If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED
The Flagship Game
Horizon Call of the Mountain
The Best Racing Game
Gran Turismo 7
The Best Immersive Space Sim
Hello Games No Man’s Sky
My Favorite Game
Tentacular
Six years after Sony released its first virtual reality headset, we finally got our hands on the PS VR2. If you can wrap your head around spending more for an accessory than for the console itself, the headset is worth the wait. Sony got rid of the external processor boxes, upped the resolution, and added features like HDR support and advanced eye tracking. It’s also really, really comfortable—almost comfortable enough to make you forget that it’s still wired.
Now that you have the headset, what do you play? We’ve spent months working our way through some of the newest titles. Here are our top picks. Don’t see anything you like? We’re continuing to test games, and don’t forget to check out our guide to the Best PlayStation Accessories and the Best PlayStation Plus Games.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
-
Photograph: Horizon
The Flagship Game
Horizon Call of the Mountain
Set in the Horizon universe, you’re a condemned Shadow Carja who has to work off his crimes by investigating a threat to the Sundom. You climb, shoot arrows, climb, solve puzzles, and did I mention climb? There’s a lot of climbing in this game. But it’s a rewarding, almost too immersive experience. On a couple of occasions I looked down while dangling high over a river and I wish I had not.
Horizon Call of the Mountain is the PS VR2’s flagship title and boy, does it deliver. From the very first moment you wash on a river underneath the tallneck’s legs, it’s a jaw-dropping experience. The water is sparkling and blue, the snapmaws are truly threatening, and the game mechanics are thrilling. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Gran Turismo
The Best Racing Game
Gran Turismo 7
Not only is Gran Turismo 7 a great experience if you like racing games, it’s an amazing experience in virtual reality, period. This isn’t a dedicated VR version. When you first download the game, you play the first mini game and click through the opening scenes exactly as you would on a regular TV. You also use the regular controller instead of the VR ones.
But when the first race starts, the magic happens. When you finally slip the headset on, you find yourself in the driver’s seat. You can look around and check your mirrors. The speedometer works! You can see yourself shift gears with your arm! There’s haptic feedback as you rumble around a turn! I am terrible at racing games but I rule in VR—it’s so much easier to drive when you have depth perception and can accurately judge your braking and acceleration to slingshot around your opponents. —Adrienne So
-
Hello Games
The Best Immersive Space Sim
Hello Games No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky is an open-universe adventure game that’s grown massively over the years since it was released, and in 2023, it got arguably one of its most significant updates yet: support for the PS VR 2. It’s not the first time the game supported VR, but this particular version made it immersive in a way many other headsets couldn’t.
The key lies in the PS VR2’s eye-tracking feature. Utilizing this tech, No Man’s Sky can employ what’s called foveated rendering to make whatever part of the image you’re actively looking at more detailed than the rest of the screen. This dramatically cuts down on the amount of processing required. Combined with the PS5’s powerful processors, this makes No Man’s Sky look absolutely incredible in VR, as you wander the cosmos in a vast, isolating journey of discovery. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Devolver Digital
My Favorite Game
Tentacular
So far, this humble, affordable game about a 16-year-old kaiju solving a mystery on the island nation of La Palma is my favorite game that I’ve played on any virtual reality headset. Most virtual reality games seem intended to create breathtaking momentary experiences rather than full-fledged, immersive games. But from the first minute, Tentacular grounds you in a physical setting, with golden sands, shushing waves, and gigantic tentacle arms.
