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Top 10 HTC Vive and Oculus Games to Play with Your Friends

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Top 10 HTC Vive and Oculus Games to Play with Your Friends

This list of top 10 HTC Vive and Oculus games to play with your friends has a little bit for of everything for everyone. Whether it’s just a casual evening shootout filled with fails, chuckles and hilarity, or a serious endeavour that requires utmost team coordination, we’ve got you covered! Let’s dive right into it!

#1 Echo Arena


If you haven’t picked Echo Arena yet…well, which rock have you been living under this long? It’s been all the rage for while now. Best of all, it’s completely free.

The game is a blast, trust me. You are in this zero gravity arena, which resembles Ender’s Game Battle Room a lot. A lot!

The goal of the game is to… well, score a goal. You do this by grabbing the disk and flinging it in the direction of the goal, praying to gods Old and New that it goes in. It usually doesn’t, but that’s not that important. At least not in the beginning, I guess…

In the meantime, you slide through the arena, push, pull, punch other players in the face (yes, you can do that – it stuns them!). All three player modes are supported – sitting, standing, and roomscale –  so you’ll definitely have options that fit you the most.

There are talks of Echo Arena becoming the first legitimate VR Esports game.

Now, the only downside is that it’s an Oculus exclusive. Don’t let that discourage you – it can easily be played on HTC Vive with ReVive.

I know. It’s a pain to resort to hacks just to play the game, but you won’t be sorry. Trust me.

#2 Gunheart


Gunheart is recently launched early access VR game that lets you and your friends join together in various co-op missions. You play as robot bounty hunters, somewhere at the edge of the galaxy. As you complete the missions, you get better weapons and gear for your rig.

While it’s not the most polished VR game out there (early access, heh…), it’s a boatload of fun! There are a lot of aliens to shoot, missions are procedurally generated and span over large areas, action is constant and regular.

If you’re looking for a fun “shoot-em-up” game with tons of replayability, this is definitely it!

Gunheart is fully compatible with both HTC Vive and Oculus Touch. It’s available on Steam for 31.99€/$

#3 The Unspoken


Admit it – at one point in your life you’ve wanted to have super-powers! It could’ve been anything – telekinesis, Kamehameha, summoning monsters out of thin air, or just a plain old fireball slinging and watching the world burn.

The Unspoken lets you do all that, and more. You’re a wizard with incredible powers and abilities – something like Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Your goal is to defeat other wizards of such calibre in all kinds of urban environments. If you and your friends enjoy playing competitive games against each other, this is the game for you.

Unfortunately, The Unspoken works well only on Oculus. A lot of people report lags and frame loss on HTC Vive through the ReVive hack. Therefore, if you and your friends own HTC Vive, you might want to save those 30€/$ for now.

#4 Arizona Sunshine


ZOMBIES! A lot of them! The little-bit pricey first-person shooter (39.99€/$!), Arizona Sunshine was released in December 2016. During that time, it has maintained very high positive ratings.

Obviously, you’re somewhere in post-apocalyptic Arizona, fighting and surviving the undead hordes.

Developed exclusively for HTC Vive and Oculus, this game offers a lot of bang for the buck. Literally. You’ll be banging a lot of undead heads off of their shoulders, in a variety of ways. The campaign follows the story, and you can choose your own pacing.

Controls are polished and smooth, one of the best in the industry. Immersion is guaranteed, with a lot of details such as zombie mutilation, interactive environments and realistic “feel” of many ingame weapons.

The co-op mode lets you play with friends and beat the undead together. However, the more living brains out there, the more zombies will come. Don’t get overwhelmed!

Even if you’re not really into zombie games and zombie genre in general, I’m positive you and your friends will enjoy this game for a long time.

#5 Rec Room


Rec Room is a fun and lighthearted Early Access Free-to-Play VR game. It’s basically a hub consisting of several mini-games and game-modes. You can play Paintball, Disc Golf, co-op adventures, 3D Charades etc. There’s something for everybody.

It works well both on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive so far.

