Blood & Truth is not only the best virtual reality game I have played, but it is one of the best games I have ever played period. I picked up VR Worlds on launch day with the PSVR headset and ever since I first sampled the London Heist section of the game I have been waiting for a full length experience that matched it. Well fast forward two and a half years and London Studio has done it. They have taken everything that made the London Heist so special and fleshed it out into a gripping, fully immersive game.
You play as Ryan Marks, a special forces soldier who has returned to London to lay his father to rest. Things go from bad to worse for the Marks family though as an opportunistic gangster tries to take over your family business. I found the story gripping from the first minute until the last. The game is littered with great acting performance that look and real ultra realistic in VR. This level of detail also extends to our protagonist Ryan, who surprisingly, is fully voiced. It’s something that you don’t see enough in first person games and it really added to the narrative.
In a first person VR shooter one of the first obstacles to overcome is the character movement. London Studio decided against free movement and instead you can choose specific areas to advance to. When you select a location to move to your character will then begin to make their way to that spot but unlike in other games during this transition you still have control over your character and can pick off enemies along the way. For the most part this design choice works. It limits the motion sickness some experience with free roam but allows you to remain in control throughout.
The one issue I have with movement is that once you move forward in any given map you cannot retreat. This is rarely an issue when it comes to combat but there are various collectibles in the game and one wrong selection can advance you beyond the point of being able to get it. Tracking with the move sticks actually held up admirably for me, but there is no doubt that the game is limited by the technology. While I still find myself amazed by the PSVR technology, I can’t help but get excited about what a PSVR 2 could look like with an improved screen and better controllers.
The beauty of VR is that it can put you right in the experience. In Blood & Truth you really feel like you are starring in your own Guy Ritchie film. Shooting isn’t the only cool thing you get to do in the game either. You can also pick locks, shimmy through vents, plant explosives, throw back live grenades and more. Guns are varied and feel great, especially the silenced pistol. There are small sections you can attempt to tackle with stealth, which got me incredibly excited for the possibility of a Hitman game in the future. The only gun that falls below the games lofty standards is the sniper rifle. A gun which no VR game seems to have nailed yet. Over to you Sniper Elite VR…
Graphics for the most part are good, but there are some areas where textures could use some polish. Again, this is an area where you feel like the game is limited by the technology, which I do not hold against it. Character animation however is superb throughout and I found myself observing other characters in the world during story driven sections and being amazed at the small life-like nuances. This all adds to the immersion and helps give the game such a high level of polish.
The trophy list is solid. It encourages variation, tasking you with completing sections in stealth and without dying. There are plenty of collectibles in the form of targets to shoot and statues paying homage to the studios previous title VR Worlds. You also need to get five stars in each level, which gives the game good replay value.
Overall Blood & Truth is a masterpiece. I was in awe of the experience the whole time I played. If you are a fan of virtual reality this game is an absolute must play. There are things I would like to see added to a sequel; A higher emphasis on stealth and more control over your movement being the primary ones. For now though, this is the absolute pinnacle of VR on Sony’s platform and due to that, it gets the highest possible score.
-VDZE
Reviewed on PS4 Pro.
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