Category: Rec Room

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Rec Room Reaches Over One Million VR Headsets

Rec Room Reaches Over One Million VR Headsets

Rec Room is ringing in the new year by celebrating its successes in the old one.

In a post on its official site, developer Against Gravity revealed its app had been installed on over one million VR headsets by the end of 2018. Rec Room is a social VR platform available on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR and PlayStation VR. It’s free-to-play and completely cross-play, meaning that you can meet up with friends inside other headsets. This figure doesn’t seem to count the same headset with multiple accounts. If that’s the case, this is an impressive feat and deserves a pat on the back. The developer didn’t reveal individual stats for which headsets had seen how many installs.

Elsewhere, Against Gravity talked a lot about the popularity of player-created rooms, of which there are now over 400,000. Though Rec Room comes with a bunch of developer-made activities, players are free to make their own adventures in these rooms too. And the best rooms saw over 300,000 visits. Players now spend over 40% of time in these user-created environments. You can see some of people’s creations in the video above.

“It’s inspiring to see how people are using Rec Room to learn how to game dev, design, program, organize a community, create a new talk show or podcast, create art galleries and inventions together, and all the other crazy things you’ve done,” Against Gravity wrote in its post.

Look out for plenty more announcements from Rec Room in the year to come. There’s a rumor the game is coming to Oculus’ new Quest headset too.

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UploadVR’s Best Of 2018 VR Award Winners

UploadVR’s Best Of 2018 VR Award Winners

We’ve finally reached the very end of 2018 and it’s been quite the eventful year for the VR industry. If you want to see the original nominees post, you can check that out here, otherwise keep reading for our full list of winners with details on each decision and the pick for the overall best VR game of 2018.

Let us know your picks down in the comments below and tell us why we’re wrong!

Best VR/AR Hardware

Magic Leap One
Mirage Solo
*WINNER* Oculus Go
Samsung Odyssey+
Vive Focus
Vive Pro

It’s been an odd year for VR hardware with little to truly push the industry forward. But Oculus Go stands out as a device that genuinely achieves what it set out to accomplish; deliver a low-cost, accessible VR device for the masses. Go has its fair share of issues but at the $199 price point and a huge library of apps right off the bat, it’s an easy choice for best overall VR/AR hardware this year.

Best PSVR Game

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission
Beat Saber
*WINNER* Firewall Zero Hour
The Persistence
Tetris Effect
WipEout Omega Collection VR

Astro Bot and WipEout put up some serious competition but we ultimately decided Firewall should take the PSVR prize. True, there’s still some work to be done to improve First Contact’s online shooter but there’s no denying that this is one of the first VR games to truly embody the goal of the platform; to make you believe you’re someone else, somewhere else, becoming the hero of your own action movie. Take a good look at Firewall; it could truly be the future of gaming.

Best PSVR Experience

Crow: The Legend
Electronauts
*WINNER* Titanic VR

‘Immersive VR Education’ continues to prove itself as the leading company in, well, VR education with this amazing exploration of the legendary vessel. Titanic VR isn’t simply a digital recreation of the sunken ship but instead a fully gamified experience with a campaign that uses interaction and story to engage your brain in an entirely new way. This is another important stride of a pivotal area of VR development

Best PC VR Game

*WINNER* Beat Saber
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (PC)
The Exorcist: Legion VR
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR
Moss
Transpose

Beat Saber is, without a doubt, the most popular VR game of the year and perhaps even of all-time so far for our young immersive industry. It’s a viral sensation that took the world by storm and has likely been responsible for directly selling more VR headsets than any other app. The developers have crafted an insanely polished rhythm game that’s dead simple to pick up and play but incredibly difficult and rewarding to master. Easily the best and most important PC VR game of the year, no doubt.

