I enjoyed much of the time I spent with Skyworld, but it has some big problems, and I probably won’t play again, at least not any time soon. Skyworld has some good ideas, but ultimately its full potential is unrealized. I applaud Vertigo for trying something new, but when it comes down to it, VR doesn’t really enhance a board game and simple strategy experience like this, and it often became more tedious and convoluted than fun.

BlackShield: Uropa Story has a solid foundation beneath it, but it’s yet another VR shooter let down by the lack of content and overly simplistic design. The fact of the matter is that, were this a standard shooter, there’d be very little in the way of identity or innovation here, and adding VR support into the mix just isn’t enough of a differentiator to grant excitement.

Batman: Arkham VR isn’t a terrible VR experience — it even manages to deliver a satisfying twist ending to the short narrative — but it’s a far cry from the type of game fans want or expect. What was shipped here is little more than a tech demo, or a museum of objects and features that are never fully realized. Just as each scene from the game starts to feel like its picking up some steam, it’s over and you’re onto the next vignette of content. Die hard Batman fans will find enough fan service to warrant a purchase, but if you’re looking for an actual game featuring the Dark Knight in VR, then you’re better off waiting a while longer.

Rogan appears achingly close to being decent, but it’s far too stripped back to stir up much intrigue, let alone excitement. VR stealth should be about physicality and self-awareness, with weight behind every tiny move you make. Rogan doesn’t have the agency or danger to bring realize those ambitions. In the end, this VR thief is a bit of a forgery; pretty on the outside but the beauty is only skin deep.

Taskmaster VR isn’t a complete waste of time. Some challenges and moments are legitimately fun and entertaining, capturing the iconic British comedy show's spirit, look, memorable characters, and comedic style. Unfortunately, the frustrating parts far outweigh them. The throwing mechanic is almost useless, even if you’ve got a Hawkeye-grade aim. Some tasks that you’ve clearly completed have to be done repeatedly to meet the game’s metrics of what it can recognize as completed, all while time melts away in challenges where every second counts. Those are crucial for a game where you only get one shot at pleasing the Taskmaster. Two points, there. It’s done.

There's nothing remarkable here. Between the underwhelming graphics, compromised design, and gimmicky use of motion mechanics, this feels like an early Wii game. This reeks of the same ilk as Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, but at least that was built from the fantastic Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition. World War Z VR isn't so lucky. All it achieves is a reminder that sometimes, dead is better.

Hello Cruel World takes you to an underground facility where all sorts of nefarious experiments have taken place. Regrettably, the atmosphere isn't quite chilling and the villain isn't that insidious. Worse, puzzle mechanics lack the creativity to keep you engaged, nor the intuitive design to prevent you from smacking your forehead and going, "Who on earth would think of that solution?"

As crucial as video games preservation is, some games are better left in the past. Perhaps the best thing that I can say about Bulletstorm VR is that it's a reminder of just how far both video games and VR have come. It reaffirms that VR doesn't need to serve as a second haven for old ideas and that VR can be, and often is, so much more than a generic shooting gallery. But at face value, I can't really recommend Bulletstorm VR unless you're feeling nostalgic for a bygone era and feel like revisiting Greyson and co for a quick 7-ish hour jaunt.

Dying: Reborn PSVR has some fun puzzles to solve, but it’s far too short on substance to recommend to anyone. By carving out sections of the non-VR game, Oasis Games has created something a little like the game’s disturbing fish-headed protagonist; a hollow Frankenstein’s monster, brought to life with left overs. PSVR players deserve better.

If you’re a hardcore horror fan with an iron stomach desperately looking for 2-3 hours of content to whet your appetite, there’s something here for you, but otherwise I’d recommend looking elsewhere. There are far better VR horror games out there. Layers of Fear VR may technically be a horror game, but the scariest part is the dismal missteps made in bringing the game to a VR platform.

With its colorful comic book throwbacks, First Impact clearly has the heart of a hero and even the foundation for a good game, but Red Meat Games needed much more time to realize its vision. The game world is buggy, the controls are stiff, and many of the powers feel like they aren’t worth using. Sadly, this is one game that made me feel anything but super.

Scraper: First Strike is a game that initially promises so much, yet never makes good on any of its promises. It offers the most basic mechanical trappings of what could later become a linear action RPG, yet never uses any of its design foundation for means greater than rote tasks and wave shooter combat. And while it continuously implies its intentions to segue into a larger narrative, it never comes close to giving you a reason to care.

There are fun and novel ideas at the center of Siegecraft Commander — such as the unique base building and inventive use of slingshot-style mechanics — but it doesn’t translate well to VR. After playing my neck hurt and I found the controls less than precise. If a bit more polish had been given to the VR integration it could have helped elevate things, but at the end of the day it felt more monotonous than strategically rewarding.

It's hard not to feel disappointed by SOUL COVENANT. Thirdverse has created a somewhat intriguing premise here that's completely squandered by unsatisfactory combat, repetitive gameplay and a lacking narrative that screams of wasted potential. If you're after an anime-inspired fantasy action game, you'd be better off looking at Ruinsmagus; SOUL COVENANT is not worth it.

