The Rift Nears
The Oculus Rift is nearly here, and countless gaming enthusiasts around the world are excited for its release. To build up to the launch, we put together this look at the first 30 games that will be available on the Rift.
Oculus rates each game with a comfort level related to the amount of movement within a game. "Comfortable" equates to little or no movement within the game. "Moderate" includes some gentle camera movements. "Intense" is anything more complex, like running and jumping in first person shooters. We have included this information on each game page.
Adr1ft
Adr1ft takes place on a space station orbiting Earth. The game begins with some sort of catastrophe occurring on the space station, which causes several sections to be torn apart. You play as an astronaut aboard the space station, and you must try to stay alive and determine what caused the destruction.
I had the chance to try a demo version of the game at CES 2016, and found the graphics quality to be excellent. The controls were a bit sluggish, but this was deliberately done by the game designers to emulate the feeling of moving around in an gravity-free environment. The graphics mixed with the pleasant soft music lead me to describe it as "The most peaceful way to die in space."
- Game Play: First-Person
- Comfort Level: Intense
Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games
Adventure Time: Magic Man's Head Games starts off with Magic Man transforming you into a balloon. You would be in deep trouble, but Finn and Jake come along and make it their mission to find a way to transform you back. You work with the two courageous heroes of the story in your search for Magic Man. Along the way you fight enemies and rescue friends to progress the story.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Moderate
AirMech: Command
In AirMech: Command, you take sides in the ongoing war, fighting inside of your customized AirMech. The AirMechs can transform into a number of different machines to help gain an advantage against the enemy. The game supports several different game play modes, including coop missions and PvP battles.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable
Albino Lullaby
Albino Lullaby is an adventure horror game. Instead of simply using jump scares and gore, the game attempts to use stimuli that are psychologically terrifying mixed with a continuously evolving environment to terrify players. The game will be released in three installments. The first one was released on Sept 15, 2015 and it will be updated to support the Rift upon the release of the devices. The next two installments of the game are scheduled to be released later this year and will also feature support for the Rift.
- Game Play: First-Person
- Comfort Level: Intense
Audio Arena
Audio Arena is a unique game using the head-tilt controls built into the Rift to move around and dodge enemies. The game plays music, and enemies are spawned to the beat of the song playing. There are special power ups to destroy the enemies, but the ultimate objective is to merely survive until the end and make it to the next level.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable.
BlazeRush
The developers of BlazeRush define it as a survival racing game. Similar to many racing games, you pick a vehicle and have a variety of weapons to use against your competitors. Unlike most racing games, however, there are no shields, no health, no level ups and your car has no brakes. This makes it all the easier for you and your friends to blow each other out of the race, or for you to crash into a volcano and die. The game was released in 2014 on the PS3 and for PC, but it will receive an update to support the Rift.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Moderate
Chronos
In Chronos, you take the role of a hero on a quest to save his home from a great evil. The game takes place inside of an ancient labyrinth, and you must solve a variety of puzzles and fight enemies in order to determine the origins of the great evil plaguing your home and destroy it.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable
Darknet
Darknet puts you inside of the machine, as you work to hack through virtual computer systems. The systems you hack earn you in-game cash you can use to purchase equipment upgrades to improve your hacking abilities. The game play is best described as a strategic puzzle. The puzzles are randomly generated based on your position in the game, making the game highly replayable.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable
Dead Secret
Dead Secret is a VR mystery thriller game. You find yourself outside of a home in the middle of nowhere. You decide to enter the house and look for other people, only to find you have stumbled onto the scene of a recent murder. You are then forced to investigate the dead man's past while trying to figure out what happened before you are also murdered.
- Game Play: First-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable
Defense Grid 2 Enhanced VR Edition
Hidden Path Entertainment created a new "Enhanced VR" edition of its Defense Grid 2 tower-defense game. The game features optimized controls to take advantage of the Rift's various motion detectors and give users a more immersive interface. It also features some new exclusive content not in the original Defense Grid 2 game including a story expansion with five new levels and a new storyline following the character General Fletcher.
- Game Play: Third-Person
- Comfort Level: Comfortable