The reaction when Final Fantasy XV VR was shown at the Playstation press conference, the reactions were immediate and polarising. The cheers were immense as it was initially shown and announced, and then the cheers died as soon as it was shown that you would play as Prompto. Personally, I like Prompto and so playing as him was far from a deterrence for me. I took the time out at E3 2016 to hunt down Square Enix’s demo and see how much fun I would have with it.

As I sat down and had the headset placed on my head my excitement was palpable. Final Fantasy has been a massive part of my gaming history and being able to be inside the game seemed amazing to me. My excitement and anticipation was quickly crushed, as the realisation dawned upon me that this was not a fully-featured game, but seemed to be a very bare bones VR ‘experience’.

In the demo, you take control of Prompto’s disembodied hand as you and your friends fight the Behemoth from the original Episode Duscae demo for Final Fantasy XV. Now, instead of dashing in and out, attacking with your swords, you’re instead firing a gun at the Behemoth while warping away when it charges at you. This had the potential to be a really interesting fight and experience, but it’s hampered by how simple it is.

You have no special abilities you can use while firing at the Behemoth, instead shooting it at an extremely low pace (think along the lines of Reaper’s shotguns in Overwatch), and warp within a very small and confined area. The only ability you have, is that when the Behemoth is knocked down you can launch a series of rapid fire shots at it. The lack of variety in attacks and abilities was a missed opportunity that dragged the entire experience down.

After roughly 4-5 minutes of monotonous shooting at the Behemoth, you finally kill it and you’re then transported into a car being driven by Cid. The scenery is excellent and being able to freely turn around and look at everything is great, but Cid doesn’t acknowledge your existence at all. There’s no chatter, no looks, nothing. It makes the experience feel soulless and lonely.

Overall, unless there is a lot more to Final Fantasy XV VR that Square Enix is keeping under wraps, I would say that it is one of the most disappointing VR experiences at the moment. Final Fantasy XV VR releases on the launch day of Playstation VR on October 13.