In order to further aid the new users on the AVR Platform brought in by EON Reality’s Global Emergency Initiative, we’ve developed an easy-to-follow Quick Start Video Guide to help even the most novice of users begin creating content in AR and VR.
Focusing on lesson creation when using a smartphone or tablet, the step-by-step instructional guide will explain the entire development process in just under 8 minutes. Combined with the new removal of our paywall for the basic features of the AVR Platform as well as some of the latest technological updates, there’s never been a better time to try it out for yourself.
All you need to get started using the world’s largest AR and VR library for academic and workplace development is a smartphone or tablet and a stable internet connection. From there, feel free to go straight to the Quick Start Guide and let us walk you through it one step at a time.
The new Expedition 63 crew joined the Expedition 62 crew today a board the International Space Station. (Front row from left) NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. (Back row from left) NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, along with Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos joined Expedition 62 Commander Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir aboard the International Space Station when the hatches between the Soyuz spacecraft and the orbiting laboratory officially opened at 12:28 p.m. EDT.
The arrival temporarily restores the station’s crew complement to six for the remainder of Expedition 62.
Cassidy, Morgan, and Meir are set to participate in a crew news conference at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, April 10. The teleconference will stream on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Recorded video of the crew working on the International Space Station will air at 10:30 a.m.
Skripochka, Morgan, and Meir will undock in their Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft to return to Earth April 17. At the time of undocking, Expedition 63 will begin with Cassidy as the commander for a mission of more than six months during which they will conduct about 160 science investigations in fields such as, biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology development. Work on the unique microgravity laboratory advances scientific knowledge and demonstrates new technologies, making research breakthroughs that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.
The crew members of Expedition 63 are scheduled to be aboard the station to welcome the first commercial crew spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who will arrive on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 flight test, currently targeted to launch in mid-to-late May.
It is the third spaceflight for Cassidy and Ivanishin and the first for Vagner.
The Soyuz MS-16 crew ship carrying the Exp 63 crew approaches its docking port on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner docked to the International Space Station at 10:13 a.m. EDT while both spacecraft were flying about 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.
Aboard the space station, NASA Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Expedition 62 Commander Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos will welcome the new crew members when the hatches between the two spacecraft are opened following standard pressurization and leak checks.
Watch the hatch opening on NASA TV and the agency’s website beginning at noon for hatch opening targeted for 12:15 p.m.
The Soyuz MS-16 rocket ascends toward space with three Expedition 63 crewmembers heading to the space station today. Credit: NASA TV
After a successful launch at 4:05 a.m. EDT of the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts safely reached orbit, beginning a four-orbit, six-hour flight to reach the International Space Station and join the Expedition 62 crew. At the time of launch, the station was flying about 259 miles over northeast Kazakhstan, south of the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan and 587 statute miles ahead of the Soyuz as it left the launch pad.
Cassidy, along with Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will dock the Soyuz to the station’s Poisk service module at 10:15 a.m. Coverage of the docking will begin on NASA TV and the agency’s website at 9:30 a.m.
About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open, and they will join Expedition 62 Commander Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and NASA Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir.
Skripochka, Morgan, and Meir will complete their station mission and return to Earth April 17 on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, which will land in Kazakhstan. Morgan launched July 20, 2019, for an extended duration mission. Meir and Skripochka launched to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on Sept. 25, 2019.
Users will soon be able to view their 3D scenes in VR. Additional features on the way.
One of the coolest parts of developing with Unity or Unreal Engine is the ability to instantly hop into your VR headset and view 3D creations at scale. The ladder even has a VR mode that lets you build in-headset using the Unreal Editor tool set.
Earlier this week, veteran open-source 3D modeling and animation software Blender announced via a developer update that it would be introducing limited support for VR headsets compatible with the royalty-free open-source standard OpenXR. Available late next month, version 2.83 will allow users to inspect their 3D scenes at scale using a PC VR headset such as an Oculus Rift/Rift S, HTC Vive, or Windows Mixed Reality.
