Top Five PCVR Games 2024
With another holiday season on the horizon and headsets reaching new users, I thought it was time to share my perspective on must-play games for the first time. I plan to cover each platform, starting with PCVR, where my passion for Virtual Reality truly took hold.
Number Five: Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game
Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game is an entertaining roguelike that introduces a unique experience to the genre within the realm of virtual reality. It presents a narrative that seamlessly integrates the roguelike mechanics into the Stellaris universe. There are numerous incentives to keep coming back and attempting again, thanks to a comprehensive upgrade system, lore to discover, and daily challenges.
Number Four: Metro: Awakening
Vertigo Games has done an excellent job of adapting the Metro franchise for Virtual Reality, featuring an original backstory from Metro creator Dmitry Glukhovsky. They have successfully captured the authentic essence of the Metro games, with the atmosphere, tension, and sense of dread associated with nuclear Armageddon being flawlessly recreated in VR. You get to hold and manually reload some of the iconic weapons, confront some of the most recognizable mutants from the games, and ensure you have everything necessary to survive in the deteriorating Moscow Metro, which feels significantly more intense when you are immersed in the actual environment.
Number Three: Riven
Riven has witnessed Cyan Worlds utilise contemporary technology to revitalise their classic game from 1997, achieving success once more after the similar revival of Myst in 2021. It features some of the most difficult puzzles I have encountered, crafted excellently for both flat screens and Virtual Reality. The visuals of Riven are breathtaking and provide an enjoyable experience as you solve the puzzles.
Number Two: Half-Life: Alyx
Half-Life: Alyx introduced Valve’s flagship title to Virtual Reality in March 2020, and with the dedication they show to the franchise, they once again transformed an entire gaming genre and demonstrated the potential of VR. This was all accomplished while narrating the events that transpired between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, seamlessly connecting to their overarching storyline. Furthermore, Valve’s willingness to make their engine accessible to modders has resulted in some truly remarkable mods such as Gunman Contracts, Bioshock, and Levitation.
Number One: Lone Echo 1 and 2
While Half-Life: Alyx is an excellent game, my top PCVR experience comes from Ready At Dawn’s Lone Echo and Lone Echo 2. In these titles, players navigate in zero gravity, a feature that Ready At Dawn has executed flawlessly, allowing all surfaces to be grabbed as you propel yourself through the environment or push off from it. This sensation of movement is unparalleled. The games are also woven together with an engaging narrative as you explore a space anomaly, where Captain Olivia Rhodes and the service android named Jack (the character you control) develop a connection that is only possible in Virtual Reality.