While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of August 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
Though gaming is likely VR’s most visible use-case so far, it’s capable of so much more. Creatives are using VR for a wide range of artistic endeavors including painting, drawing, 3D modeling & sculpting, animating and more. If you’re interested in exploring your creativity in VR, here’s 11 tools worth checking out.
Updated – August 9th, 2023
First, here’s a quick breakdown of the tools and their capabilities, so that you can hone in on what kind of creative tool you’re looking for the VR headset of your choice. A note about the ‘Feature Focus’ categories below: while some of these tools may support all of the features in limited ways, we marked each based on the workflows they primarily cater to.
That’s the short and skinny, below you can check out more info on each tool to get a better idea what they, what skill level they’re built for, and their cost.
From the Developer: Open Brush is the community created successor to Tilt Brush, a room-scale 3D-painting virtual-reality application available from Google, originally developed by Skillman & Hackett.
Open Brush lets you paint in 3D space with VR. Unleash your creativity with three-dimensional brush strokes, choosing from a wide palette, of brushes, including stars, light, and even fire. Your room is your canvas. Your palette is your imagination.
From the Developer: Quill by Smoothstep is the VR illustration and animation tool built to empower artists, designers and storytellers. You can create fully animated self-contained VR films ready for release, or use it to produce traditional 3D or 2D artwork, or assets for a game engine. It’s designed to be expressive, precise and to let the artist’s “hand” come through clearly – whether that’s a watercolor style, pencil style, oil painting style or other.
From the Developer: Creating amazing street art would be much more fun without the jail time, and now you can! Kingspray is a Multiplayer VR Graffiti Simulator, with battle-tested realistic spray, colors, drips, metallics, and more! Using a wide range of caps, ultra-detailed environments and paint surfaces, unleash your creativity (just see what some of our fans have already created!) and express your style!
From the Developer: Gravity Sketch is the immersive 3D design tool that empowers you to create, share and collaborate on your best design ideas. Go beyond the bounds of 2D sketching to express yourself in a virtual studio and explore iterations of designs. Communicate design intent with greater clarity, and invite others to help shape your ideas and decision-making.
From the Developer: In ShapesXR anybody can start creating in 3D without prior experience within minutes. You can design and prototype your immersive app, invite others to co-create in real-time, or present your ideas using ShapesXR storyboard feature. You can also share your creation with anybody without a VR headset via Web, the Unity plugin or just a picture for your 2D deck.
From the Developer: AnimVR revolutionizes your 3D content production with a powerful timeline, virtual cameras, audio recording, fading & editing, combined with industry standard import and export capabilities, like Alembic Cache and Pixar’s USD. Hand-drawn animation in VR combines the best parts of traditional animation with the advantages of digital content creation tools. Jump right into story telling, without worrying about topology, rigging or skinning. Create environment layouts, 3D story boards, animatics and whole experiences!
From the Developer: Create sprawling, brilliant worlds and explore them with your friends! Invite your friends to an online game, then race to the finish with hang-gliders, or switch to climbing mode for even more fun. Discover thousands of amazing creations in the interactive gallery then remix them however you want! When you’re happy with your creation, you can upload to the SculptrVR content gallery and let others see the incredible things you’ve made.
From the Developer: Masterpiece X is the 3D creation platform for modern creators! It’s designed for anyone who wants to start creating in 3D but isn’t sure where to start, or those frustrated with complex tools.You don’t need to start from scratch! Get a head start with a complete model and easily remix it into whatever inspires you!
From the Developer: Adobe Substance 3D Modeler is an innovative sculpting and modeling app that aims at redefining how we create in 3D by combining VR and desktop experiences with a more natural approach to 3D modeling. Substance 3D Modeler frees you from technical constraints. With a Sparse Distance Field (SDF) engine at its core, Modeler allows you to model and sculpt without worrying about polycount, topology or subdivision levels. Sculpt away and add matter to your scene without ever the need to retopologize. Start your creation from scratch or import an existing model and convert it to clay to start sculpting.
