Half-Life: Alyx is one of the most richly detailed and immersive VR games to date, and a stunning take on the iconic franchise for virtual reality; City 17 and the sci-fi conflict at its core are incredibly well-realized throughout. Though it's slower than the run-and-gun pace of the originals, Alyx feels like a Half-Life game through and through as it successfully shifts between combat, exploration, puzzles, and even some notable horror. While the game doesn't offer much in the way of mechanical innovation, and the roster of weapons and enemies left something to be desired, Valve has polished the game to a bright sheen, the result of which is an absolute must-play experience.

While not as photorealistic or high budget as Valve's Half-Life: Alyx, this VR-native shooter does its best impression of a 'AAA' game. Vertigo 2 isn't just bigger and weirder than the original at around 10 hours of campaign gameplay, but it's also full of so much heart and good humor that you'd swear the core dev team was much more substantial than just a single dude. The wild and lovably convoluted story may not add up, but you probably won't care since it's such a great and undeniably smart game.

Budget Cuts is one of the smartest VR games to come out in recent memory, using a unique teleportation-portal system to let you stealthily zip around the sprawling, robot-filled office space like a knife-wielding Nightcrawler. There's so much to like about Budget Cuts, from it's humorous take on workplace automation to its adrenaline-filled action. It's safe to say Budget Cuts has lived up to its name in this full-length VR stealth game.

Superhot VR is built upon a one-of-a-kind bullet-time mechanic that translates phenomenally well to VR. After a slow start, you'll find that the game is part action and part puzzle, as you dodge incoming firing in slow motion while finding the most effective way to shatter your enemies. The core gameplay is challenging and enjoyable, though it comes up just short of hitting a masterful climax of game mechanics. The story elements are mostly distractions, and, like many of the best VR experiences, we're left wishing there was more than the 2 or so hours of gameplay available. [Tested with Oculus Touch]

Offering a suspenseful story, characters that feel human, and sci-fi backdrop that hits all the right beats, 'Lone Echo' is an impressive entry into the VR adventure genre that begging for multiple series. If the concept of "VR legs" ever existed, you won't need them in this zero-g space adventure that lets you fly with ease for hours at a time.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew may offer a steep learning curve to overcome, but if you've got a trusty crew by your side, there's serious fun to be had here for both fans and non-Trekkies alike. Interiors are well-rendered, control panels are easy to use, and action is intense, making it easy to lose yourself in the one of the first truly cooperative space sims in VR that offers a deeply engaging social component, hopefully lasting well into the 23rd century. [Tested with Oculus Touch; HTC Vive]

Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality perfectly matches the show's hilarity and absurdity, and truly feels like an extended episode of the show. As a clone of Morty, and consequently the lowliest creature in the Smith household, you don't get to go on all of the adventures with Rick, but somehow the tedium inherent to the studio's predecessor 'Job Simulator' all pays off in the most Rick-way possible. [Tested with HTC Vive, Oculus Touch]

Electronauts' greatest achievement is perhaps its ability to translate untrained musical creativity into something that sounds good while maintaining the feeling of really crafting something of your own. The experience overcomes a familiar musical barrier—the fear of playing something that sounds bad—which all too often keeps people from connecting with music from the creator's perspective. Fans of EDM will find Electronauts to be a totally unique way to experience and interact with music while expressing their inner groove, and those with more musical talent will find a surprisingly capable set of tools for mixing and performing.

The Gallery -Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone is a longer, stonger and more immersive experience than the first in the series, and shows that Cloudhead has put in the hours producing a visually and emotionally adept story that feels like it hasn't outworn its welcome. Puzzles are innovative, and while they aren't particularly difficult, they always reward you with something worth pursuing.

Starship Home brings a fun and quirky mishmash of casual ship management and sci-fi plant gardening, and does it so well in mixed reality that it stands on even playing field with generations of VR games. With modular ship components, Starship Home admirably breaks away from the usual MR gimmick and gives you plenty of reasons to stick around and trek through the universe, happily gardening all the way.

Stormland has delivered on its ambitious vision of making VR open-world adventuring a reality, thanks to smart design on both macro and micro scales. While there's some rough edges, the game brings enjoyable combat, innovative world traversal, and satisfying interactions to the table in a way rarely executed as well on their own, let alone together in a single experience. With fully-featured two-player co-op and the potential for long term replayability in the Cycling World, Stormland sets a new bar while at the same time laying out a well-formulated framework that will benefit VR games of the future.

Ultrawings 2 is a sight for sore eyes, giving fans of the original more of everything in a new and improved package. Outside of fun flight challenges, Ultrawings 2 introduces a smattering of military-style combat missions that take the franchise in a new and interesting direction that we'd like to see more of. The formula of grinding for cash doesn't feel very magical after a while, and object interaction is lackluster, making for a more frustrating flying experience, although it's hard to knock such a plucky little flight game that sits neatly somewhere between simulator and arcade flier.

