The HTC Vive was up for pre-order earlier this week and in the first 10minutes sold more than 15,000 units. The Vive retails at USD$799 and comes complete with the VR headset, two controllers and two base stations for room-scale head tracking. While the Oculus Rift is retailing at USD$599 for only the headset and is due to ship out in April.
With all this excitement going around and the HTC Vive and the Occulus Rift looking to ship out soon, the next thing we’re going to see are what games are coming up for it. We’ve compiled some of the most anticipated VR games you can look forward to this year.
Elite Dangerous: Horizons
Elite: Dangerous is a gorgeous space exploration game, that’s only going to get better in VR. The hugely popular universe-wide sandbox game, allows players to fly through space, dogfight with enemy players and scavenge with monitors.
The VR experience is going to make it 100 times better though – with a VR headset on, you are the pilot. You can even look down and see your ‘body’ and if you use a joystick to control the ship in real life, the movements will be mimicked in game. It’s incredibly immersive, and lets you gaze out of the window to hunt down your enemies or take in some of the no doubt beautiful sights you’ll come across throughout the galaxy.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Sruvival Evolved is a first-person Steam Early Access where dinosaurs still rule the land. In typical sandbox universe style players are able to craft items, weapons and other gear in order to survive the environment around them. You can team up and create tribes, tame huge dinosaurs and even start breeding using the eggs female dinosaurs lay. Craft-able objects become more powerful and intricate the higher level you are – you start off being able to craft spears, and finish the game being able to craft automatic turrets.
We imagine VR in Ark: Survival Evolved is going to be amazing, and will definitely help to imagine the scale of the huge dinosaurs available in game. The game is due to officially launch on consoles and PCs in June.
Dreadhalls
A VR game line-up wouldn’t be complete without at least one VR-enabled Horror game. Which is exactly what Dreadhalls is going to deliver; a pant-wetting horror experience. Along the lines of Amnesia, you’re an unarmed explorer in a series of procedurally-generated tunnels attempting to simply find your way to the exit.
The maze is filled with a variety of monsters, like gargoyles that only move when you’re not watching, and spooky little girls. Objects in the maze can help you, but ultimately it’s a game about hiding and running away. Good, I can definitely do that.
Arizona Sunshine
What would a new generation of VR games be without the chance to face the walking dead? While most games would have you running away from a horde of undead zombies, Arizona Sunshine has you stand your ground at stations spread across the Arizona desert and shoot whatever comes shambling your way. It may sound simple, but the fun is in the details and one-to-one gun controls. You’ll need to make the motions of loading magazines into your gun to reload, place new magazines in ammo pockets, and physically aim each shot. Great practice for that upcoming zombie apocalypse everyone’s talking about.
P.O.L.L.E.N
One of the huge draws of VR is immersion, something that upcoming space exploration game P.O.L.L.E.N has in abundance. It’s a slightly different affair to the Alien: Isolations of the world in that there are no monsters to speak of. Instead, it’s all about adventuring and places a focus on picking up and observing objects to find clues and discover what happened aboard the mysterious space station you’re exploring.
In development for two years by Finland-based studio Mindfield Games, P.O.L.L.E.N is reminiscent of classic science fiction movies like Solaris and Space Odyssey. Its gorgeous graphics and an intriguing narrative could make it the modern VR equivalent of the classic adventure game.
