Google Earth VR is a fun and useful way of seeing the world—it’s easy to lose yourself visiting your home town, or mapping out new adventures thanks to the company’s extensive 3D building scans. Unfortunately Google Earth VR is a PC VR only app, meaning it doesn’t work natively on Quest. That’s not set to change anytime soon, although a third-party Quest app is looking to offer up much of the magic of Earth VR while also making it a multiplayer experience.
Wooorld (that’s three ‘o’s) isn’t being developed by Google, however it appears to be making good use of using Google Maps APIs, giving it access to all the 2D and 3D data you’d find on Google Earth VR.
One of the biggest differences is that Wooorld offers up a more limited field of view, which was undoubtedly done to lighten the load on Quest’s more modest mobile chipset.
While that’s slightly disappointing from an immersion standpoint, it’s offering up the whole experience in multiplayer, which includes voice-chat, customizable avatars, and even a mixed reality passthrough. It also has access to Google’s Street View photospheres, which looks like a cool way of checking out the planet with a friend.
The eponymous team behind Wooorld say you’ll also be able to sketch an idea, import your own 3D models from the cloud, pin notes, take pictures, record videos and more.
Wooorld is aiming to support Quest first, however it’s also looking to eventually come to PC VR, mobile AR, and AR headsets such as HoloLens 2.
It’s not clear when Wooorld is coming to Quest—in the latest promo video the company says it will be here “soon.” In the meantime, the team has sign-ups for beta testing if you’re interested in getting your hands on the whole planet.
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting for the second year in a row alongside my good friend Paola Paulino as a part of the BETT MEA Conference in Abu Dhabi. Paola is the Founder and President of the VR/AR Association – Shenzhen Chapter, the Chief Innovation Director at XR Pioneer Ltd. And founder of #isnsVR where she launched one of world’s first virtual reality (VR) pilots in IB World Education. It’s always great to work with people who exude energy and passion for what they do and that is definitely Paola!
This was a one-off presentation that won’t be repeated so Paola and I thought it would be nice to share some of the content and ideas from it here on VRFocus. We’re going to take a look at 10 Marvel superheroes, each with distinct powers, and correlate them to virtual reality experiences that modern students have access to. So let’s dive in…
Captain Marvel
Power: Flight
App: Google Earth VR
STEVE: Pretty much every kid wishes they could fly and virtual reality can give them this experience. Using Google Earth VR students can fly around the planet and visit thousands of locations that they may never get the chance to visit in real life. The flight mechanic within Google Earth VR can take a little getting used to but students will quickly learn to swoop and soar across the Australian outback, the streets of Manhattan and any other location that draws their attention or relates to an area of study. If you’re looking for a jaw-dropping way to welcome learners to the world of VR, this is it!
At JESS Dubai I recently used it as a part of an Explorers unit with Year 3 students. They had “flying lessons” first to acclimatise to the UI and then got to visit the destination of their choice. It was definitely an experience that they won’t forget in a hurry.
Nightcrawler
Power: Teleportation
App: The Lab by Valve
PAOLA: Beam me up Scotty! Imagine the capability to instantly transport from one location to another. In room scale VR, the most common locomotion is the superpower of Teleportation. Recently, we introduced students to room scale VR using The Lab by Valve at a recent visit to the American International School of Guangzhou in collaboration with our XR learning partners and tech innovation team – Diana Beabout, Dave Navis and Robert Bauer. Students found the locomotion mechanic to teleport from location to location very intuitive. Students explored half a dozen mini-VR experiences teleporting around an Icelandic wilderness, a lava cave, and even a town square in Venice. Later we showed them Victory XR’s Frog Dissection Class, where the students could use teleportation to jump around the virtual science classroom.
Dr Strange
Power: Time Manipulation
App: Timelooper
STEVE: Being able to manipulate space is pretty well established as key power that VR boasts but the manipulation of time is also incredibly exciting for educators. For the first time ever we have the technology to transport learners through time to engage with history in an authentic and engaging way. What better way to learn about Ancient Rome than to walk its streets and experience it first hand?
