SUPERHOT’s time-pausing mechanic works so well in VR, it’s a surprise we haven’t seen more games use it to bring new and interesting stuff to life. Now, Omega Pilot developer XOCUS says it’s doing just that with the release of Presentiment of Death, a story-driven VR adventure that feels like a mashup of SUPERHOT VR and archery game In Death.
Like SUPERHOT, Presentiment of Death’s time dilation system means the enemy robots move when you move. The kicker: you have to draw your bow, which means you’ll have to really be your toes as the enemy arrows come flying in when you want to return fire.
We won’t have to wait long to play either, as XOCUS says it’s releasing the game on SteamVR headsets on March 1st, with the promise that it will eventually arrive on “all VR platform.” When, XOCUS hasn’t said. In the meantime, you can wishlist the game on Steam here.
Although it basically looks like SUPERHOT with archery, the trailer shows off more than just the same frangible enemies, as there seems to be a few different enemy types, including a larger tank enemy and and several flying types too, which ought to ratchet up the difficulty.
It’s a shame the Superhot team never got around to making its SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE DLC VR compatible, or pushing any additional levels to the VR game, released in 2017 and still sitting at the top of most VR platform charts. Still, we’re hoping Presentiment of Death can scratch that itch, if only for old time’s sake.
NotGames, the indie studio behind ingenious propaganda simulator Not For Broadcast (2022), announced it’s releasing a separate VR version in March, coming to SteamVR and Meta Quest 2.
Releasing on Steam and the Quest Store on March 23rd, Not For Broadcast VR is putting the power of mass media into your hands, as you control what people see and how they see it in your very own TV studio control booth, set in an alternate ’80s timeline in Britain.
Promising all of the original game’s dystopian tale of power, greed and resistance, the VR adaptation seems like a natural fit for the seated, button-heavy game—looking a bit like Please, Don’t Touch Anything.
The game is chock full of egotistical celebrities, dishonest politicians, and strange sponsors—and the show must go on uninterrupted. Pop in your lineup of VHS tapes, frame and edit shots, bleep out expletives, and keep everything moving smoothly—even as disaster strikes outside your window. Whatever you do, your mission is to keep those ratings up.
You can wishlist the game now on Steam. We’re still waiting for the Store link for Quest, however we’ll update this article when we see it. In addition to its VR launch, the game is also coming to PlayStation and Xbox on March 23rd as well.
At the time of this writing, the flatscreen version of Not For Broadcast has garnered an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ user review score on Steam, coming from over 7,000 players.
Starting today, the VR-supported stealth shooter Hitman 3 will be rebranded under the new umbrella name of Hitman World of Assassination. This not only includes Hitman 1, 2 and 3, but a free upgrade for previous owners of Hitman 3 on all platforms.
IO Interactive says the aim is to simplify the purchase experience for new players, who previously would need to either navigate the various deluxe editions, or buy additional access passes to play Hitman 1 & 2.
“Essentially, these […] changes will mean that all new players and existing HITMAN 3 owners will have the same base content ownership. There will be no more confusion over which edition to buy, what content you own, how to redeem Legacy packs or import locations, etc. We’re done with that,” the studio says in a Steam update.
So now, if you own the standard edition of Hitman 3 on PSVR or Steam for PC VR headsets, you’ll be able to jump into the rest of the trilogy starting today at 7PM CET (local time here).
If you haven’t previously bought Hitman 3, Hitman World of Assassination will get a price bump to $70 over the standard edition of $60.
Released on PSVR in January 2021, Hitman 3 suffered from the lack of motion control support at launch, and also wasn’t nearly as immersive as VR players would have hoped due to the lackluster object interaction. Then, the studio launched the VR-supported game on Steam a year later, giving the game its first taste of proper tracked motion controls.
Although Hitman 3 won Steam’s VR Game of the Year, the debate is still very much alive if Hitman 3 is truly a good enough VR experience to merit such high praise from the community.
The team behind the VR adaptation of popular party game Among Us announced it’s officially gone platinum, selling over 1 million copies across all platforms.
Recreating viral flatscreen titles in VR seems to be a potent recipe for success, as Among Us VR follows in the footsteps of other meme-able games like Friday Night at Freddy’s and SUPERHOT, both of which boast high-performing VR adaptations.
