B99 has been in Early Access on the Oculus Store since 2017 which made it easy to miss. Now that it has seen a full release fans of VR roguelikes should definitely take a look, as there’s some quality gaming to be had. Make no mistake B99 is no walk in the park, it does get a little repetitive because of the type of videogame it is and there’s some questionable English being used. Even so, VRFocus enjoyed it immensely thanks to the easy mechanics, electro tunes and brash style. Just beware of the floating cat head.

What Shooty Skies Overdrive offers is an entertaining arcade shooter, great for those times when you want to dive into a VR game that’s not too overly complicated. The powerups help to break up the repetitive nature of the gameplay whilst the aesthetics give the overall experience a charming personality which makes Shooty Skies Overdrive great for any age.

Moose Life is quite clearly one of those indie titles which has been made for the love of videogames. Cheap and cheerful, it’s like a playful puppy which just wants to have some fun because life doesn’t always need to be serious. There might not be a lot of depth to the experience or options but for those looking for a quick injection of easy retro gaming, Llamasoft has got your back.

Falcone Age is one of those little VR adventures which has bags of character, easily able to charm even the most hardnosed of gamers. The co-op companionship and storyline are certainly its two best features, calling you back into tie-up any missed secrets. There are some areas which aren’t faultless and at points, the locations can seem sparse of things to do but they don’t make the title a bad game. One to consider if you’re looking for a nice, narrative-driven experience where you can raise a falcon.

Here you have a good example of why indie developers are such a vital part of the VR industry. Cubism would never have been made by a big studio yet it deserves your attention nonetheless. Easy to pick up yet difficult to complete, it may take some an hour whilst others will take five. It’s the kind of VR game you can give to anyone and they’ll instantly know what to do, because who doesn’t know how to place a few blocks together.

Much like the comic books it’s based around, Tarzan VR is a light affair that can be easily consumed in stages. The action isn’t too particularly tough, and the enemies aren’t at all clever but the overall experience is enjoyable enough for a couple of hours. Be aware that the episodic nature of Tarzan VR’s delivery means only buying the first instalment will give you a slice of the tale, rather than each having its own self-contained storyline. It does do a lot of things right as well, lots of interactive elements, great movement and some excellent audio throughout. For a franchise with such a long history, Tarzan VR does it justice.

The fast and furious gameplay is instantaneous, grab a gun and shoot it, with the real enjoyment coming from dodging all over the place. It’s like you’re in a sci-fi dodgeball tournament without the worry of a ball smacking you in the face. Plus the studio has managed to give it that wow factor with some really eye-popping aesthetics. If you’re looking for a deeply engrossing experience this isn’t it, Blaston is more suited to quick-fire gaming sessions.

Machizzle is a perfectly likeable puzzle title for fans of the genre. While it doesn’t necessarily set itself apart when it comes to features, the gameplay is solid and perfectly suited for most players as there’s no need to worry about locomotion – there is none. If the studio can build a strong community of players then that’s where Machizzle could really shine thanks to the level editor. VR may have a strong contingent of titles in this genre but thanks to a packed solo campaign and the sandbox mode, Machizzle offers good value puzzling.

There are points where A Wake Inn provides some superb VR design more games should have and it never felt like there was nothing to do. But clunky elements stutter the experience making it less refined. It was close to being a great VR title, instead, falling into the average horror crowd.

Drawing inspiration from The Little Prince, the early 20th-Century novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Stargaze feels very much like a piece of children’s piece of interactive literature. It offers a pleasant narrative set amongst the stars with enough wonderment and interactive controls to keep them entertained. For most players this will be a one and done experience that’ll last a couple of hours at most, even the last couple of puzzles aren’t too difficult. Short, wholesome VR puzzle gaming.

Day of Heroes: D-Day offers some nice level ideas and decent visuals that do allow you to become engrossed in the gameplay at points. But it is a very middle of the road VR shooter with mechanics which could do with some refinement and more comfort options to support player requirements. One aspect Day of Heroes: D-Day does completely miss is heart, you’re in the midst of a war yet it feels very ‘by the numbers’, a videogame you could like but never love.

With its colourful aesthetic, muppet-like characters and off-the-wall sense of humour Floor Plan 2 is a delight, perfectly suited to the Oculus Quest platform. The pacing and complexity of the gameplay is very well crafted, ensuring players of all ages should enjoy exploring all the various floors. It could do with being a little more difficult especially for puzzle fans but the experience is still satisfying to complete. As Floor Plan 2 does a lot right and little wrong, this is an easy win when it comes to purchasing.

Little Chicken has managed to take an unusual idea and make it work really well as a virtual reality (VR) experience. Best played in short 30-minute durations as it can become a little grinding if you try and play for over an hour straight, nonetheless Traffic Jams provides an enjoyable and engaging arm flailing time. It would’ve been nice if the multiplayer had some more substance to really trip the VR player up though. The kind of VR experience everyone can have fun with no matter their skill level.

On the one hand, the weapons are great and you could easily spend hours in the shooting range mixing and matching components. The 4-5 hour campaign is ok until you get further in and notice some of the glaring issues and glitches like the AI or the rather bland design choices. Best played on the hardest difficulty setting for any real challenge, Zero Caliber: Reloaded gets enough right to be worth a look, but only just.

There’s plenty of content on offer if you love RTS gaming with options galore to keep you coming back for more. Even though it isn’t a perfect experience and larger, more insane battles would be great, Eternal Starlight is still wonderfully fun to play.

