Since the launch of the VAIL Alpha, AEXLAB has developed VAIL VR using the collective intelligence of its players. With VAIL VR’s community providing input every step of the way, bug hunts have helped ready the game for mainstream play. With the launch of the Early Access version of VAIL to the wider public, AEXLAB is looking to new players to help shape the future of VAIL VR.
Over the course of 2023, the aim is to expand the player base and grow the unique in-game social hubs designed to make VAIL VR different from its competition. The player’s lobby has been reimagined as a social space where players can customize the aesthetics, have friends over, test out weapons at the range and just generally interact between the intensive matches. VR social spaces have the potential to turn a clan into a properly interactive and immersive party.
Social hubs in VAIL VR currently include activities like chess and hockey, and you can even draw with your friends. There’s more to come with plans in place to add mini golf, esports watch party rooms, club rooms, and a town hall with activations from VR brands. The plan is to create a VR space where you can make friends before going head-to-head in combat.
AEXLAB is looking to open up the door to user-generated content through a library of assets players can use to create one-of-a-kind spaces and activities. The tools should allow players to customize skins, homes, and social lobbies so that players can express themselves. Developers plan to continue working with the community, evolving VAIL VR as a place where ideas and requests are acted upon. The long-term vision is to blur the lines between casual and competitive play for as many players as possible, to create a space that feels like home to any kind of player..
You can join VAIL VR as the developers work together with the community on more modes, levels, weapons, mini-games, and customization options in 2023.
To join the discussion and hang with the team, join theirDiscord.
Developers also plan to eventually release the game on Quest, Pico and PSVR.
theBlu, one of PC VR’s landmark experiences, was just moved into a new release on Steam.
First released in 2016 for $9.99, Wevr has restructured theBlu through a new release, turning it into a free-to-play experience. The original “Whale Encounter” remains free while two of the previous experiences included in the base game — Reef Migration and Luminous Abyss — are now separate DLCs for $1.99 each.
There’s also a new DLC experience called Hammerhead Cove, too. Set in Caribbean waters, this welcomes us to explore “a realm where one creature reigns supreme,” but the changes don’t stop there. Writing on a Steam blog, Wevr confirms this new edition features “updated navigation, locomotion, and new options to enhance your enjoyment of the ocean.”
Unsurprisingly, the original game is now delisted on Steam, though Wevr confirms previous owners will receive a download link for the new version, plus Reef Migration and Luminous Abyss. It’s unclear why Wevr released a new edition instead of updating the original release, so we’ve reached out to Wevr for an official comment. We’ll update this article if we learn more.
theBlu is available now with the original “Whale Encounter” for free on PC VR via Steam, while the three new DLC experiences are available for $1.99 each.
The Meta Quest ‘Celebrate 2023’ sale is now live, offering new discounts into next year.
While the ‘Season of Savings’ sale only just finished, Celebrate 2023 marks Meta’s second big sale this month alone. Alongside the seemingly obligatory Vader Immortal pack, priced this time at $20.99, there’s several new bundles to choose from.
First up is the Survival Mode pack with Green Hell VR, Into The Radius and Red Matter 2 for $59.99. Sports Central pack comes with GOLF+, The Climb 2 and The Thrill of the Fight for $45.99. Fight and Flight pack contains Warplanes: Battles over Pacific, GORN, and After The Fall for $55.99. Virtual Surreality pack includes Arizona Sunshine, Job Simulator, and Walkabout Mini Golf for $45.99. Finally, the Chart Toppers pack offers Contractors, Vacation Simulator, and Superhot VR for $49.99.
As for individual Quest games, there’s a different selection to the Winter sale, and some returning games have slightly lower discounts than before. Still, these are the highlights:
Thefull discounted games list is available here, and Celebrate 2023 sale remains live until 11.59 pm PT on January 2. Daily deals are back too and Zenith: The Last City is currently 35% off, down to $19.49. Otherwise, you can still check out theSteam Winter Sale for PC VR discounts until January 5.
Publisher Fun Train confirmed its upcoming survival horror sequel, The Exorcist: Legion VR SIN, will now release in the second half of 2023.