The game is perfect for some decompression after work and during weekends, as well as some casual fun after some more demanding VR games.

Pick it up, and let you friends know. After all, it’s free.

#6 Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes


Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is one of those VR games where you just go: “OMG! How come I never got to think of this!! Whoever made this is a genius!”

Released almost 2 years ago, it received a plethora of awards for innovative and creative design. The game is a blast. Literally. If you fail, you will get blasted to pieces.

The goal is simple – defuse the bomb. One player sees the bomb, while everybody else has the bomb defuse manual.

It gets really tricky, because the defuse procedures are basically mini-puzzles. They are all designed to capitalize on miscommunication and confusion. A detailed, specific and crystal clear communication is required from both parties involved in order to successfully defuse the bomb.

The bombs are procedurally generated, so the game offers a lot of replayability. The best of all is that you can play it locally. That’s because you only need one copy of the game. The defuse manual is free to download over at BombManual.com

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is available for 15€/$ on Steam and Oculus Store.

#7 Raw Data


Set in 2271, Raw Data is an Early Access first person shooter designed specifically for VR. It’s compatible both with HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, so you can join with your friends in co-op missions or enjoy the so-called Hostile Takeover PvP.

There are multiple classes to choose from, coupled with a wide array of futuristic weapons, abilities and techniques.

As part of the elite hacker resistance movement, your mission is to infiltrate the sinister Eden Corporation, take as much raw data as possible and escape alive.

Raw data is one of the best VR action games out there. If you and your friends enjoy action packed first person shooters, this game is definitely for you.

Pick it up on Steam or Oculus Store.

#8 SportsBar VR


SportsBar VR recreates the friendly competitive setting of bars with pool, darts, air hockey, shuffleboard, chess tables and all sorts of other mini-games.

Best of all? You can freely toss and break beer bottles and other stuff around without the fear of police.

It costs 20€/$ on Steam and Oculus Store.

#9 Elite Dangerous


Launched way back in April of 2015, Elite Dangerous has been through a lot. Despite the troubles, the MMORPG space travel simulator has successfully survived and has a relatively small, but stable and loyal community.

It’s one of those games that cater to people that enjoy complex, snail-paced, open-ended adventures, requiring time and patience in order to progress. If you and your buddies don’t mind endlessly exploring the unknown – this is THE game!

The backstory and the purpose of the game are almost entirely up to the players themselves and the community as a whole. You can play in single player, private mode with just your friends, or in the open world where you can expect anything anywhere, depending on other players.

Base game is 25€/$ on Steam, while Oculus only offers the 50€/$ Commander Deluxe Edition.

#10 Battlezone


Battlezone is a first person tank combat VR game available for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PSVR. The game setting and graphics are heavily reminiscent of the movie Tron.

You control the most advanced tank out there from the cockpit perspective. You have some of the most powerful futuristic weapons and upgrades available at your disposal.

The PVP aspect is absolutely amazing. The campaign co-op mode for 1-4 players is procedurally generated to ensure endless replayability.

The only real downside is that the game requires a controller to be played. Other than that, everything else is as polished and smooth as VR allows it to be.

Pick it up on Steam, it’s only 37$/€.

That’s it for our pop 10 HTC Vive and Oculus games to play with your friends. Have any suggestions? Let us know, we’ll add honourable mentions.

How to Clean Your VR Headset?

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How to Clean Your VR Headset?

Dirt, sweat and pet hairs are a legitimate concern when it comes to your VR headset. If not cared for properly and regularly, VR headsets can easily malfunction due to these issues. Here is how to clean your VR headset, the right way!

How to Clean Your VR Headset’s Lenses?

If you keep your VR headset anywhere near glass, or you have pets in your house, dust, dirt and hairs will inevitably end up clogging up your lenses. This will affect the quality of your experience, and in worst cases can even irritate your eyes.

Lenses are the crucial part of the VR experience. You have to take extra precaution when cleaning them, as they can get scratched easily.

The best route is to use a can of compressed air, followed by carefully wiping away the remaining bits and pieces of dust, hair and dirt.

