In preparation for the release of SteamVR’s first HMD, the HTC Vive, Valve recently updated the Steamworks settings for developers so they can specify that their game is VR compatible, which headset it works with, and several other parameters, including the size of the required play area.
As recently as yesterday, there were only a handful of listed games that support the HTC Vive, but today, now that the hardware is available to pre-order, you can find 44 experiences (and counting) that will work with the upcoming VR HMD. The majority of the available titles are compatible with the motion controllers, and most of those are capable of, or require, room-scale tracking.
Many of the supported games that you’ll find on the list are in fact older games that have SteamVR support added. Among them you’ll find DCS World, a military flight simulator that was originally released in 2013; a few games from 2014, including World of Diving and Mind: Path to Thalamus Enhance Edition; and a number of games that launched throughout 2015, such as Euclidean, a “geometric horror game” that launched in September for the Oculus Rift DK2, and Crystal Rift, which also originated as an early Oculus Rift demo and was later released as a full game in April last year.
Most of the games that are on the list and that will be released this year appear to be VR-exclusive titles, many of which we’ve known about for a while and have even tried, but there are some games that we aren’t familiar with, such as A-10 VR, a sci-fi gallery shooter; The Brookhaven Experiment Demo, a first person horror shooter; and A Legend of Luca, a first person “rogue-lite” game that the developer describes as “Zelda-like.” These three games are roomscale, Vive-exclusive titles that we’ve not yet tested, but they look very interesting.
| Game title | Motion Controllers | Gamepad | KB / Mouse | Seated Experience | Standing Experience | Room-Scale Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descent: Underground | Row 0 - Cell 1 | X | X | X | Row 0 - Cell 5 | Row 0 - Cell 6 |
| Windlands | X | X | X | X | X | Row 1 - Cell 6 |
| 5089: The Action RPG | X | Row 2 - Cell 2 | X | X | X | X |
| Euclidean | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Spermination | Row 4 - Cell 1 | Row 4 - Cell 2 | X | X | Row 4 - Cell 5 | Row 4 - Cell 6 |
| DCS World | X | Row 5 - Cell 2 | X | X | Row 5 - Cell 5 | Row 5 - Cell 6 |
| Crystal Rift | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Kumoon: Ballistic Physics Puzzel | Row 7 - Cell 1 | X | X | X | Row 7 - Cell 5 | Row 7 - Cell 6 |
| World of Diving | Row 8 - Cell 1 | X | X | X | Row 8 - Cell 5 | Row 8 - Cell 6 |
| Mind: Path to Thalamus Enhanced Edition | X | X | X | X | Row 9 - Cell 5 | Row 9 - Cell 6 |
| 4089: Ghost Within | Row 10 - Cell 1 | Row 10 - Cell 2 | X | x | Row 10 - Cell 5 | Row 10 - Cell 6 |
| Water Bears VR | X | Row 11 - Cell 2 | Row 11 - Cell 3 | Row 11 - Cell 4 | Row 11 - Cell 5 | X |
| The Grand Canyon VR Experience | X | X | X | X | X | Row 12 - Cell 6 |
| Calestrion | Row 13 - Cell 1 | Row 13 - Cell 2 | Row 13 - Cell 3 | Row 13 - Cell 4 | Row 13 - Cell 5 | X |
| Metaverse Construction Kit | X | Row 14 - Cell 2 | Row 14 - Cell 3 | Row 14 - Cell 4 | Row 14 - Cell 5 | X |
