How substantial is the content available for the Oculus Quest right now? The official content from the Oculus Store, not those which require you to buy a wire, plug it in, make a developer account, ‘sideload’ etcetera. Well, many of the apps are actually media players whereas others may be exploration-based, interactive experiences or documentaries even. Overall, I believe that 100+ games have been released for the Oculus Quest since its inception. 2 are coming out tomorrow, in fact, and both look like fun… I’ll have to check out the reviews (The Wizards – Dark Times and Demeo).
By the way, I am a real believer in VR. The only non-VR games I’ve ever bought were PC CD-Roms from Popular in primary school. I don’t think those are a thing anymore. And ALL that paid game content I have ever bought were obtained with free game credits from events and whatever. Right, I remember that I bought some GBA cartridges back in the day, but ever since then, no. It is just recently that something for me to spend money on aside from transport and food – namely, VR – finally came out. My novel translation money for around 3.5 years is also my VR fund.
Anyway, on to the greatness of VR! Hmm, where should I start. Well, consolidating my library earlier, I found that I have bought around 16 games, which is 2 games every three months on average. Some are more on the super amazing side, while a few… I kind of regret. It happens, though!!! This is life. Anyway, I earlier subdivided my preexisting games into eight different categories: VN, Racing, Sports, Dojo, Survival, Rhythm, Narrative and Adventure. I will probably be sharing more on the individual games in the coming days. I have actually not done some of them justice by spending enough time on them, and I plan to do so.
Speaking of this, one of them, Phantom: Covert Ops, actually uses an interesting method of transportation. The player must complete stealth missions while paddling about in a kayak. This made me seasick!!! Wow. So, I plan to go kayaking nearby soon. That will, hopefully, prepare me to give the game another try once more.
Anyway, what sort of VR games do I like? Well, a quick sidetrack to the theory of cognitive functions (arising from MBTI). Basically, I prefer Se (extraverted sensing) to Ti (introverted thinking). What does this mean? Basically, I like sensing and reacting to external stimuli more than coming up with complex strategies and builds. Consequently, the games I find myself coming back to most are those where I am surrounded by waves of enemies coming from multiple directions and must try to survive as well as those where music is in the background and I must react to stuff coming at me super quickly. These are probably the ones that I will be posting on first (allow me to deliberately not name them for mystery’s sake). My mother also plays my top three workout games, by the way. Age is NOT a factor and anyone can get some good sweat in, especially during the pandemic. Though it’s really a higher good beyond that.
Let’s talk about some popular multiplayer game genres in the market right now, VR aside. These include MOBAs, Battle Royale and FPS. For MOBAs, there is a VR game named Cradle of Sins that will be coming out this year. No comment, I’ll just wait and see. For Battle Royale, we have Population One, where you can climb, fly and build. Imagine the immersion. As for FPS, Contractors and Onward are already out and I think Pavlov, which is also quite popular, should be out soon. What is the main difference between normal FPS and VR FPS? Well, for one, you don’t aim with a mouse. Another difference is that you must actually crouch or go prone if you want to perform these actions in the game. Again, immersion.
Does this sound like the kind of game I would surely try out? Well, hmm, maybe… Yet, I have not. The reason for this is that you need teamwork in these games, and that means comms. You cannot type stuff onto the keyboard in a VR headset! However, I usually play my physical VR games in the living room. My parents may be there and watching television or something. At least for now, it just does not seem very feasible for me! Still, when Zenith (MMORPG) is out, I definitely will play it whether or not I seem like a weird person speaking into thin air (Am still honing my ‘big picture’ abilities through PC FPS).
What games am I eyeing which appear kind of interesting? How about I start with the two games that will be coming out tomorrow. As its name suggests, The Wizards – Dark Times consists of casting spells. However, instead of pressing buttons, you cast with gesture only! Personally, I find it harder to enjoy a game where it is simply left click to attack. Games where skill is necessary are really much more fun. Next, Demeo. Demeo is…a tabletop RPG. I believe a PC version will also be released. So personally, I am unsure how much immersion VR will add to the game that will equate to ‘I wanna play this in VR’! For example, Netflix and Youtube are also available on the Quest for free, but why would I purposely go on the Quest for them? VR is still far from that mainstream. However, man, I really haven’t tried role-playing before. Some things you wanna try and need something fortuitous to kick-start your journey. That’s life, unless you are passionate and free enough to actively seek it on your own.
What are the games I am most looking forward to? Well, survival games, really. Green Hell will be getting a VR port, and just now I learnt from the internet of another survival VR game, Song In The Smoke. These are actual survival games where you have to survive amidst the wild rather than my preexisting survival game where it’s really just about surviving waves of aliens till the spaceship comes to rescue me. Oh and by the way, I wanna play survival games because I want to be a survivor. Hmm…additionally, an RTS game, Final Assault, will also be coming out soon. You can gaze down upon a battlefield of tanks and whatnot from up top. Seems pretty interesting, though I’m more interested in the upcoming survival games. As for what the games I will 99% give a miss are, if it’s literally Fruit Ninja or Tetris but just in VR, I’ll pass. If it’s some mystery game where I have to piece things together to find out the fate of characters I don’t even care about, no thanks! Something like Stride, a parkour game, is much more interesting (it’s set to come in 4th quarter 2021 apparently).
Finally, some name-dropping! Some big franchises that even I recognise. Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell VR games will be coming to the Quest 1 and 2. I know the latter from a namesake handphone game back when smartphones still weren’t a thing. And it seems like there will be a Quest 2 exclusive coming out soon – Resident Evil 4. Which is a bit sad for those who were early to the party and got a Quest 1, not knowing that the Quest 2 would come out just maybe a year later. Dudes better not let down their users by ceasing support anytime soon!
And that’s the end of this post! Hope more people will be excited about VR and btw here’s a link to the main blog for life stuff!