Europe-based virtual reality experiences provider The Park Playground recently launched its latest offering, a new esports-inspired VR experience called NanoClash Focus. A first in the industry, this new virtual reality game allows two opposing teams to battle it out simultaneously on two independent fields. It’s a fully mobile, free-roam game that aims to provide an immersive and engaging VR experience for players.
An Exciting Combo of VR Experience and Esports
For NanoClash Focus The Park Playground partnered with HTC and Triangle Factory. The company was encouraged by the success of one of its past VR experiences that allowed players to compete remotely in a virtual battlefield in separate cities. This led to the development of NanoClash Focus, which used elements from esports in its design and artificial intelligence technology to ensure an enhanced user experience.
Players of NanoClash Focus are virtually transported to a hanging platform in a futuristic setting, where they compete against another team in a laser shoot-out, sports battle-style. Each team consists of four to eight people, and the goal is to be the first to reach the arena floor and prevent opponents from doing so by shooting with either laser guns or laser cannons.
Using HTC VIVE Focus 3 wireless headsets that offer greater mobility, players can freely roam the playing field. “Power-ups” are up for grabs in the game, giving teams a solid advantage when they utilize them strategically. The game is a VR experience combined with the exciting features of esports, a move that The Park Playground wants to pursue.
“With two teams positioned on two independent free roam fields and rewards given for teamwork and strategic thinking, NanoClash Focus is an exciting example of how we’re driving technological innovations in LBE VR alongside our partners,” The Park Playground CEO Peter Vindevogel said in a press release shared with ARPost.
According to Vindevogel, the company plans to develop more experiences that use elements of other gaming formats. NanoClash Focus is an example of a location-based VR experience that is inspired by esports for a more immersive, interactive, and inclusive experience. “We’ll be seeing this cross-pollination between LBE VR and elements more traditionally associated with gaming surfacing much more frequently in the future,” Vindevogel further explained.
Developing More VR Experiences with AI
The release of NanoClash Focus is an exciting achievement for The Park Playground. The company has only recently begun experimenting with AI technology and data management in its game development process. The result is a more efficient way of developing seamless and innovative VR experiences that The Park Playground aims to achieve.
“Tapping into emerging technologies like AI is something LBE VR providers must consider doing to remain relevant and drive innovative VR experiences that keep people coming back for more,” said the company’s CTO Gilles-Adrien Cenni.
With the launch of NanoClash Focus, The Park Playground seems poised to enter more markets in Europe, Australia, and the US. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the VR experience company currently has 13 owned and franchised locations around the world.
It recently opened two new locations in Brisbane, Australia, and Leeds, UK, and is set to open another venue in Birmingham this year. NanoClash Focus is available for players to try out in all of The Park Playground’s locations globally.
Sandbox VR, known for its location-based VR games, announced today the launch of its newest VR experience. Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire is the company’s first VR game that features multiple storylines, created by the company’s AAA in-house gaming studio.
VR game “Dragonfire”: A New Immersive Experience Each Time
After a successful partnership with Netflix that will see its hit series Squid Game developed into an immersive VR experience later this year, Sandbox VR continues to explore new ways to develop VR worlds for its customers. Dragonfire’s multiple storylines allow players to experience something different each time they play, even after completing it.
Developed by experts in the VR industry, Dragonfire was helmed by the former lead designer on Assassin’s Creed franchise and Sandbox VR’s VP of Content and Creative Director, Michael Hampden.
The new VR game makes full use of Sandbox VR’s proprietary technology that lets players experience a fully immersive, VR-powered adventure. It’s the first game that features branching storylines, making each experience different from others.
Sandbox VR Develops Unique VR Experiences
For Sandbox VR CEO Steve Zhao, developing Dragonfire is a step toward the company’s goal of providing unique VR experiences. “With each experience we create, our goal is to push ourselves to invent new ways to immerse players in virtual worlds,” he stated in a press release shared with ARPost.
Set in a castle in a fantasy world, VR game Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire sees players come together as a group of explorers. They encounter a variety of enemies and mysteries and go through several different areas to accomplish their mission.
Because of the branching story arcs within the game, players can choose from many options during gameplay. In essence, players can experience different versions of Dragonfire, depending on their choices. In fact, younger gamers will be able to play an age-appropriate version of the game that does not contain violence.
Consequently, such a complex design posed a big challenge for Sandbox VR in the development of Dragonfire.
“There’s a reason why there isn’t anything like Dragonfire available out there, because so many features have to be designed from the ground up,” Hampden said. “Melee combat, magic weapons and spells, unlockable items, and choosing where to go next are just a few of the new features we have added to make this perhaps the deepest and most replayable location-based VR experience yet.”
Expanding Sandbox VR’s Virtual Worlds
Sandbox VR is a location-based VR startup with over 35 locations around the world. It provides immersive VR experiences to guests, which the company describes as similar to the fictional “holodecks” popularized by the Star Trek franchise. Up to six guests can participate in each experience.
Sandbox VR uses motion capture technology and high-quality haptics to give players a sense of realism while they explore virtual worlds. Each gameplay is designed to be a social experience where friends and family work together to complete game objectives.
Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire is the seventh exclusive immersive experience developed by Sandbox VR, along with Amber Sky 2088, Star Trek: Discovery, Deadwood Mansion, Deadwood Valley, UFL: Unbound Fighting League, and Curse of Davy Jones. Squid Game, the highly anticipated VR experience in partnership with Netflix, is currently under development, set to launch in late 2023.
It is generally assumed that the VR and XR industry managed to weather the pandemic quite well. However, not all virtual reality endeavors benefited equally. For location-based entertainment (also LBE or LBVR for short), the pandemic had devastating effects.
Even with the social distancing measures and disinfection protocols, the idea of sharing headsets inside a busy venue did not seem very appealing, and just like cinemas, most had no choice but to shut down.
The biggest casualty of that time had to be The Void. They were considered pioneers and one of the biggest players in the LBE space, so their closure and subsequent bankruptcy were seen by many as a grim indication of what was to come.
However, just like with cinemas, location-based destinations are back in business. And while The Void is still closed down (with rumors it might reopen sometime soon), most LBEs are already back on their feet, together with a whole cast of new players, big and small, all interested in exploring this new, emerging frontier.
VR Unleashed
It seems location-based venues continue to attract fun-seekers for a variety of reasons. One is that they offer a high-fidelity experience. Users can walk around freely without the need for gamepads or any other artificial locomotion. Experiences are designed with immersion in mind, taking full advantage of VR as a medium in a way that cannot be replicated at home. This can be especially powerful when experienced by newcomers who’ve never encountered VR before.
Another reason is the social aspect of LBEs. Whether it’s a group of friends or a family, it’s all part of a shared adventure, similar to cinemas, arcades, and many other leisure activities. Booking, getting to the venue, gearing up, and having a chat afterward are all part of this ritual.
Given all of this, it makes sense that, despite the pandemic, LBEs have managed to find an audience again.
But enough theory, time to look at LBEs in practice! I had a chance to try three of the more popular venues. They all have a slightly different approach. Here are my impressions.
1. Dreamscape Immersive
Dreamscape Immersive has currently six centers, three in the United States and the other three in Dubai, Riyadh, and Geneva. Looking at the interior, it’s obvious Dreamscape aims to create a cinema atmosphere. Movie-like posters advertise available experiences, screens inform of the next showings and a sizable cafeteria allows for a place to sit down and relax before the onboarding.