Sprint Vector may have borrowed some well-established kart racing tropes from the Mario Kart franchise, but that's where the comparison with other games stops. Using a unique locomotion system, Survios shows a masterful understanding of what it takes to make a fast-paced, but comfortable racing experience, one that will have you flying higher and running faster than you've ever gone before.

COMPOUND clearly has a love for the classics, as it provides its own take on the single-player shooter genre with some stylish and well-crafted pixel art. The game cleverly focuses on slowing down the pace by making default gun handling a very deliberate experience, so only those who can master its slightly unorthodox reloading scheme (or use the optional auto-loading mode) can go full bore. Plenty of progressive weapon unlocks and three selectable gameplay difficulties give ample reason for players to come back for more pixel-busting carnage well past beating the end boss for the first time.

Star Wars: Squadrons puts you in the lovingly reimaged cockpits from the storied franchise, making you feel like you've truly stepped into the Star Wars universe. All of the hallmarks of a AAA title are here, and the VR mode doesn't disappoint despite not being a true built-for-VR title. Although we were expecting a bloated tutorial-focused campaign, the story mode turns out to be a true highlight of the game, and introduced. Multiplayer still feels like its evolving, although there's at least the peace of mind that you'll always find a match thanks to cross-platform support across console and PC.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a slightly tuned-down RPG that's just begging to be bigger in size, although it didn't bite off too much in its quest to deliver an engrossing story, excellent physics-based zombie killing action, and an immersive atmosphere that feels as gritty and deadly serious as The Walking Dead comic books.

Beat Saber's signature VR rhythm gameplay feels solid on PSVR, even at the highest levels of difficulty. This is a highly active game that not only creates a great sense of embodiment, but can also be a decent workout. The new Campaign mode adds surprising life to the game, and modifiers combined with objectives can bring new meaning and challenge to songs you thought you knew forwards and backwards. A roster of 16 quality songs is a good start, and the company plans to add more over time, but how much additional songs will cost and whether or not they come quickly enough to keep players satiated in the long term is still up in the air.

Asgard's Wrath may not offer the richest melee combat experience out there, but this epic Norse saga serves up a truly competent RPG that's not only strong in the visual department but is also packed with a full set of VR-native controls, something that's been so far missing in ported RPGs. There may be some wonkiness when it comes to object interaction, but the charming set pieces and excellent character design lend a level of immersion to this truly feature-length game that's hard to beat.

On the surface level. Vacation Simulator is a seemingly familiar dive back into the whimsical world of Job Simulator, although this time around the studio has added a fair bit of structure and story to the game that really gives the vacation-focused sequel some much needed legs. Since you're given a wide swath of activities and only a few requirements to complete them, you're basically left to your own devices to have the most fun you want to have. In the end, it wasn't as relaxing as a vacation, but I certainly came out the other end with a smile on my face and enough reason to go back in after finishing the main story line.

Sacralith: The Archer's Tale marries expert-level visual polish with a clever and engaging bow shooting extravaganza to make what is clearly approaching AAA territory. The narrative, and characters within it, are also high on visual polish, and thanks to motion capture, are decidedly 'human enough' to be convincing. The level of difficulty is extremely high, making for multiple hours of bow shooting throughout the game's singular campaign.

I Expect You to Die 2 may be more of the same, but it's a good slice of fun, espionage-flavored action that again tasks you with disarming cleverly-designed and deadly puzzles provided by the evil Bond-style Zoraxis corporation. While object interaction isn't the game's strong suit, the sequel offers up a good number of varied levels packed with truly intriguing puzzles, oftentimes containing multiple ways to die that always feel like the joke's on you.

Moss: Book II is a direct continuation of the first game in both story and core mechanics. Generally speaking, it's a longer and better experience than the original Moss thanks to the introduction of new weapons, mechanics, and more intriguing puzzles. The game is polished to the brim with stellar art direction, with each segment of the game being its own detailed diorama with top notch composition. Sound is strong and animations are superb throughout, with one of the game's enjoyable boss fights showcasing Polyarc's animation prowess in particular. Though the 'narrated book' story structure may have hindered the impact of the story and characters, Moss: Book II is a well rounded adventure you won't want to miss.

The sequel to the beloved Fisherman's Tale puzzle adventure is here, offering up more of everything, including new mechanics that make the basis for a wider selection of iterative puzzles. Set to a backdrop of an emotionally complex story, Another Fisherman's Tale feels like it's struck a better balance between its bigger themes and characteristic storybook narrative style, making it feel like a full-featured film instead of the charming, yet simplistic short we had with the original.

