, I do like Doom Eternal, but.....FPS without gyro....I just....can't relally do it. VR. Switch, it's all fine, but anything else, nope.