Tag Archives: Oculus Go games

Top 5 Oculus Releases – November 10th-16th – Slime, Stealing and Strategy

This week’s top five Oculus releases incorporate a little of everything, from cooperative heists to alien agriculture. There’s also plenty on offer for mobile VR users – no Rift required.

Slime Rancher: VR Playground

from Monopark

Slime Rancher: VR Playground game screenshot courtesy Steam
Slime Rancher: VR Playground – screenshot courtesy Steam

We loved the original version of this game – so much that we named it 2017’s Game of the Year on our sister site – so of course we’re beyond excited about the VR version.

A cute farming simulator inspired by classic JRPGs that – at least for us – can turn into an unsettling metaphor for industrial agriculture surprisingly quickly, Slime Rancher is fascinating and addicting.

Its simple “suck and blow” mechanic (using a vacuum tool) is easy to pick up and belies the complexities at play beneath the surface as herds of slimes eat, breed and mutate.

A big part of the fun is exploration the wilderness around your ranch, and Slime Rancher: VR is a stand-alone experience letting you explore three of its environments. While it doesn’t include a full implementation of the entire game, there’s plenty to suck and blow, and the focus seems to be more on the relaxing and exploring elements than the factory farming bit, which is fine with us.

Oculus Rift | 1 GB | FREE from Steam to owners of the original game

Crow: The Legend

from Baobab Studios

Crow: The Legend - screenshot courtesy Oculus
Crow: The Legend – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Directed by Eric Darnell (best known for Madagascar), this week’s most hyped VR release is an animated retelling of a Native American legend and featuring the voice of Oprah Winfrey, John Legend and Constance Wu, among others and was featured at Cannes.

Oculus Rift | 6.6 GB | FREE from Oculus
Oculus Go | 1.9 GB | FREE from Oculus
Gear VR | 1.9 GB | FREE from Oculus

Covert

from White Elk

Covert game screenshot courtesy Oculus
Covert – screenshot courtesy Oculus

A clever two-person cooperative concept based on heist movies, Covert makes good use of an asymmetric dynamic in a similar vein as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. The VR player is the thief, physically breaking in to highly guarded locations, while a non-VR player acts as the hacker, breaking into the security systems to assist the thief in getting away with the goods.

Crawl acrobatically through laser grids like Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment! Hack like the hackers in Hackers! Live out other film-based fantasies, maybe even from movies that came out past the 1990s!

Oculus Go | 2.1 GB | $9.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 2.1 GB | $9.99 from Oculus

Voxel Fly

from Cenek Strichel

Voxel Fly game screenshot courtesy Oculus
Voxel Fly – screenshot courtesy Oculus

We’re suckers for well-made, old-fashioned shoot-’em-ups, and Voxel Fly combines the entomological science fiction aesthetic of classics like Space Invaders and Yars’ Revenge with a voxel-based, blocky approach to graphics that’s one part Zaxxon and two parts Zenzizenzic.

Honestly, you had us at “space bugs,” but multiple game modes and different ships to select – from classic space fighters to blimps – just add to the fun.

Oculus Go | 56.2 GB | $1.99 from Oculus

Voronium – Locus Sols

from Gamalocus Studios

Voronium - Locust Sols game screenshot courtesy Steam
Voronium – Locust Sols – screenshot courtesy Steam

We’re also suckers for well-made tower defense games, in or out of VR, and Voronium – Locus Sols definitely delivers on that front. Combining tower defense and FPS mechanics with a science fiction narrative, this is a solid blend of strategy and action.

Oculus Rift | 5.5 GB | $14.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Top 5 Oculus Releases – August 11th-August 24th – Strategy and Speed in the Stars

Our latest top five new Oculus releases is heavy on interstellar action – whether that be the measured action of outer space naval battles or more frantic dodging and shooting inspired by classic arcade games.

Flotilla 2

from Blendo Games

Flotilla 2 game screenshot courtesy Steam
Flotilla 2 – screenshot courtesy Steam

Released eight years ago, this game’s predecessor was a wonderful blend of 3D space strategy stripped down into easily digestible chunks and set in a lighthearted universe with space pirate penguins that owed as much to Douglas Adams as it did to more “serious” science fiction.

Flotilla 2 builds on that with a similar premise – think the large-scale 3D battles of the Homeworld series boiled down into simple skirmishes that you can fight your way through during your lunch break – but exclusively in VR, which is perfect for turn-based spaceship combat.

Oculus Rift | 100 MB | $9.99 from Steam

Orch Star

from Orch Star Studios

Orch Star game screenshot courtesy Steam
Orch Star – screenshot courtesy Steam

Now out of Early Access, Orch Star offers more interstellar strategy, but this time RTS instead of turn-based. Playable both on standard PCs and in VR, it features both extended single-player campaign, level editor and multi-player matches.

