I might buy PSVR 2 for The Midnight Walk

I consider VR the segment of the gaming industry with the greatest untapped potential. Even in the early days, seeing the experiences developers were crafting felt like the future of gaming. I never thought it would replace the traditional style of playing on a TV, but I can imagine it evolving into a solid pillar to stand alongside it. The first PSVR was a good idea, but it felt too rushed. It was far easier to pick up and play than contemporary PC headsets, but it was a mess of wires, used dated technology, and was still a bit bulky. The lack of any killer apps also made it feel like a bit of an afterthought.

Like you, I had doubts that there would even be a PSVR 2, yet Sony surprised us all with the announcement. Perhaps it was the price that was most surprising, actually. Regardless, I liked everything I saw except for that price tag and lack of any “must-play” titles and decided to wait. Over two years later, PlayStation seems to have repeated history and left the PSVR 2 out to dry. Making it PC compatible was a great move that almost got me to buy in, but one unassuming game may finally push me over the edge.

Claymation in VR is a perfect combination

Leaping over the uncanny valley

When I first laid eyes on The Midnight Walk, I was instantly enthralled. Ever since I saw my first Laika film, I was so enamored with claymation that I sought out every single film made in this rare style. While the list is regrettably short, it’s almost universally exceptional. On the gaming front, almost nothing could satisfy that same itch. This year saw one in the form of Harold Halibut, but beyond that, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything else with that same sense of hand-crafted flair.

And then The Midnight Walk appeared at a State of Play presentation. Claymation has always lent itself to the more gothic, borderline horror genres — the slightly distorted features, rough textures, and uncanny way characters move have a way of naturally unsettling a person. That’s partially why some of the best uses of the medium are in horror (or horror-adjacent) media, like The Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline.

The Midnight Walk goes a step further into that darkness than anything I’ve seen yet. Horror is one genre I think VR is almost too effective at presenting, but the use of claymation could be just enough to take that edge off. I don’t think it will pull any punches, but the fact that everything is so disturbingly stylized might make it easier to dissociate with once you take the headset off.

You’re free to play with or without VR, but what has me tempted to invest in a headset is how perfectly immersive that world could be when you’re inserted into it. A few of the major issues VR needs to solve are scale, movement, and graphics, and Claymation is such a genius way to solve all three in one fell swoop.

Since every character, location, and model is a tangible object, shrinking the player down to that level should feel natural right away because of how unnatural things are free to look in this medium. I’m speculating on how the movement will feel, since there’s no way to tell without experiencing it, but the slightly choppy nature to everything could provide a predictable pace of movement that will alleviate motion sickness. Finally, on the graphical front, there is none. Everything is real and looks exactly as real or nightmarish as the person sculpting it intended. You can get as close to any object or character as you want and won’t have a face full of blurry textures.

There won’t be a PSVR 2 “killer app”

But there are a handful of great games worth the investment

The vicious cycle that the PSVR 2 fell into is exactly the same as the original suffered. A lot of people seemed interested in a more plug-and-play VR headset that didn’t need a powerful PC but held off to see if they would get that one game that would justify the entire purchase. With the possible exception of Half-Life Alyx on PC headsets, VR has never really had that kind of hit — which has led to a trickle of PSVR 2 sales that discouraged PlayStation from allocating its own resources to big-budget games and coasting off of whatever third-party releases it gets.

Over time, and in the future with games like The Midnight Walk, PSVR 2 has built up a healthy library of great games. The problem is that no single one made a “splash” that would push sales on its own. Taken as a whole, I would say there’s more than enough to justify the purchase if you were interested early on, but it’s just hard to see the full picture when you see these interesting games come out individually.

I’m not going to run out and buy a PSVR 2 today, but if The Midnight Walk lives up to its potential, it will be the perfect gateway into VR.

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