The spangle of enthusiastic gifs on my main thread were just killing this post as it grew, so I'm giving reviews their own space. (Plz don't post spangly gifs
)
---
REVIEWS:
--SHOOTERS & BRAWLERS--

SUPERHOT VR - Superhuman slow-mo super-antics. Short but pretty perfectly formed.
Robo Recall - Gaudy teleportation shooter, short-ish but slickly executed. Its future-90s cities felt like a place you were scudding through, but the focus was on the high octane gamery. [Rift Freebie]
GORN - Ludicrous arena melee-fest that deploys its cartoon hammers and bendy swords to great effect. [Early Access]
War Dust - I love Battlefield, and I love this VR clone of it. Even if it contains many indie depravities that must be forgiven... [Nausea possible]
Pavlov - Source-FPS homage that brings the old to the new. Solid gunplay, custom maps, TTT-silliness, and a bustling, irreverent community.
Onward - Arma-style 'realistic' mili shooter that really places you in the moment! [Early Access]
Rec Room Arguably as much about the lobbies and chat rooms as the co-op and the pvp. - [Free]
Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades -- - Ridiculously replete gun simulator sandbox with bonus zombie sausage scenarios. Even though it's more a suite of mechanics than a game it's surprisingly good. [Early Access]
Run of Mydan (+) - A short but pretty & trippy flying platform shooter which ends up like a duel inside a 1990s microchip [Early Access]
Silicon Rising -(-) - A slick cyberpunk sheen and some level variety helps this indie wave shooter up its game. Simple, sweaty, bullet-dodging hijinks at its core though.
--SIMULATORS--

Elite Dangerous VR (+/-) - Flying a spaceship never felt so real! (Some queueing for parking required...)
Dirt Rally + - 'Dark Soulsian' offroader that shows no mercy in its starter disciplines, but rewards with deep challenges.
Project Cars 2 (+) - This is all about the ludicrous Rally Cross antics in a Ford Escort for me. Or really any inappropriate car you fancy. Great sounds, great sweeping weather effects.
Lunar Flight: AE (+++) - There is space serenity here when you win your stately battle with physics and gravity. And tense space panic when you lose it...
War Thunder (+) - The excellent vibe and execution here, as you cajole your historical craft around cloud-dappled landscapes, is only undercut by the P2W pain as you advance through the tiers...
--ARCADE RACERS--
BallisticNG (-) - Retro Wipeout clone that makes you forgive its gritty pixels with its slick set of classic tricks.
Touring Karts ++ - Mario Kart clone that nails its arcade flavour of drift-boosting, weapon-combo carnage. With added giant monkeys. Just let down by lack of soaring Mario tracks.
--SPORTS--

Echo Arena - Challenging and super-slick Zero-G team frisbee multiplayer, Ender's Game style... [Rift Freebie]
Creed: Rise to Glory +(+) - A bit rustic, bit when the Rocky fanfare blares you don't care. Some great sweaty cardio under the bright lights, with a simple story thread strung through it.
VR Sports Challenge (++) - Ludicrous wish-fulfillment basketball and quarterback mini-games pitched as key moments thoughout a match.
--ADVENTURE / PUZZLE / WALKING SIMS--

Lone Echo --- - A 'floating sim' where style, immersion & character trump the otherwise straight-forward puzzling
PROZE: Enlightenment +++ - An atmospheric 'first chapter' of cold war fantasy/conspiracy, somehow managing to endear and engage, punching above its indie roots.
The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed +++ - '80s adventure' with some neat tricks and touches, just ultimately light on puzzles and length.
Pollen +++ - Explore an abandoned space outpost in search of missing astronauts - Tactile, 70s-style, and not a little bit trippy by the end.
Robinson: The Journey ++/-- - Visually lush AAA 'kid friendly' adventure through dinosaur-infested space wreckage. Amazing at points, but marred by annoyances throughout.
Scanner Sombre (+-) - Slim on narrative, mechanics, and events, but its quiet journey into an unwelcoming cave is still tense and effective. And at one point dipped into wonderful.
Red Matter --- - Visually glorious space 'spy' mission, which has its highlights, but suffers from the regular slimness of its puzzle staples.
The Gallery - Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone -- - A more fulsome follow-up, unfortunately hamstrung by its absurd load times and location re-use.
--ACTION ADVENTURES & RPGs--

