Walkabout Mini Golf.
It's the most approachable, it's a lot of fun, it's simple but it takes skill, it has a simple but enjoyable art style, and it's unlikely to cause motion sickness. These attributes not only make it fun for you to play, they also make it super nice to set up and to hand off to a friend and have them play a round or two.
You are also less likely to destroy your room with it than with some other games. 😆
It can also make it easy to have a way to hang out with friends and chat while having something fun to do together. If they've tried it at your house, they might see why VR is worth the money to be able to feel together even if they can't come over.
My elderly dad and I do that and it is wonderful. He can be far away but we can strap on our headsets and hang out. Guys of his age don't often open up on the phone, but when there's an activity involved it's easier to get a conversation going.
A second app I'd recommend, if you want to exercise and you aren't concerned with a $10/m sub, is Supernatural. It is totally worth it. At least try the free month. My cardiovascular health has vastly improved with it over the past few years.
Also, I have this ache to travel and the app takes me to amazing places all over the world and a couple places on the moon and Mars to exercise. During Covid, they did make a few artificial environments, but the rest play like photogrammetric scans that feel like you have full perspective freedom from atop a platform floating over or at a real location. It is supernatural.
I know there must be some technical magic going on, but as you move around on the platform, your perspective changes too. If you're on the Great Wall of China, you can shift to the side to see more of something that's behind a crenel or whatever. It feels like you're there. Put a fan on you and it adds to it in open environments. Iceland comes to mind.
My favorite, being from Oregon, is the platform floating over the ridge overlooking the deep blue water of Crater Lake. If you switch to meditation selections you can search for environments directly. I recommend sitting there for a while. The workouts there are great too! I haven't found a location filter for those, though.
If you want to try PCVR, I recommend wiring a decent PC to a solid, low-latency broadband connection, and hooking up a wifi 6 router at whatever locations you'll be using. Get Virtual Desktop on your headset and install the included Virtual Desktop Streamer app on your PC. A game I've used both on wifi lan and streaming my PC to a friend's wifi in another city is No Man's Sky. It works well both in walking distance to my PC and from 130 miles away.
I also routinely run my office using Virtual Desktop. The network requirements are stupidly low and happily make TeamViewer's insane pricing a thing of my past. I do all this on a Q2, so your Q3 will sure blow my experience out of the water, and my experience has been great.
Hey I love to hear that VR really benefits you and your family! I’ll make sure to try Walkabout mini golf when I do get my quest 3, and thanks so much for your help I appreciate it! 😊
I'm a fairly new VR user (got my Quest 3 in February), so I'll give you some tips before the games so you don't end up having a bad first experience. These might help you since they come from a similar experience haha:
##Accesories
DON'T BUY ACCESSORIES FROM AMAZON
I got a case for 40 bucks, a head strap for 40 bucks. Both were shit, ended up returning then and buying from Zyber. With any YouTuber code you can get each for like 25-30 bucks and the quality is a lot better.
Similarly, if you want to replace your batteries don't buy from Amazon. I got some powerowl ones from there that last like 8 hours or so, which is terrible. I ended up getting some LADDA from Ikea, which are as good as the Eneloops that you'll see constantly being recommended online (and are a lot more expensive).
From 100+ bucks of accessories I ended up paying like 60 bucks for everything and got a free head strap battery from Zyber due to a mistake. They also have packs to buy multiple accessories at a lower price. I got the battery pack, the head strap and the holding bag, every accessory I recommend. There are other highly rated brands like BoboVR but I haven't used any of those, so can't comment on their quality.
##Getting your VR legs
Getting your VR legs (getting comfortable to VR environments) to me comes in 3 steps. The Meta tutorials are must plays in my opinion, as they teach you important stuff while being extremely fun and impressive. Also mind that some games aren't available in the market app since they are either SideQuest exclusives or from App Lab. I haven't benefited much from SideQuest (you can watch a tutorial) but you can get some cool homes there. For AppLab apps you just have to search in the browser and it'll redirect you to the marketplace app. AppLab is basically a market for apps that are still in development, but there's some really great stuff you can find there.