I had the opportunity to participate in the Curse of the Lost Pearl — an Indiana Jones-inspired adventure where you embark on a mission to find an ancient pearl deep in the catacombs of what looked like either a Mayan or Aztec pyramid.
Dreamscape Immersive uses trackers for motion control, one for each hand and one for each foot, as well as laptop backpacks. They also make good use of tracked props. Participants can expect to carry tracked items light torches or the aforementioned lost pearl.
In fact, right from the start, we were asked to push a lever that existed in both the virtual world (as an interactive element) and in the real world (as a feedback prop). This immediately helped blur the distinction. Next, we had to step through the projector, which turned out to be a portal — another clever trick that created a sense of awe as the horizon suddenly expanded miles into the distance.
Dreamscape Immersive scripts feel very engaging and creative. At some point, you might be asked to wave to your pilot. At other points, you’ll get separated. Their venues feature floor which has motorized elements that provided rumbling and trembling during descent. There are also other immersive elements such as wind, heat, or water.
The Curse of the Lost Pearl has no shooting in it. Users can expect scares and traps, but it’s meant to be cinematic first and foremost. It does, however, allow for a bit of flexibility. In my case, for example, at one point, I took a torch from another participant and ended up carrying two. Location-based experiences are always a bit unpredictable as we all react differently, so it’s nice when everything behaves the way you would expect it to, even when things go off script.
Thanks to a technique called “redirected walking”, participants feel like they traverse large distances when, in fact, everyone is walking in circles. Moving platforms, elevators, impossible geometry all of those can be used to make us forget our real-world bearings.
Technically, it would be nice to see higher-fidelity avatars. They all looked a bit lifeless and crude compared to the rest of the experience. Also, our feet didn’t track nearly as well as our hands, resulting in some awkward walking animations, but those were the only real issues I had.
2. Zero Latency VR
Zero Latency VR is a well-known company in the LBE space. They currently have 70 venues in over 26 countries and target intense, gaming-like scenarios.
I had a chance to try two of their adventures. One zombie-themed is aptly called Zombie: Outbreak Origins and the other one is a well-received Far Cry: Dive Into Insanity, which is based on a popular gaming IP. It features arguably the most recognizable character in the entire franchise — Vaas Montenegro.
Zero Latency experiences focus primarily on action and shooting. You wear a backpack but throughout the whole game, you will only need to hold one prop: the gun. Same with onboarding, it mostly focuses on how to reload and fire. There are other game-related mechanics as well, such as respawning, points, and leaderboards.
Far Cry VR made us feel like we were doing great, even though we actually scored 141st
Zombie: Outbreak Origins is pretty much a non-stop shootout between you and the undead. Far Cry VR, on the other hand, features storyline elements, where participants end up captured by Vaas and thrown into what looks like a world of hallucinations. The shooting remains the key component, but thanks to these intermissions, it makes the experience much more intriguing and also helps glue all the action scenes together.
Like many other LBEs, Zero Latency takes advantage of redirected walking, making users traverse the large-scale arena in redirected patterns while the action keeps moving onward in VR.
In my case, I found Far Cry VR to be rewarding and even thought-provoking, but Zombie: Outbreak Origins was fun as well, simply because you roam this big virtual world on foot, making the immersion so much more profound.
3. Divr Labs
Divr Labs was founded in 2016 and its arenas are currently available in three locations: Prague, London, and Stockholm. I had a chance to try their prehistoric adventure titled Meet the Dinosaurs, where you become a time-traveling scientist on a mission to collect some data from 80 million years ago.
What makes Divr Labs stand out is the graphical fidelity of their experiences. The prehistoric jungle, along with its inhabitants, feels high-quality and very realistic. Divr Labs decided to forgo props or guns, opting instead for hand tracking. As a result, everything feels very intuitive. There is no fighting or shooting and instead, participants are asked to gather as much data as possible in the form of specimens, plants, leaves, eggs, and so on. It’s a bit of a game of hidden items.
The story elements were pretty straightforward and there is no plot, other than you being a scientist from the future. Moreover, all the dinosaurs and environments remain true to our current understanding of the Mesozoic Era which makes the experience somewhat educational.
In my case, I really enjoyed the hand tracking aspect of the experience. I could move my hand past things like grass or leaves and the leaves would waggle accordingly. It felt convincing, even though my hands were not receiving any feedback. Collecting hidden items was done by opening my hand over various specimens, which triggered a download animation around my palm.
Towards the end, I had a face-to-face encounter with a T-Rex, plus a virtual photo as my scientist avatar before it was time to leave VR and off-board. I was also given their personal score based on the amount of data collected, which is a nice touch for those planning to go again.
Unfortunately, my experience wasn’t without hiccups. At some point, my hand tracking stopped working. Instead of focusing on the world around me, I anxiously waited for the issue to get fixed. Despite restarting tracking, the issue persisted, which left me without tasks to do and without any interactive elements. Online, some users complained they had missing audio and encountered other technical problems. These aren’t design issues as such, but suggest focus should be on quality assurance so that every experience is always great.
More to Come
Location-based entertainment is not limited to cinematic and gaming entertainment. There are museums, art exhibitions, and other truly amazing free-roaming LBE venues out there, such as the massive, over 1,150m2 (over 12,000 ft2) Space Explorers: The Infinite where participants get to spend one hour in a full-scale replica of the International Space Station.
In the coming years, LBE venues will continue to offer the most refined and sophisticated VR experiences available. They allow people to try virtual reality without the risk of the so-called ‘well-poisoning’, which is an insider term for when someone’s first experience with virtual reality is so inadequate that it effectively kills their interest forever. That was the argument often leveraged against very cheap cardboard and smartphone headsets.
Location-based entertainment is the opposite of that. You can say it sweetens the well by making people immediately aware of the potential of VR and making them curious about what else virtual reality has to offer. It serves as a great ambassador for the entire industry.
About the Guest Author(s)
Mat Pawluczuk
Mat Pawluczuk is an XR / VR writer and content creator.
Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom is a new VR game from Maze Theory inspired by the popular period crime drama. I’m reporting from a virtually reconstructed Garrison pub, so confess – Jon and ARPost are listening.
This review covers major game elements (avoiding juicy spoilers), how VR is implemented, and some ethical considerations. After all, if you’re familiar with Peaky Blinders, you know that some of the content can be pretty challenging – particularly in VR. I almost didn’t want to play it, and ARPost almost didn’t want to cover it.
Welcome to The Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom takes place during season five. If you aren’t to that point there’s at least one spoiler. Fortunately, the events of the game don’t have a lot to do with the events of the show, so if you aren’t a fan of the show you can still enjoy the game – just not as much.
A lot of the game felt like fan service. I happen to be a fan of the Peaky Blinders TV show, so I appreciated it. From “Red Right Hand” playing as I walked down Garrison Lane to the bottomless pack of cigarettes in your inventory, some more stylized elements of the game might only feel right if you’re familiar with the show.
In the game, you play a war vet working with the Peaky Blinders in hopes that they will clear your criminal record. Your aunt, an NPC in the game, is a family friend of the Shelbys and a good word from Arthur got you in. Tommy tests your loyalty by asking you to shoot a hooded man in the Garrison about 10 minutes into the game, so things move pretty fast.
