Free-to-play VR shooter, Gun Raiders, is graduating from App Lab to the full Oculus Quest and Rift stores later this fall.
Developer Gun Raiders Entertainment confirmed the multiplayer title will make the jump to the official Facebook stores later this year, though a final date hasn’t yet been announced. It originally launched on App Lab all the way back in March of this year. Check it out in the trailer below.
Gun Raiders Trailer
Gun Raiders is an active shooter, featuring mechanics like jetpacks and wall running. You’ll master these features in arena-based battles. The game will feature a mix of deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the point and team assault. You can also customize your character and the game will support cross-play between Quest and Rift.
While the game is free to download and play, you can purchase a premium Battle Pass which will offer exclusive rewards. Expect these to mainly be cosmetics.
This won’t be the first project to launch first in App Lab and then find a home on the full Oculus Quest store. Earlier this month we covered the launch of Puzzling Places, which first ran extensive beta testing via App Lab before launching in full. It will, however, be Quest’s first free-to-play multiplayer shooter. Other titles like Population: One also take the battle pass route, but they’re premium downloads to being with.
Interested in Gun Raiders? Then you can, of course, get a headstart and try it out on App Lab now. Let us know what you think of the game in the comments below!
As everyone enjoyed our 2020 list of free virtual reality (VR) videogames it seemed like a good time to update the selection. There are more amazing titles to choose from, whether you enjoy a bit of adventure, teaming up with friends or taxing your brain with the latest puzzles. All without spending a penny.
Experience life on the International Space Station (ISS). With informative videos and images from real life astronauts, learn how to dock a space capsule and go on a space walk as you get to grips with zero gravity.
Dragons are always the exciting fantasy creature everyone wants to have as a pet. In Dragon VR you have to carefully nurture a dragon egg, keeping it warm by building a fire and protecting it from a T-Rex and other creatures!
Look after all manner of creatures in this chaotic daycare centre. From feeding and bathing the animals to rather more unusual tasks like rituals and witchcraft, each creature has their own challenge to face.
A 30-minute test of fear, battling waves of monsters inside a subway station. Originally single-player, a co-op mode tasks you and a mate to try and survive this hellish apocalypse.
Part shoot ’em up and part action-puzzler, climb walls, dodge traps, fight enemies and maybe solve some puzzles along the way. Or dive into the Level Editor to create your own deadly levels.
A competitive zero-g multiplayer where you can team up with friends in Echo Arena matches, flinging disc’s around expansive environments to score as many goals as possible.
A light, casual experience which features five unique multiplayer spaces designed to help players connect. Swim through a deep blue ocean or take to the skies to gently glide through the clouds.
A local multiplayer party experience similar to Charades involving four players where the VR player becomes the puppeteer, acting out various themes and phrases using an assortment of items. Everyone else joins in via a free mobile companion app.
It might be an Early Access game but Gorilla Tag has gained a loyal following thanks to fast and frantic gameplay. The name says it all, run, jump and climb as you play tag as a gorilla, either running away from infected gorillas or being the one doing the chasing.
An asymmetrical co-op videogame where one player is in VR whilst the other plays via PC. The goal is to sort as much rubbish as possible in a tropical recycling plant.
Currently an App Lab title for Oculus Quest, MissionX is a multiplayer shooter featuring Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Competitive and Single gameplay modes.
A VR party experience where 4 players on PC are monsters who have to kill a security guard. As the security guard the VR player has to blow the ship and save the day.
Step into the bar, grab and drink and prepare for this blend VR and tabletop gaming. With over 60 cards across 2 factions, you can customise your deck to battle friends online (with cross-platform support) or against AI solo.
A Hex-Grid style turn-based strategy videogame with procedurally generated battlegrounds. Features 3 gameplay modes (Free For All, Team Elimination, or Capture The Flag) with online multiplayer via direct connection and offline vs AI.
A tactical, turn-based VR title featuring clans of hyper-intelligent moles battling for domination. Command a squad of four moles (Infantry, Engineer, Sniper and Tank) utilsing there various specialties to become victorious!
In a flooded world, Sam and Dan need to survive, the only problem is they’re in separate apartments opposite each other. A co-op VR title where communication and teamwork is key, work together and build a bridge towards a boat. Or in the versus mode don’t collaborate! Get to the boat first and laugh in their face!
Build a mighty tower into the clouds by exploring the island and recruiting citizens. Place them to collect wood and stone for the project and remember, the skies the limit!
Taking you to the small town of Wormwood 30 years after a catastrophic nuclear power plant accident, the gameplay mixes survival and horror elements. Use your Geiger counter to carefully navigate the dwellings and find the radioactive sources, switching to a robot to remove and deposit them at the Radiation Disposal Unit.
“A goofy tongue-in-cheek interactive heist adventure, in VR! When the job goes south and Henchman 697, a rookie employee for E.V.I.L (Evil Villains Incorporated Limited), unwittingly kills his superior, it’s up to him to finish the job before it’s too late!”
A fully room-scale based VR horror game using non-euclidean geometry, explore a seemingly abandoned underground medical facility armed with nothing but a flashlight and your sanity.
You better not be afraid of the dark, or the voxel monster in this rogue-lite dungeon crawler. Explore procedurally generated dungeons ensuring no two are ever the same. All filled with traps, secrets, semi-bosses and tons of useful loot.
Know the difference between Texas Hold’em and 5-Card Draw? Then you might want to take a look at Poker VR where you can join multi-table tournaments and feel like you’re in a real casino without stepping outside the front door.
Sit back, relax and play Resolution Games highly popular fishing game. Cast a line out into one of four fishing lakes, buy new rods and lures whilst trying to catch every variety of fish.
The ultimate football (soccer) simulator where you can practice booting that ball into the back of the net. You’ll need at least one Vive Tracker to track your foot and then you can train like a pro.
Features six single-player and multiplayer modes to test those ball skills, where matches can be customized by players or played as the random ones provided. Points are awarded for consistency, trick shots, and game mode bonuses.
Gym Masters is a story-driven fitness experience where you step into a world full of fitness fanatics. This journey will see three gym masters put you to the test in a series of energetic mini-games, each focused on a body part – upper body, lower body or core.
Sit by the fire and roast some marshmallows or play on the guitar. But in this partly scripted, partly sandbox experience your anxiety begins to grow and strange sounds emanate from the woods. Identify them and calm down to get a good nights sleep.
Become a sorceresses’ apprentice and learn how to create spells and potions with your hands, designed to showcase the potential of hand tracking on Oculus Quest.
A special free edition of this puzzle swinging experience where you have two grappling suction cups attached to each hand. Use these to traverse a space station as quickly as possible!
A chilled puzzle title where you have to guide a ball to the goal by drawing useful objects. Plus there’s a full creative mode if you just want to doodle.
Match coloured marbles to pop them and complete puzzles quickly to score big points. Unlock special marbles and abilities to make that process easier. A free version of Puzzle Bobble basically.
A creation sandbox and world-building tool where you can prototype and build interactive VR experiences. Google Poly and Sketchfab are integrated so you can browse thousands of 3D models to drop into a scene.
A rhythm-action videogame which puts you inside a Bollywood blockbuster. Battle waves of goons to protect a village whilst keeping an eye out for a few Bollywood easter eggs along the way.
VR developer King Crow Studios is giving away its new VR game, Hive Slayer, for free in the name of a good cause.
Hive Slayer is essentially a sci-fi VR wave shooter for PC VR headsets. You take up arms and fight off hordes of bug-like aliens. Armed with a plasma blaster in one hand and a shield in the other, you gun your way to the top of the leaderboard, scoring power-ups in your quest to save humanity. Think Starship Troopers, just if you got scores for killing bugs. The game comes with a standard mode, plus an endless variation and even an arcade mode in which you shoot down enemies in columns. Check out the trailer below.
The developer says the game “mixes classic quarter machine arcade gameplay with the power of VR to transform you into the galaxy’s deadliest defender.”
King Crow is releasing the project in aid of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana Hurricane Relief & Recovery fund. You can make a donation to the cause either over on Hiver Slayer’s itch.io page (it’s also available on Steam) or directly through the fund’s own website.
The team, itself based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wrote about the personal impact hurricanes Laura and Delta have struck in a blog post surrounding the game’s release. “Our founder Cody Louviere has been traveling multiple times a week to Lake Charles, Louisiana – hurricane ground zero,” the post reads. “A Lake Charles native, he’s been working with his own family – his mother, his father, and siblings – to try to save and repair their homes in the middle of these back-to-back natural disasters.”
“So, to do our part we will donate 100% of the net proceeds from donations made by you, players of HIVE SLAYER to aid in the relief efforts.”
Hiver Slayer releases today. Will you be checking the game out? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to chip in for a good cause, too.
Quest 2’s $299 starting price brings in a whole new wave of VR buyers and luckily there are lots of great free VR games and VR experiences to try right out of the box.
Make no mistake: you’ll need to drop cash to get the best stuff from the Oculus store, but there is still good stuff for free on the Quest from Meta, even if you’ve likely got one or two projects picked out ahead of time to purchase already.
So we’ve rounded up a list of the 11 best free games and experiences to play and try first (plus a few bonus suggestions) on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2.
Bonus: Check Out The Charming Tutorial Experiences
This might be a given, but for some users that have spent time in VR already they might be inclined to skip these experiences that likely come preloaded on your device. Honestly — don’t do it. Try them out. Not only are they great introductions to things like the Guardian system and roomscale wireless VR, but they’re just damn good apps in and of themselves.
The robot from First Steps has more personality than most entire VR games can cram into swaths of NPCs and the playground style retro collection of toys and gadgets is a blast in First Contact. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better intro experience so at the very least it’s great to have installed and ready to go for introducing people to the joy of VR for the first time.
Best Free Games And Experiences For Oculus Quest 2
See Quill And Oculus Animations In VR Animation Player
The first things you should seek out with Quest are animated short stories sprouting from the early days of Oculus. These are comfortable to watch seated and you don’t have to watch them in any particular order, but the two fundamental ones to at least try and check out first are Henry (totally family-friendly) and Dear Angelica (an absolute tear jerker).
Think of both these touching stories as stepping stones necessary for Facebook and now Meta to get to the Quest 2, and some of the impressive paid content you can buy for it. Dear Angelica, for example, was made in VR by tools and teams that have since been disbanded (Oculus Story Studio) or handed off to the original creators (Quill). Facebook shut down Story Studio while spinning out the Medium sculpting tool to Adobe. Quill’s format, meanwhile, became the VR Animation Player and lives on as a way to experience some of the fully animated stories made with the original PC-based toolset.
These stories are a highly recommended fast-loading first stops in VR before moving on to more interactive content.
You might not realize this if you’ve spent most of your time researching cutting edge VR content and brand-new games, but there is actually a ton of great passive content out there for VR headsets too. Not only is YouTube just a gold mine of 360 videos from horror (check out The Nun’s 360 3D video for example) and drama to animation and tourism, but also there’s regularly updated video portals like Facebook Watch for streaming as well.
And if you prefer to watch your non-VR content like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, there are native Quest apps for those too. More recently, Meta started accepting progressive Web apps to its store that you can use in multitasking, with the first official apps to support the feature including Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, and Slack. We’ve even been able to get traditional Android apps running on Quest 2 in the same way — but that process can involve extra steps like hooking up a PCand sideloading the apps.
Try out this piece of free software to get a sense of what controller-free hand tracking is all about. Keep in mind that hand tracking is still fairly experimental — even with impressive games like Hand Physics Lab and Unplugged — and in Elixir you’ll need to learn a very specific gesture in order to teleport successfully. It might be a little frustrating to figure out at first, but you just make the shape of a triangle with your thumb and index fingers on each hand — hands not quite touching one another — and use the shape to frame a spot on the ground. The spot will light up once selected and, to teleport, you can pinch your thumb and index finger together at the same time on each hand.
Once you’ve figured that out, Elixir is a short little experience that can play with your sense of hand ownership. You can experience, for instance, what it might be like to have a different number of fingers, or even floppy octopus digits. Do not miss out on it.
You’ve officially dipped your toes into the waters of immersion with the above experiences. You’re probably ready to figure out more things you can do with the controllers — or maybe even multiplayer — but before you do we recommend checking out a couple more passive reality captures from Felix & Paul Studios.
The studio is equipped with some impressive camera capture technology and they’ve brought that to bear on some incredible projects, like putting you at the absolute center of a creepy Cirque Du Soleil performance. Just remember when you watch these that you can turn and rotate your head, just don’t lean around too much.
There’s a number of free social VR experiences to try on Oculus Quest including Rec Room, VRChat, AltspaceVR, and Bigscreen.