Developed by Innersloth, Schell Games, and Robot Teddy, Among Us VR replicates the original’s team-based game of betrayal. Complete tasks aboard a starship, but keep an eye out for the ship’s singular impostor, who is always looking to get away with murder.
The viral phenomenon caught fire in the summer of 2020—nearly two years after the flatscreen version was initially released on Steam by Innersloth. Then the VR version was released in November 2022, which seems to be replicating that success, albeit in the proportionally smaller Quest 2 and PC VR platforms.
Released in November, Among Us VR has crossed the one million unit mark in less than ten weeks after launch, releasing simultaneously across Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets priced at $10. A version for the upcoming PSVR 2 is also arriving as a launch day title, releasing February 22nd.
And it isn’t stopping there. Among Us VR has a number of planned updates on the horizon, including new maps, custom lobby settings, and improved accessibility features. The team says in-game reporting and voice chat moderation is also in the works to improve player safety.
In addition to the sales news, the team released a few stats: Among Us VR has been played more than four million times by users across 122 countries. On average, 44,000 matches are held per day. More than 89,100,000 minutes have been dedicated to tasks, sabotages, and betrayal.
Skydance Interactive announced the sequel to The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Chapter 2: Retribution, is leaving timed Quest exclusivity soon. You can also now add the original game to the list of PSVR titles getting a free PSVR 2 upgrade.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners 2 is simultaneously launching on SteamVR and PSVR 2 on March 21st, priced at $40. You can now wishlist it on Steam and pre-order for PSVR 2.
Although not a launch day title (see the full list here), the studio says players across Quest, PC VR and PSVR 2 will be able to transfer their save data between platforms.
Additionally, Skydance says owners of Chapter 2: Retribution across Meta, Pico, PSVR 2 and PC VR will receive an in-game weapon called ‘The Orphan’ once the upcoming versions release in March.
Moreover, if you already own The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners on the original PSVR, the studio is also tossing out a free PSVR 2 upgrade on March 21st, 2023 too. We’ve already added it to our growing list of games getting free PSVR 2 upgrades.
In the meantime, a bona fide The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners demo is coming to the Meta Quest Store, which includes access to the first 30 minutes of gameplay for free, available from now until February 6th.
We had mixed feelings about the sequel when it launched on Quest in December. At the time, it seemed woefully undercooked—so much so we didn’t even get a chance to review it due to game-breaking bugs. Since then, the studio has released several major updates to address important things such as stability issues and the game’s visuals.
At the time of this writing Chapter 2: Retribution on Quest sits at a user rating of [3.75/5], garnered from around 2,600 users. Paling in comparison, the original sits at a user rating of [4.6/5], garnered from over 18,000 users.
Halfbrick Studios announced it’s partnering on development of Thrill of the Fight 2, the upcoming sequel to the popular VR boxing title.
Created by Ian Fitz and his studio Sealost Interactive in 2016, Thrill of the Fight focuses on realistic boxing mechanics, eschewing arcadey things like stamina bars and unrealistic knockout blows.
Thrill of the Fight 2, which is now in co-development by Halfbrick Studios, is bringing the much-requested feature of multiplayer mode. In a development update video (below), Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo reveals a few more features coming to the sequel: improved audio and visual feedback, changes to how combinations are scored, more gameplay variety to keep players coming back for more.
Halfbrick is known for developing both the flatscreen versions of Fruit Ninja and Fruit Ninja 2 and also their respective VR adaptations. The studio’s bread and butter however has been its slew of mobile games, including Jetpack Joyride, Battle Racing Stars, Dan the Man, and Shadows Remain.
In an update posted to Reddit by Sealost Interactive, series developer Ian Fitz discusses Halfbrick’s involvement.
“The reason I’m partnering up with Halfbrick on this is because I was comfortable it would help make the game I wanted to make. They want to make (and play) the same game I do,” Fitz says.
Fitz also broke down the division of labor, and how the sequel is being made in cooperation with Halfbrick.
