We’re another week into 2017 and the new Vive releases are still a bit lighter than usual. There was no massive list-breaking entries this week, but we do have a game that steps things up in a specific genre. Wave shooters are a dime a dozen in the VR but Drunk or Dead takes the formula and doesn’t try to change it drastically, but adds a couple fun elements to keep things interesting. It’s definitely worth your attention. Another new release, Kindled Cavern, is an escape experience with a cool art style and is disguised as an adventure game within a huge cavern.
In the meantime, if you missed last week, you can see those new releases here. And don’t forget that UploadVR has a Steam community group, complete with a curated list of recommendations so that you don’t have to waste any money finding out what’s good in the world of VR.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zmpz1UNl_E
Blackwater Bayou VR
Price: $1.79 (Currently Discounted)
A few weeks ago aliens invaded and started dwindling our population down. They’re starting to venture out into more remote areas now and it’s time for you to gear up. Blackwater Bayou is a wave shooter set in swampy southern Louisiana with multiple weapon options and dual wielding.
Recommendation: Not a lot too it. Pass on this one.
Kindled Cavern, from Pretty Okay Games
Price: $4.49 (Currently Discounted)
This cave exploration adventure has a distinct art style with a calming, minimalist aesthetic within the dark cavern. Essentially, Kindled Cavern is a massive escape game where you must light seven oil pedestals to get out.
Recommendation: Visually appealing escape experience that will keep you around a bit longer than other similar games.
Beach Bowling Dream VR
Price: $2.39 (Currently Discounted)
Beach Bowling Dream VR is a a peaceful isolation experience where you can bowl on your own deserted island with tools built from your wrecked ship. There’s also a treasure chest that can be unlocked.
Recommendation: Inexpensive bowling in a cool setting but there are better options.
Noda, from Coding Leap
Price: $4.99
Noda adds another option to the currently meager productivity options in the VR space. In serene settings, you essentially can plot out your plans via mind-mapping or white-boarding around you.
Recommendation: Isn’t very expensive and is in Early Access. Keep an eye on it if it aligns with you interests in productive software.
Fractal, from Phosphene Designs LLC
Price: $4.99
Fractal is a first-person shooter with very stylized environments and characters that you’ll tackle with a powerful brush that allows you to reshape your surroundings. Conquer your enemies with brush strokes and grow your power set.
Recommendation: Early Access project that’s worth you at least keeping your eye on it to see how features come together.
MIST VR, from Century Dragon Information Network Co., Ltd
Price: $5.99
Mist VR, which is not a re-release of the classic MYST adventure-puzzle game, is an escape the room experience. Unravel the mystery of your character, the lonesome business man with a tragic history, and the home your’re in while completing a collection of puzzles on your way to unlocking the final door.
Recommendation: Inexpensive solid escape game to add to the collection if you’re done with the dozens you might have already.
Ready, Aim, Splat!, from Blue Volcano Studio
Price: $10.79 (Currently Discounted)
Z-Day is coming. Grab your arsenal of virtual vegetables and prepare to take on waves and waves of zombies. Combine a quirky art style and humor with a dash of kittens and you get this interesting game. Features 8 power ups, 16-bit and Sin City modes, the “King of Pop”, more than 40 unlockables, leader-boards, and more.
Recommendation: Nice stylized wave shooter. But it’s not very inventive. Pass if you’re tired of the genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQfcfDW8De4
Space Slam, from 😉 Quickdraw Studios
Price: $8.39 (Currently Discounted)
Abandon all space flight etiquette and safety guidelines you may have learned in other games. Scrap what you think you know about mining. In Space Slam, maintain your momentum and crash your ship into planets and meteors as you gather rare minerals to carry back to base. Includes over 50 levels and some unlockable cosmetic trails for your ship.
Recommendation: Very fun and interesting take on splace flight simulation.
VRSailing, from BeTomorrow
Price: Free
VRSailing supplies you with the VR equivalent to the serene and occasionally tense experience of sailing during calm and stormy seas. Experience realistic water, wind, and the waves they create without the threat of oceanic creatures or drowning in real life.