We’d recommend you try a game or two of Hide & Seek in Half & Half before you visit any world where voice-based communication is key. The software from a company called Normal hears when you say something and converts it into cute incomprehensible gibberish. So, by design, there’s not really a risk of someone saying something offensive to you while playing this game. And that makes it a stress-free way to figure out how to use the controllers, play a game, and wave to users in a virtual world populated by real people.
Many people use their VR headset as a social device and nothing more. Luckily, you can do this free of charge. Four of the best VR apps out there cost nothing and Meta is even working on its own response with Horizon.
VRChat is like walking into a 3D-realization of Reddit. Depending on which world you join, and who is online at that time, you could have a deep, life-affirming conversation with a young child or maybe experience a swarm of hilarity marching around dressed as a small cat. World hopping is a great way to kill time and can lead to some of the most awe-inspiring experiences you’ll ever have in a headset.
AltSpace is similar, but tents to see events and educational seminars that help you feel like you’re being productive with your time. Bigscreen lets you stream your desktop to your headset and hang out with others watching anime or even going to a virtual movie theater to catch some flicks with friends.
Rec Room is like Roblox in VR and full of addictive games made by developers and players alike. It’s got a simple art style and is even crossplay with non-VR versions across PC, PS4, Xbox and mobile and is available on every major VR device. Some of the best games include Paintball and the Quest levels with swords and bows for fighting enemies. The Battle Royale mode launched on Quest 2 and that’s a super fun game mode. Horizon is shaping up to be very similar, but we’d recommend starting with Rec Room since its tools are so well-developed and it is available on so many devices.
Moon Rider is a website you can enter into the Oculus Browser’s URL bar. Point the controller at the headset icon in the bottom-right hand corner of the page and pull the trigger to start playing. It is a kind of proof-of concept Web-based VR game that’s pretty much just like Beat Saber. It is completely free, though, and Moon Rider ends up featuring a much larger music selection.
Perhaps our commenters could offer some other good suggestions for worlds to visit with the Browser, but Moon Rider is pretty awesome all by itself and you should be able to pull up many other common flat-screen sites like YouTube using the software as well. Multitasking via the Web on Quest 2 can be a pretty impressive experience.
That’s right, there are actual free demos to try out on Quest 2 for several of the top paid games on the platform. Curious what all the fuss is about regarding Beat Saber after trying Moon Rider above? Then try the free demo version.
Or maybe you want to shoot some robots or dodge some bullets — that’s what Space Pirate Trainer and Superhot, respectively, can offer. Then there’s The Under Presents, which is like an immersive, experimental version of theater with lots of really clever interactions. Maybe you’d even like to try your hand at VR-based fitness? Then give Meta-owned Supernatural a try.
There are lots of other demos too, so make sure and look them up in the store to try out some games before you decide to buy them.
Now we’re into the real meat of the list — actual free games. Bogo is an adorable little experience that, albeit short, is a really charming time for gamers of all ages. This is basically like a distilled, streamlined version of Nintendogs or a Tamagotchi experience, ported into VR.
You’ll spend time with the little dinosaur-looking buddy playing fetch, feeding it, and generally making a new friend. The only bummer about Bogo is that it’s so short and we wanted more, so hopefully they’re working on something longer and more robust. VR is a great tool for interaction with virtual characters so something that actually feels like you’re taking care of a creature over a long period of time could be a huge hit.
Finding ways to relax and unwind is super important and VR is a great outlet for such activities. For starters, there’s Bait!, a totally free-to-play leisure fishing game. It’s very simple and colorful, but has lots of stuff to unlock and is very, very well-made. You can absolutely play without spending a penny, but dropping some cash will speed things up a bit if you’d like. After you’ve exhausted the fun there, look into trying out Real VR Fishing next which includes breath-takingly realistic environments and multiplayer.
There’s also PokerStars VR which is an excellent simulation of Poker that puts Oculus avatars to great use. There’s always plenty of people to chat with and now it even includes Blackjack and Slots too.
Finally, this is the big one. Developed by Ready at Dawn (same team behind Lone Echo II and The Order 1886 on PS4 non-VR) Echo VR is like TRON meets ultimate frisbee in zero-gravity. If you’ve ever read Ender’s Game — this is basically that game. Teams float through an arena and do their best to score with a disc in a ring-shaped goal almost like in Quidditch. It’s absolutely freeing to float through the arena, pushing yourself off of objects and twisting your body to avoid opponents while chucking the disc across the level.