You’re tasked with finding one of the Peaky Blinders who went missing on the trail of Winston Churchhill’s stolen dispatch box. This sends you to Limehouse, a majority Chinese neighborhood in East London.
There, you find yourself in a serial killer’s crime scene. I was hoping that this would turn into an investigation like the “Blood on the Ice” quest in Skyrim, but you find out pretty quickly that the serial killer happens to be the rival gang leader with the dispatch box.
Gameplay
Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom is rated “comfortable” with options to play sitting or roomscale. Analog sticks enable snap turns, though you can also do this by turning your head or your whole body in roomscale.
They also control movement, including crouching, walking, or teleporting. I played most of the game walking, but sometimes you need to teleport to jump. Using teleport to move from cover to cover during a firefight can also be handy. Some items in the environment appear lighter when you can interact with them, for example, crates that you can move out of your way.
I did get a little sick playing the game but if you read my reviews you know that I’m particularly susceptible to VR motion sickness, so I blame my physiology and play style before I blame the developers in most cases.
One of the cooler elements of the game was that your character doesn’t speak. NPCs just accept this as a quirk. You don’t have to hear someone else’s voice coming out of your head, but it also avoids dialogue options – you respond with your actions.
Items and Interactions
A guide to the controls looked intimidating but the controls are very intuitive. Your inventory is arranged around your field of view. Reach over your shoulder and grab to get your journal, reach down and grab to get your gun, reach left and grab to get a cigarette, and reach right and grab to get your lighter.
Your lighter is handy for lighting endless cigarettes, but you also use it to do things like light lamps that help you navigate some of the darker scenes in the game. You also defuse bombs, rebuild radios, open a safe, and uncork bottles of gin.
Drinking and smoking don’t impact gameplay. I think it might’ve been cool if smoking slowed down time or drinking made you less susceptible to injury, but they’re just props. You can also find vials of “Tokyo” (that’s “cocaine” in Peaky Blinders lingo) but they’re just collectible easter eggs.
One of the most common item interactions is reloading your 1911 semi-automatic pistol (sorry Peaky Blinders, no Webleys). This involves loading a clip into the bottom of the gun.
There’s no believable way to hold the gun with two hands because of the controllers and because Peaky Blinders are too cool for stable shooting stances, but you can pass the gun from hand to hand to shoot around cover. You can’t carry extra clips, so you have to look for ammunition boxes in the levels. Count rounds if you want, but I just reloaded whenever I could.
One forced story interaction involves your gun being empty no matter how many rounds you should logically have left in the clip when you enter the interaction, so keeping count just kind of frustrated me. Or, maybe the gun jammed because you have a 1911 instead of a Webley.
Navigating Environments
The environments were the biggest draw for me buying this game. I’m a fan of Peaky Blinders largely because of the settings. Being able to explore faithful reconstructions of some of the iconic locations of the show really scratched an itch for me and the game’s original locations feel authentic and well-developed too. Major playable locations include:
Garrison Lane including The Garrison and a garage;
Watery Lane including The Shelby Betting Shop and Polly Shelby’s apartment;
Charlie Strong’s Boatyard;
Limehouse, including a boatyard, a neighborhood, and a rival gang’s operation.
The game never tells you about lighter items being movable, so my first major navigation snag was wandering around an alleyway until I realized I could move a crate blocking my way. One level in Limehouse is also needlessly tricky. I think it was trying to incorporate some puzzle elements, but it didn’t really land for me.
Later in the game, you fight your way out of a burning building while carrying the dispatch box. This level brought all of the game’s control mechanics into play beautifully. You have to teleport to jump over holes in the floor, balance as you walk over beams, and put down the dispatch box to reload.
Finding collectible easter eggs in the game often involves finding tools in the environment to smash open crates. Some of the levels have dysfunctioning radios. Finding the parts, plugging them in, and tuning the radio unlocks radio programs that give you additional context about the level.
After beating the game, the levels remain explorable. I found at least one area that either wasn’t available during story play or I didn’t find the first time around. Either way, there’s a lot to explore.
I Killed a Man in VR Because Tommy Shelby Told Me To
I had reservations about this game. Until now, the most violent thing I’d ever done in VR was knock someone out in Thrill of the Fight. There were situations in this game that made me uncomfortable but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
For one thing, the character animation didn’t blow me away (I was playing on Quest 2, not PC). Sets and items look great but people in the game leave a little to be desired. Further, the violence isn’t terribly graphic. A cartoony blood burst lets you know you hit someone but it isn’t gory. And, all of the violence that you perpetrate is done at a distance, which I think helps.
Most of the times that I did feel uncomfortable, it wasn’t because of graphical believability or a feeling of embodiment. It was because the writing of the game successfully made me ask myself questions about what I was doing and why.
In one sequence, your character is tied to a chair so you can look around and see your bound hands, which is a little unnerving (you can’t see your body, which is unnerving for a different reason). I don’t know if it was a predictable point in the game or my deep trust in the Peaky Blinders, but I wasn’t afraid at this point – I knew someone would come just in time.
I still think that we should be careful about how and why violence is used in virtual reality entertainment. As far as this game goes, I think that restraint on the part of the developers helped to balance violence as a plot device without going over the top.
Final Thoughts
I was pleased to see that Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom only costs $30, but that also meant that I wasn’t too let down that it’s only about three-and-a-half hours of gameplay. The game has already been updated since it was released, so fans can hope for more to come.
The VR gaming market is constantly evolving and has grown significantly in the past few years. With key developments in VR technology, hardware, and software driving the market forward, VR game revenues are projected to increase sixfold in five years, from $0.5 billion in 2019 to $3.2 billion in 2024.
However, declining sales of VR headsets dampen this positive outlook. In the United States, sales in 2022 dropped by 2%, from a year earlier, to $1.1 billion in December 2022. Moreover, 2023 is expected to be another slow year for the VR market, with a weak economy and inflation causing non-essential purchases like VR headsets to be put on hold.
Now many are wondering what the near-term future holds for VR. Marcus Segal, CEO and founder of ForeVR Games, shares his thoughts on the current state of VR and what’s in store in the future.
Dissecting the Decline in the VR Gaming Market
Asked about why VR sales have declined in the US despite the launch of Quest Pro and other highly-anticipated VR devices, Segal said that there are many factors at play. According to him, the decline could be due to a recession or a market correction following COVID-19.
“When all signs point to a financial downturn, people hold on more tightly to their money,” Segal told us. Or it could be the excitement about new headsets coming from Sony, Apple, Pico, and HTC that is keeping potential buyers on the sidelines.
Then we also have to factor in the return to in-person social gatherings, so VR gaming now has to compete with movie theaters, concerts, and other live experiences as the world returns to in-person social gatherings.
Like in any other industry, the recent decline in VR sales is disheartening, but, according to Segal, this is not uncommon in nascent industries.
It is worth noting that the market is not as bleak as it appears. Despite the seemingly downward trend, a flood of new VR headsets is coming from Sony, Pico, Apple, HTC, and more. Competition between manufacturers means better products, lower prices, and a larger user base for VR gaming in the future.
Segal suggests “try before you buy” mall installations, immersive classroom settings, and other creative efforts to drive consumer awareness.