The app I often use as a touchstone for this concept is the brilliant Timelooper which works on mobile VR devices. Cleverly blending CGI and re-enactment footage, Timelooper lets students step back in time to witness dozens of key events from US and European history play out around them. What makes this app particularly potent is its use of modern day 360 video footage at the start of experiences to contextualise the location before the world melts away to reveal the place’s significant moment in history.
In the clip below you can see some Year 2 students from JESS Dubai using Timelooper with me to kick off a topic on The Great Fire of London.
Captain America
Power: Enhanced Strength
App: Blocks by Google
PAOLA: In the physical world sculpting takes some heavy lifting, but in Blocks by Google you can have superhuman strength! Students can easily move and sculpt material such as clay, to skyscrapers like the Burj Kalifa, or even planets. At one of our @XRpioneer learning partner schools – @ISNS_school, we collaborated with Visual Art students to explore Google Blocks in the preproduction process for an Art Exhibition. Students could lift, examine, and sculpt things to scale that helped them plan and model their pieces for the exhibition. Some students fully integrated VR in their final exhibition pieces, using both Google Blocks and Google Tilt Brush to create blended reality experiences. These students are #FutureReady
Scarlet Witch
Power: Telekinesis
App: Engage
STEVE: I’ve been using Engage for my #CPDinVR events for almost two years now and I’ve seen the platform evolve immensely in that time. One constant though has been the integrated banks of 3D IFX assets which can be inserted in the space and puppeteered using the controllers. This functionality was originally only available to the session host but since the major update to the platform in June 2018, it can be granted to anyone within the space. Being able to control and manipulate assets – be that moving them or manipulating their size – provides learners with the opportunity to use them effectively as a part of demonstrations of learning. Using Engage’s lesson editor feature you can even create recorded sessions where object movements are mapped and triggered to create an immersive learning experience.
In the clip below, you’ll see me demo some simple IFX manipulation… whilst dressed as Tony Stark!
Storm
Power: Elemental Manipulation
App: Tilt Brush
PAOLA: What if you could change the environmental climate in a matter of seconds? Or manipulate the elements? Google Tilt Brush centralizes the students’ imagination in a world where they can manipulate their environments in an instant — from a starry night to a bright snowy day. Students are presented with a variety of extraordinary virtual brushes that allow them to effectively design and manipulate the elements to recreate their dreams. In our first pilot year, XR Pioneer students used Tilt Brush across IB subjects such as MYP middle school Math, DP high school Visual Arts, Digital Media class, and DP Biology.
In Visual Art, students integrated Tilt Brush in their preproduction process to visualize their DP layouts on an exhibition focused on dreams. One student used Tilt brush to recreate a scene from their dream using a 3D spatial digital painting. A manifestation from dream to reality. The student used Tilt Brush and Blocks to construct the layout of the experience. To add a tactile component to the installation, a real physical chair was placed in the exhibition space. This chair was calibrated to match the position of a virtual chair. This provided physical and virtual means for guests to experience the student’s vision. Here, the chair could be felt in the physical world while seen in VR.
It was the first time a student integrated “blended-reality” in an IBDP Visual Arts exhibition in Asia. Check out some behind the scenes of our Visual Art (XR Pioneer) student’s Tilt Brush reflections.
STEVE: Just as VR can be used to manipulate space by transporting users to distant lands, it can also be used to manipulate the virtual traveller themselves. Just like The Ant-Man himself Scott Lang, in VR we can shrink or grow to any size to view and interact with content in ways that have never been possible before. Apps like Sharecare VR and The Body VR let students shrink down and travel inside the human body, Fantastic Voyage-style whilst The Extraordinary Honey Bee lets you experience life from the perspective of a bee.
Micro Cosmic Worlds is one of the best ways to demonstrate this virtual superpower though. It allows learners to move through a series of scenarios, getting progressively smaller – from the size of an ant to that of pollen, bacteria and ultimately you stand atop a vibrating molecule. It’s a stunning way to view the world and get a closer look at the world around us that we cannot see.
Loki
Power: Shapeshifting
App: Mindshow
PAOLA: Every student has the power of becoming—now they can in VR too! In Mindshow developed by Name Mindshow Inc, a student can shapeshift into the body of different characters and craft a fully-animated performance. Using the VR headset and controllers, the student’s body position and arm gestures are tracked and re-targeted onto a virtual puppet.
