Virtual reality can be one amazing escape, on work out or both. If you are looking for the best self-contained VR game console this is the one Oculus Quest 2 it’s your decision. The compact headset (an improved and cheaper update to the original Oculus Quest) reminds me more than ever that there are some really great games out there on the VR platform. (That being said, there are other VR options if you already have a gaming PC or a PlayStation 4/5.)
While Facebook’s intentions to run more ads in Oculus VR (and a Facebook compulsory registration) may not be to your liking, but the Quest has become quite a destination for the best VR games out there. (Note that you will like to access top PC VR games Star Wars: Seasons or Half-life: alyx(you need to connect it to a gaming PC with a USB cable.) Good games continue to hit the Oculus Store regularly.
All of these games work with the year-long Oculus Quest and the new Quest 2, but many apps are getting additional updates and graphics boosts for Quest 2 owners. We will continue to update this list regularly as new options become available.
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Oculus Quest 2 is better and cheaper … with a Facebook …
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Resolution games
Demeo is a wonderful online RPG for four players that captures the feeling of collaborative gaming, but in VR. The 3D map, characters and your floating hands holding cards that can be played in the game feel like a D&D session animated into reality. A recent update adds more free content; The games are randomized a bit each time to keep the tension going indefinitely.
Read our practical experience.
ForeVR Games Inc
Sometimes I really miss Wii Sports. Or real bowling alleys. ForeVR Bowl is the best simulation of the two, with online play and solo challenges, and a mix of realistic and weird environments. The ball physics are more realistic than Wii Sports could ever have imagined, but they’re also forgiving enough to be fun. Just leave some arm room in your home play area … you need a little more room than you think.
Crytek / Oculus
You have no idea how surprisingly intense VR climbing can be until you’ve tried The Climb 2. This sequel to a classic VR game (also on Quest) uses your hands to reach up and grab ledges, ropes and zipline. It sounds simple, yet spotting ledges, getting the right grip, and keeping focus can be a real challenge. It’s totally beautiful too.
Read our first recording of The Climb 2.
Resolution games
This isn’t Overcooked, but Cook-Out is a charming and truly immersive cooking game in which you use a grill and tools right in front of you to make sandwiches. Other players can join in, up to four players at the same time. At full speed it feels like a theme park attraction created just for you in VR.
Cyan worlds
Cyan Worlds’ new take on Myst is the same game you’ve probably played a million times, but the environments here are really nice to get around. Think of this as a puzzle that doubles as a meditative escape. Read more about Myst in VR here.
ILMxLab
I missed my chance to go to Disney and see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but ILMxLab’s Batuu-themed game is the next best. It’s not exactly a tour of the Black Spire Outpost, but the incredible character game, world design, and intense blaster battles are an impressive feat. It’s too early, but this quest game still costs less than most Disney souvenirs. (Also check out Vader Immortal, ILMxLab’s previous lightsaber-wielding adventure starring Darth Vader.)
Read our practical experience and our interview.
Big Box VR
Population One’s multiplayer battle royale experience is very Fortnite-like. In fact, it’s extremely Fortnite-like. It’s good. There are few major multiplayer VR games out there right now and this is one of the best. Falling down from above, navigating the shrinking map, climbing and hunting for supplies, as well as excellent controls make this game an indispensable team shooter.
Skydance interactive
It’s expensive, and the file size can be up to 8GB on the Quest 2, but this is console-quality VR that has been pared back to a wearable headset. Saints & Sinners was already a critically acclaimed PC VR game, and the transition to Quest retains its polished and RPG-like feel. It’s freaky, but it’s deep too. There’s a lot more going on than just shooting.
Oculus
Many Quest games are expensive, but a surprising number are free. Rec Room is a social hub that is also a door to countless social games with seemingly limitless possibilities. Sometimes it feels a bit like Wii Sports or VR Roblox. There are mini-adventures, paintball games, and more. I just want there to be improved parental controls (a lot of parents seem to be letting kids into the common room lately).