Barriers to VR Adoption
Segal also notes that while VR has made significant progress in recent years, there are still some barriers to adoption, including cost and the need for powerful hardware. He believes that the biggest barrier to VR adoption is still the form factor. New headsets’ design must be lighter and less bulky to become more appealing and comfortable to use.
According to Segal, discoverability is also a challenge for VR. Traditional forms of advertising are not as effective, and manufacturers need to get headsets into the hands of consumers who haven’t tried VR yet. He stresses that sustaining and improving engagement is critical to VR’s success.
Lastly, Segal stressed how crucial accessibility is for VR adoption. Games must be playable for people of all ages and abilities. ForeVR Bowl is an example of this, designed to be played with a single button in a seated or standing position.
The Role of Content in Driving VR Adoption
One of the biggest drivers of VR adoption is compelling content. Segal believes that game developers have a critical role to play in shaping the future of VR. “Game developers need to reach new audiences, and that requires manufacturers promoting new games and hidden gems,” he said. “We as developers also need retention features and content to motivate players to pick up their headsets and plug in more frequently.”
As a former Zynga executive, Segal witnessed the power of social games, like FarmVille, to connect hundreds of millions of people of all ages. “In my view, play is one of the best things about being alive,” he said. For ForeVR Games, the focus is on taking the feeling of connection in play to the next level with VR, allowing players to feel as though they are in the same location regardless of their physical distance.
Customization is also key, allowing players to have fun while improving their skills over time. Segal explains, “Today, we believe that the most successful VR games and experiences are those that are easy to pick up and play, but also offer depth and complexity for players who want that option.”
A Future of Growth and Innovation in VR Gaming
The world of VR gaming holds immense potential for growth and innovation. As game developers like ForeVR Games continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in VR and advancements in hardware technology emerge, entrepreneurs have many reasons to be optimistic as they venture into VR gaming.
However, success in VR gaming requires a passionate team that sees challenges as opportunities to further what is possible, and the ability to listen to and incorporate feedback from the player base.
As the VR industry continues to evolve, those who are willing to take on the challenges and embrace the opportunities can shape the future of this exciting and dynamic field.
Pickleball is the new court sensation that’s sweeping the nation, and it didn’t take long for someone to bring it into VR. How does someone who’s a VR veteran, but green on the pickleball court take to the game? We’ll find out in this review of Playin Pickleball.
“Pickleball,” You Say?
If you know what pickleball is, just skip ahead a little bit. If you need a little explainer, here’s a very little explainer:
Pickleball is kind of like tennis, but played with a ping-pong paddle and a whiffle ball. It can be played in singles or doubles format. That’s it from a thousand-foot view, but there are a lot of more specific rules going over how the ball can be played, from where, and how it has to be served, as well as the points system.
As becomes apparent over the course of this review, I have never played pickleball in real life. And, after having played a few (and won even fewer) games in VR, I still don’t really understand a lot of the rules. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun.
Getting Started With Playin Pickleball
The basic mechanics of how pickleball works in a VR game are explained in an automated tutorial as soon as you start up Playin Pickleball for the first time. Let me just say here, that you owe it to yourself to make it through the tutorial.
You can’t skip this opening tutorial, and you can’t fail out of it either. One of the challenges is landing three serves within a designated area of the court and if you want to leave the tutorial you’ll do it if it takes you a thousand tries. And it might have taken me a thousand tries.
This initial tutorial tells you how to do things like spawn a ball and move around the court, but it doesn’t do anything to tell you how the game of pickleball actually works. This is a blessing for people who already know the rules of the game from playing in real life, because they don’t have to sit through an avatar explaining the rules to them.
If you aren’t familiar with the rules, you can choose to move straight from the initial tutorial into a short explainer on the court, the points system, and some of the other more intricate rules. However, this second tutorial is optional so you can skip it if you already know the rules.
Whether you’re about to play your first match or your one-millionth match, you can also access training exercises from the main menu that help you practice skills like serving and just hitting the ball. The training exercises pit you against the merciless pitching machine from the first tutorial, but you can also practice by playing against AIs on three difficulty settings.
Gameplay
So, how is Playin Pickleball’s gameplay?
Physics
I know that I said that the tutorial was torturous. But, I’ve been around VR long enough to know that that’s because I haven’t been around paddle sports at all. The physics of Playin Pickleball are out of this world.
I imagined that the paddle would essentially be a pong paddle that the ball either hit or it didn’t. This is far from the case. The ball behaves differently based on where it strikes the paddle. This includes wild ricochets if the ball hits the edges of the paddle.
While this can make the game more challenging at first, it also makes it a very realistic experience. I later learned that the flat sides of the paddle are actually textured so that advanced players (more advanced than me) can deliberately put a spin on the ball by glancing it just right off of the paddle’s surface.
Display and Avatars
Playing the Playin Pickleball on Quest 2 (review) via App Lab, the game automatically uses your Quest avatar. If you want to change your outfit into something a little more sporty, a menu option in the game takes you to the Quest avatar editor without closing the game.
The environment, including the three different courts, provides a good visual home for the Quest avatars. The graphics are cartoony enough for a cohesive aesthetic, but realistic enough to make gameplay easy and enjoyable.
Movement and Mechanics
Playin Pickleball allows for three movement modes.
Manually running lets you move via the joysticks. It provides the most precise and smooth movement around the court, but also means another control to keep track of that may be too challenging for new players.
Automatic running moves your avatar smoothly into the path of the ball. This setting feels natural but some people who experience motion sickness in VR may find it too disorienting. (For the record, I often feel motion sickness after extended VR sessions, but this is still my favorite setting and I didn’t have any problems using it over multiple consecutive matches in a session.)
Automatic teleport places your avatar in the best place to hit the ball based on its trajectory. This option feels less natural than the running options but may be more comfortable for players subject to motion sickness in VR.
In any movement mode, players can press the left joystick to immediately move to “the kitchen” – a smaller field-of-play on either side of the net where short-range volleys take place.
A final note on gameplay: Even with teleport modes, you have to move your arms – including serving from below the waist and returning above your head. In my review of The Thrill of the Fight, I mentioned that you can get away with a pretty small play area. That is not the case with Playin Pickleball. You don’t need a full-sized court to play in, but you’ve got to give yourself room.
Finding Games Anytime
In addition to the training modes, Playin Pickleball has singles and doubles matches available at any time. These include free play modes so you and a pal can knock a ball back and forth without worrying about the score or even whose serve it is.
Friends can invite you to join their games, or you can team up with a friend to form a party. If you have enough friends online at the same time, you can play in closed games with each other.
If you don’t have enough friends online at once, you can look for open matches with random online players. In the event that there aren’t enough players online at a given time (which does happen in the game, as Playin Pickleball is still fairly new), live players are paired with AI bots.
An Amazing Gaming Community
The best way that I know of to find games, and to get into Playin Pickleball in general, is through their Discord server. As soon as I joined the Discord server, other players sent welcoming messages. One even scheduled a time for some free play during which he helped me understand the rules and mechanics better than any of the tutorials did.
A special page in the Discord server allows players to fill in information about themselves, including their levels of pickleball experience and what regions they live in. This automatically assigns players to different channels where players can learn about upcoming Playin Pickleball tournaments and see or schedule pick-up games.
The first online doubles game that I played included my new friend from Discord as well as two other players that I had never played with but that seem to be regulars at that particular time of day. Despite having only put an hour or so into Playin Pickleball since surviving the tutorials, I was able to play competitively with others. And the other players are great sports!