Point the gas can nozzle a few inches away towards the lenses. Apply short and controlled bursts of airflow to blow away the dust.

Follow up with a microfiber cloth to remove all the leftover bits and pieces. Done. Your lenses are as clean as new!

How to Clean Your VR Headset’s Face Pad?

Whenever you wear your VR headset for a prolonged amount of time, sweating is inevitable. Repeated sweating can make your VR headset really gross after a while.

Now, depending on the material your face pad is made off, there are several ways to do this.

If you use one of those waterproof faux leather covers, a simple babywipe or a hand disinfectant followed by paper towel to dry it off quickly will do the trick. Make sure you don’t introduce too much moisture in the process, as moisture can damage the electronics. Just do it fast and proceed with whatever you had in mind next.

Alternatively, buying a few fabric or foam replacement pad covers will go a long way. Simply swap the covers, and dip the dirty one into the water mixed with detergent or soap. Then, let it dry off and it’s as good as new.

For the rest of your VR headset, you can use babywipes as well. Just lightly wipe away all the dust and grime in the corners and crevices and you are good to go.

Air Quality and Temperature

Now, this might not be applicable for everybody, but to avoid sweaty and dirty face pads and lenses, you can minimize and/or prevent sweating and the build-up of dirt altogether.

During summer, air conditioning is a must, especially for VR games that require the movement of your whole body. If you can’t afford it, then at least get a decent fan to keep the airflow circulating.

Unless it’s really hot outside, a good thing to do is to open your doors and windows. This is especially useful during autumns and winter. Letting the cool breeze flow inside will decrease the temperature and naturally reduce the sweating. Meanwhile, your body will stay warmed up from light physical activity required to play your favourite VR game.

If you own HTC Vive, there’s a great third-party solution called VIVE N CHILL which helps cool down your forehead. It’s been crowdfunded on Indiegogo and is currently in pre-order phase. People that tried it report great results, so you might want to take a look at it.

Disclaimer: We use affiliate links. If you buy anything after clicking through to said websites, we get a commission.

MEETMIKE – The Improvement of Real-Time Rendering Is Scary!

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MEETMIKE – The Improvement of Real-Time Rendering Is Scary!


MEETMIKE: Pushing the Limits of Live, Real-Time Animation

MEETMIKE is the name given to a VR experience demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2017 conference – the same one where we had the chance to see the fascinating Neurable.

The joint effort of Mike Seymour (the “puppeteer”, thus the name MEETMIKE), Cubic Motion (face image tracking & solving), 3Lateral (facial rig), Wikihuman (Mike Seymour scan) and a slew of other companies has resulted in a significant overall improvement of real-time rendering technology.

End result? MEETMIKE, looking as real as it gets, rendered in real-time at 90 frames per second in VR using Unreal Engine.

If you haven’t seen MEETMIKE yet, do it now! Here’s a video:

Factsheet:

  • MEETMIKE contains about 440,000 triangles being rendered in real time, which means rendering of VR stereo about every 9 milliseconds. Hair consumes a whopping 75% of all triangles.
  • There are 80 joints in Mike’s face rig. Again, majority of those are used for hair and facial hair movement.
  • Face mesh requires only about 10 joints for jaw, eyes and the tongue.
  • The final version of the head mesh combines these joints with around 750 blendshapes
  • The system relies on complex traditional software design and as much as three deep learning AI engines.

It’s almost unbelievable, right?!

Now, what if I showed you a real-time rendering presentation that won the award for the best real-time graphics & interactivity last year at SIGGRAPH 2016?

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Looks quite impressive, right?

What you just watched, all of that live performance capture and real-time rendering, is the backbone for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a single-player adventure set in the Viking age, developed by an indie studio Ninja Theory. It follows a young female Celtic warrior Senua, trapped in the personal hell of psychosis and schizophrenia. Throughout the game, Senua is traversing the pits of hell in search of her deceased lover’s soul, but in reality, she’s battling her mental illness.

