Oculus Quest and Rift headset owners have plenty to look forward to over the next several months if Wednesday’s Oculus Gaming Showcase is any indication.
Oculus put together its first dedicated gaming show on April 21, highlighting several new virtual reality games and updates to existing games. The Quest 2 headset, released in 2020, was a godsend for mass consumption of VR, but people need games to go along with their new hardware. That’s where everything Oculus showed on Wednesday comes in.
Resident Evil 4
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Armature Studio is working with Capcom and Oculus to bring the GameCube classic Resident Evil 4 to VR. It’s been under development for multiple years and features redone graphics and sound, along with controls rebuilt specifically for the new format — including the ability to move via teleportation and a newly redesigned inventory menu.
Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister co-op
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The brutal sci-fi world of Warhammer 40,000 is back in an update for 2020’s Battle Sister. The wave-based survival mode “The Last Bastion” has been enhanced with co-op play (available now) so you and a group of buddies can mow down space baddies in a severely lit, pauldron-filled vision of a space empire.
Lone Echo II
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The sequel to 2017’s Lone Echo brings players back to the rings of Saturn for a chance to bop around in zero-gravity space while using futuristic tools to clear the obstacles in their paths when it launches in summer 2021.
Pistol Whip: Smoke & Thunder and The Concierge
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The newest campaign for Pistol Whip tells the story of two sisters getting up to all sorts of action-filled trouble in a Wild West setting. Beyond that, The Concierge will let players mess around with all the weapon combinations they can imagine as they try to beat their friends’ high scores with their fighting style of choice. Both are out in summer 2021.
Star Wars Pinball VR
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It’s Star Wars, it’s pinball, and it’s out on April 29. What more do you need to hear?
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge Part II
This mysterious fella is here to tell you a tale.
Image: oculus / ilmxlab
The adventure VR game based on the Disneyland attraction is back, as Star Wars Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge Part II launches later in 2021. Mysterious antiquities dealer Dok-Ondar takes a seat in the cantina to spin a tale for the player this time, but other than that, we don’t know much about this next update.
Carve Snowboarding
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1080 Snowboarding creator Giles Goddard is bringing his N64 chops to VR with Carve Snowboarding. Snowboarding in VR might sound terrifying or nausea-inducing for some, but since Nintendo probably isn’t resurrecting 1080 anytime soon, fans of that old series can look forward to this.
I Expect You To Die 2
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The original I Expect You To Die is a VR puzzle game that has players zipping through a series of deviously designed, villainous death traps, poking around at each environment to escape safely and thwart evil plans. The sequel appears to follow in those footsteps, launching on Rift platforms later in 2021.
Wraith – The Oblivion: Afterlife
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Set in the same World of Darkness universe as Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, this game is a creepy-looking first-person horror adventure. Fans of the tabletop universe or haunting hallway crawls in general should look out for Wraith.
After the Fall
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Arizona Sunshine developer Vertigo Games returns with After the Fall. As its name suggests, this is a post-apocalyptic shooter where up to four players can team up to take down legions of bloodthirsty monsters using a variety of guns. Out in summer 2021.
The Climb 2 expansion
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Out imminently, the no-cost Freestyle expansion pack for The Climb 2 brings in half a dozen new levels for players to meticulously scale without indulging their fear of heights. There’s also a rhythm minigame where you’ll have to climb along to the music to make it through.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners update
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On May 20, players can revisit the frankly very depressing world of The Walking Dead in the latest update for Saints & Sinners. The update looks to include plenty of gore and nasty sound effects as you rip and tear your way through hordes of zombies for survival.