What’s on deck for the Oculus Quest?
After what feels like eons of waiting, the Oculus Quest standalone VR headset is finally available to the public, along with over 50 immersive launch titles. Quest owners have their veritable pick of the litter, with major titles such as SUPERHOT VR, Robo Recall, Vader Immortal: A Star War VR Series, Beat Saber, and dozens of other high-profile releases available straight out of the gate. Of course, now that we finally have our hands on these long-awaited releases, our attentions have focused on the next wave of software heading to the headset.
Let’s take a look at five ambitious VR experiences coming soon to your Oculus Quest:
Vacation Simulator
An absolute delight on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets, Owlchemy Labs’ follow-up to their 2016 smash-hit Job Simulator takes everything you know and love about the original and doubles-down hard. Colorful environments married with eccentric, outlandish characters set the tone for a relaxing journey across a variety of popular vacation destinations. You’ll be hiking through winding woodland trails, hanging out in mountainside hot tubs, and diving deep into the waters of Vacation Island to photograph marine wildlife and discover buried treasure.
Vacation Simulator’s simplistic visuals make it a no-brainer for the Oculus Quest, offering users both new and experienced a relaxing immersive adventure bursting with personality. Vacation Simulator is confirmed for release on the Oculus Quest this holiday season.
The Under Presents
We’re big fans of Tenderclaws’ collaborative live theater VR experience ever since trying it for ourselves during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. A unique blend of live theater and social interaction, The Under Presents places users aboard The Under—a magical time-traveling ship—where they’ll interact with professional actors live on a virtual stage.
Our time with the bizarre narrative-driven experience had us teaming up with NY-based theater collective Piehole as we went about participating in a variety of improvisational performances, both as a group and one-on-one. At one point, one of our group members was instantly transported to an isolated dock to interact with a lone fisherman (also played by a real actor).
It’s an incredibly unique, confusing, and thought-provoking experience that paints an interesting picture of the potential future of live immersive performances.
No word yet on when we can expect to see this ambitious abstract experience on the Quest.
ACRON
Resolution Games, the same team behind Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, has another title planned for release on the standalone VR headset, this time focusing their efforts on asymmetrical VR multiplayer. ACRON is described by the company as a board game-style cross-platform experience in which a team of squirrels—each of which controlled by the player via an iOS or Android device—attempt to steal as many acorns as they can from a towering tree, which is controlled by an opposing player in VR. Before the announcement of ACRON, the only other option for local multiplayer VR on the Quest was Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes; a fantastic experience in its own right, but one that ages very quickly. Allowing non-VR players to actively participate in the experience through smart devices opens up a wide range of possibilities in terms of replayability.
Resolution Games promises the arrival of ACRON on the Oculus Quest in the near future.
Phantom: Covert Ops
I think it’s fair to say a majority of Oculus Quest launch titles skew towards a more “family-friendly” direction. While there are plenty of more intense, adult titles available to play (Face Your Fears 2, The Exorcist: Legion VR, Drop Dead: Duel Strike) it feels as though we’re still missing a more serious military shooter akin to Onward or Pavlov VR.
NDreams looks to fill the gap with Phantom: Covert Ops, a stealth-based FPS shooter that tasks players with saving the world from a ruthless enemy force. The catch? Players will be forming the entirety of their dangerous missions from a tactical kayak. Yes, a tactical kayak.
Players are encouraged to approach each enemy encounter differently using a variety of upgradeable equipment and weaponry. Although information is sparse, it appears as though Phantom: Covert Ops will feature a fully fleshed-out narrative campaign, as well as some form of player progression.
Phantom: Covert Ops launches on Oculus Quest sometime later this year.
The Climb
Considered one of the first visually-stunning VR experiences for the Oculus Rift, The Climb will eventually be making its way to the Oculus Quest, bringing with it all the vertigo-inducing excitement you fell in love with back in 2016.
Developer Crytek has confirmed the entirety of the game will be heading to the standalone headset, including all the mountains featured in the original as well as both multiplayer and tour mode. Whether you’re looking to compete against friends in a death-defying race to the summit, or just soak up the scenery, The Climb is a must-own for anyone looking to genuinely freak themselves out in VR. While there’s no doubt the Quest version will feature downgraded visuals, it’s a small price to pay for tetherless mountain climbing.
The Climb will launch on Oculus Quest in 2019.
Obviously, this is just a fraction of the amazing titles making their way to the Oculus Quest this year. For continued updates on new games and breaking announcements, be sure you’re keeping up with us here at VRScout.com.
