VR is great at making games feel even more immersive than they would otherwise. For example, I’ve played hundreds of hours of Skyrim over the years, but the first time I started down a dragon in VR or gazed out at the seemingly endless landscapes of Tamriel inside a VR headset, it took my breath away. But that’s not all VR is good for.
It can also be used as a meditative tool, or to increase a user’s focus. I know that for me personally, while it was much more terrifying, my accuracy was much better in Resident Evil 7 when I played inside VR. In the case of Tetris Effect, there may be a similar situation going on.
In the above video by Nick Robinson, a Tetris expert named Trey Harrison, who’s been addicted to the game for decades, gets the chance to play Tetris Effect, an all-new upcoming version of the classic puzzle game, for the very first time. Initially he plays it on a PS4 normally, but then he tries it inside of the PSVR headset and performs much better as a result.
There are a few theories at play here. For starters, the latency is lower in the headset than it is on the TV screen, so his reaction times are quicker and more efficient. But more profoundly I think the main reason is that when you play something like Tetris in VR, it consumes you. All of your vision, your ear drums, and your brain power is channeled to the game directly without any other distractions. It’s an all-encompassing sort of meditative state that amplifies a game that’s already engineered to get you in the zone.
It’s fascinating to watch Harrison, a man with so much skill at this singular game, excel even further at it with the power of VR to aid him.
Let us know what you think of his remarkable skills down in the comments below and don’t forget to check out our hands-on preview of Tetris Effect from E3!
