The Best VR Games of All Time Sorted By Category:
There’s been tonnes of epic VR games released to date, and I’m going to show you some of my favorite ones!
Obviously, there is no ‘best’ game. That’ll come down to your personal preference and which genre you like.
Rhythm Games
BoomBox
It’s like Beat Saber, but with drums! It’s very difficult even if you’re good at Beat Saber.
They’ve got an in-built mapper where you can make custom maps in the game. Pretty cool stuff.
Pistol Whip
A rhythm game where you shoot enemies to the tune of the song.
It can make you feel really badass as you’re killing enemies to the beat of the song – almost like you’re in a choreographed movie.
The difficulty can get very very hard as well, like Beat Saber so if you’re into hardcore games, this has a very high skill ceiling.
If your wrists hurt from Beat Saber, you can take a break and try out Pistol Whip.
Synth Riders
Synth Riders is like Beat Saber, but with no sabers. You’re basically using your hands to hit the notes instead of swinging a sword around.
It gives more of a full body workout than Beat Saber which is arm focused. Like Pistol Whip, it also doesn’t use wrist movements.
A convenient thing about Synth Riders is you can play custom songs without having to mod your game (like in Beat Saber). So if you find modding your Beat Saber annoying, this can be a great alternative.
Dance Central
It’s like having your own private nightclub where you can socialize or dance!
It’s multiplayer so you can invite other people into your club and do dance-offs.
It’s also a decent workout.
Beat Saber
Well I think you know how I feel about this one already. But for custom mods:
I recommend rainbow lights which makes it 10x more fun.
There’s also a mod that allows you to play custom songs in multiplayer!
Other Rhythm Games Worth Checking Out:
We haven’t played these games yet so we can’t vouch for them, but they seem promising and they’re something we’ll try in the future.
- Audica
- Soundboxing
Story-driven Games
Battlescar: Punk Was Invented By Girls
A short, YA story about drugs, destruction and punk-rock.
Apart from some visual bugs I encountered, this is one of the best cinematic experiences in VR to date.
It’s short and sweet – about 30 minutes of length, and has no gameplay or interactions at all. It’s purely story driven.
If the game interests you, keep in mind you’ll need a Quest or Rift to play this. There might be work-arounds for other headsets, but I haven’t tried those.
Tokyo Chronos
If you like anime or visual novels in particular, Tokyo Chronos is the best we’ve got in VR!
Since it’s mostly a visual novel, it won’t cause any motion sickness and it’s a great game to pick up for beginners to VR.
It’s like a full length visual novel – it took me 15 hours to beat it. The story is mystery focused. There isn’t much gameplay, but the plot is really good and the characters all have cute, likeable personalities. If you’re into anime whatsoever, you definitely should pick this one up.
Altdeus: Beyond Chronos
The sequel to Tokyo Chronos. Story-wise, it’s very close to the first one in terms of writing quality, but the production value of this game blows the first one out of the water. It feels so much more immersive and the music is mindblowing.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
A dark, emotional tale about a woman’s mental illness and her journey to rescue her dead lover’s soul from the goddess Hela. The story makes you feel connected to the main character Senua by allowing you to hear her auditory hallucinations and experience her psychosis.
Throughout the story you’ll be able to feel what she feels, and think what she thinks.
It’s not for the feint of heart, since the game is in third person, it can be very uncomfortable for beginners and people prone to motion sickness. If motion sickness is an issue, but the story interests you then you might just wanna play this game on your monitor.
Lone Echo
If you like to be in space, Lone Echo is a story-driven game with a cool locomotion system where you’re in zero gravity space and have to move around by pushing off objects with your hands. It’s really immersive and the story and characters are good. It even gets quite emotional towards the end.
Keep in mind, it can cause motion sickness if you aren’t used to VR yet. But if you’re used to it and want to experience a story set in space, this is the game for you.
Half-Life: Alyx
You’ve probably seen this game everywhere by now, but it’s got an ultra immersive story where you can interact with almost anything in the world.
Make sure to check out the first 2 Half-Life games before playing this if you want the full enjoyment out of it.
If you like the first two games, you’ll for sure like this one too.
