Best upcoming Oculus Rift games (September 2017)

Launched in March 2016, the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset remains on of the best ways to get into VR gaming for the PC.  If you have yet to purchase the Rift, now would be a good time to do so, as Oculus is currently selling both the headset and its Oculus Touch controllers ins a bundle for $399, its lowest price yet. After the summer promotion is over, the price will go up to $499.

There are already a ton of great Oculus Rift games available right now to play, but the future is looking even brighter for the Rift. Here’s just a few of the upcoming Oculus Rift games that we think could be great picks for owners of the headset.


Arktika.1

4A Games, best known for their Metro series of post-apocalyptic shooters, are also developing this VR exclusive shooter for the Rift. While unconnected to the Metro franchise, Arktika.1 is also set in a post-apocalyptic Russia, but one that has been affected not by nuclear war but by a new ice age. The player character will be a mercenary who has been hired to protect a facility in this snow and ice-covered location.

Your job in the game is to protect this facility from any number of human and non-human enemies. Unlike the Metro games, Arktika.1 lets the player fire more futuristic firearms in addition to more traditional guns. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer to play this game; it was first announced in October 2016. Unfortunately, there’s still no exact launch date — at least at the time of this writing.


Brass Tactics

Hidden Path Entertainment, who have already released a number of VR games for the Rift, among other platforms, are planning to launch perhaps its most ambitious virtual reality game yet for the headset. Brass Tactics is hoping to bring the classic real-time strategy gameplay from the PC to VR.

The game will let players view the game map as if it was a tabletop board game at first, as they move units around with their Oculus Touch controllers. However, they will also have the option to view and play the game as if they were actually in the map itself, offering a more immersive experience. Based on the early screenshots and the trailer for Brass Tactics, it looks like RTS fans will have a whole new way to play games, without having to deal with complicated user interfaces.

This game is expected to arrive sometime in October of 2017.


Transference

Ubisoft continues to be one of the few major game publishers to embrace virtual reality. It has already released several VR games, but the upcoming title Transference may be the oddest one of them all. The game is being developed in collaboration with SpectreVision, a Hollywood movie production company that has actor Elijah Wood among its co-founders.

Beyond that, the game also looks very interesting. The basic storyline will put the player in the minds of several different members of a family as you try to discover their secrets and try to repair their lives. The trailer makes Transference look like a horror film, but one with some intelligence rather that just going for shocks and gore.

Unfortunately, you still have a bit of a wait for this one, as it isn’t expected to arrive until Spring of 2018.


Beat Saber

The music rhythm game genre would seem to be perfect for VR, and one developer, Hyperbolic Magnetism, thinks it has a twist on this type of game that will be perfect for Rift owners. Beat Saber is not only a music game but an arcade-style action title, which the developer itself describes as ” Guitar Hero and Fruit Ninja in VR.”

Basically, the music in Beat Saber is represented by 3D squares that come towards the player when he or she is wearing the Rift. The player is armed in the game with two light saber-like weapons, which are used to cut through the moving square beats. The player has to keep this up while also moving to avoid obticals. Beat Saber looks like it will be one of those games that will be easy to learn, but hard to master. It also looks like it will be a ton of fun to play.

The game is slated to arrive in Q4 of 2017.


Project Cars 2

Developer Slightly Mad Studios released the original Project Cars game for the Rift in 2016 to wide acclaim. Now the sequel to the racing sim game, Project Cars 2, is nearing release, and it looks to be a huge hit on not only for the PC and consoles but for VR gaming fans as well. Indeed, the game will be released with VR support the same day it comes out on other platforms on September 22.

The game will feature over 170 real-world vehicles, spanning the range from old classic and vintage cars to modern supercars. Players will be able to drive all these vehicles in over 140 tracks, and Slightly Mad have gone all out to make sure that these locations will be as realistic as possible. Everything from dynamic weather from all four seasons, to track surfaces that actually change due to more rubber placed on the asphalt, will be available. The cars themselves will have highly accurate physics and handling models, and drivers can compete online with others or drive in the game’s single player campaign modes. Oh, and the graphics looks exceptional. Project Cars 2 could end up being one of the best games released for VR in 2017.


These are our picks for the best upcoming Oculus Rift games. Any other good ones you know of? Let us know in the comments.

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