VR gaming is amazing. But being a fan of virtual reality games can be frustrating. The form just doesn’t get as much love as standard PC and console gaming.
It is, unfortunately, tougher to get people to actually play VR titles. And that means fewer tend to get made.
On February 9, Ubisoft announced it will back away from VR after the rather good Assassin's Creed Nexus VR didn’t sell as well as expected.
VR is still niche, but it’s a fun niche. We’ve looked into what’s coming up later in 2024 to see what Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2 owners in particular have to look forward to.
Console gaming more your thing? Check out the games coming to PlayStation and Xbox this year.
Upcoming VR games in 2024
Here’s our pick of the bunch for the best upcoming VR games of 2024:
- Madison VR (February 20 for PSVR2, PC VR)
- Stranger Things VR (February 22 for Quest)
- Lawn Mowing Simulator VR (March 2024 for Quest)
- Swarm 2 (March 2024 for Quest)
- Medieval Dynasty New Settlement (Spring 2024 for Quest)
- Arcade Paradise VR (Q1 2024 for Quest)
- GRIM (2024 for PC VR, PSVR2)
- Metro Awakening VR (2024, PC VR, PSVR2, Quest)
- Behemoth (Late 2024 for PSVR2, PC VR)
- Low-Fi (2024 for PC VR, PSVR2)
- Soul Covenant (H1, 2024 for PSVR2, PC VR, Quest)
- Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable (H2, 2024 for Quest)
- Taskmaster VR (2024 for PC VR, Quest)
- Phasmophobia (2024 for PSVR2)
- Wanderer: Fragments of Fate (TBC for PSVR2, PC VR, Quest)
- Arken Age (TBC for PSVR2, PC VR)
- Aces of Thunder (TBC for PSVR2)
February and March 2024
There are some significant games arriving early this year. Meta Quest headsets get a strange take on Stranger Things on February 22, with a game set in the Upside Down, rather than broadly following the show’s goofy protagonists. You instead play as Vecna.
It might be a bit intense for some Stranger Things fans, and leans more into the horror side than the 80s-flavoured cosiness of friendship themes in the show. But it looks intriguing.
PSVR2 owners also get Madison VR, a virtual reality adaptation of a horror game released on Steam (in flat form) in 2022.
The next month, March, brings a couple of other notables for Quest owners, in Lawn Mowing Simulator VR and Swarm 2.
On one end of the spectrum, Lawn Mowing Simulator is a game about, yes, mowing lawns. However, fans have been hoping for a VR version since the PC original released in 2021.
Swarm 2 is a much more action-packed title, one that sees you flinging yourself around environments with a grappling hook while zapping stuff with a pistol. It looks a blast, and is the sequel to the original Swarm from 2021. Swarm 2 is due in March.
Early 2024 VR games
Some of the chunkier upcoming VR games have less cemented release dates. An Arcade Paradise VR version is coming. This is an unusual mix of a work sim game and an actual retro arcade.
You run a laundrette with a couple of arcade machines out the back. You have to run the washing and drying machines, grow the business, and unlock achievements in the arcade games themselves. The “flat” original was great, so there are big hopes for the VR remake. It’s due in “Q1 2024”.
Similarly, Medieval Dynasty New Settlement is coming in the “spring” and is a crafting, building and survival game in which you live as someone trying to get by in Middle Ages Europe. The series began in 2020 on PC, but the VR version should be much more immersive, if also a lot less relaxing.
The most UK-centric of all VR games of 2024 is Taskmaster VR, a virtual reality game based on the gameshow starring some of the best comedians around. This VR version features a caricature version of Greg Davies, with expressions modelled by the man himself.
The trailer depicts a series of mini-games, and you can expect this one to be quick and silly fun rather than a game that expects you to play for hours at a time – that’s just an educated guess. There’s no official release date either, but it would make sense for Taskmaster VR to arrive alongside the next series of the show, due in “early 2024”.
Late in 2024 and PSVR 2 previews
Waiting for the big PSVR2 releases? These are pencilled in for “2024”, suggesting we’ll see them later in the year, if they aren’t bumped into 2025.
Behemoth is one of the biggies, but all we’ve seen so far of this dramatic-looking fantasy title is a cinematic teaser from a year ago. Take a look.
There’s more substance to Metro Awakening, which was only announced on January 31. It’s a new instalment of the narrative-led first-person shooter Metro series, made from day one for VR.
Metro Awakening is coming to PSVR2, Quest headsets and PC, some time in 2024.
Equally ambitious is Arken Age, an exploration-heavy action adventure with “physics-based” combat. The visual style may remind some of Pandora, the world of the Avatar movies.
It’s coming to PSVR2 and PC but, again, there’s no firm release date as yet.
Aces of Thunder is another upcoming PSVR2 game, and one that should slot into the VR mould beautifully as it’s a flying game. This is a dogfighting sim with real planes from the WW2 era, including the Spitfire.
The first major trailer for Aces of Thunder was released in March 2023. We hope it’s headed to land in 2024, but no release date has been confirmed yet.