FORM offers a visually stunning mix of epic, dream-like architecture and ever-morphing geometric shapes. Puzzles are intuitive, and while difficulty is on the low to medium side, they always make you feel like you've accomplished something great. In the end, it demonstrates a clear understanding of what makes VR different, and delivers a truly VR-native experience that you'll have a hard time forgetting. [Tested with HTC Vive]

There's no denying the underlying game is fantastic, as Not For Broadcast confronts you with moral quandaries as you slowly become a well-oiled cog in a dystopian propaganda machine. While the game's binary button pushing wasn't as VR-native as we would have liked, the base game translates extremely well to VR, feeling decidedly more at home on VR headsets than on flatscreen monitors.

Obduction revives the overall feeling of its predecessors 'Myst' and 'Riven' by recreating the familiar brand of visually stunning environments mixed with cerebral puzzles. [Tested with Oculus Touch, HTC Vive]

Robo Recall is one of the most frantic, kinetic, satisfying, and challenging games of bullet ballet available in VR today. It harkens back to headier days of blue skies, tight gameplay loops, and arcade purity. You could argue that it’s a little content light, but you can’t argue with the price, so we turn to the modding community to see where they can take us next. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Werewolves Within is a clever and well-balanced VR adaptation of the popular party game 'Mafia'. While fundamentally based on deception, even the best liar can get caught if he/she is unlucky enough. The cartoony atmosphere is both approachable and extremely well polished, although the game makes poor use of natural input controllers. [Tested with HTC Vive]

Deadpool VR isn't some cheap knockoff: this is the real deal, thanks to expert voice acting from Neil Patrick Harris and phenomenal script writing to match. While combat can be somewhat repetitive, the level of gameplay variation always keeps you guessing, even if the narrative is on the tropey and mostly dispensable side. Despite it flaws, the merc with a mouth makes any dull spot that much more fun and engaging.

Thumper is a fun and visually aggressive, face paced rhythm survival game. As a space scarab you’ll enjoy banking and weaving your way through hours of increasingly intense levels. It doesn't make use of any mechanics that are unique to VR and plays identically on the screen as it does on the headset, however the novelty of being in VR enables a more focused experience and heightens the game's purposeful intensity. [Tested with PlayStation VR]

Skydance's Behemoth combines satisfying physics-based combat, immersive visuals, and dynamic mechanics to deliver a standout VR action-adventure experience, though its predictable story and occasionally artificial-feeling AI detract slightly from its otherwise polished execution. The game's intense Behemoth battles and well-woven locomotion mechanics combine for an impressive showcase of how a deft hand at VR-native design can elevate even mediocre narratives to monstrous heights.

Angry Birds VR: The Isle of Pigs proves that Angry Birds just works in VR, replete with it's topsy-turvy structures and little piggy fiends now fully realized in 3D. The game's shooting mechanic is extremely intuitive, and variably difficult levels provide a satisfying 2-3 hours of pig-shooting gameplay. There's clearly room to grow with more enemy types and birdbrained ammo still yet to come, although as it stands now, it totally captures the 'pure' Angry Birds experience.

From the outside looking it, The Climb 2 feels very much like the first, with its gamified freeclimbing and leaderboard-centric gameplay. But just under the surface is a newer, bolder game that goes in a few unexpected directions. New environments host fun gadgets like ziplines and moving platforms, and plenty of choice when it comes to self-imposed difficulty. Level design is spot on, although visuals could be better optimized for a more immersive experience.

Favorably comparing a VR roguelike to 'In Death' is fairly high praise already, however The Light Brigade seems to do an even better job of enticing you back for more as you make successive attempts at conquering the dark forces that have removed light from the fantasy universe. The game's WWII-era weapons make for welcome and familiar additions while adding a measurable level of realism which manages to aid immersion far beyond what a plainer entry in the genre might. The game's color palette is a bit too muddy, making for not-so-awesome visual contrast, but that's small potatoes when looking at the bigger picture.

With strong gunplay that doesn't overstay its welcome, Blood & Truth plays out like a guided adventure through an action movie. Sony's London Studio has thoughtfully crafted the game with shooting, locomotion, and interaction mechanics that feel good without being overly complex or clunky. The game's action is underpinned with some truly impressive virtual characters which can be enthralling at times. Unfortunately the story they're in service of can't match the excellent renderings and performances. Though it only took me a little more than four hours to complete the main campaign, it still felt like an adventure worth taking.

Much of the thrill lies in the game's realistic (albeit fractured) atmosphere, although a few jump scares await that should get the pulse of even the bravest horror fan thumping. It treads a fine line between adventure game, with its puzzles and found objects that tell a story, and a dark indie film that sweeps you along at a fast clip. While too short for some, in the end the experience reflects concise storytelling that may have ultimately suffered with a longer format.