From the Developer: It’s time to discover your inner artist! With Vermillion, you get a fully equipped oil painting studio in your home, without any of the mess. Ready for the unrivaled sense of accomplishment from creating your first painting? Learn with your favorite YouTube artists using the built-in web browser, trace reference images directly on the canvas, or even better—learn to paint from (new) friends in multiplayer!
From the Developer: It’s time to discover your inner artist! With Vermillion, you get a fully equipped oil painting studio in your home, without any of the mess. Ready for the unrivaled sense of accomplishment from creating your first painting? Learn with your favorite YouTube artists using the built-in web browser, trace reference images directly on the canvas, or even better—learn to paint from (new) friends in multiplayer!
While Meta doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of July 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of May 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of April 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of March 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of February 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
If you’re looking for the very best overall PC VR headset, Valve Index is our pick. It’s pricey compared to the rest, but has an excellent balance of quality, performance, and comfort. That’s why we called it “the enthusiast’s choice” in our full review of the headset.
Pros
Things to love about Index are its excellent tracking performance, wide field of view, quality controllers, great audio, and range of ergonomic adjustments that make it easy to dial in a comfortable and clear fit.
Index is one of the only headsets that offers an eye-relief adjustment. This let’s you bring the lenses as close to your eyes as comfortable, allowing you to maximize your field of view; it also makes the headset easier to adjust for glasses. Index has a physical IPD adjustment which ranges from 58mm to 70mm, making it easy to align the lenses with the width of your eyes for the sharpest visuals.
Cons
But Index isn’t perfect. Compared to other headsets on the market, the external tracking system is more work to set up, typically requiring two tracking beacons mounted on opposite corners of a room, stuck on a tripod, placed up high on a shelf, or screwed into your wall. They also need to be plugged into their own power outlets. And while Index has cameras on the front for a pass-through view, it isn’t as quick or useful as we’ve seen on other headsets. Its resolution is on the low-end compared to the latest headsets, and did we mention the price tag of $1,000? You can get it cheaper though if you already have SteamVR Tracking base stations from an old Vive headset.
Valve Index Specs
Resolution
1,440 x 1,600 (2.3MP) per-eye, LCD (2x)
Refresh Rate
80Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz
Lenses
Double element Fresnel
Field-of-view
~130° diagonal
Optical Adjustments
IPD, eye-relief
IPD Adjustment Range
58–70mm
Connectors
USB 3.0, DisplayPort 1.2, 12V power
Cable Length
5m + 1m breakaway
Tracking
SteamVR Tracking 1.0 or 2.0 (external beacons)
On-board cameras
2x RGB
Input
Valve Index controllers (rechargable battery)
Audio
Off-ear headphones, 3.5mm aux output
Microphone
Dual microphone
Pass-through view
Yes
Content Compatibility
Valve Index is officially compatible with the SteamVR library where the vast majority of VR content is available. If you’re looking to play content that’s exclusive to the Oculus PC library (like Lon Echo II) you can use the free but unofficial Revive mod to play Oculus PC content on Valve Index. It may take some tweaking for performance and controller inputs, but for the most part Oculus content will play reasonably well on Index.
While Valve’s Index has great all-around performance, HP’s latest Reverb G2 is the headset you want if resolution is your most important consideration. Reverb G2 should be on your radar especially if you’re thinking of picking up a VR headset for seated PC VR games like driving and flight simulators—find out why in our full review.
ℹ HP has also released a slightly updated version of the headset (which we call the Reverb G2.1) that makes some small but noticeable improvements. Read more about Reverb G2.1 here.
Pros
When it comes right down to it, G2’s defining feature is its class-leading resolution of 2,160 × 2,160, which can look downright amazing with the right content. Thanks to a collaboration between Valve and HP, G2 also borrows the excellent headphones of Valve’s Index headset and brings improved controllers compared to previous WMR headsets. Not to mention the headset has inside-out tracking which makes it easier to use thanks to no external trackers. And who can argue with it being nearly half the price of the full Valve Index kit?
Cons
Although it boasts improved controller ergonomics compared to prior WMR headsets, Reverb G2’s controller tracking still has more latency and less reliability than its peers, along with less detailed (and somewhat noisy) haptics. The controllers will get you through most games just fine, but if you plan to primarily play competitive or fast-paced games, the controllers on other headsets tend to deliver better results. As for field of view, G2 is similar to most of its peers but loses out compared to Index. The pass-through view also isn’t as useful as some other headsets because of its odd ‘flashlight’ implementation.
HP Reverb G2 works natively with the Windows Mixed Reality store, but very few VR applications are available there. Fortunately a free and official plugin from Microsoft also makes it compatible with SteamVR content. If you’re looking to play content that’s exclusive to the Oculus PC library (like Lone Echo II) you can use the free but unofficial Revive mod to play Oculus PC content on Reverb G2.
If you have cash to spare, and especially if you’re looking for the ultimate VR sim setup, Varjo Aero could be a great fit. It has the most impressive visual clarity we’ve seen from any consumer-available headset, thanks to a very high resolution display and unique lenses. It also has some other nice-to-have features not found on most other headsets. But it’ll cost you far more than other headsets. For a deep dive, check out our full Varjo Aero review.
Pros
If you can even put a headset that’s this expensive in the same category as other consumer VR headsets, Varjo Aero easily has the sharpest, most immersive image thanks to its 2,880 x 2,720 (7.8MP) per-eye resolution. On top of that, the headset uses aspheric (rather than Fresnel) lenses, which means it doesn’t suffer from the glare and god-rays that plague most other headsets. Aero also has two features that aren’t available on most headsets: automatic IPD adjustment and eye-tracking. The latter can be used for foveated rendering and some other useful stuff, but most applications today don’t support it.
Cons
Aero’s biggest downsides are its price, lack of integrated audio, and some image distortion. The headset alone costs $2,000, and if you don’t already have SteamVR Tracking base stations and controllers, you’ll need to shell out an additional $580 to get them. And let’s not forget… in order to really get the most from the headset, you’ll need a PC capable of pushing all those pixels at high framerates; if you don’t already have a beast of a PC, this one might not be the best choice (Varjo recommends at least an RTX 3070 or RTX 2080 and Aero does not support AMD GPUs).
As for the lack of integrated audio—you’ll need to plug headphones or earbuds into the headset’s 3.5mm aux port, which means another wire to deal with and another thing to put on and take off every time you use the headset. And while the Aero’s image is incredibly sharp, it does suffer from distortion near the edges of the lens which can bother some people more than others.
Varjo Aero is officially compatible with the SteamVR library where the vast majority of VR content is available. If you’re looking to play content that’s exclusive to the Oculus PC library (like Lone Echo II) you can use the free but unofficial Revive mod to play Oculus PC content on Varjo Aero. It may take some tweaking for performance and controller inputs, but for the most part Oculus content should work on Aero.
Although Quest 2 is a standalone headset (which means games run directly in the headset without plugging into a PC) it also has a feature called Oculus Link which gives you the option to run PC VR games by plugging into a PC. And if you have a modern router (Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6), you can even do this wirelessly with Air Link feature.
Pros
Along with the useful passthrough feature, high resolution display, and great controllers, Quest 2 is a pretty great all-around headset. The hard-to-beat price makes it a great value, especially considering the fact that the headset also runs standalone VR games from the Meta Quest store. Meta has also consistently released software updates to improve the headset’s performance and features.
Cons
Unfortunately the cable that comes with Quest 2 isn’t long enough to work well for Oculus Link, and we can’t recommend the official cable because of its crazy $80 price tag. Thankfully you can get 26 feet worth of Oculus Link cable for $34. Or if you have a Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 router you can use Air Link to play PC VR games wirelessly.
