Best Quest 3 & 2 shooters
Shooters in VR can be different from the usual FPS and tactical shooters you see on consoles. You may be a soldier, powerful cyborg, or deadly spy, but using motion controls makes each shot more deliberate and trickier to pull off than with a controller or mouse. These make VR shooters uniquely challenging and satisfying once you become skilled enough to pull off major victories.
Shooters in best overall: Genotype, Resident Evil 4 VR
Bonelab
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The new standard for VR physics-based games
VR enthusiasts — especially ones who don’t have access to a powerful gaming PC — have been wondering how Boneworks developer Stress Level Zero could possibly port the physics-heavy action-adventure game to the Quest 2’s meager hardware. Well, wonder no more as Bonelab is the spiritual successor to Boneworks and includes not just the same ground-breaking physics engine as the PC VR title, but also improvements based on years of user feedback, as well.
To preface things, Bonelab is a game that’s only made for VR gamers who have no issues with motion sickness at all. That’s because the game eschews standard comfort mechanics for something far more visceral and interactive than most games would ever allow. Your virtual body will get tossed about the many narrative-driven levels and you will even unlock the ability to switch characters on-the-fly, choosing from dozens of pre-built and user-made avatars. Each avatar has its own size and abilities, even including a giant creature that would put fear into the heart of a Rancor from Star Wars.
While Bonelab features hours of narrative-driven content that will see players delving through medieval dungeons, infiltrating a modern-day facility with modern-day weapons, and even fighting void zombies and head crabs bent on pulling you even further into VR, the game really shines with its custom content. An in-game mod browser can be used to easily download user and developer-created content and play to your hearts content. Given the size of the Boneworks community and its fervor to mod games, there’s little doubt that Bonelab will be fun to play for years to come. —Nick Sutrich
Crisis Brigade 2 Reloaded
Duck and cover!
Fans of arcade lightgun games absolutely need to try Crisis Brigade 2 Reloaded. Originally found on SideQuest and then App Lab, this VR arcade shooter has finally made it to the official store. Unlike the first title, which has very cartoony graphics and some extremely light-hearted humor, the second entry goes for a much more realistic aesthetic. This is the kind of lightgun game that you’ve been missing since arcades mostly went belly-up 15 years ago. It would comfortably sit alongside classics like House of the Dead and Time Crisis.
The difference is that you’re in the environment this time, not just standing in front of a giant arcade cabinet. Make sure to get some friends to pick up a copy so you can play alongside them because there’s nothing like rescuing the (ex) President while shooting it out in a Matrix-style lobby scene with friends. —Nick Sutrich
Espire 2
Step into the shoes of a robotic secret agent
While Espire 1 filled a bizarrely empty gap in the Quest’s library — the stealth genre — the game wasn’t the best example of what a truly great stealth experience in VR could be. To get that, you needed a PC and a copy of Budget Cuts 1 or 2. Thankfully, Espire 2 is out and fixes almost all the flaws of the original, including a co-op mode that lets you stealth around with a human teammate.
Espire 2 picks up where the story of the first left off but don’t worry, they’ll give you a recap of what happened in the first and fill in the little details along the way. The story in Espire 2 is far more convincing and impressive than the first, presenting tasks that feel weightier and narrators that know not to bother you when you’re focused on sneaking around. It also introduces a new smaller robot husk that you’ll control, changing up the puzzles enough to make the game feel incredibly fresh.
Folks who enjoy Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell will most assuredly enjoy the game, although it feels a lot more video gamey than a realistic stealth sim would. In other words, if you loved the quirky humor and obvious video game mechanics of the first two Metal Gear Solid games, you’ll feel absolutely at home here. — Nick Sutrich
The Light Brigade
It's the classic story of dark vs light in a fantasy WWI-era world
Roguelikes have become an increasingly popular genre in VR for many reasons. Like other Roguelikes (or roguelites), The Light Brigade is a single-player game that weaves a light narrative (pun intended) into each gameplay session. There’s definitely an overarching story here that’s deeper than most VR roguelikes but the gameplay is still the primary driver of your daily play sessions.
The Light Brigade takes place in a truly interesting fantasy world filled with darkness and WWI-era weapons. Much of the game feels like a narrative allusion to the horrors of war, specifically Europe’s World Wars, and it’s through the player's actions and a sprinkling of prayer that will drive away the darkness inhabiting the world.
