For VRFocus’ first videogame lets head back to the start of the year, to a title that quite frankly should be part of every Oculus Rift users library, and that’s the fantastic Robo Recall from Epic Games. For the majority of the time Epic Games grace the pages of VRFocusbecause of the company’s middleware development software, Unreal Engine, which is used by virtual reality (VR) developers around the world. While Epic Games has made plenty of standard PC titles, it had never released a fully fledged VR experience until Robo Recall came along.
Naturally before Robo Recall was launched Epic Games had tried out a multitude of different ideas, with a public tech demo coming in the form of Bullet Train. This laid the groundwork for what would become Robo Recall, a frantic first-person shooter (FPS) that encourages players to mix and match between ranged and melee combat.
There are a few simple reasons why Robo Recall should be downloaded as soon as you have an Oculus Rift. The first is easy, it’s a AAA quality title that’s free. Yeah, it’s free, you pay nothing for Epic Games’ first VR experience – which is exclusive to Oculus Rift. Then there’s the fact that it was well received by the industry and press. VRFocusreviewed it for launch day back in March, giving it a full five stars, saying: “Robo Recall elicits such a high standard that future FPS titles will be measured by it, and should be considered a killer app for Oculus Touch.”
Set in a world where robots are part of everyday life, something goes wrong and they all start going on a destructive rampage. So its down to you to bring order to this chaos by unleashing some violent payback of your own. Specifically designed for the Oculus Touch, players can dual wield pistols, shotguns, revolvers, or just as easily get up close to rip a robots arm off and batter it into submission.
There are three main areas to play through, each divided into further subsections. The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible with the enemies or time available to you. So while you can just shoot them in the face and move on, that won’t really up the multiplier that much. So instead you have to get creative for those highscores. Mix and match between weapons, juggle enemies in the air with well timed shots, take out one robot with another’s head and so on.
Teleportation is the movement of choice in Robo Recall. While certainly not the favourite choice for experienced VR players, it means that anyone can dive right in without having to worry about any VR nausea. When the title first arrived it only supported Oculus Touch’s two sensor setup that comes supplied in the box. That was updated at the end of March so that players who’ve bought a third sensor could enjoy full 360-degree tracking.
And lets not forget about community mod support. The studio actively encourages modders to play and tinker with the videogame, creating new options to further enhance Robo Recall. Epic Games hasreleased several mods with community ones including a Star Wars theme.
So, you’ve either got your hands on an Oculus Rift or an Oculus Quest with the help of Link, and now you want to know what to download first (besides the free stuff). Here’s our breakdown of the top 10 Rift platform games that you should definitely play. Like right now.
Before we start, don’t forget that your Rift (and Quest with Link) also works with compatible games purchased through Steam. Thanks to Valve’s open SteamVR platform and OpenVR APIs, Steam supports HTC Vive, Windows VR, Valve Index, and Oculus Rift equally, so you can shop around for even more titles that aren’t published on the Oculus Store provided the developer enabled support.
HTC Vive owners can play all of these too with the help of Revive, a software hack that hooks Vive into Oculus Store exclusives. Without further ado, these are our top 10 Rift games in no particular order.
The 10 Best Oculus Rift Games
Stormland
From Insomniac Games comes the open-world adventure Stormland, a real study in good shooting mechanics, excellent locomotion schemes, and not to mention a two-player co-op mode so you and a Rift/Quest-owning buddy can battle all the evil robots the cloud-filled world has to offer. Half of the fun is picking your combat tactics; are you a silent killer, ripping out an unsuspecting enemy’s heath pack and skitter away to safety, or are you the ‘jump from a 200-foot tower like Deadpool’ kind of person with reckless abandon? It’s up to you!
Check out why we gave Stormlanda [9/10] in our review.
Asgard’s Wrath
I don’t know about you, but being a Viking god was always on my list of things to do before leaving this world for Valhalla. It just so happens that Sanzaru Games has produced one of the best VR games to date, as this melee combat adventure has so much story, combat, dungeon crawling, and looting that you’ll easily invest 20 hours on the low side, but come back for at least 40 to get everything out of what has turned out to be one of the funnest and most well-realized VR titles to date
Here we have two halves of the same zero-G coin: first-person action-adventure game Lone Echo (2017) and it’s multiplayer counterpart Echo Arena (2017). As impressive feats of engineering in their own rights, both games feature an undoubtedly comfortable zero-G locomotion system that lets you fly through the air without the slightest hint of motion sickness.