Read our original impressions of Rec Room, Pre-Quest.
Oculus
This is the Oculus Quest’s killer app, and if you want to get moving, love lightsabers, or just want a fun dance challenge, this is it. There are lots of tracks to keep you occupied, the lightsaber tracking is awesome, and there are additional music packs to purchase if you feel compelled to do so. I am currently exhausted to beat my nephew’s high scores.
return
Bullet time, grab the gun, wait – the faster you move, the faster everything else moves. Get it now Superhot was one of the first games to hit the quest, and it’s still amazing. Runner-up: Pistol Whip. (Sorry, I still like Superhot more.)
For fun labs
Seriously, ping pong in VR is that good. The table physics, the size of the play area, the way VR is perfectly tailored to your needs – who knows? You can play with real people online and the gameplay is shockingly unforgiving.
Fireproof games
If you’re in the mood for a scary dive into mysterious puzzle boxes, this brand new VR game from the makers of the hit game series called The Room is a fantastic and scary mental challenge (it’s not great for kids, though). There are many other escape room games on Quest including the excellent I Expect You To Die and a live multiplayer escape room experience with tickets from Adventure Labs.
Read our review on The Room VR: A Dark Matter.
Oculus / Tender Claws
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The Synesthetic Tetris Effect was one of the best games of 2018, and the Quest version is for the most part just as good. It’s intense, the music is fantastic, and while the levels are hectic, it’s weird zen too. This is a perfect way to relax.
Read our test on the Tetris Effect.
Oculus
The ultimate frisbee game in the weightlessness of Oculus is a relentless three-on-three VR experience that gave me the Rocket League vibe, but in VR. The controls that rely on your hands to catapult around are brilliant. The open beta is currently free and great. But expect to lose.
Oculus
Moss is about a little mouse with a sword who goes on a search. You follow him through levels that feel like dioramas that you can look down at. Walking around and exploring the beautiful worlds is half the fun, but the game itself is great too and plays like a console platformer but in 3D.
Oculus
With other people in your home, VR can be a lonely breakup. Keep Talking engages others by having people who are not in VR deal with a bomb disposal manual while the person in VR tries to communicate and stop the bomb in time. It feels like a strange board game, which most VR games never succeed in doing.
Oculus
An endless and randomly generated set of castle enemies hits you every time you play, and this roguelike game uses the bow and arrow as the only method of navigation and attack. The mechanics feel great and being surrounded by enemies you’re shooting arrows at can be incredibly intense.
Oculus
If you’re missing mini-golf (or real golf), Pro Putt’s courses feel like a great replacement. The courses are cartoonish, but not crazy about mini golf. The putting realism is surprisingly good. I find the whole thing a little meditative.
Oculus
Talk about a game that never seems to get old. While the Space Pirate Trainer has been around since the early days of the HTC Vive, the sleek arcade design is perfect. You stop, shoot at aliens and shield yourself. Survive as long as you can. It’s perfect.
Oculus
Would you like to relive the games of the 90s, including the experience of sitting on the floor with a controller and playing games on a TV? You can do that with a small, retro 16-bit console, but Pixel Ripped does it scary in VR. You’re a kid in a home and you play games that don’t exist. Then you step into the pixel world and it gets stranger. The original ’80s Pixel Ripped 1989 set is now included as an add-on DLC.
Vertigo games
VR can turn your sense of reality inside out, and A Fisherman’s Tale is the best kind of out-of-body experience. A room with puzzles to solve also has a dollhouse which is a perfect model of the room you are in. You can reach into your own space and while you are doing so a larger hand is entering your room from above. It’s like living in your own weird puzzle dollhouse universe, and it’s awesome.
Vertical robot
Red Matter was one of the best looking Oculus Quest games, and an update to Quest 2 takes the graphics even further. The puzzle-solving, atmospheric, brooding adventure takes place in a Cold War in space in an alternate timeline. Her tool-filled spacesuit slips around, grappling with the brilliantly evoked world that often has half-life vibes.
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