Time-traveling VR adventure Wanderer (2022) is getting a remake, called Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate, although you might have missed at the end of the most recent trailer that developers Mighty Eyes just announced there’s a sequel currently in development too.
Not much is known about the newly announced sequel, Wanderer 2: The Seas of Fortune, however the studio promises to bring a brand new collection of adventures centered around ages with swordfights, ship battles, and pirates, bringing us to the time of black flag-flying buccaneers.
On screen is a single shot of a pirate flag, with the subtitle ‘Davis Cove, Jamaica, 1750,’ pointing to the country’s time as a British colony and waning period of the Golden Age of Piracy.
— Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate Coming 2024 (@wanderervr) February 22, 2024
Coming just two years since the release of the original, remake Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate promises a few things beyond the original, including full body avatars, more platforming opportunities, a combat system, and new levels. Notably, the game has been overhauled to finally arrive on Quest, Pico and PSVR 2, landing on those platforms June 27th, 2024.
Although Mighty Eyes hasn’t said as much, that means we could be looking forward to a broad launch of the sequel across those headsets too in addition to SteamVR headsets. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on Mighty Eyes’ website and social in the meantime.
Check out the trailer for Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate below:
Just a month after PlayStation’s big gaming showcase, the company announced it’s bringing four more titles to PSVR 2’s library of games, which includes an upgraded port, a remake, and two brand new titles.
Now PlayStation says we can add four more to the list: Pixel Ripped 1995, Tiger Blade, The 7th Guest VR, and Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate.
Pixel Ripped 1995
With the release of Pixel Ripped 1978 on all major VR headsets this month, you probably want to know when you’ll get a chance to play the previous game, Pixel Ripped 1995. Now developers ARVORE is bringing ’90s classic gaming experience-meets-VR immersion at 120 fps, including both PSVR 2 Sense controller adaptive triggers and headset feedback. The studio says Pixel Ripped 1995 is coming to PSVR 2 in the “near future.”
Tiger Blade
Tiger Blade is a newly announced Korean neo-noir action game, ostensibly coming to PSVR 2 as an exclusive from French studio Ikimasho Games. Step into the role of a deadly assassin from the Horangi chapter of the Tiger Clans, where your mission is to steal a rare tiger cub coveted by rival gangs. It’s slated to arrive on PSVR 2 in late 2023.
The 7th Guest
Announced for the Quest platform, it seems PSVR 2 owners will also be able to get in on the classic adventure, which is based off the ’90s CD-ROM game. Like the original, you’ll be tossed into a haunted mansion for puzzles and full-motion video (FMV) characters spirits who bring the early adventure game to life. The 7th Guest is coming to PSVR 2 “later this year,” developers Vertigo Games say.
Wanderer – The Fragments of Fate
This is a remake of the original Wanderer, which launched on major VR headsets in 2022. The developers Mighty Eyes call it “completely reimagined for the next generation of VR,” letting you swim, jump, crouch, climb, zipline and swing, the studio says. We’re supposed to get Wanderer – The Fragments of Fate in the “very near future.”
A new update for Wanderer makes a bunch of small improvements and fixes, including a new auto-save and load system, finger tracking support for Index players and changes to the UI and menus.
One of those was issues with the save system, which didn’t have manual saves and therefore resulted in repeating some tasks after returning to the game in between sessions.
While it still doesn’t seem like there are manual saves, this latest update has overhauled the auto-save and load system. The trailer and patch notes don’t give a huge amount of detail, but do say the new system will offer “enhanced save load progression.” Hopefully it addresses some of that repetition we ran into.
The update also refines the menu system for easier navigation, while also adding new features to the watch UI to give the player more information regarding warp count, desync count and currency in the current level.
Players on Valve Index headsets will also now enjoy finger tracking support with the Index controllers – a small but nice touch. There’s a bunch of other smaller changes for all players as well — added sound effects, updated textures and visuals, and a bunch of smaller bug fixes and changes. You can read the full list here.
If you haven’t tried out Wanderer yet, now might be the time. Before you do, check out our review from January, which goes over what the game does really well, even if it does stumble in a few areas along the way.
The About Time update is available now for Wanderer on PSVR and PC VR.
It’s been proven in many a movie and videogame that messing with time travel can lead to all sorts of convoluted narratives and weird plotlines. They can also offer some of the most novel ways to explore both history and what could have been if certain events hadn’t transpired. Wanderer most definitely drops you in the deep end of a time travel adventure that features iconic moments, people and places that aren’t quite as they should be, and it’s up to you to unravel the mess and find out how it happened in the first place. Welcome to the most gripping VR game of 2022…so far.
A combined effort between New Zealand-based studios M-Theory and OddBoy, Wanderer sets you on a journey that’s as puzzling as you’d expect – it is one giant brain taxing puzzle title after all! You step into the shoes of Asher Neumann who locates his grandfather’s apartment which contains a few odd trinkets, a remote control car, a lot of cockroaches, several power tools and as chance would have it a talking, flying watch. Samuel is his name and not only is he essential to unravelling this mess he also provides some welcome company along the way.
Neumann’s grandfather was involved in some murky shit but without spoiling too much of the storyline he’s given you mostly everything you need to right quite a few temporal wrongs. Right away Wanderer immerses you in the narrative of skewed timelines and tragic events that shouldn’t have happened. It’s truly engrossing and like a good book, keeps you enthralled throughout; even when the frustration kicks in trying to solve a particular puzzle.
