Perhaps one of the most common genres found in the myriad of VR games is the humble puzzle game. With such an immersive platform that carries huge interactive potential, puzzle games are an instant fit for VR.
The genre has become a staple of all VR platforms, so we’ve put together a list of some of the best puzzle games available across them all. Only a few of the games are platform exclusives, and some of the games are available across more than one platform. There’s also a few particularly older titles that have a new life on the ever-popular Oculus Quest standalone system.
Without further ado, here are 15 of the best VR puzzle games and experiences, ordered alphabetically.
A Fisherman’s Tale
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store, Viveport), PSVR
Read our PC VR review and our Quest review
A Fisherman’s Tale is a short but incredibly charming puzzle game from development studio Innerspace. While it’s definitely on the shorter side, the ingenious puzzles will make you rack your brain until you finally reach that critical ‘a-ha’ moment that feels so satisfying. A Fisherman’s Tale was nominated in our Best of VR 2019 Awards for the Best PSVR Game/Experience, Best Quest Game/Experience, Best PC VR Game/Experience, and overall Overall Best VR Of 2019.
I Expect You To Die 2
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store), PSVR
Five years on from the release of the original, I Expect You To Die 2 is a game that executes a specific style of grueling puzzle game incredibly well. It’s a trial-and-error affair where you’ll spend an hour testing things, only to realize that the solution was obvious and right in front of you the whole time. It’s the mark of a quality puzzle — one where the solution is hidden not through obscure design, but through your own short-sightedness — but it can also mean a slow burn and periods of heavy frustration. You can read more in our review.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store), PSVR, Oculus Go, Gear VR, Non-VR
This excellent, high-tension puzzle game was designed in the very early days of VR with the constraints of the early hardware in mind. However, you wouldn’t know it while playing it today – Keep Talking remains an absolute blast to play with friends. The game sees you work with a partner to decipher increasingly difficult puzzles in order to disable a timed bomb before it detonates. One person operates the bomb in VR, while the other(s) reads and deciphers a printed (or website version) manual to help the bomb diffuser figure out what to do with the various attachments and buttons. It’s a fantastic puzzle game that you can play with someone who doesn’t want to put on a headset, but still wants to participate.
Angry Birds VR
Platforms: PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store, Viveport) , PSVR, Oculus Quest
It would be easy to dismiss this game as a cash-in attempt to bring a beloved staple franchise of mobile gaming over to VR, only existing to make a quick buck. However, Angry Birds VR provides quite a beefy package that offers super intuitive gameplay that adds a new dimension, literally and figuratively, to the Angry Birds formula.
Cubism
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store)
Cubism is a deceptively simple game. Each level features a 3D wireframe shape into which you have to fit different Tetris-like block pieces. The puzzles get harder and the pieces more complex – it’s a slow and measured puzzle experience.
Even better, Quest players have the option for 120Hz and hand tracking support as well, both of which are perfect fits for Cubism’s style of play. You can read our review of Cubism here.
The Room VR: A Dark Matter
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store, Viveport), PSVR
The latest installment in The Room series is also its first installment in VR. This isn’t a mobile or PC port either – The Room VR: A Dark Matter is made entirely for VR from the ground up.
Developer Fireproof hasn’t lost its penchant for incredibly clever and creative puzzles in the transition. Read more in our review.
Myst
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store)
This seminal PC game made its way over to PC VR and Oculus Quest last year. It’s an upgraded and all-around solid port of the original PC title that will have you reaching for a notebook or a friend to help work your way through the tough puzzles.
It’s a game everyone should play once and the VR ports provide you with a modern but faithful way to do so. You can read more in our review.
Puzzling Places
Platforms: Oculus Quest
This game takes the staples of 2D jigsaw puzzles and brings them into VR with a new element — all of the puzzles are 3D models of real-life places, brought to life through highly detailed photogrammetry captures. The 16 included puzzles range from landscapes to individual objects, each with accompanying ambient sounds that build up as you solve.
It’s a slow, meditative but also appropriately challenging puzzle game that offers a similar yet fresh take on traditional jigsaw puzzles. You can read more in our review.
A Rogue Escape
Platforms: Quest, PC VR (Steam, Oculus Store)
This is a tough, short (1-2 hours), claustrophobic puzzler that will set you stuck in the cramped confines of a submerged submarine. There’s no hand-holding here, resulting in an immersive yet excruciatingly slow set of submarine-based puzzles.
If you’re looking for an incredibly short but difficult experience, then this might be the best option. You can read more in our A Rogue Escape review.
Please, Don’t Touch Anything
Platforms: Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store), PSVR
Please, Don’t Touch Anything is perfect for players who appreciate hardcore, difficult puzzlers. Initially released for Gear VR back in 2016, but now available on several platforms, we noted in our review that the basic progression of the core gameplay loop was “experiment, succeed, scream, laugh, reset. The results of your tinkering vary immensely.” Read our original review played on Gear VR.
Statik
Platforms: PSVR
Statik is a PSVR-exclusive puzzle game, and for good reason – it uses the PS4’s DualShock 4 controller as a tracked object in the virtual world. The main gripe we had with the game back in 2017 was the length. “No two puzzles are the same, and they’re all well-balanced and thought-out trials, but they left me begging for more,” said Jamie, in his review. Read our review.
Tetris Effect
Platforms: PSVR, PC VR (Epic Store)
What do you mean? Tetris? One of the best VR puzzle games? Yes, you read that right. Jamie explained it best in his original review. “Yes, this is indeed Tetris… in VR. But, by applying its unmatched strand of spectacular visual and musical flair, Enhance creates something with a powerful, compelling and entirely unexpected hypnotism to it.”
Read our PSVR review and our PC VR review.
The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
Platforms: Oculus Quest, PS VR, PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store)
One of the newer puzzle games on the list, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets is a charming puzzle game that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. You’ll play through tiny diorama-style worlds in a puzzle game that “makes you laugh, makes you smile, and often times makes you feel clever and creative.” Read our review.
The Talos Principle
Platforms: PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store)
This port of a classic puzzler is an incredibly well-done translation of the original game, initially developed for PC, and now available in VR. If you never played the game on PC, The Talos Principle will feel right at home in your VR headset. Read our review.
Transpose
Platforms: PC VR (SteamVR, Oculus Store, Viveport), PSVR
Originally released in late 2018, Transpose is a VR puzzle game that sees you able to create clones, or “echos”, of yourself that carry out the exact same actions you did. Coordinating and synchronizing echoes is the key to solving the game’s 30+ mind-bending puzzles. Read our review.
So there you have it – our 15 best VR puzzle games and experiences. Is a VR puzzle game you love missing from the list? Let us know in the comments below.
This list was originally published on January 15, 2020, and updated with new listings on September 15, 2021.