Students can take on production roles either on stage or behind-the-scenes. Onstage, students can be actors and animators by becoming the characters and performing. Backstage, they can be production designers, designing environments and importing custom models that they have created and saved on Google Poly to use as props. Students can be a camera operator, filming the action with virtual hand-held cameras within Mindshow. Teachers at the International School of Nanshan (ISNS), a learning partner of XR Pioneer, have observed that even their shiest students come out of their shell and exude confidence as they embody their Mindshow roles from onstage to backstage.
We also piloted a VR performance with ISNS’s Drama Department. Shout out to the @ISNS_school’s immersive tech integration, @MagicMrFernweh and MYP Drama teacher, @ms_wenn for the collaboration!
The minds behind Mindshow understand the value of creators sharing their work, and they’ve streamlined the process by allowing users to upload their Mindshow movies directly onto social media platforms such as YouTube. In a similar sense, students will be able to share their stories and collaborate with others as they craft their VR films from beginning to end. Check-out our XR Pioneer students at @ISNS_School thoughts and reflections.
Much has been written about VR’s power to foster empathy and whilst I don’t think it is the silver empathy bullet implied by the infamous “Ultimate empathy machine” moniker, studies have shown that the immersive, visceral nature of virtual reality really can help people to feel what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes for a little while which in turn can have a tremendous impact on their attitude and outlook in the real world.
One app that looks to harness this power is Equal Reality which puts the user in the shoes of various groups that may experience prejudice – be it based on gender, race, age or disability. As workplace-based scenarios play out, the user has to identify moments where people are subjecting them to unconscious bias. It can even generate post-session reports and provides some telling diagnostics about both the way you were treated and the way you yourself acted (e.g. did you focus your attention on one character more than another.)
Groot
Power: Being a tree!
App: Tree VR
PAOLA: Empathy is not limited to just the human form–in Tree VR, you can become a tree-like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. Tree VR from New Reality Company shows off the potential of VR as a tool for empathy and education. In Tree VR, the lifecycle of a tree can be experienced, explored, and ultimately felt. The student’s arms become the branches as they grow taller and wherever they turn is Mother Nature herself.
In this immersive story, the students cannot alter their location or any objects outside of their tree self. The reason for this is clear–it prompts the student to feel the frustration of being rooted and unable to move. You could say, in this experience, the students get the opposite feeling of superpowers—that is a feeling of powerlessness.*Spoilers alert* This powerlessness feeling culminates in the end of Tree VR, as forest fires rage closer and closer to you and all the viewer can do is see it coming. Tree VR is a multi-sensory example of taking on another living thing’s perspective by experiencing life through a lens that is very different from their own.
We introduced Tree VR to students when VIVE President of China, Alvin Graylin, visited us at our partner school ISNS where he invited XRpioneer students to enter the “My VR Dream” National Youth Creative Contest in China inspired by VR for Impact. Check-out Steve Bambury’s playthrough of the entire Tree VR experience.
We rounded out the presentation by discussing the potential impact of putting all this power in the hands of students. We don’t want our students becoming the Thanos of this narrative after all. It seemed logical therefore to end with the classic Uncle Ben quote from Spiderman – “With great power comes great responsibility.” VR is a hugely powerful medium for education but it needs to be harnessed carefully and moderated by well-informed educators. If we do that, it can genuinely bring some Marvel into the classroom.
Microsoft just launched a brand new app for its Windows VR and HoloLens headsets, but you’d be forgiven for missing it.
Outings was released quietly onto the Microsoft Store yesterday. It’s a new take on Microsoft Garage’s mobile app of the same name, released in conjunction with a new software development kit (SDK). A quick glance invites comparisons to Google Earth VR. The app visualizes certain locations as 3D assets and allows you to explore them. You can, apparently, soar across the globe like in Earth, though this time it’s presented as a 3D tabletop. Maybe that’s to appease flat earthers?
Outings comes equipped with detailed information about landmarks and areas of its chosen cities. Those include New York, Seattle, Boston and Vancouver. We don’t know if its library of content is as expansive as Google Earth, though.
