Last December, hand-tracking made its debut on the PSVR 2, giving developers a new avenue to enhance their games with the headset’s built-in tracking cameras, all without needing traditional controllers. One of the standout activities? Casting spells feels incredibly lifelike and thrilling when done with just your hands.
The development teams at COVEN and ALBYON finally rolled out the much-anticipated hand-tracking update for their game, Masters of Light (2024), on the PSVR 2. Now, players can engage in epic battles with the ability to unleash light beams, conjure protective shields, and manipulate energy against sinister celestial foes.
As Celine Tricart, game director and co-founder of Coven, shared in a blog post on PlayStation’s site, “Every motion of your wrist and every deliberate movement brings spellcasting to life in real-time. This makes each battle feel more intuitive, immersive, and electrifying than anything we’ve done before.”
Though this update aligns the PSVR 2 version with the Quest’s release last May (available on Quest 2 and beyond), getting here wasn’t just a simple toggle switch. Tricart described this feature achievement as both a massive challenge and a thrilling milestone.
A shout-out goes to the team at VR Monkey for porting Masters of Light to PSVR 2. They are no strangers to adapting games, having worked on well-known titles like Into the Radius, Ghosts of Tabor, Vendetta Forever, and Synth Riders.
VR Monkey took roughly two and a half months to complete this due to Unity’s lack of support for PSVR 2’s hand-tracking. This prompted them to craft a custom plugin, which is a notable reason hand-tracking games for PSVR 2 remain scarce.
Currently, besides Masters of Light, only one other game on PSVR 2 utilizes hand-tracking. Aldin Dynamics led the way by incorporating hand-tracking into their spellcasting game, Waltz of the Wizard, with an update last February. It’s yet to be seen if more studios will embrace this technology.
For those eager to experience Masters of Light, it’s available on the PlayStation Store for PSVR 2 and on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and higher, retailing at $20. It’s also set to launch on Steam soon for PC VR headsets, where you can already add it to your wishlist.
