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15 Best Oculus Go VR Horror Games And Experiences

15 Best Oculus Go VR Horror Games And Experiences

With Halloween right around the corner next week, we felt like it was time to start rounding up some of the very best VR horror games and experiences out there. While many of the absolute best VR games are relegated to more powerful devices, such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or PSVR, mobile-based headsets like the Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Google Daydream.

For this list we’re focusing primarily on apps and experiences that can be accessed from an Oculus Go standalone VR headset. You can read our full review of the device here (we like it a lot) as well as our big list of 30 great games and apps worth checking out here.

The following experiences are all listed in alphabetical order:

Affected: The Manor

Price: $2.99 (Store) (Our Review)

If you want to be terrified or, better yet, you want to terrify a friend while you watch safely from the couch, Affected: The Manor is an excellent choice. It’s use of sound and clever scripting are superb for any VR horror title, mobile or not, and its visuals are another example of just how good a Go game can look. It’s light on gameplay and very short, but excellent as a one-off horror experience.

Cursed Night: The House

Price: $4.99 (Store)

If you’re after some cheap and easy jump scares, then this is always a good option. It’s one of the quickest to get into so if you’re showing the Oculus Go to family this Halloween, this is a solid choice. The tension and build up is very well done, but it’s not the most visually impressive.

Dark Corner

Price: Free (Optional Paid Content) (Store)

Miss the days of sitting around a campfire, telling scary stories with friends? Then Dark Corner may just be what you’re after. It’s sort of like a repository for spooky 360 videos and other experiences that can all be accessed from a single, central hub-like interface.

Dark Days

Price: $7.99 (Store) (Our Review)

Dark Days does a lot of things right and provides an interesting world full of thrills and mystery to keep you uncovering secrets until the end. Visually, it leaves a bit to be desired, but it accomplishes a lot for being on the limited Go platform. While the main character can feel a little annoying at times, you’ll grow to love her wit and charm as the adventure carries on. Prepare for a generous helping of jumps and scares though, as this isn’t for the faint of heart.

Dead Secret and Dead Secret Circle

Price: $9.99/$14.99/$16.99 (Store for Two-Game Bundle)

Described as “slow-burn psychological horror” the Dead Secret games feel like they could have been ripped right out of the mind of David Lynch or pre-Dark Knight Christopher Nolan. Part murder mystery and part sadistic fight for survival, these are two VR thrillers that you can easily sink several hours into each to uncover all of the secrets.

Doors of Silence: The Prologue

Price: $4.99 (Store)

Visually, this might very well be the best looking VR horror game on Oculus Go, period. Environments are incredibly detailed and hand-crafted using Unreal Engine 4. The entire experience isn’t very long and it’s just the intro to something much larger still in development, but it definitely makes you feel like you’re waking up inside of a nightmare. Also, yes, there are jump scares.

Dreadhalls

Price: $4.99 (Store)

Have you ever thought about how terrifying it would be to be trapped inside of a maze, in the dark, with no idea where to go? That’s basically Dreadhalls. The dungeon itself is procedurally generated so it’s never the same layout twice and it’s up to you to find your way out and survive.

Drop Dead

Price: $9.99 (Store) (Our Review)

Most of the games on this list are slow-paced and all about building up tension to really scare you down to your core. Drop Dead isn’t like that. Instead, this is a fast-paced zombie wave shooter, similar to the House of the Dead arcade games, that probably won’t scare you much, but is a fun and simple way to blow up zombie brains. It’s even got co-op too if you’d like to play with a friend.

Face Your Fears

Price: Free (Store)

Designed to be perhaps the ultimate intro-to-VR horror-themed experience out there, Face Your Fears is just excellent. In this game you play through a variety of scenarios that are each designed to trigger different types of fear you might have, meaning there is surely something here for everyone. And it’s all for free!

