The Best VR Experiences in Summer 2018

The Best VR Experiences in Summer 2018

It’s ya boi Jesse Favalava Favela and I’ll be sharing some of my favorite VR games with you. I really believe that my VR library covers most of the game genres I’d choose in a traditional format and I’m really happy with what my library has to offer to me and newcomers. I hope you enjoy my list!

Best Games – Mandatory VR Experiences That You Need To Share With The World

Beat Saber and Space Pirate trainer are the kind of room scale games that can really get you moving and immersed in VR. I believe that VR games which use moving as the primary method of interaction, will always naturally be more immersive than those that don’t. You will typically find these sort of experiences in arcade game formats which means there isn’t a lot of complexity to the gameplay but it’s easy to pick up. Beat Saber and Space Pirate trainer are two games that need to be a part of someone’s first time experience. They both force movement and immersion, skillfully show the best that VR tracking has to offer, and are easy to run enough that everyone’s experience across all PC’s and HMD’s will be consistent and run well.

You owe it to yourself and everyone you love so try Beat Saber and Space Pirate Trainer.

The Biggest VR Games

The biggest VR games are Skyrim and Fallout 4. These ports, in my opinion, on my hardware, are great. I loved both of them, but I loved skyrim more. Installing mods, shaders, and really giving the game some extra life to an ancient game will make the VR experience you’re about to embark on, that much more exciting and immersive. Skyrim and Fallout offer a huge world to explore with a massive amount of replay-ability and detail and these are ,without out a doubt, AAA flagship VR titles. It doesn’t matter if it’s a port of another game, in the VR landscape, this is as OpenWorld, Complex, and Deep as it gets.

Relive Fallout 4 and Skyrim!

The Best Zombie Game – Wave Shooter

Arizona Sunshine is one of the most well known VR games but in my opinion, not worth the price. This zombie game is the most developed of the genre and has the best zombie aesthetic and gun play. If you could pick this up for $20 it will be the best zombie game you could buy and while it definitely feels indie, it doesn’t feel arcady because the team put a lot of development into the campaign and atmosphere. This title still feels very 2016, but definitely represents what could’ve been considered AAA at the time but in 2018 it’s still the only Zombie Game you’ll ever need to play. The developers are definitely a powerhouse which deserves our support after they stayed true to updating their now 2 year old game. It’s hard to find dedicated Virtual Reality developers like this. Their other games are great too.

Check out Arizona Sunshine!

The Best VR Party Game – Local Multiplayer

Gorn is an amazing group game and a game that does very well at introducing people to VR in a fun way. In Gorn, you’re a gladiator fighting other gladiators in an arena while using weapons with a wacky physics system. Gorn’s multiplayer game mode, which allows the VR gladiator to fight against friends who are playing on a screen, using controller is one of the most entertaining experiences I’ve ever had. This is a great way to introduce VR to a wide variety of people without having to get them in the headset. Outside of multiplayer, Gorn is an arcade game with a lot of replay value and a campaign mode. At my most recent VR party, I introduced one of my friends to the platform by having him play Gorn. As he laughed between using an enemy as a meat shield and boxing glove, he told us that Gorn was his favorite video game experience of all time. I really feel like this might be the ultimate party game available in 2018.

Check out Gorn!

Personal Most Played – Best Shooter – Best Modding Community

My most played VR game is Pavlov, the most affordable VR shooter. It’s basically a clone of CSGO and according to a rumor, has official support from Valve. This game is so fun and the community is awesome if you’re a BroDude who played Call of Duty on a console growing up. I’m a videogame progressive and frequently seek out games which have a modder database and Pavlov has one of the best in VR. It’s pretty amazing to play on a maps from other video games in my childhood because the developers of games like Halo, Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda, GoldenEye aren’t actively trying to recreate these experiences in VR. I have to give big props to the modding community for creating my nostalgia trips, those were the good old days.

I frequently check the steam charts and this game’s player base has exploded since Holiday 2017. In 2018, an average daily playerbase of 300+ for a VR exclusive title is a pretty big deal and while the sounds like a pitiful number, a number which honestly makes me sad, it’s important to mention that in a 5v5 game this is more than enough people for a healthy player base at all times of the day, night, morning, afternoon.

Pop Some Heads In Pavlov!

Best Rhythm Game

Audioshield is a great VR rhythm game with nearly infinite replay value. I’d recommend this over Beat Saber if custom music tracks, infinite library sizes, ease of use, and unlimited replay value are your thing. Anyone who enjoys Beat Saber should also buy this. Anyone who enjoys rhythm games should buy this. Anyone who wants to add an additional VR routine to your their workout should buy this. I really stand by this game because for 2017, this was my go to game for VR indoctrination.