Best PC VR Experience

Crow: The Legend
*WINNER* Spheres
The Great C
Titanic VR
Vestige

While Titanic VR on PC is great as well, just like it is on PSVR, we have to give the nod to Spheres here. This is a remarkable experience that is part educational, taking you through the explosive life of a black hole, but also part pure wonder as the colors and sounds engulf you. Narration is incredible and the talent behind it all elevates this to unreal heights.

Best Mobile VR/AR Game

*WINNER* Anshar  Online
Arca’s Path
Catan VR
The Walking Dead: Our World

This was a slow year for mobile VR/AR gaming. After the immense success of Pokemon Go a couple of years ago and a few copy cats this year, not even the VR market has really hit a stride again for the limited headsets. But despite that, the third entry in the Anshar War series, Anshar Online, is a bright spot. The excellent space dogfighting is better than ever, now with full co-op, and intense PvP multiplayer. Plus, it’s cross-play with Rift as well.

Best Mobile VR Experience

Crow: The Legend
*WINNER* Nothing To Be Written
Shattered State

Few VR experiences this year demonstrated as firm a grasp on the platform as Nothing To Be Written, Unit 59’s surreal exploration of the use of Field Post Cards in WW1. This is a fascinating new angle on war in VR, one that’s equal parts harrowing and moving, using some of the most striking imagery you’ll see inside a headset all year.

Best Location-Based VR Experience

*WINNER* Dave & Buster’s Jurassic World
Dreamscape’s Alien Zoo
Nomadic’s Arizona Sunshine
Sandbox VR’s Davy Jones Adventure
SPACES’ Terminator
The Void’s Nicodemus

The Void made huge headlines last year with its Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience and now Dave and Buster’s restaurants/arcades are jam-packed with VR experiences of their own. We haven’t tried out their new, custom IP in Dragonfrost, but the Jurassic World experience is excellent. It’s a perfect blend of a good price, great format, tons of locations, and pure immersion that show the world VR is much more than just a gimmick and more than just at-home entertainment.

Best Visuals

Age of Sail
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR
Seeking Dawn
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (PC)
*WINNER* Tetris Effect

Whoever knew Tetris could be so hypnotic? We don’t mean in that captivating loop of intently watching ever-falling blocks but instead on the visual side. Each level in Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s transcendent take on the classic puzzler is packed full of visual splendour. On a standard display it shines but in VR Tetris Effect is an irresistibly compelling tour of the wide world around us and beyond. A true feast for the senses

Best Ongoing Support For A VR App

Bigscreeen
Onward
Pavlov VR
*WINNER* Rec Room

Rec Room is literally the gift that keeps on giving. Not only is the main experience free and supported by a raft of user-generated environments and games, but developer Against Gravity continues to set the bar by adding its own modes and cosmetic items around the clock. Whether it’s the PUBG-influenced Rec Royale or the latest co-op mission inspired by Castlevania, there’s always something new to check out in one of VR’s most important apps.

Best Multiplayer/Social

Brass Tactics
Echo Combat
*WINNER* Firewall Zero Hour
Marvel: Heroes United V R
WipEout: Omega Collection VR

We’ve already picked it as our favorite PSVR game of the year, but it deserves another nod for being the absolute best new multiplayer game of the year as well. Working together with your squad is a thrill and the no-respawns format ensures that you feel the intensity of every firefight. It’s a game that’s all about teamwork and even now, months later, new people are joining the fight and matches are always full no matter the time of day.

Most Immersive Moment

Killing the police in Accounting+
*WINNER* Meeting Astro Bot
Stealing time in Deracine
Suiting up as a Marvel hero
Swirling around a black hole in Spheres

True, Astro Bot might not put you in the body of an elite solider or ace pilot, but the connection you form with your little robot buddy in the opening minutes of Sony Japan’s incredible adventure make for some of the most memorable moments in VR this year. Seeing Astro frantically wave at you with his impossibly adorable eyes is one of the most jaw-dropping, heartwarming experiences you can have inside a headset.

