If you’re not still lost exploring the wilderness of Skyrim from last week, this week’s new Oculus and Gear VR releases offer some new twists on popular genres, like MMORPG boss raids, escape rooms and wave shooters:

Nemesis Realms

from Evocat Games

Inspired by end-game raid bosses in MMORPGs, Nemesis Realms takes that concept and turns it into a smaller scale local multi-player affair. One player controls the raid boss, while up to four additional players attempt to take him out in the arena.

While there are only three bosses available so far, they include a multi-headed dragon, which is more than enough to generate our interest.

And Evocat Games has done a wonderful job distilling the asymmetric action of boss raids into something simple enough that anyone can pick it up while still retaining the manic fun and nerve-wracking tension of large-scale multi-player battles against massive enemies.

Oculus Rift | 2 GB | $14.99 on Steam

The Ship

from VR Escape Adventures

Escape room games are a popular VR genre, arguably second only to wave shooters in terms of sheer numbers, so it takes something fairly special in the genre to get our attention. The Ship stands out for its story-driven setting – a historic pirate ship – and for its cleverly designed puzzles, which were put together by a real escape room company.

The end result is an experience that, despite comparatively simple graphics, feels a lot less like a video game and a lot more like a real-world escape room.

Gear VR | 539 MB | $3.99 from Oculus

Zombie Grenade Practice

from ARVI LLC

Speaking of wave shooters doing something special, Zombie Grenade Practice offers a new take on zombie-killing mayhem: no guns or melee weapons, just an arsenal of grenades for taking out the shambling corpses.

Careful attention to level design and additional modifiers to the usual formula – like improving your score by maximizing zombie deaths and minimizing human ones – add touches of puzzle and strategy, resulting in a much more thoughtful game than a typical wave shooter, despite the seemingly comedic premise.

Oculus Rift | 16 GB | $12.99 from Steam

No Horizon

from Virtro Entertainment

There aren’t loads of space pilot simulators for Gear VR, and No Horizon adds to the mix with an approach that’s a little more free-flowing and sandbox-oriented than the excellent but more linear End Space.

Gear VR | 120 MB | FREE from Oculus

The Road to Hades

from AUTOSAVE

Though some players have reported clipping issues and a few other performance issues that are still being worked out, the unique Asian horror setting and gorgeous imagery of The Road to Hades make this experience more than worth checking out.

Oculus Rift | 7 GB | $14.99 from Steam

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