Other Story Games Worth Checking Out:
We haven’t played these games yet so we can’t vouch for them, but they seem promising and they’re something we’ll try in the future.
- A Fisherman’s Tale
- Red Matter
- The Invisible Hours
- Wilson’s Heart
Multiplayer/Social Games
Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale
A game for up to four people where you work together in a kitchen to prepare meals for some very nasty customers.
It’s addictive, challenging and fun. This can either be a very relaxing game, or a very stressful game where customers are barking orders non-stop.
I highly recommend this one.
Multibrush (multiplayer Tiltbrush)
Want to draw stuff together? Multibrush lets you do that in the VR space!
Best of all, it’s completely free!
Creed: Rise to Glory
VR boxing! It’s like you’re in a Rocky movie. AND it’s got multiplayer support.
Also keep an eye out for Thrill of the Fight 2 as that’ll have multiplayer suport when it comes out.
Rec Room
Rec Room is has one of the most active player bases in VR.
The main appeal to this game is socializing, building custom rooms and joining other people’s custom rooms. Custom rooms can be game modes like PvP (player vs player) or it can just be a place to explore or chill.
There are also official game rooms like Paintball, Questing and Stuntrunner.
Keep in mind the audience for this game is mostly young kids, aged 12-15. If you want to play with a more mature crowd, your best bet is getting your own group together.
VRChat
Kind of like Rec Room, but less focused on the gaming aspect and more focused on the socializing aspect.
There are so many things you can do in VRChat:
- You can go Window shopping at Vket where you browse artworks/custom avatars created by other people and have the option to buy them
- You can visit places remodelled from games like the Resident Evil police station
- Learn new languages by speaking with other people
- Role-play
- Dancing if you have full body tracking
- And if you’re feeling bold, you can do some comedy, singing or voice acting
The possibilities are endless in VRChat.
The audience for this game is still quite young, but older than the Rec Room community. There’s a decent amount of people in the 20-30s.
Beat Saber Multiplayer
The official game has multiplayer, but there’s also a mod that allows you to play custom songs with others. Many people do not know about this.
Keep in mind it only works on the PC version so far, so you’ll need Beat Saber on PC, NOT on Quest or PSVR.
The Forest VR
Originally a 2D game that was ported to VR.
It’s a game of up to four players that takes place after your plane crashed into a forest.
You must survive against the dangers of the wilderness – like cannibalistic barbarians out there to get you.
Propagation VR
A horror, zombie survival game where you team up with friends and must fend off waves and waves of zombies.
There’s no moving around, just turning and shooting – so motion sickness WON’T be an issue for most.
The game is dark and can get really intense and scary. A highly recommended game.
Crisis VRigade
It’s like Time Crisis, but for VR! Remember those old arcade shooter machines we used to play as kids? If you enjoyed those games, you’ll like this too.
Very comfortable for beginners and won’t cause motion sickness for most people.
Gorilla Tag
Want some stupid, silly fun by running around acting like monkeys and making monkey sounds?
Want to play a game of tag where you can climb trees and other stuff?
Gorilla Tag is the best stupid fun you can get!
Other Multiplayer Games Worth Checking Out:
For more games, here’s a list of multiplayer games compiled by Reddit user ‘LostError.’
Shooters
Pavlov VR
Pavlov is like Counter-Strike in VR. The main game mode is the standard competitive shooter, but there are many custom games like TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town) and Prop Hunt.
Population One
Population One is like the Fortnite of VR… If you’re into that thing. It’s the top battle royale game for VR currently.
Onward
Onward is the main military simulator that people go to. It’s like the Rainbow Six: Siege or ARMA.
I guess you’ll like this if you’re looking for a realistic military shooter.
Contractors
Here’s another military shooter – not as popular as Onward, but it’s fun in different ways.
If Onward is like Rainbow Six: Siege (or Arma), then Contractors is like Call of Duty. So it might appeal to you more if you prefer CoD over the other.
Crisis VRigade
It’s basically Time Crisis for VR. Won’t cause motion sickness as there’s no artificial movement.
Propagation VR
Stand in one spot and fend off waves of zombies. Very scary.
Can be played with a friend. Won’t cause motion sickness.