Most Active VR Game

*WINNER* Beat Saber
Creed: Rise to Glory
Knockout League
Sprint Vector

From a single two-hour session of Beat Saber I burned over 1,000 calories and my heart rate approached 180 beats-per-minute. If that isn’t a great cardio workout then I don’t know what is. Plus, with custom mods on the PC version you can find most of your favorite songs to slash boxes with when you want to extend out beyond the core set of original tracks. Other games on this list try to emulate real-life sports, but only Beat Saber feels extremely active while also being uniquely only available in VR.

Developer of the Year

3rd Eye Studios
Beat Games
First Contact Entertainment
Secret Location
*WINNER* Survios
Vertigo Games

There are a handful of developers out there that have released two well-received VR apps thus far. Fewer still have released three. Survios, on the other hand, has launched four VR games over the past few years, three of which were in 2018. And these aren’t just rushed follow-ups to the shooter success that was Raw Data; Sprinter Vector, Electronauts, and Creed: Rise to Glory are all completely original, high-quality experiences that explore VR in fascinating new ways. Not to mention the debut of their VR arcade line! We’re not quite sure how Survios does it, but they have our kudos.

Most Anticipated App Of 2019

Defector
*WINNER* Dreams
A Fisherman’s Tale
Star Wars: Vader Immortal
Stormland
Untitled Respawn Game

There’s a reason why we’ve called Dreams PSVR’s most-important game that’s capable of making the metaverse a reality: it’s something truly special. It puts a tremendous amount of power and potential in the hands of otherwise every-day gamers allowing them to craft entire levels, games, worlds, and even inter-connected stories and universes. Then, you can even edit and experience much of them in VR as well. We’re dying to see this VR-supported follow-up to LittleBigPlanet finally hit PS4s this year.

Overall VR Game Or Experience of the Year

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission
Beat Saber
*WINNER* Firewall Zero Hour
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR
Spheres
Transpose
WipEout: Omega Collection VR

This has been a big year for VR games. On the PSVR front alone there have been tons of amazing exclusives, such as Astro Bot, WipEout, and Tetris Effect, while PC VR has a fully-moddable viral sensation in Beat Saber along with the visual and audio masterpiece that is Hellblade. But at the end of the day the overall best VR game we’ve seen this year that combines extreme polish, great replay value, fantastic gameplay, and an overall big effort to push VR forward is undoubtedly Firewall Zero Hour. There simply wasn’t a better VR game this year that we felt deserved the recognition over Firewall.

Let us know your picks or other nominations down in the comments below!

Featured image collage created by David Jagneaux for UploadVR.

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‘Rec Room’ is Getting a New Castlevania-inspired Co-op Quest Next Week

Rec Room, the social VR platform available for a multitude of devices, is getting another one of its famous co-op Quests starting November 15th, this time letting you team up with a crew of like-minded vampire hunters on a monster-smashing adventure.

The Castlevania-inspired Quest, dubbed ‘Crescendo of the Blood Moon’, takes you to a dreary castle where you battle it out weapons like shovels and old-timey blunderbuss guns against skeleton mobs and werewolves.

An interesting new locomotion scheme is making its debut as well, a whip-teleportation that lets you climb the castle where you’ll no doubt encounter more terrible ghoulies. While the creepy new Quest was probably intended for release sometime around Halloween, replay value on Rec Room’s Quests are pretty high, so it’s better late than never.

 

The new ‘Crescendo of the Blood Moon’ Quest isn’t the first of the platform’s co-op adventures; Rec Room plays host to: Quest for the Golden Trophy, The Rise of Jumbotron, The Curse of the Crimson Cauldron, and Isle of Lost Skulls—all of them with their own unique themes and weapons to battle the many fearless NPCs just itching to send you packing back to the lobby.

Like its Quests, Rec Room’s in-game battle royale multiplayer Rec Royale is basically a full game unto itself, letting you go head-to-head against 15 other players in a large summer camp environment, replete with the iconic drop from a flying party gondola and plenty of weapons and ammo to loot.

