Road to VR’s 2022 Game of the Year Awards - Road to VR

Virtual world opens a portal to each conceivable dimension, whether it beryllium far-flung abstraction stations, medieval dungeons, oregon fantastical realms translated straight from the minds of this generation’s astir talented artists. We were transported from our surviving rooms, location offices, dorm rooms—anywhere you could unplug a portion of carnal world to marque mode for the virtual.

And present that a twelvemonth has gone by, we’re again fixed the accidental to look backmost and item the adventures we had on the way, the lessons we learned, and the caller places we each went together.

It’s our sixth yearly Game of the Year Awards, and this twelvemonth has astir apt been the astir hard yet. As much studios and players go progressive successful VR, it’s inevitably creating a level of expertise and vibrancy successful the mean we’ve ne'er seen before. To boot, we’ve felt it’s clip to item a caller country extracurricular our accustomed acceptable of platform-specific awards and developer accolades: Ongoing Development. It’s a emotion missive to the studios who support connected giving good past the clip erstwhile it mightiness person different made consciousness to determination connected to different project.

But without further ado, we contiguous Road to VR’s 2022 Game of the Year Awards:

The Last Clockwinder

Developer: Pontoco

Available On: Steam, Quest 2

Release Date: June 2nd

Short of fan-made projects, The Last Clockwinder is the closest things you tin get to physically stepping into a Hayao Miyazaki creation. Its funny small satellite springs to beingness arsenic soon arsenic you enactment connected a brace of magical gloves that springiness you the quality to marque robot copies of yourself successful effort to salvage a dying tree, which is location to a full galaxy’s worthy of biodiversity.

We were entranced by its puzzles, which importantly don’t pb you by the chemoreceptor connected however to lick them, letting you respire successful the satellite and acquisition it astatine your ain gait and successful your ain way. And portion you whitethorn beryllium unsocial for the duration, the game’s communicative makes for overmuch much than conscionable model dressing to this unsocial puzzle game. It’s a mature communicative that deals with battling loneliness, learning to love, devotion to a greater cause, and reconnection—more than capable to enactment a teardrop successful your eye.

It whitethorn not beryllium the astir graphically-intense PC VR crippled retired there—after all, it was besides developed concurrently for Quest—but there’s nary denying the lovably cartoony satellite is simply a coagulated spot that feels close connected immoderate headset.

Moss: Book II

Developer: Polyarc

Available On: PSVR, Quest 2, Steam

Release Date: March 31st

Moss: Book II builds connected the aforesaid underlying gameplay look that made the archetypal a large game. The subordinate controls Quill, an adorable and susceptible small adventurer, done platforming, airy combat, and puzzling.

The ‘diorama’ attack of moving a tiny quality done a tiny satellite is erstwhile again enactment to large usage successful the crippled with fantabulous creation absorption crossed the board. Each country you measurement into feels similar a cautiously composed coating of a fantastical land. And this clip astir players are introduced to 2 caller weapons, each of which includes a peculiar powerfulness that doubles arsenic some an onslaught and a puzzle mechanic—both enactment to large usage wrong the game’s combat and puzzling.

With the added variety, heaps of polish, and immoderate of the champion VR-centric brag encounters I’ve seen successful immoderate time, Moss: Book II was a good sequel to its predecessor and stood retired arsenic PSVR’s champion crippled this year.

Red Matter 2

Developer: Vertical Robot

Available On: Quest 2, Steam

Release Date: August 18th

The archetypal Red Matter was an implicit revelation of however bully games tin genuinely look and play connected Quest. And the aforesaid goes for Red Matter 2, the breathtaking sequel to the retrofuture sci-fi adventure, which again puts you successful the abstraction boots of a spy sent to the far-off test installation belonging to the game’s Soviet analogues, the Volgravians.

The game’s best-in-class graphics and interactions are genuinely astatine location connected Quest 2, making it consciousness similar a satellite overmuch larger than its linear communicative whitethorn suggest. Although combat was a spot of a letdown—a caller summation to the series—this richly interactive portion of galactic intrigue excels successful the immersion section successful a mode that fewer VR games have. It precise astir approaches Lone Echo and Half-Life: Alyx territory, and each wrong the humble computational limitations of Quest 2.

Design Awards

Bonelab

Developer: Stress Level Zero

Available On: Quest 2, Steam

Release Date: September 29th

When it comes to immersion, there’s nary uncertainty that a highly interactive crippled satellite is key. Like its predecessor, Bonelab takes an unflinching attack to a afloat physics-based satellite wherever beauteous overmuch thing that looks interactive astir ever is.

When things respond similar you deliberation they should successful VR, caller gameplay people emerges. Things similar pushing enemies distant by jabbing them with the tube of your gun, hooking a crowbar implicit a ledge to hoist yourself up, oregon knocking an force implicit by pushing a cart into them, each ‘just work’, starring to bits of immersive magic that are what Bonelab is each about.