Batman: Arkham Shadow delivers an engaging VR experience that captures the essence of the Arkham series by understanding the core formula and deeply adapting it for VR. The game offers well-executed movement, light puzzles, and innovative VR melee combat. The narrative, though not without impressive voice acting and world-building, suffers from painfully slow pacing and direction, ultimately diminishing immersion. The game turns out to be surprisingly comfortable considering the significant amount of artificial locomotion.

Iron Man VR isn't perfect, but it's the most complete and compelling VR superhero game to date. Studio Camouflaj has crafted a experience which feels whole by successfully weaving unique VR gameplay with an iconic character and a worthwhile story. Most of the game's ideas are well executed—especially its break-neck yet comfortable flying mechanics—including a few unique moments which you might not have expected from this game.

Pixel Ripped 1995 does an awesome job of taking you to the mid-90s with its unique 'game within a game' style, this time however zeroing in on the 16-bit and early 32-bit games, albeit with some cleverly-built knockoff games that ultimately pay homage to the era. Although it's a bit rough around the edges, the interplay between the 'real' world and the game world make for a fun, mind-bending trip that really hits the mark.

Virtuoso is more than just an immersive place where you mess around with virtual instruments. It's more of a beginner's music creation tool than a simple sandbox. With only basic knowledge you can easily create music, although drilling into the settings and massaging a more unique sound out of the looper will ultimately be the most rewarding use of this immersive little music machine.

Horizon Call of the Mountain takes players on a fun adventure throughout a breathtaking world, showcasing some of the best graphics you'll find anywhere in VR. Beyond the epic vistas, the game's smaller details—like rich foliage, an array of climbing gadgets, and interactive props—make Call of the Mountain a very immersive game. It's a joy to see the sci-fi beasts of the Horizon world up close in VR, and their excellent animations and sound effects make them thoroughly believable. While combat could be a bit more fluid and climbing could have more interesting challenges, as a whole the game offers up a satisfying dose of VR native gameplay. Beyond the great environmental art, Call of the Mountain's characters are also impressively rendered, though unfortunately they're not involved or developed enough to make them memorable.

Red Matter showcases impressive worldbuilding, a knack for high degree of polish, and an engaging enough story to make this a single sitting game worth at very least three hours of your time. Puzzles aren't terribly difficult, but usually come to a satisfying enough resolution, and always feel necessary to the overall narrative. While the game's commander, a voice over guide, can grated on my nerves, it's an easy defect to ignore in the face of an overall excellent sci-fi thriller adventure.

Farpoint is one of the most complete single-player VR games available today with a high level of polish, compelling combat sandbox with interesting and varied weapons & enemies, and a serviceable story. It's also exciting proof that a more 'traditional' FPS can work in VR. [Tested with PlayStation VR + Aim on PS4 Pro]

LEGO Bricktales isn't the complete VR digitalization of the LEGO-building experience we might have hoped for, but it does present well-designed puzzles and plenty of light adventuring opportunities in the game's undeniably charming lego-filled world. Although the kid-friendly story is a bit of a snooze, the star of the show is definitely the lego puzzles where Bricktales makes up for the lack of 1:1 lego tactility with smart brick-building design. Despite being ported from flatscreen, puzzle solving feels suitably native to VR.

Arktika.1 falters somewhat with a thin story line that doesn't match up with the grandiosity of the game's impressive visuals. Shooting is a natural and genuinely fun experience and level design is immersive, although enemy types and puzzles can start to feel repetitive at times.

After the Fall executes its vision of Left 4 Dead in VR with gusto, as it brings much of what made Valve's four-player co-op great back 2008. There's still room for improvement when it comes to enemy variation and object interaction, but fans of arcade shooters may have a hard time knocking it on this alone, as it competently brings PC, PSVR, and Quest 2 in one big cross-platform splatter fest.

The Last Clockwinder is a charming puzzle game that's about more than just robots growing fruit. The bulk of the game of course challenges you to optimize clone-driven contraptions, but there's a feeling of a real lived-in world under the surface that demonstrates some serious expertise in worldbuilding. The game's Studio Ghibli-inspired setting could be more interactive, and more narrative byways could help flesh out some of the downtime in between waiting for your harvest to mature, although it's hard to knock such a sweet and well-crafted tale.

