It’s hard to believe that Thumper originally launched in 2016. The self-professed rhythm-horror game started out on the PS4 and was amongst the first raft of titles for the original PSVR. It subsequently popped up on every single VR platform, spreading its vicious surrealist action into as many eyes as possible, remaining a stone-cold VR classic. It’s gratifying then to find it’s made the jump to Sony’s shiniest new creation, the PSVR2, and that all the wonderful new technology in it makes this absolutely the best way to experience Thumper’s sensory-overloading charms.
There is a mild disappointment at first, as this is a paid upgrade for anyone that owns the PS4/PSVR original. However, it’s a very acceptable £3.99, making it the cheapest of the current paid PSVR2 upgrades – here’s hoping that a few more follow No Man’s Sky free path – but whether you’ve played before or not, it’s an absolute must for anyone looking to expand their early catalogue.
Thumper defines itself as rhythm-horror, and it’s a tagline that makes very little sense until you experience it. The first step towards that horror tag is its unsettling and overwhelming atmosphere, its visuals dripping in psychedelia, surrealism and Lynch-ian weirdness. You take control of an armoured beetle, and it’s careening down an unravelling path that shifts and undulates in the distance. As you ride this rail you’re assaulted with a range of twists and turns that you have to navigate with the correct button presses, each movement or interaction adding further staccato bites to the vicious soundtrack. Having played most rhythm-action games of the last twenty years, I can safely say that Thumper is unlike anything else.
Correctly timing each of these beats, corners or obstacles earns you points and as you complete each section you’re awarded a grade. Each level is then rated by the overall success of your entire run across every section, ensuring that there’s plenty of reason for score-chasing aficionados or unreasoning completionists to return time and time again, descending into the musical madness that Thumper places in front of you.
The PSVR2 version plays out across the device’s incredible OLED screens in a way that we certainly haven’t experienced before, and everything gleams, shines and shimmers with remarkable clarity, being pumped into your eyes in 4K at 120hz. It also benefits from HDR – though oddly only in VR mode – and Thumper is a perfect way to show off the PSVR2’s remarkable brightness. The other great inclusion is the use of the headset’s haptics, and just as with Tetris Effect it adds a further layer of interaction between the player and the action, thumping and rumbling in time with the most impactful moments.
