Must-Have Applications & Games for VR

RogueTadhg

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 14, 2011
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What are some applications and games that could be classified as a "Must Have?".

These are what other users believe are a must own for any VR fan. I've included their respective store links as well.

I'll be including Overall Steam rating levels from here on out. OP to ON. The rating system, for your convenience, is included at the very end of this post


Hardware Modifications:
[Oculus] vrwiki.wikispaces.com (Cached)
[Vive] reddit.com/r/Vive (Cached)
[Vive] Thingiverse, 3D Prints

Glasses: (Make sure to get your prescription updated and Pupillary Distance measured)
[Oculus] CV1 Prescription Lens Adapter, 3D Print -- (Link); "Use lenses from 'Zenni Optical, Frame #550021'"
VR Lens - (Live / Cached) -- EU
VR Lens Lab - (Live / Cached) -- EU
[Oculus] WidmoVR - (Live / Cached) -- US



Applications:
Bigscreen -- (Steam / Oculus)
Desk Scene -- (Link); See what your sensors sees.
OVRdrop -- (Steam)
Virtual Desktop -- (Steam / Oculus)
Vive Video -- (Steam)

Education & Learning:
Art:

Quill -- (Oculus)
Medium -- (Oculus)
Tilt Brush -- (Steam / Oculus / Vive) -- [VP]

Science:

TheBlu -- (Steam / Oculus / Vive) -- [VP]
Google Earth VR -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [OP]
Mission:ISS -- (Oculus)


Games & Entertainment:
Sports:

[Boxing] Thrill of the Fight -- (Steam) -- [VP]
[Space] Echo Arena -- (Oculus)
[Fighting] GORN -- (Steam) -- [VP]

Cars:
[Other] BlazeRush -- (Oculus)
[Racing] DiRT Rally -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]
[Racing] Project Cars -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [MP];
[Racing] Project Cars 2 -- (Steam)

Planes:
[Historical Sim] DCS World -- (Steam) -- [MP]
[Space] EVE: Valkyrie -- (Steam) -- [M]
[Space] House of the Dying Sun -- (Steam) -- [VP]
[Historical Sim] IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad -- (Steam) -- [MP]
[Space] Elite Dangerous -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [M]
[Generic] Ultrawings -- (Steam) -- [VP]; Virtual Cockpit
[Historical Sim]
VTOL VR -- (Steam) -- [VP]; Virtual Cockpit

Adventure & Exploration:
Adr1ft -- (Steam) -- [M]
Lone Echo -- (Oculus)
Minecraft -- (Oculus)
Star Trek: Bridge Crew -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]; Requires a Ubisoft Account.
The Climb -- (Oculus)

FPS: (First Person Shooters)
Arizona Sunshine -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]
Compound -- (Steam) -- [NR]; Not Yet Released. Demo Available.
Dead and Buried -- (Oculus)
Dead Effect 2 -- (Steam) -- [VP]
Out of Ammo -- (Steam) -- [VP]
Robo Recall -- (Oculus)
Raw Data -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]
Space Pirate Trainer -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [OP]
SuperHot -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]
Viral EX -- (Steam) -- [NR]

RPG:
Vanishing Realms [Vive] -- (Steam) -- [OP]

Mini Games:
NVIDIA VR Funhouse -- (Steam / Oculus) - [MP]
The Lab -- (Steam) -- [OP]
Rec Room -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [OP]
VR Sports Challenge -- (Oculus)
Pierhead Arcade -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]
SportsBar VR -- (Steam) -- [VP]

Horror:
Edge of Nowhere -- (Oculus)
Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul -- (Steam) -- [MP]

Puzzle:
Dragon Front -- (Oculus)
I Expect You To Die -- (Oculus)
[Co-op] Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [OP]

Music & Rhythm:
Audioshield -- (Steam) -- [VP]
Rock Band VR {O} -- (Oculus)
Thumper -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [VP]

Other:
[Mechs] Archangel -- (Steam) -- [MP]
[SuperHero] Batman™: Arkham VR -- (Steam / Oculus) -- [MP]
[Badass Ninja] Sairento VR -- (Steam) -- [VP]


Non-Native VR Games:
These games require modifications to work with Oculus Rift and/or HTC Vive. We do our best to ensure these thing work but proceed at your own risk.

Planes:
[Modern Sim] Flight Simulator X -- (Steam) -- [MP] -- 'Flyinside'
[Modern Sim] X-Plane 11 -- (Steam) -- [VP] -- 'Flyinside'

FPS:
Doom 3: BFG Edition -- (Steam) -- [VP] -- Doom3BFGVR

Horror:
ALIEN: Isolation -- (Steam) -- [VP] -- Oculus DK2; Otherwise, 'MotherVR'



OP : 95 - 99% : Overhwelmingly Positive
VP : 80 - 94% : Very Positive
P : 80 - 99% + few reviews: Positive
MP : 70 - 79% : Mostly Positive
M : 40 - 69% : Mixed
MN : 20? - 39% : Mostly Negative
N : 0 - 39% + rew reviews: Negative
VN : 0 - 19% : Very Negative
OP : 0 - 19% + many reviews: Overwhelmingly Negative
Source
 
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Well must have depends on a lot on your taste.