First announced with a late 2022 release window, The Exorcist: Legion VR SIN is being developed by Twilight Zone VR studio Pocket Money Games instead of Legion’s original team, Wolf & Wood. It promises a new solo campaign and full online co-op, but unfortunately, we haven’t heard much else since the reveal. Considering we’re now days away from 2023, it’s unsurprising then that SIN is officially delayed into next year.
“Safety in Numbers (SIN) has grown larger in ambition over the past year as we continue to build upon the tension and horror of the first game,” Fun Train founder Douglas Nabors advised in a prepared statement. “Although we planned to release it late this year, it’s just not in the cards (but it will be worth the wait). We now intend to release SIN in the 2nd half of 2023 after we’ve had ample time to ensure it is as unsettling, and fun, as we dream it can be.”
We enjoyed Fun Train’s horror hit in ourThe Exorcist: Legion VR review. Praising its “expertly paced” tension building and scares, we concluded Legion’s gameplay was “a bit shallow” but could put fear into “even the most hardened horror fans.”
The Exorcist: Legion VR is without a doubt one of the best VR horror experiences available. The slow-building tension is expertly paced, each and every scare feels visceral and dangerous, and the sheer sense of terror you feel while methodically exploring the richly detailed environments is staggering. It honestly felt like I could hear the voices inside my own head and I could feel the heat from my crucifix as I stared down the faces of demon and eradicated the evil within.
The Exorcist: Legion VR SIN arrives in the second half of 2023 for Quest and PSVR 2. The Exorcist: Legion VR is available now on the Meta Quest and Pico platforms,PSVR, and PC VR via Steam.
Our new Best Of Virtual Reality series highlights some of the best places in VR.
We’ve made seven initial selections based, where we could, on first-hand visits to venues in virtual reality. We recently recognized standout places released widely in 2022, including Vertical Robot’s visual powerhouse Red Matter 2 and the playful swinging in What The Bat? You can also find great games in all the lists below:
With our Best Of Virtual Reality series we wanted to try a slightly different approach to recognizing the top places in VR. Here we’re aiming to highlight specific destinations and things to do in VR. This is just a start and we plan to recognize more places over time with UploadVR’s Best Of Virtual Reality series updating throughout 2023 and beyond. We’ll generally make our selections geared toward places a VR headset owner is likely to be able to visit quickly. We also want to recognize standout limited experiences as well as those that give you reasons to go beyond the most basic home VR hardware setups. Note that UploadVR’s demos in VR can sometimes occur in pre-release software or hardware, or in controlled demos which may differ from the general experience of paid patrons, and our schedules might have missed a connection with a particularly strong contender for a specific category as well. We’ll note the date of major updates to our lists and you can email tips@uploadvr.com with information about interesting places popping up in virtual reality.
Youcan watchDisney+, Amazon Prime Video, Twitch, and YouTube with others using Bigscreen. The remote desktop app lets you share and use your desktop in VR while a video player brings in your own files. You and a friend can also rent a movie to watch together from Bigscreen’s available library. Bigscreen’s theater designs range from rooms in simulated homes, like the relaxing Residence environment, all the way up to our favorite theatrical experience — the Grand Cinema — with its roomy stadium seating and subtle reflections of light from 2D or 3D content illuminating your surroundings.
You can find Bigscreen free onQuest, Quest 2, Quest Pro,orSteam. Access your own content, stream with others, or rent movies for around $4 per person.
Best Personal Display
Virtual Desktop
Virtual Desktop serves a virtual display for so you can enjoy movies and games from your PC or Mac. For standalone headsets with access to the most capable gaming PCs and WiFi connections, Virtual Desktop can even stream PC VR games like Half-Life: Alyx or Boneworks. Modern Apartment Night is a lovely environment for viewing your personal content, with a beautiful skyline visible out the window, but we’re also partial to the Personal Theater with its centered seating and gigantic screen.
You can find Virtual Desktop from Guy Godin onQuest, Quest 2, Quest Pro,Pico, typically $19.99, andSteamVRheadsets typically $14.99.