It helps that many of the basics of the game are automated. For example, despite my time in the app, I still don’t really understand how the serve rotation works. But, a message appears above my off hand, letting me know that it’s my turn to spawn a ball and start a round. That means that my new (and patient) pickleball friends don’t have to tell me it’s my turn when I can’t keep track.
Get to Playin!
You can learn more about Playin Pickleball through the website, which includes video explainers, links to their Discord channel and other social media, and more. If you want to get straight into it, you can purchase the game from the Meta Quest App Lab for $19.99.
Sports VR games are changing the fitness game. These highly interactive apps have the potential to transform the way we stay fit by making sports and fitness activities more fun, engaging, and convenient.
They allow players to immerse themselves in a virtual environment and engage in physically demanding activities, such as playing virtual basketball or boxing, within the confines of their own homes. With research indicating increased energy expenditure while playing, VR games offer a fun and convenient alternative to traditional workouts.
If you’d like to get some sports into your fitness routine but do not have time to hit the gym or stay out on the field, here are five of the top sports VR games you can try out at home. These games provide a full-body workout that challenges players to improve their hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and physical endurance. They can help burn anywhere from 4 to 13 calories per minute.
5 Sports VR Games to Up Your Fitness Game This Year
Gym Class VR
Love shooting hoops? Gym Class VR brings the ball game right where you are. Join players from all over the world for an immersive basketball game. Warm up with jumping jacks, wall squats, and other drills. Form a team with your friends and compete with other teams.
This game transports you into a virtual court and makes you feel as if you were playing on a real one. Dribble, pass, and shoot the same way you do in real life. For an extra level of motivation to keep playing, track your progress with statistics, shot charts, and streaks.
Racket: Nx
Court meets arcade in this sports VR game that blends elements of racquetball and pinball to create a fast-paced and exciting workout experience. Racket: Nx takes you inside the glass dome of a pinball machine for a one-of-a-kind racquetball experience.
Get your ball ready and hit targets as soon as they light up. Score points and dodge obstacles in the giant pinball arena. With its high-paced, psychedelic, and competitive gameplay, you’ll have a blast as you improve your hand-eye coordination, speed, precision, and agility.
The Thrill of the Fight
Feel the thrill of a real fight with the hyper-realistic gameplay of this sports VR game. The Thrill of the Fight lets you face off with your opponent in a virtual ring set at room scale.
Dodge hits, throw jabs, cross hooks, and land knockout punches as if you were in a real boxing match. Play the game regularly to learn and hone different boxing styles and techniques. Progress faster through the levels as you improve your skill, timing, and strategy.
Eleven Table Tennis
Smash your way to fitness. With the fast-paced gameplay and intense action in Eleven Table Tennis, you’ll be breaking a sweat in no time. Touted as the best simulation for table tennis, this game mimics actual movements and physics.
Whether you are competing online against other players or practicing with an advanced AI opponent, you’ll feel as if you are playing the game in real life. The exercise intensity depends on a player’s skill level from a light workout for beginners to a super intense game for dedicated or highly skilled players.
Sports Scramble
Go berserk with all the fun you’ll be having while playing a mix-matched sports VR game. Sports Scramble combines the distinct elements of different sports to create unique and totally fun VR experiences.
Play tennis with a badminton birdie, bowl a strike with a basketball, or score a home run with a racket. This game lets you play in a large tennis court, a zany bowling lane, or a baseball field but makes the experience more exciting—and crazily fun—by giving you unusual sports gear for your game.
Start Your Fitness Journey the Fun Way
Indeed, sports VR games are good workout alternatives that offer more enjoyment, convenience, and accessibility than traditional workouts. By providing an enjoyable and interactive way to exercise, they help people start their fitness journey the fun way and make it a sustainable part of their lifestyle.
However, it is important to be conscious of your mobility and fitness levels and consult a doctor if you have any medical concerns before using VR. Also, while sports VR games are a fun workout option, they should not replace actual sports training and one should be careful not to over-exercise.
Games are the largest use case for consumer VR and AR. While VR and AR remain a comparatively small segment of the games industry, the industry is taking notice as VR hardware in particular improves. This presents possibilities for new kinds of games but also promises to breathe new life into established franchises.
The GDC’s State of the Game Industry Report for this year is by no means dedicated to VR and AR. However, it does hold insights into how this segment of the industry is growing and changing. This includes insights into larger emerging technology trends like Web3 and the metaverse.
VR and AR in the Larger Games Industry
This GDC survey, the 11th in an annual series, found that “the metaverse has become more than a buzzword.” That doesn’t mean that VR and AR are now the driving force in the games industry.
In terms of which platforms developers are building for, VR headsets land in 10th place with 12% of respondents. AR landed in 14th place with 4% of respondents. When asked which platforms developers are building their next project for, VR headsets remained in 10th place with 12%, but AR moved up to 11th place with 5%.
Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2023
PC leads the pack, with the intervening platforms consisting of the usual suspects – legacy gaming platforms and mobile. However, this may be changing in the near future.
When asked which platforms developers are most interested in, 23% of respondents said VR, pushing the platform to 6th place, ahead of Android, Mac, and Xbox One. Similarly, 12% responded with AR, placing it in 11th place ahead of PS4 and web browsers.
Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2023
So, while we might not see a boom period for VR and AR games in the immediate future, it’s increasingly on the radar of game developers. This trend looks like it could be setting up growth in this aspect of the industry within the next few years.
That said, last year’s big metaverse hype may have led to increased expectations for the cycle we’re in now. Last year, 42% of respondents said that they were actively involved in VR and AR game development. Now that number is at 38%, closer to where it was in 2021.
Platform Wars Within VR
So, of the developers that are working in VR and AR gaming, what platforms are they working on?
When asked which platform their next game will release on, 36% responded with Quest meaning Quest 2. An additional 10% responded with “Project Cambria” – the Quest Pro which had not yet been released at the time of the survey. A further 10% responded with Rift, Meta’s now discontinued line of tethered PC VR headsets.
Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2023
It is worth noting that the percentage of respondents working with Quest has gone up almost 10% since last year. That in itself is not necessarily surprising if not for the fact that the overall number of VR and AR game developers has gone down.
Interestingly, the runner-up is the as-yet-unreleased PlayStation VR 2 with 18%, followed by the HTC VIVE ecosystem at 15%. A further 12% responded with Apple’s ARKit, and another 9% responded with Android’s ARCore. There was also a potentially unexpected write-in entry.
“A handful of respondents shared that they were developing games for Pico, a platform that was not on the survey list,” the report offers. In some geographical markets, the Pico 4, which was announced shortly before the Quest Pro, is a significant potential Quest Pro competitor. However, Pico Interactive does not currently offer consumer support in the US.
Gaming in the Metaverse?
“The concept of the metaverse continues to pick up steam in the game industry, as new and existing companies alike move to secure funding, spin up projects, and develop new technology,” reads the survey. However, like VR and AR gaming, this news comes with a grain of salt and some more sober attitudes since last year.
Nearly half of the respondents didn’t select any of the survey’s platform options. They instead said that “the metaverse concept will never deliver on its promise.” This occurred last year as well when around a third of respondents said that the metaverse will never materialize.