Sairento
Super intense matrix/ninja shooter where you jump off walls and perform backflips whilst fighting enemies with guns or a katana.
It’s very challenging and can take dozens, or even hundreds of hours to pull off some of the cool stunts you see on Youtube.
Sairento makes you feel really badass and is one of the most incredible action VR titles out there.
Be warned though – it’s very sickness inducing so stay away from this game if you can’t handle it.
SUPERHOT
A slower paced, puzzle shooter where the enemies move only if you move.
At first, I wasn’t too thrilled with this game’s premise, but after playing it, I think it’s super fun. But you won’t like it if you just wanna ‘Run N Gun.’
Other Shooters Worth Checking Out:
- Arizona Sunshine
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Compound
- Hyperdash
- Robo Recall
Role Playing Games (RPGs)
Demeo
A multiplayer turn based tabletop RPG, made by the developers of Cook-Out.
Demeo is a simple to learn game with an in-depth strategic component and teamwork. It’s an RPG where you can collect a range of items (cards) and money to spend in between stages. It also has various classes you can choose from – each class has their own unique mechanic and can pair well with certain classes from other players.
Pokemon VR
Currently only available on SideQuest.
Still in alpha development, but worth checking out if you’re a Pokemon fan. It’s online multiplayer and at the very least, it’s a good game to socialize in.
I’m personally very excited for this game’s future.
Asgard’s Wrath
An RPG with an epic story and a LONG campaign.
There aren’t many VR games with a long campaign (let alone RPGs) so Asgard’s Wrath stands out.
The highlight of this game is slaying gods with overwhelming power and sometimes size. You really get a sense of their scale in VR.
Skyrim VR
A VR port for Skyrim that you have to pay for separately.
It has tonnes of custom mods which makes the game 10x more fun. Many people have over 500+ hours on this game, thanks to the mods.
No Man’s Sky
Lots of mining and exploring to do in this game if you’re into that kind of thing. VR makes this game a lot better.
Other RPGs Worth Checking Out:
- A Township Tale
- Zenith VR
- NYX (currently not released)
Sims
Elite Dangerous
The best space flight simulation game out there. It’s so immersive you’ll feel like you’re actually piloting a spaceship.
There are so many things to do – Killing pirates, PvP, landing on planets, mining asteroids for resources, upgrading and building your ship, joining other player’s ships. It’s easy to spend hundreds or thousands of hours in this game.
For top level immersion, buy a HOTAS (hands on throttle and stick).
Microsoft Flight Simulator
You get to fly a plane over New York.
The graphics are incredible and the experience is amazing!
Again, get a HOTAS for top level immersion.
DCS World
A free to play, ultra realistic flight sim that’s very close to flying a real plane.
Controls, physics and environments feel very realistic.
It’s got a very steep learning curve, and will require you to do lots of training.
Project Cars 2
One of the best racing sims for VR. Has both single player and online PvP.
An alternative is Assetto Corsa Competizione.
Other Simulators Worth Checking Out:
- VTOL VR
- rFactor2
Horror
A Chair in a Room: Greenwater
It’s heavily narrative based game that’s kind of like an escape room with a very dark story. It’s the type of story where it’s a bit slow paced, but it REALLY makes you think about what’s going on. It rarely ever tells you what’s going on – it’s stuff you have to figure out.
Apart from that, I can’t say much more about the story without going into spoilers. It’s very tense and atmospheric, often times you might even find yourself screaming out loud. There’s a few jump scares here and there, but the same is mostly about the creepy atmosphere.
It has decent puzzles and an engaging story. One of my favorite horror games to date.
Five Nights at Freddies: Help Wanted
Speaking of jump scares, here’s a game known for it’s jumps scares.
Seeing the animatronics move around in life size is terrifying.
I admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of Five Nights at Freddies when it was on PC, but now that it’s on VR – I tried it again and loved it.
Resident Evil 7
This might be the scariest game ever made.
Phasmophobia
A 4 player co-op horror game where you go into a house and try to find ghost activity and figure out what kind of ghost lurks in there. VERY fun if you can get a group of four together.
VRChat: The Devouring
If you want something unique and less known, get VR Chat (free) and play ‘The Devouring’ which is a custom world in VRChat.