The setting is also intriguing, and its blending of fantasy and space opera tropes reminds us a bit of Warhammer 40,000 without all the over-the-top edgy parts. It’s also got a ton of visual appeal; its fleets of ships reminds us of ‘70s and ‘80s-era sci-fi animation.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $14.99 from Steam

Space Maze

from Redox Entertainment

Space Maze game screenshot courtesy Steam
Space Maze – screenshot courtesy Steam

If strategy isn’t your thing, maybe you’ve just got the need for speed? Space Maze is classic arcade action, right down to the scorching neon colors and low-poly designs, but designed for VR.

With a third-person view of your ship and action that borrows elements of everything from Asteroids to Descent, this is a simple but compelling take on high-adrenaline shoot-’em-ups.

Oculus Rift | 450 MB | $7.99 from Oculus or from Steam

RotatorX

from DEFICIT Games

RotatorX game screenshot courtesy Oculus
RotatorX – screenshot courtesy Oculus

There’s high-speed spaceship fun for mobile VR players this week, too, in the form of RotatorX, a twitchy but meditative take on the endless racer genre. With its swirling colors, electronic soundtrack and tense, oppressive feel, this one has us thinking a bit of 2016’s stunning “rhythm violence” game, Thumper.

Oculus Go | 136 MB | $3.99 from Oculus

Titanic VR

from Immersive VR Education

Titanic VR game screenshot courtesy Steam
Titanic VR – screenshot courtesy Steam

Shifting gears from spaceships to…well…regular ships, Titanic VR is a historically accurate recreation of history’s most famous shipwreck through the perspective of one of the survivors.

Even more impressive to us, though, is the ability to commandeer a submersible drone to explore the wreckage in the present day. Then again, we’re suckers for diving simulators.

Oculus Rift | 10 GB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Order Up game screenshot courtesy Steam

Top 5 Oculus Releases – July 6th-20th – From Whimsical to Scary and In-Between

Another two-week list, our top Oculus releases from mid-July include a variety of games for all platforms, from innovative horror games to whimsical puzzles.

GNOG

from KO_OP

GNOG game screenshot courtesy Oculus
GNOG – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Originally released on mobile platforms but now optimized for VR, GNOG is a whimsical and award-winning puzzle game inspired by real-world toy designs.

Combining the surreal playfulness of games like Machinarium – each of its nine levels involves solving puzzles within a giant toy head – with an art style that evokes Loot Rascals as well as contemporary design brands like GAMAGO, this release is tactile enough to feel “real” but so kooky that virtual space is its perfect delivery mechanism.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $9.99 from Oculus or from Steam
Oculus Go | 1.03 GB | $4.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 1.03 GB | $4.99 from Oculus

Stifled

from Gattai Games

Stifled game screenshot courtesy Steam
Stifled – screenshot courtesy Steam

Winning multiple awards at game shows in Asia, Stifled is a stealth horror game that relies on a fairly unique echolocation mechanic: in order to discover your surroundings, you need to make sound using your microphone. The more noise you make, though, the more you broadcast your location to unseen horrors stalking you in the darkness…

This is a cross-platform game that doesn’t have to be played in VR, but the extra immersion makes things all the more terrifying.

Oculus Rift | 6 GB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism

from Hyphen-Labs

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism game screenshot courtesy Oculus
NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism – screenshot courtesy Oculus

An interactive film combining cyberpunk science fiction with commentary on the African-American experience – and in particular the connection between hair and identity – NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism has been featured at the likes of the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW and the Tribeca Film Festival.

It’s also free on all Oculus platforms, so even if you don’t have an immediate personal connection to the subject matter, there’s no excuse not to check this out.

Oculus Rift | 1.6 GB | FREE from Oculus
Oculus Go | 452 MB | FREE from Oculus
Gear VR | 452 MB | FREE from Oculus

Bring to Light

from Red Meat Games

Bring to Light game screen shot courtesy Steam
Bring to Light – screen shot courtesy Steam

Solve 3D light puzzles a la The Talos Principle as hideous monstrosities stalk you through abandoned subway tunnels in a game that will stress both your brain and your heart rate.

That last bit is literal, by the way – if you’ve got a compatible heart rate monitor, Bring to Light can actually use your heart rate data to adjust the intensity of its scares!

Oculus Rift | 6 GB | $19.99 from Steam

Order Up

from Gambit Games Studio, LLC

Order Up game screenshot courtesy Steam
Order Up – screenshot courtesy Steam

If you’re a fan of the frantic multi-tasking of restaurant simulators and cooking games, Order Up should tickle your taste buds, so to speak.

Adding to the stress of getting your meals put together right and keeping your diners happy, this designed for room scale, so make sure to put on your hairnet – all that running around will have you sweating.

Oculus Rift | $11.99 from Steam