Consumer VR is a little over two years old now, creeping up on three years next April. There’s been plenty to talk about in VR gaming over the course of 2018, with even more ambitious indie studios and AAA game companies getting into the medium for the first time. Now in our second annual Road to VR Game of the Year Awards, we’ve again put the top VR games from the industry’s leading platforms through their paces.

Update (December 20th, 2018): When we first published our second annual Game of the Year awards, we replicated the structure set last year by awarding a ‘best’ designation to one game for each of the major VR platforms. After publishing, thoughtful commentary from our community, kicked off by Doctor Bambi, led us to reevaluate whether that structure sufficiently highlighted achievements in VR game design in 2018.

Especially considering that Beat Saber swept Rift & Vive (and thus received a combined award), we’re in agreement that just two Game of the Year awards alone weren’t enough to capture achievements in VR game design in 2018. After much discussion and deliberation we’ve added five Design Awards in key categories which more broadly recognize excellence in VR game design throughout the year.

Like last year’s awards, we’ve again centered on broadening the task of weighing games according to the most immersive platforms available: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

That said, 2018 has been a year of cross-platform pollination, so deliberation has been even more difficult this time around. To that end, we’ve combined Rift and Vive into a single category this year for two reasons. It’s partly due to the lack of compelling exclusives—good or bad depending on how you look at it—but it’s also partly because of Steam’s new keybinding tool lets users change how they control VR games, a one-time major factor in whether a game played better on one platform or another. With less of a distinction between the two in terms of functionality and content, the decision for this year’s format was clear (see update).

Now for Road to VR’s 2018 Game of the Year Award winners.


Beat Saber

Developer: Beat Games

Available On: Oculus (Rift), Steam (Vive, Rift, Windows VR), PlayStation (PSVR)

Release Date: May 1st, 2018 (Early Access, PC VR)

The words ‘killer app’ always rear their head when new consumer devices spring to life. Everyone wants to know what game, app, or tool will draw in the crowds and give them a reason to not only show off their shiny new toy to their friends and family, but also come back on their own for more.

Whether you believe in the idea of a ‘killer app’ or not isn’t important though, because a few things about the block-slashing rhythm game Beat Saber are: it’s an honest-to-goodness VR native that delivers a heart-pumping good time to everyone regardless of age, musical ability, or expertise with virtual reality headsets.

When we met up with Czech Republic-based indie studio Beat Games (then Hyperbolic Magnetism) at GDC 2018, it was apparent the small team had something special on their hands. The atmosphere was electric, the music was super high quality, the game’s haptic feedback made you feel like you were actually slicing through the colored directional boxes. Beat Saber was destined to compete with larger studios thanks to its ability to serve up something fresh, something insanely well done, and something we didn’t want to stop playing.

That premonition came true when Beat Saber launched into Early Access a few months later on Vive and Rift. While the game is still due for more updates, the community has stepped up in a big way to support the massive Beat Saber addiction that soon followed. Awesome mods aren’t a prerequisite for an awesome game, but they can oftentimes mean the difference between 10 hours of gameplay and 100 hours. As an indie studio working on a small budget, Beat Games understood it couldn’t promise a ton of chart toppers in its selection of music, but left a door wide open for groups such as Beat Saver to fill in the gaps, giving individual users the ability to map their own levels and serve up their own music, resulting in a mind-boggling number of well-realized levels for you to play with multiple difficulties.

Even then, if you stick to the standard level offerings—many of them created by the talented musician and composer Jaroslav Beck—it will be hard to come out of Beat Saber without a grin on your face, sweat on your brow, and the thought crossing your mind that we’re truly living in the future.


ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission

Developer: SIE  JAPAN Studio

Available On: PlayStation

Release Date: October 2nd, 2018

From its origins as a mini-game released alongside PlayStation VR’s launch in 2016, finally culminating in a full-fledged title in 2018, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission’s path to game of the year was long but definitely deserved. At first glance you might not peg this seated, gamepad-based third-person platformer as something that makes great use of the immersive power of VR, but Astro Bot confounds that expectation with smart design that plays to PlayStation VR’s strengths while avoiding its weaknesses.

Taking advantage of the motion-tracking capabilities of the PS4 gamepad, Astro Bot allows the player to feel like they’re there inside the game’s world by controlling a variety of entertaining ‘controller gadgets’ which are essential to battling through varied and beautiful environments as you track down Astro’s missing friends.

And then there’s the hulking robo-bosses which tower over the player (and especially little Astro), setting them far apart from the game’s otherwise tiny baddies. Astro Bot’s boss battles are engaging challenges, each of which play out like a unique interactive puzzle that you have to solve in real-time, usually involving some teamwork between yourself and Astro.

On top of being easily one of PlayStation VR’s best looking games, Astro Bot also manages to be delightfully accessible. It’s easy enough for novice players to jump in, have fun, and be wowed by VR, while still managing to engage experienced players with challenging coin placements and secret areas. Those who are especially dedicated will find a hidden chameleon on each stage which unlocks one of 26 challenge stages which are totally unique mini-levels which that players’ skills to the test.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission is a superb game; the promising result of tasking a group of clearly talented game designers and developers with building a game around a brand new medium like VR. The game expertly executes every idea it brings to the table. There’s charm throughout, derived from excellent animation, art direction, FX and SFX, right down to the interactive credits sequence.


Design Awards


Budget Cuts

Developer: Neat Corporation

Available On: Oculus (Rift), Steam (Rift, Vive )

Release Date: June 14th, 2018

Despite somewhat of a rocky launch this summer, one thing stealth adventure Budget Cuts has in spades is immersion, as it tosses you head over heels into a cartoony, but very believable office complex filled with imposing killer robots. The world around you just feels right, as you instinctively scramble for cover, or get down on your hands and knees to crawl through ventilation ducts in search of the best route through a level filled with attentive and deadly obstacles. Users will regularly find themselves in the fetal position under a virtual desk, hoping the athletic assassin-bots won’t track you down and send you back to the last save point with a bullet between your eyes.

All in all, Budget Cuts is a triumph in native VR design, offering engaging set pieces, excellent audio, extremely well-realized characters, and just enough danger (and punishment) to make every knife-throw count. Budget Cuts takes object interaction pretty seriously too, offering you the possibility of picking up and using nearly anything you come across in the office environment, making those impromptu scissor kills that much more fun.


Sprint Vector

Developer: Survios

Available On: Oculus (Rift), Steam (Rift, Vive, Windows VR), PlayStation (PSVR)

Release Date: February 8th, 2018

Locomotion design is one of the most challenging but important areas in VR today, and Sprint Vector single-handedly rewrote expectations for just how much and how fast you can move players virtually without making them sick.

In this Mario Kart-esque game, players race on foot in a sci-fi competition which has them speeding down the track, drifting around corners, bounding huge gaps, flying, and flinging themselves up massive walls. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable in a VR experience before, your first reaction to seeing Sprint Vector’s crazy locomotion would probably be “no way, not for me.” And yet few players have trouble with the game’s ambitious movement scheme thanks to the studio spending considerable R&D time to deeply understand causes of motion sickness in VR and how to design around it.

The result is a game that’s so far unmatched in the speed and agility it offers to players while still widely maintaining comfort.


Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Developer: Ninja Theory

Available On: Steam (Rift, Vive)

Release Date: July 31st, 2018

Hellblade: Senau’s Sacrifice is an emotional experience that simulates psychosis, something that really intensifies in the VR version—now bundled with the BAFTA Award-winning PC game. The world of Hellblade is not only visually breathtaking, but the little things seem to draw you in even deeper in VR than on standard monitors; the game’s disembodied voices whisper into your ears and criticize your every move, level geometry mysteriously changes as you look away to accomplish another task, making you question your own sanity. Emotion-filled cutscenes are masterfully retained in the VR version by zooming the world out to a black void at key moments in the story, giving you a 16:9 window to view the drama as it unfolds.

Hellblade not only sacrifices very little to bring you the full experience intended by its creators, it truly feels like a VR native in the process, showing a keen understanding of what you should and shouldn’t do in a VR port to make it immersive, comfortable, and everything you hoped it would be.


Electronauts 

Developer: Survios

Available On: Oculus (Rift), Steam (Rift, Vive, Windows VR)

Release Date: July 31st, 2018

While many VR games are still using basic laser pointer interfaces, the gameplay demands of Electronauts—a freestyle music game—demanded something significantly more thoughtful. The result is an innovative 3D interface which allows users to manage a complex set of tools without getting lost in menus or overwhelmed by screens. Interface usability, precision, and speed are all critical to Electronauts because the player needs to be able to make adjustments on the fly otherwise they’ll drop the beat.

Using virtual drumsticks as a means of interaction seems natural for the game considering the primary instruments are floating orbs which are struck like drums. But Suvrios discovered that using the drumstick as a pointing tool for everything else—managing track flow, adjusting loops, controlling effects, etc—is very natural too. The way that the studio opted to split up the game’s complex functionality into discrete tools (represented by cubes which are ‘plugged into’ fixed stations around the user) is an innovation not to be overlooked; it’s an extremely successful means of adding a spatial layer to the interface which adds significantly to usability.

Not every VR game needs a complex user interface, but for those that do, there’s many lessons to be learned from Electronauts.


COMPOUND 

DeveloperBevan McKechnie

Available OnSteam (Rift, Vive)

Release Date: May 15th, 2018 (Early Access)

There are many indie VR projects in the works out there, but none like COMPOUND. Having released in Early Access this year, the game is a VR roguelike with a totally unique sense of style, and the clear result of heaps of passion from its sole developer, Bevan “NotDead” McKechnie.

From authentic retro-inspired art direction—which works surprisingly well in VR—to weapons ripe with personality, McKechnie has his own vision for what a VR game can be, and we’re excited to see what he comes up with next as COMPOUND continues to evolve.


Note: Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year Award must be available to the public on or before December 1st, 2018 to allow for ample deliberation. Games must also natively support the target platform as to ensure full operability.

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  • flappy

    lame. these are good games but i would not have picked these as the top games

    • MosBen

      What would you have picked as the top games?

    • Patrick McKee

      Question 1? Have you installed the mods? Do that then you will see why…

      • ummm…

        so beat saber with mods is better than onward, bethesda rereleases, eleven table tennis, the simulators (sim racing/flight), it is better than payday 2, or hot dogs horseshoes and hand grenades………im positive there are plenty of other game that came out this year that isn’t this simplistic glossy ad vehicle.

        • Patrick McKee

          Yeah it is

        • Patrick McKee

          I suggest you play it with mods. I mean I get if some people don’t like music and don’t have rythem, or don’t like to move. I don’t play any other VR game as much.

          • ummm…

            its cool if you like it. i have played those games. i bought audioshield. loved it. there was thumper too. its a simple rhythm game where you hit sound nodes. it isn’t evil novel to vr.

          • Patrick McKee

            Have you played the Beatsaber with mods or not? I get if you don’t like it. Have you seen how many videos are on youtube from players?

          • ummm…

            i just dont understasnd when people say this. what does the amount of consumers or videos have to do with anything? it isn’t congruent with reason. what do mods do?!?!?! its just not a hard conversation people. you ahve a sword……you hit sound nodes in rhythm with music. ok. its been done, on vr and elsewhere for a long time. ok so what is innovative……..shouldnt you be able to explain it? shouldnt the reason be concrete? WHAT IS INNOVATIVE?!!?

          • Patrick McKee

            Dude install the song browers mod and download song you like and play the game that is why it rocks. Seriously man.

          • ummm…

            yeah i used to love to do that in audioshield.

          • Patrick McKee

            It’s fun as fuck and yeah it is innovative, I use it for cardio everyday because it beats the fuck out of going to the gym.

          • ummm…

            i like to get out in the fresh air for my cardio. must have a sweaty face cushion.

          • Patrick McKee

            Yeah I don’t let it get too sweaty don’t wanna break my vive. I use the 7mm one they sell works very well. You seem like a cool person feel free to send me a friend invite on steam.

          • Patrick McKee

            You shouldn’t bash shit until you really understand a thing. Come on man. Do it. Or you can continue to talk trash about something you know nothing about. I play beatsaver to Michael Jackson top hit and Daft punk and some pegboardnerd just ti name a few, you can also slow done a song to learn it, the game also improves yoir reactions which is useful to me I race drones!!!

          • ummm…

            lol ok. it sounds like fun. not like game of the year material.

          • Patrick McKee

            it isgameofthe year because it is fun for many people not just a few and all ages and it is very accesible, those are the reasons why, it is the reason why they will make hell money on the arcade version on the game also. I have been doing VR since I was a Kickstarter backer on the rift number 152 here. Check out my steam profile I literally own every good pc vr game https://steamcommunity.com/id/rifted/

            I have 2 wireless tpcast vive modded with gear vr lens in my apt, I have 2 steering wheels and I made my own magnetic vr gun stocks. And still I agree this deserves game of the year.

  • I tend to agree with you guys here, these two games brought something truly magical to the VR medium and they deserve recognition for it.

    I hope next year you guys can start to branch the ‘best of’ out a bit more. In my opinion, these types of articles are a chance to reflect on everything that’s happened in the last year and a lot more than two game releasing happened in VR. At the very least, perhaps having some honorable mentions could help flesh things out a bit more.

    I don’t think you necessarily need to have an entire category to highlight something of note. Hellblade was a fantastic port of a traditional game. There were also some indie gems that went largely unnoticed like Pixel Ripped, or interesting experiences like Spheres and The Great C. With so much experimenting going on, it might be worth showcasing specific game mechanics or technical techniques that developers or members of the community have implemented. What about major updates to existing games? Echo Combat seems to have maintained the excellence of Echo Arena and Lone Echo, or the new quests or features in Rec Room.

    Sorry for rambling, hopefully some food for thought in there somewhere.

    • jj

      You make a lot of sense. I dont think these are bad games but if were going to be recognizing vr games over this past year, two selections hardly do any justice to the sheer amount of ingenuity and creativity we’ve seen. If you were to show someone these two games they, would only be scratching the surface of a real vr experience. (i know thatll get me lots of flac, but first person immersion and exploration are highly sought after experiences)

      Astro is great but only thrid person, and BS is single positioned arcade style game. Both fun and surely worth the time n money, but neither really dive into the full capacity of vr, and i feel like thats underselling how great the experience can be. I know the odds of you nominating a ported game were very low and would be considered cheap since its a port, but the wow factor of stepping into a world like Skyrim, to many people, is one of the greatest experiences you can have in vr and it doesn’t have to be skyrim, just a good first person interactive experience.

      So i personally just think these selections undersell what vr really can be by trying to be really basic experiences that are highly polished, while I enjoy things that push boundaries and are innovative and creative, not basic, and in doing so have less polish.

      • Hivemind9000

        I agree. These games are just highly polished and executed variants of “game mechanics that work well in VR”. In a way it’s a bit of an indictment on the current limitations and challenges of VR. The industry and platform are still really in their infancy, and I think at this stage of development we need to also promote and celebrate games that really innovate on the platform. So, basically, more categories please RoadToVR!

        • Proof XR Lab

          A wider range of game categories would allow more exposure for developers who have worked very hard to bring us great games and applications.

          I’d also like to see “Best cinematic experience”, “Best educational application” , “Best wellbeing application” etc. there is certainly more than games in VR.

          • jj

            yes! there could be such great categories for vr

        • ummm…

          yeah. beat saber being the GOTY shows just how gimicky the industry has stayed, and how in VR its not user experience and dev courage that counts…..it matters how much sold and how much the ad campaign costs.

    • ummm…

      all that matters in the last year, to games and tech journalists, is what had the most paid for articles and sold a bunch. fornite is also the biggest game of all time by these metrics. big equals value here in america.

      • benz145

        Might be true for others but we don’t accept any paid/sponsored editorial content.

        • ummm…

          ok beat saber being the best thing to happen to vr for 2018 is your answer. fair enough. i have a disagreement on the very criteria – if i assume to criteria correctly.

    • benz145

      Thanks for starting this discussion. Between you, @disqus_fjkYXNIdMO:disqus, and a few others, we were encouraged to rethink our initial approach. See the big update we just added. I think this piece now does a better job at capturing some of the important moments in VR game design in 2018.

      • ummm…

        good on you guys for giving us more of your insight.

        it is curious tho. I have had vr for a long time, and I’ve bought several games in the last year. Most of this list is foreign to me, or I suppose not my thing. Compound is fun, and budget cuts was great when i had the demo 2 + years ago……but the rest i know little about.

        it is curious. have i been less courageous in my purchases? have I gone down a path, or looked for content that is not where the industry is heading? I hope 2019 will be a year of exciting releases.

        its also curious that the steam vr nominees are almost entirely different….I’d think there’d be some base agreements.

        Anyhow, happy holidays.

      • benz145 (:

  • NooYawker

    No matter what game you chose you will get flamed.

    • jj

      i think bambi and i have some good points with just more variety. How can you take this whole year and try to represent it with just those two games. its just impossible. they aren’t bad choices, they just dont encapsulate what vr has achieved and that doesn’t feel right.

      • NooYawker

        You both do make good points and presented them in a civilized respectful manner. I’m guess I’m jaded and used to regular game sites where kids go batshit crazy their favorite game didn’t get top honors.

    • ummm…

      so they chose the equivalent of tetris…….without the innovation.

      • Patrick McKee

        How is it not innovative maybe you should play it, and reread the article just sayin. No I never play ddr, I did play little Audio shield.

        • ummm…

          did you play thumper? cmon dude. ive seen it. ive had vr since launch. its not anythint special. its a neon energy sword and the rest is old hat. if this is GOTY then this only PROVES how terrible vr was in 2018, sans a few stand outs.

          how is it innovative?

  • Joshwa Sanders

    Easy choices. These games pushed the medium forward more than any other games.

    • ummm…

      how so? i was playing multiple beat saber like experiences over 2 years ago. remember audioshield?

      • johngrimoldy

        Was/is Audioshield your go-to when introducing folks to VR? Though very similar, Audioshield isn’t anywhere near as much fun. You don’t need to agree necessarily, but you can’t deny the sales figures for BeatSaber.

        Is it worthy of Game-of-the-Year honors? I dunno. Depends on your selection criteria. It’s definitely respectable and VR is a more enjoyable venue because of it.

        • ummm…

          – look at the sales figures?
          – people bought vr for beat saber?
          – game of the year can and in this case should be a game that is given the crown of best for 2018 because it sold the most, but did it? and where is the study that says it was a gateway program to vr?

          if anything sim racing has brought in the most vr people. or flight sim ppl. etc. i dont see people spending thousands of dollars for………….beat saber.

          • johngrimoldy

            You seem to have a vendetta against Beat Saber. You have posted countless posts bemoaning it. I do not feel the need to convince you or provide any insight beyond my casual observations.

            3 people wrote it with zero budget and zero marketing dollars. And it sold 100K copies in the first month. That’s not good enough for you? You are a hard person to please.

            https://www.futureportprague.com/video_expo/story-of-beat-saber-the-best-rated-and-selling-vr-game-in-the-world-jan-ilavsky/

          • ummm…

            Yes i have a vendetta. I was created to attack beat saber – 2018s vr saviour. I am the terminator.

          • Jistuce

            Well, that’s better than attacking people. Skynet’s gone soft, I tell ya.

  • doug

    When it is OK to give a derivative work like Beat Saber an award? When it sells a lot?

    • jj

      thank you!

    • Downvote King

      What is it derivative of?

      • ummm…

        lmfao……………..you must be kidding………a music rhythm game where you hit sound nodes?

        wasnt even the first in vr. audioshield anyone?

        what about that one that you are screaming down a track as it pulses to an original score.

        there are a lot.

        • Downvote King

          If that’s you standard every game released this year is derivative. Firewall is just fancy Wolfenstein 3D, and Astro Bot is a gussied up Mario 64. Beatsaber’s mechanics are completely unique within the rhythm game genre, and they are specifically what makes the game so much more compelling than other VR rhythm games. There’s a reason so many think it could be VR’s killer app, yet can barely remember the name of any other VR rhythm game.

          • ummm…

            ????? anybody that has had vr for more than a year knows a few vr rhythm games. fruit ninja guitar hero is fun. dont confuse that with game of the year. especially, when you could have easily justified any other novel experience in a forward looking niche

          • Downvote King

            I’m really not sure what you’re saying here. Every game exists in a genre and has multiple examples of other games they share traits with, the point is how well they put the different elements together, the innovations they make, and how compelling the final product is. Again, by your definition of derivative every game released this year qualifies. What example would you propose otherwise?

          • Patrick McKee

            I literally feeling or rush/release of some chemical in the brain maybe dopamine you get or I get during beatsaber is like nonother it makes you feel super bad ass no joke it is hard to explain. I have got that feeling a few time in some other vr game but beatsaber is consistent in this area. No Joke man

          • ummm…

            i saw videos. id break my vive controller on my face almost immediately. id be level -2..lol

          • Pizzy

            Just cut up a hokey mask bro JK LOL

          • ummm…

            lol….its funny when i look for people on steam, even if the name seems unique, there are always like 1000 of them. i bet if i search abcdefghijk… there will be like 200 people with that name.

          • Pizzy

            Here is my invite link, steam lets you create these http://s.team/p/cvk-dvgr/KQNPDVJN

          • Pizzy

            Here is a video, I just made using ViewR app enjoy buddy https://youtu.be/iK4pp_-Ylro

          • ummm…

            you must live alone. im not getting away with clearing a whole room.

          • Pizzy

            Yeah I do lol that’s my living room, planned this apt out for VR, gotta have goals lol jk

          • ummm…

            now thats ambition lol……how do you do the mixed reality thing with your phone? i suppose i could just google it…………….

          • Pizzy

            Using the newly released ViewR android app, there was a news story on Roadtovr about it https://www.roadtovr.com/viewr-lets-watch-vr-session-action-comfort-phone/

          • ummm…

            well thank you kind sir!!! im not sure people need to see me play eleven table tennis in my underwear, but they will now!!!!!!!!!

          • Pizzy

            lol app has limited game support atm, in this case thank goodness lol

      • doug

        Beat Saber is derivative of Dance Dance Revolution, and every other rhythm game back to at least Rock Band on the PS2. I’m not saying it’s the most derivative title in VR, it’s certainly a bigger step into the new medium than every VR third-person perspective platformer.

        • Downvote King

          I’ve been back and forth on this with OP, but this definition of derivative carries no meaning to me. With such a standard all video games at this point would be considered derivative. They’re using derivation as a justification to disqualify Beat Saber from contention for game of the year. Literally no game would qualify under this clause.

          Honestly what game can you point to that doesn’t share a strong heritage with multiple generations of video games. Rhythm Games are a genre, like sports, FPS, puzzle, strategy, etc. it shares no more in common with any other music games in any sense beyond this. I’m truly baffled by this distinction.

          Derivative is a specifically derogatory word in this context meant to reduce the significance of its accomplishment to a mere copycat of existing properties when it is instead clearly a unique combination of new game mechanics expertly applied to an existing genre, elevating it to a distinct, not derivative, work.

          • doug

            You’re right, all videogames could be considered derivative, so they belong on some kind of derivative scale, perhaps one that expresses how many seconds of gameplay need to be seen to faithfully capture the novelty in the work.

            Hitting things with the beat is an old game mechanic. Hitting them with a new controller is so derivative that a few seconds of video faithfully shows anyone the totality of Beat Saber.

            As counterpoints, the VR title Accounting+ had the player go into VR while in VR, and it changes from RPG to escape room to wave shooter at various times. Operation Warcade also blends genres mid-game as it follows the action of a player in an 80’s arcade. Neither one could be faithfully reduced to a few-seconds video like Beat Saber.

            Neither of my counterpoints would make a good roadtovr GOTY, however, because roadtovr’s main criteria for the award is widespread appeal, and nothing has widespread appeal like pop music in a rhythm game wrapper.

        • Jistuce

          Parappa the Rapper on PS1, actually. Every music game traces its lineage rather directly to Parappa.

    • ummm…

      BINGO!!

  • Patrick McKee

    As I was playing Beatsaber, like I do everyday these mornings for cardio. A funny joke came to mind.

    So I texted a few friends this

    “I’m convinced Beatsaber is a cover for future Jedi training”

    They enjoyed it.

    I’m happy Roadtovr made this game of the year, I tend to agree with them.

    I like this game so much. I may begin to dabble with the editor and put some of my favorite synthwave tracks in the game.

    • ummm…

      yes and fruit ninja was avant garde.

      • Patrick McKee

        Katana X is way better that fruit ninja I love that game also, but it not on the level of Beatsaber

        • ummm…

          lol…….thumper beats them all. i was simply being snarky. beat saber is fun im sure……and it is popular (with some help of the marketing campaign”………but it aint game of the year. not close.

          • Patrick McKee

            I will be honest I bought thumper but have not played it yet. I will give it go based off you mentioning it, thanks.

          • ummm…

            eh, its not going to be an explosion of senses like beat saber, likely. you dont use your body really.

          • Pizzy

            So you’re saying beatsaber is different JK LOL, just messing with you, yeah you do move your body in beatsaber that is a fun part of it also.

  • Arcticu Kitsu

    Beat Saber is a good call, yes. VRchat & Beat Saber have the VR throne crowned on the PC side.

    Next year you’ll have to note Furious Seas, Tales of Glory, Shadow Legend VR, Zero Caliber VR, Ultrawings VR, Rolling Line, and etc. The list simply grows. I guess Shadow Legends and ‘Blade & Soul’ shall be your pick for 2019 then, unless something big hits after that which may be kept under wraps until the very last moment.

    • ummm…

      tales of glory is starting to disappoint me………its not sure what it is yet. where is the campaign? why is it poorly optimized? i dunno if it will be ready for 2019

      • Arcticu Kitsu

        Oh? I need to give it another whirl then to see what they have improved and degraded. From what was noted campaign was there, if in a very light manner. Maybe not. Optimized? I won’t disagree with you there. It has some optimization issues, yes. That’s with everything new though.

        • ummm…

          yeah, i hope they get it further down the road in 2019. it could be a fun little ditty. but imagine if mount and blade bannerlord as made vr capable? oh dear. which will release first? bannerlord or tales of glory?

  • Varminbaby

    I’m not sure if it came out this year, but RE7 VR is the best PSVR game I’ve seen so far. Truly amazing game and I wish it would come to PCVR. I hope more AAA titles like this are created very soon as the medium really needs more killer apps like RE7 VR.

  • ummm…

    game of the year is a game i played in different iterations when i preordered my vive………2 years of innovation and we get the GOTY being beat saber. pathetic.

  • ummm…

    you guys need to do better than this. why do it at all? 2018 has been a slow year, but you could have put in more love.

    • Arcticu Kitsu

      Agreed, and glad they added more into their list. Games I’m however unfamiliar with though.

      • ummm…

        yeah i was curious as to why i was unfamiliar with nearly all of them. i guess my tastes have diverged from the industries. or ive got a vive and this is all polished stuff from psvr and rift store etc. its all good. i have plenty of vr programs i like.

  • ummm…

    this is why i dont come to roadtovr and uploadvr anymore……vr industry is in a lame year, and the journalists are keeping the word machine going. like, give criticism. tell us inside stuff. keep that coming. dont give us this obligatory end of year bs, that is insulting.

    the least you guys could have done was make us believe was at all paradigm shifting.

  • ummm…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DaFLv9MtJY

    looks fun…….nice video, good skill, makes me want to shake……so, what. game of the year??? yeah vr is in trouble if this is innovation. unless innovation is only what sells.

    • Arcticu Kitsu

      Tunnel vision. You’re only looking at one peace of the many that you need to expand your horizon.

  • Lord Satsuma

    Wipeout x Firewall

  • Lord Satsuma

    ..unless it’s an undeniable landslide that meets their personal criteria too.

    in this case, Wipeout & Firewall were the landslides..but if action racing nor co-op fps vibes w/ the roadto judges, theyre toast..& by excluding both, theyve chosen to favor more rhythm & platformers, which is cool i like those too, but that’s not the point of best of awards. tho’ it is there choice, they can get as personal as they want, I respectfully disagree..

    or maybe they pick award based on ‘genre game changer’ selections, & in this case, yea ..long short, more categories.

  • JesuSaveSouls

    I would say probably more in category. Wardust is probably the closest to battlefield.

  • jj

    Great reevaluation of the categories!!

  • Raphael

    Astrobot rescue mission is a platform exclusive and even if it wasn’t… not my kinda game.

    Beatsaber is ok but in very short doses for me. I find it a bit boring but it’s a great brain workout. I use BoxVR for a physical workout.

    Electronauts… remixing other people’s music clips? Nah.

    Hellblade = yes. Amazing.

    Sprint vector = clever use of motion controls. Bit of a nightmare to remember all the moves though.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Beat Saber and Electronauts have nothing to do in that list. Or else Game of the Year should be awarded to Candy Crush and Sing Star…it’s a real shame because meanwhile great VR works and titles are being ignored…

  • Trip

    Love the revamp guys! This is worlds better than the original version with only two games recognized. I particularly love the immersion and indie categories, please make sure these return next year!

  • Peter Hansen

    Sadly no multi-player mode for Compound, yet.

  • impurekind

    Good stuff. :D

  • gacl

    AstroBot, The Persistence, Wipeout, and Firewall Zero Hour! Looking forward to the Oculus Quest in 2019!

  • FriendlyCard

    Aaaah Compound – that really is a great game and deserves the kudos.

    But…how did Skyrim VR not make it to this list?

  • dmci max

    astro bot is simply the best vr game ever created so far for all media combined

  • doug

    There’s something wrong that Pixel Ripped has gotten no mention here.