We’ve been on this exciting VR journey for almost a decade now, and it seems more thrilling than ever. Each year, it shapes up in unexpected ways, pushing boundaries in gaming, creativity, and even social interaction, ensuring it remains anything but stagnant.
In 2024, the dream of VR’s limitless potential is really starting to take shape. It’s no longer just about high-stakes ‘AAA’ games, although those are a great bonus. This year has witnessed the arrival of eagerly awaited blockbusters and daring indie experiments, proving that VR isn’t just a niche interest; it’s a profitable venture for developers and gamers alike.
This year is notable for its focus on refining the VR experience. Developers have taken a decade’s worth of lessons and are using them to usher VR into a new era of comfort, immersion, and accessibility. Whether it’s innovative game mechanics, captivating stories, or breathtaking visuals that make you lose yourself in the experience, 2024 has been a year of achievements and promises.
With that, let’s dive into Road to VR’s 2024 Game of the Year Awards:
PC VR Game of the Year: Skydance’s Behemoth
The world of PC VR offers something unique. Unlike the standalone Quest platform or the PSVR 2, which leverage the power of the PS5, PC VR gives enthusiasts the chance to push their hardware to its limits for the ultimate experience. Yet, immersion isn’t all about graphics. It’s about creating believable environments, life-like NPCs, enveloping soundscapes, and those breathtaking scenes that make you pause in admiration. In VR’s short history, few games have reached such immersive heights as Skydance’s Behemoth.
Behemoth is a masterpiece, thanks largely to Skydance Games’ expertise, honed through their work on The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (2020). This background informs Behemoth’s physics-based combat and deep, engaging world-building that fans of Saints & Sinners have come to expect.
By the time you’re facing your first Behemoth, you’ll have to master everything from climbing and swinging on a grappling hook to landing long-distance shots with your bow. And whether you choose to wield one of the game’s three Legendary weapons or the foe’s gear—ranging from katanas and daggers to a massive buster sword with real heft, you’re in for epic battles. Behemoth encapsulates everything that makes VR gaming spectacular, earning its place as our top PC VR pick and a must-play title.
Quest Game of the Year: Batman: Arkham Shadow
Dive into Batman: Arkham Shadow, a game that perhaps shouldn’t have existed, considering the long gap since the last main entry in the series and its development by a new studio. Yet, Camouflaj faced these odds head-on and crafted a game remarkable enough to earn our 2024 Quest Game of the Year title.
Understanding that simply porting an Arkham game to VR wouldn’t suffice, Camouflaj focused on capturing the essence of what makes an Arkham game iconic, discarding the old playbook to fully embrace VR.
The franchise’s hallmark combat, where Batman juggles enemies with dexterity and precision, required a creative VR rethink. The result? A novel motion-control mechanic where players zip toward enemies with a fist swing—a thrilling combat system that grows increasingly complex, making you feel like an unbeatable force by the game’s end. Batman: Arkham Shadow is a triumph and a standout on the Quest.
PSVR 2 Game of the Year: Metro Awakening
For years, fans have longed to experience the immersive, post-apocalyptic Metro series in VR, and 2024 finally fulfilled that wish.
Despite the rough world of Metro Awakening seemingly contradicting VR’s limitless possibilities, Vertigo Games transformed this universe into a compelling experience. They retained the Metro DNA while crafting gameplay that feels inherently virtual reality. The inventive arsenal is both functional and true to the series’ aesthetic, enhancing realism and immersion.
Metro Awakening shines with its diegetic inventory system, swapping traditional menu selections for a backpack system to elevate realism. Paired with atmospheric audio and visuals, this system deepens the engrossing tension of the Metro world. The game’s knack for underlining the dangers lurking around every corner makes it our choice for Excellence in Immersion.
Mixed Reality Game of the Year: Starship Home
With VR headsets like the Quest 3 still grappling with fully ‘understanding’ your physical environment, mixed reality (MR) has been slow to gain momentum. Many developers have only used MR as a minor element in larger games. However, Starship Home by Creature breaks this mold, harnessing MR’s current capabilities and standing out as a game that deserves merit on its own.
Starship Home offers charming gameplay, combining casual ship management and sci-fi horticulture, while making MR a core feature—not just a tack-on, marking a transformative MR milestone.
By letting players arrange system controls around their rooms and creating window modules that turn physical spaces into fantasy escape pods, Starship Home cleverly integrates MR into its essence. It sets a benchmark that future MR games would do well to follow.
Excellence in Locomotion and Indie Development: UNDERDOGS
One Hamsa, known for their first title, Racket: Nx, astounds again with UNDERDOGS, clinching awards for Excellence in Locomotion and Indie Development.
Their debut game used zero player movement, designed around standing still while spinning to track balls in a spherical arena. It showcased their philosophy: gameplay should define the game’s movement—or lack thereof.
For UNDERDOGS, One Hamsa envisioned a distinct movement system. Coining ‘arm-based locomotion’, players guide bulky mechs with arm-based driving, pulling the ground beneath them and sometimes attacking in the same motion. The dynamics feel both empowering and integrated, helping achieve a strong sense of embodiment.
Marrying unique movement with combat innovatively lands UNDERDOGS in both award categories. The experience of becoming the mech and making its armory your own is spectacularly fun, showcasing the studio’s expertise and vision.
Ongoing Development Award: Blade & Sorcery
Since its 2018 Steam Early Access debut, Blade & Sorcery has been a gamer favorite, delivering some of VR’s most guttural melee experiences. Warpfrog’s founding developer ‘KospY’ might have rested on its early success, but instead, they grew their team for continuous improvements.
The game’s anticipated 1.0 release in June ushered in the new ‘Crystal Hunt’ story-based mode, wrapping its compelling elements in a full-fledged narrative. The studio plans to leverage its VR combat expertise for future projects, a testament to their enduring dedication to further the VR space.
VR Adaptation of the Year: Trombone Champ: Unflattened!
Trombone Champ’s comedic riff on the rhythm genre captured the internet’s imagination upon its 2022 release. Now, with Flat2VR—once a dedicated modding group—at the helm, Trombone Champ: Unflattened! adapts and enhances the experience for VR.
The new release brings virtual tromboning to life with fresh challenges, ensuring the familiar cheeky charm, with added VR flair. Its success signals even more to come from Flat2VR, with plans for future VR ports of classic titles, poised to win over new fans beyond the screen.
In conclusion, as we wrap another year of groundbreaking VR experiences, Road to VR’s Game of the Year highlights the best of the best. From jaw-dropping visuals to innovative gameplay across PC VR, Quest, and PSVR 2 platforms, 2024 has expanded the horizons of virtual reality in remarkable ways. Now, let’s gear up for what promises to be another thrilling year in VR adventures!
