Ultimately, Ironlights has set itself up very well as an enjoyable game with lots of potential for improvement. For all its faults, it still has good bones – it just needs to make some changes here and there before it can call itself a sparkling piece of armor.

With some lovely visuals and straightforward mechanics, Moon Mode’s made excellent use of spatial gameplay in a manner only VR could achieve. Creating new settlements is entertaining and while there’s not much here for genre veterans, it’s worth remembering who Spacefolk City’s targeting. If you’re after a city builder with smaller scope, you’d do well to check this out.

Maskmaker is peppered with magic moments but also padded with more routine and familiar gameplay, plus a heavy-handed narrative. Its best moments achieve an intricate balance between body-swapping puzzling that helps lift the veil on some of the story’s deeper themes, and I would have happily spent hours more making masks in the welcome confines of its workshop. But the game often feels like it’s presenting puzzles for the sake of it and could have helped its story breathe by stripping back some of the exposition.

When it works, Ultimate Swing Golf soars. Even if unlocking additional courses, golf clubs and costumes can feel like a grueling grind through mission mode at points, decades of experience in the genre shine in how welcoming the game feels in every hole and menu. When you’re inevitably rolling the roulette on a successful hole, however, it’s hard to recommend over other VR golf titles unless fixed in a future patch.

I also had some of the usual online play issues during my time with Dark Eclipse: Matchmaking sometimes took more than 3 minutes, and the occasional dropped session that ends a match prematurely. Such issues will hopefully be ironed out for Season 1. But for those who want to try another genre, or mashup to be more specific, and think they might like a slower game where players take their time to implement a strategy, than Dark Eclipse is worth a look.

If only Seeking Dawn had more of the former and less of the latter, this review would have been written very differently. As it stands, it’s a flawed — but absolutely gorgeous — VR FPS that struggles to find its footing.

Outside of VR, Project Wingman really is the Ace Combat spinoff fans have always dreamed of. If you just have a gamepad and want to feel like you’re in Top Gun without needing to learn aerodynamics, you’ll have a lot of fun. In VR it’s still playable with a gamepad, but that ruins the immersion for the most part. Project Wingman is still a good game, but the shaky VR support drags everything down significantly.

While Skyrim VR made a great case for the VR port, Doom VFR brings us back to the drawing board. On PSVR, the game has its moments, largely thanks to the foundations it was built upon with the 2016 original. In the end, though, the real fight is with its awkward control setups that eventually led me back to play with just a standard gamepad. Though the foundations of a hugely enjoyable shooter are intact, VFR’s struggle with the platform’s limitations makes it feel like the VR support is holding it back more than anything.

Journey for Elysium’s gorgeous black and white visuals offer a terrific atmosphere and the trip to the end is fun, thanks to the variety of game play elements. But the game is over way too soon with some frustrating boating sections and simple puzzles.

Mostly freed from the limitations of early mobile VR, the console and PC versions of Covert finally feel like the game it should have been two years ago. This an often amusing, occasionally engrossing bit of local VR collaboration that will have friends reaching the tops of their voices, if rarely doubling down on deep spy work. Still, if you’re looking for something to play with a friend that doesn’t own a headset or if you want more experiences like Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, you should accept this mission.

Vertigo Remastered is still very much a 2016 VR game at its core, even with an impressive number of new bells and whistles. But there’s a beating heart at the center of this always-entertaining campaign that fuels not only some brilliant, affectionate parody of Valve’s beloved series, but also its own string of thoughtfully-designed concepts that would fit right at home in it too. It’s Half-Lite which, for a game that wants to celebrate a series’ cultural impact as much as echo its philosophies, is high praise.

Journey to Foundation tells a compelling story with no shortage of ambition in its methods to make you a part of it, ultimately shaping its outcome. This doesn't always come together, and many of your actions in between make the experience feel like a time capsule of a bygone VR era in which studios still experimented with this space. That period might be in the past now, but in a time where many VR games continue to bet on spectacle and feel rather than worlds and characters leaving a mark, I'm glad that Archiact committed to the premise's strengths from the beginning.

Zero Caliber: Reloaded is painfully close to getting all the way there. It’s got some of VR’s best weapon handling and incredible customization alongside an admirable effort to deliver the full shooter campaign we all crave. And, a lot of the time, that’s enough – hunkering down into cover, reloading your weapon and then leaning out to score a headshot doesn’t tire over the course of the 4 – 5 hour campaign. But the game is also plagued with familiar issues like underwhelming enemy AI, and its missions seem to cater to different numbers of players, creating an uneven experience throughout. It’s still an easy recommendation for anyone starved for single-player or co-op campaigns on Quest, but there’s plenty of room for VR shooters to grow from here.

Death Game Hotel is an absolute blast in multiplayer, and White Owls Inc. delivers well on its premises. However, if you don’t enjoy the Uno-style gambling mini-game that sits at its core, then you won't have much fun with the rest. It's a niche concept that won't universally appeal, but if you're up for some anime-inspired gambling, Death Game Hotel handles this nicely.

Sweet Surrender has a lot of room to grow. That much was made clear when Salmi Games promised extensive free updates at launch, but it’s also obvious when you stack it up next to the depth of other VR roguelites, with a comparatively light loot system and smaller overall dungeon size. But, despite its relative simplicity, the game’s moreish difficulty, enjoyable arcade gameplay and hypnotic visual and audio flair make for a rock-solid roguelite I was more than happy to lose hours within. This might be just the start of Sweet Surrender’s journey, but it’s a really promising one.

