I got a Quest 2 a while back and played around with it a bit. There were some entertaining games like “I expect you to die” and the first portion of “Lone Echo”, but mostly they just felt like proof of concept demos and I quickly lost interest.
Is there anything actually made for VR and a fully fledged high quality game?
I love how Halflife: Alyx isn’t even being mentioned.
Too scary lol. I got it with my index and never played. Really wish valve included a less scary switch in the settings, because it’s one of the best made VR games.
Just can’t do it. Not built for it.
Grimlord, Into the Radius, Among Us, Vertigo 2. And then there’s some impressive mods for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. There’s also some nice crossplay games with pancake players: Phasmophobia and the more recent The Break In.
And then I like Pavlov for its Push mode and custom content like the Escape from Tarkov map. Obviously most of this is PC, but some are available on quest and you can also use Remote Desktop VR to stream to your headset.
Myst, Superhot VR, Beatsabre
Man, I haven’t played through Myst since… the original Myst. I heard that Firmament was a bit of a letdown, but I really should go back and play Myst in VR. Thanks for the reminder!
Project Wingman and Subnautica can both be played entirely in VR if you’re into dogfighting or the indescribable horrors of the deep, respectively
There is no way I could handle Subnautica in VR. I was scared enough playing normally.
I played the hell out of Subnautica a few years ago. I loved it, and it’s one of the few recent games I played up until the end, even though I spent 90% of my time just exploring and not worrying too much about the main quest.
That said, back then the VR experience for the game was considered pretty bad - like a pasted-on layer that was largely ignored by the devs. If that has changed, I might think about getting a headset.
Try the Submersed mod, it adds full motion controls!
I cannot wait to one day be able to play Subnautica in VR. Wanting it makes me feel psychotic though because that games scares the shit bejeezus right off my socks.
SuperhotVR. BeatSabre.
Superhot is fantastic.
The two biggest reasons driving me to get a be headset! I played beat saber at a friends a bit and I just love it
And I played super hot on my Mac years ago, and got to play it a bit in vr at a con and can’t wait to actually be able to play the whole thing
I can’t believe no one has mentioned The Last Clockwinder yet. It’s a automation puzzle game in which you create clones of yourself and get them to all work together. It’s not too hard to progress in but makes it easy to try to optimize your solutions if you want. The theming and story is cozy too. Really great game!
If you’re expecting 100 hour plus experiences in open worlds or detailed campaigns like AAA titles for $30-60 then there aren’t that many. There are still good titles. Might want to check out steam and see what’s popular in their VR section. Maybe see what has longer play times if that is what you’re interested in.
Skyrim is next level in VR. Not sure if you can play it on the quest, but the level of immersion in the obscenely large world and exploring it in 3D makes the older engine feel entirely irrelevant.
You can 100% play on the quest (2 at least). I thought it was really good. The scale of everything hits a lot different. Not every mod works but a lot of them do - even the big ones. Archery is super fun.
The unskippable “boring” introduction we’ve all seen 1000 times in VR is wildly better. You really feel like you’re being carted through a town, hearing people all around you talk their shit. Then the dragon.
I didn’t actually get that far because space constraints became an issue with where I had my setup, but going to the little town then white run felt like an adventure on its own.
I just made a comment about this on Kbin last night! I play on the reverb G2, but you should be able to play on Steam with the Q2 no problem. It’s a copy paste, so if something seems off it’s due to the context of the other post!
Here’s some of my favorites:
Vertical Shift: fairly short and barebones but it’s got a full range of powers for you to play with around an open world. Fun VR mechanics worth the sale price, despite the minimal gameplay.
You mentioned Boneworks and Phasmophobia which are also both a lot of fun, but motion sickness and multiplayer can make them not as convenient to always be ready to play. Of course, if we mention Boneworks then we have to talk about Duck Season. Blade and Sorcery should be on the list as well, it’s just too good to pass up. And well, if we’re talking about B&S we can’t ignore GORN.
Pistol Whip is basically a rhythm John Wick simulator. Very worth the cost of the game, lots of content, multiple free content updates - just a stellar game through and through. Also much more engaging than BeatSaber IMO, never been a fan of flailing my arms to slash blocks on beat. But shooting and dodging? Give me more!
