PSVR 2 Gets Another Hand-tracking Game as Devs Slowly Tap Into New Feature

Hand-tracking support came to PSVR 2 back in December, letting developers update their games to use the headset’s on-board tracking cameras for controller-less interactions. And it turns out casting magic is one of the most immersive things you can do with your bare hands.

Studios COVEN and ALBYON have released the long-awaited hand-tracking update for Masters of Light (2024) on PSVR 2, letting you blast beams of light, summon shields, and control energy as you combat against dark celestial enemies.

“Every flick of your wrist, every precise movement, translates into real-time spellcasting, making battles feel more intuitive, immersive, and exhilarating than ever,” game director and Coven co-founder Celine Tricart says in a PS blogpost.

While the game now has feature parity with the Quest version, which launched on Quest 2 and above last May, it wasn’t as simple as flipping a switch, with Tricart calling the game’s latest feature “an incredible challenge, but also a dream come true.”

To bring hand-tracking to the PSVR 2 version of Masters of Light, Tricart credits porting team VR Monkey, which has worked on a number of ports, including Into the Radius, Ghosts of Tabor, Vendetta Forever, and Synth Riders to name a few.

VR Monkey says it took two and a half months to accomplish, owing to Unity’s lack of PSVR2 ’s hand-tracking support, which required the studio to create an in-house plugin—likely a big contributing factor in why we’re not seeing many hand-tracked games on PSVR 2 today.

To boot, besides Masters of Light, there’s only one other hand-tracked game on PSVR 2. Aldin Dynamics was the first to enable hand-tracking on its PSVR 2 version of spell-casting game Waltz of the Wizard back in February. And we’re still waiting to see whether other studios will follow suit.

In the meantime, you can find Masters of Light over on the PlayStation Store for PSVR 2, and on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, priced at $20. It’s also slated to arrive on Steam “soon” for PC VR headsets, where its currently available to wishlist.