At launch users will only be able to view their creations in VR, though the company has confirmed that VR scene inspection is only the first milestone and that additional features are on the way.
Upon the updates release later this May, simply head over to your preference settings and enable the built-in add-on. You will then have the ability to select the VR tab located in your 3D view sidebar.
A new partnership will see the delivery of VR headsets to senior care facilities across all 50 states.
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), older adults with preexisting medical conditions are prone to more serious complications as a result of the COVID-19 virus. It’s for this reason senior care facilities across the US have begun limiting access to only essential medical personnel, leaving many seniors cut off from friends and family.
Studies have shown the dramatic effects social isolation can have on the elderly; those suffering from loneliness have a 64% higher chance of dementia. To help mitigate the effects of this coronavirus induced lockdown, MyndVR, a custom VR platform specializing in senior-friendly content, has partnered with VR hardware provider Pico Interactive and 360 specialists Littlestar to deliver VR to senior care communities across the US 100% free-of-charge.
“We are so grateful to Pico Interactive and Littlstar for teaming up with us to donate this amazing, life-enriching program to seniors in care communities across the country,” said Chris Brickler, CEO of MyndVR, in an official release. “It’s important that the AR/VR industry steps up in this isolation crisis, and we plan to deliver MyndVR to communities in need in all 50 states.”
As part of the program, each senior living facility will receive a free Pico VR headset, training and support from MyndVR, and a 1-year subscription to senior-friendly content; casual travel experiences and historical content most likely. Perhaps even a few games featuring light interaction. Selected communities will also receive training on how to properly sanitize their headset between sessions as well as some additional alcohol wipes. Pico Interactive hardware features an easy-to-clean face insert, so it should be a fairly-straightforward process even for those with little to know VR experience.
“We are excited to be part of this initiative, to deploy our headsets to seniors across the country who are dealing with the effects of social isolation,” added Will Winston, Western Sales & Partnerships Director. “Our simple and easy-to-use design makes our hardware some the most durable and sanitizable solutions for virtual reality headsets on the market.”
US-based senior care communities interested in taking advantage of this new program can fill out an application over at myndvr.com/Covid-19, though at the time of this writing it appears as though the page is down.
Boneworks Update 1.4, the [REDACTED] update, is out now on SteamVR for all major PC VR headsets and adds new sandbox maps, a time trial course, and more!
You can located the new [REDCATED] level module in the museum by the reclamation bin, but if you’ve already claimed the museum then you can find it plugged in at the main menu already. According to the Steam update page, the additions and changes include:
Greatly Improved Hand Physics (Punching, Climbing, Swinging)
New Sandbox Environments
New Minigame – Time Trial course
New Spawnable Gachapons
New Firearm – p350 Handgun
Three new original songs
Adjustments, Bug Fixes, Performance increases
The three new sandbox maps are the [REDACTED] Chamber, originally known as Test Chamber 04, which was an experimental area the developers used for showing off the project’s physics before it was a proper game. We actually tried a very early demo of Boneworks at GDC a few years ago inside this test chamber. Most of the early development videos were shot here as well.
Then there’s the HandgunBox, which is designed to show off the new handgun balance features; the time trial course is also hidden here. The trial forces you to try and clear the underground map as quickly as possible while jumping and shooting at enemies. The clock is running in real time and slow-mo doesn’t affect it.
Finally, there’s the new Tuscany map, which is a tribute to the very first original Oculus DK1 VR environment featuring a cliff side villa in Tuscany, Italy. Early adopters of VR technology will get a real kick out of that one.
If you get a chance to check out the update, let us know what you think down in the comments below! And don’t forget to read or watch our review of Boneworks and check out this in-depth interview for more on the game.
Enterprising Half-Life: Alyx players, unhappy with only one slot to store a grenade or extra health at each wrist, discovered they could bring extra supplies with them through City 17 by lugging a crate through their journey.
