The Lost Bear for PSVR in the test

In the mysterious world of The Lost Bear for PSVR, you must help the girl Walnut and her teddy bear find their way home. If only there wasn't Snatcher, the evil toy thief with his shadowy creatures.

What is the point of 2D platformers in VR in general? The Oculus-exclusive launch title Lucky's Tale, for instance, was rather mixed reviews retracted. Perhaps because some players simply miss a breeze of VR when the feeling of being in the middle of things is only realised through the perspective? As is well known, tastes differ. In the case of "The Lost Bear" by the indie developers of Odd Bug Studio from Manchester, the VR scenario looks a little different. The setting for the British 2D jumping game is a hand-drawn cartoon world. Armed only with a slingshot, you can't do much to stop the creepy crawlies from your virtual sofa as a brave hopping protagonist. You also need a bit of brains and skill!

3D movements with the DualShock 4 controller

The 3D interactions are really fun. For example, at one point you have to use a grappling hook to move a car from a scrap yard upwards in order to be able to climb over it to the next level. This is done via a console that moves out of the ground in front of the screen. The lynchpin is the DualShock 4 controller anyway. The developers make use of its position sensors when aiming the gun or pulling up and down lifts. This often leads to time-critical situations. For example, when you swing from one level to another with a lasso and a nasty crawling creature is hot on your heels. So at the end - sometimes after several jumps - you have to hit a control element on the ceiling from the right angle with the slingshot so that the shadow creature behind you gets a load of rubble. Not always so easy.

Short and beautiful

Despite the easy difficulty level, it can happen that you need two or three attempts in some sections of the game. By the way, the viewer's 3D environment changes after each level. This doesn't add much to the gameplay, but it does give the platformer additional depth. Rather smaller, funny elements are the bees or glow worms that suddenly buzz around in front of you. Later in the adventure, the VR headset becomes a virtual helmet lamp so you don't get lost in the dark. Why not have more of them? For a rather short experience, however, the mix of linear hopping and VR interactions was right. Maybe it's also because you like to play through the title in one go - precisely because of the short immersion. I barely had two hours for that. Personally, I particularly liked the music, which was played with an acoustic guitar.

"The Lost Bear" for PSVR will be released on Tuesday, 5 September. As far as the developers have assured me, the title will go live on the PlayStation Store worldwide, including Switzerland. The EU price is estimated at around 10 euros. According to this, the game will cost between 10 and 12 francs here in Switzerland.