More importantly, Outings is meant to showcase what can be done with the new Maps SDK. This allows you to pull data gathered from Bing Maps straight into Unity apps. It’d be perfect for, say, building a weather app with 3D visualization on HoloLens, or perhaps letting someone with a VR headset explore downtown Seattle.
Unfortunately, as Outings is only on the Microsoft Store, you won’t be able to see this with a Rift or Vive. Other Microsoft-made apps like Halo: Recruit are yet to surface on the likes of SteamVR, so we wouldn’t hold your breath for this either. If you do have a headset, you can pick it up for free. It’s definitely something we’d like to try with HoloLens 2.
Virtual reality (VR) is a great place to while away a few hours in some fantastical universe, go on an adventure, shoot some bad guys, or just relax in some tranquil surroundings. The technology isn’t just for entertainment purposes though as it can be used as an educational tool if you want to get that grey matter fired up. So VRFocus has decided to compile a list of edutainment titles available today that are worth a look.
Number Hunt
Perfectly falling into this category is Number Hunt, a mathematical videogame which was recently launched on Steam Early Access by two-person indie team PaleBlue XYZ. The premise is very simple, all you have to do is shoot numbers wandering around a level. The difficulty comes by the fact that you’re given five specific numbers to achieve on each round, and a gun that can Add, Multiply, Subtract and Divide.
The numbers wandering around range from one to nine, while the target numbers can go all the way up to 900. So you have to use some arithmetic skills to shoot the right numbers and hit those targets as quickly as possible. Plus there’s a time limit so there’s no hanging around.
Featuring both single-player and multiplayer modes Number Hunt is still early in development but showcases one of the best ideas for combining mathematics and fun gameplay.
HoloLAB Champions
The latest VR title from Schell Games (I Expect You to Die), HoloLAB Championsisn’t actually out just yet as its due to be released on 10th July for HTC Vive. VRFocus decide to include the videogame as it was so close to launch and accurately fitted the edutainment profile.
Created with support from the Institute of Education Science, HoloLAB Champions is focused on teaching chemistry via way of a game show layout. The single-player experience has each person interact with equipment and materials that they’d find in an actual lab, challenging them to scoop, pour, and burn their way through several mini-labs before the final lab challenge.
Whether you’re already learning Chemistry or just want to know more about the subject, HoloLAB Champions offers a fun approach to the subject.
VRobot: Robotics in VR
Another Steam Early Access title, VRobot: Robotics in VRis a far more technological offering than the last two, providing a virtual engineering workspace with all the tools and educational materials needed to build your own mechanised being.
Inspired by the work of past projects helping children engage with STEM subjects developer VRobot decided to create a practical and informative experience to teach anyone across the world about robotic design, without the usual expense.
You’re not going to create a T-800 just quite yet with the software currently offering a basic design to learn about LEGO EV3 Mindstorms. You’ll learn not only how to build it but also the programming side as well. Then in future iterations of VRobot: Robotics in VR more robots will be added.
Brush Up VR
One for the younger VR players among you, Brush Up VRis a humorous take on teaching children how to better brush their teeth.
Developed by GamesThatWork, Brush Up VR teams the player up with a friendly blue robot named Budd. Armed with a giant toothbrush, the player must brush all the green gunk from Budd’s teeth within the time limit. Failure to do so will be bad for your little blue buddy.
Titanic VR
Created by Immersive VR Education – the team behind Apollo 11 VR – Titanic VR takes you beneath the waves to learn about one of the most famous maritime disasters of the 20th Century.
The educational experience is set in the near future, but explores a more-intact 1985 model of the wreck. Players take on the role of Dr. Ethan Lynch, Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology at the fictional University of Nova Scotia. With funding from a mysterious investor, Dr. Lynch and his PhD Candidate Jean Robinson have set out aboard a research vessel to dive the wreck and answer questions that have remained submerged for a century.
The Steam Early Access version features seven dive missions and seven lab missions, with additional content to be added over the course of the next 6 to eight months.
Star Chart
One of the earliest educational apps for devices like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, Star Chart is a VR planetarium where you can look up at the night sky and through the solar system to see a real-time simulation. Explore all 88 constellations as well as out nearest planets, from the smallest moons of Saturn to the coldest, darkest, farthest reaches of Pluto.
