Test: Immortal Legacy for PSVR

The action horror adventure game "Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher" has been available for a few days. Available exclusively for the PSVR. Originally there was talk of an announcement on 20 March (we reported), but Viva Games, a small Chinese developer and publisher, postponed the game by a few weeks. We were therefore surprised ourselves when we recently received a test sample. But was it worth the long wait?

First things first: the game costs CHF 22.90 in the digital PlayStation Store in Switzerland: that's more than fair - considering the quality and length of the entire title. However, we also have to talk about a few shortcomings and want to warn squeamish gamers in advance: No, there are not that many shock moments of a typical survival horror adventure in the long VR experience, which lasts a good five to six hours. The finished title has more of the linear action content of an "Uncharted" or "Tomb Raider", and does so in a very skilful manner; but there are also a few very unfair parts.

The story puts you in the shoes of Tyre, an ex-soldier in a special unit. After the mysterious death of your mother, you travel to the island of Yingzhou. Together with your mother's former girlfriend, you try to uncover the truth about her death and her mysterious past. You have up to 15 weapons at your disposal, which are used with two PlayStation Move controllers. While exploring the island, Tyre is confronted with human and non-human enemies and gets on the trail of a secret organisation that carries out cruel experiments. The plot is apparently based on an old Chinese legend, which has been transferred to the present day for the game and modernised accordingly.

With the PlayStation Move controllers, you can use one Move button to move at a normal walking pace. If you hold down both Move buttons at the same time, you sprint in the desired direction. The control scheme is kept very simple, but also involves a few complications. The PSVR-related 180-degree radius of action, in which it is best to stay in place in front of the camera, is less of a problem. Everything has been thought of: You can even use the controller buttons to gently dodge left and right ("strafing") to gallantly evade enemy projectile rounds.

The inventory menu, on the other hand, proved to be unwieldy. Although there is a quick-swap option for both left and right-handed players, you can only switch between weapons by holding down a control button on the left and right, and there is no distinction between medicines and other items such as grenades. This can be very frustrating when you need to move quickly and ammunition is running low. Such a quick selection could simply have been limited to the most important items, your handguns.

Haste but not delay

Grosso modo, however, the game mechanics are very smooth. We felt drawn into the environment from the very first moment. A small drawback here: There are practically zero comfort options to adjust settings such as movement speed, viewing angle or field of vision. This makes it all the more surprising that everything feels very good and you can enjoy this adventure game with triple-A qualities for a good hour at a time without feeling sick. What's more, you rarely get lost. A directional arrow on the ground always points you in the right direction so that you can never get lost despite your constant searches for ammunition boxes. You can enjoy the surroundings: The graphical backdrop even manages to impress with a great deal of detail. What awaits you are many narrow paths through stony temples and rocky landscapes at dizzying heights. The wealth of detail in the prehistoric buildings is also impressive.

We played "Immortal Legacy" on the PS4 Pro. It can be assumed that "Immortal Legacy" has also been optimised for the more powerful PS4. Otherwise, there would probably be a lot more edge flickering with so much vision. You will also be able to marvel at a lot when you take a closer look at the handguns. This is great fun and intensifies the experience. The action is accompanied by an intro of a crash landing. Before the introductory sequence, the entire movement mechanics are explained to you in detail as part of an intuitive tutorial, which is limited to a few basic control manoeuvres. The narrative sequence at the beginning of the game alone amazes us at what the small Chinese studio has put into the development.

Many weapons, little ammunition

As mentioned at the beginning, "The Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher" reminds us very much of an adventure game like "Uncharted". You follow the action entirely from a first-person perspective. In VR, you can also hide behind rocks, dodge with your head and aim through the sights of your rifle. In doing so, you will repeatedly be caught in the crossfire of besieging enemies who will not let you advance any further into the temple ruins. You can make a note of something here: Be economical with your ammunition - always. In view of the many tactical sneaking manoeuvres and the sparing use of your handguns, your brain's reward centre will release a lot of dopamine when you suddenly spot a flashing magnum or a machine gun that has lost its owner. You'll be happy to search a little longer for ammunition. Incidentally, the Aim Controller is not supported.

At one point, however, we found ourselves at a very nasty point where further progress was simply no longer possible, because the last save point kicked in after we had already cheerfully shot up all the artillery, while enemies and drones from all directions made progress difficult. A restart of the entire VR excursion was unavoidable at this point. At one point, you will find yourself in a situation where a large number of laser traps barricade your path. In some cases, you will almost not be able to get past them unless you use a pistol and shoot a lot of ammunition. You have to wonder whether Viva Games even called in game testers for the latest bug tracking or whether they were just eating popcorn. Unfair save points: That's just not on. Despite everything, "Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher" is a lot of fun to play, and it also has bosses!