Nock

Developer: Normal

Available On: Quest 2

Release Date: March 10th

Nock is 1 of those VR games that—from the outside—looks similar it would make most players dizzy owed to its high-speed question and predominant directional changes. Yet someway developer Normal has created a unsocial VR locomotion strategy that is overmuch much comfy than it seems from the outside.

Nock’s question works by having players fundamentally skate astir the arena, propelled by grabbing the crushed and flinging themselves successful the desired direction.

The ‘skating’ attack is not lone portion of the game’s comfortableness design, but it besides serves and important gameplay function—because momentum is maintained, players person a fewer seconds betwixt each propulsion to occurrence their bow astatine the shot successful an effort to score.

Nock has recovered a caller mode to support players comfy successful VR portion enabling competitive, accelerated paced gameplay that feels precise natural.

Cities: VR

Developer: Fast Travel Games

Available On: Quest 2

Release Date: April 28th

Cities: Skylines is a titan successful the metropolis simulator genre, and it’s dominated arsenic the go-to SimCity of our clip for bully reason. When we heard the squad down the crippled was placing the IP successful the susceptible hands of Fast Travel Games, known for Apex Construct and Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, it was wide VR was going to get thing precise special.

By necessity, Cities: VR has to clasp a batch of bequest features, which includes a litany of 2D screens filled with text-based options. That’s conscionable portion and parcel of managing a metropolis though, arsenic you tin drill down into readying autobus routes, modifying taxation rates, and budgeting your power, water, and trash collection.

It’s undoubtedly the astir ‘vanilla’ mentation of Cities: Skylines out there, but seeing your small metropolis flourish from the immersive position is surely thing to behold. We besides weren’t definite Quest’s humble CPU would beryllium capable to grip each of the analyzable interactions either, but Fast Travel proved america incorrect by keeping astir of what made the archetypal PC crippled large and tossing it each successful VR truthful you tin operation implicit your metropolis similar Godzilla, oregon travel astir a azygous NPC arsenic they bash their market shopping.

Cosmonious High

Developer: Owlchemy Labs

Available On: Quest 2, Steam

Release Date: March 31st

As a crippled that does a large occupation of unleashing your child-like curiosity to play and experiment, Cosmonious High is simply a seemingly improbable campaigner for designation of a VR idiosyncratic interface. But with truthful galore antithetic activities and abilities successful the game, developer Owlchemy Lab had to capable the crippled with a bevy of diegetic interfaces that astir ne'er relied connected the bare minimum laser pointer method.

From a backpack that worked arsenic the player’s inventory, quest log, and the game’s menu, to an quality paper wherever you’d simply pat the backmost of your manus and past drawback the powerfulness you want, the interfaces of Cosmonious High are truthful people integrated into the gameworld that you’d beryllium forgiven for not recognizing them arsenic ‘interfaces’ astatine all.

Virtuoso

Developer: Really Interactive

Available On: Quest 2, Steam

Release Date: March 10th

Every truthful often a crippled comes on that you curse must person been developed by a 20-person beardown squad with a flashy bureau successful the metropolis center. Not truthful with Really Interactive, a Stockholm-based indie comprised of 4 developers who person shown a beardown grasp connected what makes VR great, not to notation an uncanny quality to bring thing unsocial and utile to life.

In Virtuoso, you’re fixed the quality to play and grounds your ain euphony connected a acceptable of ingenious tools. Far from being conscionable virtual analogues of real-world instruments, Virtuoso creates interesting, VR-native ways to interact with music, letting you furniture drums and an awesome assortment of synthesizers successful your ain virtual workplace space. Since it focuses mostly connected looping euphony to marque tracks, creating a unsocial and analyzable dependable is reasonably simple, though it’s a level that’s yet heavy capable to invitation the expertise of musicians looking for an immersive mode to ideate their adjacent song.

Pistol Whip

Developer: Cloudhead Games

Available On: Quest 2, Steam, PSVR

Release Date: November 7th, 2019

When Pistol Whip archetypal launched backmost successful 2019, it already felt similar a implicit crippled that brought a caller twist connected VR bushed gaming by bringing shooting, dodging, and melee into the mix.

While ‘more songs’ was the evident mode to grow the beingness of the game, developer Cloudhead Games has gone further by releasing themed euphony packs with caller levels, weapons, and adjacent brag fights—all wrapped up successful ‘mini-campaign’ that strings each of the levels unneurotic nether an illustrated narrative.

But that’s not all—over the years the workplace has besides expanded the mode players tin play the crippled with caller modifiers, limb selections, and unsocial leaderboards that fto you vie with others successful the mode that you privation to play the game.

And now, adjacent 3 years aft release, the workplace isn’t done. After a caller update which improved the game’s interface and tutorials, successful 2023 Pistol Whip is acceptable to get a customized level making instrumentality and 5 much songs.

Note: Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year Award indispensable beryllium disposable to the nationalist connected oregon earlier December 12th, 2022 to let for ample deliberation. Games indispensable besides natively enactment the people level arsenic to guarantee afloat operability.