Players will wield WWI-era rifles and pistols which are enhanced by magic, powering through randomly-generated worlds that escalate in theme and difficulty. As with other roguelikes, you’ll traverse through the world as far as you can, earning temporary power-ups and collecting permanent currency until you die upon whence you’ll be whisked back to the home hub and be rebirthed to try, try again.
It’s both the theme and the visceral gameplay that makes The Light Brigade so good — and so addictive. It’ll have you coming back again and again not only to hone your skills and progress through the intriguing story but also to see what power-ups you can find and how much better your weapons can get. — Nick Sutrich
Swarm 2
Spider-Man heads to the arcades
Not all sequels are created equal, but Swarm 2 takes the high-flying arcade action from the original title and adds a brilliant roguelike progression system on top of it. Jump in (literally), swing like Spider-Man with your grappling tools, and eliminate the aliens invading Earth.
Swarm 2's gameplay loop is as addicting as it is exhilarating to play. You're launched into an arena teeming with aliens that spawn from random portals across the map. However, it's not a static shooting gallery; this is a very, very active game. Armed with grappling hooks and pistols, you must pull yourself every which way to avoid attacks and position yourself to strike back — performing aerial acrobatics that only make sense with room-scale VR technology.
Each level lasts only as long as you — or the enemies — can survive. Other levels offer movement challenges that test your ability to accurately grapple as fast as you can without falling to your doom. Power-ups and new weapons are found and earned during play, and you'll soon find yourself in a zen-like state of grappling, pulling, shooting, and dodging.
Plus, dying isn't the end. Like any good roguelike, points earned during matches can be used to upgrade your arsenal and powers so your next run can be even better than the last. Can you defeat the swarm and save the Earth? —Nick Sutrich
Best Quest 3 & 2 multiplayer shooters
Unlike traditional video games, VR shooters aren't all necessarily multiplayer. Our previous picks all have excellent single-player campaigns and no multiplayer outside of leaderboards, which many gamers will prefer. But if competition fuels you or you want a shooter that lets you play with friends, these are the best Meta Quest multiplayer shooters we've played and loved!
Multiplayer shooters in best overall: Breachers, Contractors Showdown
After the Fall
![After the Fall | Reclamation Update Trailer [ESRB] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4nKR0I-7-K4/maxresdefault.jpg)
After the fall, don't get left for dead
If you're a fan of zombie shooters — especially the kind that throws hundreds of zombies at you — After the Fall is the game you need. In a broad sense, the game apes zombie shooter classics like Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor in the best of ways, creating an alternate-reality world where climate change in the '80s messed all kinds of things up and frost zombies suddenly appeared to mop up whatever was left of human civilization.
The game leans heavily into the '80s theme, as the hub where you start each play session is a 1980s arcade, complete with playable Oregon Trail hunting mini-game-inspired versions of Arizona Sunshine, the developer's previous VR title. Up to 32 players will walk amongst themselves in this lobby and can be invited to a party with a single click.
You'll be shooting hordes of zombies alongside three other players, or you can always opt to let the AI take over those player characters, instead. Either way, it's a four-person crew that'll be collecting floppies to unlock new gun components, gathering harvest from every downed zombie, and spending that harvest to better outfit yourself for the next, even more difficult level. Our After the Fall review gives you all the reasons you need to hop on right this minute.
Since launch, Vertigo Games has supported After the Fall with a new horde mode, several new maps, guns, enemies, and plenty other new content, all free. And given the developer supported Arizona Sunshine for several years, you can expect even more content to come with time. —Nick Sutrich
Contractors
Striking the balance between military realism and cartoonish fun
When it comes to VR military shooters, two names lead the pack: Onward and Contractors. You can find Onward mentioned below but, if absolute realism and tight tactics aren’t quite your style, Contractors should be right up your alley. As you might assume from the name, you’ll play as a military contactor battling it out for supremacy of a map. Usually, that means the team with the most kills wins.
If you’ve played Call of Duty or Counter-Strike before, you’ll feel right at home here. The game features an impressive on-body inventory system that can be played with or without full-body physics modeling, and the game sports a bevy of accessibility features to make it easy to play for folks with all abilities and comfort levels. It’s also got the most accurate weapon modeling and reload mechanics of any game in its class that isn’t called Onward. You’ll regularly marvel at the quality of the gun models, from the World War 2-era weapons to modern-day rifles, and even ancient ninja swords and bows.