While we haven’t tried it ourselves we’ve seen reports the initial versions of Half-Life: Alyx could get a bit buggy when you try this method of bringing along extra supplies. Valve just released version 1.2.1 of Half-Life: Alyx with some fixes, including “Fixes for issues with carrying contained objects (e.g. objects in a crate).”
The update also includes assorted changes that should help players in Windows MR and Vive headsets. Here’s a full list of changes.
Fixes for issues with carrying contained objects (e.g. objects in a crate).
Fix for hand orientation on Windows MR and Vive systems.
Fix for some missing haptic feedback on Windows MR and Vive systems.
Fix for controller systems that don’t have support for skeletal hand animation.
Fix for exhausting GPU memory on Proton.
Fix for several crashes.
Fix for not properly falling back to English subtitles when selecting a language in Steam that is unsupported by Half-Life: Alyx.
Improved rendering of Japanese narrow subtitles.
Fixed a regression which rendered an empty subtitle panel even if the subtitles were only visible in the spectator window.
Localization improvements in multiple supported languages.
Eleven Table Tennis just made our top 25 best Oculus Quest games list the same day its creators revealed the title sold around 24,000 copies for Quest since its February 27 launch on the standalone headset.
The pace of sales means the impressive ping pong simulation game on the wireless Quest is very likely to surpass the lifetime sales on the Oculus Store for the wired Rift (it released on that storefront in December 2017) before Oculus Quest’s one year anniversary in May. The game released in June 2016 on Steam and sold more than 50,000 copies there as well over its lifetime.
In March, the developers behind Eleven joined a growing list of studios revealing that that they are finding some of their strongest sales on any VR platform via Facebook’s all-in-one headset. The update about the pace of sales comes as the developers behind the title plan new features for their ping pong game, including a replay feature, spectator mode, and a physics overhaul, among other additions. The game features cross-play across all headsets, though at the time of this writing, playing from a Quest against someone via Steam or the Oculus Store Rift app is only accessible through a beta version on PC. They’d also like to port the game to PSVR. The Oculus Store version of Eleven includes cross-buy with the Rift version, so if you buy it from Facebook for either of their headsets you get it for both. The developers say their data confirms the influx of sales is driven by the Quest.
Eleven Table Tennis is a passion project by the developers at studio For Fun Labs and they’ve been busy squashing bugs and adding new features as they support the influx of tens of thousands of new players during an unprecedented time. Physical sports have been cancelled in many places due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and its left an extraordinary number of people seeking indoor activities. The Quest, for example, sells out quickly as soon as Facebook restocks the $400 headset at its online store as resellers swoop in to supply places like Amazon with the headset marked up by hundreds of dollars. Facebook recently added a “notify me” button to the website to give prospective VR owners a more reliable way of getting updated about availability.
Fans of ping pong and Eleven have taken the game to the next level by designing a 3D-printed holder for the Oculus Touch controller. Securing the controller in the cradle helps match the weight distribution and grip of an actual table tennis paddle. Shortly after release on Quest, For Fun Labs updated the game so that players can more easily use the printed accessory.
It’s safe to say that Oculus Quest came out of the gates swinging. That makes picking a list of the best Oculus Quest games pretty tough.
Facebook’s standalone VR headset, which seems to have singlehandedly reignited the entire VR industry, launched with over 50 apps. In the months that have followed it’s cherry-picked a steady stream of other greatest hits to bring to an entirely new audience. The result is a platform that has a tightly curated list of fantastic VR experiences that are easy to discover.
But which are our favorites?
What Are The Best Oculus Quest Games?
We’ve poured over our list of the 25 best Oculus Quest games and experiences. Quest already spans a diverse number of genres, offering everything from accessible entry points to blockbuster titans.
If you’re looking to build out your library, you need to start here.
Alice in Wonderland and VR are a match made in heaven but, to Cortopia Studios’ credit, Down The Rabbit Hole heads in an unexpected direction. This prequel story doesn’t star Alice but instead charts its own path through the mad world with a presentation and style that’s inarguably its own. It might not be for everyone, but Down The Rabbit Hole is definitely one of the best Oculus Quest games.