Arashi: Castles of Sin has some solid ideas and mechanics going for it, from the wealth of tools available to the ability to pick and choose how you attack each castle. Yet the issues do hamstring the experience and stop it from being the great VR ninja game it could have been. You’ll get a good 5+ hours out of Arashi: Castles of Sin, and whilst you can retackle levels however you wish, there’s no incentive to go full stealth or completely on the offensive. Scampering across rooftops flinging shuriken is still fun though.

Eye of the Temple feels like it goes back to VR’s roots in a way, the gameplay is simple but very effective, always keeping you thinking and on your toes. The whole experience achieves that one sort after quality in VR, immersion, where you become so focused on what you’re doing it’s easy to forget that the temple is actually your living room. Just be careful not to topple over, that can happen!

Sweet Surrender is very much a no-frills type of roguelite. It covers all the basics with a reasonable amount of variety in the weapons, enemies and upgrades, all displayed in a very nice, low-ploy aesthetic. There’s still finessing that needs to be done though, weapon balancing, a bit more room variety, tougher enemies and progression expansion. Great for those that love easy to digest action-oriented shooters, not so much if you want a roguelite with mechanics you can really dig deep into. Still, even after all of that Sweet Surrender has that addictive quality that draws you back in. Hopefully, Salmi Games continues its refinement.

What Spacefolk City truly excels at is the use of spatial gameplay. Played either seated or standing, the ability to inspect your city from any angle, the asteroids that fly in and the giant looming sun that hovers directly overhead; Moon Mode has created a wonderfully inviting experience that could only be appreciated in VR. There are still glitches such as the menu system becoming illegible due to showing multiple pages on top of each other or items getting caught on invisible walls (mostly the scrap) but that wasn’t enough to hamper the overall experience. What it desperately needs is a random multiple cloud generator option in the Sandbox. Other than that, Spacefolk City is certainly worth a look if you like god-like city creation in VR.

Captain Toonhead vs The Punks from Outer Space is a ludicrous tower defence experience and all the better for it. The gameplay is pure entertainment from start to finish, with plenty of character and bravado that you really shouldn’t take it too seriously. There are a couple of wobbles along the way and there is certainly room for some finesse in the mechanics. If you’re looking for the ultimate VR tower defence title then this isn’t it. If you want humour, strategy and guns, then you’ve come to the right place.

Final Space has a legion of loyal fans and that’s exactly who Final Space VR – The Rescue is being catered towards. If you’ve never seen the show and you buy this as a single-player shooter you’ll be disappointed. It looks good, sounds great and plays well yet there’s so much missing to make this an awesome sci-fi FPS. You need friends who love the cartoon to truly get something out of Final Space VR – The Rescue. Another concern was that there was no teleport to be found and no additional gameplay modes. A co-op like this would’ve benefited from a horde mode or something to keep you coming back for more. Final Space VR – The Rescue had its fun moments but just like the show, it ended too soon.

On the whole, Anshar Wars 2 does a great deal to stand out. Where the game could get bogged down by repetition, the developers have gone to great lengths to keep the missions unique, mixing up objectives or giving you different ships with other abilities to use. Several moments during missions had me grinning like a loon as I piloted the ship through tight ravines or zoomed through closing doors, creating cinematic memories. It’s a shame the story isn’t as cinematic and does little to set itself apart from other space adventures to make this a must-have.

UNBINARY delivers a wonderfully paced puzzle experience that’s vivid and alive, even if it’s meant to be a digital simulation. Those pretty visuals aside, it’s such a shame that so many other factors hamper the overall enjoyment. Those random walking issues, janky teleportation and random bugs like preferences being in Portuguese when the language is set to English. For a game that lasts around 3-4 hours depending on where you get stuck, it needs more polish, so that completion feels truly fulfilling. There were moments where it was delightfully satisfying to be in UNBINARY as if trapped in an abstract painting you don’t mind being locked inside. By the end though it was nice to get out.

I’m aware that I’ve been pretty negative about MarineVerse Cup, which frustrates me because there were some genuinely great moments, fleeting though they were. I loved sitting in the boat and looking up towards the sails as they billowed in the wind, and the feeling of catching the wind just right and hearing the air whip past was exhilarating. Though, as you’re probably sensing, these moments were few and far between. MarineVerse Cup feels more like a sedate Sunday at a boating pond, rather than the thrill ride of sports sailing.

Vox Machinae coming to Meta Quest 2 is a huge achievement for Space Bullet, it’s great to see this title finally hit the standalone headset and reach a wider audience. Sitting inside those mechs is a joy and never gets old when you’ve got a few buddies watching your back, stomping around the battlefield unleashing lasers and rocket barrages. It isn’t all plain sailing though, glitches were noticeable throughout and that 10-hour campaign makes for heavy, painful going. If you love giant robots fighting and always wanted to partake then Vox Machinae provides a grand (multiplayer) mech experience.

Oddly enough, painting and drawing apps work very well in VR, but only usually if they stick to big, broad effects or 3D work, creating any kind of finesse is incredibly tough to pull off. If you’ve got the time, Vermillion can work for larger abstract creations, but the detailed light touches are lost in translation.

It feels as if any painting app is going to suffer a markdown in a review because it will never compare to creating in reality, however, Painting VR gets the closest, despite a lack of customisation options. Why? Because the paint acts like paint, rather than a disjointed liquid which creates a disconnect between you, the tool and the canvas. If you’re looking for perfection, it’s still in the distance, but for something that feels genuine, and honestly, great fun to experiment with, give Painting VR a try.