Tag Archives: Oculus Rift games

Top 5 Oculus Releases – May 5th-11th 2018 – Dig That Western Vibe

May 13, 2018Best Oculus Gamesbest Oculus games, Gear VR games, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift gamesinfinitywaltz

For some reason, several of our top Oculus picks this week have a sort of alternate western flavor – but whether it’s gun-slinging or the comparatively peaceful pursuit of seeking your fortune down in the mines, we’ve got you covered:

Cave Digger

from Mekiwi

From pickaxes to nukes, select your tools, plunge into subterranean depths and try and get that big score. Cave Digger brings the addictive mining action from the likes of Minecraft, Terraria and Steamworld Dig into VR, and while the initial tools are primitive, the more veins you mine, the fancier gear you can obtain (and yes, we did say “nukes”).

Not sure if you’d really “dig” mining (pun intended)? Not to worry, as this offering from Mekiwi is totally free.

Oculus Rift | 400 MB | FREE from Steam

The ArcSlinger

from Big Red Button Entertainment

Another game with quasi-Western themes, The ArcSlinger eschews the recently trendy “Weird West” tropes of ghosts and gunslingers in favor of a more science fiction approach. A story-driven shooter featuring voice acting from Nolan North and Jessica DiCicco, this was originally released for Google Daydream before being upgraded for Oculus Rift and Gear VR.

Oculus Rift | 3 GB | $17.99 from Oculus or from Steam
Oculus Go | 78 MB | $7.99 from Oculus
Gear VR | 78 MB | $7.99 from Oculus

Wheelchair Simulator VR

from ViRa Games

Narrated by Dmytro Schebetyuk and based on his own experiences as a wheelchair user, Wheelchair Simulator VR is at once an entertaining game, an unexpected work-out and a wry and sarcastic exploration of disability. Plus, proceeds go toward the Dostupno UA initiative, which supports accessibility initiatives in Schebetyuk’s native Ukraine.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $9.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Escape First

from OnSkull Games

Building on the studio’s experience designing multi-player escape rooms for VR (OnSkull Games released the free Tales of Escape last year), Escape First features three new scenarios for up to six players. Tense and challenging, this one also has a “versus” mode for a more competitive experience, though we prefer the shared sense of panic that comes from the standard cooperative mode.

Oculus Rift | 4 GB | $5.99 from Steam

Reficul

from MadAboutGamesStudios

Gloriously over-the-top survival horror in the classic mode, Reficul pulls out all the stops while using several mechanical innovations – like a menu-free visual inventory system – to bring the flavor of the early Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark games into the VR space.

Oculus Rift | 13 GB | $14.99 from Steam

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

May 5, 2018Best Oculus Gamesbest Oculus games, Gear VR games, Oculus Go games, Oculus Rift gamesinfinitywaltz

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 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

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

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.

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

Top 5 Oculus Releases – April 21st-27th – Short and Sweet

April 28, 2018Best Oculus Games, Oculus Gamesbest Oculus games, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift gamesinfinitywaltz

Some weeks, our top releases are all about big budget, epic “save the world” experiences, but this time around we encourage you to explore things on a smaller scale with some shorter but still engaging and artistic new Oculus Rift releases:

Rolling Line

from Gaugepunk Games

As far as hobbies go, model trains have a fairly high barrier to entry. They take money, a lot of time, and a lot of space.

By moving the action into VR, Rolling Line eliminates most of those barriers, offering players the chance to rearrange bushes, hills, stations and tracks to their hearts’ content, not to mention controlling the locomotives themselves.

Oculus Rift | 400 MB | $13.99 from Steam

BurningBridges VR

from Amstad Digital

The first VR release from Swiss technology/art start-up Amstad Digital, this experimental game combines “get-to-the-top” platforming action with a surreal storyline that explores issues of identity.

Honestly, though, even with no narrative component at all, we’d still be playing BurningBridges VR just for the chance to explore its gorgeous cyberpunk-influenced environments.

Oculus Rift | 10 GB | $4.99 from Steam

M.I.A. – Overture

from IBLACKHOLES

A fairly brief but engaging experience, M.I.A. – Overture uses a lot of familiar tropes and mechanics – treasure hunters, mysterious islands, solving puzzles to bring ancient artifacts back to life – in way that still manages to be fresh.

The vine-climbing sequence in particular is well-done, as is the visual juxtaposition of ancient stone ruins with low-poly natural landscape features.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $14.99 from Steam

DeathTolls Experience

from Ari Eslami

An incredible – but also incredibly bleak – offering, DeathTolls Experience is VR artist Ari Eslami’s meditation on mass death in general and the war in Syria in particular.

We wouldn’t call this “enjoyable,” but its use of the medium makes an incredible impact in a way that words and numbers can’t, and we applaud Eslami’s combination of art, journalism and new media.

Oculus Rift | 4 GB | $3.99 from Steam

Save Snegurochka!

from TIPA Games Berlin

It’s a bit odd to release a winter-themed game right at the start of summer, but with its heart-rousing tale of a snowman rescuing a dog, Save Snegurochka! is a charming little surprise that’s appropriate for the entire family (not to mention a nice emotional antidote to the seemingly endless parade of body bags in our previous pick).

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $8.99 from Steam