An excellent immersive game, finally hits the PSVR2 headset.

Enter the World of Darkness universe and become a creature of the night.

It wasn’t so long ago that many silly teenagers either wanted to be a vampire – or be with a vampire – (thanks overrated books and movies). With the Nov. 2 release of Vampire: the Masquerade – Justice (VTMJ), those who may still have an inkling to become a monster of legend, can now see that dream fulfilled – sorta.

Created by Fast Travel Games for the PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2) and other headsets, VTMJ is the latest game in the Vampire: the Masquerade series, and the first created for virtual reality (VR).

The story is simple: the vampire who created you has been killed – an artifact of importance has also been taken – and you as a powerful vampire, set out on a quest for justice.

With a slew of supernatural abilities and an arm-mounted crossbow, the night is yours to dominate as your quest for revenge takes you across Venice.

The game is built around stealth play – although you can absolutely choose to be a predator who kills everything in your path. Because the game pushes you towards stealth, you start off with a teleportation power for quick traversal, you can also access the ability to make yourself invisible. Your crossbow has different bolts that can corrode, knock out, or kill your enemies.

These can all be upgraded at a skill tree between missions via the experience you earn – even more is gained from completing challenges like remaining undetected, not being harmed, and not killing.

If you want to take a path of destruction, there are powers which allow you to bring the pain. These include something akin to boiling your prey’s blood, or you can set a mystical trap which will see your enemies dragged into hell.

All of your powers – including the creation of crossbow bolts – drain your energy. In order to continue along your quest with all abilities at your disposal, you’ll need to do the thing for which a vampire is most well known – feed on blood.

Grabbing your prey before leaning in for the bite is how you sate your hunger here. It’s done in a fairly good way to ensure you feel immersed. A meter appears as you start to feed, urging you to stop at the right spot – highlighted in red – for maximum benefit.

As you make your way through the streets of Venice, you’ll notice just how amazing it looks. You may find yourself spending time simply looking around at the beautiful imagery before you, and no one would blame you in the slightest. This, however, does not carry to all aspects of the game. Enemies for instance, look very mundane compared to the world around them.

Not a huge deal considering the way everything else presents itself.

As with most games early into their release, VTMJ is not without its hiccups. A few times you may find interacting with objects to be buggy and not cooperating as they should, or see your teleportation skill being a little shaky to use, as you try to escape the sight of an enemy. Biting your enemies may also run into a bit of an issue, as you could lean in at the wrong spot and not start to feed. This could end up leaving you scrambling to move and bite before someone is alerted to your presence.

These are by no means game breaking issues, in fact, nearly everything can simply be chalked up to player error. With the exception of doors not opening or things getting stuck when they shouldn’t – all of which will probably be patched early – there’s really not much bad to say about this game.

If you’ve been waiting for a new VR game that finally doesn’t disappoint, VTMJ is the proverbial saviour.

There are still some to look forward to later this year – let’s hope Vertigo 2 holds its 2023 release, and that Bulletstorm VR doesn’t suck – so perhaps this isn’t the last of the standouts for the PSVR2 in 2023.

Vampire: the Masquerade – Justice was reviewed after purchasing from the PlayStation store at full price.