Despite this somewhat ridiculous premise, the writing is wry and funny, the characters endearing, the puzzles satisfying to solve, and the game full of feedback that feels natural and very real. Your tentacles are stronger at the base, weaker but better for more delicate work at the tips, and it’s incredibly easy to navigate. If you have trouble solving a puzzle, there’s always a handy little fellow standing in a hut behind you, waiting to help you out with some drawings or encouragement. It’s never been so fun to be a kraken. —Adrienne So
-
Photograph: Polyarc Inc
Best Storytelling Game
Moss and Moss: Book II
If you’re going to grab this game, I recommend the bundle that contains both Moss and Moss: Book II. In them, you control a little mouse named Quill in a delightful fairytale story that involves a mix of platforming, puzzles, and some light combat. In my opinion, the first game is a little light, with simpler puzzles, but it’s worth it to play the first to experience the full story. By the time you get to the second game, the puzzles get a lot more elaborate, and the game is a lot longer. The bundle is the most bang for your buck, and it’s hard not to fall in love with these characters. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Drool LLC
The Best Rhythm Game
Thumper
There’s a reason why DDR and other dance games are so addictive; it’s incredibly fun to duck or punch in time with the beat. Thumper might not have paid the licensing fees to use songs by Imagine Dragons or Lady Gaga, but it’s mesmerizing nonetheless.
It first came out several years ago for PC and PS4, but the port to the PS VR2 is remarkably seamless. There’s no explanation—with no warning, you find yourself guiding a flashing silver beetle along a spinning, winding track in space. Press buttons or move the joystick in time to blast through obstacles or hit corners. I was intrigued by the description of a “rhythm violence” game, which only made sense once I got farther on. At first innocuous, the graphics turn insane pretty quickly; I can’t play this game while my children are in the room. —Adrienne So
-
Other Best Rhythm Game”,”brand”:{“name”:””},”id”:”65cf9853bdfe2a615c15342b”,”index”:6,”contentType”:”product”,”offers”:[{“offerUrl”:”https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/beat-saber/”,”price”:”$30″,”currency”:”USD”,”purchaseUri”:”https://cna.st/p/2h8zKZvUAqv9ZDfxAivFV6GWZFAWEvudKvRDR2XwVsB5DwJGpGD3cLeCvZVov1kzYdHi6CYFuxCfhRg2oaSjpkWYW7rFeY44dfJkRDKAirwQzEgR6dXEqugcaGHu8Ah3VSTnfG9WBwqB7gTsDZ1uDdFzCpd4ScsVrsVJEezazVSWXkpuCS”,”sellerName”:”PlayStation”,”countryCode”:”US”,”reducedPrice”:””}],”component”:”gallery_slide_component”}” data-testid=”GallerySlideWrapper”>
Photograph: Beat Games
The Other Best Rhythm Game
Beat Saber
At this point, hyping up Beat Saber feels like beat-sabering a dead horse, but we won’t stop. This is the quintessential VR game for anyone who needs to be convinced how fun both VR and rhythm games can be. It’s less ostentatious than Thumper, but it’s got a pretty solid library of popular songs. The Lady Gaga track pack alone could keep you going for hours. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Monstars Inc
For Getting in the Tetris Zone
Tetris Effect: Connected
The Tetris Effect series is named after the psychological phenomenon where Tetris players start seeing the game in their idle thoughts and even dreams. And, arguably, no version of Tetris captures that feeling in an actual game quite like Tetris Effect: Connected in VR.
In this game, you play Tetris in an abstract void, with motion effects getting more intense the higher your score. The PS VR2 version even uses the eye-tracking in the headset to enter “the Zone.” When your Zone Meter is full, you can close your eyes for a second, and when you open them, time will slow down and all your Tetrominoes will wait for you at the top of the screen. It’s wildly immersive and makes you feel like your mind and the game are merging even more than this addictive game already does. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Capcom
For Horror Fans
Resident Evil Village VR Mode
You know how when you watch a horror movie, you’re internally (or not) screaming “Don’t go in there!” at the screen? Horror games are that much more terrifying because the person you’re screaming at is yourself, and yet you can’t progress the game unless you go in there. Add VR to the mix and it’s nightmare o’clock for the rest of your life.