Fallout 4 (+) - Everything that's good about FO4 is better here. It's a blind-firing, deep-diving, horizon-refining, hair-raising epic of a thing. Expect the jank to be cranked to the max too though
Half-Life: Alyx (+) - A visually stunning VR reboot for the Half-Life series, which at its best is a stupendous, art-house, tricksy, horror-action sci-fi adventure wonderland. (And at its worst, just a very good VR shooter
)
Vertigo ++ - Eccentric but pretty damn excellent 'escape the lab' adventure, with some stand out giant boss scenarios.
Downward Spiral: Horus Station - - This budget space-station odyssey manages to punch above its weight throughout, mixing Aliens-esque environments with expansive zero-G robot battles.
Boneworks --- - Indie 'escape the virtual lab' gun and puzzle affair, marked out, and held back, by its physicalised avatar...
PROZE: Enlightenment +++ - A 3hr 'first chapter' that escapes its indie trappings to create an atmospheric roam through a cold-war fantasy-fusion realm.
Runes: The Forgotten Path ++(+) - Stilted but also strangely slick spell-casting indie puzzler [FREE]
LA Noire ++ - Absolutely amazing at points, and a laudable attempt at an experimental port, but often grinding its gears due to tech and design requirements
NeverBound +(+) - Abandonware, but well worth a sale buy to experience its gravity-altering game mechanic. Both combat and puzzles approached the Escher-esque by the end. [Abandonware]
Yupitergrad (+) - A short but satisfying space-station adventure, leaning as much towards action as puzzling with its spiderman suction-cup format. [Nausea possible]
Vanishing Realms (+) - Satisfying melee and cartoony consistency make this dungeon crawler overcome it's short-ish length. [Early Access]
Edge of Nowhere - (+) - 3rd person linear Cthulu-horrors don't tick my boxes, but the art and swirls of storytelling raised this above its more monotonous mechanics.
The Mage's Tale - (-) - A 10hr dungeon diver with a slew of quality touches, but let down by some filler and wave-shooter sections.
The Wizards - -(-) - It never soars, but there's just enough in the magic flinging, plummy narration and occasional set pieces to keep you opening the next door.
Witching Tower VR - Lovely vibe, passable puzzles, atrocious combat. Get it on sale
+(+)
--STEALTH GAMES--

Payday 2 ++ - Slick cross-play port that nails the carnage but really shines when you're sneaking with mates
--PUZZLE GAMES--

The Talos Principle VR - +(+) - Physics-based 'eureka' moments aplenty here, all delivered via some retro-futuristic philosophising on free will
The Under Presents - - A magic-realism 'murder mystery', wrapped up in a multiplayer sandbox where you learn spells from the gestures of others. Properly bizarre.
Paper Beast -- - Magical French fancy which sees you herding paper beasts to sculpt your way through a digital desert.
XING: The Land Beyond -- - Super zen puzzler which sees you flipping environmental effects and pacing around various natural zones.
A Fisherman's Tale (---) - Super slick, but super short, take on a Russian-doll reality. Not hard, but still ingenious.
Interkosmos - Great little 'land the lander module' mini-adventure, featuring tongue-in-cheek Cold War stylings & audio story. Super short, and more on the 'experience' end of things.
I Expect You To Die +++ - Giddy and gleeful physics puzzler, set in faux 60s Bond scenarios. Only let down by short content and some repetition mis-steps.
Virtual Virtual Reality +++ - Joyful Russian-doll experience, with just a touch of the singular singularity about. As much physics plaything as puzzler in some ways. Only let down by some dead-end-ish dead spots between highlights.
Abode 2 (+) - A slick, if indie, de-puzzle-the-room affair, with pleasing Blade-Runner-style trappings, only bedevilled by the odd bug.
Just In Time (+) - Cute if slight indie action-puzzler. Save lives in slow motion for your insurance company. More about the bullet-time than brain time.
VR Furballs (+) - A decent Angry Birds rip-off that's perhaps more physics carnage than outright puzzler, but distracting for all that.
Abode - - A simple escape-the-room with lots of prodable objects and a cyber-PI vibe. Indie with the edges rounded off.
Conductor -- - Some uneven puzzles, a glitchy physics gun, and a manual steam-train conceit, all linked by a steampunk story of sorts. Has its moments.
Dimensional +++ - A physical, physics puzzler. By turns maddening then actually kind of exhilarating. If you can tolerate the horrible indie trappings and missteps, this holds some unique fun.
Form - - Evocative puzzler that is unfortunately all form and very little substance.
--JOB SIMULATORS--
Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality +(+) - Like an interactive episode of the show. Very short, but dense with silly...
--SURVIVAL GAMES--

Vivecraft -
Excellent mutation of the survival classic, featuring a huge suite of options, leading to some surreally immersive results. A ton better than the official version. [Free Mod]
Star Shelter ++ - Neat 'rogue lite' space scrounging simulator. Punishingly cruel at times, but has a certain something in its loops. [Early Access]
--REAL TIME STRATEGY--

Deisim - Just incredibly chill. Like being a mountain-sized gardener - (+) [Early Access]
--RHYTHM GAMES--

Beat Saber - Ever-escalating challenges push you into a zen zone of perpetual motion - (---)
--LOCAL-MULTIPLAYER PARTY GAMES--

Puppet Fever - Super-cute interactive puppetry take on charades - [Early Access]
--PLATFORMERS--
Carly & The Reaperman + - Creative and cute crossplay co-op with lots of freeform potential in its otherwise linear platforming... [Free for remote players]
Moss +(+) - The cutesy story-book world is great, even if the VR interactions aren't the ultimate page turner here. Worth a genteel hop, poke and platform.
Herobound +(+) - A pretty tight little combat/puzzle platformer, with some minor non-linear aspects. Gains almost nothing from being in VR, but hey it's 8hrs long and it's free. [Rift Freebie]
--MODS--

GTAV V R.E.A.L. Mod -- - Its rough around the edges, but just about playable end-to-end. A whole new way to explore this world. Epic
. WARNING: Not noob friendly on the 'VR legs' front.
--EXPERIENCES--

First Contact - Just an exceptional and super-slickly designed intro to the tech. Highlights what's special but makes everything feel natural. [Rift Freebie]
Google Earth ++ - The capture tech and motion freedom here can get pretty mind-blowing at points. Yes, it's blobby at human scale, and many bits of the earth are 'flat' scanned, but from flying like an eagle over natural formations, to settling in a favoured city dell, there's some strange joy here... [FREE]
Aircar ++ - Another free super short experience, which is never-the-less properly epic. It's just a wonderfully rendered cityscape experience, which is immediately evocative of the original Blade Runner. [Free]
Batman: Arkham VR - Super immersive, if super short, chance to don the bat cape and tangle with some dark Gotham dilemmas. On the light puzzle end, and more experience than game, but immersively good for all that.
Waltz of the Wizard + - Lovely free physics plaything, with the odd mini-narrative hidden in its playful folds... [Rift Freebie]
Trials on Tatooine - - Just five minutes of being a Jedi on Tatooine, with great production values. What more do you want?
[FREE]
Spider-Man: Far From Home Virtual Reality -- - Great web-slinging, and a fun short boss fight with a giant robot which you can web around. [FREE] [POSSIBLE NAUSEA]
Quanero 2 - System Release ++ - A slick 'analyse the crime scenes' future-punky set of scenarios. Surprisingly good for a student project, if ultimately unfinished. [FREE]
Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab +(+) - Too short, and slight on a gaming front, to even rate if it wasn't free. But as a demonstration of what full actor capture could do, and for slipping into the Blade Runner reboot neatly enough, it's definitely worth a reco. [Rift Freebie]
The Price of Freedom (++) - Neat budget noir interactive about the CIA's MK-ULTRA project. Feels like a step towards involving VR stories. [V short, v cheap]
1943 Berlin Blitz (++) - Visually smudgy but ultimately effective framing of audio recorded during a bombing run. A moment of history brought slightly more to life. [Free]
Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel (++) - More BBC history, this time with slightly clunky narration but a fairly lovely painterly style to evoke the contemporary audio. [Free]
Welcome to Light Fields (++) - Posed 19thC photos meet the 21stC. Lightfield 3D world capture is very intriguing indeed. [Free]
Kismet - +(+) - A slight but slickly-presented collection of Tarot reading, Astrology, & a fun little board game from Ancient Ur... well worth a sale snag, if missing hand control.
PaulPaul - (+) - A short, strange comingling of Moon and 2001. Perhaps. Decent tone, simple contextual 'puzzles'. [FREE].
The Tear - ( + +
+ + ) - More art installation than puzzler, sitting on the floor with indie inter-dimensional experiments was still intriguing though.
Farlands + - Delightful alien locations mixed with deeply tedious gameplay. Worth a download for the initial transporting sections though. (Warning, includes chirpy robot guide...) [Rift Freebie]
Mythos of the World Axis - Super-short early proof of concept that makes your feel like you're controlling a tiny hero in a cavernous room of adventure...[Free]
Cycling Pathways to Mars + = ? - Buzz Aldrin in hologram form. Need I say more...? [Free]
Moriarty: Endgame VR - (+) - Neat-enough opening chapter of a future-Holmes graphic novel with solid audio.
--SHORT STORIES--

Gloomy Eyes - + - A lovely, Burton-esque, tale of zombie love in the apocalypse. Colin Farrell narrates as the living cartoon dioramas spin and unfold.
Age of Sail - (-) - A strangely moving short journey with an old ship hand, played by Ian McShane. I can't quite pin down why 'being there' elevates this, but it does. The painterly style looks rough initially, but the overall production values smooth that all away. [Free]
Bonfire - +(+) - Closest thing to a 'VR cartoon' I've seen to date. Lovely toy rocket style and cute characterisation at points. Minor 'heroic' interactions. Short but sweet.
Pearl - - Sit in the passenger seat throughout the life of a family car, as a father and daughter go from the Spring to the Autumn of their relationship. That's it. It's kinda hokey, technically solid, but gave my parental heartstrings a twang by the end. [Free]
Dear Angelica - - The painterly style and dark spaces work well enough for these melancholy traces of reveries and daily debris. Geena Davis adds some cinematic sheen. Doesn't take off completely, but does brood. [Free]
--EDUCATIONAL--

Hold The Earth -- - The venerable David Attenborough talks and gestures you through some natural artefacts, before they come to life at full scale.
Mission:ISS -- - Another high class freebie, featuring solid zero G locomotion, the sci-steeped setting of the station, but what's genuinely glorious is the ability to space walk outside it all... [Rift Freebie]
The Dawn of Art +++ - A great way to appreciate the fire-licked, pristinely preserved, 3D art tracing the curving walls of the Chauvet cave. [Free]
Hololab Champions (+) - Very slick attempt to make beginner's chemistry disciplines involving. Presentation is great. Measuring liquid levels by the miniscus can only be so exciting though.
Historium VR -- - An earnest, if very brief, attempt at historical recreation. The fact that they made the trade of 15thC Bruge in anyway interesting is a plus point.
The Body VR -- - A hint of what education VR could become, but not there yet. Some of the scale as you passed over and into the mechanisms and environments of the inner cells was pretty cool though. [Free]
--**CROSSPLAY CO-OP GAMES**--
IE games that VR players can play with classic PC or console players
See:
---

---
REVIEWS:
--SHOOTERS & BRAWLERS--

SUPERHOT VR - Superhuman slow-mo super-antics. Short but pretty perfectly formed.
Robo Recall - Gaudy teleportation shooter, short-ish but slickly executed. Its future-90s cities felt like a place you were scudding through, but the focus was on the high octane gamery. [Rift Freebie]
GORN - Ludicrous arena melee-fest that deploys its cartoon hammers and bendy swords to great effect. [Early Access]
War Dust - I love Battlefield, and I love this VR clone of it. Even if it contains many indie depravities that must be forgiven... [Nausea possible]
Pavlov - Source-FPS homage that brings the old to the new. Solid gunplay, custom maps, TTT-silliness, and a bustling, irreverent community.
Onward - Arma-style 'realistic' mili shooter that really places you in the moment! [Early Access]
Rec Room Arguably as much about the lobbies and chat rooms as the co-op and the pvp. - [Free]
Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades -- - Ridiculously replete gun simulator sandbox with bonus zombie sausage scenarios. Even though it's more a suite of mechanics than a game it's surprisingly good. [Early Access]
Run of Mydan (+) - A short but pretty & trippy flying platform shooter which ends up like a duel inside a 1990s microchip [Early Access]
Silicon Rising -(-) - A slick cyberpunk sheen and some level variety helps this indie wave shooter up its game. Simple, sweaty, bullet-dodging hijinks at its core though.
--SIMULATORS--

Elite Dangerous VR (+/-) - Flying a spaceship never felt so real! (Some queueing for parking required...)
Dirt Rally + - 'Dark Soulsian' offroader that shows no mercy in its starter disciplines, but rewards with deep challenges.
Project Cars 2 (+) - This is all about the ludicrous Rally Cross antics in a Ford Escort for me. Or really any inappropriate car you fancy. Great sounds, great sweeping weather effects.
Lunar Flight: AE (+++) - There is space serenity here when you win your stately battle with physics and gravity. And tense space panic when you lose it...
War Thunder (+) - The excellent vibe and execution here, as you cajole your historical craft around cloud-dappled landscapes, is only undercut by the P2W pain as you advance through the tiers...
--ARCADE RACERS--
BallisticNG (-) - Retro Wipeout clone that makes you forgive its gritty pixels with its slick set of classic tricks.
Touring Karts ++ - Mario Kart clone that nails its arcade flavour of drift-boosting, weapon-combo carnage. With added giant monkeys. Just let down by lack of soaring Mario tracks.
--SPORTS--

Echo Arena - Challenging and super-slick Zero-G team frisbee multiplayer, Ender's Game style... [Rift Freebie]
Creed: Rise to Glory +(+) - A bit rustic, bit when the Rocky fanfare blares you don't care. Some great sweaty cardio under the bright lights, with a simple story thread strung through it.
VR Sports Challenge (++) - Ludicrous wish-fulfillment basketball and quarterback mini-games pitched as key moments thoughout a match.
--ADVENTURE / PUZZLE / WALKING SIMS--

Lone Echo --- - A 'floating sim' where style, immersion & character trump the otherwise straight-forward puzzling
PROZE: Enlightenment +++ - An atmospheric 'first chapter' of cold war fantasy/conspiracy, somehow managing to endear and engage, punching above its indie roots.
The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed +++ - '80s adventure' with some neat tricks and touches, just ultimately light on puzzles and length.
Pollen +++ - Explore an abandoned space outpost in search of missing astronauts - Tactile, 70s-style, and not a little bit trippy by the end.
Robinson: The Journey ++/-- - Visually lush AAA 'kid friendly' adventure through dinosaur-infested space wreckage. Amazing at points, but marred by annoyances throughout.
Scanner Sombre (+-) - Slim on narrative, mechanics, and events, but its quiet journey into an unwelcoming cave is still tense and effective. And at one point dipped into wonderful.
Red Matter --- - Visually glorious space 'spy' mission, which has its highlights, but suffers from the regular slimness of its puzzle staples.
The Gallery - Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone -- - A more fulsome follow-up, unfortunately hamstrung by its absurd load times and location re-use.
--ACTION ADVENTURES & RPGs--

Fallout 4 (+) - Everything that's good about FO4 is better here. It's a blind-firing, deep-diving, horizon-refining, hair-raising epic of a thing. Expect the jank to be cranked to the max too though

