The Best Open World VR Games

So you want to experience a fantastic open world in VR. You want huge vistas, interesting landmarks to explore, and all sorts of fantastic things to find in a huge landscape brought to you in Virtual Reality.

Well good thing you found your way here, because you’re about to discover the best Open World VR games in existence. While these VR games have a variety of different mechanics and VR interactions, each is guaranteed to give you a massive place to explore and discover intriguing things.

These are the Best Open World VR Games.

Into The Radius

The Into The Radius Logo

If you’re looking for a truly weird place to explore then Into The Radius will certainly deliver. In all of the VR games I’ve played none gives as much of an experience of the surreal and scary quite like Into The Radius does.

In this game you’re an explorer doing your best to survive the Pechorsk Zone, which is a huge open world area comprised of 5 areas where the laws of the natural world no longer apply.

Fighting the dark figures in Into The Radius

As you hunt for artifacts, scavenge for supplies, and try to complete missions you’ll have to fight your way through the hostile dark figures that stalk the radius, and dodge the deadly anomalies that dot the landscape.

Into The Radius is a great open world game not only for its numerous combat and survival challenges, but for the imagination behind its world.

Pechorsk was once a normal place, but now there are all sorts of insane gravity defying ruins and odd structures scattered about. You really never know what you’ll see and discover next while exploring in this VR open world game.

A massive anomaly in Into The Radius

Into The Radius has made its way on a lot of our lists here at Reality Remake for good reasons. Not only is it a blast to play with tons of horror and action packed gameplay, but it also gives you a mysterious and strange world to explore.

That’s why Into The Radius is among the best open world VR games out there.

Elite Dangerous VR

The Elite Dangerous Logo with “VR” slapped on it

So you want an open world to explore in Virtual Reality, well what if we told you that more than one world was available? Well there are many worlds to explore in the depths of space, and that’s why Elite Dangerous VR is such a fantastic choice as an Open World VR game.

There is so much to explore in Elite Dangerous VR that nobody has seen all of it. Even all of the players of this game put together haven’t explored a small percentage of the worlds in store, because Elite Dangerous VR models our actual Universe.

If you want to not only see the incredible sights of space, but also have an effectively infinite number of worlds to discover, then Elite Dangerous VR will satisfy your craving for deep space exploration.

The views of space in Elite Dangerous VR are unmatched

There’s also more to do in this VR open world game. There’s combat, space trucking, space piracy, all sorts of things. No matter what you choose to do your chosen profession will take you all over this gorgeous game in the cockpit of your ship.

As far as open worlds go they don’t get much more open than the depths of space, so if you want to explore the cosmos Elite Dangerous VR is a great choice of open world VR game.

Want to know more? Check out our review and setup guide for Elite Dangerous VR.

No Man’s Sky VR

The No Man’s Sky Logo for their expansion “Beyond”

Since we’re talking about VR open world space games we’ve got to mention No Man’s Sky VR.

This game has a lot of the same open world strengths that Elite Dangerous VR has, but with very different gameplay mechanics.

The universe is just as infinite in No Man’s Sky VR, but instead of always being confined to your ship you also have much more to do by walking around on the surfaces of planets like harvesting resources, fighting robots, and a ton more. All in immersive Virtual Reality.

Exploring a massive open world planet in No Man’s Sky VR

Learn alien languages, upgrade your ship, get a massive freighter, start a space colony, and so much more is available in No Man’s Sky VR. Of course, this game also has more worlds to explore than you can possibly imagine.

Despite getting a lot of bad press at its release, No Man’s Sky has delivered on so much since then, including this VR port, though on PCVR it leaves some to be desired. It’s easy to walk outside of your body, and the VR controls are a little janky at times.

So while not as smooth of a VR open world sci fi experience as Elite Dangerous VR, No Man’s Sky VR brings a ton of different gameplay options that Elite Dangerous’ purely spaceship and space rover based experience just can’t deliver on.

So while it’s not the best VR port around and can run pretty choppily, No Man’s Sky VR is still a fantastic open world VR game, especially on the PSVR2, where it runs much more smoothly.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners Logo

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is another fantastic example of a VR open world game done well.