Good Goliath does what it sets out to do; it’s a simple VR game with an arcade flavour and easy to learn controls. It’s accessible, and that’s good, but it’s also very basic, and that’s bad. The moment to moment gameplay can often feel frustrating as you simply duck and dodge incoming objects and throw them back, but in the boss fights it gives you a glimpse of the technical skill and excellent design that the team is capable of. If Good Goliath had been a boss rush only game it would be far easier to recommend, but it’s sadly just a little too limited to be worth your time if you’ve played much else in VR.

If you are an action junkie just here to wreck enemies, there are better roguelites available in VR with more engaging combat than Street Gods. Even as a power fantasy, the lack of weapon variety, uninspired enemies, repetitive locations, and power-ups make Street Gods a struggle to hold your attention for long.

Flow Weaver is a sometimes entertaining, sometimes frustrating, and wholly forgettable break from reality which, by the end of its short but needlessly stretched-out hour of gameplay, left me ready to escape to some other game. If you love sorcery and you’re jonesing for a chance to cast a few spells in VR, there are certainly better alternatives like Waltz of the Wizard. However, the puzzles offered in Flow Weaver are still worth checking out if you absolutely love the escape room genre. If so, you’ll be rewarded with some genuinely nice looking environments that are easy on the senses.

Drone Striker is a thrill-free, middle of the road on-rails shooter with absolutely nothing to offer anyone on PSVR. It could have served a mediocre filler content for a platform launch, but two years into the ecosystem there’s nothing to see here. Pass.

Despite being one of the first fully “finished” and paid Oculus Quest games with content beyond an alpha testing stage including leaderboards available to purchase on SideQuest, Rest in Pieces is mostly stuck in the past. There is some satisfying progression with a ton of weapons to pick from and upgrade, but getting through the first levels to dig into its depth can test your patience and the frequent performance issues make it hard to recommend in general.

Blind is so keen to out-think the player that it too often leaves you, for lack of a better term, completely in the dark. It’s got some fascinating ideas on how to present blindness in VR that give you just the slightest bit of understanding of what life can be like for people that have no sight. But the infuriating puzzles that often carry solutions far too specific to be truly enjoyed keep it from reaching any deeper meaning.

Front Defense feels like a game that was made without an audience in mind. The dedicated VR users that have enough space (it needs approximately three square meters of room) will have played plenty of VR shooters by now, many that are just better than this. The core gamers a WWII shooter is supposed to appeal to will get bored far too quickly with the lack of depth. And the small sliver of people left in the middle that are hungry enough to buy just another wave shooter will leave disappointed that this isn’t a more complete experience from Vive Studios.

Twilight Path’s gorgeous visuals and massive world aren’t enough to hide the lackluster puzzle solving and brief journey through the spirit world. Since the adventure is over far too soon at barely more than an hour of gameplay, there really isn’t enough here to entice even the most hardcore puzzle gaming fans. Form was an excellent debut VR puzzle adventure for Charm Games, but Twilight Path feels like a step back. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Twilight Path’s spirit world aren’t the only things about this game that are lifeless.

The lack of proper feedback, the strange glitches (including the ability to shoot through scenery sometimes) and the graphical fidelity simply aren’t good enough to make this game worth your time despite the handful of bright spots. The game is, at the very least, true to its name, it certainly feels like the longest road, despite the incredible short playtime.

In the end, I came away disappointed. A diehard fan of Riven may find appreciation in its meticulous reproduction of a world from their memories, yet even then, it has issues that hold it back, some of which are exacerbated by its otherwise successful shift in perspective. If you’re a newcomer to this world, the choice is obvious: as majestic as its world may be, it’s difficult to recommend.

My heart bleeds for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall. It’s a game of genuinely admirable aspiration that, in many ways, is painfully close to achieving its goals. But every time I started to settle into its gorgeous world and brilliantly over-the-top-lore one of its many issues would make itself known. The combat is a mess in need of a significant overhaul, the UI is fussy and unhelpful, and a string of bugs and puzzle roadblocks kill any sense of momentum. With more time under the hood, a lot of these issues could have been refined and Tempestfall would have been a highlight in a meager year for PC VR releases. As it stands, this offering might be only worthy of Sigmar’s wrath.

Sadly, The Phoenix Gene reads better as a concept than it plays as a game. While the idea of controlling a dragon-like creature through a chaotic multidimensional rail shooter sounds fun, the reality is that the game's let down by confusing controls, outdated visuals and poor design choices that leave it feeling clumsy and sluggish. Unlike Yuki, which delivers similar mechanics in a fast, responsive manner that celebrates the nostalgia of play, The Phoenix Gene somehow makes a chore out of using a toy-like avatar to blast robots into smithereens.

Doom 3: VR Edition is a serviceable port of a decent shooter that was never intended to be played in VR. While there’s undeniable novelty to seeing id’s spookier take on the series realised in full 3D and some combat sequences do work better inside the headset, the game’s unable to separate itself from its flatscreen foundations and never plays to the platform’s real strengths. It’s a bit of VR junk food, then; easy to digest and enjoyable while it lasts but, in the grand scheme of VR gaming, you can do a lot better. Maybe it’s time we accepted Doom’s demonic antics are best left on our PCs and consoles.

While the game may not have felt so frustrating and outdated to players in 2018, it certainly does now. Perhaps even worse, the whole experience feels kind of gimmicky, as if it’s just a fun placeholder to fill time with when you’ve got nothing else to play. The sad news for Fail Factory! is that Quest and Rift owners have much more to play these days and, frankly, they would be better off playing anything besides this.