The Only VR Battle Royale Games Worth Playing

Despite the popularity of Battle Royales on the flat screen, there really isn’t a lot of them to enjoy in Virtual Reality right now.

If you want a fun and engaging VR Battle Royale game then you aren’t exactly spoiled for choice. Though luckily there are still some fantastic VR Battle Royale games for you to try out there.

Here at Reality Remake I’m not going to waste your time with unfinished games or others that just barely fit the definition of the genre like some other sites do

Instead here are games that fit the real definition of what a Battle Royale is. They’ve got guns, intense moments, looting, team play, interesting items, and big maps. Of course, there’ll be a circle that closes in on the map as well, until only the winning team remains. These games have everything that you would expect from a VR Battle Royale, and they’re very polished and very fun.

So here are the only VR Battle Royales worth playing.

Contractors Showdown

The Contractors Showdown Logo

This won’t be a surprise to to anyone who has been tuned into the latest VR games that have been coming out. Contractors Showdown was released recently at the time of originally writing this article, and had a lot of hype from tweets to Facebook posts to YouTube videos all showcasing this game and stating that a true VR Battle Royale game was finally coming.

While I certainly wouldn’t consider Contractors Showdown to be the only “true” Battle Royale game in Virtual Reality (more about that when we talk about our next game) it definitely is a fantastic VR Battle Royale that was completely deserving of the hype that it received and continues to receive.

Contractors Showdown has a very active player base, a practice range, quests, a leveling system, customization, and most importantly of all it really has just about everything that you would expect of a VR Battle Royale game featuring realistic modern weapons and a massive island map to fight others across.

Gunfights are a ton of fun in this VR Battle Royale Game.

Contractors Showdown plays a lot like a VR version of Call Of Duty’s Warzone game mode. Everyone drops off from a big C-130 transport plane onto the island, and then you gather cash, modern weapons, ammunition, and consumable items that spawn on the ground.

There’s a circle around the map that closes in, and you’ve got to stay inside of it or perish. You can even buy new equipment (or even extra lives or respawns for your teammates) from vending machines scattered across the map.

So you get the idea, it’s a BR after all, and all of the classic elements of the genre are here in Contractors Showdown, but what makes this game truly special is that all of this is in Virtual Reality, and all of it is done so well.

Just like Contractors, the VR shooting game on which this game is loosely based, the weapons are accurate and deadly, the time to kill is pretty low, and all players can move, jump, and slide very quickly. Fast reaction and movement are very important in Contractors Showdown, but so is proper planning and strategy. You can be knocked really quickly, and so you’ve got to choose your actions carefully.

There are a lot of realistic and modern weapons to choose from in this Virtual Reality Battle Royale game.

In this game, you can collect or buy support that you can call in like air strikes, deployable cover, and so much more. Another thing inspired by Call Of Duty: Warzone. Even if you get knocked down (which can happen frighteningly quickly if you aren’t vigilant) if you have a self revive you can pick yourself back up and get back into the fight.

It’s like the developers took all of the latest and greatest innovations in Battle Royale design and rolled them up in a well created and pretty bug free Virtual Reality game.

Overall Contractors Showdown is a well polished game and an overall fantastic VR shooter if you want a VR Battle Royale game with realistic modern weapons and fast and addictive combat. I highly recommend it to any fan of the Battle Royale genre who wants to experience it in Virtual Reality.

Contractors Showdown is available on Steam for PCVR and on the Meta Quest store.

POPULATION: ONE

The POPULATION: ONE Logo.

POPULATION: ONE is pretty old in the brief timeline of the Virtual Reality gaming industry, but was and still is a trailblazer of what can be done in Virtual Reality, and on a standalone Meta Quest headset no less.

POPULATION: ONE was the first ever VR Battle Royale that was really deserving of the title, and is an extremely well polished game that has been consistently popular over the years since it was released in 2020. Though the popularity of this game was definitely assisted by its transition to a free to play business model.

POPULATION: ONE took more inspiration from Fortnite than other Battle Royales, but is very far from feeling like a VR Fortnite clone. It also features some unique innovations that take VR hand tracked controls into account, like needing to rub shock paddles together to charge them and revive a teammate (more on that soon). It features building and every player has a generous amount of health when compared to other Virtual Reality shooters. So this is a bit more casual feeling than most VR shooting games, but there is still a lot to learn and master.

The weapons and character models are more stylized and not reflective of real soldiers or weaponry but still don’t stray as far into the cartoonish as Fortnite does. POPULATION: ONE strikes a firm middle ground, but is not meant to be a realistic shooter or base anything off of realistic weapons. It’s a middle ground the game uses well, and aesthetically it is very pleasing.

You’ve got the health to survive being surprised in this VR Battle Royale Game.

Just like in any Battle Royale, POPULATION: ONE has you dropping into a huge map with your own team and teams of enemy players. Except in this VR game everyone launches in their own individual pod, so dropping into the map is a little different and honestly feels more fun in VR than just jumping out of a plane.

Once you land you’ve got to gather what equipment you can from your surroundings like weapons and consumables, so that you can fight and defeat enemy players before they manage to take you and your team out first. Naturally, you’ll also have to stay inside of the ring that slowly constricts the map. Classic Battle Royale fare here.

There are a lot of weapons to choose from in POPULATION: ONE, and they hit the usual categories with some variations for preference. Pistols, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and all of the usual greats are in this game. There are also grenades and such, and a fun variation on a healing item that is a banana which you need to peel to eat, fun stuff.

The on screen reticle makes shooting much easier in this Virtual Reality Battle Royale game, but long ranged shots are still hard to pull off.

POPULATION: ONE also features building, though you’ll need to find resources to build with around the map, and the building is fairly slow, though still good for fortifying an area. More often though you won’t see players bothering with it as much and preferring to rely on their mobility to get an advantage in combat.

That’s because the movement system is really what sets POPULATION: ONE apart not just from other Virtual Reality games, but also from flatscreen Battle Royales. Climbing and gliding, yes gliding, through the air with your arms feels absolutely fantastic in this game and for not just VR Battle Royales, but all VR games, POPULATION: ONE gives a prime example of a creative and fun movement system done right in Virtual Reality that encourages you to use your real life arms and gives you a real feeling of freedom and excitement when you use it.

To climb you have to grab onto the sides of a building and pull yourself up quickly like you’re a monkey scrambling up a tree. To glide you spread your arms out like they’re wings while you fall through the air. It’s really a ton of fun. Your ability to move around freely and quickly not only feels great but also dictates the pace of this VR game’s gameplay.

Speed and maneuvering are everything, and the gunplay is simplified by a reticle that appears wherever your gun is pointing. The focus is less on accurate shooting or fast reflexes, but on using the map to your advantage.

POPULATION: ONE is available on Steam for a price, and on the Meta Quest store for free!

Sooooo yea, if you want to have the Battle Royale experience in a VR game then try one of these. Don’t waste your time, these are the only VR Battle Royale Games worth playing. Enjoy!