Against Gravity’s Rec Room is a free social VR app that’s available on PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR headsets, and traditional monitors, providing cross-play between all supported VR and console/PC platforms. Check out how to download it here.

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Rec Room: Update bringt Multiplayer-Bowling-Feature

Die soziale VR-App Rec Room für PlayStation VR (PSVR), Oculus Rift, HTC Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen erhielt kürzlich ein neues Update, um seine Community mit einem neuen Feature zu versorgen: Auf der Lone Shore Lane dürft ihr in eure Bowling-Schuhe schlüpfen und gemeinsam, mit bis zu sechs Spieler/innen gleichzeitig auf verschiedenen Bahnen miteinander spielen. Nebenbei gibt es ein neues Backup-System sowie zusätzliche Outfits passend zum sportlichen Zeitvertreib sowie zum anstehenden schaurig schönen Halloween.

Rec Room – Neues Update integriert Bowling-Raum “Lone Shore Lane”

Ab sofort dürfen sich die Spieler/innen in Rec Room dank eines neuen Updates zu einer spaßigen Runde Bowling zusammenfinden, um auf verschiedenen Bahnen die Kugeln fliegen zu lassen. Dabei können bis zu sechs Kontrahenten gleichzeitig auf verschiedenen Spielbahnen antreten. Die gesammelten Punkte durch das Umstoßen der Pins werden dabei automatisch erfasst, um am Ende festzustellen, wer den Highscore erspielt hat.

Ebenso stehen Übungsbahnen bereit, um den perfekten Schwung zu üben. Wer gerade keine Lust hat, beim digitalen Bowling zu beweisen, kann gemeinsam mit Freunden oder Fremden an den Tischen der Halle Platz nehmen. Dort warten virtuelle Brezeln und Pizza auf die Gäste, um die Unterhaltungen mit dem Verzehr der Lebensmittel unterhaltsam zu gestalten.

Neben dem neuen Bowling-Raum wurden zudem einige praktische Optimierungen eingeführt. Dazu zählt ein neues, automatisches Backup-System für Room-Creator. Solltet ihr einmal vergessen eure kreativen Gestaltungen abzuspeichern oder unerwarteter weiße das Internet ausfallen, müsst ihr euch zukünftig nicht mehr über mögliche Verluste ärgern. Eure Kreationen werden ab sofort automatisch lokal abgespeichert. Die entsprechenden Einstellungen könnt ihr selbst konfigurieren.

Außerdem gibt es neue Outfits zum Anprobieren. Dazu zählen einerseits eine passende Sportausstattung für das neue Bowling-Feature sowie gruselige Halloween-Kostüme für das schaurig, schöne Verkleidungsspektakel. Zum anstehenden Gruselfest könnt ihr zudem eure besten Fotos, Kostüme und kreativ gestalteten Räume einreichen und mit der Community teilen.

Rec Room ist kostenlos für Oculus Rift, HTC Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen auf Steam sowie im Oculus Store und für PlayStation VR (PSVR) im PlayStation Store erhältlich.

(Quelle: Rec Room Steam Blog | Video: Rec Room YouTube)




Der Beitrag Rec Room: Update bringt Multiplayer-Bowling-Feature zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

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Rec Room Could Be An Oculus Quest Launch Title, Devs Hint At Port

Rec Room Could Be An Oculus Quest Launch Title, Devs Hint At Port

Rec Room, from Seattle-based ‘Against Gravity’, is one of the most popular and highly regarded social VR apps to date. It stands apart as more structured than something like VRChat thanks to predefined room types and activities, and more gaming focused than AltSpaceVR, with games ranging from paintball to a battle royale mode similar to Fortnite.