But here is my list.

If you are into art: (I am not into art at all, but love spending time using both of these)
Quill,
Medium,

Experiences: (these are experiences that I return to again and again)
The Blu
Google Earth VR
Mission ISS
Nvidia VR Fun House
The Lab

Games: (only including games that I consider must haves, games that I play all the time)

Robo Recall,
Lone Echo/Echo Arena,
Elite Dangerous,
Rec Room,
The Climb,
VR Sports Challenge. (very under rated game, especially when you unlock the minigames, baseball and fighting in Ice Hockey are great fun)

Other games to consider: (If you like a certain type of game)
Get a boxing/fighting game like Thrill of the Fight, Knockout league, etc. they are great in VR. good workout too.
Get a Car racing game, project cars, Dirt Rally etc. If you have a wheel and combine it with VR, Driving heaven!!
Get a flight simulator: No recommendations as I have never played any of them, but, again, Flight sims are awesome in VR.

Games that I like but don't play that often
Super Hot,
Dead and Buried,
Blaze Rush,
PierHead Arcade,

Special Mention (The ONE game that anyone with VR must buy)
Eleven Table Tennis. One of the best experiences in VR. It feels so real. Even if you don't like Table Tennis, get it, it's worth it, just for the feeling you get when you roll the ball around on your bat.

 
Great list Reaper, going to have to try some of those. As for flight sim, I am really enjoying Ultrawings.
 
A great little utility I got a while back, but only just started using, is called OVRDrop

It allows you to render any window (or display) from your desktop into your VR environment. So, for example, you can catch up on netflix or your favorite youtube channels while doing other stuff in VR. You can also move and resize the window as you'd like. It's quite handy IMO.

 
A great little utility I got a while back, but only just started using, is called OVRDrop

It allows you to render any window (or display) from your desktop into your VR environment. So, for example, you can catch up on netflix or your favorite youtube channels while doing other stuff in VR. You can also move and resize the window as you'd like. It's quite handy IMO.



Bigscreen does this (and much more) for free. It's available on Steam and Oculus Home.
 
Bigscreen does this (and much more) for free. It's available on Steam and Oculus Home.

It allows you to overlay a window ontop of another VR Application? I wasn't aware of that. I'll give it another look. :)
 
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I use OVRDrop to check my twitch chat when I"m streaming. It doesn't work in all VR apps but its a great little tool.
 
How's arizona sunshine? I've got a $25 credit on steam and want to grab a new game but don't know what lol. Is the coop and horse modes of AS still doing ok? What other VR games have a good coop mode that you'd recommend?
 
Out of ammo is amazing! That should absolutely be on the list! It's a hybrid FPS and tower defense. Very cool concept and a lot of fun
 
Just finished the other day, a very cool take on the wave shooter, pretty good length for the cost:

 
More for the list...





They use the same game engine. VR support is via Steam beta "Oculus/Vive 1.6 (SDK 1.4.0)".

Review applies to driving wheel + Rift CV1.

I had high hopes but I rate these Very Negative for the following reasons:
  • Need to run on lowest visual settings on Ryzen 1700 + GTX1080
  • Truck lurches even on lowest visual setting. Each lurch induces instant motion sickness. I don't suffer from VR Sickness even in FPS titles with standard movement. The lurches aren't an overall FPS drop. Head movement remains smooth. Never seen anything like this lurching before.
  • Requires frequent use of keyboard and mouse. Breaks immersion and impossible to do while peering down through the Rift nose gap.
  • Low resolution of HMD and dated game engine graphic quality (like a title from 2010) combine for the worst visual experience I've seen in VR. MIrrors are useless. Gauges, street signs, etc are impossible to read. Street traffic breaks down into a blob of pixels a few car lengths ahead. Can't reliably make out turn signals of oncoming traffic.
Other people rave about these titles in VR. They are unusable IMHO. Biggest VR disappointment yet.

On the other hand, I have to give a huge shout out to Alien Isolation with the MotherVR mod. (Already on the list.) The mod is still in early development but WOW. Seriously, WOW.

Alien Isolation is a must buy if you're a fan of first person horror/survival. VR takes it to a whole 'nother level.

Use the restroom beforehand if you're easily frightened.


I'm used to being alien food. I died countless times during my original 2D playthrough. The first time the alien bolted toward me and devoured my face in VR the flood of adrenaline was so strong I could feel the wave traveling through my body. No bullshit.

I showed it to a friend. I told her it was a tech demo and there is no alien in the demo. :D Good old two jaws found her and tore her to pieces a few minutes later. She screamed uncontrollably and would have toppled over if I wasn't there to stop it. The screaming continued well after I pulled the Rift from her head. It was a few minutes before she stopped whimpering.

There's no Touch support. Controls are WASD + mouse, classic FPS movement, no teleport. You'll lose your lunch if you're susceptible to VR Sickness. Things like picking up items, opening doors, hiding in closets, etc use the direction of your gaze to select.

