Fantastic Contraption
Fantastic Contraption launched as a 2D game from Northway Games in 2008, but after trying virtual reality, the company decided to rebuild the game into a room-scale experience. In Fantastic Contraption, you must create a unique machine that can transport a ball to a goal. The goal changes every level, so you’ll rely on your creativity and imagination to build the perfect device out of basic building blocks. The developers of the game provide a few basic items, such as sticks and wheels, which you can use to build a “horse sized machine” in your living room.
Developer: Radial Games, Northway Games
Genre: Puzzle, Construction, Casual
Stance: Seated, Standing, Room-scale
Price: $29.99
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Final Approach
Final Approach from Phaser Lock Interactive is a casual game designed to show off the use of hand controls. From the perspective of a giant god watching over the world, use your hands to take command of air traffic control and guide various aircraft through your airspace safely. In Final Approach, you’ll guide planes to the runway to avoid mid-air collisions; land helicopters before they run out of fuel; plot the course of fighter jets coming in for an air strike; and save civilians from an alien invasion. From time to time, you’ll even get down on the ground and help put out fires or clear wildlife off the runway.
Developer: Phaser Lock Interactive
Genre: Casual
Stance: Seated, Standing, Room-scale
Price: $24.99 / Bundled with Final Approach Pilot Edition
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Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives
If you know anything about room-scale VR, you’ve probably heard of Job Simulator. Owlchemy Labs' hit room-scale VR game places you in the not-so-distant future where robots have taken over all the jobs. The robots created the Job Simulator to remind people "what it's like to job." The Job Simulator lets you to "simulate" working in as an office worker, store clerk, mechanic, or short order cook. The description sounds mundane, but Job Simulator is anything but ordinary. Every object you find in Job Simulator is interactive, and your imagination is usually the limit of what you can do in the game. Job Simulator is perfect for showing non-gamers what VR is all about.
Developer: Owlchemy Labs
Genre: Casual
Stance: Standing, Room-scale
Price: $29.99
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The Gallery: Call of the Starseed
The Gallery: Episode 1 - Call of The Starseed is the first installment of a planned three-part series of a dark fantasy adventure set in a bizarre world filled with strange creatures inspired by characters from movies such as Labyrinth and Goonies, and curious brain-testing puzzles that are reminiscent of games such as Myst. The Gallery requires, and the Oculus Touch version includes, hand models with gesture animations to enhance the experience.
Cloudhead Games, the Vancouver-based studio behind The Gallery, won a Proto award for "Best Narrative Game," and the Canadian Video Game Awards honored the developer with awards for "Best Game Innovation," "Best Games Technology," and "Best Virtual Reality Game," for its pioneering work. Cloudhead Games created multiple VR locomotion techniques while developing The Gallery, such as Comfort Mode and Blink, which are now used by many VR developers. Cloudhead Games is also the first company to attempt simultaneous live motion capture and voice acting with the actor inside a VR HMD.
Developer: Cloudhead Games
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
Stance: Standing, Room-scale
Price: $19.99
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CRANGA: Harbor Frenzy
You've probably played a block-pushing game, but we doubt you've ever played one with cranes and shipping containers before. Virtual reality allows you to do crazy, impossible things, and thanks to HandMade Games’ Cranga: Harbor Frenzy, stacking shipping containers precariously and hoping they don’t fall is one of them. Cranga: Harbor Frenzy is a classic block-pushing game on a grand scale. Use the Oculus Touch controllers to remove shipping containers from a teetering tower and hope it doesn’t fall. Cranga features multiple game modes, including a local multiplayer mode so you can challenge your friends to see who has the most delicate touch.
Developer: HandMade Games
Genre: Action, Casual, Indie, Simulation
Stance: Seated, Standing
Price: $9.99
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I Expect You To Die
I Expect You To Die is a hilarious puzzle game that puts you right in the face of danger. You'll have to figure out how to safely escape situations crafted to kill anyone but an elite secret agent. Technically, you are a secret agent, but today is your first day on the job. Can you unravel the puzzle without setting off one of the various traps? I Expect You To Die puts you through various precarious situations that you are completely unprepared for. Fumble your way through puzzle after puzzle and try not to get yourself killed in the process. If you're clever, you'll get yourself out of several jams, but like the agents that came before you, your handler "expects you to die."
I Expect You To Die isn't exactly a new game. Schell Games released a demo of I Expect You To Die for the Oculus DK2, which included the first puzzle, more than a year ago. The full version of the game features multiple puzzles and adds Touch support, though you can still play it with a keyboard and mouse or gamepad if your prefer.
Developer: Schell Games
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
Stance: Seated
Price: $24.99
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Carnival Games VR
Cat Daddy Games' Carnival Games VR is an immersive VR carnival simulation. The game features an explorable virtual theme park, complete with virtual patrons that you can interact with. Carnival Games VR features a variety of 12 classic midway games. You can try to knock down milk jugs in Golden Arm, or try popping moving balloons with darts in Pop Darts. The midway also includes a dunk tank (now featuring sharks) and a haunted house shooting gallery for those looking for a thrill. Carnival Games VR is a single-player game, but it works well as a shared experience with friends. The game includes a local leaderboard so you can challenge your friends to beat your high score in your favorite game.
Developer: Cat Daddy Games, 2K
Genre: Casual, Simulation
Stance: Standing
Price: $19.99
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Enigma Sphere
Enigma Sphere is a first-person VR escape room game designed for standing and room-scale VR. Take on the challenge of solving the puzzles by yourself, or join a group of friends online and put your collective minds to work. You must find enigma spheres hidden within the room and smash them to succeed.
Developer: YOMUNECO
Genre: Puzzle
Stance: Standing
Price: $19.99
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Sports Bar VR
Sports Bar VR is a virtual environment where you can get together with friends from around the world to socialize while playing virtual bar games. Sports Bar VR launched on SteamVR as Pool Nation VR, but Cherry Pop Games and Perilous Orbit, the two developers that co-created the game, rebranded Pool Nation VR to Sports Bar VR for the PSVR and Oculus Rift launches to better represent what the game evolved into. Sports Bar VR features realistic billiards tables where you can play 8-ball and 9-ball pool, but it also includes a selection of other popular bar games. You can challenge others to a round of darts, try your luck at a game of air hockey, or pass some time at the shuffleboard table.
Developer: Perilous Orbit, Cherry Pop Games
Genre: Sports, Simulation, Casual,
Stance: Standing, Room-scale
Price: $19.99
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The Climb
Crytek's The Climb puts you in the shoes of a freeclimbing rock climber. Take in the scenic views of mountainous environments as you ascend to the top, hand by hand, rock by rock. Crytek updated The Climb to take advantage of Touch motion controls. With Touch, you must reach out and grab the next rock to pull yourself higher. The motion control element changes the dynamic of the game. With gamepad controls, everyone is on level playing ground. The length of everyone's reach is equal, and the height of your jumps doesn't change from player to player with gamepad mechanics. Touch controllers add variation, which changes the game. Now, someone with long arms can reach further than someone with short arms, and the height of your jumps is defined by your physical ability to jump or the height of the ceiling in your VR room.
Developer: Crytek
Genre: Simulation, Exploration
Stance: Standing
Price: $39.99
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