Without being plugged into a computer, Quest 2 can only play games from the Meta Quest library. If you plug into a computer via Oculus Link, you’ll have access to everything in the Oculus PC and SteamVR libraries as well. That means that Quest 2 is compatible with the vast majority of top VR content out there, as long as you’ve got a powerful PC to plug the headset into.
Standalone VR headsets are fully self-contained and don’t need to plug into anything. They generally offer high ease-of-use thanks to their all-in-one nature and lack of tether. With their low overall cost (thanks to not needing a high-end PC) standalone headsets are a great way to take your first step into VR.
Quest 2 is an upgrade over its predecessor in almost every way, though it’s worth noting that you need a Facebook account to use the headset. It comes in a 128GB and 256GB version.
Pros
With an impressive resolution, powerful Snapdragon XR2 processor, useful ‘passthrough’ view feature, and great controllers, there’s a lot to like about Quest 2. What’s more, if you ever decide to upgrade to PC-powered VR, Quest 2 can plug into your computer and be used like a PC VR headset. When it comes to overall value, no other standalone headset is in the same ballpark right now. And another nice thing about the headset: it keeps getting better with each update.
Cons
There’s a few things we wish were better though. As we found in our full Quest 2 review, the included soft headstrap just isn’t that comfortable, which is why we recommend the Elite Strap ($60 on Amazon) or Elite Battery Strap ($120 on Amazon) accessories if you’re a serious VR user.
The hidden built-in speakers are convenient but we wish they were more powerful for better immersion (luckily there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack if you want to use your own headphones). And while Quest 2 has a pretty strong game library, since it’s a standalone headset you won’t be able to play any of the big PC VR games like Half-Life: Alyx or Asgard’s Wrath unless you have a powerful PC to plug into.
Meta Quest 2 is compatible with all content in the Meta Quest library. If you have a gaming PC (or get one in the future), you can plug it into your PC to play content in the Oculus PC library and the SteamVR library.
Although Meta is heavily marketing Quest Pro as a ‘mixed reality’ headset, Quest Pro is also essentially a better Quest 2 in almost every way. While the upgrades are nice, they won’t justify the extra $1,000 in cost for anyone but hardcore VR users; we explain why in our full Quest Pro review.
Pros
You can think of Quest Pro as a more compact Quest 2 with better visual clarity, better controllers, a better passthrough view, and some neat new features like face-tracking. Although the resolution is the same as Quest 2, the lenses are better which makes the image a bit sharper and improves clarity by eliminating glare caused by Quest 2’s less sophisticated lenses. The new controllers are self-tracking, which means they won’t lose tracking when they’re out of sight of the headset and they’re more compact. An included charging dock for both the headset and the controllers is also a nice touch which means your headset will always be charged and updated when you’re ready to play.
Cons
Given that Quest Pro is being pushed as a mixed reality headset, Meta opted for an open-front design which means you’ll be able to see the outside world more easily. This is nice for when you’re using the passthrough view, but for VR applications it can be less immersive. The headset includes some snap-on blinders that close off some of that outside view for more immersion, but you’ll have to drop an extra $50 for the ‘full light blocker‘ if you want maximum immersion from the headset.
Additionally, Quest Pro’s lack of top-strap makes the headset less comfortable for some than it could be and its battery life is pretty short at 1–2 hours. And finally, the headset’s most unique features, like full face-tracking and better passthrough for AR applications, are rather underutilized at this stage in the headset’s life.