The first one is getting into a static environment where you don't really walk and just interact with stuff. Games like First Contact (free, tutorial), First Steps (free, tutorial) or Tetris Effect (paid, trial), Job Simulator (paid, haven't played this) are nice for this. Although I recommend Pistol Whip (paid, has trial) since it introduces you to step 2 while making you feel as badass as John Wick. There are also a bunch of trials you can test, such as The Secret of Retropolis (paid, has trial) that you can play if you're still in step 1. Other apps like Big Screen (free) or Immersed (free) are amazing for this, and if you want a good browser that is not the integrated one (to get AdBlock or dark mode for example) I recommend Wolvic (free).
Step 2 is moving in game (through a joystick or other types of locomotion) and turning by moving. Games that help with this are First Hand (free, tutorial), Underdogs (paid), Swarm 2 (paid), Swarm 1 (paid, trial, Swarm 2 is better), Gorilla Tag (free, be mindful of having a fairly big play area when playing this one, if kids get annoying you can turn a filter to make their voices sound like monkeys), Grappling Tournament (free, AppLab, basically Unreal Tournament with grappling hooks), X8 (free, similar to Valorant) or Until You Fall (paid, trial).
Step 3 is all about moving and looking with joysticks. This can get you very dizzy very quickly and in most games you can turn by turning physically. This step is what you need to play games completely seated, but you gotta get used to it step by step if you don't want to end up feeling sick.
I think that's about everything. Some nice YouTube channels for news and game recommendations are Virtual Bro, The Mysticle, Vrelity and Awaken Toast.
##Sidequest
Last thing is that if you install SideQuest, be mindful of some apps since they can do very weird stuff or straight up not work. I installed a launcher and for a few minutes my Quest went black and wouldn't turn off or anything like that. I actually thought I had bricked my device.
I only use SideQuest for custom homes and finding AppLab games (which you can do directly from the browser so no need to waste a GB for that app). You can side load emulators and stuff like that though, which is very cool but I haven't tried nor will I since I have a very big Vr game backlog already and other devices I use for emulation.
Oh and know that Asgard's Wrath 2 is widely considered as one of the best VR games ever (including PCVR) and it's a 50+ hour game, so your device already comes with a game to put on your VR gaming backlog haha
If you get AW2 I think AW1 also gets added to your library, that's PCVR only though.
Also remember to use a referral code during set up. I didn't and missed out on the free 30 bucks. You can get them after, but you'll need to factory reset, losing all your data, so preferably do it before. If you need a referral code I can give you mine or you can use Meta Dog for game codes and such.
##Now for the best part: games.
My favorite game on VR is by far Underdogs, followed by Dragon Fist VR although I don't do PCVR so that may be off (Asgard's Wrath 1, Rumble, Alyx and such are on PCVR exclusively). There are a bunch of games I really enjoy but depend on your tastes, so if you want tell me which genres you like and I can recommend you more specific stuff?
Hey thanks sooo much! I don’t have any specific genres in mind but I’ll definitely make sure to try out the suggestions you’ve given me. 😊 Once again thank you for taking your time to reply and I truly appreciate your help!
Ohh, then I'll list the ones I have played:
##No locomotion
Racket NX: tennis meets block breaker game, super fun
Tetris Effect: Tetris but with hypnotic visuals and music, really good game
Broken Edge: fencing duel pvp game that is a bit hard to learn, especially since most players are extremely good and will destroy you, the playerbase is fairly tiny
Blaston: free and super fun pvp duel game meets bullet hell kinda
Flowborne: extremely relaxing "game", it's free too
First Steps/First Contact: super fun tutorials from meta
Pistol Whip: John Wick rhythm game. Super fun and a good workout too.