The developers have done an exceptional job of immersing you in Wanderer. There’s lots and lots to interact with, whether it’s for fun or a crucial next step. The apartment has items like a knockoff Super Soaker and NERF gun, you can smash plates and bottles with a satisfying crack, and if you like hunting through drawers and cupboards there are plenty of those as well.
One disappointment that appeared right at the very start was a jump mechanic to get yourself through a window or down a ledge. It required standing in an exact spot and holding the A button-down, hardly the most involved of VR abilities. Whilst it detracts from that sense of immersion, it only appeared at the beginning of the videogame, almost like M-Theory and OddBoy decided they didn’t want it in the rest of Wanderer. All the better for it really.
As mentioned, Wanderer takes you to various times and places, inhabiting people of that time like you’re Dr. Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. Become an astronaut during the 1969 moon landing, meet Nikola Tesla, step into WWII and more, all of which are linked in some way. Wanderer is a puzzle adventure through and through with only a few light action elements, and the puzzles really do shine; they get that grey matter working too.
Puzzle titles can fall foul of repetition, using the same base design over and over again. Wanderer’s puzzles feel continually fresh with each encounter, even when a couple are reused here and there. What it does test is your memory. Once you’ve unlocked a few timelines and collected a bunch of items, managing it all is a mission unto itself. You’ll probably find that because the apartment operates as a makeshift base, hoarding starts to become a problem as all the ancient relics and odd objects begin to collect.
Helping with this process is your friendly watch, Samuel. Attached to your wrist – left or right-handed, you choose – Samuel provides a basic inventory with a maximum of five slots available. You’ll need to unlock most of these by keeping an eye out for glowing blue shards hidden amongst the environment – keep opening those drawers! – before utilising a contraption in the apartment to expand each one. It’s this same machine that gives you a chance to customise your watch by locating specific objects. It’s a tiny side feature but a fun little one when you want to take a break.
And there will be moments where you’ll need to. Wanderer packs a lot in, with stunning visuals, voice acting and some complicated puzzles. Samuel can be called upon to give you hints but there were times when he just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Not sure if it was a bug, in any case, it wasn’t helpful. Other inconsistencies also played a part in making Wanderer a less than perfect experience.
Object interaction felt haphazard at points, having to readjust grip to correctly hold an item when it snaps into your hand awkwardly. Certain objects just didn’t sit well, trying to use the bow perfectly demonstrated why the weapon can be so difficult in VR. The classic problem of invisible walls also made an appearance (or not in this case). Leaning over a table or large item pushes you away, making the remote grab ability essential. Nothing really game-breaking although an issue with the Enigma machine puzzle forced a chapter restart that meant having to replay a chunk of the game as there’s no manual saving.
Wanderer is an ambitious project and for the most part, M-Theory and OddBoy have succeeded. The single-player adventure will keep you busy for 10+ hours and you’ll want to see it through to the end. Pushing the settings to max on PC will give you a glorious game to look at, and the audio is rock solid. Yes, there are one or two unwieldy issues along the way yet they didn’t hamper the overall entertainment Wanderer provides. If you’re looking for a puzzle game to really get stuck into then definitely take a look at Wanderer.
Some design bumps and bugs don’t stop Wanderer from delivering an enormously enjoyable adventure. Here’s our full Wanderer review.
At its heart, Wanderer is an escape room game but, please, trust me when I say that shouldn’t put you off. Even if you’re not a fan of puzzle games — and I’m certainly no great admirer of them — M-Theory and Oddboy’s debut game is more than worth a look. That’s partly because it manages to disguise many of its brain-teasers more as fun, interactive problem solving, and partly because it’s one of the best-looking and most immersive VR games to release in recent memory. Put simply, Wanderer is a shot in the arm for VR fidelity.
We’re in the future, and the future isn’t looking very bright. Wanderer is all about traveling back to the past to right wrongs and ultimately ‘fix’ the post-apocalyptic present the game opens to. To do this, you uncover your grandfather’s secret hideout hidden amongst the ruins of Boston, befriend a talking watch called Samuel, and then hop back and forth between the moon, wartime Germany, ancient civilizations, and more as you’re hunted by evil space cops that don’t like you messing with time.
It’s a lot to take in and Wanderer is, indeed, a lot. There are a thousand different threads to follow at any one time and the overarching plot definitely falls victim to lengthy exposition and multiple underdeveloped characters, but the game itself expertly realizes the potential of time-spanning puzzles and the ability to bring different items to different points in history.
Wanderer Review – The Facts
What is it?: A VR escape room adventure in which you travel through time, solving puzzles to fix the present. Platforms: PC VR, PSVR Release Date: Out now Price: $39.99
For example, to hop around the timeline, you find special items that you essentially feed to Samuel. A brilliant white light and a Hans Zimmer ‘bwarm’ then near-instantly transport you to your new destination. Playing on PC, it’s pretty incredible to take in just how responsive the time-traveling is; in one moment I can be standing in front of an ancient temple and then, within the space of about 10 seconds, I can remove an item to travel back to my hideout, insert another item and find myself standing in front of Nikola Tesla.
It’s a truly impressive achievement that capitalizes on the joy of immersing yourself in a wide variety of environments in VR, bolstered by the fact that every element of Wanderer’s world — from its characters to its level design — is tightly crafted. Samuel, in particular, is a wonderful creation, with the air of a southern prospector funneling through his wonderfully bushy digital mustache. Press a button on the side of your wrist and he jettisons out of your watch strap, deploying tiny propellers to keep him airborne as he surveys the environment to give you hints. He’s just a really, really brilliant creation.