Lone Echo is the sort of cinematic sci-fi narrative that engages the player with its excellent voice acting, impressive visuals, and a deep and memorable story. Combined with its innovative locomotion system, it’s truly a gem of a game worth playing—if only to say you’ve been to the edge of the Universe and back. Check out why we gave Lone Echoa solid [9/10] in our review.
Where Lone Echo isplodding and tactful in its storytelling, Echo VR amps up the speed, throwing you in an online team sport that’s a fun mix of soccer and ultimate Frisbee… in space. The best part? It’s free to own permanently. Echo Combat, the first-person shooter expansion to Echo VR, isn’t here yet, but it’s also shown that the high-flying, zero-G locomotion mechanic is definitely suited to other game genres.
Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Series
This three-part Star Wars cinematic experience arrives from ILMxLabs, Lucas Films’ skunkworks which is known for having churned out some of the highest-quality immersive content to date.
Vader Immortal is more of a VR ‘experience’ than it is a outright game, presenting the user with a 45-minute adventure for each episode, however each comes with its own game area that lets you practice all of your Jedi skills in what’s called the ‘Lightsaber Dojo’. In other, less capable hands, this would be a hokey add-on, but here it actually works and makes sense. All in all, it definitely deserves to be on the list however you slice it.
Beat Saber
Created by Prague-based indie team Beat Studio, 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 a mess of songs to play, each with four difficulty levels to master, the highest being expert which will have you feeling like a 21st century techno-Jedi.
If you haven’t played the PC or console version of SUPERHOT (2016) before, get ready for a new take on the FPS genre with its strategy-based shooting missions. Designed from the ground-up for VR headsets, SUPERHOT VR (2016) is an entirely separate 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.
People used to think that fast-paced, high-action games would be too disorienting for new virtual reality users, but in Epic Games’ Robo Recall (2017), you can teleport around at full speed as you blast away at the game’s evil (and hilarious) robot army. If being able to tear your enemies literally limb from limb and beat a robot over the head with their own dismembered arm isn’t astounding enough, the level of detail and polish put into this game will make you reassess what’s possible in VR.
Find out why we gave Robo Recall [8.5/10] in our review.
Trover Saves the Universe
From the co-creator of Rick and Morty comes the 3D platformer Trover Saves the Universe. Your dogs have been dognapped by a beaked lunatic who stuffed them into his eye holes and is using their life essence to destroy the universe. You’re partnered with Trover, a little purple eye-hole monster who isn’t a huge fan of working or being put in the position of having to save the universe.
We haven’t had a chance to review Trover Saves the Universe, although it’s currently sitting at a very respectable [4.76/5] on the Oculus Store.
I Expect You to Die
Schell Games has only just pushed out the last DLC installment of the hit spy-themed puzzler I Expect You to Die (2016). It’s on basically every platform now, and for good reason: it’s incredibly clever, well-built, and easy enough to pick up while being hard enough not to want to put down.
I Expect You to Die is currently sitting at a good [4.66/5] on the Oculus Store.
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.
See why we gave it a [7.9/10] in our review on PSVR.
Honorable Mentions
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR: While not an Oculus Store game, Bethesda’s Steam version of Skyrim VR fully supports Oculus Rift, letting you engage in multiple tens of hours of exploring the beautifully realized open world environment. What else is there to say? It’s Skyrim in VR.
No Man’s Sky: Unlike Skyrim VR, this is a free update to the game, which you can grab on Steam. It’s a bit flawed, but it’s an infinite galaxy of opportunities, so it always has that going for it.
Job Simulator: Tongue in cheek madness as you enter a far off future where robots rule the world, and consequently also have no idea how the past actually was. Smash stuff. Silly Robots. Hilarity ensues.
Vacation Simulator: Owlchemy Labs’s followup to Job Simulator. More story, a more open environment to traverse (albeit node teleportation) and a ton of vacation-style activities to explore and play. Arguably better than the first.
Arizona Sunshine: Offering you a chance to explore, collect real-world guns and indiscriminately shoot them at every moving thing (in this case zombies), Arizona Sunshine fills a very special place in many people’s hearts. The story mode does offer some thrills, but isn’t really groundbreaking as such.
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 Mage’s Tale: Touch – 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.
DiRT Rally: Gamepad/steering wheel – Driving through the forest with a beer in your hand isn’t ok…in reality. But in DiRT Rally you’ll need all the soothing ethanol you can get as you stomach the twists and turns of an exciting car simulator, that while rated ‘intense’ on the Oculus Store, is ultimately a fun and exciting way to burn some time perfecting your Initial D drifting skills. Ok. Better leave out the alcohol anyway.
Edge of Nowhere (2016) Gamepad – A third-person VR survival horror game created by Insomniac Games that strands you in the icy wasteland of Antarctica, Edge of Nowhere leaves you with only a pick-axe, a shotgun, and some rocks to defend yourself against a bloodthirsty ancient species that lurk inside the snowy caverns.
Chronos (2016): Gamepad – A third-person adventure by Gunfire Games, Chronos will have you slashing at enemies with the long-trained penchant for beat-em-ups will get you exactly nowhere in this Zelda-inspired, Dark Souls-ish-level of difficulty game where dying in the game physically ages your character.
If the list doesn’t have the game you’ve been eyeing for months, definitely check out our reviews for some more gaming greats on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PSVR.
Update (November 19th, 2019): We’ve done a long-due overhaul of the list, expanding it from five to 10 games. We’ve also done away with the ranking system. If you’re looking for a more quantified list by user review rankings, check out The Top 20 Best & Most Rated Rift Games & Apps.
Cutting edge electronics tends to be on the pricey side upon first release. Mobile phones, DVD players and videogame consoles have all been subject to the same pattern. As the technology becomes more mainstream, the price lowers, as was the case when Oculus dropped the price of the Oculus Rift headset and the Oculus Touch motion controllers.
As a result of the price drop, Paul Jastrzebski told developers at Digital Dragons in Krakow that almost every consumer who buys a new Oculus Rift headset is also buying a set of Touch controllers since the price was cut, reports Destructoid.
“We’re seeing very very high attach rates. That’s partly why we wanted to drop the price point. We realize that at $200, it was still a little high for it. So we drop the price to $99 and I think we’ve found a very close 1:1. Close to that,” Jastrzebski said.
During the presentation, Jastrzebski was encouraging the assembled developers to concentrate on developing virtual reality (VR) titles using the Touch as the primary control device, instead of a gamepad. It is generally believed among analysts that motion controllers paired with VR is more intuitive and creates a greater sense of immersion. Jastrzebski spoke at length on what consumers are now expecting from a VR experience and what Oculus is looking for from developers.
Many apps and experiences have introduced support for the Oculus Touch controllers since the devices were launched, and users who bought the Oculus Touch were treated to a free copy of shooter title Robo Recall and $50 (USD) store credit. There is currently no data on adoption rates of the Touch controllers among existing Oculus Rift users, however.
VRFocus will continue to bring you news on developments within the VR industry.
If you own Oculus Touch then one title that should definitely be in your library is Epic Games’ Robo Recall – its free and VRFocusgave it 5-stars – but it didn’t meet the needs of every gamer worldwide due to language restrictions. So the studio is rectifying that today by releasing an update to support four more languages.
The new localization update for Robo Recall adds custom voice over in German, Spanish, French and Korean alongside translated UI, menu and other graphic elements, such as the in-game Holo table and scoring events.
“Players have been blowing up the Robo Recall leaderboards since launch and we are now excited to see a localized version released for even more players in European and Asian markets,” said Epic Games producer Tommy Jacob in a statement.
Since Robo Recall launched on Oculus Rift back in March the title has seen several updates, with the largest being at the end of that month with 360-degree tracking added alongside other tweaks and improvements. Epic Games also ensured the videogame was open to community modding, so that fans or other developers could added their own flair to the experience – naturally a Star Wars mod has already appeared.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Epic Games and Robo Recall, reporting back with any further updates.
On March 1st of this year, we reviewed Oculus’ and Epic Games’ Robo Recall on the Rift with a score of 7.5. We defined it as a fun and frantic shooter that expertly showcases the potential of the Oculus Touch controllers (the game comes free with their purchase) only truly hindered by a high degree of repetition. It continues to receive support since launch and, in a pretty big move, Epic Games is adding localization for other non-English speaking markets.
In the press release for the announcement, game producer Tommy Jacob says “players have been blowing up the Robo Recall leaderboards since launch”. Localization for Korean, German, Spanish, and French players will welcome and hopefully inspire new players in the regions to throw their hats into the ring and try to dethrone top players. The translations will include both spoken dialog with characters as well as written text.
The virtual headsets and the software ecosystem both continue to try to find their identity as interest expands in their limited markets, so localization efforts are few and far between to areas without a substantial VR market. It’s encouraging to see Robo Recall get an update such as this and, with things like fan-made mods coupled with continued developer support, VR software moves ever closer to providing the full PC gaming experience end to end.
