Raw Data
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
Kicking off this list is Raw Data, the futuristic techno-thriller from developer Survios. The game oozes sci-fi charm reminiscent of Blade Runner, placing players into a world filled with high-rise apartments and luminescent billboards. The main draw of Raw Data is its gameplay, which combines elements of first person shooters with hack and slash action games. The body-tracking is some of the best on the market,which is good, given how intense the action can get at times.
Raw Data allows players to team up both online and offline across multiple platforms, sending them on a mission to infiltrate a shady corporation and leave with valuable ‘raw data’. There are also PvP modes for those wanting to show-off their VR shooting skills, featuring four hero classes with optimized abilities, multiple game modes and king of the hill style maps. Raw Data is definitely one of the meatier VR experiences on offer currently, one with excellent action and great art direction.
Fallout 4 VR
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
Fallout 4 VR allows you to truly experience the post-apocalyptic wasteland in a more immersive way than ever before. With a Pip-Boy on your arm and a ghoul running towards you, it’s hard to argue just how awesome it is to be able to step into a Fallout game. The jump to VR has been a surprisingly smooth one, with little graphical fidelity being lost and many of the core gameplay systems still at play.
VATS in particular is taken to a completely new level in VR. Activating it with the click of the button and watching as the world around you slows down never really gets old, and the subsequent onslaught of blood and guts is one hell of a sight to behold. Fallout 4 in VR banks on the promise that VR initially offered up, that of truly AAA experiences that you can step into. Bethesda has proven that games as large as Fallout and Skyrim can work in VR, albeit with a few small tweaks and changes to the original experiences.
Tilt Brush
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
VR gaming undoubtedly has a huge wealth of potential. Another area that stands to really benefit from the new boost in technology is that of the arts. Being able to draw, sculpt, paint in a 3D space, with a near unlimited collection of resources at your fingertips presents a new avenue for people to to express themselves creatively. It’s this concept that Tilt Brush leverages to incredible results. While it may seem simple at first, Tilt Brush slowly reveals its depth as you get the hang of each of its tools, and from then, well, the sky’s the limit.
Some of the artwork created thus far has been astonishing, proving just how valuable it is to have access to such a dense mix of resources. The great thing about Tilt Brush is its versatility. You want to build a tiny forest out of feathers? Easy. You want to build a huge sculpture of a purple whale with big googly eyes? Go for it. It really is impressive just how engrossed you can get while working on a creation in Tilt Brush, with hours feeling like minutes while you’re in the headset. It’s a great proof of concept for VR and a fully accessible way to introduce family and friends to the often intimidating tech.
Superhot VR
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
Superhot is a great example of a game that is just simply better in VR. The core game is great don’t get me wrong, sharing the same slow-motion John Wick style action that the VR version does, but when you’re physically dodging bullets and throwing ninja stars, it’s hard to beat. You see, in Superhot VR time only moves forward when the player moves their body. This means it’s possible to perform some near unbelievable action-hero moves, all from the comfort of your living room.
Each stage tasks players with clearing all hostiles using any means necessary. This means throwing bottles, swinging swords and using mind-control powers to pop heads as if they were mere balloons. The level design is exquisite, with each one seldom lasting more than 30 seconds. Death is frequent but never frustrating, thanks to the quick respawn system and addictive nature of the gameplay. The HTC Vive is the best way to play, offering full body movement. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like Neo in The Matrix, look no further.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
VR is so often seen as a mostly single-player focused platform, but it is also host to a number of fantastic multiplayer games too. Star Trek: Bridge Crew is one of the best examples of just how fun VR can be with friends, tasking a group of players with running the bridge of a Federation Starship, to seriously wacky results. Everything, from the classic Trek uniforms, to the faithfully recreated tech oozes that zany ’60s sci-fi charm that made the original series so special.
The HTC Vive’s superior hand tracking comes in useful here, as players can communicate with hand gestures, for better or worse. Each player takes on a role and must work as a team in order to complete a series of mission-based objectives. Commanding your pal to divert auxiliary power to the engines, preparing to go to warp, it’s all here, with the added element of unpredictability that often comes with playing as a team.
Project Cars 2
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
No best VR gaming list would be complete without the inclusion of a good-old racing game. It’s a genre that has proven itself to be a perfect fit for the platform, given the stationary nature of the player and the immersion often created by placing someone into a virtual cockpit. There are many great racing games on HTC Vive, but if it’s realism you’re after, you’re going to want to check out Project Cars 2.
Everything from the way the cars handle, to how comfortable it is to play, makes it a great fit for anyone looking to get their VR racing fix. The weather and lighting effects are impressive, and there’s 180 cars and 60 tracks to choose from.
LA Noire: The VR Case Files
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
You read that correctly, a game from 2011 is one of the best experiences you can have on your shiny new HTC Vive, well kinda. You see, Rockstar recently released a VR experience complimentary to the base game to coincide with the remaster. It’s entirely separate, offering up a handful of bite-sized interrogation levels for players to channel their inner detective in. The VR Case Files is essentially a remixed version of Rockstar’s detective noir thriller, redesigned from the ground up to be more interactive and VR friendly.
In it, players search crime scenes, examine evidence, interview suspects and piece together enough evidence to apprehend the culprit. It works in largely the same way as before, with the player’s attention directed towards the subtle facial twitches and ticks of their interviewees. There’s also the hilarious way the game deals with player movement. To walk, you must hold a button and swing your arms back and forth, a sight which is worth the price of admission alone.
Elite: Dangerous
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
If it’s bang for your buck you’re after in a VR game, few games offer the sheer depth and replay value as Elite: Dangerous. In it, you are given a ship and sent on your merry way. From then you are free to act out whichever space-faring fantasies you may have, from being a trigger-happy mercenary to a glorified cosmic police officer. It’s the open-ended nature that really thrives here, making it perfect for both short play sessions and ones which swallow your entire weekend whole.
It can be either a chilled out mining-sim in the vein of No Man Sky, or a barrel-rolling opera like Star Fox, depending on what you want to get out of it. Soaring through space always feels great in VR, and feels especially so here.
Arizona Sunshine
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
We’ve all thought about what we’d do in zombie apocalypse. What weapons we’d choose, whether we’d even be able to use them, these hypothetical questions have been a staple of many a drunken bar discussion over the years and now, with Arizona Sunshine, we can finally settle them. The game is a zombie shooter set in, you guessed it, Arizona. Weapons feel tight and realistic, and landing a headshot while dual-wielding a pair of Uzis is just the right level of silliness.
It’s the gun tracking that really shines through, with aiming feeling both accurate and lenient. It’s best played on HTC Vive, given the full body tracking and ability to pick weapons up from the floor. There’s a campaign which runs several hours as well as a handful of challenges and score attack modes to keep you entertained.
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
Best HTC Vive VR Games to Play Right Now
The name says it all really, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality is a VR adventure game featuring the cast of the ever-popular sci-fi TV series. It plays like Job Simulator, with players able to pick up and combine objects to hilarious effect. It’s fairly standard stuff, that is until you factor in that the show’s creators wrote the script for the whole thing. Perhaps that’s misleading though, as much of the content is clearly improvised. It all lands though, managing to make the game one of the funniest in recent memory.
Players play as a Morty clone, doomed to carry out weird and wacky tasks for their Grandpa Rick. As you’d expect, things go off the rails very quickly indeed, with a ton of awesome references to the show and other pop culture franchises. It’s a must play for anyone looking for a truly funny VR game, one that proves just how weird the medium can get.
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