The app’s intentionally simplistic graphical style allowed Against Gravity to massively increase its playerbase in November by launching on PlayStation VR, including cross-platform multiplayer with Oculus Rift, SteamVR, and non-VR users. But could they be planning to lower the barriers to playing Rec Room even further by launching on Oculus Quest next year? Let’s explore the evidence.

In a developer AMA last month, when asked about setting textures and transparency, Against Gravity stated “we’ve got to optimize the app for some devices that we want to get onto next year”, adding that they couldn’t talk too much about it.

The logo of the developer was listed as working on a Quest title/port at OC5.

Just under 2 weeks later at their yearly conference, Connect 5 (OC5), Oculus unvieled Oculus Quest, an all-in-one / standalone VR gaming console launching in Spring 2019. While Rec Room was not announced specifically as a title, when VP of VR at Facebook Hugo Barra showed a slide of developers working on Quest titles, Against Gravity’s logo was listed (top center).

Rec Room is free and has no microtransactions or advertising, and when the company received $5 million in investment last year, the developers were clear to clarify that monetization was not “an immediate concern”. This seems to indicate that Against Gravity and its investors believe they are still well within the growth phase, but if a Quest port does happen and Quest is a success, the new influx of users could re-open questions about monetization strategies, such as paid cosmetics.

While the developer AMA and OC5 logo listing are not definitive confirmation, as technically the developer AMA could have been referring to an as yet unannounced 6DoF standalone VR system from another company, and the logo listing at OC5 could be referring to a new game instead of Rec Room, the timing of the AMA combined with the fact that Against Gravity have not even teased another game means that it is almost certain that Rec Room is coming to Quest.

We’ll keep you updated on any further hints or announcements.

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‘Rec Room’ Update Brings Multiplayer Bowling to Social VR App

Rec Room, the social VR app for PSVR, Rift, Vive, and Windows VR headsets, just got an update that a new activity to its list of games and multiplayer adventures. Dubbed ‘Lone Shoe Lanes’, users can get started now on perfecting their virtual bowling form.

Up to six players can bowl at once, the company says in a Steam post, with space in the room for a few observers to watch and chat. Scoring is fully automated, so practically all you have to do is pick up the ball and get playing.

Developers Against Gravity have also included practice lanes so you can play without fear of too much judgement.

The game’s largest update of late brought a multiplayer battle royale-style shooting game, dubbed Rec Royale, to the app, which allows up to 16 players to duke it out on a large summer camp-inspired map. Other games include paintball, 3D charades, and a number of co-op ‘Quests’ that let you battle side-by-side against baddies in a few themed environments.

Check out Rec Room on the following platforms:

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Rec Room Community Hosts The Princess Bride Live Theater

Rec Room Community Hosts The Princess Bride Live Theater

If you add custom songs to Beat Saber, we recently discovered it is possible to play through the entire sword fight at the top of the Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride. Assuming you are a fan of the movie, we recommend modifying Beat Saber to do it because it is so much fun to sword fight with your left hand and then suddenly switch to your right halfway through the fight.

While that is certainly one way to enjoy the The Princess Bride in VR, the Orange Bucket Acting Troupe have built another in Rec Room. The group worked over the course of a year to design an entire stage production of the 1987 film with jokes, props and even music adapted specifically for Rec Room. The Princess Bride A Rec Room Tale is a complete four act production with actors distributed throughout the real world but coming together in VR anyway to perform a stage play based on the well-loved film by Rob Reiner and book by William Goldman.

Here’s one of the most famous scenes of the film as performed in VR:

Rec Room fans should take note of the performance as well since the troupe used Against Gravity’s platform in non-traditional ways to make the production work. At the end of each act, for instance, the audience gets invited as a group to a new room with a new set and props for them to use for the next portion of the performance.

Here’s an 18-minute recording of some of the play’s highlights complete with many of the most memorable parts of the film as adapted for Rec Room.