It takes 5-6 hours to complete. There’s no saving, so you need to play it all in one go.
It’s incredibly well made – and you can gather some friends to join you on this.
Since it’s free, it doesn’t hurt to at least try it out.
Other Horror Games Worth Checking Out:
- Alien Isolation VR mod
- Layers of Fear VR
- Dreadhalls
Sports
The Golf Club VR
It’s a beautiful and quite realistic golf simulator.
The downside is it’s only single player.
The Climb
It’s a simple game where you rock climb mountains and explore caves with a competitive aspect where you compete with others for best times.
It didn’t catch my attention at first, but when I first tried it, I was blown away at the beautiful scenery. It’s also pretty challenging and gives a decent work-out without being too intense.
If you have a Quest and a PC that can support this, I recommend buying the PC version because the graphics look really beautiful on PC. If not, it still looks good on the Quest.
Creed: Rise to Glory
One of the best boxing games out there and has multiplayer support.
You get to feel like you’re in a Rocky movie.
Thrill of the Fight
A realistic boxing sim and one hell of a workout. It’s one of the most intense workouts in VR.
Creed: Rise to Glory is more fun, but Thrill of the Fight is more realistic.
Echo Arena
There’s no gravity and you must score points by throwing disks into a goal.
It’s a team based game and the community can be really hardcore and quite toxic at times, but the actual game is really good.
If you like competitive sports, Echo Arena is one of the best out there.
Sports Bar VR
An online social experience where you can play bar games with other people.
These games include Air Hockey, Pool, Darts, Checkers and more.
Eleven Table Tennis
Table tennis with online multiplayer.
VR Sports Challenge
There are multiple sports in this, but it’s the best football integration into VR.
It has other games like Basketball, Baseball and Hockey.
Other Sports Games Worth Checking Out:
- RacketNX
- Real VR Fishing
- Premium Bowling
Puzzle/Escape Rooms
The Room VR: A Dark Matter
My absolute favorite VR puzzle/escape room game.
The game’s difficulty feels just right without being too easy or frustratingly difficult. It’s got a creepy atmosphere, but not really a horror game and doesn’t have much jump scares.
The puzzles work perfectly for VR.
It takes about a few hours to beat (on average) depending on how quickly you can solve the puzzles.
It’s got a steep price for being a short game, but the quality of the experience makes it 100% worth it. If you like escape rooms, this is the best one.
Belko VR: An Escape Room Experience
Another great escape room game that’s absolutely FREE.
The Belko VR – Escape Room Experiment provokes the question: “What does it take to survive at work?” Players are prompted to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to escape from their office before a microchip in their head explodes.
Unlike ‘The Room VR’ this one has high pressure stakes as there’s only 15 minutes to solve the puzzles (which feels like the right amount of time).
Even though the game is super short (15 minutes length), it’s still very well done and better than a lot of paid games.
The Talos Principle VR
Many of you might of heard of The Talos Principle which was originally a 2D game, but got ported to VR.
The 2D game was very well received with 20,000 reviews on Steam and 95% overwhelming positive scores. The VR port feels nicely done – the only quirks I have are that it can be frustrating at times having to place the pieces in the exact spot (since it wasn’t originally designed for VR). But other than that, it’s a great VR port.
The game itself is like Portal, but more philosophical and thought provoking.
The puzzles can be sometimes really difficult, forcing you to think outside the box.
I Expect You to Die
You basically get to be James Bond!
Play as a spy agent and try an get out of deadly situations through solving puzzles.
It’s very cinematic and will make you feel like you’re in a James Bond sim.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
A two player game where one person is trying to defuse a ticking time bomb, whilst the other is reading a manual and giving instructions on how to defuse it. The instruction-giver does NOT need to own the game. The instructions are given to them through a website’s pdf file.
It’s hella fun with friends and doesn’t require the other person to own the game or a headset.
Other Sports Games Worth Checking Out:
- Red Matter
- VR: Vacate the Room (Virtual Reality Escape)
- Fisherman’s Tales
- Myst
Game suggestions can be sent to: hello@vrheaven.io
If you’re a developer and want to be considered on this list, then fill out this form.
We’ll continue to update this list with the latest games.
For mystery lovers:
