The Oculus Rift will finally launch at the end of the month after nearly four years of anticipation, and we finally know more about the games it will launch with.
Oculus lifted the veil of secrecy about its launch game lineup today, and you might just be surprised about how much content will be available on day one. The company announced 30 titles that will be ready to play on March 28 when the first early adopters get their hands on the Rift HMD.
Of these games, you’ll find a pretty impressive variety of content. The Rift comes bundled with Playful’s Lucky’s Tale, a third person platformer reminiscent of games like Banjo-Kazooie, with its colorful environments and cartoonish art style. Pre-ordered hardware also comes with CCP’s EVE Valkyrie, a multiplayer first person space dogfighting game with AAA quality graphics and incredibly fast paced action.
More Games To Choose From
The lineup includes Elite: Dangerous, another space multiplayer space game and a AAA title that has been available for PC for over a year. This game is also available on the HTC Vive. Project Cars is another notable AAA title making its way to VR. The highly acclaimed racing game is available on PC and console, and there has been experimental VR support for months on the DK2. The game will be ready for the Rift on March 28.
Palmer Luckey recently praised Chronos from Gunfire Games (hands on here) for having “more depth than almost any other VR game at this time.” Rift early adopters will be able to experience that “depth” for themselves on the hardware’s launch day. We had a chance to briefly try the game at CES. It’s a third person adventure game, and the short time I spent with it, left me wanting more. The game is incredibly unnerving, but I expect it will be quite a lot of fun.
Game | Developer | Comfort Level | Price |
---|---|---|---|
ADR1FT | Three One Zero | Intense | $19.99 |
Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games | Turbo Button | Moderate | $4.99 |
AirMech: Command | Carbon Games | Comfortable | $39.99 |
Albino Lullaby | Ape Law | Intense | $9.99 |
Audio Arena | Skydone Studios | Comfortable | $9.99 |
BlazeRush | Targem Games | moderate | N/A |
Chronos | Gunfire Games | Comfortable | $49.99 |
Darknet | E McNiel | Comfortable | $9.99 |
Dead Secret | Robot Invader | Comfortable | $14.99 |
Defense Grid 2 | Hidden Path Entertainment | Comfortable | $29.99 |
Dreadhalls | White Door Games | Intense | $9.99 |
Elite: Dangerous | Frontier Developments | Intense | $59.99 |
Esper 2 | Coatsink | Comfortable | $9.99 |
EVE Gunjack | CCP Games | Moderate | $9.99 |
EVE Valkyrei Founder's Pack | CCP Games | Intense | $59.99 |
Fly to KUMA | COLOPL | Comfortable | $14.99 |
Herobound SC | Gunfire Games | Comfortable | $9.99 |
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes | Steel Crate Games | Comfortable | $14.99 |
Lucky's Tale | Playful | Moderate | (bundled) |
Omega Agent | Fireproof Games | Intense | $14.99 |
Pinball FX2 VR | Zen Studios | Comfortable | $14.99 |
Project Cars | Slight Mad Studios | intense | $49.99 |
Radial G | Tammeka Games | Intense | $24.99 |
Rooms | HandMade Games | Comfortable | $14.99 |
Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR | Agharta Studio | Comfortable | $9.99 |
Smashing the Battle | One-Man Studios | Moderate | $19.99 |
Vanishing of Ethan Carter | The Atronauts | Intense | N/A |
Vektron Revenge | Ludovic Texier | Moderate | $9.99 |
VR Tennis Online | COLOPL | Moderate | $24.99 |
Windlands | Psytec Games Ltd | Intense | $19.99 |
Several games that are being released on the Rift already have a Gear VR counterpart. Gunfire Games’ second entry to the release catalog is called Herobound Spirit Champion. This game is a third person action/adventure game where you play as “a little goblin dude” trying to save the world.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is another example of a game coming from GearVR to Oculus, though this one was built for DK2 (and it can be played on a monitor). Keep Talking is a first person bomb defuser game that requires at least two players. One person sees the bomb, and the other one uses a guidebook to find the instructions to defuse it. It can be very hectic, but it’s an awful lot of fun with a group of people.
Oculus Home
In addition to the 30-title launch lineup, Oculus has revealed the new Oculus Home interface you’ll interact with to manage your content. Oculus Home (think Steam for Oculus) is where you’ll find all of the games available for purchase, and where your content library will end up.
The storefront appears to hover in the air, Minority Report-style, in front of you in a virtual 3D environment. Oculus Home will also feature a friends list so you can keep in touch with all your VR-loving buddies.
You’ll also be able to access your Rift content through a desktop app, so you won’t have to be in VR to launch a VR game, and the app is customizable to make it easier to find the content you want.
Oculus said that Oculus Home has evolved significantly since the Gear VR launch and will evolve further. The company plans to update the storefront on a monthly basis.
More Coming Soon
Now that the major VR HMD releases are almost here, it’s refreshing to finally see the launch games lineup, and it’s exciting to see this much content available day one. Oculus also noted that there’s much more coming. The company said it has been working with thousands of developers, and that there are more than 100 more games coming out before the end of the year.
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