Of course, it also helps that the game is a real treat for the eyes. Wanderer is easily the best-looking VR game since Lone Echo 2 and, given that was an Oculus PC exclusive, probably the best-looking title many have seen since Alyx. The game’s opening in a flooded Boston hits that home with crisp, dense vegetation that reminds you of the Seattle sequence in The Last of Us Part 2, and each of its levels is similarly littered with convincing detail. Not only that but practically everything can be picked up and used in some way, shape or form, really rooting you inside the world.
Puzzles, meanwhile, are mostly well-paced and rewarding, often involving mechanics that utilize VR in varying ways. One early highlight involves lining up projections of constellations with a security panel and then tracing the outlines with your other hand, and there’s also obsessive note-taking on a blackboard as you study morse code, steering explosive RC cars, and, uh, licking frogs among other ideas. At its best, the game disguises any trite repetition and doubles down on these immersive solutions, delivering something that often doesn’t actually feel like an escape room experience.
It’s only when you take a step back from a play session that you realize that’s what you’ve essentially been doing for the last few hours. And, impressively, Wanderer runs at around 10 hours and only repeats a handful of these ideas throughout – there’s not much room for any of them to grow stale.
Inevitably, you’re going to hit a wall now and again and I felt that familiar frustration as I paced back and forth trying to make sense of some challenges but, as someone that would nope out of most other puzzle games after a few hours of roadblocks, the pacing here felt mostly on-point.
In fact, the only thing holding the game back in these moments are some of its bugs and design issues. Samuel’s hints, for example, don’t always match up with where you are in the game, and I lost an hour or two wondering what to do next when simply reloading the game would bring him back up to speed and give me the right advice.
Wanderer also has a persistent item system, meaning wherever you place an object is usually where it stays until you pick it up again. In theory, it’s a great idea to give the world consistency and another impressive technical undertaking, but the reality is a fair bit more frustrating. There’s no easier way to ruin a lightbulb moment than by realizing you can’t remember where the item you need to solve a puzzle is located across — quite literally — space and time, and at one point I even had to reset a chapter to put things back where they were originally found.
Wanderer Review – Nitpicks
Beyond the bugs I’ve mentioned in the core review, Wanderer also has some other issues. I encountered two hard crashes in my playthrough that required me to reset the game. I also had issues with sound cutting out in the opening menu and when I first booted up a save file. A lack of manual saving also meant having to repeat some tasks when I returned to the game after some time.
Nitpicks are issues we’ve found in a game that are likely to be cleared out in an upcoming patch. We don’t generally let them affect a game’s score if they don’t massively upset the overall experience, but you might want to check that they’ve been addressed before deciding to pick something up.
There is a limited inventory system that starts out with letting you hold one additional item and ramps up to five items as you collect hidden objects used to upgrade Samuel’s storage. While it’s nice to have a meaningful upgrade system embedded in the game, it slows progress to a crawl having to constantly jump back and forth between worlds with different items because your inventory is full, and even the maxed-out amount of slots fill up fast.
Controls are another sticky point. A lot of interactions in Wanderer work as expected, but some repeated mechanics need work. Turning dials, for example, seems to struggle with the position of your hand, and either twists in the wrong direction or simply doesn’t move, and I struggled to steer the RC car.
These issues hold Wanderer back to some degree but this is a game about instances that transcend those more trivial aspects. Bringing together a bunch of sulking bandmates from a psychedelic rock band and then heading onstage to a crowd of thousands, or standing next to Tesla as he makes a life-changing discovery are just a few of the moments in which the game shines.
Wanderer Review – Final Impressions
Wanderer stumbles in a few important areas. It’s so focused on delivering a believable experience that some of its design decisions don’t sit well, and its story gets lost amongst the time-hopping spectacle. But it’s also a ridiculously ambitious game that somehow achieves almost everything else it sets out to accomplish. It’s a technical marvel that offers up dense, highly-detailed worlds that you can jump between in a blink of an eye, with deep interactivity embedded into each. Its puzzles are often finely tuned for VR and are well-paced to minimize frustrating roadblocks, and you have a tangible presence in each world thanks to smart interactions. The result is an enormously enjoyable 10+ hour adventure that makes the normal trials and tribulations of the escape room genre often feel like a distant memory.
For more on how we arrived at this rating, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our Wanderer review? Let us know in the comments below!
Wanderer is a VR adventure game that puts you in the shoes of a hapless time traveler who finds himself trapped in an alternate history—one that starts (and possibly ends) in worldwide disaster. Wanderer excels with its smorgasbord of interesting puzzles that do very little hand-holding. Its fun and well-designed set pieces play as an immersive backdrop to an engrossing story, all of which hopefully distract you from its particularly clunky level of object interaction.
Wanderer Details:
Available On: Steam, Rift, PSVR Release Date: January 27th, 2022 Price: $40 Developer: M-Theory, Oddboy Reviewed On: Quest 2 (Link via Steam)
Gameplay
Theorizing that one could time travel in his own lifetime, Asher Neumann stepped into the Phoenix Project accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in time, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.
That’s the setup anyway, most of which I lifted from the intro sequence to cult ’90s TV show Quantum Leap, a big inspiration for Wanderer. Another obvious comparison here is Netflix’s hit German sci-fi show Dark (2021), although Wanderer’s story isn’t nearly as convoluted.
On the contrary, Wanderer’s narrative beats are actually pretty low density despite the wide variety of places you can visit. The story is primarily doled out in found items like videos, books, and posters, which give you a wider understanding of what’s going on and give valuable clues on how to solve puzzles. That said, they very rarely smack you over the head with their meaning, and can be easily mistaken as simple bits of decoration. That means you have to look around and invest more meaning in less objects, i.e. you won’t find a diary indicating all of the thoughts and feelings of a character, just a photo with a cryptic one-liner.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
Wanderer’s story only really picks up in intensity in the last quarter of the game. Instead, it puts a much heavier focus on serving up a smorgasbord of escape room-style puzzles, many of which have no instruction on how to solve. These range in difficulty level, with the most challenging typically calling on the player’s ability to travel back and forth through the game’s discrete temporal set pieces to gather the right object(s). More on that below.
For example, you may need to grab a sponge and a bottle of spray cleaner from your home base and travel to the pre-Columbian Mayan civilization to wipe off a dusty plaque to see a code. Or you may need to assemble pieces for the Enigma machine, use Morse Code to set off an alarm, and jump through multiple such hoops to get to Woodstock in the ’60s. In short: it’s difficult, and has a ton of moving parts that may tax critical thinking skills.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
While some of these left me wishing for an easy win, personally I’d much rather have to waste time retracing steps, turning the game upside down, and coming up with an organizational method for a literal mountain of stuff. It feels more authentic and rewarding, playing stark contrast to games in the genre that lean on tropes like overly helpful robot buddies that essentially tug you by the ear from point A to point B.
Ok, there is a robot buddy. But thankfully your ever-present wristwatch companion Sam is there to help by not only being a clue dispenser when actually needed on demand, but also a useful tool that acts as the game’s inventory. On top of that, his voice is a dead ringer for Matthew McConaughey. (Murph!)
Sam also is the basis for the game’s teleport mechanic, which makes for a novel and fun way of using key items you find throughout the game and using them to travel to new and interesting locales which are always brimming with new items that you might just find a use for in other worlds.
Traveling to other time periods is accomplished by grabbing key items and inserting them into a disk where the clasp of the watch would usually be. Those piece rumble in your hand, so the whole process has a tactile feel that I really appreciate.
In the end, Wanderer basically delivers despite some built-in clunk endemic of this sort of step-by-step gameplay that relies on a large set of interchangeable objects.
You have to not only think practically about every item you’ve encountered and remember where it is in time, but hope it’s the right item that the game intended you to use. Blowing up a bomb where you shouldn’t, or shooting an arrow into the head of Nikola Tesla will result in you being kicked from the timeline to try again. That’s a bit of a downer if you have an obvious alterative solution (ok, not shooting Tesla) and you’re punished for using it.
All of this is punctuated with arcade-style interludes, like a Guitar Band-style rock sequence where you play the drums to the beat. I was left wishing for more of these because they made for a welcome break from doing things like literally fixing and restarting an entire hydro-electric power plant, which includes plenty of grunt work of finding parts, replacing them, and hoping the game doesn’t throw a curve ball your way by, say, leaving a control panel back with a bunch of literal Nazis in another time period.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
In the end, it took me around ten hours to complete. I should note that I experienced several bugs which required me to restart to the latest chapter because of how much they broke forward progress. These are functionally small things that will probably be addressed in future updates, however day-one players may experience things like puzzles not activating when they should, which can add to the frustration of retracing your steps in vein before deciding its the game’s fault and not your own.
Immersion
Immersion is a bit of a mixed bag with Wanderer. On one hand, you’re served up some truly gorgeous, well put-together set pieces. It’s the level of care and visual finesse that, if you squint, you’ll swear you’re somewhere else. The team’s ability to layer their world with a vast array of textures and objects that feel real simply can’t be understated.
Both the game’s script and voice acting are giant highlights too. There’s nothing worse than a character with an obviously fake accent delivering a cheesy line when it comes to maintaining immersion, but the level of voice talent and writing expertise in Wanderer is top-notch. Case in point: you interact with Sam for literal hours, and he over that time he starts to feel more like a buddy than a timepiece only capable of delivering quips and puzzle hints.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
And then you have an invisible walls that stop you from walking too far for no apparent reason. Or a host of objects on a table, half of which can actually be picked up.
That would be less of an issue if the game’s level of object interaction felt like it belonged in 2022 instead of ostensibly time-traveling from 2016, a time when all games basically forced objects to automatically snap to your hand in one relative position. Another issue is that force grab makes manipulating things less simple by stopping you most of the time from physically grabbing something that’s right in front of you.
Needless to say, the game’s not-awesome object interaction makes for a constantly frustrating experience when it comes to manipulating Sam. I found myself selecting an item with my outstretched finger, and then with that same finger trying to eject it from Sam’s menu, only to close the menu because the game counterintuitively wants you to palm the tiny one-inch icon.
If Wanderer had the same finesse with object interaction as it does much of the rest of the game, you might even make some comparisons to Half-Life: Alyx in its level of polish and immersion, although it’s most important mechanical feature somehow falls short.
Comfort
Wanderer has the full range of standard comfort options, including variable walking speeds and snap-turning angles to go along with smooth turning locomotion and teleportation.
