Scary VR Games
Halloween is fast approaching, which means that many of you will be looking for a good scare. You may watch a horror flick, or visit a haunted house attraction. And if you have a VR headset, you can immerse yourself in a truly terrifying world. If you want to scare yourself or your friends, you should give a few of these games a try.
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Abe VR
ABE VR is a first-person VR short film that is unbelievably unsettling.It takes place in a world where artificially intelligent androids live among humans, but they don’t receive the same love and admiration that humans have for each other.
Abe is an android that doesn’t understand why humans don’t love him, and he’s on a misguided quest to achieve their unconditional love. Unfortunately for you, you’re his latest test subject, and he really doesn’t have any concept of what love is. You’re not going to like what Abe has planned for you.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR
- Input: Keyboard & Mouse, Gamepad, Motion Controller (as gamepad)
- Publisher: Hammerhead VR
- Developer: Hammerhead VR
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Affected - The Manor
Affected-The Manor immerses you in a dark and terrifying mansion that is haunted by a poltergeist. Affected is more of an interactive experience than a game—you don’t need to solve puzzles, and there’s no high score. As you wander through the manor, you’ll encounter jump scares such as doors that slam shut, lights that go out, and objects that suddenly fly around the room.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR
- Input: Motion Controllers, Gamepad, Virtuix Omni
- Publisher: Fallen Planet Studios
- Developer: Fallen Planet Studios
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Arizona Sunshine
Arizona Sunshine is a zombie survival game set in the Arizona desert. You must make your way through the desert landscape in search of other survivors while trying to stay alive. Scavenge through cars and buildings to find weapons, ammo, bandages, and food to help keep you alive.
Arizona Sunshine supports cooperative gameplay, so you and a friend can work together to survive the hoards of hungry undead. Co-op mode supports cross-platform gameplay, including PC-to-PSVR cross-play.
The PSVR version of Arizona Sunshine offers an additional gameplay mode that offers rifles to support the PSVR Aim controller.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR, PlayStation VR
- Input: Motion Controllers, Dual Shock 4 (PS4), PSVR Aim (PS4)
- Publisher:Vertigo Games
- Developer:Vertigo Games
- Multiplayer?:Yes, Co-op. Cross-platform
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam, PlayStation Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Artika.1
Artika.1 is 4A Games’ first crack at a VR title. It’s also the first time the studio has branched offfrom the Metro series.
Artika.1 is set 25 years in the future. The planet is engulfed in a new ice age, and few areas remain hospitable for humans. You're one of the few who is surviving in the frozen wasteland, and you must fight to defend your control of the precious resource you have. You'll encounter raiders and marauders that are determined to take what you have. But there’s a bigger threat to worry about: monsters lurk in the darkness and will rip you to shreds.
Artika.1 is an Oculus Touch exclusive title. Oculus published the game, so 4A Games has no intention of bringing it to Steam.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR
- Input: Motion Controllers, Gamepad
- Publisher: Oculus
- Developer: 4A Games
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Blue Effect
Blue Effect is a terrifying wave shooter set in a dark warehouse that's infested with alien species that are hellbent on eliminating you. You have to stand your ground and try to survive. Each wave of enemies last three minutes, but those three minutes are truly intense. Alien monsters come at you from all directions in a pitch-black environment. You have to throw flares to figure out where your next target is coming from.
- Platforms: Steam VR, Oculus Rift
- Input: Motion Controllers
- Publisher: DiVR Labs
- Developer: DiVR Labs
- Multiplayer?: Yes
- Store Page: Steam, Oculus Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
The Brookhaven Experiment
The Brookhaven Experiment is an action-packed monster shooter that's perfect for giving your friends a scare. It was one of the first scary VR shooters, and it remains a fan favorite.The game features a survival mode and a story mode. In the former, you must stand your ground and fend off wave after wave of grotesque monsters. In story mode, you get to roam around the map and make your way from waypoint to waypoint. In each case, you must conserve your resources such as ammo, and battery power. If you run out of bullets or light during a fight, there’s nothing you can do.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR, PlayStation VR
- Input: Motion Controllers, Dual Shock 4 (PS4), PSVR Aim (PS4)
- Publisher: Vertigo Games
- Developer: Vertigo Games
- Multiplayer?: Yes, Co-op. Cross-platform
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam, PlayStation Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Dark Days
In Dark Days, you have to unravel a mystery surrounding an eerie desert motel. The developer describes Dark Days as a mix between Twin Peaks and The X-Files, which should give you an idea of the tone of the game. As you roam the motel grounds to solve the puzzles that you find, you must stay vigilant. There’s something (or someone) roaming around out there with you. The developer said that you should be prepared for jump scares when you play this game.
Dark Days was created by Parallel Studio, and Oculus helped fund and publish the title. You can play the game with an Oculus Rift, but there’s also a version for the Samsung Gear VR.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift,
- Input: Gamepad, Keyboard & Mouse, Oculus Remote
- Publisher: Oculus Studio
- Developer: Parallel Studio
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Don’t Knock Twice
Don’t Knock Twice is first-person horror game based on the Hollywood film of the same name starring Katee Sackhoff. You take on the roll of a guilt-stricken mother in a desperate search for her estranged daughter. The game takes place in a grand manor filled with secrets and horrors. Almost everything in Don’t Knock Twice is interactive. Objects in the game will serve as clues that lead you on a path to find your girl, to help you find a way out of the terrifying home, or to defend yourself from horrors that lurk in the dark.
In your quest to figure out what happened to your daughter, you’ll unravel the truth behind an urban tale of a vengeful, demonic witch. “One knock to wake her from her bed. Twice to raise her from the dead.” Don’t Knock Twice is available for Oculus Rift, Steam VR, and PlayStation VR. The game is also available for non-VR platforms, including PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR, PlayStation VR
- Input: Gamepad, Motion Controllers
- Publisher: Wales Interactive
- Developer: Wales Interactive
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam, PlayStation Store
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Dreadhalls
Dreadhalls is one of the first VR horror titles. The game originated as a demo for the Oculus developer kit headsets years before the retail Rift headset debuted. White Door Games updated Dreadhalls for the Rift and Vive launch in 2016 and later added motion control support to the game.
Dreadhalls is a dungeon crawler with a procedurally generated map system. Every time you play the game, it generates a new labyrinth for you to explore. Navigate your way through the maze-like dungeon and try to find an escape. But be warned, there are creatures lurking in the darkness that you would rather not encounter.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR,
- Input: Keyboard & Mouse, Gamepad, Motion Controllers
- Publisher: White Door Games
- Developer: White Door Games
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
MORE: The History Of Virtual Reality
MORE: All Virtual Reality Content
Duck Season
The best way to describe Duck Season is that it’s a combination of games like Duck Hunt and movies like Donny Darko.
Duck Season is a simulation of what it was like to come home with a rented console for the weekend, but with a sinister twist. It starts off as you would expect—shoot ducks and the dog retrieves them for you. But soon you realize that there’s something not quite right about your canine pal. As you dive deeper into the levels, you begin to lose your grip on what’s real and what’s part of the game, while the dog gains the power of suggestion over you.
- Platforms: Oculus Rift, Steam VR,
- Input: Motion Controllers
- Publisher: Stress Level Zero
- Developer: Stress Level Zero
- Multiplayer?: No
- Store Page: Oculus Store, Steam
MORE: Best Virtual Reality Headsets
