Playroom VR – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

September 6, 2020

The 10 Best Family VR Games To Enjoy With Kids

Family game night? We’ve got you covered with our list of the best family VR games.

We wanted to make this a varied list to give you a lot of choice. As such, when we say a family VR game, we don’t necessarily mean just multiplayer titles and, while we’ve kept violent games off of the list, some of the games do have action elements and mechanics you might deem unsuitable for the youngest audiences. We’ll point those out where applicable.

Best Family VR Games

10. Dreams

Type: Single-player
Platforms: PSVR

Dreams is a glorious VR playroom, a sort of do-it-yourself creation platform where, after a bit of onboarding, you can make your own content and share it with others. You’ll be amazed at the scale of the creations possible in Dreams. It’s easy to lose hours with others hopping from one bright idea to the next.

We’ve put Dreams higher in the list for two reasons. Firstly, it takes a bit of dedication to get to grips with, which will make the creative aspect too mature for some younger audiences. Plus, this is an online hub of user-made content, which comes with the usual caveats. If you want to show younger audiences, it might be an idea to curate a list of levels beforehand.

9. Puppet Fever

Type: Local multiplayer
Platforms: Quest, PC VR

This ingenious family VR game needs just one headset to be enjoyed by anyone in the room. The VR player uses a huge range of 2D props to put on their own puppet show. They find themselves behind a stage, while on a connected screen you can view their show from the front. Different game modes can give you the freedom to make up your own stories, or you can generate word cards for a virtual game of charades. A brilliant little idea, and free to play on Quest (with in-app purchases, mind you).

8. Racoon Lagoon

Type: Single or online multiplayer
Platforms: Quest, Rift

A cutesy little island lifestyle game – perhaps the closest VR has yet gotten to its own Animal Crossing. You explore a tropical destination, meeting a friendly cast of critters that you can carry out tasks for. Earn more hearts, make more friends and unlock new areas. The game has multiplayer and cross-play between Rift and Quest so, if you have another headset handy, you can adventure together.

7. A Fisherman’s Tale

Type: Single-player
Platforms: PSVR, Quest, PC VR

VR gaming doesn’t get much more wholesome than A Fisherman’s Tale, a puzzle game that’s equal parts charming and brain-bending. You take on the role of the titular fisherman, awakening one day to find themselves living in his own model replica of his lighthouse. But, get this, that same model sits in the middle of the room, and you can take the roof off to interact with a tiny version of yourself, or open the window to see a larger version too. It’s incredibly clever but still very approachable, and a VR must-play.

6. Fuji

Type: Single-player
Platforms: PSVR, Quest, PC VR

There’s a lot of great VR meditation apps out there but, for our money, you won’t find many virtual destinations more tranquil or more soothing than Fuji’s vibrant fields of alien vegetation. In this relaxing trip, you reawaken wildlife and can also grow your own virtual garden. It’s the perfect choice for those looking for a less demanding VR experience.

5. Spaceteam VR

Type: Local and online multiplayer
Platforms: Quest, PC VR

If you’re looking for a bit of a team-building exercise with the family, then you can consider Spaceteam VR a one-stop-shop. In this adaptation of a mobile classic, you work together with friends to fix a spaceship, shouting out ridiculous orders to each other while making sure to listen out for your own.

4. Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale

Type: Online multiplayer
Platforms: Quest, Rift

VR tries its hand at Overcooked with Michellin Star results. Cook-Out has you cooking for a fairytale cast in a full campaign for up to four players (with cross-play!). You’ll need to work with each other to slice up ingredients, clean dishes and cook up tasty treats before customers get too inpatient.

3. Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets

Type: Single-player
Platforms: PSVR, Quest, PC VR

Curious Tale makes for a whistful story of summers spent away and sibling rivalries. It’s an adorable puzzler ideal for casting to a screen and collaborating on, and the stop-motion art style is something to really behold inside a headset. Curious Tale is a perfect first destination for getting to grips with VR, too.

2. Vacation Simulator/Job Simulator

Type: Single-Player
Platforms: PSVR, Quest, PC VR

Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator remain hallmarks for the VR industry because they prioritize unique interactions only possible inside VR alongside user comfort first and foremost. They’re chock full of engaging activities that really take advantage of the platform. For many people, this should be your first stop when picking up a VR headset.

