Marvel's Iron Man VR, Concrete Genie and more from the Sony VR event

Last week, SYFY FANGRRLS got a look at a bunch of new titles at the Sony VR event including Marvel’s Iron Man VR, No Man’s Sky Beyond, Concrete Genie, and Blood & Truth. You can check out our first report here.

Now, we can give you a small tease about what we saw, and what we're getting when the new titles are released.

Marvel’s Iron Man VR is an original Iron Man adventure from Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC, Camouflaj, and Marvel, and it’s exclusive for PlayStation VR. This single player game comes out later this year, though we don’t have a firm date for it. 

We jumped in at the beginning and learned to fly, which took a bit of getting used to. That’s a good thing. What it means is that you use the Move controllers exactly like Tony would use the jets in his hands. Once you imagine yourself in the armor, you totally get the hang of it. We got to hang out in front of Tony’s Malibu digs and fly around while Pepper spoke to us in the com. There's plenty of time to learn to fly through tunnels, to shoot and to punch, and it really makes you feel like a superhero. It’s really immersive, but it gives new players a chance to get used to what they’re doing before they pop into the brand new storyline. 

Though we didn’t play a lot of it, the story starts out in Tony’s jet where you’re dealing with Friday and finding out what you’ve done to upset Pepper this time. Oh, she has a point, and she’s ready to explain that to you when a certain villain from Ant-Man shows up.

We spoke to Ryan Payton, one of the designers on the game from Camouflaj, who told us that they had decided to use Ghost and make her a woman before they found out that the same thing was happening in Ant-Man and The Wasp. He described her as a “demon from his past.” He also said they wanted more female representation in the game, which is why they decided on a female Ghost — and between Ghost, Pepper, and Friday, Tony was the only guy we saw at the beginning of story mode. Later in the game you’re going to be able to build and customize your suit and play a number of missions. 

We also played Concrete Genie’s VR mode, which was announced on the PlayStation blog this week. The video above is the story video, but what we played was a beautiful VR respite from the world. 

In VR mode, you start in a small room with a paintbrush and a book. The little genie gives you instructions via your book, and you use the brush to add things to the wall until the hanging lights on the wall light up. If that wasn’t adorable enough, the walls break down, and you enter a little spot under a tree. You're given instructions to add flowers and curvy trees and stardust, and a zillion other things to the landscape. Then there are little fires to keep your friend warm, and a moon and a sun to change the time of day. Things glow in the dark, and you can add hanging lights to your trees. The stardust makes things grow, and makes your little friend happy enough to send you orbs to upgrade your paintbrush. There isn’t much more to this part of the game, but trust us when we say, it’s enough. Have you run out of episodes of The Great British Bake Off? Do you need something else to soothe your soul? Grab a paintbrush and wait for Fall of this year. 

No Man’s Sky: Beyond is a VR update for the existing game. It’s coming in Summer of this year, and it allows you to really feel like you’re in the world you’ve created. You can fly your starship over an alien planet, grab your multitool and change the terrain, and best of all, play in multiplayer and, as the official website says, “casually wave to your non-VR friends or fist bump your PSVR peers.”

It was incredibly cool to be able to see how the worlds you’ve created look in virtual reality. We had a chance to check out what it looks like in VR, as well as watching what was happening on the screen while someone else manipulated it from inside the helmet. The update is free to existing players, but there will be an exclusive retail release of the game on PS4. 

In Blood & Truth, you play as Ryan Marks is a man facing multiple life sentences, and you’re on your “deadliest mission yet.” Here is the official info for you. "Star in your own explosive action movie blockbuster with this PS VR exclusive shooter. Battle through the crime-ridden London underworld as elite soldier Ryan Marks in your deadliest mission yet… to save your family from a ruthless criminal empire. Take out your targets with breathless, over-the-top epic gun play as you drive, parachute and rappel across the city amid exciting set pieces.”

The part we played started off in a room (which you can see in the video above), where we’re being told about the charges against us. Now, VR is immersive, and you know that if you’ve played, but watching a guy stare directly into your eyes, and stand that close with long pauses in the conversation as he looks at you, is super disconcerting — in a good way, of course. It’s just an aspect of VR that we hadn’t considered. We moved stealthily through a base, picking locks in a way that is far more satisfying than anything you’ve done in a game before, shooting enemies, and rescuing a mate. Your heart rate is going to go up while the enemy walks right up to you. We also got to play a driving mission where you shoot enemies out of a window, who are zipping by on motorcycles. It’s incredibly fun, but we should warn you that if you’re someone who gets vertigo, this might trigger it. Blood & Truth is available May 28, 2019.

Which VR games are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.