When gameplay breaks immersion
Skyrim VR is the most immersive video game I’ve ever played. Until it really isn’t.
I think virtual reality games are the way of the future for video gaming as a medium. It adds a new dimension — the illusion of location, tactility, and response — to the experience of gameplay, and players are rewarded with increased immersion.
Normal games respond to your input, of course. That’s what separates video games from passive entertainment like movies. You control Pac-Man eating pellets, Mario jumping over turtles, and Master Chief shooting aliens. But there’s a certain distance that you’re kept at when you, the player, observe these events through a television or monitor. You might become obsessed with a game, unable to focus on the outside world, but there is always that disconnect: you are looking at a screen.
Putting on a virtual reality headset like the PSVR headset removes that screen.
VR games position you, the person — not just you, the player — inside the action. The first-person camera from which you observe the video game, is where you stand, where you are looking, with your slight movements being tracked. My brain perceives that I am jumping over the turtles, or shooting the aliens, etc.
That’s what I mean when I refer to “immersion” in a VR context: the walls between player and game character have been so broken down that I perceive my actions and the character’s are one and the same. For a brief moment, I forget I’m playing a video game.
I love the VR game like Job Simulator. You play as a menial worker, performing menial tasks for your various menial “employer.” One setting has you in an office cubicle. You can use your VR controllers to pick up an in-game donut, bring it to your “mouth,” (the VR headset) and watch as little bites appear, until it finally disappears, leaving only crumbs. The first time I did this, I instinctively opened up my mouth in real life.
It is immersive.
You could say I’m a big fan of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I put about 30 hours into the 360 version on its release in 2011. In 2015–2016, I put over 120 hours into the Special Edition on PC. At the height of the pandemic, I put another 50 hours into the PS4 version.
I dusted off my PSVR headset a few weeks ago and took the plunge for the (fourth and final time) with Skyrim VR.
Skyrim VR is awesome, full stop. Playing it feels like a revelation. I’m almost willing to say that this is how the game should be played. It’s really amazing how Bethesda built a functional, fun VR game out of one that didn’t have VR originally in mind. I would almost say it’s an essential VR game to seek out, alongside games designed with VR in mind, such as Job Simulator or Beat Saber.
Skyrim VR is so immersive in a way that I almost can’t describe in text. I’m shocked at how excited I am to replay this game that’s been out for over a decade. Using the PS Move controllers to hold a sword and shield or cast spells feels really cool. Early enemies, like the giant spiders in the game’s introduction that I didn’t think twice about, feel intimidating, because for a moment, it appears there really are giant spiders standing right in front of me, ready to attack.
The greatest compliment I can give Skyrim VR is that I want to slow down while playing it. Instead of rushing from dungeon to city, hacking and slashing my way through enemies so I can sell all my loot, I want to stop and take it slow. The world seems more beautiful and lifelike, and the VR creates the illusion that everything has depth and purpose. Its game world is one that I want to stop and enjoy, unbothered by anything.
I did something I never do in video games: I actually found myself turning off the HUD and turning down all other in-game elements, so that I can eliminate any distractions from Tamriel. I simply did not want anything detracting from the experience of playing the game in VR.
Skyrim is still Skyrim. You already know if you love it or hate it. There are no changes to the central gameplay loop (questing, exploring, dungeon crawling), story, or game world. Everything you may have liked and disliked about it is still there. But when I’ve got the headset on, and everything is on point, it’s an immersive experience unlike any other — one that I’ve come to treasure.
This all sounds like glowing praise — what’s the problem?
My issues with this game stem from the fact that the gameplay itself breaks its own VR immersion. That sounds a little weird, but bear with me.
Pop-in on the PSVR version is aggressively bad. San Andreas on PS2-level bad. Large animals, trees, rocks, and even houses appear and disappear, seemingly at random. I don’t remember this being an issue on other iterations of Skyrim. At the same time, I also don’t think I would have noticed it, because again, they lack the immersion of VR.
Now, instead of being a minor nuisance, it breaks the spell that the game really did have me under — its killer advantage over its other iterations.
I’m willing to chalk this up to playing it on PSVR on a PS4 Pro as opposed to something like an Oculus on a high-end PC. In fact, I’m willing to entertain the idea that most of my issues in general are because I’m playing it on PSVR instead of a PC setup. But sometimes you gotta dance with the one that brought you.
The pop-in is a mess, and it’s everywhere. I’ve seen a woolly mammoth appear out of thin air, and it reminds me that I’m playing a video game with a big dumb headset strapped to my face.
Using the PS Move controllers to swing a sword and hold a shield is fun, and it’s very responsive and feels very naturalistic.
Trying to walk around with them is maddening. The right controller’s X and O buttons rotate right/left, the left controller’s Move button walks forward, and the left’s X button walks backward.
If you think that sounds weird, you’re right. At best, it’s weird. At its worst, it’s actively hostile to the player moving around. It’s simply an unfun, unnecessary struggle. My recommendation is to use the regular PS4 controller, just so you don’t have to fight the Move control scheme.
My last sticking point is this: as I said, I turned off the HUD in order to make the game world feel more real. Basically, I didn’t want the crosshairs always present in my field of vision, reminding me I’m playing a video game. This doesn’t really impact sword/shield gameplay or spell-casting, as you’re naturally attacking what’s in front of you, right?
It renders archery unusable, and I cannot stress that enough. A central gameplay mechanic is a nonstarter when you’re aiming for a more immersive experience.
Without those crosshairs telling me roughly where my arrows will go, I miss almost every shot I take, and it’s not because I can’t hold down the R2 button. Short-range arrows go wildly off the mark, targeting enemies long-range would be a waste of time and arrows, and leveling the archery skill seems ridiculous. I could practice this, but when other combat methods are so much more accessible, what would be the point?
Keeping the crosshairs on takes away immersion, but removing them walls off a legitimate gameplay mechanic. It’s an interesting back-and-forth that the game just can’t accommodate, because it just wasn’t originally designed for VR.
The game is in a dialogue with itself, a delicate balancing act between realism and gameplay.
At the end of the day, these are big problems I have with Skyrim VR (or maybe more accurately, the PSVR version). But it’s still a fun VR game when it works, and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend.
If it’s been ages since you’ve booted up Skyrim, this is an enjoyable way of reliving it. I’ve always found the central gameplay loop fun, and the world is a really enjoyable sandbox. There’s a reason why it’s one of the best-selling games of all time, and it’s not just because it’s available on every system known to man, including your fridge.
The foundation is rock-solid, and I’m genuinely surprised at how well it’s translated to VR. If you have a VR headset, I’d still recommend it. Maybe even the PC version has mods that fix the problems I’ve mentioned.
I’m going to keep playing it, and I’m probably going to put a few dozen hours into this version. Skyrim is still Skyrim, and it’s still got its hold on me.