“I made the blueprint. Sealost prototyped and proved out many of the mechanics and tech challenges. Halfbrick is putting together a release-worthy product and supporting it into the future. I’m in meetings with them every workday building the product right alongside them and making sure we don’t deviate from the original plan (which hasn’t been a problem because, again, they want to make the same game I do).”
Fitz notes the partnership with Halfbrick “doesn’t have anything to do with funding. This is just about having a solid production team and a plan in place to support the game post-launch.”
The studios say they’re aiming for release “later this year,” although that’s admittedly “just an estimate based on current progress,” Fitz says.
It’s still unclear which platforms are initial targets, however if the original is any indications, we’re liable to see it on Quest 2/Pro, Steam VR, and possibly also PSVR 2.
Psytec Games announced its grappling hook-flavored platforming adventure Windlands 2 (2018) is finally swinging its way onto Quest 2, coming to Meta’s standalone for the first time on February 2nd.
Like the original Windlands (2016), which is currently available through App Lab on Quest, Windlands 2 is all about swinging from tree to tree in a large, open world filled with a ton of nooks and crannies to parkour around.
But the sequel changes things up a fair bit by fleshing out the fallen world of Windlands with the addition of quests and some pretty epic boss fights, which you can take down with your trusty bow—either solo or with friends in four-player co-op. Besides following the main story, there’s also a ton of races and collection challenges with leaderboards.
Image courtesy Psytec Games
Originally released on SteamVR and Rift in November 2018, and later on PSVR in November 2021, Windlands 2 is heading to the official store for Quest 2 come February 2nd where it will be priced at $24.99. You can wishlist the game on the Quest Store here.
Notably, Windlands 2 is coming to Quest 2 (re: not Quest 1) without cross-buy, or cross-platform support. That means if you own the Quest 2 version, you can only play with other Quest 2 owners; the same goes for the PC version and PSVR versions, respectively.
When we reviewed Windlands 2 for PC VR in 2018, we called it “the true starting point” for the series, as it sets up a much larger world and story that feels like the beginning of a more expansive adventure than its zen-like forebear. Check out our full review of Windlands 2, where we gave it an [8/10] for deftly translating Windlands unique grappling hook locomotion into a vibrant combat platformer in its own right.
Make no mistake, the original is still very much worth playing for puzzling and parkour purists, although number two really seems to expand the world by filling it with quest-giving NPCs, villains, and boss battles galore, taking around six hours to complete.
Gorilla Tag is undoubtedly a hit. Its primate-centric locomotion style and infectious game of tag has vaulted it into the top spot as the most-rated game on the Quest Store, surpassing even the Meta-owned rhythm game Beat Saber. Now, the indie team behind Quest’s most popular game revealed they’ve generated over $26 million with Gorilla Tag.
Speaking to VentureBeat, developer Another Axiom has reported that its gorilla-themed game has not only brought it home big with $26 million from in-app purchases, but it’s also attracted a larger glut of players than previously reported.
Having initially launched on App Lab in March 2021 and later released on the official Quest Store this past December, devs behind the free-to-play game say it’s managed to reach a peak monthly active user count of 2.3 million now. On Christmas, which is when Meta typically sees a big influx of users, over 760,000 users played Gorilla Tag.
It is free-to-play on Quest—its biggest platform—although a paid Steam Early Access version is available as well for PC VR headsets, costing $20, which comes along with an equal value of its in-game currency, shiny rocks.
Therein lies Gorilla Tag’s monetization strategy, as in-app purchases include a range of cosmetic items such as hats, glasses, and seasonal items like Santa beards and candy canes.
Developer Kerestell Smith told Road to VR last month that its main driver to get players in the door (and spending cash) was via some well-timed virality on TikTok, with the hashtag #gorillatag seeing 4.4 billion views to date.
Today, the game sits at over 52,000 reviews, ranking above Beat Saber’s 46,000 reviews, making it the most-rated game on the platform. At the time of this writing, Gorilla Tag is the fourth best-rated free game on Quest, sitting behind GYM CLASS – BASKETBALL VR, Innerworld, and First Steps for Quest 2.
Check out the full rankings from this month, which we break down into best and most rated games for both paid and free titles on Quest.