Best Ping Pong Or Table Tennis
Eleven Table Tennis
The physics in Eleven Table Tennis are carefully fine-tuned. There are mini games available and you can adjust a number of settings for either solo or online play. Ranked matches can lead to intense competition and advanced players might check out 3D-printed paddle accessories toholdtracked controllers. The Studio environment is brightly lit and a joy to play in but also be sure to check out the Chalet with its big windows and snow-capped mountains visible in the distance.
You can find Eleven Table Tennis onSteam,Quest, Quest 2, Quest Proand Pico, typically $19.99, with cross-platform play supported. There’s an active Discord group for the official community with players organizing play sessions and even lessons.
Best Golf Course
Pebble Beach – Golf+
Developers see Golf+ as complementary to the physical sport. In late 2022, the addition of the famed links at Pebble Beach paid add-on provides a specific destination many golfers will want to try. In 2023, Golf+ begins amulti-year partnership with the PGA Touraiming to let fans play with friends on the same course as the pros in real-time. Players should be able to see simulated pro shots fall across their course immediately after they happen in the physical tournament.
You can find Golf+ onQuest 2 and Quest Pro, and also onPC for Rift and Rift S, typically $29.99. Pebble Beach Golf Links is typically an $11.99 add-on and Pinehurst No. 2 is available as aseparate purchase as well.
Best Mini Golf Course
Labyrinth – Walkabout Mini Golf
Each of Labyrinth’s 18 holes of Walkabout Mini Golf is taken straight a scene in the classic 1986 Jim Henson film. Walkabout Mini Golf’s Labyrinth is like a theme park starting at the entrance, winding across the Bog of Eternal Stench and ending near the mind-bending staircases. The course at night captures the atmosphere of Jareth’s masquerade ball and there’s a full-size maze to get lost in as well. Labyrinth comes packaged in Walkabout’s infinitely replayable mini golf format, including 18 hidden balls to find during the day and a scavenger hunt at night.
You can find Walkabout Mini Golf from Mighty Coconut onQuest, Quest 2, Quest ProorSteam, typically $14.99. Each paid add-on course, including Labyrinth and Myst, is typically $2.99. Play on your own or bring in other Walkabout players free with the guest pass. Score below par during the day to access the night course with more challenging holes.
Best Fishing
Yosemite – US – RealVR Fishing
RealVR Fishing can satisfy those looking for both hard and easy catches with breath-taking watering holes to pull fish from. Locales in the US West region, like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, offer incredible sights to take in with steep cliffs nearby, birds flying overhead and bears near the water. Japan-based fishing holes were recently added as well with locations like Mount Fuji and Matsumoto Castle represented. The developers support YouTube for music or videos in-world, so pull up a chair and find someone cool to spend time with listening to music at your favorite fishing hole.
You can find RealVR Fishing onQuest, Quest 2 and Quest Pro, typically $19.99. The developers say in 2023 some of the US West locations and Japan fishing spots and their additional fish species will be made accessible to all RealVR Fishing players.
Best Magic
Waltz of the Wizard: Natural Magic
Magic is in the air in Waltz of the Wizard with your gestures and voice commands ready to summon surprising spells. Get a feel for this playground with controllers in hand and then try the entire game with hand tracking on supported headsets. Recognized gestures, like a slingshot drawn between your fingers, can be an absolute joy to use. Overall, Waltz of the Wizard is the best piece of software to use to feel what it’s like to have magic in your fingertips.
The holidays may have left you with a modest surplus of time and/or cash, and that never happens. Well, the fine people at Valve have a convenient solution in mind, as the Winter Sale has knocked down prices on top PC VR games that should get you through the cold winter.
Whether you’re kicking it with a bonafide PC VR headset or a shiny new Quest 2 to go along with your VR-ready PC, this winter’s Steam sale has you covered with a ton of top VR titles, some of which are currently ranging from 50-75% off.
The sale goes from now until January 5th at 10AM PT (local time here), so you still have some time to do the responsible thing and burn all of your fun money on video games.
We’re keeping an eye out for more sales heading into the new year, so check back soon for all things VR in the coming days. We’re expecting to see a repeat of the Quest New Year’s sale, which ought to give you a chance to get some Quest native titles on the cheap in case you missed the Quest Winter Sale that just ended.