With a lackluster story, an obstructive UI experience, and a niche concept, Stardust Odyssey isn’t this holiday’s killer app, but it remains something of a standout for VR deep-divers due to a first-of-its-kind setting and solid movement controls that feel floaty and fun just as they’re meant to. Add that to the game’s risk-reward stealth gameplay, and Stardust Odyssey is a flawed game, but not one that shouldn’t be bartered for.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond can be both frustrating and captivating at the exact same time, but underneath it all is a fun and engaging VR shooter that nails several facets of being a successful AAA game. It’s not quite enough to solidify the experience as a must-play, but there are plenty of bright spots. If you’re eager to dive into a VR version of WWII with exciting set piece moments, authentic historical footage, and an addictively fun online multiplayer mode, then you should come away satisfied. But if you were looking for an immersive narrative wrapped up in a cutting-edge evolution of VR game design with expert pacing — don’t hold your breath.

Dreams of Another is a creative, thoughtful effort that's given me plenty to think about, and I'm glad to see more experimental titles like this still being made by Q-Games. But when the VR support feels this lacking combined with the game's slow pacing and repetitive elements, I can't fully recommend it on PlayStation VR2.

Sentenced’s weighty themes do a fascinating job of conjuring up conflict within, even if it only ever digs just below the surface of your conscience. It’s an endurance test more than it is a complex set of ethical conundrums and, in that, it’s a uniquely engaging VR experience. Come ready to fulfill your duties but wary of the limits authority will push you to, and you might find Sentenced challenges you in some surprising ways. Not for everyone, but a bloody treat for those willing to take up the burden.

Sushi Ben is an impressive effort from Big Brane Studios, one that delivers a heartwarming tale filled with great humor and a charming cast. The basic minigames, sudden ending, and quiet open world let this down, though the expressive manga-inspired presentation delivers one of the most visually distinctive VR adventures in recent memory. If you're searching for a new VR narrative adventure, Sushi Ben comes recommended.

A Rogue Escape is unapologetically the game it wants to be. It’s a tough, claustrophobic puzzler that rewards those who have the patience to poke and prod their way through its maze of buttons and switches. If its stuffy atmosphere doesn’t sound appealing to you then it’s not likely to win you over, but anyone looking for a more demanding VR puzzle game will no doubt find a lot to like here.

Lone Echo 2’s incredible production values and first-rate immersion make for an enjoyable swansong that’s let down by its plodding pace and familiarity. Despite arriving four years after the groundbreaking original, there’s very little that will surprise you here and, although well written, the drawn-out character dialogue quickly wears thin. It’s still held up by a fantastic locomotion system with first-rate immersion alongside a solid story with believable performances, but the startling spark of blockbuster innovation that fuelled the first game has long-since died out. Jack and Liv’s mission to get back to the past makes for a fun ride, but parts of Lone Echo 2 were stuck there to begin with.

There is a solid VR campaign within Asgard’s Wrath 2. It’s just a matter of whether you’re someone who'll enjoy – or simply put up with – everything else that comes alongside it.

For everything else, F1 24 remains a fun racer and offers a couple of notable improvements from its predecessor. Career mode is more enjoyable with its new mechanics and handling feels better, though other meaningful changes are minimal. Existing Formula 1 fans will likely have plenty of fun, and I still had a great time hitting the tracks; just don't expect a major upgrade.

I won’t say I didn’t have fun watching a watermelon explode after my grenade blew up around aisle 5, because I totally did, but after the first six or seven levels it all kind of starts to feel the same. If these sections and mechanics had been part of an otherwise much larger game or were “action” pieces of an experience that consisted of narrative and puzzle elements as well, it would feel like a more compelling package. But as it stands — a wave shooter mixed with simple humor and grocery store mechanics — Shooty Fruity just isn’t sweet enough.

Stranger Things VR is a commendable effort from Tender Claws and a nice example of VR's potential as a storytelling medium, letting you experience Hawkins and the Upside Down in a brand new way that expands on the Stranger Things universe. Unfortunately, all that is hindered by extremely repetitive gameplay elements and poor combat. If you're a fan of the TV show and can look past the absence of the voice actors for some of your favorite characters, you'll likely enjoy your time exploring Vecna's twisted mind while traversing the Upside Down. Even if you've never seen the Netflix series and simply want enjoy trippy and often spooky VR experiences, you might consider giving Stranger Things VR a look.

Overall, Clash of Chefs VR is a solid game and one that can provide plenty of entertainment, particularly in multiplayer, but it fails to do anything groundbreaking or extraordinary with the genre and it does have some niggling issues that need to be resolved. If you’re after Overcooked VR, we still say go with Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale, but this is a decent addition to the genre all the same.

Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate shows immense potential, offering a uniquely engaging narrative and an outstanding array of creative and satisfying puzzles. In fact, the puzzles are truly wonderful that without the constant technical issues this could easily have been the best game of its genre that I’ve played. However, the technical issues and poor combat implementation make it difficult to recommend the game in its current state. It is clear that beneath these problems is a truly exceptional game that, with proper patches and improvements, could easily become one of the best VR experiences available to date. For now, however, it might be best to wait.