In this game you are the Tourist, an infamous survivor of the zombie apocalypse in the universe of The Walking Dead and you’ve recently arrived in the flooded city of New Orleans.

This game has an interesting story with compelling characters that centers around your quest to find The Reserve, a bunker which is rumored to contain tons of weapons and supplies that everyone in the city wants.

A small horde of zombies in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

Your mission to find The Reserve will take you all over the ruined and zombie filled streets of The Walking Dead’s New Orleans. You’ll need to scavenge, craft, and fight through not only zombies but also the human factions that all want a piece of The Reserve, and you.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a fantastic game not only for its story, missions, and events, but also the world that you enter every time you go out into the city.

There are all sorts of ruins to explore and sights to see in the zombie filled streets of New Orleans. The world is massive, though it is cut up into separate maps with tons of nooks and crannies to explore and things to find.

If you want a zombie themed open world VR game then there is no better one to scratch that itch than The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners. It’s also available on the Meta/Oculus Quest as well as PCVR.

Green Hell VR

The Green Hell VR Logo

Both on PCVR and the Meta Quest platforms Green Hell VR is a fantastic game that lets you explore the Amazon rainforest in all of its green and dangerous glory.

From hunting animals to discovering which plants will make you sick or nourish you, Green Hell VR combines an intricate crafting, survival, and building system with a huge rainforest to explore.

You’ll even discover that you’re not quite alone in the green hell, there are some local peoples that aren’t too fond of you interloping in their territory.

Being attacked by a Jaguar in Green Hell VR

Green Hell VR is a fantastic VR survival game that constantly forces you to deal with the very real perils of your environment from leeches in the water to pumas stalking you between the trees.

There are very few games that combine survival elements with the thrill of exploration and discovery in a natural space quite like Green Hell does, and even fewer that do so in Virtual Reality.

Green Hell VR is a great open world VR game, and also a great story for you to discover. Why are you trapped in the rainforest? Why can’t you leave?

Hanging out and cooking food in Green Hell VR

If you want to discover the rainforest in all its dangerous beauty and master it then there’s no better VR open world game than Green Hell VR.

The Forest VR

The Forest VR Logo

While we’re on the topic of VR open world games that give you a big natural environment to explore, then there’s no way we won’t mention The Forest VR.

A PCVR port of the hit game The Forest, The Forest VR is essentially the same game but with a VR view and controls. While it’s not the smoothest VR port in terms of performance, quality, or VR interactions, it is still a great open world VR game to enjoy.

In this game you are a passenger on a crashed plane that must survive in a dangerous forest inhabited with cannibal tribes that only grow more aggressive as time passes.

Meanwhile you’re looking for your kidnapped son, and try to discover what exactly is happening in the remote stretch of wilderness you find yourself in.

Walking through the titular Forest

I’m not going to sugar coat this though, The Forest VR has a lot of jankiness to it.

From the third person animations to the annoyances of trying to crouch without being teleported into the air, and the input lag that can give you a headache or just make the game frustrating to play.

Still, The Forest is such fun as a Virtual Reality open world game if you can get over those things. It gives you a huge world to explore filled with dangerous cannibals, vistas and caves to explore.

Slingshotting a cannibal

There is a lot of VR game for you to have fun with if you’re able to, and exploring the forest and its mysteries while you gather resources and uncover mysteries is too much fun to not include it on this list.

Gorilla Tag

The Gorilla Tag Logo

If you’re into VR games then you’ve probably heard of Gorilla Tag. So we won’t talk too much about it here, but you might not have realized that Gorilla Tag is basically an open world game as well.

Each area in Gorilla Tag is connected, and whether you’re playing it on PCVR or the Oculus Quest it is completely free. Your first time exploring each area with this game’s fantastic movement system is still a ton of fun, because each of the levels is connected.

A fantastic piece of Gorilla Tag’s open world

There are a lot of nooks and crannies and things to discover and explore in Gorilla Tag, from a sunny beach to floating platforms high up in the sky.

So if you want to discover what is so special about Gorilla Tag’s VR oriented movement while also exploring an interesting world, then give it a shot. It’s free, and surprisingly satisfying as a VR open world to explore.