1. Astro Bot/Playroom VR

Type: Single-player (Astrobot) Local multiplayer (Playroom VR)
Platforms: PSVR

Astro Bot was born out of the Playroom VR, which is available for free, so we thought it only fair we bundled the two together. The latter includes some of the best local multiplayer in VR, with other players joining in on a TV screen to play family-friendly games of cat and mouse and more. Astro Bot, meanwhile, is a genuinely Mario-level platform bursting with fresh ideas that will constantly delight. It remains our top ranking for the best PSVR games and now we crown it one of the best family VR games too.

March 28, 2017

5 VR Games to Play on Respect Your Cat Day

Today is apparently known as ‘Respect Your Cat Day’ because people on the internet need another reason to force feed us (the sane, reasoned, logical, and intelligent mass of humans otherwise known as dog people) reasons why their cats are cute (they aren’t) and are better than dogs (they’re not). There is only one instance in which I would ever consider taking a cat as a pet and that is a world in which that cat is a tiger that can defend my honor in a world where all wolves and dog-like creatures are extinct. It’s a horrible thing to think about.

In all other situations, dogs are my animal of choice. I mean, just look at my corgi. Her name is Luna and she is perfect.

But apparently there are some people out there that like cats and this list is for those people. There are even people tracking cats in VR, which as far as I’m concerned is only useful for knowing where to swing my Vive-tracked baseball bat. If you feel like respecting your cat today because some random person a few years ago decided that’s what March 28th was for, then enjoy. I found a few games for you.

Kittypocalypse

This is the best cat game on the planet because it’s literally just about murdering tiny little kittens. That’s all you do. In the world of Kittypocalypse, a bunch of alien kitties are overrunning the planet and you have to erect a series of turrets and other defensive structures to protect yourself and your people from the ravaging felines. That premise is almost as ridiculous as the assumption that cats are good; they are not.

There’s no better way to respect your cat than to kill virtual cats as a cathartic release. Sometimes if you squint and strain your ears a little bit you can even hear them scream in pain as you blow them to pieces.

Konrad the Kitten

This is probably the most disgusting entry on this list: graphic content warning, it’s basically nightmare fuel. In Konrad the Kitten, you’re supposed to strap a Vive tracker (or a controller) onto a stuffed kitten doll and then pretend it’s a moving virtual cat inside VR while wearing the headset. Kitten dolls are already too close to the real thing to be worth buying, so making it move in VR just seems an unnecessary stretch.

I haven’t tested how far the tracking sensor will detect a punted virtual (or physical) kitten through a window or open door yet.

The Playroom VR: Cat and Mouse

Have you ever heard of the Stanford prison experiment? Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo rounded up a bunch of college students and stationed them in jail cells. He made some of them guards with proper attire and the rest were prisoners. Each were told to act their part in order to see if role enforcement and authority/subjugation were enough to truly alter someone’s behavior. In other words, would normal people do terrible things to another person if given the proper environment and encouragement. Generally the answer was found to be yes. This game is that, but with cats. It’s sick and twisted.

One person is positioned as satan incarnate, aka a cat, as you try to violently and viciously murder other innocent players, mice, that are simply trying to scavenge for food as a means of survival. It’s disgusting. All laughter is either forced response at gunpoint or played back via laugh track. There is no true happiness here.

Rescuties

This is a tragic, saddening game. What begins as a happy story with felines burning inside of a building, slowly dying before your eyes, quickly turns into something out of a nightmare. Instead of basking in the balls of fiery fur, you’re asked to catch them as they leap — claw first — out of windows and into your arms. You’re rescuing them, as in not letting them die. Disgusting.

The only good thing about this game is that you can also save puppies, which are basically distilled hope and happiness, as well as infant humans, so that’s a plus.

Catlateral Damage

This is it. The internet has gone too far. Here’s a game where you just knock crap over as a cat in first-person VR. If this appeals to you then we can’t be friends. I hope you run into a wall or punh a valuable decorative piece of furniture while playing this in VR.

More info about this really good piece of journalism can be found here.

Tagged with: Catlateral, kittypocalypse, PlayRoom VR, Rescuties, Respect Your Cat Day

March 21, 2017

PlayStation VR Party: The Best Games for a Fun Night with Friends

The launch of the PlayStation VR has been deemed a success by many, with even Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) seemingly caught unawares by the demand for the virtual reality (VR) hardware. But satisfying the early adopters is a much easier task than achieving mass market appeal, as has been seen time-and-again with peripherals in the videogame industry. One ideal is for those early adopters to become evangelists for the hardware, but doing so takes just the right kind of software.