Half-Life: Alyx (+) - A visually stunning VR reboot for the Half-Life series, which at its best is a stupendous, art-house, tricksy, horror-action sci-fi adventure wonderland. (And at its worst, just a very good VR shooter

Vertigo ++ - Eccentric but pretty damn excellent 'escape the lab' adventure, with some stand out giant boss scenarios.
Downward Spiral: Horus Station - - This budget space-station odyssey manages to punch above its weight throughout, mixing Aliens-esque environments with expansive zero-G robot battles.
Boneworks --- - Indie 'escape the virtual lab' gun and puzzle affair, marked out, and held back, by its physicalised avatar...
PROZE: Enlightenment +++ - A 3hr 'first chapter' that escapes its indie trappings to create an atmospheric roam through a cold-war fantasy-fusion realm.
Runes: The Forgotten Path ++(+) - Stilted but also strangely slick spell-casting indie puzzler [FREE]
LA Noire ++ - Absolutely amazing at points, and a laudable attempt at an experimental port, but often grinding its gears due to tech and design requirements

NeverBound +(+) - Abandonware, but well worth a sale buy to experience its gravity-altering game mechanic. Both combat and puzzles approached the Escher-esque by the end. [Abandonware]
Yupitergrad (+) - A short but satisfying space-station adventure, leaning as much towards action as puzzling with its spiderman suction-cup format. [Nausea possible]
Vanishing Realms (+) - Satisfying melee and cartoony consistency make this dungeon crawler overcome it's short-ish length. [Early Access]
Edge of Nowhere - (+) - 3rd person linear Cthulu-horrors don't tick my boxes, but the art and swirls of storytelling raised this above its more monotonous mechanics.
The Mage's Tale - (-) - A 10hr dungeon diver with a slew of quality touches, but let down by some filler and wave-shooter sections.
The Wizards - -(-) - It never soars, but there's just enough in the magic flinging, plummy narration and occasional set pieces to keep you opening the next door.
Witching Tower VR - Lovely vibe, passable puzzles, atrocious combat. Get it on sale

--STEALTH GAMES--
Payday 2 ++ - Slick cross-play port that nails the carnage but really shines when you're sneaking with mates

--PUZZLE GAMES--
The Talos Principle VR - +(+) - Physics-based 'eureka' moments aplenty here, all delivered via some retro-futuristic philosophising on free will
The Under Presents - - A magic-realism 'murder mystery', wrapped up in a multiplayer sandbox where you learn spells from the gestures of others. Properly bizarre.
Paper Beast -- - Magical French fancy which sees you herding paper beasts to sculpt your way through a digital desert.
XING: The Land Beyond -- - Super zen puzzler which sees you flipping environmental effects and pacing around various natural zones.
A Fisherman's Tale (---) - Super slick, but super short, take on a Russian-doll reality. Not hard, but still ingenious.
Interkosmos - Great little 'land the lander module' mini-adventure, featuring tongue-in-cheek Cold War stylings & audio story. Super short, and more on the 'experience' end of things.
I Expect You To Die +++ - Giddy and gleeful physics puzzler, set in faux 60s Bond scenarios. Only let down by short content and some repetition mis-steps.
Virtual Virtual Reality +++ - Joyful Russian-doll experience, with just a touch of the singular singularity about. As much physics plaything as puzzler in some ways. Only let down by some dead-end-ish dead spots between highlights.
Abode 2 (+) - A slick, if indie, de-puzzle-the-room affair, with pleasing Blade-Runner-style trappings, only bedevilled by the odd bug.
Just In Time (+) - Cute if slight indie action-puzzler. Save lives in slow motion for your insurance company. More about the bullet-time than brain time.
VR Furballs (+) - A decent Angry Birds rip-off that's perhaps more physics carnage than outright puzzler, but distracting for all that.
Abode - - A simple escape-the-room with lots of prodable objects and a cyber-PI vibe. Indie with the edges rounded off.
Conductor -- - Some uneven puzzles, a glitchy physics gun, and a manual steam-train conceit, all linked by a steampunk story of sorts. Has its moments.
Dimensional +++ - A physical, physics puzzler. By turns maddening then actually kind of exhilarating. If you can tolerate the horrible indie trappings and missteps, this holds some unique fun.
Form - - Evocative puzzler that is unfortunately all form and very little substance.
--JOB SIMULATORS--
Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality +(+) - Like an interactive episode of the show. Very short, but dense with silly...
--SURVIVAL GAMES--