Five Nights at Freddy’s 360 Video

Price: Free (Find On YouTube or Via Oculus Browser)

Five Nights at Freddy’s is one of the biggest and most successful indie game franchises on the planet and it spawned a whole slew of product lines beyond the game itself. For those unaware, you basically watch security camera footage to see if/when the mechanical Chuck E. Cheese-type creatures start moving. It’s extremely unsettling and creepy and now this 360 video brings that horror to VR.

The Nun: Escape the Abbey 360 Video

Price: Free (Find On YouTube or Via Oculus Browser) (Our Coverage)

The Nun released to a mixed reception at the box office, but this short little VR teaser is worth giving a watch. It’s very, very short and doesn’t have any interaction at all, but it all builds up to one big jump scare at the end that is definitely scream-worthy. The atmosphere is extremely chilling.

Play With Me

Price: Free (Store)

Part escape room and part twisted clown-focused nightmare, Play With Me is a brief little VR horror experience for Oculus Go. You mostly just explore a house and try to find your way out with some minor puzzles along the way. However, the few jump scares are good and it’s totally free.

Rise of Insanity I and II

Price: $3.99 Each (Part I Store and Part II Store)

Inspired in part by The Shining, The Exorcist, and Silent Hill, Rise of Insanity is a psychological horror experience that has to be experienced to be fully understood. It’s set during the 70s in America about a doctor and his mentally-plagued patient. Both parts are great and build upon one another so they should be played in the correct order.

Silent Hill 360 Video

Price: Free (Find On YouTube or Via Oculus Browser)

Unfortunately this is not an actual official Silent Hill production and it’s not related to P.T., although that’s where a lot of its influences undoubtedly come from. It’s a free, brief 360 video that you can pull up inside of your Oculus Go’s browser easily to stream. It’s not interactive like a full VR game is, but it’s still full of spookiness.

Sisters: A VR Ghost Story

Price: Free (Store)

Sisters has been around for quite sometime now, dating back to even before consumer VR headsets actually hit the market. It’s a short, but extremely creepy horror story focused on dolls and small children which, if you’re anything like me, is more than enough to send chills down your spine.

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Accidents and Injuries in VR – The Best & Worst of the VRFocus Team

With today being the dreaded April Fools Day, a barrage of ‘jokes’ designed to keep journalists on their toes in sometimes not obvious ways, VRFocus has decided to look at something a little more lighthearted: the accidents suffered by the team at the hands of virtual reality (VR) blindness. From damaged property to personal affliction, each member of the team has suffered in many ways through the passion to bring you the latest and greatest within the industry.

VR has the capability to accomplish a great deal. More than just entertainment, there are use cases across all manner of different industries including enterprise, education, healthcare and more. However, there are also pitfalls to the technology, arguably leading with blindness from the real world. Here’s the best and worst that has happened to the VRFocus team while immersed in all manner of videogames and experiences.

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The Death of a Carpet

During a particularly intense quest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR late last year, working hard on delivering the ‘My Life as an Adventurer‘ series over the holiday season, I found myself vigorously attacking a dragon with both magic and an equipped short sword. Two arms flying, I wasn’t even aware I had made contact with a refreshing glass of cola flavoured beverage resting upon my desk. It was a good 30 minutes later before I removed the head-mounted display (HMD), and discovered the black sticky contents of the glass had been dispersed across the floor, forever claiming its trophy upon my cream carpet. No amount of scrubbing could save this casualty of VR war.

– Kevin Joyce, CEO/Editor, VRFocus.

samsung gear vr most innovative companies of 2015

Friendly Fire

Ah, accidents. We’ve all seen, and, let’s admit, taken varying degrees of glee in, footage of Victor Vive-User, Rachel Rift-Wearer and Peter PlayStation falling over themselves, running smack bang into a wall, or hurling their controller through their fancy new television while screaming their lungs out. But let’s be equally honest in that when it’s someone we know who is trying VR for the first time it is a great experience to watch and see them enjoy it.