Shield Some Audio in Audioshield!

The Future Of VR – Best Social Game – Best VR Battle Royale – Best Free Game

Rec Room is a free to play VR world where you can create an avatar, talk to other people, and interact with them. Players can hang out in a public common area where they can chill out and experience virtual ping pong, basketball, darts, camcorders, water bottles, and more. At any time, a player can open up their wrist projected dashboard and enter a queue for a specific activity. Here you can play traditional arcade like game where you shoot monsters with sci-fi guns or use swords and bows in a fantasy themed setting. You can enter a VR paintball arena which has a large player base and variety of maps; this is a very well done VR shooter. You could also play in their Sci-Fi Themed Arena which has a playstyle similar to VR Smite.

RecRoom also has purely social games like VR charades and other purely arcade, single player, less memorable games. The Battle Royale in this game is one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had in my entire life. If you know Favalava, you know that I’m an apex predator, the peak of gaming evolution, an unstoppable power crashing down from the heavens to deliver justice to little 12 year old jimmy kyle screaming into the mic. Sometime you get people like Jimmy Kyle and other times you’ll meet some of the most interesting and dedicated VR enthusiasts from around the world. The Rec Room culture and sportsmanship are definitely something I want others to know about.

This game represents the best future for VR where free, social hubs, offer a variety of different games, with a similar feel. I can’t wait to see Rec Room create open world RPGs, multiplayer survival games, additional social games and hubs, and other Rec Room versions of already successful game genres; watch out Beat Saber and Mario Kart. I really love what this game is doing for VR and it’s probably the closest to achieving a Read Player One future where the world is a social hub with a massive amount of diverse experiences. Rec Room also has a modding community which is self contained to personal rooms or experiences that exist outside of any match made system.

Some people are able to create hyper personalized worlds and share them with others, with the best being added to the base game’s matchmaking if they gain enough public support.

Experience My VR Industry Standard in RecRoom.



VR Software Is Ready For The Mass Market

The VR game landscape is very diverse and there are plenty of genres already available. We have easily reached the point where they’re too many games for even the most hardcore VR enthusiasts to get through. If the reason you haven’t jumped into VR is because you can’t find a genre that you like then I have to ask you, when is the last time you looked? The reality is that you’re probably not looking hard enough because across every major genre of game, there are VR versions of it across varying levels of quality. I’m not saying there is a Halo of VR beacuse there isn’t a game pushing headsets yet, although Beat Saber is close, but there are plenty of games out there for people who prefer specific genres and I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll like in 2018.

Virtual Reality Is More Than Just Games But That Deserves Another Article

There will always more to VR than just games and playing games isn’t the only way to have fun because has a lot of Utility. VR is so much more than playing games because it’s game design using easily accessible tools, it’s Google Earth and teleporting across the planet, it’s museums of humanity’s greatest content on demand, it’s being a smarter shopper and really getting an idea of the dimensions and details of products, It’s recording 360 degrees of life around you today and reliving it sometime in the future, it’s about using the internet in virtual reality, it’s about designing and creating like any other medium, but it’s more than ever a platform of interaction and immersion.

I feel like everyone has the capacity to be a VR person and they just don’t know it yet because they haven’t used their killer app, they haven’t worn their perfect headset, and it’s possible that those don’t exist yet…. Or maybe they just haven’t met someone excited to get them excited.

I love Everything About VR in 2018 and I have very high expectations of what the future will hold for it and other reality bending technology.

Well that’s it everyone.Thanks for taking the time to catch up on my experiences and recommendations. I hope you consider trying out any of the following titles in the near future.

I really hope you find some way to support the growing reality bending technology industry because I believe it’s going to change the world.

Think about all those Radio people that probably believed that early television was the peak of the technology and would never take off. They’re dead! LOL!

Don’t be little Billy Kyle and dismiss Virtual Reality as a fad without trying it for an extended amount of time.

Love,

Jesse Favalava Favela

Shout out to my favorite content creators @UpDownLeftDie.

I love the stream, community, and great entertainment every Monday and Thursday.

I really enjoy my time hanging out with the community and I want more people to enjoy it too.

Find more of my content here on their website!

Stay Tuned For My Other VR Articles Coming Soon:

– Everything You Need To Know About VR Hardware in Summer 2018

– Virtual Reality Is More Than Just Games

Jesse is a tech and gaming enthusiast, specializing in Advertising. He lives in a suburb outside of Los Angeles and enjoys having access to the best of OC and LA county. He wants to create an entertainment lounge where people can be exposed to the future of technology, gaming, and fun. He is a dog lover.