Industry watchers have previously claimed that 2016 will be the year of virtual reality. High-end VR headsets such as the highly anticipated HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift have already been released, and price conscious VR enthusiasts who happen to own one of Samsung’s newer flagship phones can get into the world of virtual reality through the Samsung Gear VR for roughly $100. Other mobile users who may want to give virtual reality a try can do so through Google Cardboard, but at the end of the day and regardless of which headset you use, the whole VR experience eventually boils down to the content it has to offer. For gaming enthusiasts, the VR market has quite a few interesting titles, some of which have already been released while others are set for a market launch by the end of 2016. With that being said, below you will find a list of VR games that you may not want to miss out on this year.
Starting off with the Oculus Rift, one of the headset’s biggest launch titles is none other than CCP Games’ EVE: Valkyrie. It’s a space dogfight simulator set in the EVE universe, which pits Oculus Rift players against each other in virtual space arenas. For those of you who might be looking for fantasy adventure games, Lucky’s Tale might fit the bill as a 3D platformer, otherwise, the atmospheric “Chronos” RPG is also currently available. Another Oculus title you might want to try out is Surgeon Simulator 2013, and last but not least, if you’re into strategy board games, you might want to keep an eye out for Dragon Front which should be launched by the end of the second quarter.
As far as the HTC Vive goes, some of the most interesting titles available today include Fantastic Contraption – a Flash Player puzzle game originally launched in 2008 and rereleased for iOS in 2009 – and Audioshield, which is a game similar to Guitar Hero in the sense that players need to perform certain actions in accordance to the soundtrack. Last but not least, HTC Vive owners who find themselves in a creative mood should definitely consider Tilt Brush – a 3D painting tool by Google.
As for the other VR headsets, Samsung Gear VR owners might want to take VR Karts: Sprint out on a test drive. Otherwise, Temple Run VR is a great choice for fans of the endless runner genre, whereas Darknet should attract strategy / puzzle game enthusiasts. As for Google Cardboard, the iconic 3rd person shooter “Shadowgun” is now available in VR, along with Proton Pulse and WAA! VR arcade games.
