In Death
In Death is a beautifully designed rogue and first-person bow shooter and early access VR game that is set in a medieval world where the player will be fighting monsters in the afterlife. Use the longbow, upgradable arrows and shield to fight and block as many enemies as possible in this procedurally generated dungeon crawler.
Fitness Potential
This is a challenging game that has a lot of replay value because of the die in the game and start over system. Don’t worry, players can work to progress in a game even if they keep dying by unlocking achievements. This is a great upper body conditioning game that focuses on ranged combat fighting that also lends itself to lower body exercise if players move around to fight and don’t stand in one place.
Want more ranged combat games for upper body fitness? Try playing: Inferno: Deathfield or Holopoint.
Developer/Publisher: Sólfar Studios
Release Date: February 1, 2018
Compatible with: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, with tracked controllers
Price: $17.99 to $19.99
Link: In Death
DwarVRs
This is an early access combination 3rd person tower defense and first-person bow and arrow shooter where players will be fighting off waves of dwarves looking to invade and steal their stash of riches. Kill enough dwarves to gain loot and upgrade defenses with explosives or freezing effects.
Fitness Potential
DwarVRs is a great coordination game that will work the arms and shoulders (pick a difficulty level) when players shoot arrows at dwarves. One side will get more action than the other because of hand dominance, so players will want to switch up arms as they play and add hand wraps or a weighted vest for more difficulty.
If you like bow and arrow VR games for exercise try playing: #Archery and Armed Warrior VR.
Developer/Publisher: Beard Wizard, Coredump
Release Date: February 1, 2018
Compatible with: HTC Vive with tracked controllers
Price: $13.49 to $14.99
Link: DwarVRs
SURV1V3
This early access is a first-person shooter and survival zombie VR game that makes me think of the PC game Left 4 Dead except frighteningly realistic. Play with up to 3 people at a time as players fight face to face against 20 different types of bloodthirsty zombies. Don’t become one of the infected by hiding, planning, fighting, and looking for more weapons. If you want a workout leave story mode for another day.
Fitness Potential
Using melee weapons and guns galore in SURV1V3 will have players fighting off zombies and getting a workout in during combat. The best workout will come from the melee fighting because melee weapons involve effort! Try wearing a weighted vest to fire up the metabolism and explore the game for more movement and combat opportunities.
Are zombie VR games motivating to you as exercise? Try out: ZR: Zombie Riot or Dracula: Vampires vs. Zombies.
Developer/Publisher: Candymakers
Release Date: January 29, 2018
Compatible with: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, with tracked controllers
Price: $19.99 to $24.99
Link: SURV1V3
Zanshin
This is an early access first person sword fighting sim that’s going to put players blade to blade with AI sword masters. Players can choose from a variety of bladed weapons as they slice waves of fighters into ribbons in real time and in slow motion.
Fitness Potential
AI fighters are going to give players a full body workout when they slow down time to rip through challengers. Using slow motion is going to give the upper body, arms, shoulders, and chest a good workout. Playing wave after wave is going to give you the best workout, improving reaction and attack speeds.
If you like to sword fight to get a workout try playing these VR games: Sword Master VR or Sairento VR.
Developer/Publisher: Seven Wolfs Studio
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Compatible with: HTC Vive with tracked controllers
Price: $8.99 to $9.99
Link: Zanshin
Seek & Destroy – Steampunk Arcade
This is a first-person shooter with a steampunk theme that can be viewed from various angles during gameplay. Players become a steam hammer (a fighter in an exo-suit) that’s on the hunt for enemy automatons in the streets of London. Discover areas around the maps and use 6 different weapons in both hands to electrocute or shoot robotic enemies and gain achievements or top leaderboard status.
Fitness Potential
Playing this game at the easy setting is going to be great for entry-level players, while the medium and hard difficulty settings are going to give you more of an upper body workout during shootouts. Using 3dRudder is useful in giving some gamers more mobility, but it won’t give players lower body movement like standing and dodging bullets will.
If you like VR games that also have robots in them play: Scrap Attack VR or Mech League: Boxing.
Developer: GamestormVR
Publisher: Showstorm Ltd
Release Date: January 31, 2018
Compatible with: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, with tracked controllers; also compatible with 3dRudder.
Price: $5.09 to $5.99