In this week’s episode of the Between Realities VR Podcast, Alex and Skeeva host Steve, Deirdre, Steve, and Christopher of Ferryman Collective.
The actors, producers, and creatives behind Gumball Dreams and Welcome to Respite elaborate on their approach to the immersive theater experiences they’re creating within VRChat. Topics include emotional experiences in VR and if they can help with mental health and trauma.
The new trailer for Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate Episode II first premiered in The UploadVR Showcase – Winter 2022, you can watch ithere.
There’s a fairly large divide between western VR markets and Japan, but studio MyDearest is working to change that.
MyDearest is the studio behindALTDEUSandTokyo Chronosas well asDyschronia: Chronos Alternate, a game spanning across 3 chapters that sees you play as Hal Scion, an investigator that can rewrite the past and must use this ability to solve a seemingly impossible crime. With 92 percent of reviewers on the Quest store rating it five stars, the project’s reception points to a demand for its anime style and themes.
Dyschronia’s second chapter, aka Episode II “The Eleventh Hour”, was released for Quest earlier this month and you can check out the trailer here:
Dyschronia is set 200 years after the fall of civilization and Scion is a special supervisor that has a unique past manipulation spell called retrodiction allowing him to change the past in order to solve the mysteries of the future. With the help of your support robot known as Lily, players also solve crimes via augmented dreaming – a process that shows you two versions of the same area. By switching between reality and dreaming, you see two sides of the same coin and may uncover truths not clear in one version of the city. Lily tries to ensure your safety while you discover what happened to Professor Albert Rumford in a city that has a supposed crime rate of 0.001%.
MyDearest recently announced that Dyschronia will also be a launch title for PSVR 2 when it releases on February 22nd, 2023, giving more players the chance to experience this sci-fi adventure.
Three years after the debut of the original Oculus Quest headset, the library of content available on the Meta Quest platform is now bigger than ever. That makes picking a list of the best Meta Quest 2 games pretty tough.
Meta’s line of standalone VR headsets, which seems to have singlehandedly reignited the entire VR industry, launched with over 50 apps in 2019. In the years since, the Quest platform has received a steady stream of greatest hits from over VR platforms and, since the launch of Quest 2 in 2020, doubled down on new content too.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for our best VR game lists outside of the best Quest 2 games, make sure to check these out:
Also keep in mind that, while our best PSVR, Rift and Steam VR games lists are all fairly consistent, we approach our Quest list with a bit of a different lens. We have to weigh up how much the wire-free gameplay improves the experience against how well a game has been ported and its technical performance. The list also spans a diverse number of genres, offering everything from accessible entry points to blockbuster titans.
Please note that we recently awarded What The Bat? best VR game of 2022 while other recent considerations, like Iron Man VR, will likely to make it onto our next update to this list in early 2023.
Also note that Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021 and, with it, changed the name of the Oculus Quest 2 to Meta Quest 2. In this list, we sometimes refer to both the Oculus Quest and Meta Quest labels, to cover all bases. Most of these games are available/compatible with the original Oculus Quest headset, however some are Quest 2 exclusive – we’ve noted that where relevant. Meta Quest Pro is also able to run Quest 2 games and apps, so all Quest 2 apps listed below should run on Quest Pro as well.
Best Meta Quest 2 Games: Honorable Mentions
Before we kick off the full list, we want to mention a handful of games that were just shy of making the top 25, either because other games nudged them off or perhaps other entries in the same genre took their place.
The dream of a full VR MMO has long lingered over the VR scene.
It’s an incredibly ambitious idea that’s incalculably tough to pull off. Zenith doesn’t have all the answers and it’s still early days, but it’s already head and shoulders above the competition with a robust quest line, numerous events, fun character progression and cross-play between practically every VR headset out there.
Sure, it’s a rough game with a lot of bugs and issues to iron out, but Zenith’s just on the start of a journey that will hopefully last for years from now. If developer Ramen VR continues to maintain the game, it’ll easily climb our list of the best Meta Quest 2 games. Just a few months ago, Zenith released The Celestial Throne update, adding a bunch of new content and changes you can read about here.
