Thanks to Steam’s hardware agnostic approach, it’s become the defacto repository of all things PC VR (excluding Oculus exclusives, of course). Every major PC VR headset is supported through the SteamVR platform, including Oculus Rift S, HTC Vive, Valve Index, Pimax, and Windows VR headsets; not to mention Oculus Quest, which thanks to Oculus Link lets you play PC VR games from the Oculus Store, Steam, and Viveport.

So you may be wondering, what are the best VR games for SteamVR headsets recently? You may find a couple repeats from our 10 Best Recent Rift Games, but there’s still plenty of top-scoring games to dig into here. Now, in no particular order, our top 10 best games for SteamVR headsets.

Note: Below you’ll find links pointing to Steam and Viveport, as the latter also offers support for many of the major VR headsets.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

Ganking zombies takes practice, and you’ll get all of that and more as you grab walkers by the head, jab screwdrivers into their eyes, sneak around the shambolic horde, and think about how much your life has changed since you got a VR headset. It’s not an open world adventure, but it does its best to give you plenty of places to visit and even a few choices to make that definitely flexes its mostly-linear narrative.

Saints & Sinners on Steam

Cool weapon mods, refined physics-based zombie killing, and a high level of polish put this one head and shoulders (ok, maybe not ‘head’) above many other similar games in the genre. Check out why we gave The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners a super solid [9/10] in our review.

Half-Life: Alyx

It’s a weird time to be alive. After over a decade of waiting, Valve has finally revived the Half-Life franchise, and it did it to spectacular effect in VR with Half-Life: Alyx (2020). Delve back into the dystopian City 17, set between the first and second Half-Life games.

Saints & Sinners on Steam

Seriously, the level of detail is amazing in Half-Life: Alyx, making the linear narrative feel lived-in and much larger than it really is. And that’s saying something, because this full-featured puzzle-shooter boasts 15 hours of gameplay that is totally justified playing it straight through. Stop and smell the daises though, because we gave it our top score of 10/10 for good reason.

Fujii

Funktronic Labs describes Fujii as “magical, musical hike through lush, chromatic VR wilderness,” and even though this little escape from the daily grind is more of a chill gardening sim than your standard game, it’s one of those games that will have you coming back, even if you’re not sure why.

Fujii on Steam Fujii on Viveport

Road to VR’s Ben Lang calls Fujii’s lack of instructions “a testament to the intuitive VR game design skills of developer Funktronic Labs,” noting that players learn to interact with the world almost exclusively by doing, exploring, and testing the limits of the world in way that makes it a truly unique and personal experience. Check out why we gave Fujii an [8/10] in our review.

Pistol Whip

It feels like Cloudhead Games took a slice of Beat Saber (2018), a little dusting of Smash Hit (2015), a few shards of SUPERHOT VR (2017) and mixed it all together to create Pistol Whip, a VR rhythm shooter that engages your body in a very unique and compelling way.

Pistol Whip on Steam

You’re constantly moving forward through a levels where enemies appear and shoot at you, and it’s your job to not only return fire, but dodge incoming bullets too. Flow state is the name of the game here (ok, it’s Pistol Whip, but you know what I mean), and although we are still technically waiting for more music to fill out its 10-song library, it’s a game you’ll be able to pick up easily but have a hard time mastering. Check out our preview to learn more about why we like it so much.

BONEWORKS

Boneworks (2019) from Stress Level Zero is not only an achievement in VR physics simulation, but it also basically brought to VR what Valve couldn’t. That was of course before Half-Life: Alyx was even public knowledge, but this part HL homage, part physics sandbox is still a super interesting game that takes a hardliner stance on how to best immerse the player.

Beat Saber on Steam

We didn’t give it the best score in our review—a respectable [6/10], which on our linear grading scale puts it at “good”. Due to a minimal narrative, you have to create some of the fun for yourself, which might just be right up your alley.

Until You Fall (Early Access)

Until You Fall arrives to us from Schell Games, the studio behind the super successful VR puzzler I Expect You to Die (2017), making this hack-and-slash melee adventure a bit out of left field for the studio.

Until You Fall on Steam

Nonetheless, it offers up what Road to VR’s Ben Lang calls “a surprisingly rich combat experience which successfully fuses meta-game elements in a way that no other VR title has yet managed.” It’s still in Early Access, so we haven’t given it a score in our EA review; if we had to, it would certainly be high up there.

Beat Saber

What’s a ‘best-of’ list without Beat Saber (2018), the game that has basically become synonymous with VR at this point. Granted, it’s available now on basically any VR headset worth owning, although its overall input simplicity makes it perfect for a multi-device platform like SteamVR.

Beat Saber on Steam

Ok, we get it. It’s not super recent, but the content keeps flowing at a pace we simply haven’t seen in other VR titles. Now that Facebook has bought developing studio Beat Games, there’s been a strong influx of content from household names like Green Day, Panic at the Disco!, Timbaland, and more to keep you coming back for that sweet, sweet paid DLC.

No Man’s Sky (New VR Support)

With No Man’s Sky (2016), Hello Games has gone the full hero’s journey. With one of the biggest hype cycles for an indie studio to weather, the worst releases in video game history, and nary a sign of a light at the end of the tunnel, No Man’s Sky easily could have slunk away into the darkness, never to be heard from again. Instead, Hello Games persevered and ardently improved No Man’s Sky, eventually even adding VR support with its free ‘Beyond’ update.

No Man’s Sky on Steam

Its VR support didn’t exactly wow us when it first released; Road to VR contributor Gabriel Moss called it “a wonderful, deeply flawed space odyssey,” giving it a still pretty respectable [7.5/10]. Quality of life updates have gone a long way of keeping us coming back for more since it first launched though—Bethesda could learn from.

Vacation Simulator

Job Simulator (2016) wasn’t an easy act to follow, considering it was likely people’s first VR experience when it arrived as a launch title on basically all VR headsets. No fear though, because the owls at Owlchemy Labs hashed out a slightly new direction with its more relaxed little bro, Vacation Simulator, which includes a story line, a more open environment and a ton of vacation-style activities to explore and play.

Vacation Sim on Steam

Some fans of the original may not exactly gel with the new direction Vacation Simulator takes, but we’re willing to bet many people will have a blast going through the gads of activities. Anyway, we did, which is why we gave it a resounding [8.8] in our review.

Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs

Angry Birds in VR? Pffft. That sounds lame! But no! It’s actually really fun, and not at all a diseased microtransaction-riddled mess like its mobile forbears have become. Here, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs actually hits on some seriously fun gameplay by letting you not only knock down complex creations overrun by evil little piggies, but now you can even make your own block fortresses in creative mode.

Angry Birds VR on Steam Angry Birds VR on Viveport

Angry Birds just works in VR thanks to an intuitive shooting mechanic and a good mix of difficulty levels, which were big factors in why we gave it a [8.5/10] in our review.l

Update (March 26th, 2020): Out with the old, in with the new. We’ve updated to include a few of VR’s most promising recent games that you should definitely consider now that you’ll never leave the house.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • The Bard

    Is this a joke? Crap arcade-like games. Where is Batman VR? Vader Immortal? Other titles?

    • Justin Davis

      Batman is old as hell. Vader is Oculus.

    • Mike Porter

      Well that’s all we have right now

    • namekuseijin

      I don’t mind fun arcade games. But these are mostly casual minigaming of the Farmville school

      Thank Sony for bringing and premiering NMS, Trover, FNAF and other higher caliber titles. But Isle of Pigs is pretty cool as well

    • Billkwando

      Batman was a 30 minute tech demo, and should have been free.

  • doug

    Borderlands 2 VR! 100+ hours, all the DLC!

  • Peter Laurent

    Hopefully we can add Budget Cuts 2, Undead Citadel, and Boneworks to this list before the year is out. Also technically GORN came out of early access in July 2019, and Beat Saber in May 2019

    • johngrimoldy

      Though many deride Beat Saber, there’s no denying that it’s the closest thing to a VR Killer-App there is among the non-enthusiasts.

      If BigScreen could just incorporate Live sporting events, particularly with the ability to bring up stats and replays in floating windows, in addition to the ability to change vantage points from skybox to field level, etc… IF all of that, ‘seems to me that could be profound.

      • Ellie 187

        I don’t see how beatsaber is getting all this recognition.. I played it and wasn’t impressed at all. its guitar hero in VR .. not at all impressive

        Blade and Sorcery is a far better VR title

        Boneworks is the one I’m looking forward to this year

        • johngrimoldy

          ‘Also looking forward to Boneworks and of course HalfLife:Alyx. They’ll be far better than Beat Saber.

          My point is that Beat Saber is the one title I’ve let non-enthusiasts play that motivated them to buy VR rigs. Yeah, it *IS* Guitar Hero in VR, and not really all that impressive as VR goes. HOWEVER, you can’t argue how much it has sold.

          • Ellie 187

            I won’t deny it sold gangbusters, but I wouldn’t even pay fifty cents for it… its like those wii minigames that came out after the wii craze that ended up in the $5 bin at Walmart 3 months later

        • DanDei

          Beat Saber doesn’t try to impress, it is just pure fun. I have played hundreds of songs, filtered a playlist of about 60 perfectly mapped tracks to music I can really enjoy and all together spent over 200 hours in this game. It is rightfully at the top.

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        • Maxx

          You may not like Beat Saber, and that’s fine, but it is an amazing game! You can even run mods on the Quest and use your own music.

        • namekuseijin

          psst. Don’t mess with the rhythm minigaming fanboys

        • sorican

          it’s the same thing that Dance,Dance Revolution had.

          it’s a game for non-gammers, honestly. (actually, I’m surprised somebody hasn’t made a VR DDR yet….)

          Not saying there’s something wrong with that. if people enjoy something, by all means. But there were a very large number PS3’s that got bought for DDR and never used for any other game. (which is sad. PS3 had some of the best console games ever.)

          • AtariBaby

            But that doesn’t make you the true gamer and them the non-gamers. That’s just another form of gaming others enjoy that you don’t. It is literally a video game and set the world on fire with its unique gameplay. And FYI I never got into it.

        • AtariBaby

          I couldn’t disagree more. There’s a great feeling of recognizing and moving to the patterns, making it truly satisfying in a way that few modern gameplay mechanics deliver. It’s certainly similar to Guitar Hero in terms of the gameplay mechanics but it’s purer. And the music is amazing on the Valve Index. It quickly became something I do for a half hour every time I play.

  • doublefrag

    What about Hellsplit: Arena?
    Did you ever play this game?

  • M Rob

    Vanishing Realms with the new chaprters released this year really deserves a shout.

    • paul

      That’s finally out?! I guess I know what I am doing later!

  • fireaza .

    I’ve been really enjoying NMS VR, it’s scratching a similar itch to what Subnautica did. Weird performance issues though, I can’t seem to get the average FPS higher than 40, no matter what settings I change.

  • Tim

    ok if these are the best, then there is still a long way to go. totaly boring games with poor graphics and control. so far the best game is beat saber

    • Jeff
    • Sorican

      There’s a long way to go. Anybody who says otherwise is kidding themselves. they need to figure out FP walking locomotion, for example.

      But really, your going to find there’s three types of games being developed in VR. The mainstream games that have VR ‘Support’ but also run just fine on a monitor- the issue is the number of people they can market to, and therefore, sell the game to, the Indie game devs that really love the VR space and want to make amazing games- for them, its more like art and they’ll do right by it- and the cash grabbing ‘indie’ designers that are just looking to make a quick buck.

      While Beat Saber might be popular, the whole point to developing a rhythm game these days is to cash in on a quick, easy game to develop and produce, and kick it out to market. Beat Saber isn’t a good game. It *might* be an ‘okay’ game. the only thing it really has going for it is that it’s a VR rhythm game, for people who have a VR set and like that sort of thing.

      Seriously, why haven’t we seen a VR version of DDR?

      But even if it’s virch environment is the only thing that makes it ‘special’, it’s mediocre at best, with exceptionally repetitive content, and providing the developers to produce rather easy-to-make new content that people will pay money for on a regular basis. Beat Sabers is used a lot in demonstrations because it’s quick and easy for people to pick up. But the problem there is that it has no depth, either in the richness of the world they’ve created, or in the story being told or character development or whatever.

      • Michael

        Neither does basketball, soccer or in fact most concert experiences involving pop or rock music. People like to be entertained by something which is easy to understand, easy to do and easy to get your friends to go along with. My kids love that game, they prefer it 80% of the time despite a very healthy selection of installed alternatives. Heck, I love it because it’s so easy to just fire it up and get 5 minutes of physical workout along with some good music and some gratifying, fast paced action. There is no problem as far as I see it, the game achieves its objectives perfectly.

        I have no problems you playing intellectually demanding games what requires hours of emotional investment and a deep connection to the characters. If that’s your idea of a great game I’m perfectly fine with that. But you can’t play a game like that for 5 minutes. It doesn’t solve that problem. So it’s not a good game for that but this doesn’t mean the game is flawed and should have more music and sabers in it.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Talk about a boring game… Beat saber is as boring as hell…

  • Jeff

    Question: I am new to VR, yet to buy Oculus Quest, but are all the reviews I see on Youtube that look cartoonish, really cartoonish? Or do the experiences like Climb, etc. just look a lot worse on a 2D screen? VR still looks like Pong from the 80s to me. Am I off base? I mean Beat Sabre is considered a GOOD game? WTH? Or is VR mostly just for 9 year olds? Thank you so much.

    • Gerhard Lourens

      Hi, Jeff. VR is always better on a headset than on a screen. As many will tell you, graphics is only a small part of it and you can still get a lot of immersion with good tracking and cartoony graphics. Content and tech is leapfrogging each other every year at this stage. This is my third year in VR and each year has been different. Think about it this way: we are in the 80s of VR and it’s nice to watch it all unfold. Hope you take the plunge.

    • PJ

      To really appreciate VR, you have to be in VR, watching it on a flat screen doesn’t do it justice one bit, the biggest thing VR has (at least to me) is immersion, you loose all of that when watching a VR video on screen

      • Ace

        late on the punch here too but I totally agree, I put off VR for like 2-3 years because I saw it on streams and thought it looked bad and awkward

        maybe it was and it took this long for stuff to catch up, maybe waiting an iteration or two helped the first experience. I just remember watching jerma play blade & sorcery and saying how much fun he was having while it looked completely dull.

        once i got to play it myself though, i realized just how fun it was and how different it was.
        i don’t agree with no man’s sky on this list though, I played through 50 hours of it while binging star trek when i had no internet last year and it was cool to go see some of my planets in VR, but the controls are completely unplayable at the pace I played in before. maybe it was that i realized the game was the same planet copy/pasted with different environmental elements so even seeing it in VR kinda got boring once I realized there was nothing new to do

        • PJ

          Agree with everything you said, especially No Mans Sky in VR, cool for a few minutes then you realise that controls don’t feel right, which is the same as every other none VR game that’s been ported or had a VR patch. Tracking on VR controls onto a non VR games doesn’t work

        • People online are big and bold

          Ace = IDIOT

        • AtariBaby

          I think now it’s finally worthwhile to all but those early diehard VR enthusiasts. We currently have more hardware technology than most game developers can max out. And it’s only going to get better from here. I think the next Flight Simulator is really going to amp up overall interest in the medium.

    • Mar2ck

      Beat saber is a good game in the same way a flat game like Osu is a good game. If you dont like rhythm games then you wont be able to see the appeal

  • Great list. Probably Alyx should be at the top place, though :)

  • Exar

    Where is The Wizards on the list, best spellcasting VR game till now??

    The Wizards: Dark Times, the sequel is to arrive in Q2 so I hope you will soon update the list guys!!!

  • Mike Hamner

    I think there are some amazing vr games that almost no one mentions So let me throw it out there. Hellblade senua’s sacrafice Was awesome. Alien isolation with the mother vr mod is great. Just to throw it out there I found bound for psvr to be amazing 3rd person vr. Obviously half life alyx is the best of them all. Paranormal activity wasn’t half bad.

  • Lance Obe

    Karnage Chronicles should be in there, that game is VR first person Diablo

  • Dan Lalonde

    Anything else coming out soon for Steam VR???
    The amount and quality of content is just abysmal!!
    I paid top dollars for the Vavle Index and sadly all the good titles coming out are Oculus exclusives!!! Seriously!! Why do developers sell out like that??

  • Clifton Hyatt

    I can highly recommend BattlegroupVR.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/1178780/BattleGroupVR/

    It puts yon the bridge of a capital ship commanding/piloting your fleet, think Battlestar Galactica, very well done, from a lone indie developer who is very active in improving it.