24. National Geographic VR
It might romanticize the job of a National Geographic reporter a little too much, but this compelling travel app is still one of the best examples of what Quest can do beyond gaming. After the latest update, you can now travel to the arctic to kayak in icy waters, or get an intimate look at the ruins of Machu Picchu to learn about its unique history.
National Geographic VR excels because it has so many clever ways to teach you things about the areas you’re exploring, and the photogrammetry used to capture real-world environments really puts you in the moment. If you want to show someone just how VR can be used as a tool for travel or education, stick this on their heads.
23. Robo Recall Unplugged
We didn’t think Epic Games’ shiny shooter would ever be able to make it onto Quest. Boy were we wrong; the core experience remains fully intact here. This expansive wave shooter lets you tinker to your hearts content, finding the fun in robot massacre. Graphically it obviously doesn’t match the PC original, but it’s still a standout on Quest that proves the platform is capable of grand-scale VR games.
Apex Construct has to be one of the more ambitious ports from PC VR and PSVR to Quest, offering a full campaign built around the satisfaction that comes with firing a bow and arrow in VR. Fast Travel games pulled the conversion off with style, delivering a feature-complete version of a fun, if not spectacular adventure that gives you a glimpse of what a full VR game looks like.
21. Rec Room and VRChat
There are lots of social VR spaces out there, but few can compete with Rec Room and VRChat in terms of accessibility and content. Not only does Rec Room offer a pleasing mix of activities from sports to co-op quests, but it’s also given the community the tools to make its own fun. And VRChat itself is a sprawling hub of VR possibilities, and you can explore them all with friends on other headsets and even make your own worlds and avatars. It feels like the closest we’ve gotten to Ready Player One so far. Plus — both apps are totally free!
It’s very true that Espire 1 is weighed down with lofty technical issues across the wide range of platforms you can play it on. The game’s AI can start running in circles, dampening the Splinter Cell-slickness you’re aiming for. But, when Espire 1 works it can be a truly compelling experience, especially on Quest.
This VR stealth game comes up with great context. You control androids that can sneak through levels by climbing walls, firing out sticky cams and creeping through vents. It’s the sense of freedom the game gives you that makes it such a standout, even if it’s also the reason Espire 1 occasionally caves in on itself.
19. Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes
Four or so years on from its first VR release, KTANE remains one of the most instant and excellent ways to show VR at parties and gatherings. One player puts on a headset to defuse a bomb. Others refer to a free manual detailing the steps needed to survive. Players need to work together, communicating at every step to reach a safe outcome. It’s frantic, ridiculous, heated and a consistent essential in any VR library. That makes it one of the best Oculus Quest games.
Rhythm action games are a dime a dozen on VR headsets, but OhShape stands out thanks to its focus on fitness and suite of options. It’s essentially human Tetris; blocks with human-shaped holes move towards you, and you have to mimic their shapes to score points. Plus there are obstacles to dodge and coins to collect, making for a truly active VR game to keep you on your toes.
But OhShape also offers custom songs and a long list of options to tweak the experience to your liking. If you’re coming to VR specifically looking for a VR fitness game, OhShape should be where you start.
17. The Climb
The Climb was always a great showcase of comfortable VR locomotion, but it really finds a home on Quest where there’s no wire pulling you down as you scale up massive cliff faces. True, the game has taken a hit on the visual side compared to the stunning CryEngine showcase on Rift, but the visual design shines through to deliver something that can still be stunning to look at. There’s a little piece of The Climb in a lot of games that have released since, but few offer as thrilling gameplay.
Acron is like capture the flag on acid… if you took acid in the middle of a forest. VR players become a tree that must throw seeds and other weapons at squirrels to stop them from stealing their nuts. The twist? Those squirrels are actually other players, joining in on smartphones via a free app working together to distract the VR user and claim their prize. It’s a winning concept that translates seamlessly into a fluid local multiplayer VR experience.
