Sony’s PSVR headset has proven to be something of a white knight for VR. Despite being technically inferior to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on almost every level, PlayStation leveraged 20+ years of industry experience to create an awesome line-up for its PS4-based device. PSVR is home to many of VR’s best games and is one of the most accessible mainstream headset available.
It’s important to get a list of the best PSVR games right, then. There’s plenty of obvious choices, but PSVR also houses many hidden gems. We wanted to make a list that reflected that. You’ll be able to get all of these titles from the PlayStation Store.
And so we present our new and definitive list of the 25 best PSVR games, replacing our previous, smaller version.
25. Virtual-Virtual Reality – Read Our Review
There’s a lot of commentary out there about the ways in which VR could warp our society. Virtual Virtual Reality gives us a comical look at such a future first-hand. This fascinating story-driven experience borrows a like of Portal’s tone and wit to create an often hilarious and deeply curious showcase of VR narrative and interaction.
You play as a new member of a virtual universe that serves a range of clients, living out their weirdest fantasies. One, for example, wishes to become a slab of butter that dreams of having perfectly toasted bread stuck to it. Below the bizarre surface, though, is the sinister workings of a corporation that’s lost its way. Virtual Virtual Reality might be ridiculous, but it’s an important cautionary tale and one of the best PSVR games too.
24. Vacation Simulator – Read Our Review
Job Simulator laid the groundwork for many of the great VR interactions we enjoy today. Vacation Simulator builds on that progress with a whole host of excellent minigames that keep comfort and immersion at the heart of each and every activity. Whether you’re on a ski slope simulator, building sandcastles or, uh, applying lotion to robots, each of the game’s tasks is carefully considered.
Not to mention that the game has a great sense of humor and an enthusiastic curiosity to explore new things in VR. Vacation Simulator is the kind of experience that proves we haven’t explored all there is to VR yet. Far from it, in fact; there are some minigames here that could be fleshed out into their own titles.
23. Statik – Read Our Review
Years on from its release and we still find ourselves staring out of windows, mentally picking away at its mysterious story. This is easily one of PSVR’s most inventive games, imagining the player’s DualShock 4 as a sort of pair of handcuffs that are laced with a series of puzzles. You need to experiment with what the various levers and buttons of each contraption does and then gradually solve your way out of your current predicament.
But it speaks legions about Statik that its fantastic puzzle design is outdone by the game’s sheer oddness. Supervised by the curious and world-weary Dr. Ingen, you’re left to piece together his seemingly random mumblings and musings into a cohesive narrative. It’s still got people picking it apart today, so much so that we’d love another game to help us fill in a few more blanks. Are you listening, Tarsier?
22. Transpose – Read Our Review
After the bullet-dodging thrills of Blasters of the Universe, Secret Location had its work cut out for it maintaining its standards with Transpose. Fortunately, the game passes the difficult second album test with ease; Transpose is a mind-bending puzzle game in which you record your own actions, store them as echoes, and then work together with your past self in order to solve a series of challenges.
Hyperbole be damned; we were often reminded of Portal as we trekked through the game’s ethereal world, defying gravity and gradually being introduced to new concepts that shift the core mechanics in clever, enlightening ways. This is an example of a VR game that feels demonstrably made for the platform it’s appearing on, providing gameplay experiences you simply won’t have seen on a TV or monitor before. That’s something every VR developer should be considering at the heart of their projects.
21. Bow to Blood – Read Our Review
We hadn’t paid Bow to Blood much attention ahead of its release in mid-2018. That made the arrival of this surprisingly-deep game show-style ship battling (yes that’s a mouthful) experience quite the pleasant surprise. You’re tasked with winning a lengthy tournament in which contestants must complete tasks, then vote each other off based on their current scores.
Bow to Blood’s varied campaigns with enjoyable vehicular combat are reason enough to give this a look, but it’s the complex relationship system that’s the real star. It will have you making enemies and forging uneasy alliances which will not only get people to vote for you but may also find you in the middle of heated battles with people that absolutely hate your guts. It makes this a dynamic, unpredictable affair with hours of content on offer.
20. Red Matter – Read Our Review
VR has plenty of great exploration games, but none of them feel quite as finely-tuned for the platform as Vertical Robot’s Red Matter. In this intriguing adventure-mystery, you journey to an alien planet to investigate an abandoned enemy base in the midst of a Cold War-style sci-fi conflict.