There are very few moments when you’re not on level ground, so moving around the world is almost always a comfortable experience. The only issue I had was the game’s seated mode, which didn’t seem to work at time of review.
Looking for the new VR games January 2022 list? We’ve got you covered with our full rundown.
Happy New Year! No time to waste – let’s get stuck in which a bunch of new VR goodness. 2022 is starting off strong with a port of an indie gem, a second chance to play a VR MMO, the PC VR version of a AAA great and more. Plus, we’ll finally get to see if the long-anticipated VR puzzler, Wanderer, has been worth the wait. All-in-all, not a bad way to kick off the year!
As always, you’ll find most of these titles on the Quest, Steam and PSVR stores. Also don’t forget that we often see Quest games launch without notice, so expect more titles to arrive as the month goes on. Oh, and if you want to find out what’s coming a little later in the year check out our 40-strong list of new VR games for 2022. Now, let’s get stuck in.
New VR Games January 2022
The Shore VR (January 8) – PC VR
The VR port of this intriguing indie game was first promised in 2021 and now it’s coming in hot. The Shore is an adventure title that’s inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Try not to go mad as you come face-to-face with some of his most iconic creations. The VR port features full motion control support and more, so we’re hopeful for an immersive experience.
If you missed last month’s first beta there’s another chance to check out sprawling VR MMO RPG, Zenith, right around the corner. The first weekend offered a broad look at how the game features traditional genre tropes mixed with VR interactivity and there was hours of content to get lost in. This will likely be the last chance to try the game for free before it launches in full later on in the year. Just make sure to keep an eye on developer Ramen VR for access codes as this isn’t a strictly open beta, but it is available on all platforms.
Sword Reverie (January 21) – PC VR
The early access release of this JRPG-inspired action game is just around the corner. Wield elemental powers to take out deadly monsters and explore a vast kingdom. The pre-release version includes a lot of the early game, with more to come over the course of the year. It might be worth keeping an eye on this one, though there’s a lot of room for it to grow.
Wanderer (January 28) – PSVR, PC VR
Wanderer is a time-traveling puzzler in which you follow a sentient pocketwatch across the globe to visit festivals, ancient civilizations and sci-fi futures. Need we say more? This is a gorgeous-looking adventure that we’re hoping keeps immersive interactivity right at its heart. It’s also the first installment in what’s intended to be a series of games, so we’re very much looking forward to the future of Wanderer.
Hitman 3 (TBA January) – PC VR
No, we didn’t get the wrong year; Hitman 3 is getting full support for PC VR headsets to mark its one-year anniversary, ending the timed PSVR-exclusive period. This will be a free update to anyone that already owns the experience and you can expect the entire game to be playable inside VR as well as Hitman 1 and 2 levels if you already own them. Oh and, yes, it has two-handed motion control support. Needless to say we’re very excited – this is likely to be a marked improvement over the console version from last year.
And that’s the list of New VR Games January 2022! What are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!
Another year is over and what a year 2021 was. Great videogames and awesome new tech but those pandemic issues never subsided so bring on the metaverse. Now isn’t the time to reminisce, now’s the time to look ahead and when it comes to virtual reality (VR) titles on the horizon there is plenty to get excited about. Here are the ones VRFocus is most interested in playing.
Moss: Book II
Make no mistake the original Moss by Polyarc was an awesome VR title so the news that its sequel Moss: Book II is due for release this coming Spring is exciting news.
Continuing the tale of Quill, the little mouse with a big heart, Moss: Book II is a puzzle adventure only confirmed for PlayStation VR at the moment. Having rescued her uncle Argus in the first instalment, this time around Quill must end the merciless rule of the Arcane whilst confronting a winged tyrant hunting her within the hexed castle where her uncle was held captive. Offering new locations and puzzles to solve, Moss: Book II is set to include new features like a nature attunement ability to grow new pathways and a huge hammer to cause some destruction.
Needless to say, Moss: Book II should be on every PlayStation VR owners most wanted list.
Teasing its next project back in November, Ultimechs is going to be a futuristic sports experience mashing together robots with football (soccer). Only a few teasing details have been released so far showcasing rocket-powered fists, 2v2 action and some highly competitive gameplay.
Looking like a far more dynamic experience than Resolution Games’ other competitive sci-fi videogame Blaston, Ultimechs will allow you to move around an arena, giving it a much more esports vibe. Considering the studios’ expertise in this VR field, Ultimechs could well become a “must-have” VR multiplayer next year.
Supported headset(s): ???
Release date: 2022
Ultrawings 2
The original Ultrawings was a beloved classic so there’s plenty of excitement regarding the sequel. Developer Bit Planet Games has spent four years working on Ultrawings 2 and says it’ll be: “3X the gameplay of the original”.
Mixing arcade gameplay with simulator mechanics, Ultrawings 2 is set to feature four planes and one helicopter with hundreds of missions to test your flying skills on. From popping balloons with a dart pistol and stunt plane aerobatics to air-to-air combat shooting down drones in the fighter plane, there should be plenty to keep players entertained. They’ll also have their pick of control schemes. Whether that’s a normal gamepad, using their virtual hands to grab the cockpit controls or going fully immersive using a HOTAS setup, Ultrawings 2 will balance fun with realistic flying.
