Can a third-person game work in VR?
Theseus is a third-person adventure for the PSVR. You traverse a labyrinth hunting a Minotaur and other mythical creatures along the way. This is the first third-person VR game I’ve played, the rest have been exclusively first-person. So how does it work?
Your character’s head moves as you look around with the headset, while you control him through the DualShock 4. The game has fixed camera angles and will switch as you enter new areas, meaning you will have to turn your head to find your character and keep him walking. Sometimes the camera gets really close to him and this is where it’s amazing, it feels immersive and extremely detailed.
Sadly, the controls are hit and miss. Besides climbing by tapping X and moving along with the analogue stick, there’s not much else to the gameplay besides fending off a few enemies along the way, and even then…it does provide plenty of cheap quick deaths, which can be frustrating, to say the least.
It’s a shame since the game really shows how immersive a third-person VR game can be, plus the graphical power of the PSVR in a way I hadn’t seen yet. I was running it on a PS4 Pro, so I don’t know if that has helped the visuals somewhat, but either way, it’s an amazing looking game that unfortunately is average on the gameplay front. It’s short too and will be over before you know it.
The Verdict
Despite all that, however, Theseus is a memorable game and a showcase of what the PSVR is capable of, as well as what can be accomplished with a VR game that isn’t strictly first-person. It’s short and flawed, but the visuals are immense and it’s not something you’ll forget anytime soon. It’s just a shame the gameplay lets it down.