I like Beat Saber but I think it's a problem that so many VR breakout games don't do much with VR

Let me start this by saying it is not a burial of Beat Saber. I bought it for PSVR1 but never played it because I am constantly overestimating my appetite for VR games,* but when the free upgrade was announced I downloaded it immediately as an excuse to get back into my PSRV2, which has been collecting dust since the first week I had it.

Beat Saber is a great game. It reminds me a lot of Rock Band in that it's a fun way to engage with a rhythm game, though it is obviously less social. I get why people love it. I'll probably buy some of the downloadable tracks. Slashing and ducking is a blood pumping fun time and I even get sweaty at the higher levels.

What Beat Saber is not is a game that does much with VR. It's much more about motion controls. I'd say it's pretty much completely doable without VR at all. Just put the sabers on the screen and either use a camera or another motion sensor for the ducking and dodging part (represented by a transparent silhouette on screen) and it'd work fine. I never turn my head while playing and the environment is pretty sparse.

A lot of the other breakout VR games are also not really VR necessary. The Resident Evils get a lot of hype but those are, of course, hybrid games. Rez is much trippier in VR, but it was a Dreamcast game originally. It's silly to claim that Tetris Effect requires VR.

There are a few games I've played that really do use VR for various purposes. Whether it's a game like Horizon: Call of the Mountain where the way you interact with the environment basically requires free look with your head and there are puzzles built around it or even something like Moss, where being able to move your head in the environment really impacts the game there is software that is more native to the medium rather than where VR is just a nice add to an experience focused on something else (like motion controlled rhythm game, or...Tetris.) The best example of a VR game that truly only felt at home I've played in VR was Hotel R'n'R', a pretty silly title where you smash up hotel rooms but where the frantic action has you constantly thrashing around looking for things to throw or break and using your vision the way you do in the real world.

It's notable that in those more active games is where VR breaks down a little. Those are the games where I stray outside the assigned play area or smack my hand or foot into something in my environment. I smashed by hand into my PSVR camera playing Carnival Games of all things (what can I say, I take my milk can toss seriously) though luckily it did not break. I have a good amount of space in VR but in the more active games it's easy to get disoriented and find out your body is not where you expect in meatspace because you get caught up in the virtual world.

That doesn't happen in something like Beat Saber where I'm always oriented forward and aware of where I'm side stepping.

Now people will argue that there are some games like Half-Life: Alyx that are both hits and more VR integrated (though Alyx has been made playable outside VR) and there are some, but a lot of them aren't and I think that's part of why VR uptake has been much slower than expected. It's been almost a decade that decent VR headsets have been widely available and not only is it still not the default place to play games but uptake of PSVR2 (which solves the biggest problems of PSVR1, the camera requirement, complex hook up, and mediocre controllers, though not the high price) is only a bit better than 1. VR is doing okay on PC but it's still niche. And I think a big reason is that unlike other technologies that really disrupted gaming (like the CD or the analog stick) VR just hasn't yet changed things enough. VR experiences are better in some ways (more immersive) worse in others (often take a graphics hit, have to wear a headset and have space, more physically demanding which can be a plus or a minus) and not necessarily worth the high price.

Like I said, I like Beat Saber, and I like VR gaming. I would not have bought a second headset if I didn't. But it doesn't feel essential to anything, and that's going to be a problem in it getting as big as a lot of people thought it would.

*partially because I get headaches that make VR unusable, though they aren't caused by VR, just make it painful to use when I am having one, which is often when I want to veg out with a game.

I might be some sort of heathon for saying but VR is Wii motion 2.0. After all my time with PSVR1 I really don't like the Minority Report need of reaching out for every gameplay mechanic it's slow and tedious, moving my arms back and forth to paddle a boat or scanning the environment to pull a switch isn't good gameplay for me. VR does have chicken an egg problem in expanding the platform but I had more fun with Skyrim VR than anything else.

@thepanzini: I think this is definitely true for some games. A lot of games are either cool VR experiences that try to shoehorn gameplay in and end up having you do something boring, or are mechanically awkward and don't really understand the assignment. Even for Hotel R'N'R moving around in space is a pain because of the dumb VR walking mechanic where you hold a button and pump your controllers, which does in fact resemble Wii shake mechanics a lot.

On the other hand as with the Wii there are some games where motion controls actually add to the charm. I like throwing things with motion controls, and for something like swordplay it can feel pretty cool. And of course not all VR games use motion controls at all.

But yeah I do think VR as generally implemented has a fair amount in common with the Wii.

I think I remembered playing Beat Saber VR on PC in my local Microsoft store, it's totally fun!

I can remember thinking when VR first came out that it wouldn't really be that revolutionary for games because people really like sitting down and playing games the way that they've always done. VR won't replace current gaming, but should instead try to be a different type of experience.

I remember an episode of VRodeo where the crew explored Google Earth as being the thing that showed me what VR could do. It's not about how we can shape existing gaming experiences into this new medium, but instead give people the chance to be present somewhere else. I want to be deeply immersed in a world and I don't really care about shooting things, or getting points, or progressing towards a goal other than indulging my own curiosity.

I guess what I want is the Metaverse™, just without having to pay for it with my soul.

@michaelenger: Those experiences definitely exist in VR and they can be kind of cool, though of course you run into the problem that they're not THAT interactable so without gamey stuff to do they can become boring. I think that's one of the reasons that VR movies haven't really taken off (other than, you know, the blue stuff.)

And NOBODY wants the Metaverse. At least not as implemented. WE DEMAND LEGS!