Dick Wilde is lucky that it’s a polished and enjoyable wave shooter, because it’s subject matter confuses animal cruelty with comedy resulting in a flat, bizarrely morbid tone. On a strictly mechanical level it’s an enjoyable but unspectacular shooter that I appreciated more for the workout it gave me than anything else. Bolverk Games continues to prove that it can make rock-solid VR experiences from a gameplay perspective, I just wish the team could wrap it in a more agreeable context. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Left to your own devices, this is an enormously enjoyable toybox that succeeds perhaps more than any other VR game in doing one thing: making you smile. But Giant Cop is far from VR’s best game. It’s short campaign is filled with repetitive, tedious tasks that will tire and frustrate more than they ever do engage. There’s still an immense amount of fun to be had in Giant Cop, but it’s got very little to do with what’s been added in the past year. [Tested with Rift]

Drop Dead is certainly one of the best shooting games on the Gear VR and a capable inclusion in the Rift’s growing library. The solid, smooth performance and accurate targeting make it plenty of fun and the new missions and brand new multiplayer mode add plenty of replay value. More than that though, it’s an excellent homage to the classic light gun games of old.

If you want your science fiction racing to be more hardcore and realistic, Vector 36 is definitely the game. It starts out slow, but past that initial hump, speeds up considerably and requires mastery of some of the most intensive physics around. Though not perfect and lacking multiplayer, there’s a solid amount of content here with hopefully more on the way.

Paulo’s Wing is a small miracle, a VR game that shows not just how intense and active these experiences can be, but also how you can create a world with the same technology and a simple set of tools. It’s frantic gameplay isn’t the most original, but it’s a strong reminder that wave based games can be fun when not entirely derivative. If you’re looking for some simple sword swinging fun, don’t miss out. [Tested with HTC Vive]

While VR Golf Online is fun to play, looks pretty for the most part, and has strong core mechanics, it comes off as feeling a little empty. Multiplayer support and more courses are coming soon, however, and it’s certainly not a bad start. It doesn’t offer ultra-realistic simulation-style mechanics, but if you’re after a casual golfing fix in VR, this is certainly not a bad option.

Though brief, Syren proves itself to be a worthwhile taster of what VR can really do for horror games. While never fully capitalizing on that potential, there are some revelatory moments for the genre here, making you painfully aware of your own self as you hide behind crates and freeze on the spot. That alone helps overlook the short length and handful of bugs and blemishes, and makes Hammerhead VR itself a developer well worth watching.

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.

A fun on-rails shooter that brings back a classic gameplay mechanic tasking you with targeting enemies as you pass them by to rack up points. There are only a handful of levels and it takes just around 30 minutes to play the entire game, so despite the fun, it’s short-lived. Fans of the genre should check this one out, but it’s far from being a must play in the Steam VR library.

The HeroCade bundle on PSVR does a great job of collecting a large amount (nine total!) of games into a single package. They’re all tied together with a loose “narrative” of sorts but about half of them are hardly worth even playing. Dreadhalls and Sisters are easily the best of the lot, but the sheer breadth of games on display is commendable. Worth a grab if you haven’t tried Dreadhalls yet, but I wouldn’t recommend it for the other eight games on their own.

Overall Conductor is a good example of the simple thrills that come from VR escape room games. If you find yourself easily frustrated by puzzle games then this is a great example of how to set the right amount of challenge without feeling too easy, and it builds an intriguing world in the process.

Despite the lack of multiplayer and the horror of ham-fisted progression gates, To The Top is still one of the most singularly fun experiences I’ve ever had inside my VR headset. It’s gameplay is simple, but addictive, and rewards skillful play while never demanding you become an expert all at once. The progression gates are annoying but mostly because they held me back from tearing into more of this truly amazing experience.

Monkey King isn’t a bad VR animation, but it’s just not that great either. The three episodes dovetail together nicely, but it never feels like it really takes advantage of VR as a medium. Visually it felt underwhelming and left a lot to be desired.

Neptune Flux is short and inessential, but serves as a good example of a satisfying, self-contained VR short story. Perhaps Zoxide once had dreamed of it being more than that, but the immersive atmosphere and interesting — if flawed — story still made this a journey I was glad I went on.

Just in Time’s premise alone is brilliant enough to warrant a look, though the game only scratches the surface of its potential. When it gets it right, saving lives in slow-motion is a silly thrill, but many of the game’s levels are simply unmemorable. Second Wind is onto something here, but its short campaign never successfully mixes the comedy, action, and puzzle-solving into one truly satisfying package. These elements instead remain separate, creating an inconsistent, albeit promising, experience.