Yes, you read that right. Contractors doesn’t just give players the experience of modern-day combat, it also lets you choose from three additional gameplay styles: WW2, Ninja, and the new Zombies survival mode, as well. Up and coming games like Alvo offer up more agile movement systems and a different take on the formula, but Contractors has been a fan favorite of VR fans for years and just keeps getting better.
Last and most certainly not least is the game’s easy modding capabilities, where players can design and upload their own maps and areas, complete with custom textures and everything you would expect. Yes, that means favorites from other consoles like Halo multiplayer and Star Wars Battlefront — which will never officially come to Quest 2 — can be played without having to sideload. Just search (or browse) for what you want and hit play. All the downloading is handled automatically and all you have left to do is win. — Nick Sutrich
Ghosts of Tabor
Get in, get the goods, and get out while you still can.
Ghosts of Tabor is THE VR extraction shooter to play, with tons of different environments to explore, realistic weapons, survival mechanics, and an addictive gameplay loop that'll regularly keep you coming back for more.
Tabor quickly rose to popularity after a successful alpha test in early 2023, ushering in an epic round of funding and rapid development shortly after. Its official launch on the Meta Quest store in early 2024 ensured its player base would continue to grow and it's one of the most popular VR multiplayer shooters today because of its loyal community.
Players will start off in their own space, hunkered down in an underground bunker where they'll amass weapons and other gear after each survival run. Equip yourself with things you'll find and buy as you set off on your own or with squadmates to scavenge what you can from war-ravaged wastelands.
But be careful: when you die in Tabor, you lose everything you had. The game is no joke, and it rewards serious players who employ skill and strategy with epic loot that can be had no other way. While exploring, you can also accept jobs from different factions, earning credibility that'll later turn into better items from each group's shop.
Do you have what it takes to survive? — Nick Sutrich
Gun Raiders
The uber-creative, Tribes-like multiplayer experience
It’s hard to argue with free, but Gun Raiders is compelling enough on its own. Sporting gameplay that feels straight out of the classic Starsiege: Tribes games from two decades ago, players will join in one of several different multiplayer modes that take part in thousands of different maps.
To top that off, players will fly around on jetpacks, climb any surface they set their minds to, and wield dozens of different weapons — including fantastical and semi-realistic guns and melee weapons.
If that level of variety wasn’t enough to get you interested, keep in mind that this game is completely free to play and doesn’t require players to watch adds or sign up for some dubious account. It’s got an in-game shop and a battle pass that’ll get players unique skins and other cosmetic items for a few bucks. The game has already been through four seasons of content as of late December 2022 and isn’t slowing down any time soon.
This one’s definitely a shooter everyone should try, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s free — Nick Sutrich
Population: One
Turning battle royale on its head ... literally
When Population: One first got announced in late summer 2020, I'm pretty sure I heard a collective sigh from the VR community. "Do we really need another battle royale game?" was heard across forums far and wide, but developer Big Box VR proved most everyone wrong a few months later. Not only is the game one of the single-best battle royale games on any platform, but its mechanics are so well-tailored to VR that it doesn't make sense to play Population: One any other way.
If you're a fan of games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, or Call of Duty: Warzone, you'll feel immediately at home in the standard gameplay mode. Fly into a map and make sure you're the last one standing to win. The unique setup becomes apparent immediately since it doesn't take place on one floor. VR's unique level of freedom is fully explored in this game because it lets you climb anywhere — and I mean anywhere — and glide off said structures by simply extending your arms like you're wearing a wingsuit. It's doing to the battle royale formula what Breath of the Wild did for third-person adventure games.
Big Box VR has also supported the game in a way that's making players come back for more. Season One added a new War Mode, new weapons like a katana, and plenty of fresh skins. Season Two grew the map with a Western-themed area, threw in tons of new weapons, and grew the max player count to 24. The Kingdom Age season converted part of the map into a massive medieval castle, with new swords and tools to freshen things up. And the Metropolis update gave the world a Blade Runner aesthetic.
