Sony’s PSVR headset has proven to be something of a white knight for VR. Despite being technically inferior to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on almost every level, PlayStation leveraged 20+ years of industry experience to create an awesome line-up for its PS4-based device. PSVR is home to many of VR’s best games and is also arguably the most accessible mainstream headset available.
It’s important to get a list of the best PSVR games right, then. There’s plenty of obvious choices, but PSVR also houses many hidden gems. We wanted to make a list that reflected that.
Throughout the week we’re going to be updating this list with five games a day in ranked order, leading up to the game we’ve crowned as, yes, the very best game on the platform. Once we’re done, this will be our new and definitive list, replacing our previous, smaller version. Updates will appear on this very page so make sure to check back through the week.
Let’s get on with it, then. Here are UploadVR’s 25 best PSVR games.
25. Borderlands 2 VR – Read Our Review
It may not have seen the most nuanced VR integration but Borderlands 2’s massive world, plentiful quests and deep loot system still make it something of a treat for PSVR players. This is the entire original game in which you step onto an alien world in the hopes of finding fame and fortune. You are, of course, met by a legion of deadly beasts to slay and crazy characters to meet.
Sadly, there’s no coop here. But Gearbox has redesigned the game to fit VR instead. That includes the BAMF system that slows down time and allows you to really bring the pain. Pair that with dual-wielding Move controllers to aim and you feel like a real badass.
24. Thumper – Read Our Review
There probably isn’t anything else in VR as palm-sweatingly tense as Thumper, an immensely immersive exploration of anxiety. You shoot down a course, trying to steer into corners to avoid damage, but the game’s pulsating soundtrack and visuals drum up an uncanny sense of dread literally at every turn.
It may be a VR optional game, but there aren’t many other apps out there that can lose you in their hypnotic style. As the track swerves and the music gently growls, the sudden beat of a drum causes your heart to leap and your nerves begin to shred. There’s nothing quite like it.
23. Dirt Rally – Read Our Review
Against all odds, Codemasters did a fantastic job of porting Dirt Rally over to PSVR. This is one of our very favorite VR racers. Unlike some games that strip back their content in VR *cough* Gran Turismo Sport *cough*, Rally provides the full experience inside a headset.
That means there’s plenty of content ready and waiting in this high-speed, bumpy ride. But it’s just how finely tuned the experience is that really separates Dirt Rally from the pack. No one knows how to do racers like Codemasters. The mechanical precision and campaign depth on display here is fantastic. Other racing sims may offer bigger, more authentic experiences, but none are quite as fun to play as Dirt Rally.
22. Arizona Sunshine – Read Our Review
For some strange reason humanity seems absolutely obsessed with the zombie apocalypse. That makes a zombie VR game a huge no-brainer. It may be a few years old now but Arizona Sunshine is still easily the best zombie shooter out on the market right now. It offers a full campaign in which you trek across the unforgiving desert doing battle with hordes of shuffling undead.
To many, Arizona represents the complete FPS package in VR. The campaign is lengthy and includes coop while the unavoidable horde mode is one of the best in the business. It’s the full embodiment of the zombie slaughter dream. It’s no surprise it’s lasted so long in VR arcades too.
21. Deracine – Read Our Review
Deracine might be the most divisive game on this list. It’s developed by From Software, the team that brought you Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Instead of challenging players with tough-as-nails combat, though, this is something different. It’s got an incredibly archaic atmosphere and strangely quiant story that may put some people off. But if you’re partial to a bit of Jane Austin with a supernatural twist, this might be for you.
This story-driven experience casts you as a faerie in a boarding school housing a small group of children. Things start off lightly as you play games with the kids. But Deracine’s best moments come in the second half in which the game takes a harrowing turn. There are concentrated moments of real connection to characters here that make Deracine a truly odd treat.
20. Creed: Rise to Glory – Read Our Review
Few sports go hand-in-hand with current VR systems as well as boxing, and Creed: Rise to Glory is undeniably the best entry into the genre yet. Developer Survios was able to build upon its three other VR releases (each of which was in consideration for this list) with a game that didn’t just let you live out the boxing champion fantasy but is also smartly made to keep you grounded in VR.
Creed uses what Survios calls the ‘Phantom Melee’ system, which is designed to do away with those awkward spamming issues that many VR boxing games struggle with. It simulates fatigue and places restrictions on your character, forcing you to fight with fairness and strategy. That makes for thrilling multiplayer that isn’t just a chaotic free-for-all. The best thing we can say about Creed is that you could strip the movie tie-in right out of it and you’d still have something every bit as thrilling. The proof is in the punch.
19. Statik – Read Our Review
Years on from its release and we still find ourselves staring out of windows, mentally picking away at its mysterious story. This is easily one of PSVR’s most inventive games, imagining the player’s DualShock 4 as a sort of pair of handcuffs that are laced with a series of puzzles. You need to experiment with what the various levers and buttons of each contraption does and then gradually solve your way out of your current predicament.
But it speaks legions about Statik that its fantastic puzzle design is outdone by the game’s sheer oddness. Supervised by the curious and world-weary Dr. Ingen, you’re left to piece together his seemingly random mumblings and musings into a cohesive narrative. It’s still got people picking it apart today, so much so that we’d love another game to help us fill in a few more blanks. Are you listening, Tarsier?
18. Transpose – Read Our Review
After the bullet-dodging thrills of Blasters of the Universe, Secret Location had its work cut out for it maintaining its standards with Transpose. Fortunately, the game passes the difficult second album test with ease; Transpose is a mind-bending puzzle game in which you record your own actions, store them as echoes, and then work together with your past self in order to solve a series of challenges.
