Bound

Bound
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Plastic
Publisher	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform	PlayStation VR
Device	PlayStation VR
Operating System	PlayStation 4
Type	Game
Genre	Platformer, Adventure
Input Device	DualShock 4
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	August 16, 2016 (PS4); October 13, 2016 (PS VR update)
Price	US$19.99
App Store	PlayStation Store
Website	https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/214367

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Bound is a 2016 3D platformer developed by Plastic, a small Polish studio with demoscene roots, and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The player controls a dancer in a world that exists in the mind of a woman revisiting her childhood memories. The game launched on 16 August 2016, and support for the PlayStation VR headset was added as a free update on the headset's launch day, 13 October 2016. The whole game can be played in VR.

Bound kept its third-person camera in the headset instead of switching to a first-person view. Plastic's creative director Michał Staniszewski wrote that the studio was proud of a camera system which "proves that third-person camera games are possible in VR". The game has a "mixed or average" Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, based on 62 critic reviews.

Reviewed 11 October 2026. Developer, publisher, announcement and release dates, PS VR update, price, PS4 Pro, PS Plus and current PlayStation Store details, quotes, Metacritic/OpenCritic aggregates and each cited review against its source. About review dates.

Gameplay

Bound is a single-player platformer in which the player uses dance moves to cross large environments and platforming challenges, while the story is told through metaphor and imagery. The frame story follows a woman who relives her childhood memories through the stories in her notebook; those stories center on a princess and her relationship with her mother, the queen. Dancing is central to play: according to Staniszewski, the player can dance through the entire game. A dance move also works as a shield, which Destructoid reviewer Chris Carter called "kind of a catch-all" for the game's combat.

After a tutorial, the player chooses the order of the levels. Plastic states that the game can be completed in 120 different ways, and that level order changes how the game looks and sounds, how its story can be interpreted, and its difficulty. Finding the fastest path through the levels unlocks a Platinum Trophy. Reviewers also noted a photo mode and a speedrun mode that unlocks after the game is finished.

PlayStation VR mode

In VR the player still watches the dancer from outside, but the player is placed inside the scene and can look around the environments through a full 360 degrees. At launch the camera did not follow the character. The right analog stick moved it between fixed positions, such as side-on, in front of the dancer or behind her, and it snapped from one view to the next instead of panning. Hardcore Gamer reviewer Marcus Estrada wrote that each camera move briefly darkens the screen to reduce motion sickness, and that this worked for him. He also described the image in the headset as somewhat grainy and jagged. Between levels, the player can move the camera around dioramas to examine the scenes. PS VR and the PlayStation Camera are required for the VR features, and the game does not use PlayStation Move motion controllers.

In December 2016, Plastic released a teaser for patch 1.03, which added a follow camera option for PS VR play. TheSixthAxis reported that the patch would not clear Sony's quality assurance before the Christmas break and expected it in the second week of January 2017.

Development

Plastic is a small team from Łódź, Poland, founded in 1997, whose earlier PlayStation 3 titles were Linger in Shadows and Datura. UploadVR noted that Datura (2012) used PlayStation Move controllers and was paired with Sony's HMZ-T1 head-mounted display, with Move handling head tracking, and described it as one of the first prototypes for PS VR. Sony's Santa Monica Studio teased the project in early December 2015 with short clips of dancing feet and a teaser trailer. Metacritic credits Plastic Studios and SCE Santa Monica as the game's developers.

Plastic announced Bound for PS4 on the PlayStation Blog on 3 December 2015. In the post, Staniszewski described a "procedural 3D platforming world" running at "ultra-sharp anti-aliased 60 Hz in 1080p resolution", and said the team would deliver a "notgame" that "is also a game". He described Bound as "a 3D platformer designed for people with the desire to concentrate on the narrative side of games and experience a mature story", and announced "one big puzzle that can be only solved by a community of players working together". The soundtrack, by Oleg "Heinali" Shpudeiko, combines ballet and electroacoustic music. Staniszewski later wrote that the team worked on the game for almost four years and paired electroacoustic music with classical ballet piano, while the visuals drew on modern art and demoscene algorithms.

PlayStation VR support was confirmed at E3 2016 in Los Angeles, together with a new trailer. In its report on the trailer, Road to VR noted that PlayStation VR's launch date had been confirmed as 13 October 2016. Polish site Chip.pl called it the first Polish game on PlayStation VR.

Release

Bound was released for PS4 on 16 August 2016 with an MSRP of US$19.99. The PS VR mode arrived as a free update for existing owners on 13 October 2016, the day PlayStation VR launched. In its list of PS VR games enhanced for the PlayStation 4 Pro, UploadVR placed Bound among titles ready on the console's launch day and wrote that it would render "twice as many pixels" on screen. In November 2017, Bound was one of the monthly free games for PlayStation Plus members.

Platform	Date	Notes
PlayStation 4	16 August 2016	Flat-screen release; US$19.99
PlayStation VR	13 October 2016	Free update for owners on PS VR launch day
PlayStation 4 Pro	November 2016	Enhanced rendering listed by UploadVR as ready at the Pro's launch
PlayStation 5	Backward compatibility	Playable on PS5, though some PS4 features may be absent

As of October 2026, the PlayStation Store still sells the PS4 version for US$19.99, lists it as included with PlayStation Plus Extra, and offers a free Bound Demo flagged as PS VR content. The listing states that the full game can be played in VR and is rated ESRB Everyone 10+.

Reception

On Metacritic, Bound has a Metascore of 71 ("mixed or average") from 62 critic reviews. OpenCritic lists a Top Critic Average of 72 from 43 reviews, with 29% of critics recommending the game.

Publication	Score	Notes
Metacritic (aggregate)	71/100	62 critic reviews
OpenCritic (aggregate)	72	Top Critic Average; 43 reviews; 29% recommend
Game Informer	7.8/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic
Polygon	7.5/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic
GameSpot	7/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic
Gamereactor	7/10	Flat-screen review
Destructoid	6/10	Flat-screen review
The VR Grid	6.5	Review of the PS VR mode

Reviews of the original release praised the art and animation but found the platforming thin. Destructoid's Chris Carter called the backgrounds "stunning" and noted that they often sync with the music, but found the movement stiff and had no desire to replay it; he wrote that he "would have been fine with a walking simulator that told the story it wanted to tell". Gamereactor's Eirik Hyldbakk Furu praised the art and atmosphere and criticized "fairly monotonous tasks" and platforming sections that felt too similar to one another.

Several reviewers rated the PS VR version above the flat-screen one. Kelly Ohannessian of UploadVR wrote that VR adds a sense of three-dimensional space and scale that lifts the basic platforming, that "the flat dancer is now tangibly there before you", and that the game "should be experienced by all who believe in virtual reality", while judging it more successful as art than as a game. Aran Suddi of TheSixthAxis called VR "the absolute best way to experience what Plastic has crafted" and compared the cutscenes to "watching a play unfold in front of me". He found the snapping camera took a little getting used to and warned that "some may get a bit dizzy from the constant shifts". Hardcore Gamer's Estrada wrote that "the gorgeous locales and emotional storytelling shine through exceptionally well via PSVR", but said the fixed camera removed the game's cinematic angles, made the path forward harder to read, and suited the speedrun mode poorly. Ryan Ouellette of The VR Grid, reviewing before the follow camera patch, wrote that the "camera controls are a chore" and that "it just plays on way too long".