Another physics-driven combat game, Gorn is a decidedly more slapstick experience than The Walking Dead or Blade And Sorcery, but that’s all part of its charm. You take on a series of gladiator battles, bashing, slicing and impaling meat-headed enemies with a variety of weapons, from wrist-mounted crossbows to Wolverine-style claws.
It’s might be silly, but Gorn absolutely nails its weapon handling, with an elasticated touch that helps take some of the weight out of throwing a sword around. As such, it earns a staple position in the best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest games list.
Vader Immortal isn’t a massive, multi-hour Star Wars epic with upgradable skills and deep combat. It is, by traditional gaming standards, a pretty slim package, lasting a little over 90 minutes. But look below the surface and you’ll find something much more interesting; an episodic series that wants to provide a completely immersive VR experience that anyone can enjoy.
There’s fun lightsaber combat to be had both in the story and the excellent Dojo mode, but Vader Immortal’s best moments come from basking in the presence of the Dark Lord himself and meeting other characters in VR. It’s an exercise in story-living and a pretty good one at that.
It stretches the definition of game, then, but not enough to avoid our best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games list.
Tentacular sits somewhere between puzzle game and physics sandbox, with a campaign to sees you embody a Kaiju-like squid creature and get to work performing various jobs around the island of La Kalma.
The game is full of happy accidents, driven by the amusing and sometimes chaotic physics of your wobbly tentacles, which extend well past your physical hands.
Grabbing an item with the small tip of your tentacles will prove wobbly and grant you less control over the object, whereas using the thicker part closer to your body will give you stability, but a lack of precision. There’s an intricacy to be found in the way you move around and interact with objects in Tentacular – mistakes are always your own fault (usually because you weren’t quite aware of your own physical space) and the physics strikes that perfect balance between elasticity and precision.
It would be easy to dismiss Tentacular – it’s not the longest or most in-depth campaign and this certainly isn’t a huge budget AAA title – but the sum of its parts add up to something special. Similar to Astro Bot or Moss, this game reminds you that VR doesn’t have to be life-sized to be convincing or compelling.
Cubism is an understated but absolutely stunning VR puzzle game – and one that’s deceptively simple. Each level features a 3D wireframe shape into which you have to fit different Tetris-like block pieces. The puzzles get harder and the pieces more complex – it’s a slow and measured puzzle experience.
While it may not be as flashy as some of the other titles on this list, Cubism is an experience that is perfectly designed for the current capabilities of Quest hardware. The minimalist design, reserved soundtrack and its simple nature all come together to create a fantastic and polished end product. It’s is also regularly updated with support for the latest cutting edge VR features – its post-launch updates include support for passthrough mode, hand tracking and 120Hz.
If you’re a fan of puzzles that put your mind to work, then don’t sleep on Cubism. Solving each level is infinitely more complex than you’d expect and the satisfaction you get at the end is incredibly rewarding.
While technically Moss Book I and Book II are separate games, we’ve included them as one entry on this list as they flow into each other – Book II picks up the story moments after the end of Book 1.
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 it’s 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.
The second instalment – Moss: Book II – is technically a stronger, longer sequel, but realistically feels more like a continuation of the same journey as opposed to a completely fresh adventure. That being said, it does add some new mechanics that innovates on the original’s the combat, as well as offering a wider range of environment and vistas than the first title.
Over the course of both games, the story will see you form a bond with protagonist Quill like no other. The Moss series is not one to miss.
It’s certainly not one for those who are new to VR, for starters. As you can read in our review, Bonelab is an intense experience with some performance hitches and a renegade approach to comfort and VR nausea.
However, it does serve a specific audience and purpose. The franchise’s first title, Boneworks, was known for its physics simulations and sandbox gameplay. Bonelab brings the Boneworks experience – warts and all – to standalone VR and Quest 2 for the first time. If that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll find Bonelab to be an interesting, experimental sequel that features a short campaign and an extensive sandbox toolset that supports community mods.
Green Hell originally released as a flatscreen survival for PC and consoles. In 2022, Incuvo (taking over from the original developers Creepy Jar) brought the experience over to VR headsets – with a catch.