But it’s the dedication to immersion that makes Red Matter shine. From the comfortable hopping locomotion that works given its setting to the way your variety of tools emerge from virtual representations of the controllers you’re holding. If you truly want to feel like you’re in another world, Red Matter is one place you have to go.
19. Farpoint – Read Our Review
It may be the wonderful rifle-shaped Aim controller that elevates Farpoint from a relatively simplistic first-person shooter to a wholly immersive experience, but the experience is powerful enough to earn it a place on this list. In Farpoint you crash land on an alien planet and must find a way home, shooting your way through hordes of spider enemies as you go.
Yes, spider enemies. It’s a little Starship Troopers, but there’s a genuine thrill to the Colonial Marines-style panic fire battles. Surprisingly, though, there’s a hugely engaging story at the center of Farpoint that manages to strike a chord despite focusing on characters other than the player’s speechless shell. This was a promising start for developer Impulse Gear, but we’re hoping to see more from them next year.
18. Rec Room
Most social VR platforms aren’t really ‘games’, but Rec Room more than earns its place on this list by emphasizing fun activities to share with your friends rather than simply meeting up and chatting via virtual avatars. Against Gravity’s massive service offers an exhaustive number of multiplayer games and a robust creation suite that will mean you rarely run out of things to do.
This is a game that gets free-to-play right. You can decorate yourself with premium cosmetic items if you wish but all of the well-designed minigames, which include some brilliant cooperative quest levels and even a light take on the battle royale genre, are completely free to play. Add to that full cross-platform support and Rec Room is only set to thrive as the VR industry grows ever bigger. Don’t be surprised if, in the year’s to come, Rec Room becomes VR’s biggest and most recognized app.
17. The Exorcist: Legion VR – Read Our Review
You could basically do a coin toss between putting this or developer Wolf and Wood’s other VR horror game, A Chair in a Room, on this list, but The Exorcist VR more than justifies its place. Unfolding across five chapters that each present the player with different cases, this is perhaps the scariest VR game going right now. Crucially, though, that’s not because it’s simply a collection of in-your-face jump scares.
Instead, The Exorcist VR understands how to use the platform in clever, creepy ways to twist your very sanity and keep you guessing throughout. This is one of those entries in the list that’s going to be only for the very bravest of us but, if you count yourself one of those people, you can’t miss this.
16. The Room VR: A Dark Matter – Read Our Review
Puzzle masters Fireproof Game knock it out of the park again with a typically excellent rendition of The Room series, this time for VR headsets. This short, sweet adventure is set in the The British Institute of Archaeology, where you’ll solve challenging trials in search of a missing archaeologist.
What makes The Room VR work is its commitment to the platform it’s appearing on. This isn’t just a bunch of puzzles that would work on a traditional screen; each and every one has been thoughtful invented with VR at its core. That makes it easily one of the best PSVR games, especially if you’re into puzzles.
15. The Persistence – Read Our Review
Firesprite’s VR debut is a tantalizing horror treat. It uses procedural generation to generate a spaceship riddled with horrific enemies that you need to sneak your way through. Think Dead Space in VR. If the very thought of that doesn’t send you running for the hills then this could be for you.
14. Moss – Read Our Review
Moss is one of a handful of 2018 games that proved that third-person VR experiences don’t just work but can make for some of the absolute best content out on the platform right now. You guide an adorable little mouse named Quill through diorama-sized levels, solving puzzles and taking on fearsome critters in sword-based combat.
While its mechanically refined, Moss’ real claim to fame is the bond you build with Quill over the course of the adventure. Playing as a larger companion to the tiny protagonist, you really start to connect with her as you work together to overcome obstacles. It feels very much like a team effort, which is quite a remarkable feeling in itself. Bring on Book 2.
13. Accounting+ – Read Our Review
VR doesn’t get weirder nor more surreal than Accounting+, and we mean that in a very good way. This mad mashup from the minds behind Rick and Morty and Crows, Crows, Crows is a startling, erratic exploration of character presence in VR. In Accounting+, grotesque creatures scream at you and friendly abominations are gutted accidentally. It’s scary, awkward, hilarious and a wide range of other things that many VR games aren’t. That makes it one of the best PSVR games.
12. No Man’s Sky VR – Read Our Review
No Man’s Sky promised to bring its entire universe of billions of procedurally generated planets connected by unending oceans of space that can be explored by yourself or with friends all into VR. It’s had a few technical hiccups, but you can’t deny it delivered on that hugely ambitious premise. You can lose endless hours here journey to the top of mountains, scouting below the oceans and duking it out in spaceship battles.
