Arken Age makes a strong first impression on Playstation VR 2

Arken Age has much more to offer than just beautiful graphics. It also convinces with its VR implementation and is a lot of fun to play. My first impressions.

Arken Age will be released on January 16th for Playstation VR 2 and on Steam for PC VR headsets.

The studio responsible for the game provided me with access to the game in advance to get a first impression. And it's a positive one.

It's easier to make a VR game that looks fantastic than it is to make one that takes full advantage of virtual reality and is fun to play. Arken Age does both.

I played and explored the first four areas for about two hours. Since Arken Age offers a total of 25 areas and a campaign of more than 15 hours, the following impressions are limited to the beginning of the game.

Whether Arken Age will be able to maintain this level or whether it will become monotonous in the course of time remains to be seen.

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There's much to learn

Arken Age takes place on an alien planet. You take on the role of a warrior of the lizard-like Nara people, who are fighting against a technologically superior occupying force of robots. The machines are mining a valuable energy source called Arkenite, which is also vital to the survival of the Nara.

The game starts with a long and tedious tutorial that introduces you to almost all the important game systems. Since you have to learn a lot at once before the game even starts, I didn't find this introduction ideal.

As a Nara warrior, you will use the advanced weapons of the occupiers. These include a sword for close combat, a laser pistol for medium range, and a heavy gun that shoots scattering projectiles. The weapons are powered by the Arkenite energy source.

All three types of weapons can be significantly upgraded and modified later on, if you can find the appropriate blueprints. A feature I have not been able to test yet.

Defensive skills include a shield and injections to heal yourself in and out of combat. Finally, you learn to extend pickaxes with a flick of your wrist, allowing you to mine Arkenite and climb trees. This form of locomotion is incredibly well implemented and feels powerful.

Handcrafted worlds

After the tutorial, I was immediately set loose in the first combat area, with a repertoire of weapons and abilities that were still new to me. The first few encounters were deadly for me until I learned to isolate individual enemies and gradually clear the area of enemy forces.

Unlike in many other VR games, the areas I was able to explore were handcrafted rather than procedurally generated, making them more inviting to explore. The areas are lined up on the game map, which means that Arken Age has to be relatively linear. Of course, you can always teleport back to a previous area.

The areas I explored were not too large and can be explored freely. There are outdoor and indoor areas as well as bodies of water that you can dive into. The areas also go vertical, with elevators and trees to climb. Arken Age simulates the whole Nara body and the jumping, climbing, crouching and swimming feels natural whether you are sitting or standing.

Dynamic battles

Each area has both main quests and side quests. The latter require you to find and destroy hidden Nara relics or craft certain items.

For the first two hours, however, I was looking in vain for an elaborate story with vivid characters or anything like that. Arken Age is mainly a combat and exploration game, and it implements these aspects well. I enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny of the handcrafted areas.

Physics-based combat is at the heart of Arken Age and, at least in the areas I explored, is challenging and dynamic. I encountered different types of enemies that fight very differently. Some prefer melee combat, while others take cover and shoot at me from a distance. The robots throw grenades, can literally root me to the ground, and heal themselves.

Check out my gameplay footage above to get an idea of how the combat looks and feels. It was captured using the Performance mode.

Beautiful graphics on PSVR 2

The landscapes are beautiful to behold with their mix of pristine nature, crystal blue waters, magnificent Nara temples and technoid elements and facilities. The native flora and fauna, weapons and enemies are all designed and animated with great attention to detail.

I played Arken Age on Playstation VR 2, and that version has two graphics modes, both of which use Dynamic Foveated Rendering:

• a performance mode with 90 native frames per second and a resolution of approximately 2,800 x 2,000 pixels, and
• a quality mode with 60/120 reprojected frames per second and a resolution of 3,300 x 2,400 pixels.

I prefer performance mode as the game runs smoother and is free of ghosting. The world is not quite as sharp, but it is a feast for the eyes even without the quality mode. The PSVR 2 version also benefits from HDR, an immersive use of adaptive triggers on weapons and the headset's rumble haptics. On the Playstation 5 Pro, the resolution is 15 percent higher in performance mode and 25 percent higher in quality mode.

If you play Arken Age on a powerful PC, you can enjoy even better visuals thanks to numerous graphics settings.

The biggest question I have is whether Arken Age can maintain the positive impression of the first two hours for the rest of the game, or whether monotony will creep in. In any case, I'm excited to delve deeper into this world.

Arken Age is coming to the Playstation Store and on Steam on January 16th and can be wishlisted on both platforms. The price is $40.

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