There’s two releases of Green Hell VR: one for Quest 2 and one for PC VR. While the PC VR version is full translation of the original, the Quest 2 version of Green Hell VR is not the exact same experience as the flatscreen game. Green Hell VR on Quest 2 follows the same story beats, but it’s a more focused and streamlined version that pares down aspects of game to accommodate for the limitations of standalone VR.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. While a little depth is lost and the overall length is a bit shorter, it’s still a deep and taxing survival game that fans of the genre will enjoy. It’s a much more straightforward experience, but one that also pays meticulous attention to VR interaction and physicality.
Red Matter 2 is a great sci-fi adventure and one of the most impressive visual showcases available on Quest 2.
After producing a similarly stunning experience with the original Red Matter, developers Vertical Robot doubled down on creating a compelling and gorgeous sci-fi game with this sequel. The gameplay is fairly slow, focused on environmental puzzles and occasional combat. It doesn’t always land – some of the puzzle begin to frustrate, especially toward the end – but any occasional hiccups in gameplay and pacing are supplemented by some beautiful sci-fi vistas and environments.
The Last Clockwinder is a delightful puzzle game that will see you program a supply chain of robots and create automated production lines to solve increasingly difficult puzzles.
You bring the robots to life by embodying them and acting out tasks that they will then endlessly repeat on a loop. You can record 1-4 seconds’ worth of actions using your controllers, which will become one repetitive piece in a larger chain of robots that work together to solve puzzles in the most optimal way you can think of.
It’s a puzzle game that encourages you to walk the line between creativity and perfection, while also taking advantage of roomscale VR in way that makes puzzle solving feel unique and extremely satisfying.
Mini golf is actually something that could and should work quite well in VR. Walkabout Minigolf is all the proof you need; it’s an accurate representation of the game that goes beyond what’s possible in real life whilst also remaining authentic throughout.
This ticks all the boxes – plenty of courses, extensive multiplayer support, different themes for each level and, above all, pinpoint physics that are arguably better than the real thing because small snags on the surfaces of many physical courses aren’t here. Hard to fault!
14. Population: One (Quest 2 only)
VR does Fortnite right in this superb battle royale shooter. Population: One takes place on a huge map in which teams of three battle it out to be the last ones standing. Choose where to drop, scavenge for supplies and make sure to stay in safe zones as you fight to survive.
Not only is Population: One a rock-solid shooter, but it’s got some great VR mechanics too, like scaling up walls with your hands or holding your arms out to glide when you leap off the side of a building. It can be an intense experience that certainly won’t be for everyone but, if you’re looking to get your online shooter fix in VR, this is your best bet. Plus, it has cross-play support, so you can play with friends using other headsets.
Though we’d love to see Lone Echo itself come to Quest, Echo VR is a thrilling addition to the library all on its own. In this multiplayer zero-gravity game, you take part in futuristic esports, throwing discs to score points on a team. The movement is fast, fluid and entirely natural.
Echo VR has stood the test of time as a multiplayer game with a growing community that was naturally conceived for the platform. To us, that’s far more important than trying to cram a genre everyone wants to see in VR onto the platform with mixed results.
This is one of the immersive VR experiences and one of the best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games.
As great as VR is, its initial novelty is bound to wear off after your first few weeks or so.
If you want to recapture the magic of putting on the headset for the first time, though, there’s one destination that’s bound to deliver: A Fisherman’s Tale. This is a mind-bending puzzle game unlike anything you’ll see elsewhere. That alone makes it one of the best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games.
In A Fisherman’s Tale, you solve intricate, scale-based puzzles in which you work… with yourself. Its best puzzles utilize a miniature model of the lighthouse the game’s set in. Lift the roof of the model and you’ll see a mini-you, imitating your every move. Just try and keep your brain from breaking as you hand yourself giant objects, or reach down to poke your own head.
It’s a trip to say the least. Throw in a poignant story about self-acceptance and you have a short, sharp VR game that will stay with you much longer than most multi-hour epics.
If you want the most accurate, authentic representation of a sport in VR today, Eleven: Table Tennis is easily your best bet. This simulation-level game offers the most convincing take on a sport that makes perfect sense in VR.