| Caffeine | Row 15 - Cell 1 | X | X | X | Row 15 - Cell 5 | Row 15 - Cell 6 |
| Arizona Sunshine | X | Row 16 - Cell 2 | Row 16 - Cell 3 | Row 16 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Skyworld | X | X | Row 17 - Cell 3 | X | X | X |
| Hover Junkers | X | Row 18 - Cell 2 | Row 18 - Cell 3 | X | X | X |
| Felt Tip Circus | X | Row 19 - Cell 2 | Row 19 - Cell 3 | Row 19 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Spare Pirate Trainer | X | Row 20 - Cell 2 | Row 20 - Cell 3 | Row 20 - Cell 4 | Row 20 - Cell 5 | X |
| Budget Cuts | X | Row 21 - Cell 2 | Row 21 - Cell 3 | Row 21 - Cell 4 | Row 21 - Cell 5 | X |
| Jeeboman | X | Row 22 - Cell 2 | Row 22 - Cell 3 | Row 22 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| A-10 VR | X | Row 23 - Cell 2 | Row 23 - Cell 3 | X | X | X |
| Sluggey' Fruit Emporium | X | Row 24 - Cell 2 | Row 24 - Cell 3 | Row 24 - Cell 4 | Row 24 - Cell 5 | X |
| The Rose and I | Row 25 - Cell 1 | Row 25 - Cell 2 | X | X | X | X |
| Cloudlands: VR Minigolf | X | Row 26 - Cell 2 | Row 26 - Cell 3 | Row 26 - Cell 4 | X | Row 26 - Cell 6 |
| Thunderbird: The Legend Begins | X | Row 27 - Cell 2 | Row 27 - Cell 3 | Row 27 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Marble Mountain | X | X | X | X | Row 28 - Cell 5 | Row 28 - Cell 6 |
| The Brookhaven Experiment | X | Row 29 - Cell 2 | Row 29 - Cell 3 | Row 29 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Modbox | X | Row 30 - Cell 2 | Row 30 - Cell 3 | Row 30 - Cell 4 | X | Row 30 - Cell 6 |
| A Legend of Luca | X | Row 31 - Cell 2 | Row 31 - Cell 3 | Row 31 - Cell 4 | Row 31 - Cell 5 | X |
| Waltz of the Wizard | X | Row 32 - Cell 2 | Row 32 - Cell 3 | Row 32 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Final Strike | Row 33 - Cell 1 | X | X | X | Row 33 - Cell 5 | Row 33 - Cell 6 |
| Orc Assault | Row 34 - Cell 1 | X | X | Row 34 - Cell 4 | Row 34 - Cell 5 | Row 34 - Cell 6 |
| A Chair in a Room: Greenwater | X | Row 35 - Cell 2 | Row 35 - Cell 3 | Row 35 - Cell 4 | Row 35 - Cell 5 | X |
| Fantastic Contraption | X | Row 36 - Cell 2 | Row 36 - Cell 3 | Row 36 - Cell 4 | Row 36 - Cell 5 | X |
| Abbot's Book Demo | X | Row 37 - Cell 2 | Row 37 - Cell 3 | X | X | X |
| Job Simulator: The 2050 Archive's | X | Row 38 - Cell 2 | Row 38 - Cell 3 | Row 38 - Cell 4 | X | Row 38 - Cell 6 |
| The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed | X | Row 39 - Cell 2 | Row 39 - Cell 3 | Row 39 - Cell 4 | X | X |
| Final Approach | X | Row 40 - Cell 2 | Row 40 - Cell 3 | X | X | X |
| Audioshield | X | Row 41 - Cell 2 | Row 41 - Cell 3 | Row 41 - Cell 4 | X | Row 41 - Cell 6 |
| CDF Starfighter VR | Row 42 - Cell 1 | X | Row 42 - Cell 3 | X | Row 42 - Cell 5 | Row 42 - Cell 6 |
It’s good to see more titles listed on Steam and announced for HTC’s Vive. We’ve spent a lot of time testing out the hardware, but as amazing as the technology may be, it’s the software that will show the true value of the system. It’s a safe bet we’ll see many more titles in the coming weeks. In fact, I had to revise this article (twice!) while I was writing it because several more titles were added before I finished.
Update, 2/29/2016, 8pm PT: Corrected some typos.
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