Waltz of the Wizard launches on PS VR2 (plus a big update for Quest and PC!)

Published in

Aldin Blog

5 min readOct 3, 2023

We’re thrilled to tell you more about what’s new in Waltz of the Wizard — available now on PlayStation VR2 — and what is included in the accompanying update for Meta Quest and Steam VR!

This release is a continuation of our mission to make you truly feel present in a believable reality, using powerful simulations, interactive characters, unique eye-tracking abilities, detailed haptics, gestures and of course a bit of magic — all working together to make an experience that’s only possible in VR.

Waltz of the Wizard on PS VR2!

The PlayStation VR2 version of Waltz of the Wizard is now available, boasting numerous fresh features and content designed for PS5 and PS VR2 hardware. These include a new local co-op mode playable with a friend and a DualSense controller, distinct eye-tracking capabilities, a voice interaction system that runs locally on the console, native 90fps with no reprojection, intricate haptic feedback for the PS VR2 Sense controllers and headset, among others!

Release highlights for all platforms

The following are some of the highlights in this release for PS VR2, Quest and Steam VR.

Use voice interactions with blazingly fast responsiveness

We’ve made great strides to take voice interaction to the next level, and after a total redesign of our voice systems, everything behind voice runs locally on device (no network required!). The new version is available on PSVR2, Quest and PC and includes better reliability, better accuracy and much more consistent and faster latency. Voice enables you to modify your own abilities and create anything, anywhere, with just a few words.

With voice we’re aiming to make true natural interaction possible and we feel that with the improvements in this update we’re closer to that goal than ever before.

Team up with a friend

At anytime you can team up with a friend on a second screen with a controller. You can have some cozy magical times together mixing spells or solving riddles, and when you’re feeling adventurous, enter the Observer Fortress and battle behemoth stone creatures and discover some dark secrets. Available on PS VR2, Quest Link PC VR and SteamVR.

We’re really excited to open up the possibility for you to enjoy Waltz of the Wizard with your friends and family. The co-op mode also includes fun new ways for veteran VR users to introduce new VR users to the magic of VR, making it easier for the 2nd user to guide the VR user through the experience by interacting with everything, highlighting items or picking up and throwing items to the VR user.

Use your eyes in a new powerful way

Use your eyes and voice to interact with amazing targeting precision for anything, enabling things like looking at an object and saying “bring that to me”. You can even play hide and seek with Skully by just closing your eyes for a moment. Eye-tracking features are exclusive for PS VR2 and Quest Pro.

Feel detailed haptics with the Sense controllers and PS VR2 headset

Designed to take full advantage of the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the Sense controllers, wielding magical powers and playing with objects feels more real than ever. On top of that the headset rumble has been intricately designed for action effects when an enemy strikes or things explode!

Play around in a revamped tower

The tower has been totally revamped with improved shaders, models and texture resolutions on everything, making it much more polished than ever before. Skully also has new additions with interesting tips and new greetings every time you visit the tower.

Explore an enhanced observer fortress

New magical hand-prints in start and end rooms for easy return to portal circle, new music loops and ambiences for a deeper dungeon crawling atmosphere, and various props and items like health vials now drop from enemies, crates and barrels.

Behold your new hands!

Your virtual hands should feel like a natural blend with your own and the final look has been adjusted to a blend from transparent to a solid form in order to better indicate thaty they are a natural part of you. While this may like a small change, it’s one we believe mentally makes a difference in VR compared to disembodied hands — avoiding the feeling better of being sawed off at the wrist.

Dive into more options in the in-game menu.

The in-game menu has been enhanced with new icons, adding the achievement sticker board and making the map fully accessible, along with more additions like microphone calibration. Make sure to glance through it since the menu has a wide range of options to customize the experience to your liking.

Big thanks to all of our fans ♡

There are numerous additions to improvements to a majority of content in this release of Waltz of the Wizard, full release notes can be found on our Discord.

This release concludes a total transition of the title’s name to “Waltz of the Wizard” on all platforms, dropping subfixes like ‘Natural Magic’ which we’ve been using for the past few years.

There’s also one more thing. All PS4 owners of Waltz of the Wizard: Extended Edition on PS4 will get the PS5 of Waltz of the Wizard for free! The legacy edition of Waltz for PS4 has now been delisted, but those who own it will of course keep access in their library.

We are grateful for the support from our community, appreciate everyone spreading the word and we’re excited to tell you what’s next for Aldin in the coming months.