Zen Studios have achieved a very natural VR pinball experience. While it might not do enough to convince purists, for many it is already a compelling alternative to owning a real table. There is still nothing quite like playing a real arcade machine, but Pinball FX2 VR offers a healthy taste of the real thing. [Tested with HTC Vive]

Batman: Arkham VR plays like a long demo with highly detailed and immersive environments and fun (if one-dimensional) gameplay. For Rocksteady’s first attempt at a VR game, Arkham VR is a solid foundation for what we hope will be future episodic installments. What the game lacks in mobility and action it makes up for in storytelling and satisfying object interaction. Overall Arkham VR is a taste of the potential virtual reality can offer the series, but leaves us wanting more varied gameplay. [Tested with PSVR]

Eagle Flight brings the unbridled joy of flying to VR. With its sense of speed, stern challenge, and unparalleled levels of control and comfort it’s only the fact that it plays so safely within its own sandbox that stops it getting a perfect score. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Skyrim VR has successfully made its way to PC after squeezing onto PSVR, now boosting the pixels where it counts and leaving it an extremely stable experience. While flatscreen-to-VR ports tend to have the deck stacked against them, Skyrim VR for PC shows that you can bring an older, more mature game to VR and have great results. Besides some obvious holdbacks and design tropes from an early era in gaming, its vast and rich world, great voice acting and depth of play mostly make up for its shortcomings.

In Death is an extremely difficult roguelike bow-shooter that is both extremely well realized and frustratingly hard. If you're into punishment, the seemingly infinite number of Purgatories that await ought to get you at least a little bit excited, because 'In Death' promises a constantly increasing level of difficulty along with cool unlocks as you die time and time again. Expect to put in a lot of time into your permanent sojourn in Purgatory to get the most out of it.

Arizona Sunshine 2 is a decent zombie romp with all the usual elements, plus your dog friend, Buddy. Though sometimes clunkily animated, having an NPC companion that generally feels helpful and interactive adds a new flavor rarely seen in VR. While weapon handling and feel is above average, the clunkiness of the holster and inventory system is unfortunate considering there are many better examples to draw from. The game's pacing is fairly slow but gets more interesting in the last third. With a pleasing number of interactive items and details, Arizona Sunshine 2 gets a big boost to fun thanks to its cross-platform co-op which lets friends enjoy the zombie apocalypse together.

YUKI is a nostalgia-soaked bullet hell shooter that puts you in control of an action figure-sized protagonist. As a roguelike game, YUKI is patently difficult and essentially requires a fair bit of grinding to get to the end boss. Fun and useful upgrades are dolled out often enough to keep you coming back for more though. We were left wanting more of the cool and stylish Japanese mythology-inspired bosses and inventive levels, but that may speak to just how fun and cohesive the entire experience is. It's best played standing, however seated mode may ask for simply too much movement to really be practical.

The story, while pretty simplistic, uses classic gaming tropes that aren't hard to swallow, but consequently leave little aftertaste. The lack of any penalty for dying leeches some of the excitement of killing the world's titanic bosses, although in the end, Windlands 2 competently sets the stage for a larger, more epic dive into the evil that destroyed the world. Looking past some of the smaller blemishes, what remains is a beautiful, and difficult platformer that promises more fun yet to come.

Against expectations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City turns out to be a genuinely great VR beat ’em up, not just fan service for longtime Turtle disciples. Cortopia Studios delivers fast, flexible combat, light RPG progression, and a strong comic-book presentation that punches well above its price point. It’s not without some padding and design quirks, but the core experience is energetic, accessible, and totally radical. Possibly tubular.

By combining shooting, dodging, and rhythm, Pistol Whip gets you moving in a unique and compelling way. The game is at its best when it leads you into a strong sense of flow where dodging and shooting fuse into a cohesive dance. It isn't without occasional frustration—having your flow broken by seemingly unfair deaths can be annoying. A generous set of modifiers and options allow you to tweak the game in significant ways, especially the Dual Wield mode which changes (for the better, in my opinion) the way the game feels. Pistol Whip has undoubtedly strong fundamentals, though it seems like there's untapped potential waiting to be unlocked with better level mapping.

Transpose is an innovative and fresh take on the VR puzzle genre. Although lacking any real narrative, it more than makes up for this with devilishly complex puzzles and loads of stylish atmosphere. The cooperative 'Echo' mechanic works extremely well, and gets you thinking both spatially and chronologically to best solve the game's ever increasingly difficult brain teasers. Some more graphical polish would be much appreciated, along with some refinements on object interaction.

Fujii doesn't fit squarely into an existing genre, but does a good job of making you feel like you're exploring and discovering a world you've never seen before but are glad to be able to visit. Thoughtful design is apparent throughout from art direction, visual & sound effects, locomotion, and interaction; Fujii's organic and reactive world is ripe with satisfying 'game feel' that shines brightly thanks to VR's ability to let you reach out and touch what's around you. While the game's free-form gardening mechanics feel adequately deep, it's missing a compelling reason for players to return after they've already discovered the extent of Fujii's relatively small world.

Until You Fall successfully brings together satisfying hack & slash gameplay with deeper combat systems that make for meaningful strategic choices about the weapons you bring to the battlefield and the way that you use them. The game's underlying systems could be communicated a bit more clearly to get players up to speed. As a rogue-lite, there's no compelling world, characters, or story to unravel, but challenging combat and the allure of enhancing your weapons or experimenting with new ones will make you want to play 'just one more run' over and over.