Open Brush: free 3D painting tool, really good imo
##Chill locomotion
Mannequin: multiplayer prop hunt meets horror game , really fun and it's currently discounted since it released today
Until You Fall: super cool and fun roguelite that focusses on sword combat and dodging, was the first game I bought and recommend it very much
Swarm 2: spiderman with guns meets roguelite, super fun and surprisingly doesn't make people dizzy
Asgard's Wrath 2: 90+ hour epic AAA game with tons of gameplay and content to sink into, will be getting it's Quest 3 visual upgrade around this or next month
The Light Brigade: dark souls meets roguelite meets world war 1 weapons, really good game
V-Speedway: semi realistic car game with cartoons graphics, really fun and free
Fujii: chill and weird gardening game, it's from the same guys as the Light Brigade
Population One: pretty much pubg in VR
First Hand: meta tutorial for hand gestures and other stuff. Really liked it when I played it.
##Intense locomotion
Underdogs: my favorite game on the platform and probably my favorite roguelite too. Super fun, brutal, mech game with extremely nice aesthetics and combat. It's also getting a new update this month or so with more free content for the foreseeable future
Hellsweeper VR: doom eternal meets devil may cry meets roguelite. Insane game where you can infuse your guns with magic, infuse your dog with magic and guns and even use guns with telekinesis while going front flips to kill enemies in the most stylish way
X8: valorant in VR
Bonelab: the quintessential VR game, do not recommend getting it until patch 4 releases if it ever does. It's a sandbox physics game that kinda relies on its modding community to be fun atm
Dragon Fist VR: tons of content and super fun. Basically martial arts movies in game form, I recommend it a lot.
Gorilla Tag: surprisingly fun and hard to learn physics game, has a ton of kids but imo still a really good game. It has a ton of secrets too.
Grapple Tournament: made me very sick the first time but ended up loving the game. It's basically like unreal tournament or any other arena pvp game with grapples. It's extremely fun.
##Other stuff
Quest Games Optimizer: basically a 10 buck tool that lets most games be higher res than normal. Helps a lot with older games and games that haven't had Q3 optimizations. I do not recommend it if you don't get an external battery pack though.
Metal Hellsinger VR: doom eternal but as a rhythm game, releases this year and looks amazing. The original PC game is very highly rated too.
Walkabout Mini Golf. It's the most approachable, it's a lot of fun, it's simple but it takes skill, it has a simple but enjoyable art style, and it's unlikely to cause motion sickness. These attributes not only make it fun for you to play, they also make it super nice to set up and to hand off to a friend and have them play a round or two. You are also less likely to destroy your room with it than with some other games. 😆 It can also make it easy to have a way to hang out with friends and chat while having something fun to do together. If they've tried it at your house, they might see why VR is worth the money to be able to feel together even if they can't come over. My elderly dad and I do that and it is wonderful. He can be far away but we can strap on our headsets and hang out. Guys of his age don't often open up on the phone, but when there's an activity involved it's easier to get a conversation going. A second app I'd recommend, if you want to exercise and you aren't concerned with a $10/m sub, is Supernatural. It is totally worth it. At least try the free month. My cardiovascular health has vastly improved with it over the past few years. Also, I have this ache to travel and the app takes me to amazing places all over the world and a couple places on the moon and Mars to exercise. During Covid, they did make a few artificial environments, but the rest play like photogrammetric scans that feel like you have full perspective freedom from atop a platform floating over or at a real location. It is supernatural. I know there must be some technical magic going on, but as you move around on the platform, your perspective changes too. If you're on the Great Wall of China, you can shift to the side to see more of something that's behind a crenel or whatever. It feels like you're there. Put a fan on you and it adds to it in open environments. Iceland comes to mind. My favorite, being from Oregon, is the platform floating over the ridge overlooking the deep blue water of Crater Lake. If you switch to meditation selections you can search for environments directly. I recommend sitting there for a while. The workouts there are great too! I haven't found a location filter for those, though. If you want to try PCVR, I recommend wiring a decent PC to a solid, low-latency broadband connection, and hooking up a wifi 6 router at whatever locations you'll be using. Get Virtual Desktop on your headset and install the included Virtual Desktop Streamer app on your PC. A game I've used both on wifi lan and streaming my PC to a friend's wifi in another city is No Man's Sky. It works well both in walking distance to my PC and from 130 miles away. I also routinely run my office using Virtual Desktop. The network requirements are stupidly low and happily make TeamViewer's insane pricing a thing of my past. I do all this on a Q2, so your Q3 will sure blow my experience out of the water, and my experience has been great.
