Quick answer: Farpoint is a 2017 PlayStation VR shooter from Impulse Gear, and the gunplay with the PS VR Aim Controller is still some of the best in VR. Everything around that gunplay is thin. Metacritic sat at 71, rated Mixed or Average, and only 25% of critics on OpenCritic recommended it, while players scored it 8.1. Before you plan anything, know this: it does not run on PSVR2, it never will, and the hardware you need to play it has been discontinued.
Original illustration created for IGGG Guides.
There is a version of this review that talks about enemy variety and story pacing, and we will get to that. But it would be dishonest to lead with it, because for most people reading this the question is already settled by hardware they do not own.
Farpoint came out on 16 May 2017 as a PlayStation VR exclusive. It was built around a peripheral, the PS VR Aim Controller, a plastic rifle you hold in both hands. That peripheral is out of production. The original PSVR headset needs a PlayStation Camera, the camera needs an adapter to work on a PS5, and Sony stopped supplying that adapter on 26 November 2024. PSVR2 cannot run the game and cannot read the Aim Controller. Sony says so directly on its own compatibility page.
So this is a review of a good game that is slowly becoming unreachable. Let us be precise about what it costs to reach it, what you get when you do, and who should bother.
Hard stop before you spend anything. Sony's official PS VR2 compatibility page states that PS VR2 cannot play PS VR content and is not compatible with PlayStation VR Aim controllers. There is no adapter, no patch and no workaround. Farpoint was never ported and, because its entire control scheme is built on a peripheral the new headset cannot see, a port would mean rebuilding the game. If you own a PSVR2 and nothing else, this game is not available to you.
What the scores actually said
The draft version of this story floating around the web says reviews were "mostly good". That is not what the aggregators recorded, and the gap between the two measurements is the most interesting thing about this game's reception.
| Source | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic critics | 71, labelled Mixed or Average | 62 reviews. 50% positive, 48% mixed, 2% negative |
| Metacritic users | 8.1, Generally Favorable | 260 ratings, 77% positive |
| OpenCritic | Only 25% of critics recommend | the harshest number attached to this game |
| Road to VR | 8.2 | a VR specialist outlet |
| IGN, Polygon | 7.5 | IGN called the gunplay second to none in VR |
| GameSpot, Game Informer, Destructoid, Edge | 7 | the consensus landing spot |
| Metro, Financial Post | 6 | linear, repetitive, expensive |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 2 out of 5 | the low outlier |
Look at the pattern rather than any single number. VR specialists scored it high. General games outlets scored it around seven. Players scored it higher than critics did, and the most common argument in those player reviews is that critics judged it against flat screen shooters instead of against other VR games. That argument has some merit. It is also exactly the kind of thing people say about a game that leans on novelty.
Original illustration created for IGGG Guides.
What you actually need to play it
This is the part no 2017 review could have written, and it is the reason this page exists. Here is the full shopping list, in order, with where each piece now stands.
| You need | Status now | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The game | Still sold digitally and on disc | The easiest part of the list |
| A PS4, PS4 Pro or PS5 | Fine | On PS5 it runs in PS4 backward compatibility mode |
| An original PSVR headset | Secondhand only | PSVR2 will not work. This is non negotiable |
| A PlayStation Camera | Secondhand only | The PS5 HD Camera does not work as a substitute |
| The PS Camera adapter, if using a PS5 | Discontinued 26 November 2024 | Was free from Sony. Now third party resale only |
| The PS VR Aim Controller | Out of production | Optional on paper, close to essential in practice |
On that last line, note what the game does not support: PlayStation Move controllers. Your only two options are a DualShock 4 or the Aim Controller, and every reviewer who tried both said the same thing. GameSpot's reviewer wrote that anyone playing with a DualShock 4 would be bored before the game got going. Trusted Reviews went further and said the only reason to buy the game is to experience it with the Aim.