Content is king. That’s the truism we’ve come to learn from decades of hardware success stories and near-equal amounts of failures. Virtual reality (VR) may yet be waiting to find its ‘killer app’, but there’s still plenty to be excited about. A swathe of videogames, 360 degree videos, healthcare and education applications are already available for both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, but which is the head-mounted display (HMD) that will offer the most content that appeals to you?
Hacks and mods aside, the Oculus Rift has access to content via Oculus VR’s proprietary storefront, Oculus Home, as well as Steam. HTC Vive has Steam and the lesser-used Viveport, but of course not every title is available for both HMDs. There’s free content, demo content and paid content; Early Access and experimental content; ‘experiences’ and videogames. All of which combined makes a compelling argument for each format.
Free Games for Oculus Rift
VRFocus has previously offered up a guide to the best free Oculus Rift videogames; however this was published prior to the launch of Robo Recall. Epic Games’ robot-smashing first-person shooter (FPS) has taken the VR community by storm, and the recent 360 degree update just pushes the bar even higher. Future FPS titles in VR now have a standard to achieve, if not excel beyond, and the difficulty for developers is even greater when realising that Robo Recall is free for all owners of an Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch.
Free Games for HTC Vive
The HTC Vive also has a large variety of free content available, but ‘free’ doesn’t always mean ‘good’. This is an argument that can’t be levelled at The Lab however; Valve’s launch title for the HTC Vive which continues to provide a thrilling VR experience a year after release. Essentially a mini-game collection set in the Portal universe, The Lab can be taken as a whole piece or enjoyed as one-off challenges; ideal for showcasing the capabilities to newcomers. Each of the mini-games is instinctive: fire a bow-and-arrow; launch a catapult; throw a stick. It’s hardly high-octane action, but The Lab remains a highly impressive VR title.
360 Degree Video on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
Right now, there’s little to choose between the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in terms of video content. Both have a variety of applications – Within, Jaunt, Littlstar, etc. – offering both shared and exclusive content, and both have a selection of 360 video content offered as unique products such as Penrose Studios’ The Rose and I. The difference, of course, comes down to Oculus VR’s own internal production team at Oculus Story Studio. Lost and Henry made waves some time ago, but the recently released Dear Angelica that has truly impressed.
Industry Application for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
Oculus VR has been courting enterprise, education, healthcare and more for some time. The HTC Vive however, while it has a significant amount of applications already available outside of entertainment – most noticeably in real estate thanks to its roomscale technology – has largely been left to the guile of the independent development community. More is to come, that’s for sure, but right now you’d be hard pressed to bet against the Oculus Rift for content outside of the entertainment sector.
It has been noted multiple times that graphics are important for virtual reality (VR) videogame experiences. Not just in terms of impressing VR users with amazing visuals, but also in terms of reducing the unfortunate side-effects such as motion sickness and dizziness experienced by some users. The team working at AMD feel that the time has come to change how graphics rendering works for VR.
Gilbert Leung, Technical Marketing Specialist at Radeon presented a short video displaying the advantages of a technique called Forward Rendering when applied to VR titles. Leung demonstrated how the new forward rendering technology can improve the VR experience by setting up two identical PC rigs, one running Robo Recall with traditional deferred rendering, while the other was running the same game with the new Forward Rendering path.
Deferred rendering works by first completing the complex geometry calculations before going back and shading the pixels. This is how many current VR games running on Unreal Engine 4 render the graphics. Forward rendering works by compromise, allowing developers much more choice in how the graphics are rendered for VR which allows for higher framerates, essential for VR experiences. The rig running forward rendering was running at 90fps, as opposed to the deferred rendering which was running at 60fps.
While deferred rendering can produce some impressive visuals, it does not tend to play well with others, creating problems when trying to apply post-process anti-aliasing techniques. Forward rendering enables those techniques to be applied, increasing graphical fidelity and improving the experience for VR users.
“AMD has been on a continuous mission to make VR accessible to as many people as possible, and Epic’s forward rendering path in Unreal Engine 4 is a big step in that journey,” said Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “Anyone who has experienced Epic’s Robo Recall will immediately attest to the benefit of forward rendering in VR. We are working with VR developers to explore the benefits of forward rendering, which can result in beautiful, high-performing games on Radeon graphics.”
You can watch the Forward Rendering demonstration video below.
VRFocus will continue to bring you news on developments in VR technology.
This year with be the ninth year of the East Coast Game Conference, also known as ECGC. In 2016 the conference introduced a new programme track for virtual reality (VR), along with a specific ‘VR Villiage’ area for VR technology on the Expo floor. The VR village is returning in 2017, and Epic Games will be there.