Keen to ensure that VR can be enjoyed by families and friends as well as the core videogame demographic, every early adopter of the head-mounted display (HMD) should consider a purchase of PlayStation VR Worlds. A selection of mini-games both family friendly and more maturely themed, PlayStation VR Worlds offers a taste of the potential of VR without daunting newcomers with the possibility of a ten hour experience; or even just an hour, for that matter. Once that initial boundary has fallen what else can PlayStation VR offer to get the party swinging?

The Playroom VR

Playroom VR – Sony Interactive Entertainment

Playroom VR is a free download for all PlayStation VR early adopters, so why haven’t you got it yet? Well you probably have, and already have dived into the couch multiplayer style mini-games included. The essence of Playroom VR is that players armed with a DualShock 4 controller both work with and against the player wearing the PlayStation VR HMD. Monster Escape grants the solo HMD wearing player the ability to crush their foes as they combat one-to-four players who are trying to evade the large green beast towering down upon them, while Ghost House has the players working co-operatively to hunt supernatural beings in a cartoon haunted house. Playroom VR is a fantastic way of demonstrating this new technology without the fear of the many complicated implications of VR.

Werewolves Within screenshot 1

Werewolves Within – Ubisoft

A somewhat underrated PlayStation VR title, Werewolves Within is the essence of social interaction in VR. Although there’s no local multiplayer option – meaning the laughs will come from sharing the HMD around your friends opposed to getting the better of one another – Werewolves Within is an elaborate guessing game that is as fun as you choose to make it. Don’t underestimate the comedy value of merging new players online with the friends sat next to you on the couch.

Carnival Games VR-Alleyball

Carnival Games VR – 2K Games

One of the biggest selling franchises on the hugely successful Nintendo Wii console is also available on PlayStation VR, however this time around things are a bit different. Those looking for an immediate and accessible videogame to play with their family or a friend unacquainted with VR – or videogames as a whole, for that matter – could do far worse. Carnival Games VR promises a palatable experience with extremely low barriers for entry.

Ace Banana – Oasis Games

Ace Banana tasks the players with defending a pile of bananas from evil invader monkeys. Who doesn’t want to do that? You’ll have to put your archery skills to the test using PlayStation Move controllers in a VR experience that is designed to increase in difficulty as players choose their own play style: from short bursts to longer endurance tests. What’s more, the entire videogame can be played co-operatively. How’s that for multiplayer monkey-wrangling?

Sports Bar VR - checkers

Sports Bar VR – CherryPop Games

Much like Werewolves Within, Sports Bar VR isn’t social multiplayer for local players. However, it is the most social VR experience currently offered across any HMD. Originally launched as Pool Nation VR on HTC Vive, the PlayStation VR version lags a little behind the debut due to the lack of roomscale tracking, however CherryPop Games has worked very hard to ensure that the experience of being in a virtual space with complete strangers is just as entertaining. The name change came about due to the fact that pool became just one element of the videogame, with air hockey, ball games, darts and more now included as standard.

March 9, 2017

PSVR’s Batman, Rez And Playroom VR Up For 2017 BAFTA Awards

Along with its own awards ceremonies, VR has been recognised at respected videogame and film shows over the past 12 months, and now it’s coming to one of the UK’s most prestigious institutions: BAFTA.

The nominations for this year’s BAFTA Game Awards have been announced, and Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR) is once again leading the charge for virtual reality. Three PSVR games have been nominated across the event’s traditional categories. Walking away with two nominations is Rocksteady Games’ Batman: Arkham VR [Review: 5/10], the PSVR launch title that grabbed a lot of people’s attention last October. It’s up for both Game Innovation and British Game. Rocksteady were previous recipients of the Best Game award in 2010 with the game that started it all, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Another popular PSVR launch game, Rez Infinite [Review: 8/10], is recognised in the Audio Achievement category, which isn’t surprising given the game’s music has helped it become a cult classic since its original version on the Dreamcast. Brilliantly, Sony Japan’s excellent party game, Playroom VR, is also nominated in the Family category.

As expected, though, it’s Pokemon GO that grabs the most nods in terms of reality-altering games. The hugely popular augmented reality smartphone app is up for Mobile, Family, and Game Innovation awards.

