As we go through our VR games lists, the next on the block is the 10 best VR Games on the HTC Vive Pro 2, one of the premier PC VR headsets.
This list is not in order. Instead, it will cover different genres so anybody can find at least one VR title to fire up from the Steam store or through your Viveport Infinity.
Title | Genre | Platform | Review Score | Price |
Half-Life: Alyx | FPS, Story-Driven, Horror, Action, Physics Puzzler | SteamVR | 98% | 58,99€ |
Walkabout Mini Golf VR | Sports Sim, Competitive, Relaxing | SteamVR, Viveport | 98% | 12,49€ |
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution | Zombie, RPG, Survival-Horror | SteamVR | Unreleased | Unreleased |
Pixel Ripped 1995 | Retro, Platformer, Storydriven | SteamVR, Viveport | 98% | 19,99€ |
Cosmonious High | Storydriven, adventure, puzzler, Sci-Fi | SteamVR | 97% | 24,99€ |
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar | Escape Room, Puzzler, Storydriven, Spy | SteamVR | 96% | 20,99€ |
Pavlov VR | FPS, Team-based, Multiplayer, Action | SteamVR | 94% | 20,99€ |
No Man’s Sky VR | Space Exploration, Open World, Base Building | SteamVR | 89% | 54,99€ |
Elite Dangerous | Space Exploration, Flight Sim, Open World | SteamVR | 76% | 24,99€ |
Half-Life: Alyx had a lot riding on it. Valve rarely releases games, so when a new one pops up on Steam, expectations are soaringly high. But especially for Alyx because of the Half-Life connection, with fervent fans still waiting for Half-Life 3 since 2007. The good news is that not only does Alyx do the Half-Life moniker justice, the VR game brilliantly shows that it only could have been experienced in virtual reality. This is why Alyx is the best story-driven action environmental physics puzzler set in the futuristic and dilapidated city 17.
On a completely different ball game, Walkabout Mini Golf is a relaxing mini-golf sim set in 16 beautifully realized courses with a newly released Atlantis course set beneath the waves governed by different floaty physics. The Mighty Coconut developer clearly agrees as they implemented a neat fly-mode to experience the levels in their full glory, meant to collect ten balls to unlock a new difficulty for the courses. In short, whether you want to play one-on-one with a friend or alone, Walkabout Mini Golf is relaxing and engaging at the same time.
A mouthful of a title, Chapter 2: Retribution is the sequel to the iconic The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and is the next best VR game for the HTC Vive Pro 2. While the Oculus Quest 2 version was released in December, the SteamVR version releases in late march 2023. So if you haven’t played one of the best VR games ever made, you should check out Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. Because Retribution picks right up after the first game ends with The Tourist now set to explore what is up with ‘that tower’ while joggling turf wars with zombies going for your innards fighting through them by using a large repertoire of guns and skill points.
Mirroring the same genre as Saints & Sinner of ‘a story-driven RPG’, the comparison entirely ends there. Pixel Ripped 1995 is the sequel to Pixel Ripped 1989 and is a split VR game between pixel art classics from the 90s and a coming-of-age tale in 3D. The tone is what sells this title in that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, set in a delightfully nostalgic 90s world. A neat example is when you play as the kid past his bedtime, certain audio triggers are louder than others and require you to turn off your TV with his mom yelling from the other room for you to go to bed.
Speaking of not taking itself too seriously, Cosmonious High is made by the studio that brought you Job Simulator and has a similar tone of silliness. However, this time you are navigating a colorful alien high school dealing with the trials and tribulations from freshman to seniors. Throughout this VR game, you solve challenges given out by the expertly voice-acted characters using your evolving superpowers. All of this is why Cosmonious High is one best VR games on the Vive Pro 2. Alternatively, I would be remiss not to highlight Justin Roiland’s Trover Saves the Universe. If you like Rick & Morty, you must play this one: sadly it went criminally under the VR radar.
The next VR game, before we move on to other genres, is the dynamic duo of escape room puzzle games I Expect You To Die and I Expect You To Die 2. The I Expect You To Die is jokingly referred to as the Dark Souls of VR point-and-click physics puzzlers because, well, you are expected to die to beat the series of escape room missions. While this sequel does seem like a bigger DLC for the first game, it is worth your coin if you loved the first VR title.
The two VR shooters on this best VR games for the Vive Pro 2 are miles apart in their focus. Pavlov is if Counter-Strike was in virtual reality, that is a competent team-based competitive shooter with numerous modern weapons putting your twitch reactions to the test. Alternatively, Hyper Dash is if Unreal Tournament was in VR, that is an arcadey arena-shooter with futuristic weapons like rocket launchers and classic game modes like Capture The Flag.
Exploring the final frontier is in many ways tailor-made for virtual reality, which is why this first space-exploration title No Man’s Sky VR is the next best VR game for the Vive Pro 2. Despite No Man’s Sky wasn’t initially released for virtual reality, its official VR port is excellent, with a user-friendly UI and great movement mechanics. In fact, since the release of the VR version, No Man’s Sky made the standard 2D screen version mute, as now the game should only be experienced in VR, in my opinion.
If you want a similar space experience but with ruthless realism and a learning curve resembling NASA’s space pilot program, then Elite Dangerous is for you. Because once you have gotten past the numerous key bindings (really, check here), the mind-numbing scale of space hits you within your Vive Pro 2 because you experience it up close, realizing how minuscule you are in the big black emptiness. Alternatively, if you want to save on flight and hotel tickets, Microsoft Flight Simulator lets you explore our blue planet in real-time weather and flight data.
While they are not traditionally the best VR games for the Vive Pro 2. Rounding out these best VR game experiences, I thought to highlight that a world of VR goodness is waiting if you are willing to take on some occasional jank. Because we will orient our looking glass towards VR mods, turning traditional 2D games into VR games. If you played Half-Life: Alyx and crave more, I wholeheartedly recommend the Half-life 1 VR Mod and Half-Life 2 VR Mod.
Or if you want to play an intimate story that will put an emotional hammer to your cheek within the first 10 minutes, check out Firewatch VR Mod. How about one of the best video games ever made, Outer Wilds, well, it has a VR Mod.
Next, if you always wanted to experience what Nostromo felt like while hunted by a xenomorph, then Alien Isolation has a VR Mod. Maybe you want one of the best team-based RPGs with insane replayability and a thriving fanbase Deep Rock Galactic VR Mod is for you.
Last but certainly not least, if your PC sports a minimum of an RTX 2070 but preferably a 4090, put it through its ringer and fire up the Cyberpunk 2077 VR Mod, Night City feels like it was made to be experienced in VR.
Jakob Pii is the Head Writer at VR Expert and currently lives in the UK. He started his career in VR gaming in 2015 and has stayed in XR since, from exposure therapy in VR to 360-degree video documentaries. He is fascinated by how emerging technologies change how we live, play and work.