Breakdown
- Luke Ross, developer of various flat-to-VR mods, has developed a mod for Horizon Forbidden West
- The mod enables you to play the game in VR in third or first-person modes, but the latter is more challenging
- You’ll have to subscribe to Ross’ Patreon to get access to the mod, which will set you back $10 a month
The Horizon series holds a lot of potential when it comes to virtual reality. The sheer verticality of the series, from climbing dangerous rockfaces to witnessing towering robotic dinosaurs hunt you down, the potential is incredible. Even PlayStation recognises this, as the company released Horizon Call of the Mountain for PSVR 2. Unfortunately, that's exclusive to the PS5.
However, if you're waiting for PSVR 2 support on PC, and hope that PlayStation brings its exclusive VR titles to the platform too, you may enjoy this latest mod. Released by Luke Ross, who has developed VR mods for games like Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V, and Horizon Zero Dawn, this mod for Horizon Forbidden West will let you experience Aloy's adventure in VR. Well, sort of.
If you're tired of playing the surprisingly great port on Steam Deck, one of the best gaming handhelds right now, you may want to switch to your best VR headset. The mod allows you to play the game in third-person or first-person entirely in virtual reality, however, the latter is fairly challenging as it makes the combat much harder, according to Eurogamer's Ian Higton. You can see Higton play it below in a video for Eurogamer.
Firstly, you'll need to subscribe to Luke Ross' Patreon, which will set you back $10 / £8.50 a month to pick up Ross' various mods. Unfortunately, due to DMCA requests, the Red Dead 2 and GTA V mods have been taken down from the Patreon. After that, you can install the mod and play it in VR, but as we mentioned, we recommend playing it in third-person as a floating head behind Aloy's shoulder.
The sheer beauty of the Forbidden West is impressive on a flat screen, but seeing it in virtual reality is truly mesmerising. You'll probably need a pretty powerful VR-ready PC to truly experience it in the best way possible, but it just goes to show how amazing some flat screen titles can be in VR, thanks to Ross' work, as well as other developers such as the UEVR mod for Unreal Engine games.
We'd definitely recommend playing the game as it was intended first, but if you've already completed it, or you've purchased it after playing the PS5 version, this is certainly an interesting second run.