Tetris Effect Connected has just launched onto Steam VR, while I had previously played and enjoyed this iteration on Xbox I had yet to experience the game in its full VR glory. I was in for an unexpected and very welcome surprise.
To play and review I used an Oculus Quest 2, linked to my desktop PC via my home Wireless network using Virtual Desktop. I won't go into the nitty gritty of the setup details here, but suffice to say Virtual Desktop is far superior to Oculus Airlink in my opinion and is an absolute must buy. In fact I use my OQ2 exclusively to stream games from my PC and don't have anything other than Virtual Desktop installed locally.
So back to Tetris Effect Connected...
We all know Tetris, probably one of , if not the most, famous game ever created. A simple tile-matching video game created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984 for the Soviet Era Electronika 60 personal computer.
For anyone who doesn't know the premise; in Tetris players complete lines by moving differently shaped "tetrominoes", which descend into a grid. The completed lines disappear and grant the player points, and the player continues to fill the cleared spaces until the playing field is filled.
Tetris has appeared in some form or another on every platform over the past 30 years or so, but this could be the absolute pinnacle for me.
Tetris Effect [and the subsequent addition of online PVP/Co-Op "Connected"] was a welcome and beautiful release back in 2018.
Keeping the perfect game design, but implementing themed play areas with gorgeous particle effects and soundtracks tied to gameplay to enhance immersion.
VR further adds to that in way that can't truly be explained without experiencing it.
I had expected to go into the game and be part of the process, moving big blocks around with my VR controllers as they come crashing down around me.... but no, nothing like that. I was calmly placed in front of the familiar grid as the blocks started to descend, soundtrack gently easing in as I started to drop the first few blocks into place.
In my peripheries I could see the beginnings of an undersea environment, crisply rendered in the Oculus headset, elements pulsating to the rising beats of the relaxing music while ambient sounds reacted to my positioning of the tetrominoes.
The game seamlessly ramps up, as does the soundtrack and environment around you to create a crescendo of sound, light and entertainment, it's basically what it would feel like to be Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.
It's easy to explain away each single element or process, but the experience of being in VR, playing the game in the moment, transcends those individual parts. Now I know I risk wandering into "pretentious prick" territory here, but it was genuinely an almost Zen like, cathartic experience playing. I emerged from VR some 90 minutes later [battery life] so unbelievably destressed that I hadn't realized how stressed I must have been prior to playing.
I think along with Beat Saber and Half Life Alyx, Tetris Effect is the third pillar of the holy trinity of VR games that everyone should own or at least experience.
Performance wise, the setup I used provided beautiful results, crisp, resolution, clear particle effects, no discomfort or motion sickness. I did have issues trying to play using the Oculus motion controllers however and just opted to use an Xbox controller, which worked perfectly and had no impact on immersion or gameplay in VR.
Tetris Effect Connected is available now on Steam and really is an essential VR purchase.