While it’s a relief to see any VR games nominated at all, it’s a shame BAFTA hasn’t recognised VR and AR with its own category this year, and hasn’t given nods to any titles on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or mobile VR headsets. Batman might show off VR’s remarkable tracking capabilities, but these kinds of experiences were available on Vive months before PSVR launched, and Oculus Studios’ suite of high-polished VR games deserve a nod too.

Still, with VR headsets still yet to truly break into even the wider gaming audience, it’s not surprising to see these titles overlooked. Maybe next year they’ll get better representation.

Tagged with: BAFTA, Batman: Akrham VR, PlayRoom VR, pokemon go, PSVR, rez infinite

February 1, 2017

Playroom VR’s Toy Wars DLC Is A Frantic Slice Of VR Co-op Action

Nearly four months after launch, Playroom VR remains one of the best reasons to own PlayStation VR (PSVR). Sony Japan’s brilliant minigame compilation is a free download, but it frankly embarrass some premium games with the sheer quality of its cutesy collection of single and local multiplayer experiences.

Today, Sony is adding another game to the set via a free piece of DLC. It’s called Toy Wars, and it’s a terrific blend of turret shooting and co-op action that you should definitely download.

Toy Wars has a simple premise; the VR user controls a toy gun that’s aimed using the DualShock 4’s motion controls. They have to defend the game’s cast of adorable robots from incoming enemies that slither out from beneath cupboards. Up to three other players can take a gamepad outside of VR and control giant mechs that can smash enemies with their fists. If even one baddie breaks the line and injures the turret? Game over.

Though the game can be played on your own, it’s much better with at least one friend, as things quickly become overwhelming without any help. Standard enemy types are taken down with just a few hits, but larger, tougher variations are introduced just seconds into the game. These foes take a considerable beating before they topple, and the game turns into a manic juggling act as you try to keep three sides of approaching nasties away. If (but let’s be honest, it’s actually when) you fail, then a UFO appears and sucks everyone into its illusive vacuum of doom.

It may not be as innovative as some of Playroom’s other multiplayer games, but as a shooter, Toy Wars is frantic and satisfying. It’s also proof that the DualShock 4 can be just as immersive a tool for VR shooters as a Move controller is. Spraying fire across the room feels powerful even if all you’re really using is the VR equivalent of a Nerf gun, and the communication needed with friends to ensure your safety gives it a touch of Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes. It’s one of the few VR games that shows you how great asymmetrical co-op can be.

What’s great about this piece of DLC is how naturally it fits into the overall set of games. It feels like it’s been here from day one. Not only are its mechanics as refined as anything else you’ll find in the package, but its presentation remains irresistibly adorable; seeing the characters from the other games cowering behind you as you fight for them is an especially nice touch.

Of course, what we really want to see from Sony Japan is a full-length edition of the excellent Robot Rescue minigame, but we’ll settle for this for now. Playroom VR has opened the doors to DLC in the best way possible and we can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Tagged with: dlc, free, PlayRoom VR, playstation, ps4, PSVR, sony japan

October 26, 2016

‘Robot Rescue’ Would Be One Of PlayStation VR’s Best, If It Were A Full Game

PlayStation VR has been out for just under two weeks now, but we still haven’t managed to thoroughly rifle our way through all of the headset’s enormous launch line-up. We thought we’d just about played all of the biggest releases but there is one name that keeps unexpectedly creeping up in conversations. It’s not Batman, RIGS or Driveclub; it’s an experience that’s captured the hearts and minds of the early adopter community, and it’s not even a full game.

I’m talking about Robot Rescue, one of the handful of mini-games that appears on Sony Japan’s excellent free launch compilation, Playroom VR. I’ve seen this little platformer brought up time and again on internet threads and among friends over the past 12 days. After finally trying it for myself, I can see why.

Robot Rescue is essentially PS VR’s answer to Lucky’s Tale, one of our favorite games on the Oculus Rift. It’s a short but oh-so-sweet third-person platformer in which you guide one of the game’s adorable robot heroes through a spritely world, finding his also adorable robot friends that have scattered in terror at the arrival of some block-shaped baddies. You use the DualShock 4 to control your brave little protagonist as he (it?) leaps over chasms, battles enemies, and collects gold coins because, well, it’s a platformer.