Check the price history before you buy a bundle. Secondhand Farpoint and Aim Controller bundles tracked on PriceCharting closed between roughly $40 and $70 across 2026, with sealed copies at the top of that range. That is a wide spread for the same item, so a listing well above it is simply overpriced. Prices on discontinued hardware move fast and vary hugely by region, so check completed sales in your own country rather than asking prices.
What it cost at launch, and what that means now
The game launched at $49.99 on its own. The bundle with the Aim Controller was $79.99, and the Aim on its own was meant to be $59.99. Several reviewers pointed out at the time that this made the bundle the obvious buy, since the controller alone cost more than the thirty dollar gap.
Then supply collapsed. The Aim sold out almost immediately at launch, and for a period you could not buy it separately at all, only inside the Farpoint bundle. That scarcity is a large part of why the secondhand market behaves the way it does nearly a decade later.
Original illustration created for IGGG Guides.
How long it is, and what that works out to
GameSpot's reviewer finished the campaign in about five and a half hours and spent another two in Challenge mode. Other outlets reported four to five hours for the story. Call it five hours for the campaign and seven if you engage with the extras. Here is the cost per hour at several realistic prices, calculated for this article.
| Scenario | Cost | Hours | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch bundle in 2017 | $79.99 | 7 | $11.43 |
| Launch game alone | $49.99 | 7 | $7.14 |
| Secondhand bundle at the low end | $40 | 7 | $5.71 |
| Secondhand bundle at the high end | $70 | 7 | $10.00 |
| Disc only, no controller | about $16 | 5 | $3.20 |
Even at the best price on that table this is expensive per hour by any normal standard. Several of those launch reviews called the game overpriced and they were right. What the table does not capture is that the Aim Controller works with around twenty other PS4 VR games, including Firewall Zero Hour, DOOM VFR and Borderlands 2 VR, so the peripheral cost spreads across a library rather than one five hour campaign. That changes the maths considerably if you are building a legacy PSVR setup rather than chasing one game.
The game itself
You are a pilot sent to collect two scientists from a research station near Jupiter. An anomaly opens, everyone ends up on a hostile alien world, and you walk across it shooting things while piecing the story together from recorded fragments you find along the way.
The shooting is genuinely excellent, and the reason is physical rather than mechanical. You aim by looking down the barrel of a real object in your hands. You can blind fire around cover by sticking the gun out. You can lean. Nobody taught you any of that with a tutorial prompt, and that is the point. Every control input from a DualShock 4 is mapped onto the Aim, including clickable sticks and a small touchpad, with rumble providing recoil.
Around that, the game is thin. Levels are corridors. Enemy variety is limited and the early hours lean heavily on the same handful of types. The campaign is a late bloomer, as GameSpot put it, with the first area functioning as an extended demo and the back third finally applying pressure. You can walk freely but there is never a reason to look around, so exploration feels like being escorted. The story has a couple of real human moments buried in writing that mostly is not good.
On visuals, you will see claims that it is the best looking PSVR game and claims that it looks a decade out of date, sometimes in the same article. Both are defensible. The sense of scale in the later environments is excellent and the weapon models are detailed, which matters when one is held inches from your face. The textures and the empty world are not impressive by flat screen standards. Judge it as a 1080p headset game from 2017 and it holds up fine.
There is also an online two player co-op mode and a Challenge mode that rebuilds campaign missions as scored arcade runs with timers, multipliers and leaderboards. The Challenge mode is the real replay value, and the reviewers who liked the game most are the ones who spent time in it.
Content note, and this one is practical. The main enemy type is a large, fast, aggressive spider. In VR, at scale, in a headset you cannot look away from. Metro's reviewer wrote that if you dislike spiders the game is essentially unplayable. If you have any level of arachnophobia, treat that as a warning rather than a joke. There is also the usual original PSVR caveat on tracking, since the camera sits in front of you and cannot see behind you, so sudden turns and weapon drift do occur.