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Rec Room Hits New Milestones As Title Continues To Grow

The popular virtual reality (VR) social gathering title Rec Room has announced that it has passed another milestone. The title, which allows users to come together within virtual spaces and hangout or play games together, is seeing a steady grow in users following numerous updates. The news came from the titles official Twitter account which revealed that the number of player rooms created and the number of visits has reach new heights.

According to the Tweet, 200,000 player created rooms are now within Rec Room and these have been visited more than 50 million times. These are some very impressive numbers for the title which, at the time of writing has an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ review status on Steam from over 3,000 users. Thanks to allowing users to create their own rooms and build their own stories, Rec Room offers a safe and fun place for anyone to be creative within VR.

Back in May of this year it was also announced that the title would be getting it’s own battle royale game mode called ‘Rec Royale‘ which was later updated to support squads. One of the main positive elements of the title is also that players don’t need a VR headset in order to play, and it is fully cross-platform supported with the PlayStation 4 too. No matter what platform you’re friends are on you can all come together to have some fun in virtual space.

Rec Room screenshot 1

As part of the celebration of hitting these new milestones the Rec Room YouTube channel has been uploading a series of videos to help users learn new ways of creating rooms. This covers the basis of building a room, understanding the settings and a number of more advanced functions which are being covered in future videos. Users can also find community spotlight videos here which share some of the best rooms created with the world.

Rec Room is available now on Steam Early Access and is free to play on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. You can see the most recent trailer for Rec Room below and for all the latest on the title in the further, keep reading VRFocus.

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PSVR’s Dreams Might Make The Metaverse A Reality Sooner Than You Think

A few months ago I said that Dreams could well be PSVR’s most important game on the horizon. Now that I’ve finally had the chance to play just a slither of it, I’m ready to put my money where my mouth is and slam my foot down on the hyperbole pedal; Dreams is the most important PSVR game on the horizon, and maybe the most exciting project in the entire industry right now.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on September 24th, 2018.

Granted, I still haven’t seen it in VR (and there’s much to learn about its integration) but even just the handful of developer-made demos on display on traditional screens at EGX this year were varied and captivating enough to convince me of that statement. Dreams is a 3D world builder; it allows you to create not just your own characters, environments and enemies but also the rules, objectives and mechanics of your game. It simultaneously makes any player a game developer and also an explorer in what is essentially a self-contained metaverse.

Within five minutes of playtime, for example, I’d flown across the stars in a space dogfighting experience, ventured through a gorgeous alien world as an electrified bug and even relived the days of text-based adventuring with a simple callback to a forgotten genre. The breadth of experiences here suggest the creation tools are versatile enough to put real agency in the player’s hands, not just mechanically but emotionally too. A 30-second game in which you try to hug people surrounding you as they back away might not be technically complicated, for example, but it does scratch at the deeper empathetic possibilities of the platform.

Crucially, moreso than any Media Molecule game before it, there’s authenticity to Dreams’ worlds. That alien planet, for example, is filled with lush vegetation, contrasted by huge metal doors that fade away when struck. A 2D platformer, meanwhile, is lovingly applied with a hand-drawn art style that makes it unlike anything else in the collection. The ability to create your own objects using the position-tracked controls of either the DualShock 4 or PlayStation Move controllers lets you create truly unique assets and not just the materialized Frankenstein’s monsters of LittleBigPlanet. No wooden enemy attack dogs moving on wheels can be seen here (unless you want to make them).

If you’re familiar with Tilt Brush, Quill, Medium or other VR creation tools, you’ll know just what’s possible with these kinds of platforms. The thought of pairing that system with an integrated game development engine has my head spinning with possibilities.

Speaking with Media Molecule staff at the show, I was intrigued to learn that the team isn’t hoping to just attract gamers and aspiring developers to this new platform but also musicians and other kinds of artists, too. The team really does see this as a platform launch in its own right, and one that speaks to a wide range of people. Personally, I’m excited to see what can be done on the NPC side of VR. If I’m able to make my very own virtual characters and look and feel convincing, Dreams is going to be something truly special.

The key to Dreams is going to be accessibility, though. If its creation engine is just as complicated as, say, Unity, then what’s the point? I’ve enjoyed messing around with animation options in the likes of Oculus Quill, for example, but they’re ultimately a little too complicated to really empower anyone that puts on the headset. Media Molecule really needs to nail this aspect if Dreams is going to be truly embraced by the VR community.

And then there is, of course, the question of what VR support actually looks like for the game. In the past the developer has made it seem like we’ll be able to create VR-specific content and we’re hoping that’s still the case.  With such potential on display, it’d be a real shame to learn that VR support has been cut back to another smaller tie-in mode as we’ve seen other PSVR titles resort to in the past.

Media Molecule is currently planning to run a beta for Dreams this year, although it likely won’t support PSVR. Hopefully the full release will follow in 2019 with VR support at the ready.

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9 Oculus Rift Apps That Have To Be Ported To Santa Cruz

9 Oculus Rift Apps That Have To Be Ported To Santa Cruz

Yesterday we broke the news that Oculus is tentatively targetting a Q1 2019 release for its Santa Cruz standalone VR headset. The news doesn’t come as too much of a surprise given Oculus’ Rift and Go devices both got early releases in their respective launch years. What did raise eyebrows, though, is the news that the VR specialist is keen to port many of the games that have launched on Rift over the past two years to its new device.

With its sensor-free inside-out tracking, Santa Cruz technically should be almost as capable as the Rift on the tracking front, though there were a few small hiccups when we last tried it at Oculus Connect 4. Spec-wise, though, the headset almost certainly won’t measure up to the high-end PCs that power the Rift, which makes speculating about what games could make their way over an entertaining task.

Below, then, we’ve listed nine Rift apps that we think absolutely must come to Santa Cruz. It would be easy to just repeat our existing list of the best Rift games you can play today, but we’ve taken technical ambition into heavy consideration for this list. We’d love to see Echo Arena on a mobile device, for example, but it feels like too big of an ask (we’d be happy to be wrong of course).

Beat Saber

We recently saw someone on Reddit say that if Santa Cruz has Beat Saber as a launch title then it’s basically going to print money. There probably isn’t a better way to put it; Beat Games’ Star Wars-style rhythm action game is arguably the closest we’ve yet gotten to VR’s killer app, attracting plenty of attention for its lightsaber-fuelled gameplay. It’s so popular that people are even ripping it off with very little effort to conceal it.

The chance to play Beat Saber tether-free is just too tempting to pass up, and would really encourage us to lose ourselves in the music more than ever. Add to that the fact that incoming features like multiplayer and a track editor will be much closer to completion by the time Santa Cruz launch rolls around and this could be the biggest game on the platform.

Blasters of the Universe

If I had to pick a wave shooter to be ported to Santa Cruz (and, let’s be honest, there’s probably plenty of them coming) it would have to be Secret Location’s stylish Saturday morning tribute. Why? Because Blasters of the Universe is as much about dodging as it is attacking. It’s a bullet hell game, which means you need to avoid a steady stream of projectiles being shot right at your face. Can you think of any better test for the headset’s inside-out tracking?

As a showcase of VR’s ability to put you right in the action, Blasters of the Universe is one of the best examples currently out there. With a deep weapon customization system and an endless game mode, there’s more than enough here to keep you entertained and it’s simple enough for anyone to pick up and play.

Apex Construct

We probably wouldn’t have put Apex Construct on this list if it weren’t for the fact that Fast Travel Games showcased a mobile VR version of the game running on Gear VR back at GDC 2018. While the results were promising, Gear’s lack of positional tracking and its 3DOF controller aren’t ideally suited to Apex’s world-spanning adventure. Santa Cruz, though, is the perfect remedy for that.

Apex Construct offers one of that most-requested of things, a full single-player campaign in a VR game that isn’t a wave shooter. It might not be ground-breaking from a design perspective, but its mix of intriguing story and engaging combat lays a great foundation for what to expect in the future, and it’s definitely worth playing in its own right.

Superhot VR

If Beat Saber isn’t VR’s killer app then Superhot VR is next in line. This hugely popular spin-off is a winning mix of time-halting mechanics and VR’s robust tracking options, creating a shooter in which every tiny twist of the head or movement of the hand matters. You have to kill all enemies in a level before they kill you, making for an incredibly tense and expertly-designed experience in which you set the pace.

Superhot might be a little more on the ambitious side of this list, but it’s definitely one of the most essential choices. Nearly two years on from its original release and it still hasn’t been topped in terms of raw excitement and accessibility. There’s still nothing else quite like Superhot VR, and that’s exactly why Santa Cruz needs it so badly.

The Climb

Another more ambitious addition; The Climb remains one of the most visually impressive VR experiences on the Rift. That said, it’s also one of the most popular games on the platform and one of the best to quickly demonstrate VR’s transformative power to put you in an entirely different place leading out an entirely different life.

With that in mind, then, we’d implore Crytek to get to work scaling down the sparkling graphics in order to get an otherwise-simplistic game running on Santa Cruz. Clambering up the sides of mountains and cliffs remains one of the most thrilling and intuitive experiences that you can have in VR. Part of what’s so amazing about The Climb is the simple fact that it works, even when your feet are still rooted to the ground. Santa Cruz is the perfect way to showcase that.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

When we’d go hands-on with Star Trek: Bridge Crew pre-launch Ubisoft would have a four-player setup in one room. Even though we were all meeting in VR, having your friends in the same room really helped enhance the experience, allowing us to communicate with great ease and all sharing in the laughter as we blew up aliens. Sadly, as good as the final release is, bringing four PCs and four VR headsets into the same room with all the necessary sensors just isn’t feasible for many.

On Santa Cruz, though, it most certainly is. We can totally see ourselves heading over to a friend’s house for VR game nights in which we pilot the Enterprise and beam people up. True, we still probably won’t have many friends that buy Santa Cruz, but cross-play support with non-VR platforms and PSVR might make this more of a reality, too. This is one place Santa Cruz boldly needs to go.

Google Earth VR

So far the incredible Google Earth VR has eluded mobile VR platforms, including Google’s own Daydream devices. Santa Cruz really needs to buck that trend, though, because there really isn’t a better way to quickly demonstrate the power of VR that strapping the entire world to their head and letting them explore to their heart’s content.

Google Earth VR allows you to go anywhere, so it’s only right that it comes to a headset that allows you to do the same. Plus, we’d love to see an updated take on the app that perhaps adds some next locations and maybe even integrates without mobile Google VR apps like Street View in some way.

Rec Room

Rec Room is another app that hasn’t made its way to mobile headsets just yet, but with Santa Cruz’s inside-out tracking now is the perfect time to port the best social VR platform out there over. Against Gravity’s ever-expanding platform has made a name for itself as one of the most positive and entertaining places to meet up with people in VR, and it’s time to let anyone get a taste of that.

Rec Room allows you to do anything from play sports to paintball with friends around the world. A VR enthusiast telling their gamer friends that they could be playing dodgeball or taking part in co-op quests if they buy this single piece of VR equipment could be a huge selling point for Santa Cruz. This has to happen.

Onward

We’ll dream just a little for our final entry. Onward is one of the most complete, comprehensive multiplayer VR experiences on Rift, though its relatively simplistic visuals have us hoping we could get at least some form of port onto Santa Cruz. Even if it meant a sacrifice to player count or map size, it’s something that should be considered.

Onward has made a name for itself thanks to its realistic competitive combat that answered a call few other developers were addressing at the time of release. Competition might be stiffer by 2019 but the remarkable work Downpour Interactive has done sustaining the experience thus far has us confident it could thrive on Santa Cruz.

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