Compared to January, February 2023 was a better month for me in terms of VR games and apps I downloaded and played.
Using my Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro, I’ve had an absolute blast playing VR hits last wind up and barbarian, recently added to the Quest platform.Unfortunately, I can’t speak for my VR experience with Meta Horizon Studio The apps are just as enjoyable (the software definitely needs some work).
Read on for my thoughts on these titles. And be sure to check out our picks of the best VR games and best Oculus Quest 2 games for more recommendations on the VR games and apps you need to download.
last wind up
last wind up is the most complex auto clicker you’ll ever play, and a fantastic puzzle game for the Quest platform, Steam VR, and the upcoming PlayStation VR 2.
You return to an ancient clock tower built inside a giant tree you once called home to save it and find out what happened to your old friend and mentor: the eponymous Last Clockwinder. On your journey through the building’s many rooms, you’ll need to use a special pair of gloves left to you by the missing Clockwinder to continue.
These gloves enable you to create automata that will expertly imitate the movements you record, repeating them in a loop. This allows you to create a small swarm of machines to help you grow and extract the fruit your tower uses as fuel. Once you’ve set up your automation, you can let it run in the background; your efficient loop will keep running as you move on to another puzzle, making your produce inventory bigger and bigger.
I had a great time playing this game. I love its puzzles, which require a good combination of creative thinking and dexterity to let you complete them. Still, if you find VR movement a little tricky, you won’t be penalized for relying on some extra robotic assistants to get the job done. The maximum number you can generate in each level is enough to find a non-optimized solution.
I’m not the only one who loves the title, either. It has won numerous awards, including Meta’s Best of Quest: Best Game of 2022 award.
My only complaint (and it’s a minor one) is that there’s a relatively sharp difficulty spike toward the end. last wind up is a very casual puzzle experience, but luftapples are a more intractable fruit than any that came before them. I can’t wait to finish any room that compels me to plant them.
They didn’t spoil the experience for me, though, and after going through the game’s short, sweet story, I can say that it’s an awesome VR experience that you should definitely play.
Horizon Studio
For the past week, I’ve been spending my workday in the metaverse, swapping my home office for a virtual space with Horizon Workrooms. You can dig into my experience working in VR, but in summary: it’s not great.
idea Horizon Studio It’s you who syncs apps to your real-world PC so you can work and meet in VR. The premise is interesting, but actually working in VR is more problematic than using a PC without wearing a Meta Quest Pro.
First, despite the seemingly limitless potential of VR, Horizon Workroms Limit my virtual setup to my real world capabilities.So since I only have two monitors, I only have two virtual office computers – though Horizon Studio Up to three can be supported.
What’s more, while there are all kinds of spaces for virtual meetings—you can visit the beach, tower above the city, or enjoy the view of a beautiful lake—your office can only look out over the lake, or let you sit In a blank (just a lamp, a tree and the northern lights to fill the space). I would love the ability to customize the office more to make it feel like my own room, and more options for stunning virtual views.
on top of this Horizon Studio Not super stable; the app would crash or restart itself multiple times in a single session. While these crashes aren’t serious or disruptive in themselves, their frequency means I waste a lot of time waiting for the app to run.
Combine that with the fact that wearing the 722g headphones for hours each day can become quite uncomfortable, and the whole experience isn’t one I’m looking forward to repeating anytime soon. At least, not until some major hardware and software changes are made.
barbarian
barbarian is the perfect VR game for tabletop RPG fans who enjoy playing barbarians and warriors — characters whose fists (and axes) can solve any problem you throw at them.
There are two sides to this asynchronous arcade adventure. The first is a dungeon crawling brawl where you have a champion of your choice to defeat goblins, skeletons, and other enemies. The stages are short and sweet micro-adventures, and the combat is fun. barbarian Finds a nice middle point between zany and realistic in its gameplay.
On the other hand is dungeon crafting. Many of the stages of your battle are player-created, and as a player you also have to create and upgrade a dungeon that you hope will defeat your opponent fighters.
As you progress, you’ll unlock powers that let you fuse these aspects; an early upgrade will let you leave your warrior’s body floating above your opponent’s field. From this god-like position, you can spawn a swarm of meteors to blast your enemies away, then return to your champion to kill those who are still alive.
As with many other VR sandboxes, there isn’t much of a story to keep you engaged. Instead, Barbaria relies on the gameplay and competitive aspects to keep you coming back. If you want games with compelling plots, this isn’t the game for you.
Additionally, the game lacks the ability to use teleportation movement–and there aren’t many comfort features–so if you’re uncomfortable with joystick-based VR movement, you might find the experience to make you sick.
However, if you can handle this style of movement and are content with simply running around and hitting skeletons with a sledgehammer, you’re sure to have a good time barbarian.
Don’t like the look of anything on this list? Check out the VR games and apps I played in January 2023.