It has just been launched on Steam (August 8), and it has received overwhelmingly positive reviews so far.

Now, the game itself is far from VR ready. But, all the facial shots of Senua, as well as her whole body, share much of the same technology required to run MEETMIKE.

Without going too deep into the matter, it’s obvious that live, real-time rendering technology is within our grasp. It’s slowly finding its way into the mainstream gaming and video animation.

Amazing future awaits us!

Unfortunately, most of the current hardware and tech is at its limits when it comes to live, real-time rendering and performance capturing. Add VR into the mix and you are really pushing it.

For those reasons, we’re still a few years away from performance capture rendering becoming an industry staple.

However, progress is inevitable, and with new generations of graphics cards, real-time rendering will surely become a viable option for developers and studios.

Imagine – a VR game where you meet somebody you know in real life. The person’s real-time rendered in-game avatar looks exactly the same as the person does in real life.

Fascinating. And scary.

MEETMIKE Real-Time Rendering Mike Seymour
He’s laughing NOW! But what if it’s already too late for humanity…

Should Free VR Game Demos Become a Thing?

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Should Free VR Game Demos Become a Thing?

August 14 update: It looks like Oculus Store has just rolled out free trials similar to Xbox One! You can download and try the game for free, and if you like it, you pay to unlock the rest of it. Defense Grid 2 is the first game to become available this way.

Let’s hope more developers and publishers follow suit!

VR Game Demos – Why and Why Not?

Now, let’s be seriously blunt and bluntly serious– VR is awesome, but it is still an emerging and rapidly developing technology. Therefore, buying VR games is a gamble for everybody with middle-of-the-pack PC + VR setups.

You could retort with a counter argument that most VR games at the moment basically ARE demos. And I would agree. However, things get increasingly complicated when you involve monetary transactions in the whole process of acquiring said games… demos… products… Whatever they are.

Certainly, there are VR games out there that are obviously dumps. They are created and published with the sole purpose and intention of making a quick buck off of early adopters.

In a Wild West situation like that, wouldn’t it be prudent for developers to rise above the junk and trash by offering demos for their legitimate products?

I’d make a statement that it would.

Now, from the developers’ perspective, demos have gained a lot of notoriety over the last 2 decades. There are several factors that play a key role here:

  • User plays the demo, doesn’t like it, decides not to buy the full game
  • User tries the demo, but still on the fence about purchasing the game
  • Increased dev time associated with making a demo
  • Demos can never fully represent the whole game

All of these are valid points to be made, especially in this day and age with closed and open betas, review copies, various game review websites and YouTube channels and so on. If you want to see the game in action, a quick search on Google and YouTube will give you all the data and info you need to make a rational buying decision.

However, with VR, it’s different. 3D adds a level of complexity and experience that significantly surpasses the capacity of any established online multimedia channel. You can’t accurately describe and review any VR game with words, images and/or video.

The person on the other side has to feel it in order to get the full picture.

This is where game demos would fill the void.

The Steam “Demo” Route

If you happen to buy VR games primarily from Steam Marketplace, there is always a refund option – for any reason.

Therefore, even if you’re not sure the VR game you’ve set your sights on will work well on your setup, you can freely buy it, try it and then decide what to do after.

However, you can’t just go willy-nilly with this method. There are limits.

You can’t refund your newly purchased VR game if you’ve had it in your library for more than 14 days. That’s 2 weeks – more than enough time to come to a conclusion. Also, make sure you didn’t play it for more than 2 hours. If you did, Steam will deny your refund request.

Additionally, there’s this. Steam obviously has means to detect your activity, so if you suddenly start buying and refunding a bunch of VR games, you will probably get this warning after a while. At the moment, there’s no information on what Steam considers “significant number of refunds”.

Oculus offers a similar refund policy for Oculus Store purchases – no more than 14 days old and 2 hours of playtime. The catch is that it’s only applicable to users in the United Kingdom. Hopefully, Oculus will expand this option to the rest of the world soon.

VR Game Demos – Final Thoughts

With the VR games rapidly oozing into the mainstream, the barrier of entry is still relatively high. In other words, it’s a significant investment for an end user.