Hyperbole be damned; we were often reminded of Portal as we trekked through the game’s ethereal world, defying gravity and gradually being introduced to new concepts that shift the core mechanics in clever, enlightening ways. This is an example of a VR game that feels demonstrably made for the platform it’s appearing on, providing gameplay experiences you simply won’t have seen on a TV or monitor before. That’s something every VR developer should be considering at the heart of their projects.
17. Bow to Blood – Read Our Review
We hadn’t paid Bow to Blood much attention ahead of its release in mid-2018. That made the arrival of this surprisingly-deep game show-style ship battling (yes that’s a mouthful) experience quite the pleasant surprise. You’re tasked with winning a lengthy tournament in which contestants must complete tasks, then vote each other off based on their current scores.
Bow to Blood’s varied campaigns with enjoyable vehicular combat are reason enough to give this a look, but it’s the complex relationship system that’s the real star. It will have you making enemies and forging uneasy alliances which will not only get people to vote for you but may also find you in the middle of heated battles with people that absolutely hate your guts. It makes this a dynamic, unpredictable affair with hours of content on offer.
16. Downward Spiral: Horus Station – Read Our Review
Rift may have Lone Echo, but Downward Spiral’s methodic space odyssey means PSVR players have an excellent zero-gravity adventure to call their own too. This is an atmospheric adventure in which you explore the remains of a seemingly abandoned space station orbiting a mysterious planet and must learn what transpired. At times it’s ambiguous and explorative, whereas at other points it’s got some of the best action going on the platform.
You can’t help but marvel at how Downward Spiral’s zero-gravity locomotion makes it an utterly immersive experience. And it’s put to use in innovative ways, like letting players take cover behind walls and then use one hand to pop out and return fire. Better yet the game offers full co-op support if you want to see it through with a friend and there’s a pretty entertaining multiplayer mode too. Downward Spiral is pretty much the entire package.
15. Farpoint – Read Our Review
It may be the wonderful rifle-shaped Aim controller that elevates Farpoint from a relatively simplistic first-person shooter to a wholly immersive experience, but the experience is powerful enough to earn it a place on this list. In Farpoint you crash land on an alien planet and must find a way home, shooting your way through hordes of spider enemies as you go.
Yes, spider enemies. It’s a little Starship Troopers, but there’s a genuine thrill to the Colonial Marines-style panic fire battles. Surprisingly, though, there’s a hugely engaging story at the center of Farpoint that manages to strike a chord despite focusing on characters other than the player’s speechless shell. This was a promising start for developer Impulse Gear, but we’re hoping to see more from them next year.
14. Rec Room
Most social VR platforms aren’t really ‘games’, but Rec Room more than earns its place on this list by emphasizing fun activities to share with your friends rather than simply meeting up and chatting via virtual avatars. Against Gravity’s massive service offers an exhaustive number of multiplayer games and a robust creation suite that will mean you rarely run out of things to do.
This is a game that gets free-to-play right. You can decorate yourself with premium cosmetic items if you wish but all of the well-designed minigames, which include some brilliant cooperative quest levels and even a light take on the battle royale genre, are completely free to play. Add to that full cross-platform support and Rec Room is only set to thrive as the VR industry grows ever bigger. Don’t be surprised if, in the year’s to come, Rec Room becomes VR’s biggest and most recognized app.
13. Rez Infinite – Read Our Review
Whoever thought Rez Infinite would take on a transcendent new form inside VR? Well, fortunately, creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi did and he was absolutely right. Rez’s entire original campaign, which is filled with entrancing sights and sounds is on offer here, ready to drown you in its synthy sea of surreal delights. This is the revival that many fans will have been dreaming of.
But Infinite goes one step further with Area X, a free-roaming set of levels that elevates the experience to an entirely new plane. Back around the launch of PSVR this was one of the most powerful experiences you could have on the platform; a visual feast of bright lights and audio wonder. It’s still one of the most uplifting moments you can have in VR today.
12. The Exorcist: Legion VR – Read Our Review
You could basically do a coin toss between putting this or developer Wolf and Wood’s other VR horror game, A Chair in a Room, on this list, but The Exorcist VR more than justifies its place. Unfolding across five chapters that each present the player with different cases, this is perhaps the scariest VR game going right now. Crucially, though, that’s not because it’s simply a collection of in-your-face jump scares.
Instead, The Exorcist VR understands how to use the platform in clever, creepy ways to twist your very sanity and keep you guessing throughout. This is one of those entries in the list that’s going to be only for the very bravest of us but, if you count yourself one of those people, you can’t miss this.
11. Tetris Effect – Read Our Review
Yup, this really is Tetris in VR. You need to clear lines by fitting a never-ending series of falling blocks together, racking up scores as you go. None of that changes in this latest iteration of the puzzling classic. But believe us when we say that this is a genuinely powerful experience when you put the headset on.
Tetris Effect features more than 30 levels with their own themes, each of which manages to find its own sort of hypnotic beauty to marvel at in VR. From the arresting tranquillity of the first level with its unforgettable ‘I’m Yours Forever’ track to the hustle and bustle of a later level’s urban metropolis, there’s something to be amazed by around every corner. Think Rez Infinite with a little more range and scope and you’re there.
Tagged with: best PSVR games, FPS, PSVR, racer, shooters
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Source: The 25 Best PSVR Games: Day #3
