What VR games are you playing these days? Any suggestions? Let's also include Virtual Boy in the discussion.

We have threads for what retro games people are playing as well as what modern games people are playing. But in this thread, I’m curious, what games are you playing in VR specifically?

I still haven’t beaten Astro Bot and am slowly chipping away at it - playing an hour or so every few weeks. It’s a fun game, bot I’m not as in love with it as many other people are. It just feels a bit too linear for a 3D platformer in my humble opinion. Even Super Mario 3D Land had a much more open design than this. Still, I’m impressed with how charming it is and how beautiful the graphics are.

I’m also starting a playthrough of Teleroboxer in Virtual Boy - I’ve never advanced far in it, but I intend to change that now.

So, what VR games are you playing? And what VR recommendations to you have? I’m curious to hear about them!

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Best of luck on Teleroboxer - despite the difficulty it really is worth persevering with, think of it as a fun new challenge of committing wholly new controls to memory which you rarely get with today’s standardised control schemes. The later fights really up the ante.

As for VR - the one modern game I really want to play is Everybody’s Golf VR.

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I’m currently playing some games in stereoscopic 3D in the big screen VR app (available in oculus, steam, etc.) It’s nice visiting newer and older titles in 3D. You can join in for a look/chat. My environment is publicaly accessible in the game lobby under my nickname when I’m playing. Currently featuring: sonic & all-stars racing transformed, shadow of the tomb raider, and some assorted Wii/gc games. Whatever I feel like playing in the moment.

I really hope Half Life Alyx releases on Sony’s PSVR2, like it’s rumored. I’ve watched a friend play it, and it’s amazing. I have the original Sony PSVR, but haven’t used it for about 2 years, because I’ve been waiting for this new hardware. I don’t have too much space, but hopefully I’ll be able to get some decent gameplay with most games.

For anyone with a pc headset or oculus quest, I cannot recommend synth riders enough. Best rhythm game I’ve played, and in my personal opinion leaps and bounds better then beat saber. It’s quite a workout on hard mode and beyond.

My Oculus Quest should be in Monday. Can’t wait to play it.

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Anyone up for some retro gaming hangout in VR? We can use the big picture app to share a room, and watch some gameplay of favorites, and in case of ps2/wii/gc/wiiu/ps3 titles, in 3d on the big screen while we talk. I usually host a public room while I’m retro gaming in VR, but we could host a private room for RGB members if there’s interest. Stereoscopic 3d really adds a lot to the experience in many games.

Been playing a lot of Half Life Alyx. VR is the real deal. Can’t believe it took me so long to try it. Also been playing Zombieland.

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I’m pretty bored of the sort of games hitting consoles these days so I thought I’d try VR, picked up a PS VR primarily for Sony Japan Studio’s last titles but ended up playing much more.

Everybody’s Golf VR is probably the best of the bunch, since every facet of the game has been thoughtfully designed around the presence of “being there” - the entire game just wouldn’t work or exist without first person head tracking, 3D, and Move controls. It’s just really well thought out and the atmosphere of being on the golf course adds a lot to removing some of the abstraction behind using motion controls. Everything just feels right, from looking at your feet and seeing leaves blowing in tempo with the wind, or hearing the in-game music coming out of speakers behind you on the practice round. Superb stuff.

While Astro Bot was initially impressive due to the inventiveness of utilising you as a second player in the same game world as Astro, once that wore off the whole game fell apart for me. After world 2 it’s thin on genuinely new (or good) ideas, mostly lifting from older platformers but executing the ideas in a worse or shallower way, and you’re just left with a bad Crash Bandicoot clone that plays too slickly, with too restrictive controls. Cruise control is probably the best way to describe it, since playing the game is too effortless.

No Heroes Allowed VR and Déraciné are the two other Japan Studio titles, the former made in partnership with Acquire and the latter made in partnership with From Software. I’ve only played the first level of the former but it’s a very entertaining strategy game.