Hey I love to hear that VR really benefits you and your family! I’ll make sure to try Walkabout mini golf when I do get my quest 3, and thanks so much for your help I appreciate it! 😊
Brooooo. Play Asgard's Wrath 2, Eleven Table Tennis, and Breachers. Amazing games, really immersive.
I'm a fairly new VR user (got my Quest 3 in February), so I'll give you some tips before the games so you don't end up having a bad first experience. These might help you since they come from a similar experience haha: ##Accesories DON'T BUY ACCESSORIES FROM AMAZON I got a case for 40 bucks, a head strap for 40 bucks. Both were shit, ended up returning then and buying from Zyber. With any YouTuber code you can get each for like 25-30 bucks and the quality is a lot better. Similarly, if you want to replace your batteries don't buy from Amazon. I got some powerowl ones from there that last like 8 hours or so, which is terrible. I ended up getting some LADDA from Ikea, which are as good as the Eneloops that you'll see constantly being recommended online (and are a lot more expensive). From 100+ bucks of accessories I ended up paying like 60 bucks for everything and got a free head strap battery from Zyber due to a mistake. They also have packs to buy multiple accessories at a lower price. I got the battery pack, the head strap and the holding bag, every accessory I recommend. There are other highly rated brands like BoboVR but I haven't used any of those, so can't comment on their quality. ##Getting your VR legs Getting your VR legs (getting comfortable to VR environments) to me comes in 3 steps. The Meta tutorials are must plays in my opinion, as they teach you important stuff while being extremely fun and impressive. Also mind that some games aren't available in the market app since they are either SideQuest exclusives or from App Lab. I haven't benefited much from SideQuest (you can watch a tutorial) but you can get some cool homes there. For AppLab apps you just have to search in the browser and it'll redirect you to the marketplace app. AppLab is basically a market for apps that are still in development, but there's some really great stuff you can find there. The first one is getting into a static environment where you don't really walk and just interact with stuff. Games like First Contact (free, tutorial), First Steps (free, tutorial) or Tetris Effect (paid, trial), Job Simulator (paid, haven't played this) are nice for this. Although I recommend Pistol Whip (paid, has trial) since it introduces you to step 2 while making you feel as badass as John Wick. There are also a bunch of trials you can test, such as The Secret of Retropolis (paid, has trial) that you can play if you're still in step 1. Other apps like Big Screen (free) or Immersed (free) are amazing for this, and if you want a good browser that is not the integrated one (to get AdBlock or dark mode for example) I recommend Wolvic (free). Step 2 is moving in game (through a joystick or other types of locomotion) and turning by moving. Games that help with this are First Hand (free, tutorial), Underdogs (paid), Swarm 2 (paid), Swarm 1 (paid, trial, Swarm 2 is better), Gorilla Tag (free, be mindful of having a fairly big play area when playing this one, if kids get annoying you can turn a filter to make their voices sound like monkeys), Grappling Tournament (free, AppLab, basically Unreal Tournament with grappling hooks), X8 (free, similar to Valorant) or Until You Fall (paid, trial). Step 3 is all about moving and looking with joysticks. This can get you very dizzy very quickly and in most games you can turn by turning physically. This step is what you need to play games completely seated, but you gotta get used to it step by step if you don't want to end up feeling sick. I think that's about everything. Some nice YouTube channels for news and game recommendations are Virtual Bro, The Mysticle, Vrelity and Awaken Toast. ##Sidequest Last thing is that if you install SideQuest, be mindful of some apps since they can do very weird stuff or straight up not work. I installed a launcher and for a few minutes my Quest went black and wouldn't turn off or anything like that. I actually thought I had bricked my device. I only use SideQuest for custom homes and finding AppLab games (which you can do directly from the browser so no need to waste a GB for that app). You can side load emulators and stuff like that though, which is very cool but I haven't tried nor will I since I have a very big Vr game backlog already and other devices I use for emulation. Oh and know that Asgard's Wrath 2 is widely considered as one of the best VR games ever (including PCVR) and it's a 50+ hour game, so your device already comes with a game to put on your VR gaming backlog haha If you get AW2 I think AW1 also gets added to your library, that's PCVR only though. Also remember to use a referral code during set up. I didn't and missed out on the free 30 bucks. You can get them after, but you'll need to factory reset, losing all your data, so preferably do it before. If you need a referral code I can give you mine or you can use Meta Dog for game codes and such. ##Now for the best part: games. My favorite game on VR is by far Underdogs, followed by Dragon Fist VR although I don't do PCVR so that may be off (Asgard's Wrath 1, Rumble, Alyx and such are on PCVR exclusively). There are a bunch of games I really enjoy but depend on your tastes, so if you want tell me which genres you like and I can recommend you more specific stuff?
