Another month, another batch of Oculus Quest 2 VR games and apps I want to share my thoughts about.
Whether you’re a long-time fan of one of the world’s best VR headsets, or recently picked up a Quest 2 in this year’s Black Friday deals (like this discount that gets you a Quest 2, Resident Evil 4, and Beat Saber for $350 in the US), it can be hard to sift through the Quest store’s myriad titles. To make the process of finding your next VR experience easier I pick out a few titles and give them a go to see if they’re worth your time.
This month I gave Among Us VR, Beat Saber’s new music packs, and YouTube VR a whirl. Here’s what I thought.
Among Us VR
In Among Us VR, everyone can hear you scream as you try to outrun (and outwit) the evil Impostors in this immersive take on the hit social deduction game.
This game from original developers Innersloth, VR veterans Schell Games (I Expect You to Die 2, Lost Recipes), and Robot Teddy doesn’t reinvent the Among Us wheel, but it does perfectly straddle the line between fresh and familiar to make something excellent nonetheless.
Just like the original game, in Among Us VR a team of Crewmates must complete tasks and vote out the Impostors – a secret enemy duo who are out to kill every other player and sabotage the spaceship everyone is on: the Skeld 2 – before they're hunted down and eliminated themselves.
Many of the original game's tasks (minigames Crewmates can complete to secure victory) are more interactive in VR. Tasks like plotting the ship’s course in Navigation and refueling the engines now require you to fly the ship with the steering wheel and physically pump the fuel to where it’s needed.
Among Us VR also introduces completely new features like voice chat. Being able to make verbal arguments (rather than text-based ones) in emergency meetings and talk to other players as you wander the Skeld 2 together really helps put the social in social deduction.
I had an absolute blast playing Among Us VR and at just $9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.99 on the Quest Store, it's absolutely worth your time and the cost of entry.
YouTube VR
I’d never watched a video in VR before this month. For so many people, an app like YouTube VR or the virtual reality version of one of the best streaming services is the first experience they download and try out, but I just skipped right on by. For this write-up, I thought I’d change that by finally watching some videos in YouTube VR, and I wish I’d given it a go sooner.
Like the browser version on your PC or the phone-based app, YouTube VR lets you search for and watch videos users upload to the platform. If you sign into your account (which is pretty easy), you can curate a list of videos and creators you enjoy through Subscriptions, Likes and Playlists.
The main draw of VR is that the video will play on a massive virtual screen. The largest option is so big you can’t even see it all at once – it’s like sitting at the front of a movie theater, though the mostly blank void you’re watching videos in is a little depressing. While the blankness doesn’t distract from the video, I’d like options to make the space more welcoming, perhaps going all-in on the theater vibe or using my Quest 2’s Home Environment as the place where I’m sitting watching YouTube. I also found that 3D videos aren’t the best, either. However, that feels more like a problem with the cameras used for filming rather than the YouTube VR app itself.
If you haven’t tried out YouTube VR yourself, it’s free to download on the Quest Store, so there’s nothing to lose in giving it a go.
Beat Saber
Beat Saber is without a doubt one of the best VR games out there; the Star Wars meets Guitar Hero gameplay where you slice blocks in time with music is addictive fun. If you own a VR headset but not this game you’re missing out.
It’s been out in some form since 2018 and I’ve been playing Beat Saber for ages, but I wanted to highlight it today because the latest music packs are amazing.
What I particularly enjoy is that each pack of tracks doesn’t just have its own audio style (because every song in it shares an artist or genre) but a visual style too. In the Fall Out Boy tracks you’re rocking out in front of hundreds of adoring fans with pyrotechnics going off, while Lizzo’s music plays inside a neon-colored party, and The Weekend’s music brings a whole city street to life as skyscrapers and streetlamps react to the beat.
The only downside of the DLC packs is that you will have to pay extra on top of the $30 / £23 / AU$47 you’ve already paid on the Quest Store for the base game. But if you love the artists and plan to play Beat Saber a fair amount they’re well worth picking up, in my opinion. Plus, if you don’t love every song that comes in a pack you can just buy the individual tracks you're interested in and save a bit on your purchase.
- Check out this month's best Black Friday Oculus Quest 2 deals