After that, the Sandbox expansion added over 1,000 new deathmatch and team deathmatch maps at launch on December 14, 2022 and even includes a full-fledged level editor. That in-game level editor makes it easy for anyone to create and publish their own maps and even bring their friends along for the fun, spinning the game into an amazing place to create and hang out. Now, the game is fully free-to-play so players can enjoy the evolving map and gameplay options without the financial commitment.
Rest assured, if you want a game that gives you plenty of reasons to play regularly, Population: One is that game. —Nick Sutrich
Best Quest 3 & 2 multiplayer games
Virtual reality may allow you to explore fantastic worlds or real places on Earth but it's not always enjoyable if you're on your own. Thankfully, there are a growing number of multiplayer experiences, either with fellow Quest 2 owners or with your friends and loved ones in the room with you.
Multiplayer games in best overall: Demeo, Dungeons of Eternity, Gorilla Tag, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Among Us VR
A fantastic (if limited) port of the viral social multiplayer game
Among Us is elegant in its simplicity: you complete simple tasks to save your crewmates, while imposters sneak around murdering and sabotaging the ship, and then everyone joins together to figure out who did the killing. Among Us VR took that formula and added 3D graphics, motion-control tasks, and proximity chat that transport you into space and make the murder sprees feel much more personal and anxiety-inducing.
Among Us VR has two maps — The Skeld II and Polus Point — based on the original game. The developers also run limited-time events with special rules like Infection, Containment, and Bone Bash to keep things fresh for players.
Whether you're looking for your first beginner experience to VR or something new and affordable to shake things up, Among Us VR would be our first recommendation. —Michael Hicks
Meta Horizon Worlds
From memeable to enjoyable
When Zuckerberg started the "Metaverse" concept with Horizon Worlds, a basic social hub with kiddish graphics and terrible avatars, it led to plenty of mockery as people stuck with other games like Rec Room and VR Chat. But Meta has continuously updated Meta Horizon Worlds since its 2021 launch — it's on v183 as of October 2024 — and it's now a solid option for hanging out with other Quest players.
You can either hang out with friends or meet up with random folks and strike up a conversation as you hop into portals to play minigames like Super Rumble. There are various live events, comedy routines, and concerts to enjoy; this massive Venues list shows what to expect. — Michael Hicks
Rec Room
Play with your friends, no matter what system they use.
Rec Room is one of the original multiplayer VR games that has expanded by leaps and bounds since its initial release. It's available on all VR systems as well as mobile, gaming consoles, and PC! As the name suggests, Rec Room is the place to go when you want to hang out with friends and play together, no matter what your interests are.
The game's developers have created dozens of fun games to jump into together, from defeating killer robots, finding pirate booty, vanquishing Dracula, playing a full battle royale shooter, paintball, basketball, and plenty of other sports and games.
But the player-built modes are where you'll find knock-offs of popular games like Among Us and Fall Guys, unofficial maps from popular properties like Star Wars, or just little clubhouses where you can hang out with friends or meet new people.
If you're tight on cash and want content that will last for hours, Rec Room is the game for you. Just keep in mind that some people's experiences with Rec Room can be poisoned by rude trolls, so you may have more fun if you play in private sessions with people you trust. — Michael Hicks
Roblox
Endless possibility with millions of games
Roblox doesn't need much introduction; in many ways it's the "multiverse" that Meta wants to make, with a massive shared world across phones, consoles, and (now) VR headsets with millions of user-made games that people can play, on their own or with friends and strangers.
We really enjoyed playing Roblox VR when testing it out, and we've no doubt that any Roblox fans will find it fun to immerse themselves in silly experiences, design their unique avatars for interacting with others, and just socializing with friends who might not have a Quest headset. —Michael Hicks
VRChat
Have fun (but tread carefully)
Based on number of reviews, VRChat is probably the most popular multiplayer space on Quest aside from Gorilla Tag. Like most of the other picks above, it's a social space to hang out with friends or make new ones, along with an environment to play minigames. It's updated to work without controllers, so you can let your hands relax.
The tricky thing with VRChat is that the space is very much an unmoderated wild west. You'll have the most fun if you spend time with a group of friends that you trust; if you join random groups, it's a toss-up whether you'll run into jerks or trolls, or genuinely nice people that may or may not be in your age group. —Michael Hicks
