Now since we have a fair idea as to when will virtual reality (VR) headsets hit the market for the consumers, it is understandable that we have heads up as to what games do we essentially pick along with that particular VR headset. As is with the console, VR headsets too have some games exclusively built for them and few that will work across all VR headsets. We are listing down some of the games that you should lay your hands on when the headsets arrive this year.
Lucky’s Tale
Platform – Oculus
This one comes with Oculus as a bundled game and is something of a Super Mario meets Banjo-Kazooie meets Sonic on a VR platform. Playing from a third person’s view, this will take you back into the era of platformer games and the whole reason why you loved them in the first place. The simplicity and the amount of fun these games can be, Lucky’s Tale is something Oculus and the studio Playful Corp have done right, right from the environments, the music and Lucky, the fox.
Chronos
Platform – Oculus
Chronos is an action RPG about a hero who has been told about a certain evil that resides in the labyrinth in his village and his quest to drive this evil from this village. Again a third person game, this is in the list primarily because of its game design. The labyrinth where the evil resides opens only once a year and our hero has a shot at defeating him only then. But if you fail to defeat him during that attempt you have to wait a full year (not literally) for another chance. This ages the hero which in turn changes dynamics of the game making the gameplay experience unique each time you fail.
Developed by Gunfire Games, a studio which is mostly made up of Vigil Games who are best known for DarkSiders series, Chronos will be out along with Oculus’s consumer headset in March.
RockBand VR
Platform – Oculus
Want to know what is to be like to be up in front of crowd who starts cheering once you strap on your guitar and start belting out numbers after numbers, listening to their cheers and boos? Well Harmonix developed RockBand VR gives you that feeling of what it is like to be in the rock band. The game though is RockBand but currently has guitar as the instrument one can play with; but the developer is planning to put in more sometime later.
The game needs Oculus Touch support which is only going to release in the second half of the year, so one will have to wait to get their hands on this one. The price too has not been decided yet.
EVE : Valkyrie
Platform – Oculus, Vive VR
EVE: Online has been around for a while now and the complex gameplay has been praised by most but with Valkyrie CCP Games have developed a fast-paced multiplayer dogfight set in the EVE: Online universe. It has been in the development for a while now and will see light on both Oculus and Vive VR. Like EVE: Online, a lot of attention has been put on the multiplayer gameplay but people who do not want to get their hands dirty with other dogfighters can certainly try the campaign mode which is based on the EVE: Online universe, of course.
Elite: Dangerous
Platform – Oculus and Vive VR
Another of the sci-fi space adventure on VR, Elite: Dangerous is a long waited sequel to the third game in the series which was released way back in 1995. Like the previous Elite games, you are set off in the universe and have to fend yourself in the large universe but you are not alone this time. This is the first time Elite series games have a massively multiplayer gameplay and each decision you make will affect your narrative.
Elite: Dangerous too will be available to Oculus Rift CV1 users right from 28 March when they hit the stores.
P.O.L.L.E.N
Platform – Oculus and Vive VR
One of the very big advantages VR has, is that it can teleport you to places that you can just imagine and developers at Minefield Games have just achieved something similar with POLLEN making it a hat-trick of sci-fi games on the list. Built keeping VR in mind, the game is a sci-fi puzzle exploration game which takes you to the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. You follow an ominous quest to explore a mysterious time-bending phenomenon that has taken hold of the space station.
The visuals from the game look stunning and who would in there sane mind wouldn’t want to go to Saturn and be in a middle of a Space crisis.
Hover Junkies
Platform – Vive VR
Want to feel what it is to play Max from Mad Max: Fury Road, a post apocalyptic world full of wasteland survivors. Game studio StressLevelZero have just made this experience possible in its VR game Hover Junkers which is a multiplayer arena shooter where players travel these different worlds through an hovercraft. Search for metal and other supplies and upgrade your hovercraft to fend off upcoming attacks or increase your fire power. The game is up for pre-order on crowdfunding website Indigogo and till date has raised closed to $120,000.
The game will release along with HTC Vive on 5 April and one for the competitive multiplayer aficionados.
Werewolves Within
Platform – All major VR headsets
Developed by Ubisoft, Werewolves Within is an out an out social game based on the already popular game known as Mafia or Werewolf where a band of friends have to recognise who amongst them is the Werewolf or the baddie before they are killed by him.
Werewolves Within is due out this fall and Ubisoft been in social games for a long time with its classic titles like Just Dance, brought VR out from the sci-fi horror genre into the social scene.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
Platform – PlayStation VR
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a spectacular o-rails shooter, and scares the hell out of the wearer when he is inside the game. The story takes place in the same errie Blackwood Pines setting and how to survive it and its many unknown creatures. This is one of the many exclusives that is slated for PlayStation VR and has been in development since the last year and is likely to ship when PlayStation VR is available to consumers in October this year.
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin
Platform – PlayStation VR
Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a story between Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2 and is another exclusive for the platform. Developed by Double Fine Productions, it is about psychic secret agents Raz and his adventures through puzzles and various platforms.
Before the sequel arrives which according to the studio should be somewhere around 2018, this could be your way to get the Psychedelic back in your life as the game returns after the hiatus of almost 10 years.