Vivecraft -
Excellent mutation of the survival classic, featuring a huge suite of options, leading to some surreally immersive results. A ton better than the official version. [Free Mod]
Star Shelter ++ - Neat 'rogue lite' space scrounging simulator. Punishingly cruel at times, but has a certain something in its loops. [Early Access]
--REAL TIME STRATEGY--
Deisim - Just incredibly chill. Like being a mountain-sized gardener - (+) [Early Access]
--RHYTHM GAMES--

Beat Saber - Ever-escalating challenges push you into a zen zone of perpetual motion - (---)
--LOCAL-MULTIPLAYER PARTY GAMES--

Puppet Fever - Super-cute interactive puppetry take on charades - [Early Access]
--PLATFORMERS--
Carly & The Reaperman + - Creative and cute crossplay co-op with lots of freeform potential in its otherwise linear platforming... [Free for remote players]
Moss +(+) - The cutesy story-book world is great, even if the VR interactions aren't the ultimate page turner here. Worth a genteel hop, poke and platform.
Herobound +(+) - A pretty tight little combat/puzzle platformer, with some minor non-linear aspects. Gains almost nothing from being in VR, but hey it's 8hrs long and it's free. [Rift Freebie]
--MODS--
GTAV V R.E.A.L. Mod -- - Its rough around the edges, but just about playable end-to-end. A whole new way to explore this world. Epic

--EXPERIENCES--

First Contact - Just an exceptional and super-slickly designed intro to the tech. Highlights what's special but makes everything feel natural. [Rift Freebie]
Google Earth ++ - The capture tech and motion freedom here can get pretty mind-blowing at points. Yes, it's blobby at human scale, and many bits of the earth are 'flat' scanned, but from flying like an eagle over natural formations, to settling in a favoured city dell, there's some strange joy here... [FREE]
Aircar ++ - Another free super short experience, which is never-the-less properly epic. It's just a wonderfully rendered cityscape experience, which is immediately evocative of the original Blade Runner. [Free]
Batman: Arkham VR - Super immersive, if super short, chance to don the bat cape and tangle with some dark Gotham dilemmas. On the light puzzle end, and more experience than game, but immersively good for all that.
Waltz of the Wizard + - Lovely free physics plaything, with the odd mini-narrative hidden in its playful folds... [Rift Freebie]
Trials on Tatooine - - Just five minutes of being a Jedi on Tatooine, with great production values. What more do you want?

Spider-Man: Far From Home Virtual Reality -- - Great web-slinging, and a fun short boss fight with a giant robot which you can web around. [FREE] [POSSIBLE NAUSEA]
Quanero 2 - System Release ++ - A slick 'analyse the crime scenes' future-punky set of scenarios. Surprisingly good for a student project, if ultimately unfinished. [FREE]
Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab +(+) - Too short, and slight on a gaming front, to even rate if it wasn't free. But as a demonstration of what full actor capture could do, and for slipping into the Blade Runner reboot neatly enough, it's definitely worth a reco. [Rift Freebie]
The Price of Freedom (++) - Neat budget noir interactive about the CIA's MK-ULTRA project. Feels like a step towards involving VR stories. [V short, v cheap]
1943 Berlin Blitz (++) - Visually smudgy but ultimately effective framing of audio recorded during a bombing run. A moment of history brought slightly more to life. [Free]
Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel (++) - More BBC history, this time with slightly clunky narration but a fairly lovely painterly style to evoke the contemporary audio. [Free]
Welcome to Light Fields (++) - Posed 19thC photos meet the 21stC. Lightfield 3D world capture is very intriguing indeed. [Free]
Kismet - +(+) - A slight but slickly-presented collection of Tarot reading, Astrology, & a fun little board game from Ancient Ur... well worth a sale snag, if missing hand control.
PaulPaul - (+) - A short, strange comingling of Moon and 2001. Perhaps. Decent tone, simple contextual 'puzzles'. [FREE].
The Tear - ( + +