Google Earth VR
For those interested in a more terrestrial journey then there’s always Google Earth VR. Launched for free in 2016 for HTC Vive, the app then came to Oculus Rift the following year. Allowing you to explore virtually anywhere on Earth, from the driest deserts to the busiest cities, the most recent update to the app also introduced Street View, so you can get an even better look at the world around you.
Discovery VR
The Discovery Channel doing what its does best, just this time in 360-degrees. A one stop shop for the channels many immersive productions, the app originally launched in 2015 with nine short experiences. Since then the content has expanded dramatically, showcasing films from shark-infested shipwrecks to freeboarding the windiest street in the world.
3D Organon VR Anatomy
Designed as a fully-featured VR anatomy atlas, 3D Organon VR Anatomyenables users to learn about the human body, with full 3D male and female body models and systems including: Skeletal, Connective, Muscular, Arterial, Venous, Nervous, Lymphatic, Heart, Respiratory, Digestive, Endocrine, Urinary, Reproductive, Sensory organs, and Integumentary (skin).
Supporting both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift 3D Organon VR Anatomy is one of those apps designed for users who want better sense at what makes the body tick.
Operation Apex
Time to head below the ocean waves again just this time for very different reasons. Operation Apexteaches players all about the underwater eco-system while on the hunt for a Great White shark. They play a marine scientist looking for the largest Great White ever known but in the process need to scan the local aquatic life to build up data and a better understanding of what’s being hunted.
Kortex, the device used in partnership with virtual reality (VR) experiences has announced a number of new titles and expereines that are compatible, offering users more options for immersive stress relief.
The device uses electrodes which attach to the skin to provide gentle neurostimulation, which in some studies has been shown to stimulate the production of serotonin and lower cortisol. After a large number of beta testers gave feedback on how positive the combination of Kortex and Land’s End: A VR Adventure was, the company have now expanded the umber of titles that will be ideal for use within Kortex. The list is a taste of suggestions put forward by VR World Director of Content, Tommy Goodkin which is based on his six weeks of using Kortex.
For Samsung Gear VR users there are now two additional titles that will work with Kortex. This includes the 2017 Emmy winner title Invasion! from the director of Madagascar, featuring the voice of Ethan Hawke. The second title being Asteroids! which is once again from the director of Madagascar and will take users on an 11-minute immersive cinematic experience through space as part of the crew. Both of these are available via the Oculus Store and are free to download.
For Oculus Rift and HTC Vive users there are even more titles which are now able to be enjoyed along with Kortex. The Climb (Oculus exclusive) will see users climbing up huge heights, feeling the exhilaration of extreme free solo climbing like never before. Take your time and enjoy the views or complete for the fastest time to the top, the choice is up to you. Just make sure you are not afraid of heights.
Google Earth VR is also now supported, allowing users to take a stroll through the streets of their local town or famous cities, soar over the Grand Canyon, or walk around key landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower.
If the ocean is more your thing than TheBlu is for you. Explore the wonder and majesty of the ocean from the comfort of your own home. Visit a range of different habitats and come face to face with some of the most interesting and largest species on the planet. Fantastic Contraption will let users engage in a surreal building title as they build life-sized contraptions that fill the skies, and use them to sure puzzles on the other side of a floating island. No solution is right or wrong, so let your creativity run wild.
Real-time strategy (RTS) title Tethered awaits for users t o lend their guiding hands in a beautiful series of islands that will offer an experience unlike anything a user has seen before. Lastly, Dear Angelica (Oculus exclusive) is a journey through a magical and dreamlike world by the Emmy Award winning Oculus Story Studio. Featuring artwork painted entirely in VR, Dear Angelica is an immersive short story starring Geena Davis and Mae Whitman.
Kortex are continuing their work to develop the neurostimulation solution further and expand the library of suitable content as well. It is currently available to order direct from their website and is compatible with most VR units.
For more on Kortex in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
Last year Google made exploring the world that bit more immersive by creating a virtual reality (VR) version of its popular app Google Earth for HTC Vive. A few months later a version arrived for Oculus Rift then Google went one further by introducing Street View to Google Earth VR. Now the tech giant has released a new update, making the world not only faster but also easier to explore.