If that’s how you want to live your life for some reason, then Resident Evil Village has an incredible VR mode that makes the game feel even more terrifying than normal. You’ll need the base Resident Evil Village game, but the VR add-on is free to claim to your library. —Eric Ravenscraft
-
Photograph: Fast Travel Games
The Best World Builder
Cities: VR Enhanced Edition
Cities: VR is not my cup of tea. I do not have the patience to slowly build a city from the ground up, starting by strategically planning roads and zoning. However, I did try Cities on the Quest 2, and I have to say, the enhanced edition of this extremely popular game is an improvement on the PS VR2. The tutorial is much clearer and the tools easier to use, and the graphics look crisp and vivid. It’s fun to float around looking at the trees and water, even if about all I can manage to do is put down a lot of roads to nowhere. —Adrienne So
-
Photograph: Enhance Games
The Best Retro Game
Rez Infinite
Here, I would like to reference the 1995 classic geek film Hackers, which has one scene with Fisher Stevens as villain Eugene Belford playing a game in a VR headset. In the 1990s, the future had a very specific look. Every computer’s OS had a deep black background, punctuated by flaring neon text. If you were elite, you wore safety vests and Rollerblades. That is what Rez Infinite looks like, and if you feel very nostalgic for this particular era, you will love it.
You play as a hacker traveling deep into a malfunctioning AI system, but instead of typing at a computer, you are flying in a rail shooter, pew-pew-pewing at all the baddies flying around you as a rave soundtrack plays. The storyline leaves a lot to be desired and the gameplay is really easy, and it’s undoubtedly primitive-looking judged by today’s standards (the original game came out in 2001). However, it is really fun and not hard or scary, and will fill you with pangs for a simpler time, when being obsessed with computers meant that you were a fun, smart, rave underdog and not a megacorp billionaire with your own Hawaiian compound. —Adrienne So
-
Photograph: Better Than Live B.V.
The Best Sport Simulator
Kayak VR: Mirage
If the purpose of VR is to transport you to another time and place, few games do this as well as Kayak VR: Mirage—especially if you like paddling! You can practice your kayaking skills in a pool, then take it out anywhere from the jungles of Costa Rica to the canyons of Australia to the Arctic.
It’s really easy to paddle and explore—so much so that even my 6- and 9-year-old can do it—but the simulation is beautiful, rich, and interactive. My 6-year-old son often dunks his head out of the kayak so that he can see all the fish swishing around in the water, although getting back inside is almost as difficult as it might be in a real kayak. This is also a particularly fun one to stream while a bunch of kids shout, “Mommy! I see a penguin!” It’s so realistic that you can even catch fish with your paddle, although I’ve never been successful at this. —Adrienne So
-
Photograph: Realities.io
Puzzling Places
Puzzling Places
This is my favorite game on the Meta Quest, so I’m very happy to find it on the PS VR2 as well. I don’t really want to speculate why I find puzzling so soothing, but this is the first game I’ve played in VR that I really can’t imagine playing anywhere else but in a headset.
You take a gorgeous, 3D model of some beautiful location or exotic object, like the Mars Rover, and bust it apart into a couple hundred pieces. Then you examine the 2D cards and put it back together again. Once you’re done, you can walk through a castle or rotate a kimono and admire both the original craftsman’s workmanship, and yours. The haptic clicks as you snap pieces in place is so satisfying. Also, the developers regularly release new puzzle packs so there’s always more to puzzle. —Adrienne So
-
Photograph: Steel Wool Studios
For FNAF Fans With Nerves of Steel
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted
Five Nights at Freddy’s arguably kickstarted the trend of YouTubers getting jumpscared on camera, and it’s remained an icon of indie horror games for years. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted brings the charm (read: nightmares) of the franchise to VR. This game features a collection of mini games from previous games to virtual reality in a way that feels visceral and terrifying. This game initially came out for the PS4 and original PS VR, but it’s been updated to work on the newer generation. The follow-up, Help Wanted 2, was designed exclusively for VR, so it’s even more immersive—and more nerve-wracking—than the original. —Eric Ravenscraft
Adrienne So is a senior associate reviews editor for WIRED, where she reviews consumer technology. She graduated from the University of Virginia with bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish, and she previously worked as a freelance writer for Cool Hunting, Paste, Slate, and other publications. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Eric Ravenscraft is a product writer and reviewer at WIRED, based in Austin, Texas. He’s guided readers on how to use technology for nearly a decade for publications including Lifehacker, OneZero, and The New York Times. He also streams on Twitch for WIRED occasionally and can be found on YouTube… Read more
