Gaming has always been a great form of escapism, offering players an opportunity to experience life in so many glorious ways. But, with virtual reality, this experience takes a new form as we don headsets and controllers that become our eyes and hands. Virtual reality makes unimaginable scenarios possible and with the PS VR headset, which came out in 2016, Sony has helped transport millions around the world to a virtual reality world on both PS4 and PS5.
It’s no surprise then that developers have been working hard over the last five years to bring us games that work perfectly on the PS VR. In this best PS VR games to play in 2021 guide, we’ve put together the very best games that are available to play right now using the PS VR headset. From futuristic puzzlers to first person shooters to immersing yourself into your favourite sci-fi adventures, here are the titles we recommend trying out.
The technology is, of course, ever-evolving. With the new PS VR 2 headset and the new PlayStation 5 VR controllers with finger tracking around the corner, it’s an exciting time to be a VR fan. For now though, we’re sticking with what we can play right now on the PS VR.
The best PS VR games are:
- Beat Saber
- ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
- Rez Infinite
- Blood & Truth
- Tetris Effect
- Marvel’s Iron Man VR
- Moss
- Resident Evil 7
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew
- Statik
- Superhot
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Beat Saber
You might have heard on the grapevine that VR can be a great form of exercise. Well, if you’re looking to get moving, Beat Saber is the game for you.
This PS VR game turns your Move controllers into lightsabres that can be slashed across beats in time to the music. The better your rhythm, the better your score. And with music tracks available to download from artists such as Billie Eilish and BTS, you can not only enjoy your favourite music, but feel like you’re actually playing it too.
Buy nowASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Launched in 2018, this PS VR exclusive is a 3D platformer full of adventure. You become Astro, the robot captain of a ship tasked with going on a rescue mission to retrieve bots that have been lost all over space. The game sets out different courses for you to navigate Astro around.
Although in third-person perspective, you are immersed into the middle of the game for the best view to figure out how to help Astro zip around smoothly and rescue his poor rescue crewmates.
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Rez Infinite
Rez Infinite is one of the original PS VR launch titles from 2016, and it transformed the iconic original, Rez, from Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 days of yore, to virtual reality.
And well, it’s the perfect transformation. Rez Infinite 260 shooter that’ll have you spinning and blasting waves of enemies time after time.
It’s not a game that was built with VR in mind but it’s certainly one that benefits from the fully immersive experience that VR has to offer. Developer Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a master of synaesthesia, mixing sights and sounds together, and is responsible for another game that we’ll talk about later.
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Blood & Truth
The only first person shooter game on our list, Blood & Truth has been fully transported to virtual reality for the PS VR. A PlayStation Studios exclusive, Blood & Truth forces you to battle your way through the London underworld rife with crime.
Starting out as a demo with the launch of PlayStation VR Worlds called London Heist, the game is a nod to gangster movies and offers an experience you won’t forget.
Movement is a little different to other games since you’ll need to look at a spot and press your Move controller to go there but once you get to grips with it, it’s action adventure at its finest.
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Tetris Effect
Tetris Effect takes its name from a real world phenomenon whereby people who immerse themselves in an activity are believed to begin to visualise patterns, sounds, and dreamlike states. We mentioned earlier that developer Tetsuya Mizuguchi had another game on our list and this is it with the full immersion of block building puzzler Tetris in VR.
Tetris Effect: Connected, an update for 2020, also introduces cross-platform multiplayer to the game that transforms the original and all its levels even further.
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Marvel’s Iron Man VR
You’ll need to equip yourself with the PS Move motion controllers for this one as you become Iron Man and embark on a whole new original adventure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In Iron Man VR, you are battling the mysterious Ghost, a hacker who is seeking revenge for deaths caused by old Stark Industries weapons. You’ll suit up in the iconic armour and soar through the skies as the PS VR headset lights up like Iron Man’s very own HUD.
If this isn’t what virtual reality was made for, we don’t know what is.
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Moss
After all the drama of Iron Man VR, we simmer down the tone with the beautifully artistic action-adventure puzzler, Moss. You follow Quill, a mouse on a mission as she awakens ancient magic and travels outside her own world to restore balance.
Since you observe and assist her on her journey from a third-person perspective, Moss is an unusual VR game but one that reads like an interactive storybook where puzzles become progressively harder.
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Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Exclusively for PS VR, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard became one of the first triple-A games to embrace a fully playable virtual reality mode.
It’s survival horror that is more up close and personal than you would ever feel comfortable with thanks to it being ported by developer Capcom for playing on the PS VR. And, according to Capcom’s official global stats, as of September 2021, just over one million players have tried it out on PS VR equating for 11.75% of its overall players.
Be warned though: it’s not for the faint hearted.
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Star Trek: Bridge Crew
If you’ve ever dreamed of stepping aboard the USS Enterprise or the USS Aegis, Star Trek: Bridge Crew is for you.
Together with a team, you’ll need to make strategic decisions to master missions in the Star Trek universe. If that isn’t enough to convince you to play, there’s lip-sync compatibility, which makes your characters look like they’re talking when you are.
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Statik
The PlayStation store sums this one up perfectly, Statik is about “solving puzzles in a place you don’t know, with a person you don’t recognise, and hands that aren’t completely yours.”
This mind-boggling puzzler traps your hands in a box and you have to use your PlayStation Move controllers to work out how to break out of it.
Each level presents you with a new room and a new box to escape.
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Superhot
We’ve all dreamed of doing that move in the Matrix, but in Superhot you can. In this innovative first-person shooter, time only moves when you do.
You’ll need to clear levels full of enemies by using whatever weapons you can find, all while dodging bullets, punches, and knives. It’s an addicting VR game, mostly because you can channel your inner John Wick and play the game how you want.
There you have it, our picks for the best PS VR games for you to play right now. Should more exciting VR titles drop in the near future, we’ll be sure to update this guide.
If you’re in the market for other games, make sure to check out our best PS5 games guide. You can also find a full list of PlayStation VR games right here.