Who made it, and did it sell
Impulse Gear is a San Francisco studio and Farpoint was its first game, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. For a debut, the commercial result was solid. It debuted at number two on the UK sales charts and was the highest charting game there that required VR. It sold 17,100 copies in its first week in Japan. By 2018 it was reported as the best selling PSVR title in the United States, and it topped Sony's own US PSVR digital chart in its launch month even in the period when the Aim bundle was hard to find.
That is a real success story for a first project, and it is worth setting against the mixed critical reception. Compare it with the budget-to-reception mismatch we looked at in our piece on why AAA games are not fun anymore, where far bigger spends produced far worse outcomes.
Buy, wait, or skip
| You are | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A PSVR2 owner | Skip, you have no choice | Sony confirms PSVR2 cannot run PSVR content or read the Aim Controller |
| You already own PSVR1 and an Aim Controller | Buy | The disc is cheap and this is the best thing the Aim ever did |
| You own PSVR1 but no Aim | Buy the bundle, not the game | With a DualShock 4 you are playing a much worse game. Reviewers were unanimous |
| Building a legacy PSVR1 setup for a library | Worth it | The Aim supports around twenty games, so the hardware cost spreads out |
| Buying all that hardware for this one game | Skip | Five hours does not justify assembling four discontinued components |
| Arachnophobic | Skip | Giant spiders, full scale, in a headset. This is not an exaggeration |
| Prone to motion sickness | Try cautiously | Free movement with comfort options. Reviewers rated comfort around 8 out of 10 |
Verdict: Farpoint is a five hour corridor shooter wrapped around one outstanding idea, and that idea needed a plastic rifle nobody makes anymore. If the hardware is already in your house, buy it, because holding that controller and lining up a shot down a real barrel is still a thing modern VR mostly does not offer. If the hardware is not in your house, this is not worth assembling from discontinued parts for one campaign. The honest score is the seven that most outlets gave it, with an asterisk that says the peripheral is doing half the work.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play Farpoint on PSVR2?
No. Sony's own PS VR2 compatibility page states that PS VR2 cannot play PS VR content and is not compatible with PlayStation VR Aim controllers. There has been no port and there is no technical route to one without rebuilding the controls.
Can I play it on a PS5?
Yes, but only with an original PSVR headset, a PlayStation Camera and the PS Camera adapter, running in PS4 backward compatibility mode. Sony stopped supplying that adapter on 26 November 2024, so you now need to source one yourself. The PS5 HD Camera is not a substitute.
Is Farpoint on PC?
No. It is a PlayStation VR exclusive and has never been released on any other platform.
Do I need the Aim Controller?
Technically no, since a DualShock 4 works. Practically yes. Reviewers across the board said the game is substantially worse without it, and it does not support PlayStation Move controllers at all.
How long does it take to finish?
Around five hours for the campaign, closer to seven if you play Challenge mode. Reported times run from four to five and a half hours.
Does it have multiplayer?
Yes, online two player co-op alongside the single player campaign, plus a scored Challenge mode with online leaderboards.
Why do players rate it so much higher than critics?
The most common player argument is that critics compared it to flat screen shooters rather than to other VR games of the time. Note the sample sizes though. The critic figure comes from 62 reviews and the 8.1 user figure from 260 ratings, which is a small pool by Metacritic standards.
Where to go next
- If you want a modern shooter that does not need discontinued hardware, our Terminator Resistance review covers a similar budget-shooter-that-punches-above-its-weight story.
- For another game carried almost entirely by one strong mechanic, read our F.I.S.T. Forged In Shadow Torch review.
- On the subject of games built around alien hostility and isolation, see our Destroy All Humans 2 review for the comedy version.
- If platform availability is what worries you, our Nintendo Switch 2 games rundown looks at a platform that is actively handling backward compatibility rather well.
- Still hunting for a shooter worth your money? Try our take on The Division 2.
- Browse the Shooter, FPS, Action and Multiplayer hubs for more.
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