Red Matter 2 brings best-in-class graphics and interactions to Quest 2, a welcomed entry amidst a largely arcade-focused library—and stands as a solid PC VR title in its own right. Mostly good puzzling gameplay is mixed with a light helping of not-so-good combat, set against a backdrop of a 'radio play' plot that's not particularly engaging. With a stellar attention to graphical detail and direction, both large & small, and a richly interactive world, Red Matter 2 excels in the immersion department in a way that few VR games do. While effectively channeling titles like Lone Echo and Half-Life: Alyx, it doesn't quite reach that mark, but for a small team and a reasonable $30 price tag it's an impressive feat—especially considering the computational limitations of Quest 2.

Echo Combat shines when you're in the heat of the moment, with its brilliant zero-g locomotion scheme, and variety of weapons, counter-weapons and throwable grenades; despite only serving up three maps and two gameplay modes, there's just enough meat on the bone here. The lobby and match-making system so far have only gotten in the way of this, rather than helped, but offer minor inconvenience to the overall feeling that the game is truly from the future.

Wanderer mostly delivers on its promise to immerse players in a sci-fi adventure that has you trekking across time, replete with fun and interesting set pieces that offer up plenty of objects to collect and use as you move forward (and backwards). Voice acting and its script are all on point, however clunky object interaction hampers the entire experience since you're constantly searching and manipulating items. That's more of a casual warning on what to expect than a solid reason not to play though.

Moss is the beautiful opening to a promising tale of an adorable mouse and her silent helper. It's an artfully crafted game that you will want more of—more content, more story, and more depth. Moss feels like an opening chapter that's trying too hard to be a self contained story. It got the ball rolling but fumbled when it came to bring all the pieces together. If Polyarc can follow through with their (apparent) plans for timely episodic installments to the world of Moss, and continue building on this foundation, this could be the start of a world you'll look forward to losing yourself in any time there's a new story to be told.

With strong gunplay, randomized objective locations, and unlocks to chase, Firewall Zero Hour has a distinct allure for those looking for FPS immersion.

Space Junkies is a technically proficient arena shooter that hits it out of the park in many aspects, including visuals, gun play, immersive environments, and comfort. There's an elephant in the room though: it's a pretty standard arena shooter experience that relies solely on multiplayer, which is still a very delicate thing in VR. While extremely capable, it remains to be seen whether it has the guts to drive user engagement numbers to keep it a healthy and bustling community based on such a well-trodden formula.

Skyrim VR challenges the notion that games not made for VR can't be effectively ported. It isn't perfect by any means, but the game brings a level of world depth and vastness of content that's unmatched anywhere else in VR to date, bringing a certain type of immersion that other VR titles lack. Heavy reliance on menus and sub-par visual fidelity hurt immersion and in-the-moment gameplay, but the game is propped up by the shear quantity of details, things to do, places to discover, and ways to play. If you can put up with Skyrim VR's port-y feeling, you've got a huge world to explore and a ton to do. In some ways, Skyrim VR offers strong hope for the future of VR—when a game of this scale is eventually built for the ground up for VR, it's going to knock your socks off.

From Other Suns might be too brutal for the casual weekender going solo, but its ability to provide online multiplayer significantly changes the amount of fun you'll have. While not as immersive and detailed as we'd hoped, the game presents a fairly solid shooting experience and hectic ship resource management to pump up the adrenaline. However you play, you'll need to be determined to bang your head against the wall until you beat it though, because you can sink hours into it with only a few measly achievements to your name.

Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife serves up a fairly substantial slice of fear and intrigue. Don't be too held back by the pulpy delivery of the game's narrative, or some bits with noticeably lower polish, because in the end this horror-adventure fundamentally delivers on its promise to get your heart racing.

Cyan's remake of iconic late '90s puzzle-adventure RIVEN is better than the point-and-click classic in a lot of ways, although VR support feels a little rough around the edges to be truly native. Still, Riven is such a clever and beautiful game that middling VR support only slightly tarnishes what now feels like a modern entry alongside the studio's most recent titles.

Metro Awakening succeeds in capturing the gritty, post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the Metro series in VR, with a focus on scavenging, sneaking, and shooting. The visual presentation was clearly given equal attention in the standalone and tethered versions of the game, without one feeling like it overtly compromised the other. The weapons stand out for their solid interactions, intriguing designs, and overall gunplay. Metro Exodus creates a strong foundation in its early stages, with compelling combat and scavenging mechanics. Unfortunately it falters in the second half with a lackluster story and a lack of gameplay variety. The atmosphere is tense and immersive, even if we're left wanting a bit ono environmental interactivity.

