During our last VR Game Roundup, we saw several exciting new releases such as a VR fitness favorite in X-Booster leaving Early Access, Tall Order, and a couple of shooters. This week has even more high-profile releases and looks to be the last major week of releases in 2020. Headlining this crop of titles is a new Medal of Honor title built for virtual reality, a free update for Superhot, and several interesting new releases.
Superhot VR Boxing Day Update
Kicking off this week’s VR Game Roundup is a free update for Superhot VR. The holiday-themed Boxing Day update adds in an endless mode that has players competing for the highest score possible. It’s a great addition to this fitness favorite of ours and is available on all headsets that the game released on.
Fitness Potential
The whole gimmick of Superhot VR is that time moves when you move and that makes for a fantastic low-intensity workout. This mode is perfect for workouts as you can go as long as you want in it and it always provides a unique experience. Superhot VR has also been given a fitness rating comparable to walking by the VR Institute of Health and Exercise and won our Best VR Shooting Fitness Game of the Year in 2017.
Developer and Publisher: Superhot Team
Release Date: December 10, 2020
Compatible With: PlayStation VR, HTC Viveport, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality
Price: $14.99 ($24.99)
Link: Steam
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
The biggest release this week, and one of the most high-profile shooters to release for virtual reality, is Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. This is a fully-featured VR shooter as it has a full campaign going through world War II battles against the Nazis and several competitive multiplayer modes where you can fight by yourself or with a squad of other players.
Fitness Potential
While it supports motion tracking, Medal of Honor doesn’t use room scale and can be seated. As such, beyond moving your arms, you won’t be getting much of a workout here. Shooters don’t tend to be the greatest workout in general but this one is only using your arms, so don’t expect much exercise. It’s also worth noting that early user reviews are extremely negative as the game seems unoptimized with graphical and technical issues popping up. It seems like a title to take a wait and see approach on as maybe some patches will help clean things up.
Developer and Publisher: Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts
Release Date: December 10, 2020
Compatible With: Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift
Price: $59.99
Link: Steam, Oculus Store
Myst VR
A true classic, Myst has been a gaming favorite ever since it originally released in 1993. This VR port is arguably the best version of the adventure game as it is quite immersive as you journey through the island and motion controls make the puzzles even more fun. There’s even an optional random puzzle mode that will give even the most experienced players a new experience.
Fitness Potential
Myst is a pretty chill adventure game meant for exploration and testing your mind to solve puzzles, so don’t expect much exercise from it. There is more movement than playing a non-VR version, as you are grabbing items and potentially standing up, but this simply isn’t a workout title.
Developer and Publisher: Cyan Worlds Inc.
Release Date: December 10, 2020
Compatible With: Oculus Quest
Price: $29.99
Link: Oculus Store
Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister
Out this week for Oculus Quest is Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister. This is the first Warhammer 40k game in VR and has players taking the role of a Battle Sister. It plays like a first-person shooter and you will face hordes of foes in a single-play campaign. There are 12 different weapons to master and co-op multiplayer will come in a patch in 2021.
Fitness Potential
This has some melee weapons in it as well as guns (some of which can be dual-wielded), so this has slightly higher workout potential than Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond depending on your play style. Of course, Superhot VR has you moving a whole heck of a lot more, so that should be your choice if you are looking for purely a workout. However, if you dig the Warhammer 40k universe and like shooters, this is a fun purchase if not a great workout.
Developer and Publisher: Pixel Toys
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Compatible With: Oculus Quest
Price: $29.99
Link: Oculus Store
Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds
New to the Oculus Store is Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds. This team-based shooter has you facing up against another team, although players aren’t the only threat since there are environmental enemies that attack both sides. Matches are pretty big as there are 20 players overall, so things can get pretty hectic.
Fitness Potential
Like we mentioned about Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, shooters don’t tend to be great workouts. Likewise, this doesn’t support room scale play and you are just moving your arms. You won’t really work up a sweat while playing, but it has received better reviews than Medal of Honor, so this might be a better game to pick up.
Developer and Publisher: inXile Entertainment and Thirdverse
Release Date: December 10, 2020
Compatible With: Oculus Rift (Also on Valve Index & HTC Vive)
Price: $24.99
Link: Oculus Store
Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!
Closing out this week’s VR Game Roundup is Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!, which is new to Steam. This dancing game brings back the beloved character Ulala and includes DLC that adds in Hatsune Miku. It’s worth noting that this is very much on the short side as it will only last players about two hours, so those looking for value might not find it here.
Fitness Potential
You can get a solid enough workout in while playing Space Channel 5 as you are matching poses while dancing to songs. There’s not enough content or variety, though, for it to be a fantastic workout. Still, if you have fond memories of the series then this is worth a nostalgic go.
Developer and Publisher: Grounding Inc.
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Compatible With: Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality (Previously on PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest)
Price: $24.99
Link: Steam
That will do it for this week’s VR Game Roundup. Let us know in the comments if you are picking up any of these titles.
