LOOKING AHEAD

With PSVR2 we may finally get these long-awaited VR hits

HALF-LIFE: ALYX PUB VALVE DEV VALVE

While this is currently exclusive to Valve hardware, the PC publisher has a history of working with Sony dating back to PS3 (when you could even link your Steam ID). This prequel to Half Life 2 has you playing as Alyx, interacting with the FPS setting in a granular way, like using a chair to fend off headcrabs or manually scooping up ammo. There’s no chance the older Move controller could handle it, but with the orbs a port may finally be possible.

STAR WARS: TALES FROM THE GALAXY’S EDGE PUB DISNEY ELECTRONIC CONTENT DEV ILMXLAB

While we’ve had versions of Star Wars: Squadrons and Vader Immortal, this chill adventure has remained absent from PSVR. It’s a neat set of stories framed around a tight yet functional FPS. Particular attention has been paid to character performances, and the tales put you in a variety of Star Wars situations. It came into its own with the Last Call DLC last year, so PSVR2’s launch would be the perfect time to release it all as a single Force-packed package.

LONE ECHO 1&2 PUB OCULUS STUDIOS DEV READY AT DAWN

Space is the setting for some of our favourite VR titles, but they’re mostly about piloting spaceships. Lone Echo has you piloting your own body around, albeit in zero gravity. There’s a real sense of tactility to pushing yourself around a location. It also means you could end up feeling motion sick. Impressive fidelity helps offset this, which could be why the game never came to the original PSVR.

RESIDENT EVIL 4 VR PUB OCULUS STUDIOS, CAPCOM DEV ARMATURE STUDIO

We’ve long said that Resident Evil VII’s PSVR mode was one of the best ways to play the game (and one of the scariest experiences you could have). A shame, then, that the similar take on Resi 4 isn’t possible on the original hardware. As you become Leon Kennedy (feel free to glue a wig onto the headset for immersion), the hordes of Las Plagas move up close and personal as you fend them off. We’ll eat a blood-stained chainsaw if it doesn’t make it to PSVR2.

WALKABOUT MINI GOLF PUB MIGHTY COCONUT DEV MIGHTY COCONUT

Why does mini golf, of all things, deserve a place on this list? Because this is great, that’s why. A good real-life mini golf course is an immersive experience that takes you across strange, miniature lands, and that’s something that can come into its own well in VR. More than merely functional, the course design and physics come together in a way that – well – really feels like mini golf.