Job Simulator laid the groundwork for many of the great VR interactions we enjoy today. Vacation Simulator builds on that progress with a whole host of excellent minigames that keep comfort and immersion at the heart of each and every activity. Whether you’re on a ski slope simulator, building sandcastles or, uh, applying lotion to robots, each of the game’s tasks is carefully considered.
Not to mention that the game has a great sense of humor and an enthusiastic curiosity to explore new things in VR. Vacation Simulator is the kind of experience that proves we haven’t explored all there is to VR yet. Far from it, in fact; there are some minigames here that could be fleshed out into their own titles.
VVR feels ahead of its time. It’s a narrative-driven VR experience that takes a satirical look at the future we’ve just put ourselves on by buying these shiny new headsets. It envisions a world in which players serve AI clients with outlandish obsessions. Though it’s sharp script starts off with its tongue in cheek, the further you dive into its twisted world, the more revealing this cautionary tale becomes. An essential piece of early VR storytelling.
Puzzle masters Fireproof Game knock it out of the park again with a typically excellent rendition of The Room series, this time for VR headsets. This short, sweet adventure is set in the British Institute of Archaeology, where you’ll solve challenging trials in search of a missing archaeologist.
What makes The Room VR work is its commitment to the platform it’s appearing on. This isn’t just a bunch of puzzles that would work on a traditional screen; each and every one has been thoughtful invented with VR at its core. That makes it easily one of the best Oculus Quest games, especially if you’re into puzzles.
12: Eleven: Table Tennis
If you want the most accurate, authentic representation of a sport in VR today, Eleven: Table Tennis is easily your best bet. This simulation-level game offers the most convincing take on a sport that makes perfect sense in VR. Whether you’re serving up hot shots and getting in desperate returns, Eleven’s physics behave the way you’d expect and tapping the ball with your controller starts to feel as natural as if it were a paddle. More than just a great game, Eleven is one of the rare VR experiences that feels like a genuine replacement for our reality. It’s that good.
Wolf & Wood was the perfect fit for an Exorcist VR game. The studio’s Chair in a Room series sought after a more harrowing brand of psychological scares compared to many cheaper horror games. It applies that logic to this disturbing five part series that does right by its namesake. Exorcist VR is a methodical detective terror that you won’t want to miss if you’re brave enough.
When Schell Games’ I Expect You To Die first launched years ago it offered a handful of levels that made for great escape room-style VR puzzling. Since then the developer had added yet more levels for free, making the Quest version that arrived in May 2019 the best release yet. This is a hugely enjoyable strand of trial-and-error brain-teasing that’s designed specifically around VR.
VR doesn’t get weirder nor more surreal than Accounting+, and we mean that in a very good way. This mad mashup from the minds behind Rick and Morty and Crows, Crows, Crows is a startling, erratic exploration of character presence in VR. In Accounting+, grotesque creatures scream at you and friendly abominations are gutted accidentally. It’s scary, awkward, hilarious and a wide range of other things that many VR games aren’t. That makes it one of the best Oculus Quest games.
Moss is another game that might not feel like a natural fit for Quest, but sings on the strength of its content alone. This third-person platformer builds a powerful bond between player and protagonist that fuels the innovative gameplay and joyful sense of discovery. If you don’t have a PSVR or PC headset, this is the best example of why VR doesn’t have to be first-person to succeed.
Broadly speaking, many developers have done a pretty good job bringing their PC and console VR games to Quest. No one has pulled it off quite as well as Red Matter, though, which absolutely shines on the platform. In this intriguing adventure-mystery you journey to an alien planet to investigate an abandoned enemy base in the midst of a Cold War-style sci-fi conflict. But developer Vertical Robot puts immersion above all else, making for an experience you can truly lose yourself in. Red Matter isn’t just the best looking game on the platform, it’s also one of the very best Oculus Quest games.