It’s more than a bit disheartening to see essentially the same top PSVR game downloads repeated throughout the years, although here’s to hoping this may be the last time we utter the names Beat Saber, Job Simulator, and SUPERHOT VR in sequential order as the upcoming platform’s best-performing titles.
The original PSVR has earned a well-deserved rest after more than six years of faithful service, no doubt. But on February 22nd, the company’s next-gen headset PSVR 2 is coming to town, which has the potential to shake things up a fair bit as the PlayStation begins charting titles created for its latest and greatest VR headset.
I’m hoping to consider this a bid farewell to the same ol’ top download chart, which seems to have stayed fairly stagnant for the past couple of years. Before we go further though, here’s the top PSVR downloads in 2022:
PSVR Top Downloads – 2022
US/Canada
EU
1
Beat Saber
Beat Saber
2
Job Simulator
Job Simulator
3
SUPERHOT VR
SUPERHOT VR
4
Creed: Rise to Glory
Creed: Rise to Glory
5
Swordsman VR
Sniper Elite VR
6
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
Swordsman VR
7
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
8
GORN
Batman: Arkham VR
9
Batman: Arkham VR
Arizona Sunshine
10
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
Notice anything familiar? With the exception of Sniper Elite VR, which actually released in 2021 (but critically didn’t rank among the top downloads that year), it’s nearly identical to the chart from 2021. Pretty much par for the course for the platform’s aging game library, it seems.
PSVR 2: Shifting to a More Experienced VR Gamer?
Notably, PSVR 2 doesn’t feature backwards compatibility, although many games on the chart above are either re-releasing on PSVR 2 or getting a free upgrade, so we’ll very likely see many of these titles persist in the charts for months to come.
Sony has also publicly announced a handful of PSVR 2 titles which may be strong contenders for the top spots in the coming months and years. Popular games and franchises include Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Village, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Demeo, Crossfire: Sierra Squad, Firewall Ultra, Among Us VR,2MD: VR Football Unleashed All-Star, and Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue just to name a few. We’re still waiting on an official list of launch day titles and a more concise understanding of what’s getting an upgrade, and what isn’t.
Granted, I said I’m hoping to consider this a bid farewell to the seemingly iron clad chart rankings, although there’s a good reason those top games performed so well on PSVR. The top three—Beat Saber, Job Simulator, and SUPERHOT VR—undoubtedly make for excellent first-time VR experiences for basically anyone. After all, PSVR was likely the first VR headset for many who already own a PS4, so a continued focus on casual VR content makes sense.
Note: Beat Saber has been confirmed for a PSVR 2 rerelease (possibly free upgrade, but Meta hasn’t said yet), while Job Simulator and SUPERHOT VR are still unconfirmed for PSVR 2.
It remains to be seen whether the ‘newcomers at the top’ paradigm plays out the same way with PSVR 2 though in the months and years to come. Many of the top games on PS5 appeal to a more mature gaming audience (in gaming ability, not age), which is reflected in the top 2022 downloads there: Call of Duty: Modern WarfareII,God of War Ragnarök, and ELDEN RING.
Photo by Road to VR
A better analogue though for PSVR 2 may be Quest 2’s performance over the years, owing to its spot as essentially the largest VR platform for consumers. Many of the top titles on the monthly Quest charts present a better mix of casual drop-in titles and more lengthy adventures such as BONELAB, Moss: Book II, and The Room VR: A Dark Matter, which may mean the PSVR 2 chart may look very different indeed.
Still, for PSVR 2 to follow the same path, there needs to be an extensive mix of premium quality content for newcomers in addition to the top games repeated from the days of yore. Players will be looking for fresh casual content like Astro Bot Rescue Mission, PlayStation VR Worlds, and Creed: Rise to Glory—the sort of games you can plop family and friends into that they immediately understand and can play—in addition to needing a steady stream of ‘AAA’ level titles like Resident Evil Village and Horizon Call of the Mountain, two of the largest standouts PSVR 2 users will probably look to for the sort of graphical quality they’re used to on flatscreen.
