The headset can also track your fingers, to a limited degree. In Horizon, I was able to hold my palm open, make a fist, extend a thumbs-up, and point with my index finger in real life and see my hand mirrored in the game. The middle finger could also be extended in a peace sign on occasion, but in general most of the rest of my fingers weren't articulated distinctly. In other words, no, I couldn't flip my captor off.

This is more than enough to provide some flexibility in the VR games I played. The controllers also have a number of trigger buttons that are comfortably placed to feel like I'm really grabbing something when I open a door or pick up a torch. It's obvious I'm not holding an apple, but I at least feel like I'm grabbing something, instead of just mashing a button.

That was especially the case while climbing in Horizon. Perhaps a little too much of this game is climbing, but it highlighted what the system could do pretty well. Placing one hand over the other, gripping a ledge as I go, I was able to lift myself up whole mountains in the game. It wasn't too physically strenuous, and the game is extremely forgiving, but I still felt a visceral sense of satisfaction each time I lifted myself to the top.

Unfortunately, Horizon isn't a very long game. That's not to say it's insubstantial or not worth buying, but it's not on the same scale as the open-world sandbox of its namesake that you could spend hundreds of hours inside. Nor should it be. The on-rails experience of VR doesn't lend itself to open-world games. And since the way you walk in this game is to hold buttons on both controllers and pump your arms in place, you really wouldn't want to.

Ultimately, the feeling I had about Horizon is also how I feel about the headset as a whole. Both are incredible tech demos. While there are more advanced VR headsets out there, few are this cheap or accessible (which is saying something). And the games may be cool, but as of right now, there are precious few of them.

Hopefully, that won't stay the case for very long. Existing VR games deserve a port, but what Sony is offering isn't just another VR platform. Eye-tracking, finger-tracking, and the genuinely impressive controllers make for a robust platform that's just begging for more games. The only thing left is to see whether developers will answer the call.