Better yet, Hello Games put incredible effort into this VR update, making it feel native to the game instead of tacked on. Still, remember this is No Man’s Sky. There are plenty of beautiful sights and sounds, but also a fairly punishing survival loop and resource-gathering grind to fight back again. If that sounds up your street, No Man’s Sky will probably be one of your most loved VR games. The console version is slightly toned down from the PC release, but it’s still one of the best PSVR games.
11. Paper Beast – Read Our Review
Another World creator Eric Chahi is back with a similarly transformative VR adventure. In Paper Beast, you immerse yourself in a virtual ecosystem consisting of digital animals given life by digits and information. What follows is a magical safari ride through an impossible universe, complete with some of VR’s most natural puzzles.
What makes Paper Beast really sing, though, is just how believable its menagerie of animals is in VR. Interactions with them seem seamless and natural, and each makes a dent (sometime literally) in the surrounding world. Paper Beast might be a little on the short side and it might not have any explosions, but it’s one of the best explorations of the new types of experiences VR can enable.
10. Blood & Truth – Read Our Review
The London Heist minigame in PlayStation VR Worlds remains one of the most polished and engaging pieces of story-driven VR content out there. Lucky for us, developer Sony London decided to take its short tale of crime capers and turn it into a full game. The result is Blood & Truth, one of the most polished and immersive shooters yet seen on any VR headset, let alone PSVR.
What makes Blood & Truth great is that it isn’t ‘just’ a shooter. Every level has new types of interactions and mechanics to explore, fleshing the virtual world out and bringing it closer to the real one. Its story might be on the cheesy side, but its character models are unmatched and the stunning setpiece moments are often Uncharted-worthy. Don’t let the Guy Ritchie accents fool you; Blood & Truth is one to take seriously.
9. A Fisherman’s Tale – Read Our Review
A Fisherman’s Tale manages to defy its short run time to become one of our favorite games on PSVR. In this utterly charming little puzzler, you play as a puppet fisherman living inside a lighthouse. In the middle of your cozy confines sits a model of that same lighthouse. Lift off the roof and you’ll find a perfect replica, complete with a smaller version of you imitating your movements. Look outside the window and, sure enough, you’ll find a bigger version of the room and yourself surrounding you.
This gives way to some absolutely mind-bending VR puzzles, the kind that renew your excitement for the platform. It also helps that the game is an utter delight from a story and presentation perspective, with whispy French narration and whole puppetry visuals. Don’t sleep on A Fisherman’s Tale.
8. Beat Saber – Read Our Review
Who would have guessed that, with everything developers could do, the closest VR has yet gotten to a ‘killer app’ is a rhythm action game with knock-off lightsabers? It seems ridiculous but just one go on Beat Saber and you’ll understand why it’s such a hit; it’s an utterly entrancing experience that makes you feel like the king of the world. That’s all you need VR to be.
You slash notes that arrive on time with a beat. It sounds simple but, in practice, there are few things more satisfying to do in VR. It won’t be long until your throwing your motion controllers around like a ninja, working up a sweat and instinctively dancing to the given track.
7. Skyrim VR – Read Our Review
It turns out that the Skyrim of VR is, well, Skyrim in VR. There are definitely some awkward quirks to Bethesda’s port of its ever-popular fantasy RPG, but we were more than willing to put them to the back of our minds as we explored Tamriel like never before. With hundreds of hours worth of content, full autonomy to make the kind of character you want and an enormous world to explore, Skyrim VR is the closest we’ve come to fulfilling every adventurer’s dreams (outside of taking an arrow to the knee).
Not to mention that this has some of the best Move integration we’ve yet seen in a PSVR game, getting us as close to natural locomotion as possible without those much-requested thumbsticks. The fact that it fits inside the headset at all is simply astonishing Skyrim VR is going to be hard to top for some time.
6. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – Read Our Review
Capcom’s 2017 soft-reboot of its beloved horror franchise hit hard in the scare department. Switching to first-person put the horror right in front of you, daring players to fight their way through the Baker mansion. But on PS4 it went a step further with full PSVR support. To this day it remains probably the scariest thing you can see in VR.
This is very likely still the most high-profile VR game out there. It’s a full AAA production with some of the best visuals you’ll find inside a headset and a full campaign with heaps of variety. It’s well-paced and incredibly tense, harkening back to the series’ roots with a focus on limited resources and genuine scares. If you’re looking for a top tier PS4 game with full PSVR support, Resident Evil 7 is as close as it gets.