Epic Games will be hosting no less than three stations where attendees will be able to try robot-smashing shooter Robo Recall, which came out for the Oculus Touch earlier this year.
The studio will also be bringing two Unreal Engine 4 demo stations along with members of the support and development team who will be available to answer questions.
The developers at Epic Games will also be leading several talks as part of the ‘Unreal Theatre’ sessions. Talks will be scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, April 19th
Stylized Character Creation in UE4 Mobile Games
Led by Jeremy Ernst, Lead Technical Animator
Finding Your First Gig: Students, Recent Grads, & Getting into the Games Industry
Led by Emily Gabrian, Sr. Recruiter
Building Better Pipelines for Unreal Engine 4
Led by Sam Deiter, Sr. Technical Writer
Building Robo Recall Mods with Blueprints
Led by Zak Parrish, Sr. Dev Rel Technical Artist
Thursday, April 20th
Getting Started with VR in UE4
Led by Andrew Hurley, Support Technician
Animation Blending Concepts
Led by Wes Bunn, Sr. Technical Writer
Finding Your Dream Job: Pro Tips for Applying at Epic at any Level
Led by Emily Gabrian, Sr. Recruiter
Making Physics-Based Mayhem
Led by Alan Noon, Sr. Dev Rel Technical Artist
The East Coast Games Conference will run from 18th – 20th April 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Centre. Further information is available at the ECGC website.
VRFocus will continue to keep you informed on VR events and conferences.
It’s been a busy week for virtual reality (VR) and a bit of a party week as well. VRFocus video correspondent Nina Salomons steps out of the ongoing EVE Fanfest to bring you the lowdown on all the big stories of the last seven days for this week’s edition of VRTV. Which includes details of a certain brooding billionaire playboy slipping the confines of the PlayStation VR to bring vigilante justice to PC VR.
Both Star Wars and Star Trek fans have had something VR to celebrate this week as well, although one is decidedly more official than the other. PlayStation VR has had a number of releases confirmed and there’s also a new haptic vest is being released for VR player from D&E Tech. How comfortable would you be with being able to feel bullets and explosions though?
Der Virtual Reality First-Person-Shooter Robo Recall ist schon dank seiner großartigen Grafik und dem gelungenen Gameplay spielenswert. Zusätzlich steht hinter dem Spiel eine aktive Community, die ständig neue Mods kreiert. Einer dieser Mods ist wirklich einzigartig, denn er bringt die Lichtschwerter aus Star Wars direkt ins Spiel. Und wer wollte sich nicht immer schon wie ein Jedi beim Kampf gegen Droiden fühlen?
Fühlt euch wie ein Jedi durch die aktive Modder-Community
Die Entwickler Epic Games geben den Spielern die freie Möglichkeit Mods zu erstellen. Dafür stellen sie das notwendige Mod-Kit frei zur Verfügung. Der Modder tonsta31 von MGS Studios lies sich diese Gelegenheit nicht entgehen und veröffentlichte seinen Star-Wars-Mod im Oculus Forum bereits vor einem Monat. Seit dem wurde dieser regelmäßig verbessert und erhielt Updates. Durch den Mod kann man die Lichtschwerter als normale Waffen nutzen und damit zusätzlich Blasterschüsse, wie in den Filmen zurückstoßen. Zukünftig wird man auch in der Lage seine Machtfähigkeiten einzusetzen. Diese sind bereits implementiert, können jedoch noch nicht genutzt werden. Das sorgt für ein authentisches Jedi-Gefühl. Wie das Ganze aussieht, wird in folgendem Video gezeigt:
Eigentlich entstand der Mod aus Spaß durch die Herausforderung eines Freundes. Jedoch arbeitete der Modder nach eigener Aussage über 20 Stunden daran. Dabei verbesserte er die Visualisierung und die authentische Nutzung der Lichtschwerter, die Soundeffekte, sowie die künstliche Intelligenz der Gegner. Weitere Bots wie Darth Vader sind zudem bereits in Arbeit.
Dieser und weitere Mods stehen kostenlos im Oculus Forum zum Download zur Verfügung. Jeder Star-Wars-Fan sollte diese Gelegenheit nutzen und den Mod ausprobieren. Es wird nicht lange dauern, bis weitere Modder Skins für Droiden oder Sturmtruppen basteln, um das Star-Wars-Gefühl noch lebendiger zu machen. Darauf dürfen wir uns freuen. Möge die Macht mit euch sein.
360 Degree Video on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
Industry Application for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive
