For newcomers to virtual reality, it can be very difficult to find interesting VR games at first: for the most part, this is a world of its own, little known to players on flat screens. Of course, there are a few titles that almost everyone who has heard anything about VR knows, but there are much more interesting and exciting VR projects out there.
We decided to make a selection of the best VR games, in our opinion, for those who have bought a headset and are looking for something to play as of the beginning of 2025 - a kind of "VR guide for beginners". In it, we will focus on Meta Quest headsets as the most widespread today and consider games from two stores - Steam and Meta Store.
We'd like to point out that this list won't include car and flight simulators: these genres are the most difficult in terms of VR comfort and vestibular demands, and definitely not for beginners. We will also ignore multiplayer PVP games because they also require some VR experience.
Action and role-playing games
Batman: Arkham Shadow (Meta)
An exclusive project for Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets, a first-person adventure game set in the famous Batman universe: Arkham. This is a storyline sequel to Batman: Arkham Origins, which was released more than 10 years ago, offers very high-quality graphics and authentic VR mechanics for a standalone game. If you recently purchased a headset, you might have received this game as a gift, and it's a very good option for your first VR experience. You just need to keep in mind that it has fast movements that can be uncomfortable for VR beginners.
The game can be described as a "fantasy combat simulator" - Blade & Sorcery offers very high-quality physical modeling of fights with a variety of medieval weapons and even magic. For a long time, while the game was in the Early Access, it was more of a sandbox, a kind of construction set for modders, but last year it was released in full, and now it's a real game.
An experimental action game, a sequel to the very popular Boneworks. The game also relies on a physical model, in particular, BONELAB fully models the body using inverse kinematics. The game's "trick" is to use different mechanics in different locations, from shooters to car arcades.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (Steam)
A VR version of the classic RPG. Like all other Bethesda projects, it needs a lot of "work": the original version offers a very basic VR experience, while the huge modding community has turned it into one of the best VR games of today. Therefore, the player should be prepared to spend the first few hours "playing" with Skyrim VR settings and installing at least dozens of absolutely necessary mods (or entire mod packs containing literally hundreds or even thousands of mods).
First-person shooters
Arizona Sunshine 2 (Steam, Meta)
An arcade zombie shooter with dynamic and fun gameplay. The game supports cooperative play, so if you have friends with a VR headset, this is definitely the mode in which to play it. But it also plays very well solo. If you want more after Arizona Sunshine 2, you should pay attention to the remake of the first part - Arizona Sunshine Remake, which is also available on Steam and Meta Store and currently has an even higher rating than the second part.
A slightly unusual combination of two genres - FPS and roguelite. The game has very bright and simple pixelated graphics and equally simple gameplay - but very addictive. Managing the weapons you find in procedurally generated locations, taking into account what awaits you in the future and what bosses you will face - plus the gradual opening of new "barrels" and "upgrades" to the figures on the shelves, a kind of addition to the standard Steam "achievements".
Half-Life: Alyx (Steam)
If you borrowed a VR headset from a friend for a week or two and can only play one game, Half-Life should be the one to try: Alyx. Despite the fact that it is already 5 years old, HL: Alyx is still the only true AAA VR game with a huge budget (according to some rumors, Valve spent ~$100 million on it) and, accordingly, very high-quality graphics, incredible attention to detail, and perfect implementation of VR mechanics. The only reason you should avoid this game is if you hate the Half-Life universe for some reason.
Half-Life 2: VR Mod (Steam)
If you have completed HL: Alyx and you want "more Half-Life in VR", custom mods of all traditional HL2 parts, which are available on Steam as separate games with their own pages, and free for all owners of the "flat" originals, will be the perfect choice. The mod developer borrowed many mechanics from HL: Alyx, so they play very well and look almost like official VR versions of classic games. It should be noted that to maximize the VR experience, you should install another additional mod, Unleashed, which complements VR mechanics and turns this mod into a modern VR game.
VR spinoff of the Ukrainian shooter series Metro. 4A Games did not take part in its development - the game was created by a third-party studio, the developer of the aforementioned Arizona Sunshine series. Nevertheless, Metro Awakening turned out to be a very authentic game in the Metro world, with an interesting story, high-quality graphics, and dynamic gameplay (see our review). Even if you are not interested in the game universe, all fans of VR shooters should check it out - Metro Awakening is rightfully considered one of the best VR games of 2024.
Vertigo 2 (Steam)
A very unusual shooter - a game session in Vertigo 2 resembles some kind of psychedelic trip, in which you don't always understand what is going on, whether you are facing a friend, enemy, or part of the location, and the principles of weaponry become clear only after you try to shoot it. At the same time, the game offers a very high-quality VR experience, a good story, a variety of locations, and a large number of enemies that are unlike anything else. Vertigo 2 is the second installment in the series; a remaster of the first one, Vertigo Remastered, is also available on Steam, but it looks a bit weaker against the sequel, although it is just as crazy.
Music games
Probably the second, after HL: Alyx, the most famous VR game in the world. Like the other games in this group, Beat Saber belongs to the genre of "rhythm games" in which you have to perform certain movements to the beat of the music. Here, as you can see from the trailer, you have to "cut" the cubes of the corresponding color with your lightsabers - it sounds very simple and uninteresting, but only until you try it. Beat Saber was released 6 years ago, but it is still very popular on both platforms and is the undisputed leader in the genre.
Ragnarock has a somewhat unusual concept for the genre - the player "controls" a Viking drakar and beats virtual drums to encourage the rowers. Rock songs fit perfectly into the game's atmosphere, and drumming to the beat of the music turns out to be very fun and exciting - you just need to connect high-quality wired headphones to the VR headset, because its built-in speakers hardly reproduce "bass".
Now Synth Riders may seem like an attempt to repeat the success of Beat Saber - at first glance, the games are quite similar both visually and in terms of game mechanics. In fact, they were developed almost simultaneously and released just a few months apart. Synth Riders has a different style of music in the basic set (the game prefers synthwave and 80s style) and a different approach to passing tracks - instead of breaking "notes", the player has to "touch" them and repeat curved trajectories in the air. In fact, this is more different from the game mechanics of Beat Saber than it might seem, but it seems that there can be only one "king" in this rather specific genre - the popularity of all other rhythm projects cannot be compared to Beat Saber.
Puzzles and Adventures
A Fisherman's Tale (Steam, Meta)
A very short, only one and a half hours, but very unusual adventure: the game area - an old lighthouse - is duplicated inside the lighthouse in the form of a toy on the table, and all actions with miniature objects in it are repeated in reality around the main character. Solving the puzzles in A Fisherman's Tale requires non-standard approaches and is quite different from typical adventurers. Subsequently, the developer released the second part, which was at least twice as long, but it turned out to be a bit weaker.
A very cute and beautiful adventure with platforming and puzzle-solving elements, where the player helps a cute mouse in his adventurous journey through a fantasy world. The player interacts with the environment and can view locations from different angles, moving in real space. The game received a sequel - Moss: Book II, which, as usual, turned out to be much bigger.
Despite the appearance that makes it seem like Red Matter 2 is a first-person shooter with puzzle-solving elements like HL: Alyx, it's actually the opposite: it's almost a pure adventure with a minimal amount of action. It has very nice graphics, interesting puzzles, and a well-designed interactive world. Unfortunately, the events take place on the abandoned space bases of the Soviet Union, with the corresponding aesthetics - but at least the USSR is as bad guys in this alternative reality as in ours. If you want, you can also check out the first part - it's almost as good as the sequel, except for the duration (if Red Matter 2 can be completed in 6 hours, Red Matter can be completed in just a couple).
The 7th Guest VR (Steam, Meta)
A modern remake of the classic 1993 adventurous game, exclusively for virtual reality. The 7th Guest VR has preserved the atmosphere and general plot of the original very well, while having modern graphics and high-quality implementation of VR mechanics. The developer has introduced new puzzles that are better suited to virtual reality, and the famous video with live actors has been replaced with completely new videos shot using surround video technology.
The Room VR: A Dark Matter (Steam, Meta)
The VR version of the famous puzzle game The Room, which first appeared on iOS many years ago. The Room VR makes full use of virtual hand control, and in this regard, the game looks very good even against the background of other VR puzzle games. It also has interesting and moderately challenging puzzles, high-quality graphics, and even a good story.
Walkabout Mini Golf VR (Steam, Meta)
Despite the fact that this game is formally considered a "sports sim," its gameplay is much closer to puzzles. Walkabout Mini Golf VR is a very arcade-style mini-golf game with only one club, the length of which automatically adapts to the distance to the ball. The main feature of the game is its absolutely stunning courses, which are actually very similar to solving physical puzzles. Unfortunately, there are not many fields in the base game, and additional ones are traditionally sold separately, and you will have to pay several times more for the full set of DLC than for the game itself.