Love it or hate it , a notable PlayStation trend this propagation has been remastering PS4 games for PS5 . Even though the cabinet is fully backward compatible , we ’ve get consecrate PS5 versions of thetwo The Last of Us gamesand will soon be getting new versions ofUntil DawnandHorizon Zero Dawnfor PS5 . I find these remasters understandable , yet unneeded , but I ’m more frustrated that Sony is n’t giving this treatment to the games that really need it .
I might be beat a dead horse by quetch that PlayStation VR2doesn’t have good first - party bread and butter . A year and a one-half into the headset ’s lifespan , it ’s abundantly clear that Sony is ready to move on to the computer hardware , particularly now that there ’s aPC adapter available . Still , I ca n’t help but wonder if the discourse around PSVR2 would be unlike had Sony decide to remaster games likeAstro Bot Rescue MissionandBlood & Truthin the same way it is doing withHorizon Zero Dawn .
One of the big raw reveals of Tuesday night ’s State of Play wasHorizon Zero Dawn Remastered , which features promote visuals and rerecorded negotiation . Meanwhile , the only things shown off on the PSVR2 front were third - party game . One of those really strike a chord with me , though . Hitman — World of Assassinationis getting a PSVR2 firing later this yr that ’s basically an enhanced and expanded version of the PSVR1’sHitman 3 VR . watch that gorgeous PS5 remaster for a game that ’s already readily playable on the console table next to a PSVR2 remaster of a game PSVR1 that player could try before highlighted what might ’ve been Sony ’s worst missed opportunity with its 2d VR headset .
I ’m part of the subset of PSVR2 possessor that did n’t own a PlayStation VR headset for my PS4 . As such , I never get to correspond out renowned PSVR games likeAstro Bot Rescue Mission , Until Dawn : hurry of ancestry , Farpoint , Firewall : Zero Hour , Déraciné , Everybody ’s Golf VR , andBlood & Truth . Rush of BloodandFirewall Zero Hourboth receivedPSVR2 replacement , but everything else Sony published for its original VR headset is trapped on that hardware as PSVR2 is not natively backward compatible with PSVR .
We ’ll in all likelihood never know why Sony decided not to make PSVR2 backward compatible with its predecessor , but I can criticise the company for not institute any of those glorify PSVR1 games over to the new headset . Games likeHitman – World of Assassination VRdemonstrate that PSVR2 revisions for PSVR1 games are potential , while PSVR1 championship likeArizona Sunshineare obtain full - on remakes for the ironware . Sony has done neither with the PSVR1 games it published .
I would ’ve loved to seeAstro Bot Rescue Mission , Blood & Truth , orFarpointspecifically get the same remaster treatmentThe Last of Us Part IIandHorizon Zero Dawnhave . critical review showthat these are already great games ; they just need some spruce - up visuals and compatibility with mod VR hardware so a whole unexampled group of gamers can experience them . And if Sony framed them as full - on remasters rather than simple PSVR2 updates , it could have flesh out PSVR2 ’s meager biz catalog .
Remasters for games likeBlood & Truthwouldn’t have been newfangled games , but they would ’ve at least beefed up the PSVR2 ’s first - political party support beyondHorizon Call of the Mountainand write these well - like games from only being playable on a single slice of computer hardware . Many of the PSVR1 games Sony published deserve to be more widely usable , but it come out Sony design on desert them for the foreseeable hereafter .
This all comes back to the fact that the game that typically require remasters or remakes the most often do n’t get them . It gain more sense for Sony to rerelease a Be - sell PS4 game likeHorizon Zero DawnalongsideLego Horizon Adventuresand have a better chance at making a lot of money from it rather than take the risk of creating remasters for less successful VR games for a ecological niche PS5 peripheral . That may make more business sense for Sony , but it begs the question of why Sony released the PSVR2 in the first place if it did n’t design on hold it with first - party content .
As a PSVR2 owner , this is incredibly disappointing and yet another admonisher of how much Sony sent out its 2d VR headset to die . I need to try those PSVR1 games , but I ca n’t do so unless I dog down the PSVR1 headset , PlayStation camera , and Move controller required to do so . If Sony knew from the start that PSVR2 would n’t tolerate backward compatibility , it should ’ve fold more PSVR1 games into this remaster and remake initiative it has lately been on .