Out of Ammo: Death Drive comes and goes without making much of an impression. Its 90 – 120-minute campaign fails to ever excite or amuse, and there’s only the beginnings of what could have been a great tower defense game to experience. VR has moved beyond the need for raw content for the sake of having something to play, and Death Drive is firmly stuck in the past as a result. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul is a relatively solid VR horror game. There is a strong foreboding sense of terror, a thickly developed atmosphere, and excellent use of sound and lighting to convey a real sense of fear. The adaptive scare system also works well, for the most part, and keeps you guessing. However the poor control system, occasional bugs (which will likely be addressed soon with patches,) short length, and inconsistent pacing keep it from being as successful as it could have been.

Prison Boss VR is a breath of fresh air. In a market that’s over-saturated with shooters, and blood, and gore, and zombies, it’s nice to experience something with a much more light-hearted and whimsical tone. Fans of Job Simulator and tycoon-style games will find a lot to love here and far more content than expected, but what it gains in breadth it sacrifices in depth. Even still, this is a VR game we’d happily return to as a reward for good behavior.

Duck Season is more than a tribute to a beloved retro game; it’s a love letter to an entire era of pop culture and childhoods well-spent on a healthy dose of screen watching. As a showcase for VR it does a brilliant job of highlighting the tech’s current strengths with small, intimate environments that breathe authenticity and organic storytelling that never pulls you from the experience. I can’t wait to see how Stress Level Zero applies what it’s learned here to something that pushes the medium even further.

Bloody Zombies has a confusing existence. On the one hand the gameplay is fun enough to entertain for a few hours, especially if enjoyed with friends, but it lacks enough pull as an original concept to really offer much in the way of innovation. For all intents and purposes this is a very by-the-numbers sidescrolling brawler with a zombie theme that just so happens to let you look around at levels in a VR headset. Unless you’re dying for a Streets of Rage-esque experience in VR then you can probably survive by just passing on this one.

As an on-rails shooter, Dimension Hunter offers simple, stylish shooter fun with an appreciated free locomotion option. Ultimately it’s little more than an hour or two of brainless shooting, but there are some great highlights along the way that made me happy I took the trip. If you’ve got an itchy trigger finger, Dimension Hunter will serve you just right.

There might not be much of a game to Echo Grotto (though there’s a lot more to it than its predecessor), but it’s the type of VR experience that proves you don’t always need objectives and plot twists as motivation to push on. This is an experience where your own sense of curiosity and discovery is all you’ll need to keep going, speaking to the power of VR’s immersion. It carries a rare sense of authenticity that really makes you feel like you’re descending into the depths, and the deeper you go the more engulfed you’ll become. This is a great example of what really makes VR tick.

The Invisible Hours is unlike anything else you’ll play or watch in VR this year; a genuinely enthralling murder mystery boldly told in an entirely new way. Its character-driven drama is near faultless not just in the dialogue and plotting but also in the superb staging and pacing that brings the world to life. It’s an experiment that pays off in spades and could well provide a template for VR storytelling to come.

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope combines frenetic action, testosterone-laden humor and beautiful graphics into a solid VR package that kept me coming back for more punishment. It has few minor blemishes and may not have lasting power for some gamers, but ultimately it’s one of the best VR wave shooters you can play. Now where did I put that rocket launcher?

Million Arthur is a passable card battler that struggles to find purpose in VR. Though its combat system may be engaging on a basic level, the hefty amount of story told through virtual screens, lack of interactivity in its virtual worlds and the unwelcome sting of in-app purchases left me wondering why Square Enix didn’t choose a better-fitting game for its first VR JRPG port. A very niche audience might find something to love about Million Arthur, but it’s got very little to say about what VR can do for the JRPG. Stick to Dragon Front instead.

Overall, Space Pirate Trainer is a lot of fun and addictive, and features great mechanics, but it’s also a bit vanilla and predictable. It’s done well, but with myriad VR wave shooters to choose from now, it doesn’t stand out as novel or overly exciting. What it is, though, is a solid, energetic VR wave shooter that continued to challenge me and made me come back to try and get my initials emblazoned on the various leaderboards. Just like my old arcade days, I found myself saying “Let me try just one more time to get my initials on the board.”

Croteam has done yet another excellent job of bringing one of its past successes to VR; The Talos Principle feels right at home inside your headset. If you’ve never played the game and have a Rift and Vive then this is absolutely one of the best puzzle games to play in VR right now. If you’ve already wrapped you brain around it once, though, it’s tough to recommend revisiting the game in VR. While comprehensive, the game’s VR support is additive at best, enhancing the experience only in a superficial way. Still the same great game, then, but only worth the trip for some.

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.