2023 featured some of the best VR games in recent years, with several games offering virtual realms of unparalleled experiences. From mind-bending simulations to immersive adventures, these titles redefine reality and will make you proud to be a VR lover.
Breachers
If you’re a fan of tactical first-person shooters and want a step above in immersion, then you’ll likely love Breachers. Like Rainbow Six Siege and many other games in its genre, developer Triangle Factory does a great job of giving players the tools they need as an extraction-based tactical shooter. Players can either choose to be an enforcer and infiltrate enemy bases by blowing up walls and disarming bombs or be a Revolter, a defender who uses several tactical tools such as door blockers and trip mines to keep all enforcers out till the last second. Because it’s all in VR, tense and explosive moments are taken to new heights, and as such, each victory feels incredible. The game also has a surprisingly involved and supportive community, so if you choose to dive in, you can rest assured in knowing that there are many players to test your skills against.
F1 23
Not many games can successfully provide a great VR racing experience the way F1 23 does. While it has a perfectly playable standard version, the game’s VR version offers you a completely different experience as it features a new level of immersion. The VR version also includes several features you can experience up close, such as the new Las Vegas and Qatar Circuits, the entire campaign mode playable in VR, and the full multiplayer modes where you can compete against several players. F1 23 also sports impeccable visuals and performance settings alongside many types of weekly, daily, and seasonal content and races. Additionally, F1 23 is compatible with most headsets, which means most VR lovers can enjoy it without worrying about compatibility.
Propagation: Paradise Hotel
One of the best VR survival horror games in 2023, Propagation: Paradise Hotel, puts you in the shoes of Emily Diaz, a girl who ventures into the titular hotel to find her missing sister but gets trapped with terrifying monsters. You’ll have to navigate new, dark, and frightening surroundings, gather resources, and fight off the several types of monsters that will track and torment you. Because the whole experience is made for VR, you will experience exhilarating moments via bone-chilling frights and adrenaline-pumping fights. Propagation also sports intricate mechanics, seen through actions such as reloading and firing guns and picking up and using items. Additionally, the game has one of the most engaging narratives in a survival horror game, especially for a VR game, so those who decide to venture into the hotel have a lot to look forward to.
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
While not as terrifying as the previous entry, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR puts you on a nightmarish, perpetually moving rollercoaster as you defend yourself against several monsters, apparitions, vampires, witches, and more in locations similar to those seen in several games in the series. The game also uses the PlayStation VR 2 to its limits with features such as excellent eye tracking, haptic feedback that matches every bump on the rails, and adaptive triggers that make each weapon feel unique. It is all presented in up to 4K HDR with immersive 3D audio. If you’re a survival horror or FPS fanatic, then The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR might be for you.
Vertigo 2
Zulubo Productions’s sequel to its 2020 adventure FPS, Vertigo 2, is the most expansive, immersive, and explosive game in the series thus far. Vertigo 2 is an epic first-person shooter single-player game built from the ground up for VR. Vertigo 2 is set in a highly detailed, colorful world, intricately designed with bizarre alien flora and fauna. It also features more enemy variety than the previous game, including new types of aliens and robots to eviscerate, a slew of new bosses, and an engaging story with fully-voiced characters. It also has impeccable VR tools, such as smooth locomotion and 360 movement. The combination of all these features is why Vertigo 2 provides one of the best VR experiences of the year.
Horizon Call of the Mountain
The first VR game in Sony and Guerilla’s flagship Horizon series, Horizon Call of the Mountain, offers an epic tale and all-in immersive first-person action. In Call of the Mountain, you play as Ryas, an outcast and disgraced soldier of the Carja tribe. After a series of events, Ryas is forced to save his people in order to redeem himself and, as such, has to venture into the wilds to face many intimidating machines. Thanks to the power of PlayStation VR2, Call of the Mountain is also one of the most immersive games in the series. Players will scale mountains and cliffs, bob and weave away from danger, and shoot at enemies with the power of haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, immersive audio, and impeccable 4K visuals. All these elements are why Horizon Call of the Mountain deserves its spot on this list as one of the best VR games of 2023.
Resident Evil Village VR
One of 2021’s best games is also one of 2023’s best VR experiences. Capcom ported one of the best games in the series, where you can more intimately experience the story of Ethan Winters as he ventures into the titular village to find his abducted wife and daughter.
In Resident Evil Village, you primarily control Ethan Winters and face off against several mobs of zombies and other disturbing and disgusting monsters. However, thanks to the VR mode, you’ll be able to experience every frightful and high-octane moment up close and personal and in an adrenaline-pumping way. The PSVR2 controllers perfectly portray the feeling of using weapons to blow away foes, and the atmospheric setting is perfectly captured thanks to the almost-too-detailed visuals, immersive sound design, and 3D audio. If you’re a fan of the Resident Evil series or just Survival Horrors in general, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not playing Resident Evil Village in VR.
