The Oculus Rift game library is growing massively, so it can be tricky to sift through the maze of VR games to find out what's best. Especially if you're trying to sort out what supports Oculus Touch or an Xbox One gamepad.
So however you're getting your hands in on the virtual reality action, we're here to round up the best Oculus Rift games and experiences for you to try.
Here are our top Rift games picks and the ones you should be looking out for in the future.
Best Oculus Rift games out now
Catan VR
Catan VR takes the beloved board came and translates it into a social VR experience, letting you play against people around the world in your quest to farm those precious, precious sheep. But what's even better than that is Catan VR is available for every Oculus-powered device out there. You've not only got Rift, but Gear VR and the upcoming Oculus Go, too.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch optional
The American Dream
A complete satire of America's gun culture, The American Dream has you playing around at a gun exhibit at the World's Fair. Hilarity and biting comedy ensue, as you shoot guns to do things like cleaning the house, cooking and delivering babies. Yes, really.
$19.99, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Ark Park
Welcome... to Ark Park. It's a virtual reality spinoff of the popular ARK: Survival Evolved, which is a futuristic game where you ride and shoot dinosaurs. Ark Park is incredibly similar. You'll get to ride plenty of dinos, but you'll also get to shoot them in the face when the time comes. No expense has been spared.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Captain's Log, stardate -305543. Now you can team up with a bunch of friends and take control of the famous USS Aegis (no, not the Enterprise, sadly) for yourself. You and your buddies will take on different roles on the bridge. One of you will be the navigator, another in charge of weapons, another in charge of power and one of you will be captain.
You'll have to work together to explore an uncharted sector of space and find the Vulcans a new home world. But watch out, there are Klingons about. It's social VR that works like gangbusters, combining a fun atmosphere with thrilling interactions and tough decisions.
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
Ready at Dawn's Lone Echo feels like a key moment for VR - a game that just couldn't exist in any other format. It's built completely around the zero-gravity locomotion mechanics, which are smart and keenly realized. The Touch controllers come into their own as you pull and push yourself through space - with thrusters on hand to help. Other games that do the whole space thing usually leave us feeling the need to hurl whereas Lone Echo only gave us wobbly legs and a desire for more. And as if that wasn't enough, the multiplayer component Echo Arena is spectacular - and free. This just became one of the most essential VR titles.
Titanic VR
Your heart will go on, sure, but for now you can strap on a headset and take a tour of the Titanic. You'll be able to explore the ship, complete missions and recover artifacts. The game is still in early access, but eventually it'll be updated with a mode that'll let you watch key events as the Titanic hit those icebergs and eventually sank to the bottom of the Atlantic. Leonardo DiCaprio not included.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Coco VR
Disney and Pixar's Coco may be one of its most visually interesting, but it also marks Pixar's first plunge into virtual reality. The famous studio has crafted an experience that you can play either by yourself or with friends. You'll slowly descend into the world of Coco, meeting and hanging out with characters from the film.
Free, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
If you're a big fan of Rick and Morty then you've got to try this one out. It's a simple premise that works wonderfully. Take Job Simulator, give it a hilarious Rick and Morty skin and you're good to go. You not only get the craziness of Job Simulator, you get it in a wonderful new flavor that's perfectly suited for your sense of humor.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Fruit Ninja VR
It's a wonderful thing when virtual reality becomes a great way to escape reality, and if you've had a stressful day, Fruit Ninja VR needs to be your evening go-to game of choice.
Rather than imagining your boss' face on a pinboard, why not take your pent up rage out on some fruit… with a pair of samurai swords?
Fruit Ninja VR's brand of Oculus Touch-powered fun is satisfying, strangely hypnotic and incredibly addictive as you slice through the game's various modes and their never ending fruit barrage.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Arizona Sunshine
This Oculus Touch game sees you take on a 24-hour journey to search for other survivors in a zombie apocalypse. Arizona Sunshine may be a wave-based shooter on paper, but it's brilliant.
