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The Best VR Games to Play in 2025

Years come and go, but virtual reality is still a place where some of the most interesting and immersive games exist, if you’re curious enough to wear a headset. Thanks largely to the Meta Quest, which remains the most popular VR headset product line in existence, there are lots of fascinating, sometimes extremely active, and compelling games to play. And it’s not just on the Meta Quest, which now has a newer line of upgraded-graphics headsets (the Quest 3 and Quest 3S). The PlayStation VR 2 has a solid number of excellent games, PC VR remains a place with many classics, and even Apple’s Vision Pro has a couple of good ones.

Read more: CNET’s Best VR Headsets

The number of great VR games each year feels like it’s slowing down, but there are still lots of gems. The good news is VR games actually age well. Some of my favorite VR games from years ago are still ones I play regularly. 

VR’s latest trick has been mixed reality, blending passthrough color camera feeds with VR graphics to make it feel like games are bleeding into your real world. Some of the games on this list dabble in mixed reality, too.

Here’s my top list right now, with information on which platforms they’re available on. 

Meta

If you’ve ever had the urge to be Batman, this is the best VR Batman experience ever made. Arkham Shadow throws you into a beautiful-looking underworld with controls that let you quickly fight, glide with batwings, and use a bunch of tools. It’s been given away free with Quest 3S purchases, but it’s well worth buying on its own, even if you’re not getting it for free. 

Release date: Oct. 21, 2024
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Camouflaj
Platforms: Quest 3S, Quest 3

Meta

One of the biggest and most visually rich RPGs you can play in VR, Asgard’s Wrath II is also full of first-person action. This Egyptian-themed game, full of gods and beasts, has a mix of puzzles and combat and a lot of secrets to discover. There’s a ton to do, with cinematic worlds and puzzles and a roguelike mode that randomly generates battles in case you somehow finish the dozens-of-hours main story. The graphics aren’t quite as good as the PC-only first game in the series, but few Quest 2 or Quest 3 games have looked better.

Release date: Dec. 15, 2023
Genre: RPG/Adventure
Developer: Sanzaru Games
Platforms: Quest 2, Quest 3S, Quest 3

Another Axiom

Don’t ask me, ask my kids. The most popular game in VR for years is this weird free social game that uses your arms to propel you through a bunch of worlds that feel as pixelated as Minecraft. The brilliance of Gorilla Tag is its system of arm-driven movement, but its staying power is in its Minecraft-like social universe.

Release date: Feb. 12, 2021
Genre: Action
Developer: Another Axiom
Platforms: Quest 2, Quest 3S, Quest 3, Steam, PSVR 2

Kluge Interactive

Much like Beat Saber, Synth Riders is a rhythm-based music game. Synth Riders is a bit more forgiving, asking you to match hand movements to certain positions rather than swinging a virtual saber. It’s also one of the few big VR games to also live on Apple’s Vision Pro. If you happen to have a Vision Pro and wanted a Beat Saber-like experience, this is your best chance.

Release date: June 21, 2018
Genre: Action
Developer: Kluge Interactive
Platforms: Quest 2, Quest 3S, Quest 3, Steam, PSVR 2, Vision Pro

Realities.io

Assembling 3D puzzles is a surprisingly challenging experience, and Puzzling Places lets you slowly assemble 3D scans of real places to create immersive models you can expand and peek your head into. Each puzzle can be set up with different amounts of pieces, ramping difficulty up or down as needed. A mixed-reality mode floats the puzzle pieces in your real-world environment, too. Whether you play on Quest, PSVR 2 or Vision Pro, it’s always fun.

Release date: Sept. 2, 2021
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: realities.io
Platforms: Quest 2, Quest 3S, Quest 3, Steam, PSVR 2, Vision Pro

Valve

Valve’s long-awaited sequel to its dystopian first-person sci-fi franchise, which debuted right alongside Valve’s Index headset in 2020, is still one of the best things you can play in VR. Set between the events of the first Half Life and Half Life 2, Alyx puts you behind the hands of resistance fighter Alyx Vance, following her journey as she takes the fight to the alien Combine forces. Series fans will be familiar with the world setting and various familiar enemies, but its VR nature makes this game dramatically more immersive, frightening and visceral. From aiming shots at shambling zombies to throwing tin cans at pigeons, Half Life: Alyx makes superb use of VR to make an existing series feel fresh and exciting. 

Release date: March 23, 2020
Genre: Action
Developer: Valve
Platforms: Steam

Sony Interactive Entertainment

This PlayStation VR 2-exclusive game, made as a VR-focused spin-off of Sony’s futuristic and robo-pocalyptic Horizon games, is one of the most beautiful and intense VR experiences next to Half-Life: Alyx. Most of the game involves climbing up mountains and shooting enemies with your bow and arrows, with some puzzle solving thrown in. The game’s use of optional eye tracking, rich visuals and uncanny details throughout make it a PSVR 2 must-have.

Release date: Feb. 22, 2023
Genre: Adventure
Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PSVR 2

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Gran Turismo 7

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Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge has a graphics update and much better haptics.

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Tetris Effect is a PC and PS4 game. Now it’s on Oculus Quest.

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Tetris Effect is a PC and PS4 game. Now it’s on Oculus Quest.

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The Climb 2 has ledges, ropes, and ziplines. If you’re afraid of heights, maybe this isn’t for you.

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With or without VR, Superhot has a brilliant conceit: Time only moves when you move. Which means you can be utterly surrounded by enemies bristling with machine guns or ones ready to slice you into pieces, and still defeat them all by — oh so slowly — brushing their weapons aside, dodging bullets, throwing pots and pans, etc. Every level plays like a puzzle as much as a shooter, and you come out looking like an action hero every time. 

Release date: Dec. 5, 2016
Genre: Action
Developer: Superhot Team
Platforms: Quest 2, Quest 3S, Quest 3, Steam

What is the best VR game right now?

VR always feels like it’s somewhere in between life and death. Meta’s Quest headsets remain strong sellers, but the state of VR games overall feels like it’s stalled out a little since it’s not as profitable a territory for developers compared to mobile or standard PC/console designs which can be ported to other hardware more easily. Good VR games tend to not be very playable out of a VR headset, although there are a good handful of 2D games that have VR-playable modes.

Can you burn fat playing VR games?

How we came up with the Best VR Games

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