VR’s poster child finds its most natural fit on Quest. Wire-free gameplay breaks down the barriers between you and the music as you slice your way through an ever-growing list of tracks. Beat Saber is empowering, energetic and VR’s most devilishly addictive game yet. Don’t expect that status to change any time soon.
Vader Immortal isn’t a massive, multi-hour Star Wars epic with upgradable skills and deep combat. It is, by traditional gaming standards, a pretty slim package, lasting a little over 90 minutes. But look below the surface and you’ll find something much more interesting; an episodic series that wants to provide a completely immersive VR experience that anyone can enjoy.
There’s fun lightsaber combat to be had both in the story and the excellent Dojo mode, but Vader Immortal’s best moments come from basking in the presence of the Dark Lord himself and meeting other characters in VR. It’s an exercise in story-living and a pretty good one at that.
As great as VR is, its initial novelty is bound to wear off after your first few weeks or so. If you want to recapture the magic of putting on the headset for the first time, though, there’s one destination that’s bound to deliver: A Fisherman’s Tale. This is a mind-bending puzzle game unlike anything you’ll see elsewhere. That alone makes it one of the best Oculus Quest games.
In A Fisherman’s Tale, you solve intricate, scale-based puzzles in which you work… with yourself. Its best puzzles utilize a miniature model of the lighthouse the game’s set in. Lift the roof of the model and you’ll see a mini-you, imitating your every move. Just try and keep your brain from breaking as you hand yourself giant objects, or reach down to poke your own head. It’s a trip to say the least. Throw in a poignant story about self-acceptance and you have a short, sharp VR game that will stay with you much longer than most multi-hour epics.
Pistol Whip may be the new kid on the block but, for our money, its sharpshooting, sharp sounding, beat-based gameplay proves to be even more hypnotic than Beat Saber. In this neon-lit shooter, you stream down corridors, blasting bad guys to grizzly tunes, avoiding incoming fire and trying to rack up the best scores.
Pistol Whip’s key is to take influence not just from the VR sales king but also Superhot and, most prominently, John Wick. Whereas Beat Saber wants to make you a dancing Jedi master, Pistol Whip aims to teach you gun-fu with style, elegantly fusing the rhythmic and cinematic together a pulsating, vibrant monster of its own.
Upon first glance, Ghost Giant appears to be a charming little puzzler that makes the most of diorama-sized worlds. And that’s very much the case; in this adorable papercraft world you help your young companion out with different chores and tasks. That includes tickling clams and making intentive art in wonderfully tranquil locations. It’s whimsy, delightful and amazing in VR. But that’s only half the story.
Ghost Giant also hides a thoughtful take on depression, smartly communicated through this new medium. The game uses intimacy, scale and connection in engaging ways that bring you closer to the world and characters around you. It’s surprising and responsible, delivering some incredibly powerful moments. All told, it’s one of the most striking and unforgettable examples of VR storytelling yet seen.
We know, we know, another ‘Best 25 List’, another win for Superhot VR. But that stands testament to how powerful this VR shooter remains even today; a potent concoction of physical VR movement, eye-opening combat freedom and cinematic flair that others can but wish to replicate. Even better, Quest’s lack of wires and a first-rate port make this the best way to play arguably VR’s best game. Topping Superhot VR on our list of best Oculus Quest games will be tough.
—
Do you agree with our list of best Oculus Quest games and apps? Let us know in the comments below!
Update 04/09/20 – The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, Space Pirate Trainer, Journey of the Gods, Face Your Fears II, Racket: Nx and Job Simulator were removed from the list. Down The Rabbit Hole, Ghost Giant, The Room VR, Eleven: Table Tennis, Vacation Simulator and OhShape replaced them.
Update 12/06/19 – A Fisherman’s Tale, Pistol Whip. Espire 1, Space Pirate Trainer, National Geographic VR, The Climb and The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets were added to the list. They replaced Raccoon Lagoon, Wands, Fujii, Orbus Reborn, BoxVR, Dreadhalls and Thumper.
