Sony introduced hand-tracking support for PSVR 2 back in December, offering up the ability for developers to update their games and let players go hands-on thanks to the headset’s on-board tracking cameras. Now, beloved wizardry game Waltz of the Wizard (2019) is the first to implement hand-tracking on PSVR 2.
Waltz of the Wizard has grown leaps and bounds since it was first released as a free demo for HTC Vive in 2016, where it first let players muck around in a tower-top alchemy lab.
Its paid release in 2019 brought with it a host of new abilities and voiced characters, and fairly deep magic-based combat system and accompanying dungeon to fight through and explore, which was brought to the game in its major ‘Natural Magic’ expansion released in 2021.
But Waltz of the Wizard developer Aldin Dynamics isn’t done with the game yet, which has garnered nearly 9,000 reviews on Quest alone.
While the game is now the first to boast hand-tracking on PSVR 2, the studio is no stranger to leveraging the newest tech to make their flagship VR game one of the most immersive. Even in 2016, it was clear Waltz of the Wizard was something special, as Aldin Dynamics used its own data analytics and visualization tool Ghostline to prototype the game’s level design and gameplay—basically an unheard amount of attention paid to actual users of the game.
“Waltz of the Wizard was designed from the very beginning with natural hand interaction in mind, ensuring that every gesture and interaction feels intuitive and magical,” the studio says in a blogpost. “The range of features includes natural grabbing and throwing of objects, subtle poking and touching, smooth movement and snap turning, numerous magical hand abilities and detailed gestures for communicating with the character Skully.”
The studio says the free update not only brings hand-tracking to the PSVR 2 game, but now Skully responds to hand gestures and natural interactions that they call “lifelike and immersive, creating a sense of connection that truly brings the virtual world to life.”
To boot, the studio says all PSVR 2 hand-tracking features are available in Quest version now, which got its own hand-tracking update in 2020. The new hand-tracking guidebook, Handbook, will be added in a separate Quest update in “the near future” however.
If you already own Waltz of the Wizard on PSVR 2, you should see the free update today. If not, and you’re interested in weaving your own magical spells and potions, you can nab it over on the PlayStation Store, priced at $20.
