Beat Saber is stylish, fun and hits all the right notes for a VR-native rhythm game. In its Early Access state, it’s missing out on some variability when it comes to songs and visuals, but lays the foundation for a game that has the potential to charm a pretty wide audience. Gameplay is intuitive, but also difficult to master, making it a title worth revisiting, and passing around to anyone regardless of age or gaming background.

A superb game; the promising result of tasking a group of clearly talented game designers and developers with building a game around a brand new medium like VR. The game expertly executes every idea it brings to the table. There's charm throughout, derived from excellent animation, art direction, FX and SFX, right down to the interactive credits sequence.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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]

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.

The Midnight Walk is visually distinct and creates effective contrast between a Burtonesque 'grotesque' style and small moments of beauty thanks to strong lighting and composition. It's nice that players are given the option to experience the game's unique world up close and personal in VR. But beyond being a very cool immersive tour of someone's artwork, the basic gameplay doesn't feel particularly native to VR and the poetic narrative didn't resonate with me in a meaningful way. This walk might not be for everyone, but inside the headset is the best way to experience it if you love the style.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Fisherman's Tale is basically a well realized taster for many concepts we wish could have been fleshed out to greater effect. The game's narrative is banal, but inoffensive, and should appeal to younger gamers more so than adults, and the same can be said about the level of difficulty on the puzzles themselves. In the end, it's a bit like stepping into a storybook, replete with all the requisite charm and pre-chewed concepts that ought to delight at least more than a few kids and kids-at-heart, but not anyone looking for a serious adventure worth more than the one hour of gameplay it provides.

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]

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.

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.

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.

Synapse gives players an incredible feeling of telekinetic power that's undeniably cool and fun, and also adapts some of the best mechanics from nDreams' last game, Fracked. But Synapse follows a now familiar pattern for the developer: unique and well-built VR mechanics that are unfortunately paired with middling game design that lacks enemy, weapon, level, and scenario variety. While the game asks players to beat a 'full run' three times to reveal its full narrative, you'll have seen most of what the game has to offer not long after your first completion. As a roguelite, Synapse is missing that compelling feeling that makes you want to try new strategies as you play over and over.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

Defector serves up some high-octane set pieces that are clearly inspired by the myriad of Mission Impossible films, but is hobbled by a lackluster arcade shooter and toothless interactions with NPCs to boot. Its bog standard action movie narrative is mostly forgettable, but users may forgive many of Defector's cons considering its $20 launch price.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow does an admirable job of translating the storied series into VR for the first time. While it does suffer from some stumbling blocks that tarnish an otherwise golden example of VR-native design, the latter half of the game seems to tread water, offering up reused levels and an ending that probably won't work for anyone.

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]

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]

Alien: Rogue Incursion is the first VR-native game in the Aliens franchise, blending action-packed combat and exploration with an authentic cinematic atmosphere. While its intense encounters and immersive environments shine, the repetitive alien battles and punishing save system can dampen the overall experience.

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.

Torn is a single player adventure game that’s inspired by arguably the greatest sci-fi television of all time, The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. There’s much to like about Torn, but in the end it left me feeling, well, a bit torn.

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]

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.

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.

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.

The totality of the game lacks effective pacing as it bounces back and forth from puzzle to combat with little sense of synergy and no apparent climax. For those that are compelled by Boneworks' combat, the Arena and Sandbox modes offer up a great opportunity for extended gameplay, though we would have liked to see an emphasis on user-generated levels so that the community might flesh out concepts that didn't hit their stride in the campaign.

Borderlands 2 VR technically works in VR but hasn't managed to escape the feeling of being an outright port. There's not much to the game which really feels like it's making good use of VR, and more than a handful of players are likely to find the game uncomfortable without cranking up the comfort settings. By the time you add up all the cons of playing the game in VR—no co-op, no DLC, no VR-specific interactions, poor graphics, gamepad-first design, and necessary immersion-reducing comfort settings—you might start to wonder why you aren't just playing the original Borderlands 2 in PSVR's 'game theater' mode—if not on your TV without the bother of the headset.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood starts out swell, slowly teaching you the gameplay mechanics while staying within the creepy haunted house ride theme. But as the game progresses the flaws really begin to show. Between the lack of interesting enemies and the basic shooting gameplay it’s just not that entertaining and falls flat. I found that fighting my way through seven levels was more of a chore than a fun gaming experience. For $20 there are better games out there. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is game you can probably live without playing. [Tested with PlayStation VR]

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.

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.

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.

When the best thing you can say about a VR game is that it makes you want to play its non-VR inspiration, an opportunity has been missed. There are definitely glimpses of the game it could have been, but too few to salvage the experience. Add a point if a substantial patch materialises to address some of the issues.

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]

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.

Fracked has a lot going for it: satisfying weapon interactions, a great visual style, a unique and very functional cover system, and a handful of side activities like skiing, climbing, and light puzzling to break up the game's pace. When it comes to combat, the game lacks the variety necessary to keep things interesting through the end, petering out early on with just three enemies and two main weapons. The story does its best to drive the action forward, but feels underdeveloped, leaving the player wondering what their motivations are and scratching their head at the perplexing ending.