Whether you’re serving up hotshots or getting in desperate returns, Eleven’s physics behave exactly the way you’d expect and tapping the ball with your controller starts to feel as natural as if it were a paddle.
More than just a great game, Eleven is one of the rare VR experiences that feels like a genuine replacement for our reality. It’s that good and one of the best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games.
10. Ultrawings 2 (Quest 2 Only)
The first Ultrawings was an enjoyable flight game that offered approachable controls for anyone to get started with as well as tricky missions that took skill to master.
Ultrawings 2 takes that gameplay and expands on it on a massive scale. There’s easily over 50 hours of content here if you’re committed to getting gold in every mission, but even just unlocking every plane and airport will take a significant chunk of time.
Not only that, but the game has incredible variety, with mission types that take you from races to full-on combat, and each of the five vehicles offers a new spin on the formula. With multiplayer and more content on the way, Ultrawings 2 is likely to be one of the best Meta Quest 2 games for some time to come.
Little Cities is the best city simulator game available on any VR platform, let alone Quest 2. It perfectly distills the formula down into a focused approach that emphasizes city management through design. Instead of getting bogged down in menus, the ebb and flow of your city (and whether it succeeds or fails) will be determined by how you lay out the roads, key services and various elements provided to you.
Little Cities is high on this list because it does all of this while being keenly aware of intelligent VR design. Everything in the game is designed to work optimally and intuitively in a VR headset. Every element feels well considered and incredibly immersive. Even if you’re not a fan of the city simulator genre, Little Cities is visually stunning and charming enough for anyone to enjoy.
VR’s poster child finds its most natural fit on Quest. In Beat Saber, you slash notes to a beat, dodge obstacles and try to master an ever-growing list of fantastic tracks.
Wire-free gameplay breaks down the barriers between you and the music as you slice your way through an ever-growing list of tracks. Beat Saber is empowering, energetic and VR’s most devilishly addictive game yet. Don’t expect that status to change any time soon.
Whereas Onward on PC is a worthy contender for the best online shooter, it definitely faces stiff competition. But, on Quest, the wire-free gameplay really comes into its own, opening up new tactics like easily going prone. Yes, the game’s suffered visually to get onto the headset, but when you’re aiming down your sights, scanning for targets, you won’t notice.
Onward pays close attention to realism, making it a game that can be hard to get to grips with, but absolutely rewarding to master.
Pistol Whip may be the new kid on the block but, for our money, its sharpshooting, sharp sounding, beat-based gameplay proves to be even more hypnotic than Beat Saber. In this neon-lit shooter, you stream down corridors, blasting bad guys to grizzly tunes, avoiding incoming fire and trying to rack up the best scores.
Pistol Whip’s takes influence not just from the VR sales king but also Superhot and, most prominently, John Wick. Whereas Beat Saber wants to make you a dancing Jedi master, Pistol Whip aims to teach you gun-fu with style, elegantly fusing the rhythmic and cinematic together into a pulsating, vibrant monster of its own.
We had our doubts that Resident Evil 4 would really work well in VR, but it not only survived the transition – it ended up being one of the best Meta Quest 2 games. This is a full port of Leon Kennedy’s best-known zombie adventure, with a first-person view and full motion control support.
Sure, some elements of this version of the game don’t hold up well, like virtual cutscene screens. But when you’re facing a horde of enemies with your back literally against the wall, it’s hard to care. This is a wonderful way to revisit a classic.
Superhot VR is one of the oldest games on this list and yet, over four years later, it’s still easily one of the best examples of how VR can give us entirely new gaming experiences. In this cinematic shooter, times moves only when you do. Sit still and the world around you will freeze, but move your body and it will jolt back to life. It’s your very own Matrix simulator.
What makes the game such an enduring hit is its accessible design that instantly picks up on a professional slickness you won’t find anywhere else in VR. From last-minute gun grabs to well-placed knife throws, the game constantly delivers unprecedented satisfaction with its action.
Despite its age, Superhot VR is still one of the best Meta Quest 2 games available – surely we’re way past due for a sequel?
There was a heck of a lot of doubt — even from our camp — that Unplugged could really work. It’s a Guitar Hero-style game in which you strum notes arriving to the beat. But, instead of holding a plastic peripheral in your hand, the Quest version of the game relies entirely on hand-tracking. Despite having some technical hiccups, we think it really works.