5. Ghost Giant – Read Our Review
Upon first glance, Ghost Giant appears to be a charming little puzzler that makes the most of diorama-sized worlds. And that’s very much the case; in this adorable papercraft world you help your young companion out with different chores and tasks. That includes tickling clams, making intentive art in wonderfully tranquil locations. It’s whimsy, delightful and amazing in VR. But that’s only half the story.
Ghost Giant also hides a thoughtful take on depression, smartly communicated through this new medium. The game uses intimacy, scale and connection in engaging ways that bring you closer to the world and characters around you. It’s surprising and responsible, delivering some incredibly powerful moments. All told, it’s one of the most striking and unforgettable examples of VR storytelling yet seen.
4. Wipeout: The Omega Collection – Read Our Review
Since the day PSVR was announced, Wipeout seemed like an obvious fit for the platform. This would be the chance to realize the dreams we’ve all been having since the sci-fi racing series began on the original PlayStation. But even then we didn’t quite expect Wipeout: The Omega Collection to be quite the tour de force for VR it ended up being.
Sony expertly tweaked several of its older games to fit inside PSVR here. The result is a package with heaps of content, all of which you’ll want to see because the game is a flat out thrill to experience. Shooting around circuits, air-braking across corners and letting machine gun fire rattle out in front of you is unbelievably exhilarating. Pair the extensive career modes with online play and you have one of PSVR’s meatiest and most polished games.
3. Superhot VR – Read Our Review
Superhot is, without a doubt, the most instantly rewarding game to play in VR. The flatscreen original was great but, by bringing your whole body into this groundbreaking shooter, the developer completely flips the game on its head. In Superhot (stop me if you’ve heard this before), time moves only when you do. That means that when you’re still, the world around you is too. Every time you raise your arm or duck your head, the world crawls into life. You’re essentially a human video playback device.
Superhot gives you a stark realization of the physicality of VR and what that means for gaming. It’s an experience in which you are aware of every inch of your body. It also makes it effortlessly easy to feel cool in VR; every catch of a handgun or toss of a ninja star comes with an incredible strand of slick satisfaction you won’t find anywhere else. Superhot VR is currently the gold standard for VR shooters and, in our opinion, one of the very best games on PSVR.
2. Firewall: Zero Hour – Read Our Review
Virtual paintball in your living room. That’s the pitch behind a lot of VR shooters these days, but none of them realize it quite as well as Firewall: Zero Hour. It has a few hiccups, but First Contact’s multiplayer shooter is one of the purest expressions of leaving your own body and stepping into the role of someone else entirely that you’ll find in VR. This is the intense S.W.A.T. simulator you’ve always dreamed of experiencing.
It’s PSVR’s excellent Aim controller that makes Firewall a real standout. The unmatched sensation of holding an assault rifle in your hand makes you feel incredibly powerful and draws you back in time and again to recapture the rush. Firewall is one of the best expressions of what VR gaming is all about and, for our money, one of the best games you can currently get on PSVR.
1. Astro Bot Rescue Mission – Read Our Review
Sony Japan’s Playroom VR compilation held a lot of delights when it launched on PSVR in 2016, but everyone agreed that the third-person platforming minigame, in which a small robot saved his friends with help from the player, deserved its own title. Astro Bot is the result of those requests, and it’s even better than many had imagined it would be. 26 levels of Mario-quality platforming await you here.
It sounds like hyperbole but it’s true; each one of Astro Bot’s levels packs new ideas that range from endearingly novel to properly groundbreaking. It’s an absolute joy to play from start to finish that never ceases to amaze you. Plus there’s power to the bond you’ll form with Astro on this adventure, breaking down the barrier between players and characters in ways not yet seen in gaming. For that reason, we’re crowning it as the best game on PSVR.
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Update: 04/08/20: Borderlands 2, Groundhog Day, Dirt Rally, Downward Spiral and Tetris Effect were taken off the list. They were replaced with Vacation Simulator, Virtual Virtual Reality, Red Matter, The Room VR and Paper Beast.
Update 12/04/19: Deracine, Thumper, Creed: Rise to Glory and Rez Infinite were removed from the list. Borderlands 2, Groundhog Day, No Man’s Sky VR and Accounting+ replaced them.
Update 08/01/19: Borderlands 2 VR and Arizona Sunshine were taken off the list and replaced with Blood & Truth and Ghost Giant. Astro Bot and Firewall traded places.
Do you agree with our list of the best PSVR games? Let us know in the comments!
The post The 25 Best PSVR Games And Experiences Available Now – Spring 2020 appeared first on UploadVR.
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