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With 2020 drawing to a close, now is a good time to look over the best releases of the year for the Oculus Quest gaming system. Virtual reality, or VR, gaming is a rapidly exploding field, and each new month sees leaps and bounds in progress for this area of gaming. Without further ado, let’s get into our list of the best Oculus Quest games 2020 has to offer!
Population: One
A relatively new release in 2020, Population: One is one of the most exciting and involved games currently released on the Quest system. It is an immersive virtual reality battle royale game, similar to mega-hits like Fortnite and Apex Legends. While Population: One carries forward the building mechanic from games like Fortnite and Minecraft, it also adds the ability to climb and glide off of any surface in the game, akin to the Breath of the Wild release of Zelda. While Population: One brings the exciting mechanics of battle royale games to virtual reality, it does have one difference from the most popular of these games: it retails at $29.99, rather than being free to play. This paywall may damage its ability to go viral, but it is certainly designed well enough that this is still a possibility.
Holopoint
Originally released for other virtual reality systems such as the Oculus Rift, Holopoint is unique in its simplicity. What it lacks in visuals, though, it makes up for in terms of engaging and challenging VR gameplay. The game takes place in an East Asian inspired dojo and gives the player a bow and arrow and a series of cube-shaped enemies to fight. The player has to take down increasingly difficult waves of enemies while avoiding their own attacks, resulting in an intense and rewarding virtual reality experience, as well as a good workout!
In Death: Unchained
In Death: Unchained is a virtual reality take on the classic videogame trope of the dungeon crawler (think the original Zelda games). This game is similar to Holopoint in its inclusion of another bow and arrow; however, in this game, the bow and arrow is also your means of traversing the level! A series of medieval enemies greet you along your way, and the game’s developers have declared their intent to improve many of the game’s visuals even further as time goes on.
Dash Dash World
Dash Dash World is a new release for the Quest, combining a racing game with a series of skill shot based power-ups in a way reminiscent of Mario Kart. The Mario Kart virtual reality iteration that was a mainstay of VR venues several years ago draws the closest comparisons to Dash Dash World, although this game boasts less visual nuance. Don’t worry though: you can still blast your opponent with unusual artillery, and the drift mechanics are up to par.
Phantom: Covert Ops
This game is a particularly unique one. Players find themselves in the shoes of a secret agent infiltrating a heavily guarded enemy base. The catch? In order to maintain the feeling of stealth while working in the constraints of the Quest VR system, the designers of Phantom: Covert Ops decided to make the entire game take place from a kayak! You paddle through levels of increasing difficulty, avoiding enemy patrols and taking people out when necessary. In addition to your kayak paddles, you also have access to a sizeable arsenal of spy gear, from night vision goggles to long-range marksman weapons. You can also choose how to play through the game. If shooting up bad guys is more your style, Phantom: Covert Ops allows for that; but you will score the highest when optimizing your skills of stealth, which is more in line with the game’s original intent. While some may criticize the game for leaning too heavily into its kayak gimmick, we applaud the ingenuity and unique gameplay of Phantom: Covert Ops.
Real VR Fishing
Originally released for the Quest system, Real VR Fishing has only gotten better with its Quest 2 release. Compared to some of the other games on this list, Real VR Fishing is definitely on the more relaxed end of the possibilities that virtual reality has to offer. As its name suggests, Real VR Fishing is a virtual reality fishing simulator. Produced by a South Korean team, this game transports you to one of several set locations from real fishing spots in Korea, complete with close to photo-realistic graphics. In addition to the gameplay, which features more accurate fish graphics and more detailed resolution relative to the original Quest release, Real VR Fishing allows you to incorporate your own music or even your YouTube queue into the game. All in all, Real VR Fishing is a really pleasant alternative to some of the more adrenaline-inducing games on this list, and we would highly recommend it to any virtual reality gamer looking for the escape that the medium truly embodies best.
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners
One of the most well-known games on this list, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a horror survival game that has been released on several platforms already. Based on the Walking Dead TV show, this game is an incredibly immersive, long-form videogame that will appease even the most stubborn virtual reality and adventure game aficionados. With its Quest 2 release, this game has received bolstered resolution and graphics details, making it well worth the upgrade. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is not necessarily the best game to introduce new players to the world of VR, as its controls can be confusing at times and integrate virtual reality motions with standard controller inputs, which can cause nausea for the inexperienced. All in all, however, this game is an impressive gallery for the unbridled potential that virtual reality has to offer.
That concludes our list of the best games that 2020 has had to offer for the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 systems. We hope that you have had the chance to learn about some of the cool new games being released in this exciting field, and happy gaming!