Even if money is not the problem, you may easily find yourself fumbling through myriads of forums, videos and blog posts for hours, trying to find a solution for some technical roadblock.

This is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of VR games at this stage of VR expansion are… experimental, to say the least. Despite their supposed minimum and recommended requirements, they often don’t perform well on your particular setup. Optimization takes time, and most of the developers are rushing through the development cycle just to launch their VR games as soon as possible.

In such an environment, offering free demos would certainly help the users figure out whether playing their VR game of choice is even feasible.

Sadly, money and profit margins often take precedence over end user experience. This is the biggest reason why we probably won’t see more free VR game demos any time soon.

Unless, of course, the biggest VR game stores like Steam Marketplace and Oculus Store make it a requirement. It would certainly be in their best interest to do so – they would win over the customer trust and provide more satisfaction in the long term.

How to Add SteamVR Games to Oculus Home

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How to Add SteamVR Games to Oculus Home

Add SteamVR Games to Oculus Home

Rifters across the globe, we’re getting there! Slowly, but steadily!

Oculus Rift developers have recently announced that Third Party Apps, namely SteamVR games, would be accessible in Oculus Home with the 1.17 software update. The update was rolled out on August 3.

At first glance, this is a massive improvement over Valve’s own SteamVR Home. SteamVR Home also technically enables you to have an all-in-one solution for your games, but you have to manually search for the right executable (.exe) files to be added to SteamVR library.

However, users still report various problems with the Oculus Home’s newest feature. Most prominent issue is that SteamVR games still don’t show up in Oculus Home.

So, how DO you add SteamVR games to Oculus Home exactly?

First of all, it’s necessary that you allow third party apps:

  1. Start the Oculus app
  2. Click Library in the menu at the top.
  3. Click the Filter drop-down menu in the upper right corner.
  4. By default, Include Unknown Sources is Off. Click on the switch so that it turns blue (On).
How to Add Steam VR Games to Oculus Home
Upper right corner, don’t forget…

Now hold on, you’re one quarter of the way through, more or less. In order for your favourite SteamVR games to appear on Oculus Home screen, you’ll need to first launch each and every one separately.

You’ll only need to do it once for each game. Here’s how:

  1. Close SteamVR. Shut it down completely.
  2. Open your regular Steam client
  3. Select your game and launch it.
  4. SteamVR will auto-start and your game will be auto-added to Oculus Home.

Nevertheless, you might still experience certain roadblocks along the way. It mostly depends on the game title. Project CARS has been reported unable to launch from Oculus Home by dozens of users. Dirty Rally is also supposedly on that list. A bunch of smaller games run into all kinds of problems. I’m sure Oculus is aware of these issues and working actively on patching and fixing them.

At the moment, playing any game that’s not available on Oculus Store, including Steam VR games as well, will make you appear as ‘Online’ to your Rift friends. Unfortunately, there’s no way around it, but hopefully it gets addressed soon enough.

Add SteamVR to Oculus Home

Now, some of you out there prefer SteamVR Home to Oculus Home. For whatever reason.

That’s perfectly fine – if you have no problem manually adding each and every non-Steam game into your Library, then who am I to stop you or judge you?

So, you could simply resort to quick-launching SteamVR from your taskbar, sure. But, what you really need is a shortcut to SteamVR on your Oculus Home. This will let you seamlessly switch back and forth between SteamVR Home and Oculus Home.

At the moment, the most straightforward way to do it is with the nifty little program called Oculus Tray Tool. If you haven’t yet installed it, do it now. Trust me, you won’t regret it. It has a boatload of features, but for this purpose, one is of particular interest to you.

Oculus Tray Tool lets you swap one of your current apps with the SteamVR app. Just choose any small and free app from the Oculus Store, something that you know you won’t use.

Here’s a great video on how to set it up:

Have a trick up your sleeve? Maybe you know a better way how to add SteamVR games to Oculus Home?

Let us know in the comment section down below!

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