The update is centred around Street View. Before, users were able to fly down to street level, check their controller to see if a 360-degree photo was available and dive right in. They would then need to exit that photo (or sphere) to find another, which made the process rather clunky.
Now as long as an adjacent 360-degree photo exists, you’ll be able to stroll along the streets and roads as if you’re there. This is achieved by selecting the preview sphere by pulling the trigger, rather than putting the sphere on your head like before. You then aim the pointer in the direction of the next sphere to move onwards, helping you stay immersed for longer.
Alongside the Street View addition, Google has been working to make changes that more efficiently use a customers bandwidth, resulting in faster load times. This will improve imagery load times on Internet connections that may have been slow in the past.
Google Earth VR is completely free for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, downloadable via Steam or the Oculus Store. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.
Google Earth VR is pretty self-explanatory; it’s Google Earth, but available on VR headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. What isn’t so easy to communicate is the sheer immensity of the world around you as you view everything Google has captured on the planet Earth, replete with 3D rendered models and its vast stores of 360 shots from around the globe. Now, the company has updated Earth VR to allow for in-Street View navigation, meaning you can easily move from 360 sphere to 360 sphere just like on the flatscreen version of Google Maps.
Google first added Street View to Earth VR back in September, which let you enter any one of Google’s panoramic captures just by selecting it when you were nearby. It was more of a peek inside Street View than a proper implementation though, so the update presents a much easier way to walk around a city in VR should rendered geometry or textures fail to show the world’s true complexity.
For now, Street View navigation is accomplished by selecting the preview sphere and pulling the trigger (but not by placing the preview sphere over your head). From there, you can navigate 360 spheres simply by pointing in the direction of an adjacent sphere and selecting it.
Google also says in the initial announcement on Steam that they’ve “worked hard to make changes that more efficiently use your bandwidth, resulting in faster load times.” The company says the update will improve imagery load times on Internet connections that may have been slow in the past.
Check out Google Earth VR on Steam for Vive and Rift, and on the Oculus Store for Rift.
Ein frisches Update von Google Earth VR steht für die Oculus Rift und HTC Vive bereit und bringt ein schmerzlich vermisstes Feature mit: Street View Navigation. Mit ihr kann man jetzt um die Häuser ziehen und direkt auf der Straße das nächste Ziel auswählen, um die Stadt in der virtuellen Realität zu erkunden. Außerdem haben die Entwickler in der neuen Version die Ladezeiten von Bildern verbessert.
Google Earth VR mit Straßenwanderung
Für viele Menschen ist eine der schönsten VR-Anwendungen überhaupt, virtuell die Welt bereisen zu können und fremde Metropolen zu erkunden. Mit Google Earth VR ging das in der erst im September eingeführtenStraßenansicht nur bedingt gut, denn Street View litt unter einer fehlenden Navigation. Das hat sich mit dem Update von Google Earth VR auf die Version 1.4 geändert. Jetzt ist es möglich, praktisch endlos durch die 360-Grad-Ansichten der Stadt zu wandern, ohne Street View verlassen zu müssen. Um den Modus zu aktivieren, wählt man die Vorschau-Sphäre aus und drückt den Trigger. Die andere Möglichkeit, sich die Sphäre über den Kopf zu ziehen, aktiviert die Navigation laut Update-Notiz nicht.
Nicht ganz unwichtig ist auch der zweite Punkt: Google Earth VR soll jetzt besser die vorhandene Internet-Bandbreite nutzen können und Bilder schneller laden. Die Update-Historie mit allen Verbesserungen seit der Version 1.1 steht auf Google Drive als PDF zur Verfügung. Google Earth VR steht als kostenlose App für HTC Vive und Oculus Rift bei Steam bereit.
It was a hard decision, but you’ve decided to go with the HTC Vive as your first ‘serious’ VR headset, a room-scale device that released early 2016 as a result of a decisive collaboration with Valve. Here we take a look at our top 5 games for Vive, and a little more information you might need to get you started.
