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.