VRFocus can’t wait to get back into the skies again.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PC VR
Release date: February 2022
Green Hell VR
Creepy Jar’s survival adventure Green Hell is coming to VR headsets thanks to Incuvo in 2022, remastering the control scheme for fully immersive gaming.
Heading to Meta Quest and PC VR headsets – a PlayStation VR version has also been mentioned – Green Hell VR drops you in a lush jungle with all the dangers you’d expect for the Amazon rainforest. Survive by foraging for food, learn how to build shelters, make tools, and craft weapons to defend yourself from whatever lurks in the undergrowth as you try to find a way out.
Being rebuilt for VR means that Green Hell VR has the kind of physical control system you’d expect from Incuvo, wrap your injuries with leaves, draw your bow to kill predators and light fires by sparking rock together. It’s all about enveloping you in the jungle experience so what’s not to look forward to?
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PC VR
Release date: Q1 2022
NERF Ultimate Championship
Another multiplayer with some exciting potential is NERF Ultimate Championship for Meta Quest. Initially unveiled during E3 2021 by Secret Location, the first proper look at the arena shooter came only a few short weeks ago with a gameplay reveal trailer.
A 4 vs 4, team-based VR experience, NERF Ultimate Championship will encourage players to navigate arenas in a parkour-like fashion with plenty of wall running and jumping. Of course, this being an official NERF tie-in players will have access to a wide variety of NERF blasters to choose from, each featuring manual reloading, revving triggers, dual-wielding capabilities. There’s also unique dart physics to be aware of.
From the looks of it, NERF Ultimate Championship is going to take all those regular NERF battles and up the action, in ways only VR can.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest
Release date: 2022
Hubris
Originally due for release this year, Cyborn’s rather gorgeous Hubris is now due to hit PC VR headsets at some point next year. Aiming for very high-end, sci-fi VR adventuring, Hubris looks like it could very well be the Lone Echo II of 2022.
Promising a fully explorable world where you can climb, swim, jump and run around as you please, VRFocusdemoed Hubris a couple of months ago, finding a promising experience that was very pretty to look at. Visuals aside, there was plenty of physical activity where you could climb cliff faces, swim underwater and harpoon creatures as well as platforming sections.
One route that Cyborn has said it’s taking with the videogame is that it’ll be episodic, which may or may not work in its favour. If you’ve ever wanted Halo in VR – and who hasn’t? – then Hubris may just fill that hole, so long as there’s enough of it.
Supported platform(s): PC VR, PlayStation VR
Release date: 2022
SIN
Love your horror? SIN is the follow up to the popular The Exorcist: Legion VR where you play as a detective going up against demonic forces. Fun Train has teamed up with Pocket Money Games for this project. SIN stands for “Safety in Numbers” and as that implies you won’t be alone this time around.
No gameplay details have been revealed just yet but SIN will continue the narrative from the previous episodes, so it’s going to be scary at the very least. Teaming up with a friend – or braving it solo – SIN is the only horror VRFocusknows of for 2022 and should be in good hands.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PlayStation VR
Release date: Late 2022
Wanderer
Another one delayed from 2021, Wanderer is a joint project between New Zealand-based studios M Theory and Oddboy.
Wanderer is a time-travelling adventure with a talking watch where you have to visit particular points in history in a bid to save the world. Exploring historical, futuristic and post-apocalyptic settings, you’ll take to the stage in 1969 for an epic musical performance, uncover traitors and crack codes during WWII; help inventor Nikola Tesla prepare his machinery, and step onto the moon.
Wanderer is one of the more unique prospects for 2022, a fascinating narrative alongside time-hopping puzzles and some lovely looking locations.
Supported platform(s): PC VR, PlayStation VR
Release date: 27th January 2022
Hitman 3
An exclusive PlayStation VR release – where VR is concerned – in January 2021, IO Interactive’s infamous assassin will eventually make its way to PC VR headsets in the coming 12 months.
Continuing the Hitman storyline, Hitman 3 features five gameplay modes: a full campaign, Elusive Targets, Escalations, Contracts Mode and Sniper Assassin, all of which can be played in VR. It’s been the studio’s most successful Hitman videogame with 50 million players stepping into the shoes of Agent 47.
However, unlike the PlayStation version that’s only compatible with the DualShock controller, and therefore lacks that extra bit of immersive freedom the PC VR edition won’t, and that’s really exciting. IO Interactive has worked on motion controller support, already showcasing Hitman 3 working with Valve Index controllers. This means dual-wielding weapons and other interactions that make VR so immersive will be present in this edition.
Supported platform(s): PC VR
Release date: 2022
Little Cities
And finally a far more casual strategy VR title. Being built by indie team Purple Yonder with publishing support from nDreams (Fracked, Phantom: Covert Ops), Little Cities is a laid back city-building experience for Meta Quest.
You’ll be able to construct complex cities that require residential areas, areas for commerce as well as industrial zones, all carefully balanced to make the populace happy. Specialist buildings such as network phone towers, schools, hospitals, police stations and more all add to the success of your city but they each only cover a certain radius so making sure they’re in an optimal spot is crucial.
Demoing one map from Little Cities, VRFocus found a delightful little city management experience that offered promising gameplay for fans of non-action oriented VR videogames.
We’re looking forward to a ton of new games this year, as newcomers and trusted names in VR development alike are prepping to release bigger and better VR experiences.
Here we look at our most anticipated titles that are scheduled to release in 2022. We’ve ordered games according to their confirmed release dates, then the rash of titles sporting the ever-nebulous ‘coming in 2022’ release window, and then games that we have our eyes on (TBA). We update this article regularly, so make sure to check back for updated info.
