There’s finally a game that got using the Force right. Except in this game it’s not ‘the Force’. It’s just, you know, telekinesis. But I feel like ‘the Force’ has better SEO. I’m not even sure I’m using SEO correctly. If I am, good for me. If I’m not, further proof that the world privileges the stupidest of us all. If either of my parents had spent longer than a semester in college, I probably would’ve been a legacy admission. And don’t get me wrong: It would’ve been a legacy admission to a place that sucked.
Anyway, I have amazing mind powers in VR. Oh, and the game is Synapse for the PlayStation VR 2. I’m telling you early so you can’t complain about all the runway I’m putting down for what I want to talk about. I’m good. You good? You sure? Because I’m good. Alright.
Even if you clicked this link, you probably don’t own a PlayStation VR 2. Half because you’re embarrassed by the thought of ever having to say the words ‘PlayStation VR 2’ and half because it’s a $500 headset that makes you look like a Final Fantasy enemy who tries to stop the main characters from bombing a Mako reactor. I’m not saying that PS VR2 is a good value because, ahhhhhh, I’m not sure if PS VR2 is a good value. Yet. Who knows?
But I do own a PS VR2. I own a lot of things I shouldn’t have bought. Do you know how many copies of War Gods for Nintendo 64 I own? Ten. Do you know why? Because I was going to give them out on a comedy tour but then I got Covid and had to cancel the shows. But that doesn’t stop the fact that I’ve got ten copies of War Gods for Nintendo 64. If you can’t find a copy of War Gods for Nintendo 64 that’s because, sweetheart, I got ‘em all.
Point being, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that a sad man in possession of good VR must be in want of a game. And a lot of the bigger games on PS VR2 are, to be honest, pretty good. Of the few that haven’t already appeared on every other headset, Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7 are wild experiences. And even the games that did exist on previous devices, like Beat Saber and Tetris Effect, look and play better than anywhere else.
Unfortunately, this all means that PS VR2 doesn’t have a lot of exclusives. It has great games on it! But you’re mostly either getting previously-existing VR or conversions of traditional flat screen games. The exceptions being under-the-radar winners like The Dark Pictures: Switchback and Kayak: VR Mirage, a gorgeous game with the worst possible name. Any other words after ‘Kayak’ would have worked except for ‘VR Mirage’.
Which is why I’m so happy with Synapse. See? We finally made it to the game we’re talking about!
Synapse is essentially a roguelite shooter in which you’re exploring some evil dude’s memories for some macguffin that doesn’t matter. Each stage of the game is a first-person arena battle against a series of bots. You get upgrades between levels. You’ve got different weapons you can use. You try to survive as long as you can before starting over.
Yes, that describes 90 percent of games being made right now. Pew pew pew! Oh no, Groundhog Day! Pew pew pew! Returnal already did it and did it wonderfully.
The exception here being the telekinetic powers in Synapse. The game’s developers made one important decision: The objects you pick up ‘with your mind’ aren’t chosen by turning your head or pointing at them with your hand. The objects you pick up are chosen by - and I want to emphasize how well this works - where your eyeballs are looking.
Stay with me here. Rather than having to make a full bodied effort to choose something to pull towards you or throw, you simply glance in its direction and push the button on the controller. You can look at a box, pick it up, and smash it into an enemy without turning your head. You can spot an exploding barrel high up on a ledge and pull it over. Or, better yet, squeeze your hand a little harder and make it explode.
That’s the other quality that makes it feel perfect. In other games - even VR games - holding an object through telekinesis (cough, the Force) often feels a bit hollow. You were holding an object or you weren’t. Tightening your grip might have helped you hold the controller better, but it had no impact on the object itself in-game. Here, you can make shit explode with a mere twitch of your fingers.
You put those together and you get to go full Carrie on the bad guys. I can’t describe the sense of wonder it brings. The complete joy. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to using the Force the way I imagined it as a kid. Not pushing a button to make an object automatically fly to my hand. It’s intuitive. It makes sense. The abstraction between what you see and what you’re doing is nearly zero. You’re not performing a series of button presses to simulate the Force. You’re just doing the Force. Or, telekinesis. And please don’t email me about the differences between the two.
Synapse ain’t a particularly deep game. It’s a roguelite shooter, so a lot of the gameplay loop is something you’ve seen before. Even what you can do with the telekinetic powers is pretty much limited to fighting. And with its monochrome graphics, it’s definitely going for a Super Hot/Pistol Whip vibe. That might work for you or it might not. The game kind of explains why everything looks weird, but it’s a “go with it” kind of thing.
But I don’t need Synapse to be a deep game. I don’t need to learn the meta and perfect my completion times. It may not be the first VR game to make me feel like I have superpowers, but it is the first VR game to make those powers feel real and tangible outside of the abstraction of button pushes. There was a moment I found myself simply walking through a level as I wreaked havoc around me with a slight glance and wave of my hand. It was supervillain-level shit. It was exhilarating. You suddenly get why Magneto does it when he has the chance.
This alone isn’t going to sell you on PlayStation 5’s PlayStation VR 2. It’s an expensive boondoggle that I still mostly use to watch movies and play Diablo 4 on a giant screen. That’s not a huge return on investment. But Synapse is the type of game that could only exist in VR. A traditional version of it would work and run just fine. But the experience of it, the experience of having Force powers that feel real for just one moment - that’s something that only works eye-tracking and hand movement.
Which is a shame, because it means fewer people will likely ever get a chance to play this. But if you got that weird sci-fi headset, and you’re looking for a way to boost your self-esteem, Synapse is going to be your best friend.