Personally when I’m asked about the hardware I tell people that if they have the money to burn Index is the best and a premium product (there were kinks with the Index controllers but Valve has been quick to replace them for those affected as far as I know), if they can afford half that or less then the Oculus Rift S or the Oculus Quest (now that it too can connect to PC, though it’s not as comfortable, its portability and stand alone aspects can push you toward it) offer the best price/performance/quality ratio, and if they’re strapped for cash then a Windows Mixed Reality kit makes some hefty compromises in the range of the hand tracking but is still good enough for most games and you can often find formerly premium products like the Samsung Odyssey heavily discounted depending on your region. Folks still need to ensure any of this will work for them first given aspects like pupilary distance they all handle differently of course.
I myself have an Oculus Rift (not S) with 3 trackers for 360 degree somewhat room scale VR (mostly just standing, my play area is small) and don’t yet see a reason to upgrade, it’s not obsolete until we can get vastly better controllers, resolution and new features like eye tracking for an equally modest price if you ask me. The only older hardware I find truly obsolete are the Vive wand controllers as they weren’t the most well thought out design in terms of inputs, but people with a Vive can upgrade to the Index controllers (which are quite costly) without replacing the rest of their gear so they’re basically all set too.
Moving past all this, the game I’m currently playing the most is The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. It’s not a game without flaws but it gets so many things right. It’s neither a tech demo, nor a lousy excuse for a physics sandbox like other recently hyped releases and shows some actual game design know-how. Outside of a few mistakes that the developers have been quick to start addressing, it’s been a great immersive sim-esque experience that shows game design knowledge accumulated over the past decades of 3D gaming can apply in VR despite the different interface as it alone doesn’t make for good, fun games.
Feel free to look up these other great games I tend to recommend to new or not so new users. Some of them can be seen in videos in the original post but most you’ll have to search on Steam or Oculus Store. Of course it’s impossible to convey the feel of VR in footage, some cool mixed reality clips do try though.
And here is a preliminary, not necessarily updated with all the latest things (so, just participate in the thread, duh) list of VR games I can basically recommend, obviously always depending on your preferences:
TWD: Saints & Sinners is a sweet immersive sim-lite with great action and resource management.
Budget Cuts is a stealth puzzle adventure with nicely integrated teleport mechanics and a new sequel.
Apex Construct is a sci fi action adventure game with archery systems at its core.
Stormland is an open world shooter, more limited than it seems at first but still fun as hell.
The Thrill of the Fight is a boxing sim, if less fancy than the gamey Creed and its Rocky license.
Journey of the Gods is a Zelda-lite linear action adventure that’s simple but polished and works well.
Pistol Whip is the new kid on the rhythm game block, I love it like it’s a funky musical Virtua Cop-like.
Drop Dead is a fun riff on The House of the Dead, not nearly as tight but maybe the best in VR.
In Death is an archery based rogue-lite I spent many hours in early on despite the limited scope.
SUPERHOT VR is a puzzle action shooter with cool slow motion mechanics. Be like Neo!
Racket Fury is a very polished table tennis game, the realism was surreal at first despite the sci fi.
Catch & Release is a fishing game. Who doesn’t like fishing? I want Twilight Princess fishing in VR now.
Moss is a third person action adventure, you lead a sword wielding mouse as if in a diorama of a fairy tale.
Space Junkies is a PVP zero gravity arena FPS, like Quake in space, great for some instant action.
Ultrawings is a flight game, not quite a sim, maybe a bit like pilot wings, goals and stuff to get through.
Windlands 2 is an action adventure with not-web-swinging and archery, it’s also co-op capable.
Vox Machinae is a PVP mech combat game with awesome cockpits.
Raw Data is probably the best of the arena/wave shooters with different classes, progression & co-op.
Onward is my favorite “standard” FPS, PVP focused, some co-op & the best feel for weapons/gadgets.
Lone Echo is a must play astronaut adventure, the free PVP Echo VR and its $10 Combat DLC rock too.
Red Matter is another sci fi adventure with a different spin than the above and great interactions.
Blade & Sorcery has the best physics based melee combat but doesn’t yet have progression etc.
V-Racer Hoverbike is a cool futuristic racer where you can lean to realistically control your jet moto thing.
There are many great early access games too, I like where Vengeful Rites is going as a VR RPG action adventure with sword wielding, spell casting, the works and there’s also the free-for-now A Township Tale alpha to try for some online rpging/surviving/crafting alongside social playgrounds like Rec Room , VRChat , even Bigscreen . VTOL VR is a great indie combat flight sim with wonderfully interactive cockpits. There are also ports of non-VR games or games that are both for VR and regular play, which are done very well, as long as you like the base games. Titles like Skyrim VR , No Man’s Sky , DCS , Elite Dangerous , DiRT Rally 1 & 2, PayDay 2 , IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad and others were converted very well. Some like Fallout 4 VR weren’t as successful however so some caution is necessary before purchase. Others have been converted by fan modifications, MotherVR is a great mod for Alien Isolation , without hand tracking, while the same creator is working on ReclaimerVR, a mod for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that will include that and another guy works on an Outer Wilds mod with hand tracking as well.
There are also mods for classic FPS like Doom (up to 3) and a ton more stuff including fan games like Project Stardust (knock on wood for none of them to get C&D, hehe).
All that before even getting to apps like VorpX which convert almost any non VR game to VR, either in cinema modes, with or without stereoscopic 3D, or with true headtracking capabilities (but retaining their non VR control schemes). It’s not quite my thing, if there are no hand interactions I don’t see much point in VR with the exception of vehicular cockpit based games. I’ve not invested in VorpX for that reason and prefer fan mods that enhance games more thoroughly as proper VR adaptations. EmuVR is the exception and only for its lightgun support. There’s also 3dSen VR which weirdly converts NES games to both 3D and VR but again it’s not for me. The point is, there are basically no limits to what people do with VR.
