While Oculus had a robust day-one launch lineup of more than 50 titles back when Touch initially dropped in December of last year, owning an Oculus Rift + Touch grants you more titles than ever with unfettered access to at least seventeen pieces of spectacular free content.
There are gads of free games and experiences available on the Oculus Store to keep you busy for a while before you start dropping real cash, but before you get to downloading, take a look at some of the best free content Oculus has bootstrapped to Rift + Touch.
First Contact (free for all Touch owners)
First Contact is Oculus’ introduction for new Touch owners, similar in scope to Oculus Dreamdeck for the Rift itself. It’s a short demo-like experience that immediately follows the controller configuration and tutorial. In it, you’ll find yourself in a retro-future setting in the presence a friendly robot. It’s no Toybox, but the beautifully rendered and detailed experience will have you playing with plenty of toys as you learn how the controllers let you naturally interact with the virtual environment.
Dead and Buried (free for all Touch owners)
Dead and Buried is a multiplayer-focused Touch shooter featuring versus and co-op gameplay for up to four players all wielding badass weaponry in the game’s supernatural-western style. The title was developed in-house by Oculus.
Oculus Medium (free for all Touch owners)
Another first-party app from Oculus, Medium lets you sculpt 3D content in real time, as if you were shaping virtual clay. The program is more of a tool than a game, but gives users a way to create truly unique works of art inside of VR.
Oculus Quill (free for all Touch owners)
Another first-party creation-focused app from Oculus, Quill is more about illustration and storytelling than Medium which is more focused on 3D modeling. Quill was created by Oculus Story Studio, the company’s VR film division, as the visual foundation behind Dear Angelica (below). Quill looks similar to the Tilt Brush, though Oculus says the app is about illustrative storytelling, so we hope to find tools included which make it easy to form a narrative out of the VR sketches.
Robo Recall (free for all Touch owners)
Epic Games is turning their much-praised Touch demo, Bullet Train, into a full title, Robo Recall, that was released for free to Touch owners in Q1 2017. It it you’ll be looking to “recall” “damaged” robots run amok, using an array of satisfying weaponry and fun mechanics like being able to rip robots limb from limb and throw their own bullets back at them.
Toybox (free to all Touch owners)
Toybox is a multiplayer sandbox with lots of interactive virtual toys to play with. It was a tech demo that Oculus showed off more than a year ago during their debut of Touch. The demo saw lots of good feedback and although Oculus hadn’t given us any hints on what had become of it, the company just recently confirmed it would come free with Touch.
Lucky’s Tale (free for all Rift owners)
Playful’s Lucky’s Tale is a lovable 3D platformer that follows Lucky, a cartoon fox on his adventures to find his lost pig who was stolen from him by an evil tentacled monster. Run, jump, climb, and tail-swipe all of the world’s enemies (even if they’re so darned cute).
Farlands (free for all Rift owners)
Farlands, a production directly from Oculus Studios, is basically Pokémon Snap for the VR age. Letting you collect biometric data on a swath of weird and wild aliens, there’s a lot to love about this family-friendly freebee.
Henry (free for all Rift owners)
Speaking of family-friendly, Oculus Story Studios (now shuttered) created one of the most lovable little hedgehogs in their Pixar-esque short Henry. Don’t underestimate this magical little romp that follows the hard-to-hug Henry on his quest for friendship, because Henry was lauded with the first ever Emmy awarded to a virtual reality film.
Lost (free for all Rift owners)
Another cinematic VR film from the now defunct Oculus Story Studios, Lost places you in a dark, mysterious forest where something lurks. We won’t spoil it any more than Oculus has by putting a picture of the giant robot on the download page, but the immensity of the creature alongside the loneliness of the forest is certainly something to experience first-hand.
Dear Angelica (free for Rift owners)
The third and final VR film from Oculus Story Studio, Dear Angelica, is a journey through the magical and dreamlike ways we remember our loved ones. Entirely painted by hand inside of VR, Dear Angelica plays out in a series of memories that unfold around you. An immersive, illustrative short story starring Geena Davis and Mae Whitman.
Facebook Spaces (free for Rift owners)
Facebook Spaces is a new take on social VR, and functions more like a Facebook VR-chat than an open digital free-for-all. Launched back in April, Spaces has everything you’d expect; an avatar customization tool, virtual selfies uploaded directly to your Facebook timeline. You can even make video calls from within VR to the outside world.
Dragon Front (free for all Rift owners)
Dragon Front by High Voltage is an immersive collectible card-battler that mixes high fantasy with World War II on a 4×4 grid battlefield. Alive with rampaging giants, intimidating war-machines, and soaring projectiles, you can play in single-player story mode, and multiplayer with head-tracking and VOIP that brings players from all over the world head-to-head on the battlefield. Like most collectible card games, there are in-app purchases to watch out for, but the base card decks provide plenty of fun at the very manageable price of zero dollars.
Oculus Video (free for all Rift owners)
Watching videos in your own private cinema is a movie-lover’s dream. No coughing, popcorn-munching, talking, plastic-crinkling allowed in Oculus Video, which lets you watch Facebook 360 videos, Twitch, Vimeo, and your own movie files. You can choose from multiple VR theater environments including in a home theater, on a phone in the forest, and even the surface of the moon.
Oculus 360 Photos (free for all Rift owners)
The official 360 Photos app from Oculus will take you on a tour of amazing sights from around the world. View VR panoramas of breathtaking landscapes, ancient landmarks, dazzling cityscapes, underwater vistas, and much more.
Ripcoil (free with any Store purchase)
In Sanzaru Game’s Ripcoil, you enter a futuristic gladiatorial arena packed with rabid fans as you face off against networked opponents in a disc throwing duel. A wholly unique navigation system will allow you to deftly position your hover board as you reach out with your Touch controllers to launch, catch and punch the speeding, spinning Ripcoil disc.
Echo Arena (coming soon, free for all Touch owners)
Echo Arena, launching on July 20th, feels like a hybrid between Ultimate Frisbee and Rocket League. In the game’s zero-G environment, you boost around using your hand-mounted jets, push off of the arena’s structure and punch in heads as you grapple for the game’s singular disc. Toss it into the goal and you’ve scored a point. It’s a simple formula with high-speed but super comfortable controls—surely one of the first great VR sports games.