Tag Archives: Oculus Rift

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 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

Top 5 Oculus Releases – April 14th-20th – Meditate or Get Mental

April 20, 2018Best Oculus Gamesbest Oculus games, Gear VR games, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift games, oculus rift newsinfinitywaltz

This week’s top Oculus releases focus more on mind than reflexes, literally and figuratively. Twist your brain in the VR sequel to one of the greatest comedic adventures of all time, set your brain to work as a virtual city planner, or just relax with some paper airplanes:

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

from Double Fine Productions and React Games

The beloved team of youthful psychics is back with an all-new adventure, initially released as a PSVR exclusive and now available for the Rift. Exclusive to VR and serving as a bridge between the original classic and its forthcoming sequel, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin picks up right where the first Psychonauts game left off.

Featuring some interesting control choices – like using your head to pick up and manipulate objects instead of your hands, in a simulation of telekinesis – this abounds with tricky puzzles that will push both your logic and your psychic abilities to their limits.

More importantly, it’s got the signature writing and twisted humor we’ve come to expect from Double Fine Productions in general and this series in particular.

Oculus Rift | 8 GB | $19.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Block’hood VR

from Plethora-Project and General Arcade

Another expansion of an existing – and award-winning – game concept into virtual space, Block’hood VR puts a 3D spin on the original game’s ecologically-focused, voxel-based approach to the city-building sim.

Players will still build neighborhoods using a block-based system that requires careful thought not only of each section’s own qualities but those of surrounding blocks, and the use of VR space gives each choice and combination even more impact.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $14.99 from Oculus or from Steam

Paper Valley

from Vitei Backroom

If psychic puzzles and ecological urban planning is making your head hurt, why not relax by tossing some paper airplanes in an idyllic wooded vale? Paper Valley is a meditative experience that still offers puzzles as tossed paper airplanes help to reveal a lost civilization – a bit like Myst gone papercraft.

Its combination of simple mechanics and tranquil environments netted developers Vitei Backroom a Famitsu Media Highlight Award at last year’s BitSummit in Japan.

Oculus Rift | 657 MB | $19.99 from Oculus

Fibre

from konzeptzwei

Not all this week’s releases are slow-paced – Fibre is far from it, in fact – but this combination of rail shooter and endless runner for Gear VR is incredibly meditative once you get into the rhythm of it. Stark, abstract graphics inspired by data packets on a network also make this a far different experience than the robot and zombie games more typical of the genre.

Gear VR | 130 MB | $2.99 from Oculus

3D Mahjong Worlds

from PixelBrain Studio

A favorite casual game genre – the venerable Mahjong solitaire tile game – makes its way to the Oculus. UK developer PixelBrain Studio previously released a similar game for mobile VR, and the experience served them well. This is a simple idea executed extremely well, bringing the relaxing puzzle-solving and hypnotic tile-clicks into a more immersive space.