Sairento VR on PSVR is an action-packed assault on the senses
Can this game make you feel like Neo? Shuriken!
You know that bit in The Matrix when Keanu Reeves goes, "I know Kung Fu!"? Well I had a few moments of realisation just like that during my first hands-on session with the PSVR port of Sairento VR.
In this week's episode of Ian's VR Corner, you can watch me go from complete beginner to something resembling a Cyber-Ninja and best of all, you'll be able to hear my uncontrollable giggles of excitement when I do!
Sairento VR released on PC platforms in January last year to rave reviews and I've been looking forward to its PSVR release ever since I watched a launch trailer for it way back when.
It showed players effortlessly leaping around levels, decapitating enemies with a cyber-sword and blowing them to bits with dual-wielded weapons. All in glorious, super-cool, Matrix-style slow-motion.
That's the stuff VR dreams are made of sure, but how does the gameplay in a flashy trailer compare to the gameplay in the PSVR release?
Well for a start, don't go into Sairento VR expecting to be a badass from the off. There's an incredibly steep learning curve here and there's a lot of things you'll need to learn in order to feel comfortable when navigating the levels. Movement is teleportation based, but there's a reason for that as it allows you to double jump, bounce off or run along walls and scale great heights.
The dual Move control scheme makes this feel super awkward at first, but after about 15 minutes I started to get the hang of it and that's when the fun really began. The first couple of levels really ease you into things, but by the third, the action is relentless and enemies come at you rapidly, shooting and hitting you from all angles.
This onslaught is terribly frustrating at first but it forces you to learn quickly and it wasn't long before I was chaining leaps and bounds together with slow-motion headshots and slick, slide kills with my blade. A word of warning though, (and this could have been down to how hot my room was at the time of recording) all this fast-paced fighting does turn into a bit of a physical work out. A combination of that and the adrenaline rush from performing some awesome kills definitely worked me up into a bit of a sweat!
When everything does start to click though, the combat becomes so absorbing that it's easy to forget about the normal world that exists outside of your headset. That's why it's well worth putting in the hours to practice your skills because when everything is going your way and you're flowing through the levels, Sairento VR is one hell of an experience.
Sairento VR sits on the 'incredibly intense' side of the VR comfort scale though, so bare that in mind if you're new to the medium as I can imagine all that flipping, floating and falling causing some extreme nausea. For me, everything was fine and I felt no discomfort at all so if you're experienced with VR and want to live out your Kill Bill, gun-fu fantasies, I couldn't recommend this more.
Sairento VR releases digitally and physically for PSVR in Europe on the 5th of July
If you enjoyed this episode of Ian's VR Corner, you can catch up with my previous adventures over on YouTube in our VR playlist, where I've covered Valheim VR's motion controls mod, Doom 3 VR Edition and everything we know about PSVR 2 so far. You can also read our list of the best VR games.