In the end, it’s hard to say how things will shake out. Sony appears to be playing its PSVR 2 hype strategy more or less in the same way it did with PS5, i.e. not many exclusives and a softer launch than expected. That could have to do with the fact that the all-in price for a PS5 and PSVR 2 headset is around $1,100, which not only limits the number of prospective game sales by a fair bit, but could mean less first-party investment overall if the install base isn’t large enough. Whatever the case, we’re hoping to hear more about games and get a better understanding of launch day titles over the coming month leading up to its February 22nd launch.
What’s your opinion? Will future PSVR 2 charts look the same, be dominated by new casual content, or will we see more mature titles break in? Let us know in the comments below!
EA’s Codemasters is getting ready to launch its first Quest-native title next week, a VR version of popular arcade racing sim GRID Legends.
GRID Legends for Quest is set to launch on January 12th, which is quite the surprise since we haven’t heard anything of it before finding the listing on the Quest Store. The game is currently available for pre-order, priced regularly at $30, but on pre-order sale for $27.
The game is said to include the full single-player story mode, race creator to design races, and online multiplayer, which unfortunately doesn’t include cross-play with flatscreen versions of the game.
The only info available for now comes from the store listing, which includes a trailer and a few images showing off some gameplay stills and the garage.
Image courtesy EA Games
Image courtesy EA Games
Image courtesy EA Games
Image courtesy EA Games
From the listing, it’s clear GRID Legends is going to be a hefty download at an expected 31.1GB, so make sure to have plenty of storage room available.
This isn’t EA’s or Codemasters’ first VR title, although it is their first Quest-native game, collectively speaking. The studios launched PC VR support for F1 2022, bringing the beloved racing sim franchise to VR for the first time. EA’s Motive Studios also launched the well-received Star Wars: Squadrons arcade dogfighter to SteamVR and PSVR in October 2020.
EA’s Respawn Entertainment holds the honor of the parent company’s first Quest-native title with Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, which launched on Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets in December 2020.
Who would have thought one VR’s most popular games was coming to Sony’s next-gen VR headset? Probably everyone, but now the company has confirmed it is indeed bringing Beat Saber to PSVR 2.
Announced during Sony’s CES 2023 keynote, Beat Saber is said to be “in development” for PSVR 2, a game created by the Meta-owned studio Beat Games.
There’s a few more questions still in need of answering between now and PSVR 2’s February 22nd launch though—one in particular: is Meta going to offer PSVR 2 support as a free upgrade to owners of the game on PSVR? Sony is mum on the subject for now, with more information promised sometime in “the near future.”
Launched in 2018 on Rift, SteamVR, and PSVR, Beat Saber almost immediately became the medium’s most recognizable title, and it’s still chugging years later. It regularly tops PSVR’s most downloaded charts, and was even in the most recent list of top-selling VR games on Steam—a testament to its continued strength across all VR platforms.
It would make a good deal of sense that it will indeed come as a free upgrade, as Beat Saber’s revenue model is very much tied to its continuous paid DLC releases, which regularly offer up music packs from some of the world’s leading pop artists. Asking a PSVR owner to buy a base game and hundreds of dollars of DLC they already own would be a pretty dicey maneuver to say the least.
In any case, it appears Meta is sticking with its promise to make sure Beat Saber persists as VR’s premier cross-platform title, though there’s no telling whether they charged Sony a pretty penny to make it happen.
Sony has announced that the latest title in its longstanding racing franchise, Gran Turismo 7, will support PSVR 2 at launch.
This week during Sony’s CES 2023 conference, the company announced that Gran Turismo 7 will support PSVR 2 at the headset’s launch via a free upgrade for existing owners.
Not much was shared about exactly how the game’s VR compatibility will work, including whether it would support the headset’s new motion controllers or rely on the standard PS5 gamepad.
This won’t be the first Gran Turismo game with VR capabilities. GT Sport (2017) offered support for the original PSVR headset, though only partially, with players being limited to a subset of the game’s modes, with the PS4 gamepad as the only form of input.
We’re hoping that this latest iteration of the game and headset will offer more comprehensive compatibility.
On stage during the event, SIE President Jim Ryan also shared that the company has sold more than 30 million PS5 units, and also said that customers should expect to have a much easier time finding the console available for purchase “from this point forward.” That’s of course important for impending launch of PSVR 2 next month, as anyone who has been waiting to upgrade to the new headset will also need the company’s latest console.