Donate a few dollars if you like the mod. Dev's paypal is on the mod page. I have no association, no clue who he is, but I'd like to see others repeat what he's done for other games. The mod is still in the early stages but it's already worth five or ten bucks.

Imagine if we had mods like this for one tenth of the old AAA titles in our Steam libraries.
 
I bought BFG because of that mod. I'm putting off trying it until I can disappear into VR for a whole weekend. I've heard it called the best VR experience out there. Given how good Robo Recall is that worries me.
Yup soon as I found about it I checked and gmg had it on sale for $5, very fast purchase for me lol
 
So are you saying not to include these two trucker games on the list because they're unusable?

Imagine if we had mods like this for one tenth of the old AAA titles in our Steam libraries.

You flirt. I've gone ahead and added another section for these games and moved all the games over to this section.
 
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I'm trying to keep the list to recommended games and applications. When more than 1 [H] forum user vouches for a game, application or a game mod, I add it to the list without further research. If 1 person recommends it, I look into it and then check it out as I'm going to purchase it. I also look at articles that have VR recommended titles and put them here as well.

The Steam's overall rating I add here is to add a layer of transparency. I've thrown my money at games with a "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating and never regretted it. Other ratings I'll spend more time to investigate, read reviews, comments, maybe watch a game play video. This list aims to help narrow the search of one of the first questions I've asked when I bought my rift: What games should I buy?

I also just list these recommended games because I'd like to keep the list as short as possible.

Unless people want a not-recommended section - I will certainly add this section.
 
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I would keep the list the way it is. Recommended games only. Games that most people will enjoy.
 
I second that. Keep as is. I want to be able to look at the list and see whats good
 
I also just list these recommended games because I'd like to keep the list as short as possible.

Unless people want a not-recommended section - I will certainly add this section.

I like the idea of a quick and easy list of what to buy. The problem is that you don't know why a title isn't on the list. Is it missing because it sucks or because nobody tried it?

Maybe we need a separate "don't believe the hype" list for things that suck but have good reviews outside [H].

I bought American Truck Simulator based on a glowing review from a VR youtuber. I won't trust that channel again but the next guy might.
 
There's some seriously glaring omissions on the cockpit sim side of things in that list:




I was about to add Elite: Dangerous in there as well 'til I saw that you had it under "Adventure & Exploration" instead of "Planes" like EVE: Valkyrie and House of the Dying Sun were. Bit confusing because of that, I admit.

For the non-native list, I was surprised to see that X-Plane 11 was in there by way of FlyInside, but Flight Simulator X wasn't, which uses the same utility. With that in mind, I might pick up XP11 later, though I'm far more interested in the sort of flight sims where I get to blow stuff up, I admit.

There's another game that I haven't had the chance to try out, and as such I didn't include it right away in the above list, but it hit Steam Early Access recently and is getting a lot of positive feedback. It's sort of a sim-lite, nowhere near as hardcore as the above two, more in line with, say, EF2000 or Joint Strike Fighter in terms of that mid-'90s level of sim complexity.

As a bonus, those of you who didn't do what I did and spent a whole lot of money on an enthusiast-grade HOTAS or rudder pedals won't be at a disadvantage, because it works entirely through motion controls! Reach out and touch that cockpit!



Finally, one more thing that isn't a cockpit sim at all, but one that I spend a lot of hours in because the melee combat still hasn't been done better in anything else I've played. Physics-based combat and LUDICROUS GIBS! go a long way.



Just make sure you've got a clear room there, because the trailer Devolver Digital made to promote GORN is not as much of a joke as you'd think. I've seen YouTubers break ceiling lights and other things playing the alpha builds; watch those Guardian/Chaperone boundaries!
 
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Speaking of elite, it's in sale through the humble bundle store. Base game is $20, commander edition is $40
 
Vive Video should be on the list and add another Positive vote for Nvidia Funhouse. I had a blast in Funhouse. Being a Nvidia tech demo, the quality of effects seems artificially limited based on GPU model so YMMV. I played on a GTX1080.

 
The early/free version of Gorn is here: https://raithza.itch.io/gorn

It's worth the $20 on Steam.

Finally, one more thing that isn't a cockpit sim at all, but one that I spend a lot of hours in because the melee combat still hasn't been done better in anything else I've played. Physics-based combat and LUDICROUS GIBS! go a long way.



Just make sure you've got a clear room there, because the trailer Devolver Digital made to promote GORN is not as much of a joke as you'd think. I've seen YouTubers break ceiling lights and other things playing the alpha builds; watch those Guardian/Chaperone boundaries!
 
I would say Serious Sam New Hope is a must have game for the sheer shooting joy, rapid advancement, beautiful rendering etc. Well it is hell a lot of fun. Most recent update added area bombing, power ups and more. Just getting into to those after a layoff from VR.
 
I'm absolutely loving Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Yeah, it's great, especially with a few friends!! It's a glimpse of what will be possible with VR. Imagine a Star trek game with the combined elements of Bridge Crew, Robo Recall and Lone Echo. Think of away missions, holodecks, fighting Klingons etc.
 
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