Tag Archives: Oculus Go games

Top 5 Oculus Releases – May 26th-June 1st – Gravity Not Included

Slip the surly bonds of earth in this week’s top Oculus games. Between multi-directional space dogfights, solving mysteries on a space station and hunting down zombies from a heavily armed chopper, gravity turns out to be less a “law” than a “suggestion.”

Overload

from Revival Productions

Overload - screenshot courtesy Steam
Overload – screenshot courtesy Steam

Created by member of the team behind Descent, this release brings the six-degrees-of-freedom shooter into the modern age with VR support. Overload is…well…overloaded with options for multiple preferred play styles, including a story-driven campaign, multi-player matches, tons of ship customization, and a soundtrack the composers who worked on the three original Descent games.

A warning, though: the original Descent series’ portrayal of zero-gravity space ship combat was dizzying, to say the least, so VR players with motion sensitivity might want to avoid this. But in all aspects, this is absolutely the spiritual sequel fans have been waiting for.

Oculus Rift | 8 GB | $29.99 from Steam

Downward Spiral: Horus Station

from 3rd Eye Studios

Downward Spiral: Horus Station - screenshot courtesy Steam
Downward Spiral: Horus Station – screenshot courtesy Steam

The full-length follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed Downward Spiral: Prologue, this game features both an exploration-driven adventure mode and a wave shooter-inspired mode for players more interested in combat.

Both styles of play incorporate an atmospheric and environmental-driven approach to storytelling that borrows from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien: Isolation and any number of terrifying Doctor Who episodes set on abandoned space stations.

Oculus Rift | 10 GB | $19.99 from Steam

Along Together

from Turbo Button

Along Together - screenshot courtesy Steam
Along Together – screenshot courtesy Steam

A puzzle platformer that focus more on charm than extreme challenge, Along Together is a heart-warming tale that puts the player in the role of a child’s imaginary friend as the two work together to rescue a missing dog. Family-friendly but wonderfully executed, this would make a great introduction to new VR users.

Oculus Rift | 850 MB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Zombie Gunship Raptor

from Limbic Software

Zombie Gunship Raptor - screenshot courtesy Oculus
Zombie Gunship Raptor – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Apart from the obvious zombie-related premise, Zombie Gunship Raptor is an unexpectedly realistic helicopter combat simulator, especially for a mobile VR game. It’s also tons of fun.

Oculus Go | 116 MB | $3.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 116 MB | $3.99 from Oculus

Nothin’ but Net

from What Up Games

Nothin' but Net - screenshot courtesy Steam
Nothin’ but Net – screenshot courtesy Steam

Less an NBA simulator than a neighborhood basketball game, Nothin’ but Net will have you reliving the days of pick-up games and playing H-O-R-S-E with your friends. Both multi-player and solo modes are available, in case your friends aren’t around but you still want to work on your free throws.

Oculus Rift | 325 MB | $9.99 from Steam

Back to the Moon - screenshot courtesy Steam

Top 5 Oculus Releases – April 28th-May 4th – Go, Go Go!

With the launch of the new Oculus Go stand-alone mobile VR system, our top Oculus releases are extra focused on mobile this week. But fear not, Oculus Rift users: all but one of them are cross-platform, so you won’t be missing out on the fun.

Starbear: Taxi

from Funktronic Labs

Starbear: Taxi - screenshot courtesy Steam
Starbear: Taxi – screenshot courtesy Steam

Starbear: Taxi is – perhaps obviously, given its title – a game about a bear driving a space taxi. Funktronic Labs follows up their award-winning strategy game Cosmic Trip with a light arcade game featuring a natural physics-based RC flight system that’s easy enough for a child to pick up but engaging enough to keep even jaded, long-time VR players entertained.

It’s also beyond charming, with a futuristic cartoon aesthetic that draws heavily on that wonderful opening credits scene from The Jetsons, with added chubby bears and raccoons.

It’s also cross-platform compatible, so owners of the Rift, Gear VR and the newly released Oculus Go can all experience the addictive joy of bear-piloted RC flight.

Oculus Rift | 300 MB | $7.99 from Oculus or from Steam
Oculus Go | 92 MB | $4.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 92 MB | $4.99 from Oculus

Dead Secret Circle

from Robot Invader

Dead Secret Circle - screenshot courtesy official site
Dead Secret Circle – screenshot courtesy official site

The sequel to 2016’s acclaimed and atmospheric Dead Secret has everything a fan of classic horror games could want: a mystery to solve, a gritty and well-realized film noir setting – in this case, early ‘70s Chicago – and of course a serial killer wielding a straight razor.

Dead Secret Circle also features a soundtrack scored by Ben Prunty (of FTL and Into the Breach fame), multiple endings, and again, cross-platform compatibility that even extends to conventional Windows and PC platforms for the poor souls still playing games in only two dimensions.

Oculus Rift | 4.1 GB | $14.99 from Oculus or from Steam
Oculus Go | 93 MB | $14.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 93 MB | $14.99 from Oculus

I Am a Man

from Derek Ham

I Am a Man - screenshot courtesy Oculus
I Am a Man – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Like last week’s DeathTolls Experience, this isn’t so much “game” in the traditional sense as interactive educational experience. Where that release combined journalism with VR art, I Am a Man sees VR designer and NC State College of Design professor Derek Ham using the medium to explore the civil rights struggle.

Using video and voice recordings of participants from the era surrounding the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ham brings recent history to the present in a new and visceral way that makes comparisons to King’s struggle and current American civil rights and equality issues hard to ignore.

Oculus Rift | 3 GB | FREE from Oculus

Virtual Ninja VR

from MAMMOSSIX Co., Ltd.

Virtual Ninja VR - screenshot courtesy Oculus
Virtual Ninja VR – screenshot courtesy Oculus

Sword and rhythm game crossover Beat Saber is getting loads of hype this week, but that’s still in Early Access, and mobile VR players need sword-swinging action, too! Enter Virtual Ninja VR, a gloriously simple Samurai-slashing, boss-battling, katana-flinging arcade game.

Easy enough to pick up, this game is surprisingly addictive in spite of – or perhaps because of – the simplicity of its concept, and with both attack and defense options, range and melee attacks, and the added bonus of slicing airborne watermelons like some Shogun-era Gallagher, it has a lot more going for it than the typical Gear VR (or Oculus Go) wave shooter.

Oculus Go | 178 MB | $4.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 178 MB | $4.99 from Oculus

Back to the Moon (Google Spotlight)

from Google

Back to the Moon - screenshot courtesy Steam
Back to the Moon – screenshot courtesy Steam

Google made history this week with its first Google Doodle designed for VR. A short interactive story celebrating French stage magician and film director George Melies, Back to the Moon is a lovely little piece of animation that’s now available as a stand-alone download from Steam for Rift users.

Gear VR and Oculus Go users can also watch it through Google’s Spotlight Stories app.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | FREE from Steam
Oculus Go and Oculus Rift | FREE via Google Spotlight Stories