Ghosts of Tabor

The Ghosts Of Tabor Logo

If you want player vs player shooting action while you scavenge and explore a world ravaged island, then Ghosts of Tabor is a game that delivers just that. It is a fantastic VR shooting game and a fantastic VR open world game.

We’ve called it a VR Escape From Tarkov game before, and if you’ve heard of Tarkov then you know exactly what that means.

In Ghosts of Tabor you enter the world from your secret bunker by starting a raid, and in that raid you have a certain amount of time, at least 30 minutes, to find an extraction point and exit.

A massive building to explore in Ghosts Of Tabor

While you look for one you explore the map and try to find loot to take out with you and either sell for money to buy more equipment, or store in your bunker for later use.

Meanwhile other players might be your friend or foe out in Tabor, and the local FENIX rebels will certainly be unhappy to see you.

Oh, and just like in Escape From Tarkov if you die you lose everything you have on you. So staying alive is always your number one priority.

Fighting another player in Ghosts Of Tabor

So if you want an open world to explore while combined with fantastic player versus player shooting and the extraction shooter mechanics pioneered by Escape From Tarkov, then give Ghosts of Tabor a look.

For such an action focused game it also gives you a ton of explore and discover, making it a great open world VR game as well.

If you want to know more then check out our article on Ghosts of Tabor.

Stormland

The Stormland Logo

Stormland is a VR game so old that you might not have heard of it. This was an early Oculus title from the days when standalone VR headsets like the Meta Quest weren’t even available yet.

So Stormland is PCVR exclusive, but wow is it a hidden gem.

In this game you’re a robot with human consciousness on an alien world, and it takes a lot of inspiration from flatscreen open world games.

Flying in Stormland

You explore around finding camps of enemies and clearing them to make the world a little bit safer, and there’s a shooting combat system that by today’s standards is a little unsophisticated. Oh, and the game is awfully short at about five to six hours.

Though where Stormland really shines is when it lets you loose to explore its open world. I’ve never had such a good time flying around in a VR game than I did when coasting through the alien world of Stormland.

The towering columns packed with vegetation and science fiction structures scattered around the place make Stormland a very pleasing game to look at and a great VR open world game to explore.

Despite how short of an experience it is compared to more modern VR open world titles, and a somewhat lackluster combat system, Stormland is a ton of fun to explore at least once if you don’t mind paying the price for it.

Grimlord

The Grimlord Logo

Remember Dark Souls? Or maybe Elden Ring. You’ve probably heard of at least one of them and are familiar with the concept of a “souls-like”.

These games are very well known for their excellent melee combat systems as well as their harsh punishments for repeated failure. Well Grimlord takes both of those things, and puts them into a fantastic open world just like any of the flatscreen soulslike games.

Fighting multiple enemies in Grimlord

The biggest difference is, of course, the addition of VR controls and a VR view.

Instead of hitting a button to attack in a set pattern, depending on your weapon, you’re now swinging your weapon any way that you want with your actual arm!

If a VR fighting game that includes a massive open world and soulslike progression sounds interesting in the slightest then you should really check out Grimlord, it’s a ton of fun.

Skyrim VR (With Mods)

The Skyrim VR Logo

It’s no secret that Skyrim VR was not a very good VR port. From the poor optimization to the lack of very basic VR interactions, it was considered a flop and a cash grab by its publisher, Bethesda Softworks.

Luckily as with all Bethesda games, Skyrim VR has had a lot of work put into it independently by the modding community.

If you want to do fairly basic VR things like grab stuff, have a physical body in the world, or enjoy melee combat that amounts to more than just flicking your wrist near an enemy, Skyrim VR with mods will give you all of that in the beautiful and immersive open world of Skyrim.

The entrance to Whiterun in Skyrim VR

Now you can experience Skyrim VR like you should have been able to from the start. While there are still some performance issues on certain graphics cards, Skyrim VR with mods really delivers on a VR Elder Scrolls experience.

Now you can explore Skyrim’s vast open world with truly immersive VR controls, and wow is it a ton of fun. If you’ve always wanted to explore Skyrim in VR, but the reputation of the VR port kept you away, it’s time to install mods and give it a go.

If you want the easiest way to install a large suite of Skyrim VR mods without having to worry about cross compatability issues, then check out our guide on the easiest way to install Skyrim VR mods so that you can enjoy this VR open world.

Minecraft VR

A Minecraft Logo

To cap off this list of the Best Open World VR Games, none needs as little introduction as Minecraft VR.

We don’t need to tell you anything about this game and what it entails, just that it’s possible to enjoy it in Virtual Reality and experience the most open of open worlds.

The satisfaction of creating a fantastic building is better than ever in Virtual Reality, and if you want a limitless open world to explore in VR then Minecraft VR will always deliver.

Well that’s it for our list of the best VR Open World games. If you want a big world to explore then you’ll certainly have found something on this list that you’ll enjoy. I’ve personally played every single one and found something to enjoy in exploring each of them, and you certainly will too. Have fun!

Grimlord Is An Awesome Dark Souls VR Game

Have you ever wanted a true Dark Souls VR or Elden Ring VR experience that didn’t rely on janky mods for games not really built for VR? Well then look no further, because Metalcat Studio has just released a Dark Souls VR game that is built from the ground up for Virtual Reality. It’s called Grimlord, and wow does it have everything you might want in a Dark Souls VR game. Here we’re going to talk about how Grimlord takes inspiration from Dark Souls and how it plays in VR. This is Grimlord, the best Dark Souls VR experience out there.

Dark Souls VR - Grimlord’s World

If you like the intricate world building and cryptic mysteries that accompany any Dark Souls game, then you’ll find that all over Grimlord.

A cool view in Grimlord

The oppressive feeling of decay that accompanies any of From Software’s Dark Souls titles is just as obvious here in Grimlord’s take on Dark Souls VR. Everything is old and crumbling. Most of your enemies are gross zombies that look like they’re a thousand years old, though not all of them are. Especially as you go further on, you’ll see a lot of very normal looking archers and knights, who as you might guess are a lot quicker and deadlier than the dusty zombies you’ll also be fighting a lot.

Axing an enemy in this Dark Souls VR game

The lesson that Grimlord takes from Dark Souls in this Dark Souls VR game more than anything else is the sense of scale. In the first location, a huge castle with a large keep at the top, you can see the very top of the map even from where you spawn in outside of the walls. Just like in any Dark Souls game you can see the places that you can head towards early on, and you can go to those places.

A keep in the distance in Grimlord

The further and further you fight your way through the castle then the closer you can see the keep become. You can even look back on the first areas of the castle and see far you’ve come. It’s a great effect, and made all the greater from how decayed everything looks. That sense of ancient wonder and grand but old things even comes to the dialog.

This guy is very cryptic… but he does reveal some things

The characters sound cryptic and almost not human. Even the woman who sells you upgrades to your character sounds like she’s reading an old poem every time you talk to her to get a new upgrade. Characters talk about old heroes, some of which you end up fighting, and the conflicts that you have somehow found yourself a part of. It’s great, and feels just as strange and otherworldly yet familiar as the setting of any Dark Souls game.

Dark Souls VR - Grimlord’s Progression

Just like in Dark Souls, this Dark Souls VR game has a similar sort of progression system, or at least the progression accomplishes the same feeling that Dark Souls games do. If you perish then your “matter” is where you were where you fell, ready to be picked up. You gain “matter” like you would souls in a Dark Souls game, by defeating enemies and bosses. Though if you perish again while your matter is sitting on the floor it is gone for good.

You, of course, need matter to buy upgrades and forge new weapons. So it’s important to not lose.

Picking Matter back up in Grimlord, the Dark Souls VR equivalent of souls

This is the classic Dark Souls formula, now in VR. This is what makes each run feel so tense and difficult. The penalty for failure can be pretty large, and you’re also encouraged to spend your matter on character upgrades or new items as soon as you can. If you’re stuck on a boss, then you can farm enemies until you have enough matter to get a level or two and try the boss again.