That said you want to make sure it remains such and incidents like those often play on your mind.

I often used the VRFocus Gear VR to ‘initiate’ newcomers into immersive technology. With I might add, had an 100% rating of “this is awesome”. One such instance was when I was showing one of my best friends what VR could be like. We were at my house and conscious of the possibility of him hurting himself (as well as damaging my nice new television) we moved the furniture to make room and I kept a sort of watchful eye as he stood so he wouldn’t go backwards into the table behind him.

I forget what experience it was but it was some sort of horror title, perhaps Sisters. Creepy goings on were happening in any case. My friend was not scared however, in fact he was laughing.

“Oh. Hello!” He said cheerily to what I can only assume was an embodiment of imminent death and dismemberment. “You alright there? Yeah?” There was much laughter at his cool, couldn’t care less demeanour. Things wrapped up and I moved in to help him off with the headset and th-WHAM!

I staggered a pace backwards. I’d just been hit by a rocket uppercut, straight to the jaw. My friend having seen something had gestured wildly and unexpected me and socked me one. It was so quick I wasn’t even sure what had happened at first. Weirder still my friend did not realise what he’d done. Nor somehow did my other friend, who was watching this all intently from the front, apparently see what happened either.

Slightly stunned, I’d just been unwittingly sucker punched after all, I put the headset down and

“So.” I said, in between flexing my jaw in the way people do when they’re trying to get it to ‘settle’. “Enjoy the experience?”

“Yeah, great.” He replied.

“Good!” I exclaimed happily before thinking I’d hate to think what would’ve happened if he hadn’t!

– Kevin Eva, Digital Content Manager, VRFocus.

Isn’t Teleportation Real?

I spend a lot of time in VR, tending to be the main reviewer for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift titles. For all the videogames I’ve played, whether at home or at an event, I’ve never once properly injured myself or anyone else for that matter. Sure I’ve whacked a wall of two, wandered into a table, or seen a mate crumple to the floor scared shitless, but that’s yet to occur to me – which still surprises me.

However, I’m not completely immune to the powers of VR and its mystical ways. After a particularly long reviewing session I decided that some fresh air, sustenance and a proper leg stretch was in order so I decided to pop down to my local supermarket to grab some food. Stepping into the shop the bright, piercing, florescent lights seemed most dazzling but that wasn’t the issue. Standing at one end of one of those long refrigerated aisles I realised I had a yearning for sausages – about halfway up the aisle – so I turned and then wondered why couldn’t reach the delicious, pork filled food.

Well because I’d spent so much time teleporting around virtual worlds in VR, in that one moment, the briefest of seconds, I thought I could just teleport over (or more accurately had). Call it delirium if you want, but after realising the fact, my main disappointment was that I wasn’t any closer and now needed to walk on over. It’s never happened again – probably because I use smooth locomotion a lot more – but I’ll always have that moment where I though I could teleport my way out of hunger.

– Peter Graham, Senior Staff Writer, VRFocus.

Polybius screenshot 2

An Acid Trip Without The Acid

I’ve been fairly lucky in my VR escapades so far. Up until reasonably recently, my main VR device was the PlayStation VR, and my set-up and the configuration of my living room mostly precludes any seriously wire-related mishaps, as does my habit of using the cable as a orientation aid (as I’ve discussed previously). That said, I did make one mistake early in my days of using VR. I decided it would be an superb idea to spent a good few hours engaged in playing Llamasoft’s excellent trance-shooter, Polybius. I emerged from that surreal neon landscape feeling like I had been on a days-long bender.

I could smell colours. Gravity was sideways. Every light source seemed to have a faint pulsing glow around it. Recognising the symptoms of an imminent migraine, I crawled off to spend some time having a nice lie down in a dark room.

– Rebecca Hills-Duty, Staff Writer, VRFocus.

