Flying VTOL VR Planes Is Some Of The Greatest Fun In Virtual Reality Gaming

VTOL VR is my personal favorite flight simulator of all time, and it’s completely playable entirely within Virtual Reality. There is no modern flight simulator that this as easy to pick up and as easy to play as VTOL VR.

Other flight simulators like DCS or IL-2 Sturmovik might be capable of running in Virtual Reality, but they rely on you buying and then setting up a bunch of hardware like physical joysticks, throttles, and even display screens. Imagine setting up and tearing down all of that hardware every time you want to fly!

Well the greatest part of VTOL VR is how it uses Virtual Reality to avoid all of this. Everything you need to fly the plane is completely accessible and usable in your virtual cockpit in this fantastic VR flight simulator.

Flying any of the numerous VTOL VR planes whether it be the dual engine F/A-26 high powered fighter jet or the sleek and stealthy F-45 is easy because the game itself displays all of the various interfaces, switches, and buttons of your chosen VTOL VR aircraft and you can use them with your VR hands.

The cockpit of the F/A-26 in VTOL VR. The most straightforwardly powerful of all VTOL VR planes.

That’s the magic of Virtual Reality that VTOL VR utilizes so well. You can just be sitting in a chair in a room, but by slipping on a VR headset and starting a VR game you can be transported to the inside of a fully interactable fighter cockpit. VTOL VR’s aircraft are absolutely incredible, and this is really a must play game for any VR or flight simulator enthusiast.

What is most impressive about VTOL VR’s planes is how good they feel to fly. It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to get used to the joystick or other controls inside the virtual cockpit, and the controls and reactivity of each aircraft are so smooth and genuine feeling even when compared to other flight simulators that you can experience on the flatscreen or in Virtual Reality. This is all despite those controls being entirely virtual.

Most impressive of all is just how much content there is in this game. While some aircraft require the purchase of additional DLC along with the base game in order to try, there are three available with the base game, and those three alone are extremely different, from a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) ground attack aircraft to the F/A-26 fighter jet to the F-45 stealth fighter, each is wildly different and gives you a lot of interesting decisions to make while flying them in the game.

Each aircraft can also accommodate a basically endless variety of loadouts, and there are a ton of different munitions to try when using any of them. From GPS guided bombs to radar guided missiles to ancient short range infrared missiles to dumb bombs to guns guns guns, there are a huge variety of different munitions to use as well. Customizing your loadout to fit the mission you are about to undertake is an integral part of the experience.

Closeup of an F/A-26 firing a missile in VTOL VR.

Learning each of these aircraft and playing them in Singleplayer or Multiplayer is an absolute blast for any fan of flying. There are a decent amount of missions in the base game, and Multiplayer servers that are always full of opponents. There are casual servers and dynamic conquest missions to just jump in and play, or hardcore milsim groups that are always looking for members.

Best of all are the many Steam Workshop missions and campaigns, which are made by the many enjoyers of this VR game via the built-in VTOL VR mission editor. There is a practically endless amount of content to enjoy in this game from the official to the user generated. It’s all easy to install and use as well. All you have to do is click a button in the game and the mission is downloaded to your computer.

What is most amazing about VTOL VR is that it is made completely by a single person, and updates come out very regularly, at least twice a year for the most major changes. It’s strange to think that the world of VR flight simulators would be so much more dull and difficult without the efforts of the single developer behind VTOL VR who is known as Baha or Bahamut.

Well, my hat is off to him, and we all owe him a big debt of gratitude for bringing the modern flight simulator into the virtual world and continually improving upon it. VTOL VR’s planes are an absolute blast to fly and fight in and will be for a long time to come.

MudRunner VR Brings Off Road VR Driving To The Meta Quest

Flatscreen game MudRunner has now released in Virtual Reality on May 30, 2024 as MudRunner VR. It is now available on the Meta Quest store for the Meta Quest 2, Meta quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro. Sorry PCVR and PSVR fans, but MudRunner VR has not yet released on those platforms in keeping with the current trend of games targeting the standalone market first.

As a VR off road driving game, MudRunner VR has no real competition on the Quest or the VR games market in general at its time of release. Seeing as VR driving games generally focus on racing, it’s a nice change of pace to see one that is slower paced and more concerned with navigating obstacles with a utility vehicle than doing your best to go as quickly as possible and not crash in a race car.

Offroad VR driving will certainly be a unique Virtual Reality experience, and MudRunner VR plans to keep it expansive with 8 vehicles to choose from and a variety of massive maps, traps, and obstructions for you to drive through as best you can. In this game careful planning and thinking as well as use of your tools will trump pure speed as you do your best to complete deliveries and other objectives across the untamed landscape.

MudRunner VR is available on the Meta Quest store for What follows is the press release given by the developer Merge Games:

“FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – May 30, 2024 – It’s time to strap in, grab the wheel, and take on the great outdoors! MudRunner VR is available today for 14.99 GBP / 19.99 EUR on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2, and Meta Quest Pro. Developed and published by Saber Interactive, MudRunner VR is perfect for MudRunner veterans, VR fans, and daring adventurers alike. Armed with only your vehicle, a map, your gear and your wits, do you have what it takes to overcome the muddiest expeditions and get your cargo to safety?

MudRunner VR captures the classic MudRunner experience in virtual reality with new 3D landscapes and models, plus eight powerful all-terrain vehicles, each with their own characteristics and attachable equipment. Traverse vast environments in total immersion in Story Mode and Free Play Mode, completing challenging objectives and deliveries across extreme conditions. Interact with your cockpit and venture outside the cabin to use the winch, refuel and more to execute your objectives in unparalleled VR.

Key Features

- The Ultimate Off-Road Experience Comes to VR: Enjoy the classic MudRunner experience with the unmatched feel and immersion of VR on Meta Quest.

- Master Eight Powerful All-Terrain Vehicles: Get behind the wheel of eight unique vehicles, each with their own distinct attributes and equipment as well as cosmetic variations.

- Explore Vast, Untamed Environments: Adventure across immense sandbox landscapes while battling the harshest terrain and forces of nature.

- Overcome Extreme Conditions & Get the Job Done: Complete a variety of perilous objectives and deliveries while fighting off the wild’s most hazardous dangers. ”

— Saber Interactive

Hopefully, we’ve got another fantastic VR driving game on our hands, and from what we’ve seen you can control all of your equipment and machinery with your actual VR hands instead of just using a joystick, which really should be the minimum for a game all about driving a vehicle in VR.

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!

A Fun Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter On The Meta Quest 3 - Tactical Assault VR Review

I keep coming back to Tactical Assault VR. Whenever I want to jump into Virtual Reality and do a bit of Singleplayer tactical shooting there’s no game that I’ve found myself drifting towards loading up for a few missions more often than this one.

Part of me wonders why, and the answer I keep coming back to is just how snappy and satisfying the whole experience is. Despite having very basic and blocky visuals, Tactical Assault VR is the closest any Singleplayer shooter on the Meta Quest 3 (it is also on PCVR via Steam by the way) has come to absolutely nailing the sound and most importantly the feeling of a quick and responsive tactical shooter in Virtual Reality.

There are, weirdly enough, very few good representations of a Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter out there for the Meta Quest 3, though there are some in development on PCVR. Onward is another good example I suppose, but its Singleplayer is lacking when compared to the game we’re talking about in this article.

A long ranged firefight in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

There are two areas that this game is incredibly strong in and has only become stronger in over time with updates. The first is one that is really important for any tactical shooter whether in Virtual Reality or on the flat screen, and that is the AI.

Varied Missions And Reactive AI Are A Must For A Good VR Tactical Shooter

What is a VR tactical shooter without difficult AI opponents? Multiplayer focused games don’t have this problem, because they can rely on other players being smart and reactive. Tactical Assault VR, despite featuring Multiplayer PvP options, is much more focused on the PvE aspect of things.

The challenge in this game isn’t fighting other players as much as it is fighting against AI enemies that can and will take you down with a single bullet if you’re not careful. They’re not to be underestimated, and both you and they will go down when hit very few times, or just once if the shot is to the head.

Breaching a room with a pistol in Tactical Assault VR

This is a hallmark of any tactical shooter game. The AI opponents must be capable and they must respond very quickly. Otherwise what would be tactical about the game? You’d just breeze through every door and corner recklessly and without the need to think about your environment and your opponents in a tactical manner.

While still not up to the level of some flatscreen games like Ready Or Not, I have to say that the NPC opponents in Tactical Assault VR are very impressive and beyond anything found in other VR Tactical Shooters.

They can be suppressed by hits and near hits and will change positions to chase you or go prone to avoid incoming fire. Sometimes they will respond to nearby gunfire by running to the scene and supporting their fellows. However that isn’t always the case, and you’ll still often find AI opponents sticking to their patrol paths or just standing in a room just a few meters from where their buddies are being gunned down in plain sight.

Still, the enemies in Tactical Assault VR are leaps and bounds better than most VR shooters on the Meta Quest 3, and they’ve been getting better all the time. They can hear you coming if you’re too loud and be ready to shoot you in the face the moment you open a door that they’re covering. Sometimes they’ll even shoot through the door if you’re on the other side.

Speaking of doors, there is also an impressive collection of missions in Tactical Assault VR, and more are being added all of the time. Each of the main missions has an objective, a custom map, and its own suite of tactical considerations for the environment you’re fighting in and the mission you are completing.

This huge bank map offers some unique tactical considerations in a VR Tactical Shooter

Each of these maps makes you consider each set of buildings and environments differently and gives you different routes to take and options to consider for how you approach them. So you’ll have to reconsider your loadout and choice of weapons for each. If you fail, well that’s always a lesson learned you can take to your next attempt.

It would be nice if enemies had a little more variance in their roles, like snipers or machine gun bunkers, but there are some very impressive examples, like a Technical Truck on one of the newer maps.

There’s even a randomized shoothouse style map with procedurally generated doors and enemies and a training map that also features some randomization to enemy placement. If you want to get as tactical as possible then there are a bunch of options in this VR tactical shooter.

Of course, if soloing a mission seems too difficult, and it’s pretty clear that they’re meant to be very hard to solo, you can always team up with others in Multiplayer. Though in Singleplayer it’s the difficulty in finishing a mission that keeps me coming back, otherwise I would have completed them all a long time ago and gotten bored.

A VR Tactical Shooter With Varied And Responsive Guns

So the missions are varied and interesting. The AI is better than most. What about the weapons? A lot of games whether in Virtual Reality or on the flatscreen easily fall into the trap of making weapons feel very similar to each other.

Tactical Assault VR doesn’t have that problem, and for a VR game that’s even more impressive. Virtual Reality means that you’re using even more of your senses to really get in tune with what you are doing in the world of the game.

In VR you aren’t just seeing what is happening on a distant screen, the screens are so much closer to your eyes, and your actual body movements correspond to what you’re doing, so you have a much greater sense of being within the game world.

Your feeling of touch and balance comes much more into play than on the flat screen, especially when it comes to handling objects. That’s why it’s so great that the guns in Tactical Assault VR feel so varied and different from each other.

One of the many fantastic weapons you can enjoy in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

Guns with a bullpup design, or smaller SMGs, will have you naturally holding your hands closer together than more traditional assault rifles with the grip towards the rear of the rifle and the foregrip near the front.

Each of the weapons controls better if you hold them like they’re intended to be held. Actually having to adjust your grip to the length of the weapon not only increases immersion but naturally improves your ability to react and aim.

Even without the physical weapon to feel, it’s incredible how each of the guns in Tactical Assault VR can feel different to hold despite there being nothing physically in your hand to grab onto except for your touch controllers.

Though that’s something common to many polished VR shooters, where Tactical Assault VR really shines is how each of the weapons feels to fire as well as hold. Weapons generally sound very punchy and each shot feels like it has real weight to it like firing a real gun, because the varying amount of recoil to each weapon not only makes each unique but also feels very realistic. It’s clear a lot of time and effort went into making the weapons of Tactical Assault VR feel good and weighty like actual weapons.

Each action you take on your weapon, putting the magazine inside, or pulling back the charging handle to load a round into the chamber, lacks the floatiness and feeling of weightlessness that a lot of objects in VR games have. Firing them also feels like a dream.

Larger weapons naturally have more recoil and really kick the gun back, and the weapons really sound impressive too whether they’re loud or suppressed. The entire ensemble of tight VR controls and sound design clearly shows that a lot of attention and care has been given to each of Tactical Assault VR’s weapons. Switching between them changes how you play and leaves a lot of room for personal preference.

Despite the very low res look of Tactical Assault VR, which I think is likely a big reason that it is not more popular than it is, this is a level of polish in weapon design and implementation only seen among other legends of the genre like Into The Radius or Onward.

This even extends to the other parts of your loadout like the various tools and grenades that you can use from flashbangs to bulletproof shields to breaching charges and breaching shotguns.

A little sniping in Tactical Assault VR

This has been a quick review of why Tactical Assault VR is such a fantastic Singleplayer VR tactical shooter. While at the time of writing this game is still in development it is getting better all of the time and has already nailed some of the basics of what makes a tactical shooter excellent. It’s a quick and easy game to jump into for a few rounds and really makes you take things cautiously and respect its difficulty. Enjoy!

VR Isn’t Dying Or Dead - It Is Uncomfortable Though

Today I went to put on my headset after a long day of work. Since most of my work, such as writing articles like these, consists of sitting down and typing on a keyboard, I figured it would be nice to actually move my body while I enjoyed a video game and unwound.

For those with more sedentary jobs and lives, this is one of the big appeals of Virtual Reality gaming. After a long day of sitting it’s a very entertaining way to do a little moving whether or not you’re aiming to do a full workout. While normally this would be great, today it wasn’t.

Maybe it was the aggressive amount of work I did that day, but I just could not get the Meta Quest 3 headset to sit comfortably on my head. This is despite upgrading from the default headstrap to the Elite Strap. Honestly, the headset feels almost unusable for more than thirty minutes without the elite strap and I think that it should come with one by default, but that’s only part of the problem.

What bothered me more was the weight of it, despite the Meta Quest 3 being slimmer than the Quest 2, it is still about as heavy. Sure the weight sits closer to your face so it feels lighter, but the weight of the device is apparent despite it being packaged more comfortably.

Regardless of the improvements made in Virtual Reality head mounted display technology, it’s still a big hunk of stuff strapped to your face, and the fact that you need to strap it in place, even if those straps are well-designed and comfortable, means that there’s going to be pressure on your head from the weight of the device.

So today I quickly got a headache and discarded the headset after about fifteen minutes, a real shame. I really wanted to have some fun in Virtual Reality while I got off my butt and limbered up a little. Going out for a run instead was still good for the fresh air, but I would rather have been punching robots to bits or ducking and weaving while blasting through waves of enemies.

Here’s a screenshot from UNDERDOGS just for fun

It was a real shame, and it was clear that the weight of the headset was just bothering me that day as it sometimes does. It did make me think though.

I realized that a lot of people probably feel the same way all of the time, but something keeps them away from the headset. Whether it’s motion sickness, or possibly just being too tired to want to move around after a day of more physical labor, there are tons of VR headsets gathering dust in closets for many reasons.

I think a chief one is the weight of the headset. It’s no secret that Virtual Reality headset sales have been down since last year. I’ve heard a lot of stories from people who love VR, yet the headset sits unused. A big part of this is that strapping a machine to your face is just uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean VR is dying, there are still so many people, myself included, who will use it forever for a number of reasons.

I love VR, but even I sometimes opt not to hop back into it because it’s hard to be entirely comfortable with the big HMD on your face, and that also cuts into the immersion of many experiences. Even the Apple Vision Pro, a headset designed to be worn constantly and comfortably, has been seeing an alarmingly high number of returns not only due to motion sickness but also due to wearing it giving people headaches.

There’s only so far ergonomics can go. Before mass adoption is possible Virtual Reality headsets need to be lighter and easier to wear. Right now the weight of the headset cuts down on how often even dedicated Virtual Reality users will utilize it.

Maybe it’s time to save up for a Bigscreen Beyond.