Glorious scenery, great comedic script and some top notch gameplay combine to make this one of the most memorable Oculus Touch titles.
You'll need to use a variety of firearms to take down the hordes, constantly scavenging for more ammo, but also have to balance weapons and a torch as things take a turn for the worst. This is a great shooter, with an even better story.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Robo Recall
Robo Recall is easily one of the funniest games on the Rift, but it's also a hell of a lot of fun too. You can not only shoot robots, you can tear off their limbs, use them as body shields, and even jump on the back of a giant bot to hijack its weapons. Now that's how to use the Touch controllers right...
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives
Although being an office worker, corner shop clerk, chef or mechanic might not be want you want to do when you grow up, Job Simulator makes excellent work of what could potentially be fairly mundane jobs.
In the game's version of 2050, a cast of odd robots interpret what the think the jobs of today might have been like. Luckily for us they've gotten things a little wrong, resulting in some brilliant little storylines, hilarious interaction options and general bewilderment of the best kind.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Fantastic Contraption
Don't be put off by Fantastic Contraption's difficulty curve or the farting cat, for that matter. This is a puzzle game where you're really going to have to think and get creative.
Using the Oculus Touch controllers, all you need to do is build machines that can reach a goal, whether that's reaching something high up, climbing some stairs or simply moving from A to B.
Whatever you've got to do, if you've got any chance of doing it, get ready to experiment and have some creative fun in this gloriously colorful puzzler.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
I Expect You to Die
Forget Idris Elba or Tom Hardy, the next James Bond is you - well in I Expect You to Die anyway.
This game is perfect for showing off the true potential of virtual reality and the Oculus Touch controllers by throwing you into a variety of "escape the room"-type scenarios. The perils are frequent and increasingly unexpected, and you're thrown from solving one problem to another that's slightly more deadly.
It's clever both in its puzzles and use of VR and one that needs to be played in every Oculus Rift home.
Rescuties VR
Who knew catching various cute things from babies to corgi puppies would make for such a good VR game? But Rescuties VR does just that.
Using the Oculus Touch controllers, you can catch the falling adorables and then chuck them on to wherever they need to be. It' fast, frantic and sometimes sad if you drop one and watch a baby go bouncing off a cliff. The simple premise evolves to different scenarios, opens up unlockables and allows you to achieve special goals too - and all on a budget.
Toybox
Oculus's demo is now free for everyone to download and try with the Touch controllers. Similar to Nvidia's Carnival VR you'll find yourself in a virtual toybox lighting things on fire, throwing/breaking/punching/shooting and basically having a lot of fun being a kid playing with toys. You can also play the game with a friend if they have their own controllers.
Free, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Medium
Like Google's Tilt Brush, Medium technically isn't a game but it's still worth checking out. If you're feeling particularly creative one day and want to sculpt or paint, Medium is for you to express yourself in VR.
$29.99, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Eve: Valkyrie
Space and VR go well together, and this is the proof. Test your pilot skills as you go up against other plays in space combat, with support for cross-play with the PS VR version, or just explore in single player mode instead; it's up to you. This first-person shooter is fast and furious.
Technolust
Set inside a cyberpunk world, this game is essentially Blade Runner meets Snow Crash - with more than a hint of Robocop. You play a hacker going up against a corporation, which you slowly begin to penetrate. But it's in the incredibly detailed environments that Technolust really impresses. Neuromancer fans, this one's for you.
Bullet Train
This Oculus Touch shooter from Epic Games mirrors your hand movements to let you experience well, shooting people in a pretty crazy way. You can also teleport and manipulate time so it sounds a little like Superhot VR. But we love Superhot so the more the better. The first tech demo, built around showing off Unreal Engine 4, was a big hit and now the demo is out for Touch for everyone to try at home.
Free, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Superhot VR
Superhot has been around for a while on PC, but it's now on the Rift. The stylish first person shooter features a unique way of controlling time – move forwards and the clock ticks, but stop and everything pauses. It means you can take your time, which could prove to be essential as you take your first steps into the disorientating virtual world. Did we mention it's addictive as hell?
Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
The Unspoken
We played Insomniac's The Unspoken early on and quickly fell in love with the game. There's a lot of exciting Touch games on the roster, but this one made us realize for the first time just how much potential Rift's controllers have. From the magic wielding to multiplayer, this is one title that can't be missed - especially since it's bundled with Touch alongside VR Sports Challenge.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
The Gallery: Call of the Starseed
It's always a good time to get familiar with this expanding world, in which you search for your sister as a larger mystery unfolds. This one is a two-parter, and you can pick up both parts in a bundle for .
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Holoball
If you want to play ball against an AI, look no further than HoloBall. This game is basically a crazy neon, squash game where you'll definitely have to make sure the Touch controllers are strapped properly around your wrist - don't want them flying off and breaking when you lob the ball, do you?.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Landfall
This top-down, real-time strategy-esque shooter first caught our attention at Oculus Connect 2016, and now it's available to buy. However, it's not a pure RTS, as you'll be directly taking on the role of soldiers on the battlefield. There's a meaty campaign, but you've also got the option of multiplayer too, which we highly recommend. You can play with Touch controllers, but they don't add much that the gamepad doesn't.
Kingspray
Graffiti in real life is nothing compared to graffiti in VR. Like Medium and Quill, Kingspray isn't really a game - but it's still fun especially for the artsy types. A version of this title was made for Xbox Kinect awhile ago but the developers revamped it for Rift. There are tons of spray can nozzles, colors, drips and more to choose from when creating your masterpieces. You can even join a friend to further gamify the experience.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
VR Sports Challenge
Something a bit different. This is essentially a bunch of different VR sports including ice hockey, football, baseball and basketball. Early demos were promising - and it's proven damn fun at home. Essentially, Sanzaru Games has brought Wii Sports to the Rift.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
Big guns. Big monsters. Big fun. This new entry in the Serious Sam series is worth checking out, and also offers two player co-op. There's also Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter and Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter, which bring the first two originals into virtual reality, and can be played on Oculus right now, and feature co-op and multiplayer modes for up to 15 players.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Dragon Front
Just like The Unspoken and Feral Rites, we were one of the first to try out this VR card game - in fact the very first press person (we even played against Oculus' head of content, Jason Rubin). It was great fun then, and remains addictive now.
Free, Oculus Store
Minecraft
You know what Minecraft is. But you may not know it anymore played in VR. It's still the sathe me blocky world of course, except now you get to experience it from a whole new perspective and it's awesome.
Free beta, Oculus Store
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
This is a genius way of making VR multiplayer, with just one headset. One person volunteers to be trapped in a (virtual) room with a ticking time bomb. Then everyone else - the Experts - has to read the instructions to defuse it and help out the VR headset wearer get the job done. Plus, there's a different bomb every time. It's developed by Steel Crate Games and has been on
Steam with VR support for a while.
The Climb
Crytek's Robinson: The Journey (which was originally in this list) is an exclusive for PlayStation VR but the developer is redressing the balance with The Climb, an Oculus Rift exclusive. Yes.
It's compatible with both Xbox One controllers and Oculus Touch, and it sees gamers scaling cliffs and rock faces around the world. Beautiful scenery meets immersive thrills.
Chronos
Make this one of the first RPGs you get for Oculus - Chronos is a good pick for fantasy and history fiends and comes with a really intriguing game mechanic. Every time you die, you age by a year and the skills and abilities you can acquire change too.
$39.99, Oculus Store
Edge of Nowhere
This moody, intense third-person VR game is from Insomniac Games sees the player following a character on an Antarctic mission to rescue a missing expedition. The story is more like a traditional Uncharted-style console game but we're excited to see how this translates to VR - epic snowscapes, eerie caverns, supernatural creatures flying over head.