Losing the VR Umbilical Cord & Female Problems

If you’ve watched any of VRFocus‘ videos where I’m seen demoing a VR videogame, experience or even MR – I’ve cut away all the embarrassing parts. Some of you may have caught the real Nina in a blooper reel done after Gamescom but it is in general a hazard.

I am well known for rolling or crawling across the floor with a headset on and backpack strapped on my back to test the tracking of the headset in a space. I’ve done so with the Oculus Santa Cruz, StarVR and various other out-of-home VR setups that use Optitrack to locate players in a space. What I’ve often found with these untethered experiences is that I’m often found floating around – and when the digital and real world don’t quite match up, I end up walking into a wall or bashing my controller against something as demonstrated in the image below. Future untethered VR will definitely have to have some instructions and soft cushioning that comes in the boxes!

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Another one which quite surprised me was being unable to use the Go Touch VR attachments to my fingers and feel haptic feedback. This was because my fingernails were too long. I might be a rare breed of females playing VR with long fingernails, but that was a first. I certainly wasn’t going to go and find a nailcutter and cut my nails whilst running around the show floor! Something to bear in mind for all developers and engineers out there.

Though this isn’t exactly a cause for injury – for anybody who loves their hair, has big hair or doesn’t like looking dishevelled (especially when you have to stand in-front of the camera for a living); a few pointers. Never wear a ponytail (or style a whole outfit with the ponytail), it’s just not going to happen. Even with the HTC Vive’s audio deluxe headstrap, expect to take your beautiful ponytail out in order to have the headset sit comfortably on your head for the experience. Secondly, it’s advisable to put your hair in a braid of some kind. This is more relevant for the long periods of being in VR, because the moment you take it off – your hair can get entangled. Nobody likes their hair being pulled out.

– Nina Salomons, Video Content Producer, VRFocus.

 

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PSVR Gaming Bundle ‘HeroCade’ Available This Month in Europe, Australia & New Zealand

HeroCade is a compilation of nine VR games for PlayStationVR, and while it’s already been out in North America since earlier this year, European countries will finally able to buy the cheap and cheerful game pack this month, which features a number of VR favorites previously available only Samsung Gear VR and PC VR platforms.

Launching in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on September 26th, HeroCade offers and interesting mix of genres, recalling memories of the old PlayStation demo discs from the PS1 era. Dreadhalls alone is definitely worth the €12 price tag (or regional equivalent), making for an easy buy for anyone looking for a swath of games with at least one surefire winner in the bunch.

image courtesy Lucid Sight

HeroCade Games

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Dreadhalls and Eight Other PSVR Games Release April 18th in HeroCade Bundle

Dreadhalls and Eight Other PSVR Games Release April 18th in HeroCade Bundle

When we first found out about HeroCade it seemed like the price to value ratio was perhaps too good to be true. Nine PlayStation VR (PSVR) games for $15 sounded ridiculous, but it turned out to be very much real. And now we know for sure that this coming April 18th, the full pack of all nine games, including two well-made horror games in the form of Dreadhalls and Sisters, as well as seven titles from Lucid Sight by way of PolyRunner VR, 405 Road Rage, Zombie Strike, Space Bit Attack, Gumi No Yumi, Alpha Turkey Hunt, and Jurassic Survival.

Interestingly, HeroCade is trying to also offer more than just a simple hub to access these nine standalone titles. According to a prepared statement from the company, “HeroCade is more than just a simple bundle. Rather than a hub where players select unrelated titles, HeroCade presents players with an underlying narrative––a mystery to solve. The titles of HeroCade may feature intuitive controls that make playing easy to learn, but only the dedicated will climb the universal scoreboard and unlock a history long forgotten.”

For more information about HeroCade you can check out the official website. The entire bundle will be available digitally on April 18th for PSVR for $15. We’ll have a full review of the bundle leading upt to launch.

What do you think of this strategy? Do you think packaging several smaller games together is a good approach for VR content? Let us know in the comments below!

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