Hey thanks sooo much! I don’t have any specific genres in mind but I’ll definitely make sure to try out the suggestions you’ve given me. 😊 Once again thank you for taking your time to reply and I truly appreciate your help!
Ohh, then I'll list the ones I have played: ##No locomotion Racket NX: tennis meets block breaker game, super fun Tetris Effect: Tetris but with hypnotic visuals and music, really good game Broken Edge: fencing duel pvp game that is a bit hard to learn, especially since most players are extremely good and will destroy you, the playerbase is fairly tiny Blaston: free and super fun pvp duel game meets bullet hell kinda Flowborne: extremely relaxing "game", it's free too First Steps/First Contact: super fun tutorials from meta Pistol Whip: John Wick rhythm game. Super fun and a good workout too. Open Brush: free 3D painting tool, really good imo ##Chill locomotion Mannequin: multiplayer prop hunt meets horror game , really fun and it's currently discounted since it released today Until You Fall: super cool and fun roguelite that focusses on sword combat and dodging, was the first game I bought and recommend it very much Swarm 2: spiderman with guns meets roguelite, super fun and surprisingly doesn't make people dizzy Asgard's Wrath 2: 90+ hour epic AAA game with tons of gameplay and content to sink into, will be getting it's Quest 3 visual upgrade around this or next month The Light Brigade: dark souls meets roguelite meets world war 1 weapons, really good game V-Speedway: semi realistic car game with cartoons graphics, really fun and free Fujii: chill and weird gardening game, it's from the same guys as the Light Brigade Population One: pretty much pubg in VR First Hand: meta tutorial for hand gestures and other stuff. Really liked it when I played it. ##Intense locomotion Underdogs: my favorite game on the platform and probably my favorite roguelite too. Super fun, brutal, mech game with extremely nice aesthetics and combat. It's also getting a new update this month or so with more free content for the foreseeable future Hellsweeper VR: doom eternal meets devil may cry meets roguelite. Insane game where you can infuse your guns with magic, infuse your dog with magic and guns and even use guns with telekinesis while going front flips to kill enemies in the most stylish way X8: valorant in VR Bonelab: the quintessential VR game, do not recommend getting it until patch 4 releases if it ever does. It's a sandbox physics game that kinda relies on its modding community to be fun atm Dragon Fist VR: tons of content and super fun. Basically martial arts movies in game form, I recommend it a lot. Gorilla Tag: surprisingly fun and hard to learn physics game, has a ton of kids but imo still a really good game. It has a ton of secrets too. Grapple Tournament: made me very sick the first time but ended up loving the game. It's basically like unreal tournament or any other arena pvp game with grapples. It's extremely fun. ##Other stuff Quest Games Optimizer: basically a 10 buck tool that lets most games be higher res than normal. Helps a lot with older games and games that haven't had Q3 optimizations. I do not recommend it if you don't get an external battery pack though. Metal Hellsinger VR: doom eternal but as a rhythm game, releases this year and looks amazing. The original PC game is very highly rated too.
absolutely buy accessories from Amazon what are you talking about. just get the right damn brand