Cities VR
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: Fast Travel Games
Release date: April 28th, 2022
Studiodescription: Be the mayor in Cities: VR, the ultimate VR city-building and management simulator. Design neighborhoods, construct buildings, direct the flow of traffic – all while you handle economics, emergency services, and more. Step inside this VR adaptation of the leading city-builder, Cities: Skylines.
Little Cities
Platform: Quest & Quest 2
Developer: Purple Yonder
Release date: May 12th, 2022
Studiodescription: Get ready to escape to the charming world of Little Cities, the cozy VR city creation game. Start with a simple road, carefully place your residential, commercial, or industrial zones and then watch the citizens move in! But keeping them happy is the only way to help your cities grow.
The Last Clockwinder
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Pontoco
Release date: Summer 2022
Studiodescription: A VR game about building contraptions out of your own clones in a cozy sci-fi world.
Ruinsmagus
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: CharacterBank
Release date: Summer 2022
Studiodescription: Beneath the quaint streets and alleyways of Grand Amnis lies a vast labyrinth of ruins, long-forgotten by those above. In RUINSMAGUS, journey deep into this hidden subterranean realm in search of precious and powerful artifacts. Unravel the secrets of a lost age and grow from a novice wizard into a powerful, spell-wielding Magus in this narrative-driven action JRPG that includes 26 fully-voiced quests—featuring the vocal talents of Naomi Ohzora, Ai Maeda, Eiji Takemoto, and more.
MOTHERGUNSHIP: FORGE
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Terrible Posture Games
Release date: June 2022
Studiodescription: Craft. Shoot. Die. Repeat. Forge absurdly powerful guns and fight through the belly of a metal alien monstrosity in this VR FPS roguelite follow up to MOTHERGUNSHIP. Wanna build a rocket-firing-shotgun or a toxic spike-ball-launcher? Unleash your inner mad scientist, then take on the MOTHERGUNSHIP.
NFL PRO ERA
Platform: Quest 2, PSVR
Developer: StatusPro
Release date: Fall 2022
Studiodescription: NFL PRO ERA uses NFL game data to create the most authentic on-the-field NFL VR experience to-date. Lead your team to a Super Bowl, improve your QB skills by participating in drills, or play catch virtually with your friends in your favorite NFL stadium. Read the defense, run the offense and make the plays just like the pros do on Sundays—and see whether you have what it takes to compete at the highest level.
Espire 2
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: Digital Lode
Release date: November 2022
Studiodescription: Your mission—should you choose to accept it—is to ultimately locate and stop the launch of an untraceable, supersonic missile, a true doomsday device. Wield an array of high-tech gadgets as you go behind enemy lines and try to save the world for a second time.
Tea for God
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: void room
Release date: Late 2022
Studiodescription: VR adventure that allows infinite movement within your own place. Customise your experience. Make it an intense shooter, a roguelite explorer, a relaxing trek.
The Exorcist Legion: SIN
Platform: Quest, PSVR
Developer: Fun Train
Release date: Late 2022
Studiodescription: As the sequel to The Exorcist: Legion VR, the game advances the chilling storyline and mythology with both single player and co-operative gameplay as well as some other mechanics and play styles never seen before in a horror co-op game.
Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventures
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Stardust Collective
Release date: Late 2022
Studiodescription: ZIGGY’S COSMIC ADVENTURES is a fully immersive cockpit VR game set in a stunning universe. Fight your way through the solar system amidst intense arcade combat, navigate through treacherous space environments, and feel the rush of scrambling to manage your ship’s systems.
Among Us
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Schell Games
Release date: holiday 2022
Studiodescription: Among Us VR will keep what made the original party game so awesome. Players attempt to get their spaceship in working order, priming the shields or diverting power to various subsystems. Easy enough—except one or more members of the Crew are secretly Impostors, tasked with sabotaging and killing off the crew. Among Us at its best involves everyone accusing everyone, with the Crew trying to ejectImpostors from the airlock and Impostors trying to get Crewmates to turn on each other. Nobody is above suspicion.
Propagation: Paradise Hotel
Platform: PC VR
Developer: WanadevStudio
Release date: End of 2022
Studiodescription: Live an intense VR survival horror adventure with gripping storytelling, in which you will explore dark environments, make terrifying encounters and get your adrenaline pumping. Will you find your way out of the Paradise Hotel alive?
“Coming in 2022”
BONELAB
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Stress Level Zero
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Sentenced to death, you embody an outcast escaping fate. Discovering a pathway to a hidden underground research facility. A series of challenging experiments and discoveries await. A road to the truth calls from the void.
Ghostbusters VR
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: nDreams, Sony Pictures
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Head to San Francisco and start your very own Ghostbusters HQ. With a trusty proton pack on your back and a P.K.E. meter in-hand, you have everything you need to track, blast, and trap ghosts—and begin to unravel a mysterious conspiracy that threatens the entire city. You can go it alone, or grab up to three friends for a true Ghostbusters crew experience.