The first boss in Grimlord

The progression of weapons that you can use is one of the key differences between Grimlord and Dark Souls. You do find some weapons just laying around, but mostly you find pieces of paper with weapon plans on them for new parts. It could be a new handle, or a blade, or anything that you could put on a weapon. Bosses even drop unique weapon pieces.

Getting a unique weapon piece from a boss

Finding these scraps of paper means that you can go back to the blacksmith and use those new pieces to forge a new piece of equipment, which is a fun system. The only downside is that the act of finding a piece of paper for a new crossguard or handle isn’t exactly as exciting as finding a whole new piece of gear.

Sure it’s more manageable than having to lug about a ton of different weapons in Virtual Reality, but it’s certainly not as exciting. You have to find materials for equipment as well as the knowledge of the parts to make up that new piece of equipment. Forging a new axe or sword or whatever you want to make is a great feeling though.

Forging a new axe in Grimlord. There are a lot of customization options in this Dark Souls VR game

There is magic too in Grimlord, and to use it you’ll need a magic staff that you can craft as well as knowledge of what runes you can draw to do that magic. Yep, instead of just hitting a button to cast a spell, you need to physically draw the rune that casts that spell. This is not only very nerve wracking when you’re in the middle of combat, but a great way to incorporate Virtual Reality controls into a magic system in Dark Souls VR.

Casting a spell with a magic staff in Grimlord

There’s archery too, but it lacks the excitement of the other systems since archery has been done to death in VR, though without archery it would feel like Grimlord is really lacking a key system.

Shooting an arrow at a dummy

Dark Souls VR - Grimlord’s Combat

The progression, of course, feeds into the combat of Grimlord, and just like in Dark Souls, combat is the core of this VR Dark Souls game. There are a lot of VR fighting games out there, and Grimlord does have a different feel to a lot of those.

Blocking an attack with a shield

While there is occasionally some jankiness with collisions of weapons and enemies, it’s overall a very well done system. More than anything else it feels different because Grimlord encourages a more thought out and formulaic approach to combat encounters that rewards clear thinking and strategy. Just what you would expect from a Dark Souls VR game that takes inspiration from the From Software titles.

Axing another zombified enemy in Grimlord

Enemies and Bosses have preset moves and animations that you will recognize over time, and so can learn to dodge or block as they come at you. Fighting a single enemy is rarely difficult, with the exception of bosses because of their large health pools and devastating attacks. A lot of the difficulty comes from fighting groups of enemies.

Just swinging your sword around haphazardly and not concentrating on defense as well as offense will not end well for you, and you need to carefully pick your opportunities between enemy attacks to get some swings in. The only downside is that the game, for now at least, lacks enemy variety. There are some interesting enemy types that get mixed and matched well in the different environments of the game, but the same enemies are repeated so often that they eventually start to get boring.

Finding a complete new weapon in Grimlord, a rare event

It can be easy for a Virtual Reality fighting system to devolve into a hack and smash fest where you can win by swinging your arms very fast, and Grimlord rarely has that problem. So overall it’s a good combat system, though some more development time will be needed to get the variety of enemies that can make it really shine.

Dark Souls VR - Grimlord Conclusions

While Grimlord clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the Dark Souls and Elden Ring games, which we’ve repeated here a lot, it is very much its own experience. It is differentiated more than by just the fact that it is in Virtual Reality. Grimlord has its own world and lore which is cryptic but interesting, and the encounters and enemy variety not only incorporate Virtual Reality well, but aren’t simply carbon copies of other games.

If you’re a fan of VR fighting games, or a fan of the Dark Souls series of games, then you’ll be happy with Grimlord. Even if you’re not and just want something to swing your arms at in exciting combat, then you’ll still find a lot to enjoy in Grimlord, which has a story and progression focus that most VR fighting games lack. Unlike a lot of them, Grimlord is not yet another sandbox in the vein of Blade & Sorcery.

A Virtual Reality fighting game that doesn’t rely on you to make your own fun and presents you with carefully designed combat encounters is, for now at least, a rare gem, and deserves to be enjoyed on its own merits as such.

Grimlord is available on Steam for PCVR, but does have a Quest release planned for standalone VR gamers. Enjoy!