When you hit a streak, Unplugged is a genuinely empowering air guitar experience that will have you shredding with the best of them, and it’ll only get better as the tech improves. For that reason, it earns a place on our best Meta Quest 2 games list.
Demeo isn’t a perfect tabletop game by any means. But it is a really good one and, more importantly, its first-rate four-player multiplayer VR experience makes it feel like a genuine social event in a way that no flatscreen game — and even few VR games — have ever really matched.
You pick a class and tackle randomly generated dungeons, but the game’s punishing difficulty means sessions can last anywhere from a few minutes to multiple hours. Demeo is already cemented as one of the best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games but, with more content on the way, including new dungeons and features, it’s only going to get better.
We would have never pegged a game based upon The Walking Dead to carry arguably the best design and user-interaction you’ll find in VR, but Saints & Sinners delivers all that and then some.
This sets the bar not just for VR zombie games but basically the entire medium with ridiculously entertaining physics-based combat that has you wrestling with hordes of undead, throwing every ounce of effort you can muster into every swing and stab.
But this isn’t just a silly sandbox or wave-based survival game (though it has that too). Saints & Sinners packs its action into a full, meaty VR campaign that sees you trekking through the remains of New Orleans. Add in human enemies, side-missions and the ability to kill zombies with a spoon, and you have one of the deepest native VR games on the market.
Plus, thanks to an obscenely good port from developer Skydance Interactive, Saints & Sinners takes the throne at the top of our best Oculus Quest games and best Meta Quest 2 games list.
Last updated December 24, 2022 to mention Iron Man VR & What The Bat?
Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 10/18/22 – List reordered. The Room, A Township Tale, Blade & Sorcery, Song in the Smoke, Ghost Giant, I Expect You To Die 2 & Until You Fall removed. Moss: Book II, Cubism, Tentacular, Bonelab, Green Hell VR, Red Matter 2, The Last Clockwinder, Little Cities added. Former UploadVR editor Jamie Feltham was previously listed as the author of this article and contributed significantly to the list and most of the existing entries.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 05/17/22 – List reordered slighty, Honorable Mentions added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 03/15/22 – Larcenauts, Carve Snowboarding removed. Zenith, Ultrawings 2 added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 11/26/21 –Sniper Elite VR, Red Matter, Cosmodread, In Death, FNAFVR removed. Resident Evil 4 VR, Song in the Smoke, Blade And Sorcery: Nomad, Gorn, Unplugged added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 08/30/21 – I Expect You To Die, Myst, Contractors, Job Simulator removed. A Township Tale, Sniper Elite VR, Larcenauts, I Expect You To Die 2 added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 06/15/21 – The Under Presents, Blair Witch, Vacation Simulator, Accounting+ removed. Demeo, Carve Snowboarding, Walkabout, Cosmodread added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 12/25/20 – Population: One, Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Myst, Blair Witch, Contractors added. Spaceteam, Robo Recall, Apex Construct, Lies Beneath, Phantom removed.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 10/12/20 – Until You Fall added. Trover Saves The Universe removed.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 09/13/20 – Acron, Down The Rabbit Hole, National Geographic, Rec Room, VRChat, Keep Talking, VVR, The Climb, Exorcist removed. Onward, Echo VR, Spaceteam VR, The Under Presents, FNAFVR, Phantom: Covert Ops, Trover Saves The Universe added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 04/09/20 – Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, SPT, Journey of the Gods, Face Your Fears II, Racket: Nx, Job Simulator removed. Down The Rabbit Hole, Ghost Giant, The Room VR, Eleven: Table Tennis, Vacation Simulator, OhShape added.
Best Oculus Quest games and Best Meta Quest 2 Games Update 12/06/19 – Fisherman’s Tale, Pistol Whip, Espire 1, SPT, National Geographic VR, The Climb, Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets added. Raccoon Lagoon, Wands, Fujii, Orbus Reborn, BoxVR, Dreadhalls, Thumper removed.
Our list of best Meta Quest 2 games is designed to be updated at least three times a year.