Battlewake serves up a short campaign and buffet of online modes that mostly do their job, although it's hard to say whether the plucky little pirate battler truly lives up to its full potential. The campaign, which should be an important anchor in times of VR multiplayer uncertainty, presents a melange of same-ish enemies and a forgettable story. The game's online modes aren't taking any risks either, although there's no telling how the community will take to Battlewake, which presents some fresh locomotion ideas and a good dose of wow-factor.

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.

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.

Marvel Powers United VR's high production value can't keep secret the game's true identity: unabashed wave shooting mechanics, bland enemies, and arcade gameplay that's more about points than fun or skill. If you were hoping that Powers United would make you feel like your favorite superhero, you'll be disappointed that the game offers no story, character development/progression, or meaningful exploration of the rich Marvel universe, and instead hinges around collecting outfits, poses, and props.

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.

Firmament offers up another substantial slice of patently difficult puzzling that fits right in line with Cyan Worlds' other hit titles, although its VR implementation feels like an afterthought. It's undeniably a good and beautiful game, but less so across the board when played in VR.

Déraciné is one of the finest examples yet of someone setting out to create a VR game before actually finding out what's fun or interesting to do when you have a headset on your head and motion tracked controllers in your hands. Although comfortable to play and decent looking, the game is designed in a way that perfectly deprives the player of any agency, leaving it as little more than a point and click simulator where you watch a woefully scattered story about characters you have no reason to care about. If nothing else, Déraciné offers up several concrete examples of how not to design a VR game.

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.

True to its name, Sniper Elite VR delivers strong sniping mechanics, but the surrounding action doesn't do it justice. With a great VR sniper scope implementation and the franchise's signature x-ray kill cam, delivering those long shots can definitely be satisfying. Unfortunately the homogenous enemies and weapons blur together against a backdrop of unmemorable levels and story. The game's graphical presentation on Quest is surprisingly good, with long draw distances, sharp imagery, and great performance. Sniper Elite VR is also a very comfortable game with a wide range of comfort options, but the teleport mode is painfully slow—to the point that I wouldn't recommend the game if you must play it with teleport.

Seeking Dawn is a VR sci-fi shooter with an ambitious list of features on top of its single or multiplayer campaign mission: weapon crafting, base defense, resource management, and survival elements. While all of these are certainly present, some feel shoehorned in for the sake of making a full length game. At its core though, it's a standard sci-fi shooter brought to life in VR, and done so with enough care and attention that would make it a really fun experience if it weren't for the crafting drudgery.

Detached is good-looking game that could deliver more of what it does well, but instead bites off much more than it can chew in an effort to fill out functionality. The game primarily suffers from a lackluster single-player mode and a promising but feature-starved 1v1 multiplayer. The biggest barrier of entry is the game's locomotion style which is brutally unforgiving. [Tested with Oculus Touch, HTC Vive]

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond proclaims to be a AAA production (and is priced as such) but falls well short of that bar. With simplistic core gameplay, uninteresting & daft enemies, and a lack of polish, the bulk of the game feels like a shooting gallery. The set-piece sequences which are supposed to deliver epic WWII moments are foiled by bad writing, pacing, and lack of player agency. A meaningful portion of the game (roughly 10–20%) largely ignores best practices of VR comfort and won't be comfortable for some players. Competitive players might find some fun in the game's fast-paced and largely competent multiplayer component, and the 'Gallery' mini-documentaries are exceptionally well produced, but a shame that they are locked in with a game that conflicts with their reverent tone.

Downward Spiral: Horus Station presents a visually rich world in this shooter-meets-adventure game hybrid, but crucially fumbles both story and gunplay elements to a very middling overall effect. While gunplay is optional, I hasten to think that based on storytelling alone, that Downward Spiral just doesn't have the guts to be anything but a very beautiful, but unfortunately boring exercise in opening doors, pushing buttons, and retrieving keycards.

Bonelab is similar to its predecessor in key ways—both the good and the bad. The game's physics driven world can be refreshingly immersive in the way that almost everything interacts together. But physics sometimes make the game less fun and even frustrating to play, especially when it comes to the game's many climbing segments. While there's lots on offer, including a campaign and several replayable mini-modes, they all suffer from the same core problems which is boring enemies with little variety, poor encounter & puzzle design, and bland weapons. In lieu of having those things provided for you, you'll have to extract your own fun by challenging yourself to execute stylish kills and physics-shenanigans with the game's all-you-can eat slo-mo feature. While the game repeats most of Boneworks key issues, this time around if offers proper modding support which could improve things significantly— that is... if the game's community is willing to spend the time building the toys this sandbox should have had from the start.

Although Star Wars Vader Immortal - Episode III is meant to be an exciting conclusion to the series, with massive robot battles, escapes down cavernous tunnels, and duels to the death, it's hard to feel too excited when these experiences crash head-first into its paint-by-numbers locomotion scheme and general lack of player-to-character interaction, which effectively muffles what should have been a resounding and climactic finish. It still however serves up one of the most visually stunning VR experiences to date, although its flaws ultimately compound in the third episode, making it somewhere between good and great.