Feel celestial power in this workout wave shooter.

As 2024 comes to a close, there are still a few virtual reality (VR) games left to release.

While the biggest releases of the year have now landed on their respective headsets, a few smaller ones with big ambitions are still on the way, as we close out a year capped with many ups, downs, and delays.

On the PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2), those looking for a simple game that will make them feel powerful while gaining a workout can now pickup Masters of Light. Developed by Coven the game originally released for Quest series of headsets May. 16, has been ported to the PlayStation headset as of Dec. 18 with improved graphics, while taking full advantage of haptics, and eye tracking.

The game sees the player take on the role of a powerful being able to wield the light as a weapon, as you embark on a quest across 36 levels to save members of the “sisters of light.” As this being, you were prophesized to come and save the sisters who were trapped by the darkness released by a black hole.

The story is very basic, but combined with the abilities you have/unlock as you progress, it’s meant to make players feel like a universe saving hero.

The problem? This is really just a wave shooter that adds in some workout elements via arm movements.

Now, if you enjoy these types of games, you’ll have a lot of fun as you learn how your powers work and start your journey to stop the darkness. The game is simple at its core as you punch, block and attempt to dodge enemies that will eventually overwhelm you in later levels.

But if you’d prefer something a little more engaging, this may not be the game for you.

You get five powers throughout the game, these include your starter shooting light balls and sniping (which is just shooting light balls while using one hand to target); as you progress you’ll unlock shields on each hand to block, as well as abilities known as shockwave and light ray. These work to varying degrees with the PSVR2 Sense controllers – but if you’ve played the game on the Quest headsets with hand tracking, you’ll know right away that the latter is the better way to play the game.

Right off the bat when you start the game, the tutorial on how your powers work doesn’t do the best job of explaining what you need to do. Couple this with the fact that instead of having to make a fist to shoot light, your hand – which is perpetually in a pointing with your index finger gesture – can easily shoot out light this way. You’ll notice fairly quickly that even just having your hands at your side, the slightest of controller jostling will haphazardly shoot out a burning ball of death.

It also sucks that going back to the home hub later to try and redo the tutorial, will normally net you some enemies to practice on, rather than a fully fledged explanation.

In later levels as well, even with all of the powers unlocked, it becomes a little tricky to successfully pull off some of the more intricate moves – shockwave for instance – using the controllers. Playing on Quest with hand tracking, it’s actually quite seamless to perform all moves, but playing on the PSVR2 it almost feels like you’re massively held back due to the headset lacking this feature – at least currently.

As mentioned this is a wave shooter, so throughout the levels you’re just going to be fending off an abundance of creatures that the black hole and its darkness sends after you. Obviously because of this the gameplay is fairly straightforward, and the repetitiveness can get boring fairly quickly.

Because the story is really just about the overwhelming darkness capturing the sisters, there’s not much there that can keep you engaged; this means its up to the gameplay to keep you coming back. Sadly, if you don’t like feeling fatigued from the same thing after level four – and remember there are 36 levels overall – you may want to steer clear.

Of course, not everyone will feel the wave shooter blues and may enjoy the game before them.

Also, the workout elements of this game are only so-so. You won’t really be working up a sweat here compared to playing games that are specifically meant to situate themselves in that genre. If you play long enough, you’ll definitely feel a little soreness in your arms – if you’re performing moves as developers intended – but that’s the extent of what you’ll experience there.

Graphics here do look good, but there’s really not much that stands out. The backdrop of each level is meant to showcase some part of the cosmos as you’re berated by an army of oddly shaped darkness enemies, and even that isn’t awe-inspiring like it could be.

Overall, Masters of Light is a game that may not appeal to all VR gamers. If you have been playing in VR for a while, you’ve probably seen your fair share of wave shooter games – and could have been bored of them five years ago. However, if you don’t completely hate the type of game, are looking for something new – or want to be able to experience something with interesting gameplay mechanics – then you may decide you want to give this a try.

But remember, this game is also available on Quest with hand tracking – not to mention a refund policy if you do end up deciding this game isn’t all that fun.

Here’s hoping that those rumours of hand tracking coming to PSVR2 are true, because this is definitely a game that could benefit from the technology.

Masters of Light, was reviewed on the PSVR2 after receiving a pre-release key.