Recommendation: Free is hard to pass up. Give it a download.
Lucid Trips, from Nico Uthe, Sara Lisa Vogl, Julian Heinken, VR Nerds
Price: $7.99
Journey through a collection of well designed dream worlds in Lucid Trips. Explore abstract art creations with a new sitting locomotion style the dev team worked on for over two years.
Recommendation: Takes a bit to get accustomed to movement but you’ll have a lot of fun once you are. More impressions here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp5dIGehlUA
Dating Lessons. from Cerevrum Inc.
Price: $9.99
Dating Lessons is a series of VR training courses where you learn to interact with women on various levels. There are 11 lectures and 7 interactive sessions for you to participate in, some of which cover actually touching them.
Recommendation: This is creepy and we vote giving it a pass.
Wanderer: The Rebirth, from Chengdu Wooway Technologies Co., Ltd
Price: $6.29 (Currently Discounted)
Wander: The Rebirth is third-person hack and slash game where you take down creatures and dodge their attacks with a roll. Engage in intense combat as you work through a collection of trials.
Recommendation: We have a full review here but, in short, it’s a bland experience where the VR integration serves no true purpose other than making it worse.
VR Aquarium, from Sorasu Software
Price: $4.99
If you’ve always had pretty bad luck with taking care of fish, you may be in luck. VR Aquarium gives you immersive tank of goldfish for you to touch, call over, and take pictures of. The game includes 5 types of goldfish and 3 types of backgrounds for your aquarium.
Recommendation: Neat, but not a lot to do. Feels like it should have been free.
Boost, from Parallel Mind LLC
Price: $8.99
Boost is an intense sci-fi action sport where you play a bit of wall ball while also destroying mines that appear on your platform with a high energy, context sensitive soundtrack to accent the gameplay.
Recommendation: Very solid casual fun. Keep an eye on it throughout Early Access to see if it adds a bit more content for the price.
Arena: Blood on the Sand VR, from Random Bird Studio
Price: $8.09 (Currently Discounted)
Come and prove yourself warrior. Arena: Blood on the Sand tosses you into a gladiator’s coliseum where you use your sword and shield to defend against skeletal assailants that attack with swords and bow & arrow.
Recommendation: Decent visuals don’t save an otherwise broken and uninspired waggle-fest.
Quick Draw, from Playing With Matches
Price: $9.99
Do you have the fastest hands in the virtual wild west? In Quick Draw you play as a gun-toting bad ass in four different modes. Play as a sheriff defending his town from ruffians in Defend the Town or just get to the meat of the gameplay in time trial, blind time trial, and online duels against other real players. Your reaction times are tracked for online leader-boards as well.
Recommendation: This scratches a very specific itch and is definitely worth a look.
Drunk or Dead, from 4 I Lab
Price: $4.79
As we previously reported, this game is a zombie wave shooter with a tequila twist. In this world, the zombie virus only affects people that are sober so you must shoot down the shambling masses while keeping yourself sauced up.
Recommendation: At this price it’s worth a buy. It gets boring fast, but is silly fun to pass around with friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKmkbJucH7Q
Beats Fever, from Arrowiz
Price: $13.49 (Currently Discounted)
Beats Fever is rhythm gameplay with a stylish and bright environment and UI. Includes 3 stages with 20 licensed songs currently where you hit or slide over notes.
Recommendation: Really exciting use of VR for a music game. It’s technically not in Early Access, but you should expect updates.
VROGU3: Unapologetic Hardcore VR Edition, from Big Dumb Fun Games
Price: $3.99 (Currently Discounted)
Aim, fire, dodge, and takedown the enemy as you attempt to escape the space station in VROGU3: Unapologetic Hardcore. Oh…and you only have 15 minutes to do it. The game is influenced by rogue-like procedural games and each level in the station has random enemy placement so you must adapt on the fly.
Recommendation: Uses a trackpad locomotion that may make you sick, but otherwise a solid game, despite the ridiculous name.