The Vive is a powerful ally in the fight against marketplace fragmentation, as it draws content from Steam, Viveport—and with the help of Revive, a software hack that lets you play Oculus exclusives. Right out of the box, you’ll have a room-scale setup, something that the Rift requires at least one additional sensor to claim, all the while delivering comparable standing and seated experiences as well.
Before we go any further though, you’ll find that you have access to a number of games on our Best 5 Games for Oculus Rift list thanks to the Revive hack, so make sure to check out some of the guaranteed fresh Oculus exclusives, and all the games that support Rift and Vive equally well. In any case, all of the games below are natively supported for Vive and purchasable through Steam.
5 – Moss
Once a PSVR exclusive, Moss (2017) has now made its way to PC VR headsets, letting you control your cute little mouse buddy, Quill, on your adventures through a large and dangerous world. Stylistically, Moss hits a home run with its impressive diorama-style visuals and interactive elements that lets you, the player (aka ‘The Reader’) move puzzle pieces around and also take over the minds of enemies as Quill slashes through the world to recover her lost uncle. Puzzles may not be the most difficult, but Moss has effectively set up a universe begging for more sequels to further flesh out the enticing world Polyarc Games has created.
While Moss is primarily a seated game, you’ll enjoy it just the same regardless of the Vive’s room-scale abilities.
See why we gave it a [7.9/10] in our review on PSVR.
4 – Budget Cuts
Budget Cuts (2018), the first-person stealth VR game from Stockholm-based indie studio Neat Corporation, first released came into the world via a free demo in 2016. The demo, which quickly became a breakout success in the early days of consumer VR, demonstrated a unique portal-teleportation mechanic, that, when married with the ability to throw knives at robot guards, spelled an instant hit—at least from a basic gameplay perspective. Two years later, the full release of Budget Cuts is here and it’s definitely been worth the wait.
At the time of this writing, it still suffers from some bugs. Although when everything goes right, Budget Cuts makes the top 5 cut for delivering Vive players a uniquely room-scale stealth assassin game that will have you cowering for your life underneath virtual filing cabinets.
Find out why we gave Budget Cuts a [9.2/10] in our review.
3 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
Bethesda’s Skyrim VR (2017) was once a PSVR exclusive, but ever since it made its way to Steam (Vive, Rift, Windows VR), the game has really come into its own on PC VR platforms. Thanks to the average VR-ready gaming PC’s ability to render the open world at a much higher resolution, you’ll really feel like you’ve stepped into the world of Skyrim, replete with trolls, dragons, and a seemingly endless list of things to do and places to explore.
Created by Prague-based indie team Beat Studio (ex-Hyperbolic Magnetism), Beat Saber(2018) is a funky and incredibly stylish rhythm game that will have you slicing blocks to the beat of high-BPM dance music. While the idea is simple, the execution is magnificent. Beat Saber gives you 10 songs, each with four difficulty levels to master, the highest being expert which will have you feeling like a 21st century techno-jedi.
Based on the PC/console version of SUPERHOT (2016), the strategy-based first-person shooter was re-imagined from the ground-up for VR headsets in SUPERHOT VR (2016). As an entirely new game in the same vein as its flatscreen counterpart, the iconic red baddies (and their bullets) move only when you do, so you can line up your shot, punch a guy in the face, dodge a bullet, and toss a bottle across the room, shattering their red-glass heads in what feels intensely immersive and satisfying—because you’re doing it all with your own two hands. That and you’ll feel like a badass no matter whose basement you live in.
Fallout 4 VR: Fallout 4 (2015), the post-apocalyptic adventure from Bethesda Game Studios is here in its entirety in VR. Like Skyrim VR, it gives you a vast open world to explore, but suffers from some optimization issues that require the user to tweak before really enjoying it.
The Gallery: Heart of the Emberstone: It’s a longer, stronger and more immersive experience than the first in the series, The Gallery: Call of the Starseed (2016), and shows that Cloudhead Games has put in the hours producing a visually and emotionally adept story that feels like it hasn’t outworn its welcome. Puzzles are innovative, and while they aren’t particularly difficult, they always reward you with something worth pursuing.
