It’s Launch Season for the new PS VR2, and I’ve gotta say, this past week has been the most fun I’ve had in the VR space in quite some time. I’ve been totally chilled to my core this week and already finding it difficult to contain the excitement of being able to share this review with you all, so strap in, because this game is intense.

Making its way to the already impressive PS VR2 launch line-up is, After the Fall – Complete Edition, developed and published by the critically-acclaimed team behind one of my most played VR titles, Arizona Sunshine, Vertigo Games B.V. Coming up to the launch of PS VR2, I was very excited to see that After the Fall was going to be getting the upgrade treatment. This made me feel less bad about my decision to skip this entry when the game was originally released in December 2021. Another fun fact that got me even more pumped to play was the fact – After the Fall was also a contender for Best VR/AR at the 2022 Game Awards.

Threatened with humanity’s extinction due to a new ice age in the 1980s, experiments conducted in a last-ditch effort to make humans more resilient against the cold have failed. Instead, they’ve been giving birth to mutated, ferocious, undead known as Snowbreed. Taking place a couple of decades after these events in a snow-covered post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, After the Fall will have you take up arms as a new ‘Harvest Runner’. Join ‘The Line’ and expand the Line’s reach into the city and fuel mankind’s survival for another day.

Before I get carried away telling you how much this game slays, let’s take a quick trip down feature lane before we get into the juicy bits. You can play the game either sitting, standing, or in Room Scale. For most of my playtime, I’ve been playing standing and at Room Scale with the occasional seated play. For those that do play seated and have armrests, I do recommend adjusting the size of the ammo belt to make it a little wider; this will make weapon holstering much more pleasant.

There are three game modes to sink your teeth into; Harvest, Horde mode, and a 4v4 PvP combat, which I’ll get more into a bit later. When it comes to the VR space, there are a lot of people that suffer from motion sickness, but thankfully, it comes with a tonne of comfort options that will help to reduce this. I am not very big on teleport movement and snap turns, so I opted for the all-or-nothing smooth movement approach. Players that are new to VR will benefit greatly by building up to a longer play session, especially in a game as fast-paced and frantic as this.

What I would consider to be the main campaign mode, Harvest, which is playable solo or with up to 3 friends in co-op, will see you set off as one of four ‘Runners’ venturing out into the frozen wasteland to gather resources that will help to expand the Line’s reach into the city. Along your journey through each of these stages, you can expect to be fighting pretty much constantly. You’ll find a safe room in the middle of each level where you can opt to spend some of your hard-earned Harvest on some gear and a well-earned rest, before finishing off each level with a rather chaotic horde and boss. Placing picked-up Floppy disks and carrying them through to the end of a level will aid greatly in improving your armoury, and you’ll obtain bonus Harvest for being accurate and not dying in a level.

It’s a gameplay loop here that we’ve seen done many times before, very reminiscent of games like Back 4 Blood, however, being completely immersed in the VR space and having to physically move around to take aim, and popping heads has never been more satisfying. The adaptive triggers on the Sense controllers are utilised extremely well, making each weapon and even gadgets, like health and buff stims, feel very unique. As for the haptic feedback in both the Sense controllers and the PS VR2 headset, this did a phenomenal job of helping to keep me terrified of being hit by enemies. Honestly, I nearly defecated myself the first time I was hit from behind in the head.

Finished farming and collecting your Harvest? Take up the challenge of After the Fall’s Horde mode. Horde mode will have you testing your metal in the very typical wave-based undead slaughter fest, throwing you a great mix of plebs to lay waste to, and the more you progress through levels, you’ll start to come across more elite enemies and bosses. Complete certain rounds and unlock even more additions to your arsenal, and the higher the level, the rarer the gear you will unlock. This mode is a massive amount of fun and certainly will get the blood pumping and those anxiety levels high. Each level offers a very different play experience for each, with my favourite having loads of elemental damage opportunities while I was running solo.

Compete for the glory of the kill in the Tundradome and go head to head against other players in fast-paced four vs four multiplayer battles. There are two fairly standard modes when it comes to the multiplayer experience – Team Deathmatch and Free For All. Both modes will see you enter one of three locales with plenty of different weapons and stims strewn around the place for you to pick up. One thing in particular that differs from the main game is that the simple reload mechanic of ejecting the clip and passing the gun by your ammo pouch isn’t there. Instead, you will find yourself doing the complete sequence of ejecting your magazine, grabbing a new one from your ammo pouch, inserting it into the mag well, and pulling the slide. This took a little getting used to but gave me an overall great experience.

When it comes to how the game looks and feels graphically, the 4K output of the headset makes for a very clear display of the very 1980s-inspired world. During my play so far I’ve only had one instance where I lost tracking for a split second, which I believe to be my fault because when it happened, it was 1 am and I had forgotten to flick on a light. Everything from the late 80s-inspired light gun cabinets to selecting a level, and through to environments in level design, gadgets, weapons, and enemies are very well modelled, doing a fantastic job of portraying the very 1980s-inspired post-apocalyptic world, instantly taking me back to a time when light gun games were massive.

Taking a moment to listen to After the Fall’s Soundtrack is like stepping onto the set of Stranger Things. It mixed into the game’s 3D space and intensified at all the right moments, really helping to keep you on edge. Speaking of 3D Audio, right out of the gate, I want to say that it’s truly terrifying. Hearing a Snowbreed crawling on the ceiling above you as it is making its way down to ruin your day is more than enough to keep you on the brink of making a mess.

Wrapping things up, not much more needs to be said, other than I don’t want to put this game down. Expect a wild ride that is very fast-paced, intense, and often chaotic. After the Fall is most assuredly a must-have title on the PS VR2, and it’s a pure undead slaying joy that will always have you coming back for more.

Written by: Gary Nielsen