From a VR and AR perspective, it gets worse. More developers said that Fortnite would become the model metaverse platform than Horizon Worlds. This isn’t bad news because Horizon Worlds is better than Fortnite, it’s bad news because Horizon Worlds is VR and Fortnite isn’t. In fact, many of the more popular “metaverse” contenders are flat platforms.
Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2023
And it gets worse. “Microsoft/Minecraft” came in a distant third place with 7% of respondents choosing them as the model metaverse. This presumably included AltspaceVR. As this article was being written, it was announced that AltspaceVR is coming to an end.
A Note on Blockchain
ARPost is not explicitly interested in blockchain but as a potential pillar of both the metaverse and the future of gaming, it shouldn’t be inappropriate to share some of the survey’s findings in this field. And, if you aren’t explicitly interested in blockchain either, the survey results should please you.
When asked about their interest in blockchain integration in games, 23% of respondents said that they were “very interested” or “somewhat interested”, with 75% saying that they were not interested at all. The remaining 2% are using blockchain in games already, with blockchain being the principal monetization strategy of around 4% of games.
Interest in blockchain is down slightly from last year, but, according to the report, most respondents were against blockchain last year as well and simply haven’t changed their minds.
Source: GDC State of the Game Industry 2023
“Many developers said there could be a valuable place for blockchain technology in video games in the future,” the report explains. “Others said that the risks outweigh the benefits and that existing technologies serve similar purposes that negate the need for blockchain.”
A Maturing Industry
If you thought that the gaming industry was moving a little too fast last year, you were right. Metaverse hype driven by hardware expectations and blockchain buzz may have led to a brief, hard burn in the industry. It now seems that a small correction has taken place but the VR and AR games industry is settling in for longer-term development.
For the full picture of the whole gaming industry, find the complete report here.
The Thrill of the Fight is a VR boxing simulator that is exhausting in all the right ways. Warm up in the gym, enter the ring, or box ghosts and zombies to get your heart rate up – and let the lead out on the canvas.
The game material says that you need a 6.5 ft by 5 ft play area. This is optimum, certainly – particularly if you really want to work on your footwork and experience a sense of immersion unhindered by the grid of your play area. However, the app still runs if your play area is smaller than this. I typically play in a play area more to the tune of five or six square feet without issue.
The Thrill of the Fight requires two controllers, which is kind of a shame. No buttons are required either for gameplay or to navigate menus, as we’ll see – it just doesn’t support hand tracking. The controllers don’t get in the way or break immersion or anything like that, it would just be nice to not need to worry about them – or wear the controller batteries down.
Speaking of immersion, The Thrill of the Fight supports haptic accessories. I wish that I could tell you that I had access to some to try with this review, but alas.
Now that the housekeeping (and my only real piece of criticism) is out of the way, let’s get into the ring to experience the thrill of the fight.
Welcome to Hazegood’s Gym
When entering The Thrill of the Fight, the first thing that you do is stand on a scale and look into a camera. This is a clever way of setting your height. If you want to use this game to demo VR to your friends (or even let the kids have a go at the virtual heavy bag) this is a super handy set-up. Even if you’re the only one that ever uses your headset, it only takes a few seconds.
From there, you find the main menu. Navigate the main menu by holding either one of your gloved hands over the button for the activity that you want to enter. From this menu, you can reset height without leaving and re-entering the app, which is handy. This is just under the general settings menu.
The giant “Fight” button is tempting, but let’s explore some of the other game modes first. There are a lot of options for warm-ups and practices before you step into the ring. I always like to warm up with a circuit of these to mentally and physically prepare me for the thrill of the fight.
Four Practice Modes
“Speed Bag” is your classic gym “peanut bag.” Practice your rhythm while an on-screen tracker shows your current rate and best rate in five-second and thirty-second hits-per-minute streaks.
“Dummy” is a human-shaped target with lit-up strike zones. The on-screen tracker shows the force of your hits, the damage it would deal in a match, the kind of strike that landed, and whether it hit a high-damage area. You can also see your best-ever hit to develop your signature move.
“Heavy Bag” is, well, a heavy bag. It works pretty much the same as the dummy. It’s easier to see targets on the heavy bag, but harder to visualize them as they would be on an opponent in the ring.
“Focus Ball” is… I don’t know what a focus ball is. It’s been a few twenty-four hours since I stepped my bare foot in a physical dojo, but I’ve never seen one of these before and I don’t know how they work. When you hit the ball it comes back at you. The on-screen tracker logs hits and “dodges” but I don’t know how to register a “dodge.”
“Extras” are seasonal opponents that develop specific skills in the ring. A pumpkin-headed opponent only takes damage from body shots. A ghost opponent tests your reflexes with superhuman speed. A zombie that doesn’t get tired takes your endurance to the task. I’m not in the shape I once was, but I have yet to complete one of these challenges.
Except for the extras, all of these take place in a virtual gym. If I could change one thing about this game (other than hand tracking) the gym would be its own location with each practice mode being spatially navigable instead of needing to exit each to access the next through the main menu.
Fight Modes
Now, for the thrill of the fight. Practice up on a sort of generic AI opponent as much as you want. From there, move on to a series of more colorful, storied, and challenging opponents. Start on Easy or Medium difficulty with each opponent. Beating an opponent unlocks that same opponent on more advanced difficulty levels, but it also unlocks the next opponent.
The Easy difficulty outright tells you that you have a clear advantage. The Medium difficulty is supposed to be the most realistic fight experience. After that, you might start finding yourself on the back foot more and more as your opponents become increasingly overpowered.
Gloves on in the Ring
The basic format is your classic three-round refereed match. When you hear the bell, go toe-to-toe with your opponent. Your opponent can realistically block your punches – and you can block theirs. Hits from either boxer are accompanied by a nice “thunk” sound. Your opponent also recoils from a hit. A body hit often sees them double up so you can go in for the headshot.
As you hit your opponent, they visibly bruise. I swear I’ve even seen some blood fly off of my right cross, but I don’t have the screenshots to prove it. You can tell by the look on your opponent’s face when they’re getting tired. Ease back for a breather or go in hot and try for the early KO.
When you sustain a body hit, that side of your view lights up to let you know. When you sustain a solid headshot, you see a flash and your view goes gray for a moment, accompanied by audio distortion (that’s when the thrill of the fight kicks in). Make some space and block some hits, and this goes away after a moment. Otherwise, you could find yourself on the mat yourself.
When someone hits the mat, the referee starts counting. Usually, they get back up and the bell rings again. But, the ref might get to ten, and then the match is over. If no one is laid out cold by the time the third round ends, it goes to technicality and unseen judges start counting points.
You can also quit a match between rounds by grabbing the towel instead of the mouthguard as the ring clock ticks down. I’ve never felt the need to quit a proper ring match between rounds, but I’ve literally sat down on the floor to catch my breath as that minute runs down.
Hungry for More?
The Thrill of the Fight came out a few years ago now. Sealost Interactive has been promising a sequel for a while. They promise that a follow-up is in development but we don’t have any release dates.
I’ve already pointed out some of the things that I would like to see from “The Thrill of the Fight 2”. While we’re making a wishlist, a multi-player version or even social leaderboards would be nice. That said, I’ve been playing this game for over a month now and I don’t see myself growing tired of it any time soon.
Hit the Showers
The Thrill of the Fight is intense and insanely good fun. It’s also definitely the most cardio that I’ve gotten since that week I tried to get into running in the summer of ‘20. When I look really hard for things about the game that I don’t like, I really just find things that I would like slightly more. All said, this game is definitely worth the $10.
Among Us has been a hit game for a while now. Among Us VR is a more recent phenomenon. Get your tasklist ready, memorize the map, warm up your button-smacking hand, and trust no one as we pilot the Skeld II through a trial run.
A Brief History of Among US VR
Game studio Innersloth released the original Among Us in 2018 as a free app game with some optional paid customization features. The immensely social game sees a team of travelers piloting a ship (the Skeld II) through space only to find that some among them are “Impostors” who sabotage the ship and kill crewmates.
Playing as an Impostor, players try to blend in with the crewmates while destroying the ship’s functions and/or murdering enough of the real team to take over. Playing as a crewmate, players need to keep the ship flying and stay alive long enough to determine which of them are Impostors.
Among Us VR is no simple port (though unofficial attempts in the form of amateur mods on social VR platforms have existed for some time). To make the game immersive, Innersloth partnered with XR game studio Schell Games, known for titles like Until You Fall, and the I Expect You to Die series.
Announced at Meta Connect and launching the following month, Among Us VR is currently available for $10 on SteamVR and the Quest Store. Doing this review, I played on my Quest 2 (review).
Among Us VR is meant for players 13 and up. Violence is cartoony but graphic and inescapable. The title is also necessarily social so the effort at protecting young players is nice, even though it doesn’t work at all ever. The gameplay is complex when executed correctly by mature players – and equally complex when operated in ways a mature player doesn’t expect.
Navigating Menus, the Tutorial, and Online Gameplay
When first booting up Among Us VR, players are prompted to enter a birth date. You can lock this in on your headset, or you can choose to require a birth-date entry on each boot. That means that to play the game you have to be at least old enough to know how to lie about your birthday. The title is intended for players 13 and up. It is played by children 6 and up.
The main menu is simple. Your standard settings options are there, as are your customization options. Change the color of your crewmate and trick it out with little hats. Some hats are free, and some hat packs are available for purchase. (Yes, I do have the tiny crewmate hat only available to people who pre-ordered the game.)
The two largest buttons that dominate the main menu are to play online and learn how to play. The learn-how-to-play option is an offline tutorial that takes you through several aspects of gameplay without other users running around murdering you.
Learning the Ropes
Because the tutorial is representative of so many aspects of gameplay and to respect the privacy of online players, all of the screenshots in this review were taken in the offline tutorial or provided by Schell Games.
The tutorial takes you through life as a crewmate, solving tasks, pushing buttons, reporting bodies, and getting murdered. Then, you experience the afterlife (dead crewmates can’t vote, communicate with the living, or report bodies, but they can still complete tasks). You also get to play as the Impostor, climbing through vents, sabotaging the ship, and killing crewmates.
Unfortunately, the tutorial is limited to two rooms on a fairly large map. It also doesn’t include all of the tasks that you’ll need to complete when playing a full game. However, it’s still a nice introduction.
The controls are smooth. All of the tasks could theoretically be hand-tracked, but movement is controlled with the controllers, so they’re a must-have. There’s also a button to bring up the ship map and do some other basic commands. The controller layout isn’t overly complex or challenging, and all major controls are spelled out in the tutorial and are changeable in settings.
Movement is smooth, and your view goes into a sort of tunnel vision while you’re moving to prevent motion sickness. If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I can get motion sickness pretty bad pretty quick, but I find Among Us VR to be pretty comfortable. Also, because everything is controller-based, you can play sitting down.
Taking It Online
There are two main options for playing Among Us VR online, one for smaller and shorter games, and one for longer and more populated matches. A shorter game might only have five players including one Impostor, while the longer games have more crewmates and more Impostors. Other than that, the gameplay is the same.
There’s no formal breakdown of how a game plays out in terms of round length or anything like that. But, there is a sort of structure. Here’s how it plays out, as I understand it:
The Impostors can murder one crewmate and sabotage one ship component per round. A round culminates in an “emergency meeting” called when a body is discovered. All of the players converge on the cafeteria to try to decide who the Impostors are, followed by a round of voting, during which the players vote out one player – who may or may not be the Impostor.
There are a few gameplay elements that make things a little trickier. For example, Impostors can still fix sabotages and report bodies. This helps them make it look like they’re really part of the team. Further, fixing sabotages usually requires standing still and facing a wall for a few seconds – a prime opportunity to get murdered by an Impostor.
Now, About My Crewmates…
The first time that I played Among Us VR, I was definitely the oldest person on deck by probably twenty years. I’m no autumn rooster, but I was definitely surrounded by spring chicks.
When this eventually became apparent, I became an immediate subject of suspicion. I felt a bit like Robin Williams in Hook when the Lost Boys rally against the only adult on their island in Neverland. I managed to survive the game, but only to see the Impostor take the ship. I wonder if this dynamic didn’t make things more interesting.
One crewmate shouted so loudly and so consistently that he knew who the Impostor was during the first round of voting that the rest of us all thought he was casting suspicion off of himself. We voted him off immediately only to find at the end of the game that he had been telling the truth.
I’ve been writing about VR since this particular Impostor was eating dirt in daycare. But Among Us doesn’t care. That’s part of the beauty of the game. I chose not to trust my crewmate. Sure he was young, and sure he got a crewmate to change color in the lobby because “nobody likes purple” but – when push came to shove – I underestimated him and it cost us the ship.
If you would rather play Among Us VR with adults, I have a sneaking suspicion that younger players favor shorter matches. I’m sure that the time of day that you play makes a big difference too. But, we’ve already seen how well I understand children.
Fun for (Almost) Any Age
All things considered, Among Us VR is great fun at a great price. So what, there are grade schoolers online? The game is VR, but it’s also a game with simple mechanics built on a social framework. Maybe in an update developers should acknowledge the “age problem” and have separate lobbies for different ages. In the meantime, grow up and play your little video game.
VR is a lot of fun and it can be a good way to keep moving. That’s true at any age. However, virtual reality can be a little … intense. Here, we’ll recommend some games and apps that might be the perfect introduction – or long-time favorite – for players coming to the medium a little later on.
We’ll be focusing on games and apps that move a little slower – after all, “VR sickness” can be a problem for newcomers at any age. Most of these games can also be played seated. We’ll also stay away from social experiences for now, because those can be a little … unpredictable. And, don’t worry, we try to run the gamut with titles available on Quest as well as PS VR and Steam.
First Steps (Quest 2)
Everyone should play First Steps for Quest 2. You might have thought you were too cool for this demo that comes pre-installed on the Quest 2, but you might learn something.
Even if you already knew all of the controls that this little app takes you through, the dance game and target practice games are both embarrassingly fun – even for this VR veteran.
PlayStation VR Worlds (PS VR)
This may seem hard to believe for some, but PlayStation VR Worlds was released six years ago. At the time, it was how a lot of people had their first experience in virtual reality. And, it’s still a pretty good introduction.
You might want to give the adventures a chance yourself. Some of them can be pretty hair-raising. But, some of them are pretty peaceful. The underwater adventure (the one without the sharks) is still a pretty laid-back VR experience.