The Mage’s Tale: Crafting elemental magic, exploring foreboding dungeons, battling giants and stealing their treasure. There’s all of this and more in The Mage’s Tale. Althoughstory-wise the game comes too close to campy and played out for its own good, it’s still a solid investment for the enterprising young wizard among you.
Vanishing Realms – Letting you battle an army of skeleton demons through an archetypal fantasy world, Indimo Labs’ sword-swinging adventure game is likened to ‘Zelda in VR’ by pushing the boundaries of what VR is capable of and delivering that much sought after sword and shield combat experience.
Raw Data: Raw Data is a heavy-hitting, fast-paced game that’s more than just a simple wave shooter. While it presses all the right buttons with atmosphere and feel, the game is on the bleeding edge of virtual interaction, which sometimes doesn’t work as well as it should. Despite its technical flaws, it’s one of the best VR shooters for HTC Vive and Oculus Touch out currently.
Arizona Sunshine – Vertigo Games’s Arizona Sunshine (2016) puts you in the midst of the archetypal zombie apocalypse, and even though we gave it a [7.5/10], it proves to be a solid entry into the FPS genre. Suffering some finicky controls and an even more finicky multiplayer, this zombie shooter almost made our list.
Subnautica–Out of Steam Early Access this year, Subnautica lets youpilot your own submarine, craft your underwater base, explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and survive the harsh realities of the deep by out-smarting the game’s sometimes dangerous fauna.
GORN – Games that require you to use hand-held weapons don’t seem to work as well as shooters in VR. Maybe it’s the lack of haptic-feedback, but that certainly doesn’t stop them from being immensely fun just the same. Set in some barbaric future where floating heads look down as you smash topsy-turvy, weapon-wielding gladiators, Gorn proves to be charmingly ridiculous.
Onward – A fan favorite with a hardcore playerbase, the OD green of mil-sim shooters Onward gives you that VR battle you’ve always wanted, including tactical team-based gameplay and plenty of guns. The game itself is still fairly early in development, as it doesn’t have ranked matches yet, making it a bit intimidating from a beginner’s perspective. It’s creation is a true feat of will as it’s amazingly maintained by a singular developer.
Pavlov VR – Incorporating classic maps from games such as N64’s Goldeneye and Counter-Strike, Pavlov serves up a slice of familiar gameplay in a new VR setting. Featuring bots, and several modes including search-and-destroy and casual fast-paced solo play, Pavlov is the CQB death match standard FPS fans have been waiting for.
Project Cars & Project Cars 2 – You probably don’t have access to a garage full of super cars, but even if you do you’ll probably appreciate the ability to practice speeding around the track without ever having to leave home. The second in line, Project Cars 2 has a completely overhauled physics and tire models, making it a more true to life racing experience. You certainly can’t go wrong with either though!
Windlands – Originally developed in the early days of the Oculus development kits, Windlands has since added motion controller support to its fantastical ‘castle in the sky’ setting that lets you naturally grappling hook your way across what ultimately plays out as a giant parkour puzzle. It’s an intense experience, but well worth the feeling you’ll get from conquering the highest reaches of this beautiful and unique game.
If you didn’t see your favorite game here, let us know in the comments! This is a continually evolving list, so check back for the latest in Road to VR’s top Vive games.
Update (July 7th, 2018): We’ve done a long-due overhaul of the list, and bumped a few previous games to the honorable mentions list.
Since December 2016, HTC Vive users (April 2017 for Oculus Rift) have been able to explore the planet in virtual reality (VR) thanks to Google Earth VR. Now the company has released a new update that enables users to get an even closer look at the world around them using Street View.
With the addition of Street View to Google Earth VR users will be able to fly down to street level, check their controller to see if a 360-degree photo is available and dive right in. The image appears as a ball atop the controller which you just put your head inside. Street View imagery is available from 85 countries.
Google Earth VR gives you the ability to flyover the Grand Canyon, explore the streets of Tokyo, head to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, discover the hidden gems of the Amazon rainforest and much much more. Besides being able to wander around the planet however you like, the software also provides cinematic tours and hand-picked destinations like the Manhattan skyline or Swiss Alps to provide a learning experience as much as a good view.
The Google Earth VR app is free for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. If you happen to own Google Daydream or Cardboard then there’s always the Street View app.