P.O.L.L.E.N
This melancholic, first person sci-fi VR game comes from Mindfield Games and sees gamers exploring the moon Titan i.e. deep space. You explore a space base built by the US and the Russians - in this timeline Kennedy was never killed and everyone is working together. P.O.L.L.E.N broke records on Steam Greenlight and it's now available on Steam for Rift.
, Steam
Lucky's Tale
A third-person perspective in virtual reality games should be a big no-no, but somehow
Lucky's Tale gets it absolutely right. It's a 3D platformer in the vein of Mario 64, with your face hovering god-like above the titular character as he bounces improbably around a technicolour land. It's the kind of innovation Rift games need, and it's great to see a family-friendly title on the headset from day one.
Free, Oculus Store
Surgeon Simulator
Bossa Studios' game has become the stuff of legend, featuring a butter-fingered surgeon named Nigel Burke operating on Bob, his unfortunate patient. It all gets ridiculously silly and gory as you crack ribs and rearrange organs, and Oculus Rift really makes it feel like you're in Burke's blood-filled boots.
Wilson's Heart
This one puts you in the shoes of Robert Wilson, who wakes up finding out that his heart has been replaced by a mysterious device. You'll make your way through a 1940s hospital to find out what happened, but along the way you and your fellow patients will have to put up with increasingly haunting visions, dangerous hazards and crazy characters.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Archangel
Skydance Interactive's first VR game is a first-person, on-the-rails mech game, in which you'll be controlling a vast arsenal of weapons from your giant bot, but we think knocking enemies out of the sky with our hulking fists is a lot more fun. From what we've played of this so far, this is one to get.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Artika.1
This one's for the shooter fans. There's a wide variety of guns and gun parts to choose from plus a bunch of enemies for your bullets in Artika.1. Unlike other shooters, this game seems to have a larger story attached and feels less like you're just fighting off waves. But don't worry, there's plenty of shooting to be doing too.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
From Other Suns
From the developer of Chronos comes From Other Suns, a four-player co-op shooter that'll have you teaming up to save humanity from interstellar threats. Sounds about standard, until you realize that you and your buddies get a ship you can upgrade and customize. So it's one part shooter, one part ship management and one part crew management, since you and your buddies will be able to man different stations on the ship.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Brass Tactics
Brass Tactics is pretty much how you've always wanted to experience a real-time strategy game. You're in a virtual world where there's a big table in the center of the room, and this is where you'll get to command all of your troops. Tell them where to go and who to attack with the Oculus Touch controllers. You can take on, or team up, with other players, too.
, Oculus Store - Oculus Touch required
Upcoming Oculus Rift games
Marvel Powers United
Possibly the biggest property Oculus has landed to day (Jason Rubin told us it had been knocking on Disney's door for quite a long time), Marvel Powers United will see you filling the shoes of some of your favorite heroes, including the Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, Captain Marvel and Deadpool (there will be 12 in total come the finished game). Locomotion is done through a mix of direct analog movement and teleportation, and while there are clearly still some kinks to work out, we thoroughly enjoyed our preview. Especially playing as Rocket and then switching to Hulk to appreciate the difference in scale. Sadly this one won't be out until next year, which is a shame because in our time with it we thought it to be a fun and convincing stab of social VR gaming.
$TBA, oculus.com
Crisis on the Planet of the Apes
The Simian Flu has killed half of humanity, and apes have grown more intelligent. You've heard this story before, and probably have even seen it, but now you will play an ape held prisoner in a scientific facility. You'll have to break out with your fellow ape. Ape strong together, after all.
$TBA, oculus.com
Primordian
Taking place billions of years ago, this game has you playing a being from the dark side of the universe that's tasked with adventuring to the light side to destroy some temples. It all looks sort of like a mix between Crysis and Doom, but we get to play with futuristic swords and crossbows - sign us up.
$TBA, oculus.com
18 Floors
This one is for you puzzle lovers out there. There are 18 floors with a bunch of different rooms filled with intricate puzzles and traps. You'll have to solve all of them to progress as Andrea, the lead character, sets out to solve a massive conspiracy.
$TBA, oculus.com
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.