Educational Content from Alchemy Immersive (Quest, Mobile)
From the microscopic world to outer space, to the neighbor that you never knew, Alchemy Immersive, available via Meta Quest TV, partners with world-renowned presenters and content producers to create XR versions of educational classics.
Some of the experiences are 360 video, while others are full VR. Some are even mobile AR experiences that allow viewers to navigate their own experiences on a tabletop of floor space.
Whether in the mobile AR version or in a VR headset, these volumetric scenes can be navigated in full six degrees of freedom. Users can even travel the wonders of the world in joint adventures with other users.
Wander (Quest)
Wander is a VR classic – a port to Quest from the older Oculus Go.
The app uses content from Wikipedia and Google Earth to create interactive and educational self-guided tours of just about anywhere. Virtually visit world heritage sites or places of personal significance.
Nature Treks VR (Quest, PCVR)
Nature Treks VR is another world-exploration experience. Beautifully crafted virtual environments range from forests, to deserts and jungles, to under the waves. Players also interact with virtual wildlife, with over 60 different species roaming the various biomes.
Be aware that the biome selected may impact overall comfort level. For example, a player might not be as comfortable under water as they are on solid ground.
Real VR Fishing (Quest)
Real VR Fishing is very real indeed. In addition to a dedicated reproduction of the act of fishing itself, the various locations in the game are all recreated virtual replicas of real places around the world.
The base game currently costs $20, but additional locations can be purchased as optional downloadable content.
GOLF+ (Quest)
GOLF+ is cut from the same cloth as Real VR Fishing. The game presents itself as “the ultimate VR golf experience” and it’s hard to argue. After all, it has a seal of approval from the PGA. The experience is built around realistic physics and virtual recreations of real golf courses.
Incidentally, GOLF+ is also a partner of Ready Player Golf, a virtual reality charity event that takes place each year.
Bait! (Quest)
Bait! is another VR fishing game but this one is free. Well, there are optional in-app purchases including expansion packs. But, the basic gameplay is free. Upgrades like new rods, reels, and bait are purchased using an in-game currency that players earn throughout the game.
The plot of the game: you are employed by a museum in pursuit of rare fish and it’s your job to catch them. The graphics and interfaces are more stylized than in other games like Real VR Fishing, but the gameplay is surprisingly intricate. Don’t get your reel rhythm just right and your hand slips. Fight the fish too hard, and your line breaks.
Walkabout Mini Golf (Quest, PCVR)
Real VR Fishing is to GOLF+ as Bait! is to Walkabout Mini Golf. This game focuses less on realism and more on a fun experience.
The physics on the ball are accurate (as they must be in mini golf) but the courses in the game are often otherworldly. That’s true literally – the game recently released a course based on the fantasy film Labyrinth.
Puzzling Places (PS VR, Quest)
For another spatial version of a classic pastime, Puzzling Places is a virtual reality puzzle app with 3D pieces. Each of more than a dozen puzzles is a digital miniature version of a real location from around the world.
The puzzles come in “packs” so that you can buy them thematically to fit your taste – or buy them all as you need new challenges.
Moss (PS VR, Quest, PCVR)
Quill the mouse is the hero of the two-part Moss series. Quill fights baddies, solves puzzles, and gets into trouble. It could be a little disorienting at times except for one key feature: you don’t play as Quill. Instead, you watch Quill as he goes through his adventure while you manipulate the world around him to get him where he needs to go.
In addition to being exciting and stimulating while remaining easy on the stomach, Moss is a beautiful game without uncomfortable content or images.
ASTRO BOT: Rescue Mission (PS VR)
ASTRO BOT: Rescue Mission has a lot of the same gameplay and graphic elements that lands Moss on this list, but it’s more sci-fi than fantasy. Cartoony characters and comfortable viewing make this action game more palatable despite a faster pace.
Supernatural (Quest)
Supernatural is a fitness app that takes the “live trainer” model that’s worked so well in non-VR fitness and makes it more immersive. Some of the exercises like the boxing exercise or the rhythm game “Flow” might be intense at first, but there are also the more laid-back meditation and stretching activities. Other elements include fitness tracking, leaderboards, and more.
Supernatural was even championed as a good app to get older users moving during Meta Connect this year. It was also announced that knee strikes are coming to the boxing exercise.
VR Isn’t Just for Kids
From documentaries, to workout apps, to simulations, to classic sit-down adventure games, virtual reality isn’t just shooting games. However, an ocean of content rife with high prices and technical concerns can make getting into VR difficult for anyone, not just seniors. Hopefully, this list will help you explore virtual reality, or introduce it to someone close to you.
After the exponential growth in the global VR market during the pandemic, the demand for more immersive gaming experiences continues to increase at a steady rate. In fact, the VR gaming market is expected to reach $33.65 billion by 2026.
One clear indication of this growth is the wide variety of virtual reality games available today. We can easily play RPGs, VR puzzle games, platformers, and other game genres on various devices such as VR headsets, gaming consoles, mobile devices, and PCs.
One of the latest additions to the growing list of immersive VR games is Shores of Loci, a single-player narrative puzzle game developed by a women-led production studio, MikeTeeVee. By combining mentally stimulating challenges and soothing sound effects, the game provides users with a unique VR puzzle game experience that eases stress and calms the mind.
Shores of Loci: A Puzzling Adventure
Shores of Loci transports players into a surreal world where they become part of a multidimensional story set in mystical realms. Each chapter takes players into a different dimension where they embark on an adventure, helping giants and villagers reclaim their land and rebuild their homes.
They must reconstruct the virtual domains by finding the right pieces of land and putting them together. Once all the correct puzzle pieces are in place, they merge together into spectacular scenery delivered in crisp 4K resolution.
The gameplay is highly intuitive, creating an inclusive experience as players travel through the different realms. As they complete the puzzles, unique characters start populating the cities and villages they have rebuilt. Aside from having a sense of accomplishment for successfully solving challenging puzzles, players also feel a sense of fulfillment for rebuilding and restoring forgotten civilizations and quaint towns, albeit virtually.
Shores of Loci is also one of the few VR games that are completely for all ages and all genders. The game can be played while standing or sitting, so it’s also inclusive. There are currently five chapters with twelve different puzzles and a sixth chapter set underwater that’s being developed.
An Immersive VR Puzzle Game Set in a Meditative Environment
What sets Shores of Loci apart from other VR puzzle games is the way it integrates a meditative ambience into its gameplay. With the game developed in the midst of the pandemic, its designers were intent on creating a VR game that nurtured the mental health and well-being of players.
Unlike other games that boost adrenaline by putting players in combat environments or competitive scenarios, Shores of Loci encourages peaceful exploration where there are no enemies, no battles, and no time limits. There are no penalties for choosing the wrong puzzle pieces, so players can go leisurely through each puzzle without stressing over scores or rankings. To make the game more relaxing, there are serene sound effects and calming music.
This relaxing gameplay allows users to see virtual reality games from a different perspective. Its compelling puzzles stimulate the brain and enhance logical thinking while its visually striking scenery, beautifully woven story, and tranquil ambient sound soothe the mind and provide a peaceful escape from hectic lives.
VR Games That Positively Impact Lives
As the demand for more meaningful experiences in virtual reality grows, we can expect to see more games like Shores of Loci that aim to positively impact its players. VR games that are both immersive and meditative will provide unique experiences that can uplift our well-being. They will transport us to virtual worlds where we can clear our minds and relieve our stress.