Farlands + - Delightful alien locations mixed with deeply tedious gameplay. Worth a download for the initial transporting sections though. (Warning, includes chirpy robot guide...) [Rift Freebie]
Mythos of the World Axis - Super-short early proof of concept that makes your feel like you're controlling a tiny hero in a cavernous room of adventure...[Free]
Cycling Pathways to Mars + = ? - Buzz Aldrin in hologram form. Need I say more...? [Free]
Moriarty: Endgame VR - (+) - Neat-enough opening chapter of a future-Holmes graphic novel with solid audio.
--SHORT STORIES--
Gloomy Eyes - + - A lovely, Burton-esque, tale of zombie love in the apocalypse. Colin Farrell narrates as the living cartoon dioramas spin and unfold.
Age of Sail - (-) - A strangely moving short journey with an old ship hand, played by Ian McShane. I can't quite pin down why 'being there' elevates this, but it does. The painterly style looks rough initially, but the overall production values smooth that all away. [Free]
Bonfire - +(+) - Closest thing to a 'VR cartoon' I've seen to date. Lovely toy rocket style and cute characterisation at points. Minor 'heroic' interactions. Short but sweet.
Pearl - - Sit in the passenger seat throughout the life of a family car, as a father and daughter go from the Spring to the Autumn of their relationship. That's it. It's kinda hokey, technically solid, but gave my parental heartstrings a twang by the end. [Free]
Dear Angelica - - The painterly style and dark spaces work well enough for these melancholy traces of reveries and daily debris. Geena Davis adds some cinematic sheen. Doesn't take off completely, but does brood. [Free]
--EDUCATIONAL--

Hold The Earth -- - The venerable David Attenborough talks and gestures you through some natural artefacts, before they come to life at full scale.
Mission:ISS -- - Another high class freebie, featuring solid zero G locomotion, the sci-steeped setting of the station, but what's genuinely glorious is the ability to space walk outside it all... [Rift Freebie]
The Dawn of Art +++ - A great way to appreciate the fire-licked, pristinely preserved, 3D art tracing the curving walls of the Chauvet cave. [Free]
Hololab Champions (+) - Very slick attempt to make beginner's chemistry disciplines involving. Presentation is great. Measuring liquid levels by the miniscus can only be so exciting though.
Historium VR -- - An earnest, if very brief, attempt at historical recreation. The fact that they made the trade of 15thC Bruge in anyway interesting is a plus point.
The Body VR -- - A hint of what education VR could become, but not there yet. Some of the scale as you passed over and into the mechanisms and environments of the inner cells was pretty cool though. [Free]
--**CROSSPLAY CO-OP GAMES**--
IE games that VR players can play with classic PC or console players
See:
- Payday 2
- NMS
- Carly & The Reaperman
- Elite Dangerous
- Minecraft
- Rec Room
- Touring Karts
---
CAVEAT: It's really hard to come up with a number that represents these nascent games and golden nuggets fairly. I'm not even sure if I'm high or low balling the scores any more. (I'm afraid of rating some slightly too highly purely because they stand out amongst an immature market, or because the woo-factor is washing over more obvious software shortcomings. The bang for buck aspect also can't be ignored, and I've tried to factor that in. Some should drop to a more reasonable price over time of course, but their pioneer mechanics will also date...)
The brass tacks are though... almost every game here honestly feels like a to me thanks to the immersion and novelty aspects etc, I've often just gone woooooo and given them a anyway
. Even if objectively there are enough flaws and downsides from a classical gaming perspective that I should really chip off at least half a point...
The brass tacks are though... almost every game here honestly feels like a to me thanks to the immersion and novelty aspects etc, I've often just gone woooooo and given them a anyway

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here
Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here
Last edited by Golgot; 04-28-21 at 03:52 PM.