Virtual reality gaming continues to advance at a rapid pace. With new VR headset technologies, innovative controllers, and improved graphics, VR games are becoming more immersive and realistic than ever before. 2023 and 2024 promise to bring some of the most groundbreaking VR titles yet. Here is an overview of some of the most hotly anticipated upcoming VR games on the Horizon.
Sequels to Popular Franchise VR Games
Some of the most sought-after upcoming VR games are sequels to already popular franchise titles, which helped propel VR gaming forward in previous years.
Half-Life: Alyx 2
In early 2020, Half-Life: Alyx was met with critical acclaim as one of the first true “killer app” VR games. Set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx puts players directly into the action using gravity gloves to manipulate objects and engage in heart-pounding shootouts. While Valve has not officially announced a sequel, given the first game’s success, fans are hopeful a Half-Life: Alyx 2 or a new Half-Life VR game is on the way. Any follow-up title would likely push graphics and gameplay even further with the capabilities of next-gen VR headsets.
Lone Echo 3
Another groundbreaking VR title, Lone Echo, from developer Ready at Dawn, leaned into zero-gravity movement and environmental interaction. Players embodied an android assisting its captain to solve a sci-fi mystery. With incredibly immersive weightless locomotion and real-time graphic fidelity, Lone Echo II took VR gameplay to new heights. As Ready at Dawn continues developing exclusively for VR, enthusiasts anticipate a Lone Echo 3 down the road.
Breakout Success VR Franchises
Alongside sequels, there are also energetic newcomer VR franchises that have fans hungry for their next installments.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond 2
Revitalizing the Medal of Honor brand for VR, Above and Beyond’s settings in WWII-era Europe delivered some of the platform’s most realistic battle sequences yet. As players handled weapons and equipment with responsive motion controls, they completed secret missions across enemy lines. With the critical and financial success of the first game, developer Respawn Entertainment has implied a follow-up could be underway to continue the Medal of Honor VR series.
Sniper Elite VR 2
Sniper Elite VR transformed the tactical World War II shooter into a wholly immersive experience. From sniping missions perched high above battlefields to silent takedowns in close quarters, the creative VR implementation had players feeling they had truly teleported back in time. As developers continue expanding the Sniper Elite universe, it’s likely only a matter of time until the next VR assignment briefing arrives.
Cinematic Adventure VR Games
While action-packed shooters have thus far dominated VR games, more story-driven cinematic adventures are also on the Horizon. These showcase VR’s ability to immerse players in expansive worlds full of environmental depth and character interaction.
Assassin’s Creed VR
As one of Ubisoft’s most iconic franchises, Assassin’s Creed continues evolving from its stealth-action roots toward epic RPG heights. After dabbling in VR escape rooms and 360-degree animated historical tours, Ubisoft plans to develop a made-for-VR version of Assassin’s Creed, due out sometime in late 2023 or 2024. Promising live-action gameplay putting players directly in the shoes of an assassin, this ambitious title could bring a bestselling franchise into full VR for the first time.
Horizon Call of the Mountain
Sony Interactive Entertainment wowed PS5 gamers with Horizon Forbidden West in early 2022. Later this year, the same beautiful post-apocalyptic world of mechanical beasts and tribal factions returns in an original VR chapter called Horizon Call of the Mountain. Built from the ground up for VR utilizing PS VR2’s high-end visuals and novel controllers with adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, Horizon aims to set new bars for immersion in a triple-A gaming world.
Innovative VR-Native Concepts
Alongside big-budget sequels and spinoffs, entirely original VR-exclusive games often provide the most unexpectedly magical experiences as developers play freely with VR’s opportunities.
Among Us VR
While initially released in 2018, Among Us exploded in popularity in 2020 as a party game of teamwork and betrayal. Translating the competitive multiplayer gameplay into an immersive VR first-person environment promises fresh tension and trickery. Scheduled for 2023 on all major VR platforms, Innersloth aims to convert Among Us’ runaway success into a new hit VR form.
Cities VR
Fast Travel Games found a sweet spot between world-building and tower defense with Cities: Skylines and Airborne Kingdom, respectively. Their upcoming Cities VR for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets appear to merge these successes into bustling metropolitan city creation. Focused on utilizing VR controls to develop urban infrastructure and transportation, Cities VR brings a popular management sim into an intuitive new dimension.
Technical Showcases
On the cutting edge, some upcoming VR games are really technical showcases to demonstrate new gameplay programming techniques or hardware capabilities that inch the platform ever closer to true virtual reality.
Firmament
Legendary video game designer Ken Rolston returns to his Elder Scrolls roots, creating epic fantasy adventures with Firmament. By integrating custom finger-tracking motions on VR controllers, Firmament aims to achieve unprecedented hand presence for intricate gestural spell-casting and world interactions. Running on PC VR kits in late 2023, Firmament intends to set magical new bars others will soon chase.
Carbon
Funded by Oculus, Carbon comes from the internal Facebook Reality Labs studio focused explicitly on next-generation VR technologies. While details remain scarce, Carbon plans to unveil VR’s first multi-layered decompositional rendering to essentially combine layers of 2D and 3D assets while fully preserving depth volumes with zero latency. If it lives up to promises, Carbon could demonstrate VR and AR sharing the same real-time 3D rendering pipeline at consumer pricing. Redefining such core graphics capabilities would enable all future VR and AR applications.
Conclusion
With VR gaming rallying after a relatively slow pandemic period, developers are clearly betting big on VR’s ongoing expansion into the mainstream. Major sequels will please established fanbases while innovative indies explore all-new virtual interaction methods. Powered by better headsets and controllers, VR gaming heads toward an exciting horizon in 2023 and beyond that could see it finally achieve mass appeal through one truly killer app or steady accessibly-priced attrition. Either way, with so many promising titles on the way, from cinematic adventures to technical showcases, VR gamers have a lot worth strapping into.