Star Wars Vader Immortal - Episode II continues the dark tale of Vader's search for immortality, and while it is just as well-conceived as the first, its main flaw is the lightning fast runtime of 30 minutes, which barely gives you enough time to get into the swing of using your new force powers before the credits roll. A second installment of the wave-based Lightsaber Dojo does an excellent job of keeping you entertained afterwards, although if you're just here for the story you may leave a bit disappointed.

Syren certainly has a few flaws, but this made-for-VR survival-horror game is a competent stab at the genre, and proves to be terrifying as it is exciting. An engrossing story, and a flair for the dramatic makes Syren a worthy addition to any horror junkie's VR collection. [Tested with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift]

A lot of small changes to the VR shooter formula add up to more than the sum of their parts, delivering an enjoyable experience somewhat let down by overly fussy controls and a lack of variety. You'll forget all the sleepy towns along the way but you’ll remember the protagonist, you’ll remember Fred and you’ll remember the ending. [Tested with Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch]

You can't craft your way to godhood in Song in the Smoke like in some survival games, but you can build a hardened resolve to make it through this primeval adventure, which challenges the player to get through each day in the face of hunger, cold, fatigue, and plenty of beasts that lurk in the shadows. Combat isn't super engaging, and visuals feel a little too muddy to be awe-inspiring, but Song in the Smoke can still leave you breathless with its large and complex levels that hide many secrets.

Fallout 4 VR definitely has it flaws as a VR title, some of which simply couldn't be addressed without completely overhauling the game. The overall effect is clear though: it works, and that might just be enough given the depth of the post-apocalyptic backdrop.

Lone Echo II brings us more about what we loved from the first game, but plays it quite safe and doesn't break much new ground. While it's nice to be introduced to some new and important characters, they don't see much development, which contributes to a plot that doesn't feel very impactful. The game doesn't do much to challenge the player in combat or puzzles, but it excels in immersion. Between its intuitive zero-G locomotion and (at times) open map design, it's just a bit magical to feel like you're really outside of a derelict space station orbiting Saturn. The game could have benefited from better pacing and a bit more threat and tension, but if you liked doing space chores the first time around, you'll enjoy it here too.

Brass Tactics shows its makers' RTS pedigree in this visually stunning and well-balanced table top game, but fails to deliver on the promise of an engaging story mode. Skirmishes, multiplayer, both solo and co-op, help make up for this, but it's still a sore spot that VR players are expecting when looking for immersion over their flatscreen RTS cousins.

Considering how No Man’s Sky has deservedly become something of a cult classic in traditional gaming, it’s disheartening that the state of its initial jaunt into VR is so disjointed. That said, porting a game as expansive as No Man’s Sky to a medium as complex and relatively uncharted as VR certainly had to have been a herculean effort. And, even given all of the objective issues that I found with this title, it would be entirely unfair to say that it isn’t a diamond in the rough; No Man’s Sky is now the most feature-complete VR game in existence.

Though the concept really works and the experience is enjoyable and comfortable, A Rogue Escape would have benefited from more carefully tuning input for specific VR controllers, more polished audio, and more content length.

With its mixture of incredible highs and frustrating lows, I tentatively recommend Project CARS 2. Its physics engine has taken a massive step forward, and should win back many enthusiasts. But as a result, the game sits more firmly in the ‘sim’ category, and might feel less approachable for fans of the original (or those coming from series like Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo). If you can look past the unproven multiplayer and troublesome AI—which should improve over time—Project CARS 2 is a seriously capable title with a promising future.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a veritable Saturday-morning cartoon, replete with wacky characters and some pretty groan-worthy humor. Impressive animations and game environments are a big plus, although characters can straddle the uncanny valley at moments. The point-and-click style node teleportation works fairly well, but at the ultimate cost to immersion. In all, there's a strong family-friendly Nickelodeon vibe throughout the game, which can make it feel a little too juvenile for most of the tax-paying public.

Phantom: Covert Ops should be commended for its innovative core design. The 'tactical kayak' may sound contrived but it really works and brings something very unique to VR. While it feels natural to steer with your paddle and manage your inventory as you glide across the waterways, it's the higher-level gameplay and storytelling that's missing depth and detail. Though it's nice to have the addition of Free Play (where you get to select your own loadout) and Challenges (where you test your mettle in kayaking and shooting), we would have much preferred to see these beats carefully woven into the core gameplay than tacked on as padding. [Tested with Oculus Rift S]

Into the Radius presents a large world that's about as dangerous as it is fascinating. While paying homage to the Soviet sci-fi classics Roadside Picnic and Stalker, the game easily provides 20+ hours of wasteland stalking and enemy encounters in an engrossing and well fleshed-out world. The game's attention to detail and immersive depth is shallowed somewhat by finicky object interaction and less than polished visuals that really should feel as solid as the game's ethos.