Red Matter 2
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: Vertical Robot
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Red Matter 2 picks up right where the previous game left off. You might’ve escaped the titular red matter last time, but you certainly haven’t stopped it. Doing so will take you across the solar system, from a base on our own moon to a space station orbiting above Saturn’s rings, and beyond. Uncover dark secrets and do your best to halt the red matter’s spread and save humanity.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: Skydance Interactive
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Continue your journey through a changed New Orleans, one that’s even more dangerous than before. Expect fewer resources, more walkers, and a new and bloodthirsty threat that will hunt you across the city. Scrounge up whatever you can to survive—and be careful. Your choices matter now more than ever.
Studiodescription: COMPOUND (Pre-Alpha) is a randomized rogue-lite, free-roaming shooter for VR veterans. Duck and dodge around enemy fire in a tough-as-nails retro FPS with multiple locomotion options.
Super Kit: To The Top
Platform: PSVR, PC VR(?)
Developer: Electric Hat Games
Release date: 2022
Description: Electric Hat hasn’t said much about the game outside of the official trailer, but looking at the video it’s apparent Super Kit is focusing again on high-flying parkour with the addition of some combat elements and some very slick-looking environments that recall games like Jet Set Radio, Mirror’s Edge, and The Climb 2.
Paradox of Hope VR
Platform: PC VR
Developer: Monkey-With-a-Bomb
Release date: Coming to Early Access “soon”
Studiodescription: Paradox of Hope is an immersive single-player VR shooter with survival and horror elements. Explore mysterious metro mazes of post-apocalyptic Moscow, use stealth or combat approach to achieve your goal, upgrade your equipment and arsenal, and enjoy the atmospheric moments of stalker’s life.
Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom VR
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2
Developer: Maze Theory
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Step into the gritty streets of 1920s Birmingham and London and explore iconic locations from the show, including The Garrison pub, Charlie’s Yard and Shelby’s Betting Shop, as you take down rivals and move up in the world.
Vertigo 2
Platform: PC VR
Developer: Zulubo Productions
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Vertigo 2 is a single-player VR adventure. Explore the depths of the vast Quantum Reactor as you descend to finish your journey home.
Ultimechs
Platform: “major VR platforms”
Developer: Resolution Games
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: Ultimechs is the multiplayer VR gaming experience from Resolution Games that will be coming to major VR platforms next year. As the thrill of professional athletics meets the precision of purpose-built machines, Ultimechs welcomes players into the sport of the future to compete for victory. If you don’t have the speed, precision and rocketry that it takes to defeat your opponents, you’re done for.
The Last Worker
Platform: PC VR, Quest
Developer: Oiffy, Wolf & Wood Interactive
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: The Last Worker is a first person narrative adventure centered around our struggle in an increasingly automated world.
Nerf Ultimate Championship
Platform: Quest 2
Developer: Secret Location
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: NERF Ultimate Championship is a competitive multiplayer game that brings NERF battles into an electrifying competition only possible in virtual reality. Gear up with a wide range of new and classic blasters as you leap around fantastic arenas in intense 4v4 team matches. Soak in the sound of roaring fans and master your skills as you begin your journey to become the Ultimate NERF Champion.
Samurai Slaughter House
Platform: PC VR, Quest 2, PSVR
Developer: Tab Games
Release date: 2022
Studiodescription: VR-only physics-based combat game. Use stealth and creativity or brute force to take on your foes in a vast physics based sandbox. Battle both humans and demons while exploring a large metroidvania-style open world. Collect items and power up your character. Explore towns and interact with NPCs.
Update (April 21st, 2022): We’ve cycled out a number of previously released games, and plugged in a few more promising titles set to come out this year. If you have any suggestions or tips, let us know in the comments below.
What VR game are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!
After a few delays, we finally have a release date for the time travelling VR adventure — Wanderer will be available January 27 2022 for PSVR and PC VR via Steam.
RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT
We’re super excited to announce you’ll be able to don your time traveling shoes come…
Despite not making a release date in 2021, the good news is that Wanderer is only just over 2 months off (yes, we are thatfar through 2021).
Developers Oddboy spoke about the delay on Twitter, stating that “the overall choice comes from us wanting to deliver a well-polished game that we are PROUD to share with you all. Pushing back to a solid date gives us the confidence to create that!”
To balance out the news of another delay, Oddboy also shared some short new gameplay videos with details on the game’s mechanics and lore.
Temporal transporter
Harnessing these black holes will need some managing.
Learn how to operate the mysterious time transporter – the more you progress and time jump, the closer you’ll come to understanding the transporter, and, more importantly, how to use it. pic.twitter.com/2MD72pr3aq
Time travel in Wanderer is linked to black holes, which you will harness using the temporal transporter (which can be seen in the video embedded above). Using the transporter will take you to loads of different locations, including multiple versions of the future, such as a futuristic version of Boston 2061.
You’ll be joined by a companion, Samuel the Watch, who is “useful in more ways than one “and can be upgraded using items found along the campaign.
Watch
Your trusted companion through the game is Samuel the watch.
As well as being an integral part of your journey Samuel is useful in more ways than one and you can upgrade your watch strap using items you find in your adventures. pic.twitter.com/K4qGQQ30n4
Back in April, a FAQ on the game’s Discord indicated that the campaign would be roughly 8 hours, with replayable chapter selection. In terms of platforms, PSVR2 is “on [their] radar” and the team is also “working on options” for Quest, but there’s been no solid news on a Quest port beyond that.
Are you looking forward to Wanderer? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
pic.twitter.com/byempgdAyr
Coming 2024 (@wanderervr) February 22, 2024
RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT 
JANUARY 27th 2022 
Thread below 
(@wanderervr)