This article was originally published on October 13, 2020, but it was updated with some more details and republished in December 2020, February 2021, and November 2021.
The Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition is now live from today until 10AM PT on June 22nd. In this digital event PC gamers from around the world can gather around their monitors to watch livestreams from developers of upcoming games, engage with creators directly in AMA sessions and message boards, and try out a laundry list of exciting demos for games before they release.
It’s like a digital E3 for the PC gaming crowd and VR has a presence this year with its own category. There are too many demos to list, even for VR, but a few of them really stand out.
Notably, we’ve got a fresh demo for Blunt Force, the WWII action epic we’ve been writing about ever since 2016; Naau: The Lost Eye, which we just featured in the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition earlier today; Rinlo, which looks like a gorgeous little adventure puzzle game; Ash of Legends, a single-player focused sci-fi VR shooter, Hospitality VR, a creepy and atmospheric horror game; and Hard Bullet, a cinematic slow-motion VR shooter full of action.
There are lots of other demos to check out as well in the Steam Game Festival. And if you’re interested in non-VR games then there are literally hundreds of other demos to peruse, such as the PC port for Quantic Dream’s PS3 classic, Heavy Rain, space station building sim Mars Horizon, atmospheric action-adventure game Raji: An Ancient Epic, and the newly released turn-based western strategy game, Desperados III.
Did you miss out on the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition? Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
There’s some new free VR content to check out this week, as multiplayer shooter Blastworld leaves Early Access.
Yes, out of Early Access but still free. Blastworld is a more playful take on the shooter genre, in which players use weapons that are similar to foam dart guns. In this week’s update, the game adds a Zombies Royale mode. It’s essentially a Battle Royale mode but, when players die, they turn into zombies that other players will have to watch out for. This mode can be played either in PvP or PvE variations.
Also new is Overkill which, as its name suggests, takes inspiration from Overwatch. Here players work together to either attack or defend a point in the map. Finally, there’s also self-explanatory bomb defusal and capture the flag modes. Check out the launch trailer for this content in the trailer above.
The developer still plans to add new content now that ‘full’ version of the game is available. It’s currently working on an improved social lobby among other aspects.
Blastworld is free to download on Oculus Quest via Sidequest and PC VR via Steam. However, developer Hipfire Games offers ‘Gold Accounts’ for $9.99. This unlocks extra characters and new content. You’ll also get access to this account if you play the game through HTC’s Viveport Infinity subscription.
Hipfire also released the full version of its cooperative ship-fixing game, Failspace, back in January. Will you be checking out the full version of Blastworld? Let us know in the comments below!
You may have been able to snatch up a free copy of Polyarc’s Moss on Oculus Rift yesterday. Count yourself lucky if so; that wasn’t meant to happen.
Rift users discovered the excellent VR adventure game strangely sitting in the Oculus Store for no extra cost yesterday. But there was no mention of a free giveaway elsewhere on the store, nor on Polyarc’s own social channels. Sure enough, the developer has now confirmed that was a mistake. But, if you managed to snag a copy then the team will let you keep it.
Moss was, in fact, meant to be discounted by 34%, taking it to $19.79, which is the price it sits at now. Polyarc explained in a tweet that this was one big accident.
“Congrats to those that were able to sneak in a free download,” the studio wrote. In other words, the team isn’t going to yank the free downloads away from those of you lucky enough to get it. That’s very, very nice of them.
There was a mistake on the store … Moss was supposed to just be 34% off. Congrats to those that were able to sneak in a free download. Let @PolyarcGames know what you think. 🙂
Moss remains one of our favorite VR games, appearing on our best of lists for Rift, Steam VR, PSVR and Quest. The game manages to grow an intimate connection between you and its protagonist, Quill, as you guide her on a journey through a compelling miniature world.
“From the first moment we played the game at E3 almost a year ago until we saw the closing credits roll, Quill’s adventure has captivated our hearts and minds,” we said in our review. “Moss strikes that perfect balance between tense, action-packed moments of combat with slow, methodical puzzles that require you to rethink the way you interact with video games through the power of VR.”
We’re still waiting on Book 2. Fingers crossed we see it this year.