Quest Pro Specs
Resolution
1800 × 1920 (3.5MP) per-eye, LCD (2x)
Refresh Rate
72Hz, 90Hz
Optics
Pancake non-Fresnel
Field-of-view (claimed)
106°H × 96°V
Optical Adjustments
Continuous IPD, continuous eye-relief
IPD Adjustment Range
55–75mm
Processor
Snapdragon XR2+
RAM
12GB
Storage
256GB
Connectors
USB-C
Weight
722g
Battery Life
1–2 hours
Headset Tracking
Inside-out (no external beacons)
Controller Tracking
Inside-out (headset line-of-sight not needed)
Expression Tracking
Yes (eyes, face)
On-board cameras
5x external, 5x internal
Input
Touch Pro controllers (rechargeable), hand-tracking, voice
Audio
In-headstrap speakers, dual 3.5mm aux output
Microphone
Yes
Pass-through view
Yes (color)
MSRP
$1,500
Content Compatibility
Meta Quest Pro is compatible with all content in the Meta Quest library. If you have a gaming PC (or get one in the future), you can plug it into your PC to play content in the Oculus PC library and the SteamVR library.
Yup, our value pick for standalone headset is the same as our ‘Best Overall’ pick: Quest 2! But if you’re brand new to VR and are just looking for a taste, you can probably hold off on the Elite Strap accessory and save yourself $60 in the meantime. If you find yourself using the headset often you can always add the strap later.
See the Quest 2 section above for thoughts and details on Quest 2.
If you know anything about VR, you’ll already know what we’re going to say! PlayStation is the only console maker that currently supports a VR headset (sorry Xbox fans). And unfortunately only Sony’s own headsets work with its consoles.
But at least that makes things easy. If you’re using PS4, the original PSVR is the best (and only) headset that will work with the console.
If you’re using PS5, the soon-to-launch PSVR 2 is the obvious choice. Even though the original PSVR is technically compatible with PS5 (if you get a special adapter), PSVR 2 is a big improvement across the board and will be the only headset to support the latest generation of VR games and content on PS5.
Image courtesy Sony
Our Take
PSVR launched in late 2016 and was a great headset for its era, including a handful of excellent exclusive VR games that you won’t find anywhere else. However, the headset is officially past its prime in 2023 and feels ‘last generation’ in resolution, tracking, and controllers compared to what’s available elsewhere in the VR landscape.
It’s hard to recommend buying the six year old PSVR today. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find new units at reasonable prices. Bundles are typically priced at $350, but good luck finding those in-store or online anymore. Ebay has a number of pre-owned options alongside unreasonably expensive new in-the-box units, so choose wisely.
That’s certainly because Sony is planning to launch its next-gen PSVR 2 on February 22nd.
PlayStation VR is only compatible with select VR content in the PlayStation store and does not support PSVR 2 games. However, its back-catalog includes a handful of excellent exclusives not available on PSVR 2 like Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Blood & Truth. You can also use the headset to play non-VR PS4 or PS5 content in a ‘theater mode’ through the headset, but with relatively low resolution it’s not something you’re likely to do often. The vast majority of PSVR titles are also backwards compatible with PS5.
Launching in February, PlayStation VR 2 will finally bring an upgrade to Sony’s VR platform, but it will only be compatible with PS5. Priced at $600, it’s more expensive than something like Quest 2, but if you’ve already got a PS5 you’re likely to get a higher-fidelity VR experience thanks to the game console being far more powerful than the standalone Quest 2.
PSVR vs. PSVR 2 Specs
Resolution
2,000 x 2,040 (4.1MP) per-eye, OLED, HDR
960 x 1,080 (1.0MP) per-eye, RGB OLED
Refresh Rate
90Hz, 120Hz
90Hz, 120Hz
Lenses
Fresnel
Single element non-Fresnel
Field-of-view (claimed)
110° (diagonal presumed)
100° (diagonal presumed)
Optical Adjustments
IPD, eye-relief
Eye-relief
Connectors
USB-C (no breakout box)
USB, HDMI (breakout box)
Cable Length
unknown
4.4m
Tracking
Inside-out (no external beacons)
Outside-in (external camera)
On-board cameras
4x IR (external), 2x IR (internal)
None
Input
PSVR 2 Sense controllers (rechargable), eye-tracking
PSVR 2 is unfortunately not backwards compatible with PSVR games. That means it only supports games in the PlayStation store that are specifically marked with PSVR 2 support.
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of January 2023.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of December 2022.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