Bonus: They just released a map creator. The life of the game is virtually infinite now, so that’s exciting :)
Superhot VR pre-content removal. Still a great game without the ending though.
V-Racer Hoverbike is a great VR game oriented Hoverbike Racing. Great sense of speed and feel, motion sickness is somewhat a given given the nature of the game…
Rez Infinite for anyone who remembers Rez for the PS2.
Pavlov VR is also a good popular fun game for your VR FPS itches. For more, there’s Into the Radius, Arizona Sunshine, ARK and ADE, Naked Sun, Bandit Point, Risk of Rain 2 VR (mod).
Speaking of mods, Subnautica in VR…
And one of my favorite pass-times, Holo-ball! It’s basically racquetball :)
There’s a couple party games that are fun as well, Wii Sports style with Pure Bowl VR, NVIDIA’s VR Funhouse, Tennis Arcade VR. All pretty decent (particularly compared to others that are available). Oh, also check out VRNoid which has brickbreaker and Hyper Psychic Gauntlets for a unique game. You can also play all your NES roms in VR with 3DSenVR which is pretty awesome. While we’re here, give Metroid Prime a playthrough with Dolphin VR, or all 3 if you get it running :)
Then there’s the whole world of productivity/not quite gaming programs.
I love, love love SynthVR. It’s just one of the smartest uses for VR, period. Create your virtual environment and just make it a giant music setup. Absolutely stellar. Similarly, Vinyl Reality for using your own music to DJ and mix! There’s also a drumming program called Paradiddle which is awesome for the same reasons. For painting, Vermillion.
If you’ve got a HOTAS or a racewheel there’s also a number of games that work great in tandem, Elite Dangerous for your space trucker sims (for this one, be sure to get SCRCPY for your android phone and run XS Overlay or OVR Toolkit to bring your phone with you in VR), Star Wars Squadrons, Drone Hero.
Also check out Podracer VR on GitHub!
What’s they remove from super hot?
Spoilers below:
spoiler
Throughout Superhot you are slowly doing more and more egregious actions, like robbing airports and stealing planes and whatnot. As you go through the game accomplishing these tasks given to you after you put on the headset, you become very familiar with following orders. By the end of the game, the last level, you put on your headset and continue as normal. Upon finishing the game, you remove your headset. A knock comes at the door and it’s a being (either a drone or a person can’t quite recall). Your character is then at the edge of your roof. You look left, nothing. You look right, empty. You look up, sky.
You look down, and you see the ledge. The only place left to go is to step off.
It’s very powerful. It has quite an impact and I understand why they chose to remove it, however I wish it were made an option because it is such a strong story for those who feel comfortable with the subject matter. I am very glad that I played it a few months before they pushed the update removing that ending.
For anyone interested, you can still download that version of the game on Steam.
Assetto Corsa has a great VR mode, No Man’s Sky, Half life Alyx, V-Racer Hoverbike, Walkabout Mini-golf , Box VR (My workout game), Arizona Sunshine, Observer (great game but too short)
Seconding Walkabout mini golf. By far my favorite VR game.
PCVR is where the high quality games are. Quest and Pico do have quite a few gems now though!
Personally my peak VR experience has been playing the Outer Wilds with a PC VR mod, but very hardware dependent to get decent framerates.
Wanderer might be a good option for you if you’re looking for a puzzle game with a bit more story meat to it.
I think a lot of VR games end up short and sweet not just for technical & cost limitations but because the extra effort and intensity of the VR experience means players can get burnt out on longer story focused games. I remember Valve talking about how they had to really change up the pacing of their standard formula when they were developing Half Life: Alyx.
That last point is a big one, for me putting 30 hours into a single VR game feels like putting 100 into a pancake.
I’m surprised no ones mentioned No Mans Sky. I put a ton of hrs in that game in VR. Edit: Elite Dangerous if fully playable in VR. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is fun in VR as the bomb de-fusser. The Talos Principle is great in VR too.
My Valve Index is my Beatsaber machine. Half Life Alyx is great, too.
VTOL VR is my absolute favorite VR game. All you need is a chair, a headset, and two paddles. You don’t need to walk around. You are in the cockpit of a fighter jet with a watered town cockpit. It’s a lot more approachable than DCS.
If you want your breath to be absolutely taken away, and you’ve got a top tier gaming rig, Kayak VR will make you cry.