There isn’t a whole lot to separate the game from Playful’s Rift launch title; they share the same perspective and some very similar mechanics, but Robot Rescue does bring a few of its own tricks to the table. The most notable of these is the use of the DualShock 4’s position tracked controls. Rather than disappearing from the game world, your gamepad will appear in the environment just as it does with games like Tumble. It will even store the robots you find, but it’s best featured when you use it to aim at grappling points and then flick the controller’s touchpad up to fire out a tightrope.

Your character can then jump onto that rope and you’ll walk them along it (shown below.) At one point, it’s necessary to raise the rope higher to reach some out of the far away coins, and you can also move it quickly to dodge incoming enemy attacks.

Given Robot Rescue only lasts about 10 minutes, the idea is never fully utilized but, even for this brief running time, it showcased an intriguing level of invention. It made me think of other ways the DualShock 4 could have been used: perhaps as a shield for incoming enemy fire, or a way to light the path in darker levels.

I also really liked the use of positional audio, which would give away the position of hiding robots as they let out cries for help. At one point I spun my head around after hearing one of their measly squeaks to find one hiding around a corner I had completely missed before. Again, it’s a feature that never reaches its full potential, but could provide a new dimension to hidden collectibles in a full game.

It really is a shame that Robot Rescue is so short, but luckily anyone with a PS VR can try it out as part of Playroom VR completely for free. The precious few minutes it offered were some of the most enjoyable I’ve had yet with the headset. We don’t know if Sony Japan is currently working on any other VR projects but, if not, we’d implore them to get to work on a full version of this cutesy, tantalizing taste of what VR can do for one of gaming’s most beloved genres.

And Playful should certainly pay attention regarding whatever they work on next.

October 6, 2016

The Best of PlayStation VR Launch: Party Games

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has gone to great lengths to ensure that the launch of PlayStation VR defeats many of the naysayers, no less than in the realms of social experiences. Keen to ensure that virtual reality (VR) can be enjoyed by families and friends as well as the core videogame demographic, every early adopter of the head-mounted display (HMD) will receive multiplayer-centric Playroom VR for free. Bargain, right?

There’s also PlayStation VR Worlds to consider. While it may not be a ‘party game’ per se, the implementation of SIE’s social screen initiative – wherein one player uses the HMD while another assists through a separate view on the television or mobile device – proposes some very interesting potential gameplay mechanics. It’s inherently limited by design at present, though much like VR as a medium is destined to evolve in years to come.

In the meantime, having friends and family round for a spate of couch multiplayer is important for expanding the potential audience of not just PlayStation VR, but the medium as a whole, and the below titles are your best bet for doing just that on day one.

Playroom VR – Sony Interactive Entertainment

As stated above, Playroom VR will be a free download for all PlayStation VR early adopters. So that’s an easy decision. But what exactly will you be doing with this software? Well, in true couch multiplayer style, there’s a selection of mini-games included that have players working both with and against the player wearing the PlayStation VR HMD. Monster Escape places the solo HMD wearing in the position of chasing down one-to-four players sharing the television screen and using DualShock 4 controllers to evade the large green beast towering down upon them, whereas Ghost House has the players working co-operatively to hunt supernatural beings in a cartoon haunted house. Playroom VR is a fantastic way of demonstrating this new technology without the fear of the many complicated implications of VR.

Playroom VR: Monster Escape key art

Carnival Games VR – 2K Games

One of the biggest selling franchises on the hugely successful Nintendo Wii console is coming to PlayStation VR. This should divide audiences into two camps immediately: those open to casual videogames and those who refuse to accept them. Those in the latter camp are best just ignoring its existence, but those looking for a videogame to play with their mother or father, son or daughter, or partner or friend unacquainted with videogames could do far worse. Carnival Games VR promises a palatable experience with extremely low barriers for entry.

Carnival Games key art

Ace Banana – Oasis Games

Not exactly the most high profile launch title for the PlayStation VR, Ace Banana tasks the players with defending a pile of bananas from evil invader monkeys. To do this, you’ll have to put your archery skills to the test using PlayStation Move controllers. What makes Ace Banana stand out as a party videogame is that the levels are keenly designed to increase in difficulty from short bursts to longer endurance tests, and that the entire videogame can be played co-operatively.

Ace Banana screenshot

The Best PlayStation VR Launch Titles
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The Best Party Games for PlayStation VR		The Best Shooting Games for PlayStation VR