Budget Cuts 2 takes the series in a slightly different direction, as it puts more emphasis on straight-forward storytelling and conventional action. That said, it still offers up a nice slice of adrenaline-soaked fun, as you plan your way around instant death, but it may leave you wistful for the first's patently fresh outlook on life.

Larcenauts is a technically well made game with strong art direction, great performance, and a sense of progression with eight characters to unlock, each with different loadouts and customizations. In its launch state the gameplay feels more like a run-and-gun free-for-all than a team-based hero shooter, and it may take a balance pass (or two) to get things closer to the latter. While Larcenauts has the breadth of mechanics that you'd hope to see in a hero shooter, it's missing an immersive hook due to minimal VR-specific interactions. The developer has promised that more immersive interactions will be added down the line, but it's a shame they aren't part of the game from the get-to.

Creating and casting magical spells in VR is an awesome experience that I didn't ever get tired of, but if a sequel is in the works, finer character animation and more locomotion options should be on the docket to turn up the immersion factor.

The Gallery: Call of the Starseed is a first-person adventure that sets up the series, featuring a slow downturn into the truly extraordinary. Despite a few gripes, the game ultimately shines with gorgeous cinematics, realistic voice acting, and competent set design, making for a fun, albeit brief dip into one of the first VR games to feature motion controls. Teleportation and object interaction show its age—something we hope improves in the upcoming sequel.

Wilson's Heart is a visually-stunning adventure offering a host of expertly-crafted immersive environments, complete with realistic characters and competent voice acting. A thin sheen of '40s campiness coats what turns out to be a horrifying and surreal nightmare world. While puzzles are interesting and varied, the game disappointingly suffers from inconsistent object interaction and lack-luster monster battles. [Tested with Oculus Touch]

Drop Dead is an adept Gear VR port for Oculus Touch, and feels more at home on the tethered headset with a gun in your hands instead of the Gear's gaze-shooting gameplay style. The storyline and art direction are self-aware in their cheesiness, and while graphics aren't incredible, the game is good at getting your heart pumping with the thought of swarms of zombies coming at your face. Glaring technical flaws aside, it's a fun shooter that's easy to pick up, but hard to put down. [Reviewed with Oculus Touch]

Espire 1: VR Operative excels in delivering some familiar stealth combat in a new, more immersive package, albeit with a few hiccups along the way. In addition to its superhuman acrobatics, you may find Espire 1 a serviceable Metal Gear-style game, although it is still somewhat rough around the edges due to stupid AI, a standard but forgettable story, and a general lack of haptics and solid world geometry that might otherwise have sent this high-flying stealth combat game yet higher.

Reach is a fun game with generally great VR fundamentals. But a few odd choices to the game's overall design keep it from reaching its full potential. While the game's running and jumping movement feels great overall, it unfortunately doesn't synergize well with the combat. Combat itself is fun but doesn't evolve enough over the course of the game. And while Reach is mostly comfortable, a few key areas of the game involving rotating puzzles are likely to make a significant number of players feel uneasy or outright uncomfortable.

Although it's not "Mirror's Edge in VR," STRIDE takes some of the most visible influences from the game and nearly perfects them in VR. Offering a few humble arcade-style modes where the action plays out, the free running shooter serves up high-flying thrills that are importantly comfortable to the user. There's some learning curve to finesse the game's parkour locomotion and arcade shooting, and it's not without issue, but otherwise this Quest port is a good example of modern VR design implemented to make flatscreen-style action fast and accessible to VR users.

Demeo is a very solid tabletop game that hits the mark on balance, difficulty, and polish, but in its quest to offer up a more true-to-life tabletop game experience, it doesn't focus enough on leveraging VR mechanics to bring players more into the action.

Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son may not feature the most engaging gameplay, or technically precise controls, however it delivers a hearty helping of genuine sincerity that definitely sticks with you. Tedium plays a fair part here, which can grate on your nerves, although it's definitely fitting considering the source material.

End Space isn’t the best VR space combat game I’ve played. It lacks the polish of similar games like House of the Dying Sun and doesn’t have multiplayer dogfights like EVE: Valkyrie, but what it lacks in professional touch it more than makes up for with ambition and a strong core design principle. Fans of space combat that are yearning for a single player affair on PSVR (or Gear VR) should definitely check this one out.

Pixel Ripped 1978 is another love letter to the bygone era of classic gaming as it resurrects a handful of Atari classics under the full auspices of the iconic brand. While its first-person RPG focus is a little underbaked, it's hard to knock such a charming buffet of novelty that pays heartfelt homage to gaming's second console age.

At best, the campaign mode is a guided way to learn the game's range of unique mechs before digging into multiplayer, but if you're only here for the campaign then you'll probably be disappointed at its poorly executed story and characters, and the significant pacing issues that come along with them. While the game's campaign elements don't deliver, Vox Machinae creates a totally unique and immersive mech experience that really makes you feel like you're controlling a giant robot.