The last Japan Studio games aside, I’ve been playing three racing games on and off: WipEout Omega Collection, DriveClub VR and Dirt Rally. All very impressive stuff being in the driver’s seat, WipEout in particular is transformed into something pretty special. I thought I was sick to death of WipEout HD after having it on PS3, and the games it’s based on on Vita and PSP, but playing it from a first person perspective with head tracking adds a lot to vehicle control, locating and using boost pads is so much easier, as is aiming at other vehicles. Dirt Rally is fine, and DriveClub makes me feel a bit sick due to the regularity of camera shunts through drifting.

Also played Namco’s Summer Lesson, which is a cool tech demo with really impressive visuals and the sort of game a large company wouldn’t risk making anymore. Hard to believe the Tekken team was allowed to make it! Sega AM2 worked on Hatsune Miku: Future Live, which isn’t really a game but more of a digital vocaloid concert. It’s pretty well done with novel use of Move controls, transforming the Move into glowsticks, maracas, a giant leek and so on…

I’m currently playing through Blood & Truth at the moment, which is an unexpectedly entertaining first person shooter that doesn’t take itself so seriously, as a result setting up some entertaining set pieces for you to play around with. I was crying with laughter during the art museum level. It does really impressive stuff with two Move controllers - you can move your weapons between hands, grab a weapon with two hands to steady it, throw ammo up in the air to reload your weapon, and so on. Just wasn’t expecting that level of fidelity but it makes picking off enemies extremely satisfying to master…

Overall, then, it’s been a positive ride. It seems the most interesting of Sony’s first party output this generation was on VR, and it’s a shame they shut down the Japan Studio production arm. Apparently Sony is going to focus more on AAA games that are also playable in VR with the PS VR 2, which just doesn’t interest me as much as experimental titles built from the ground up around VR. As good as WipEout and Dirt Rally are, I can’t say I was chomping at the bit to come back to them after playing them for two hours each…whereas the original VR titles have kept me enthralled.

I enjoyed Astro Bot and thought it had some charm, but yea I agreed the whole thing was extremely linear. There’s one solution to every gameplay element, and zero branching paths or resistance other than your own tolerance for being strapped into a headset. Even the original Super Mario Bros had alternate routes and was less “on rails” than this (with far more interesting secrets to boot!).

If you progress a bit further in Astro, however, the mechanical variety does open up a little bit, and there are some gadgets for the “Player 2 person” as you call it to use that are cool. I didn’t end up finishing the game. But I enjoyed most of my time with it. Unfortunately, the headphone jack of my PSVR is damaged so my 3D audio isn’t working anymore which stopped my playthrough cold in its tracks about halfway through.

Personally, I do think you’d enjoy it if you kept going. There are some pretty cool surprises in store that I won’t spoil. Just keep your expectations in check - this ain’t Mario Galaxy.

I actually think the PS5 Astrobot pack-in title is a better game though. The gameplay actually works better without the VR headset since you have more freedom to explore the environment with a real 360 camera that isn’t constrained by your neck. There are tons of PlayStation references littered throughout too that reminds me of something like a Smash Bros type celebration of Sony’s past. And the DualSense features get a lot of love too.

I got close to the end, almost at the end of world 4, I just found myself enjoying it less as I realised it’s designed to guide the player in an almost superficial way, from Astro snapping on to platforms and ropes, to the challenge stages basically clearing themselves as long as you keep moving forward.

Finished Blood and Truth on Friday, what a fantastic game. At times it feels like a next generation version of lightgun games like Ghost Squad. Hard mode is a good challenge as well. The best thing the game does is serve up a bunch of increasingly inventive set pieces which test your ability to handle up to four weapons on your body, and ammo in your chest pouch, all at once with two Move controllers. By the end of the game I really did feel like a badass, as I’d learned to manipulate it all in a near-effortless way. A far cry from the fumbling around I was doing in the first half!

It’s also one of those games where the challenge modes may be even better than the main event, there’s a lot of invention here which I wasn’t expecting.