Payday 2 is part stealth game and part horde shooter, centered around letting you live a life of crime by executing various heists and robberies.
Of course, if you’re here then you’ve probably heard that Payday 2 has released a free DLC that allows anyone who owns the game to play it in Virtual Reality. Very exciting stuff, this isn’t another VR mod that may or may not function or convert all of the features of the game to Virtual Reality.
Nope, Payday 2 VR is actually a very well realized conversion of the flatscreen Payday 2 experience into Virtual Reality that unlike some other official VR ports has clearly been seen through to completion. However, that doesn’t mean this is a perfect conversion.
Today we're going to get in depth with Medieval Dynasty New Settlement, a VR port by Spectral Games of the flatscreen game Medieval Dynasty by Render Cube.
The flatscreen game has been around for a while, originally released in 2021, and according to Steam reviews is pretty well received and sold well. Medieval Dynasty New Settlement, or rather Medieval Dynasty VR, is a rebuilding of the concept of the original flatscreen game from the ground up for the Meta Quest, and features the same focus on surviving, crafting, and building yourself up from a simple peasant to the well respected owner of your own sprawling medieval estate, except now it's all in Virtual Reality!
Minecraft VR is an absolutely fantastic game, and once you get it working it is a ton of fun.
Now you can even enjoy it if your PC isn’t great and can’t run games in PCVR. You only need a PC to install it on your headset.
So if you want to explore Minecraft in VR on your Oculus Quest device then keep reading because we’ve got exactly how step by step.
So what do you do in CONVRGENCE? Mostly you collect stuff to sell, buy stuff, and use that stuff to avoid getting killed while you collect more stuff. It's a surprisingly entertaining system.
You fight and loot your way through until you find an extract and stand next to it for a few seconds. Then you're back in the base, sell your stuff, buy whatever you want or need. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and if you do die you lose everything, unless you have insurance, then you lose everything except for what's in your backpack.
There are multiple different location types to go and raid with different enemies, dangers, and surroundings, and overall I'd say the gameplay loop is solid. It's very similar to Paradox Of Hope's Raid Mode, though unfortunately there's no story mode in CONVRGENCE.
Payday 2 is part stealth game and part horde shooter, centered around letting you live a life of crime by executing various heists and robberies.
Of course, if you’re here then you’ve probably heard that Payday 2 has released a free DLC that allows anyone who owns the game to play it in Virtual Reality. Very exciting stuff, this isn’t another VR mod that may or may not function or convert all of the features of the game to Virtual Reality.
Nope, Payday 2 VR is actually a very well realized conversion of the flatscreen Payday 2 experience into Virtual Reality that unlike some other official VR ports has clearly been seen through to completion. However, that doesn’t mean this is a perfect conversion.
The conversation of “VR Is Dead” or “VR Is Dying” pops up on social media, especially X (Twitter), every now and again.
Strong sales of VR headsets in general in the early 2020s proved this continual conversation to be wrong, at least until the recent stagnation of VR headset sales in 2023.
United States headset sales, according to CNBC, went down nearly forty percent in 2023. This is pretty shocking news to someone who is a Virtual Reality fan and wants to see others enjoy VR as much as possible.
This could be attributed to a number of things, like the cessation of COVID restrictions on living and travel, or simply market fatigue and general awareness of Virtual Reality reaching its peak. What the VR headset sales numbers don’t show you, however, is how many games existing users are buying, and most importantly how often existing users are using their headsets.
Flatscreen game Escape Simulator has now added a new Virtual Reality mode in its latest update on April 3, 2024. Escape Simulator VR is free as long as you own Escape Simulator, so you can play this escape room game in Virtual Reality via PCVRor on the flatscreen as long as you have it.
Escape Simulator is a puzzle game that puts you, and some friends too with the game’s multiplayer, into a number of escape rooms with different themes and puzzles. You’ll have to solve these puzzles and use your intelligence and wit to escape from these rooms. There are even new rooms to escape from added as well for long time fans.
While Escape Simulator VR has not come to standalone platforms like the Quest yet, it’s a great addition to the puzzling genre on the PCVR platform.
A Virtual Reality spinoff of Smalland: Survive the Wilds was announced on March 28, 2024. It is now available for preorder on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro. Unfortunately for PCVR and PSVR fans this title has not been released on those platforms.
Likely as with many VR spinoffs to flatscreen games, the developers at Merge Games have likely decided to target the burgeoning market of standalone Virtual Reality headsets with Smalland VR in lieu of or before the smaller and more expensive PCVR and PSVR markets.
Smalland: Survive The Wilds VR seems to be planned to be a very similar game to its flatscreen inspiration. It will be focused on survival, base building and upgrading, crafting equipment, and most notably and uniquely the taming of creatures. Hopefully, Smalland VR will bring a quality survival experience that includes creature taming, unlike the lackluster ARK VR port and standalone title.
So what do you do in CONVRGENCE? Mostly you collect stuff to sell, buy stuff, and use that stuff to avoid getting killed while you collect more stuff. It's a surprisingly entertaining system.
You fight and loot your way through until you find an extract and stand next to it for a few seconds. Then you're back in the base, sell your stuff, buy whatever you want or need. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and if you do die you lose everything, unless you have insurance, then you lose everything except for what's in your backpack.
There are multiple different location types to go and raid with different enemies, dangers, and surroundings, and overall I'd say the gameplay loop is solid. It's very similar to Paradox Of Hope's Raid Mode, though unfortunately there's no story mode in CONVRGENCE.