2022 has finally bought some relief for frustrated gamers everywhere after a disappointing year. 2021 was the year that promised a lot but delivered very little. Huge games like Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042 had huge amounts of hype built up until the release of basically unfinished games that were full of bugs and completely unplayable prompted the developers to offer an apology and a refund to quell the angry fans. However, most are beginning to forgive the gaming industry for a poor year, especially considering much of that would have been down to various restrictions put in place through 2020 which would have halted gaming development for a number of months. I take a look at the top VR game releases in 2022.
AAA Games in 2022
Thankfully, 2022 was the year that all gaming fans needed to restore their faith in AAA games. Elden Ring launched and swiftly became one of the highest ever reviewed games, with an average 4.9-star review. Forbidden West wasn’t far behind, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5. Both games were widely revered as some of the best graphics that had been seen in recent releases. Both storylines were rated as excellent, with the stories being described as compelling and addictive. With 2022 finally looking up for the world of AAA gaming, what have we got to look forward to?
The Popularity of Virtual Reality Games
Virtual reality might not be brand new in terms of gaming but when you look at the technology behind it, it has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. The idea behind virtual reality is to have an immersive game experience so it stands to reason that the technology behind this has to be top-notch and over the last year or so virtual reality gamers have been far from disappointed.
One of the biggest trends that will potentially change the face of gaming is virtual reality. It’s a piece of technology that, until now, has been very much in the background. Despite being developed several years ago it’s simply not seen as much use as the inventors expected – in fact until now most of the use cases had applied to training for skilled professions, like giving doctors more experience in what to look for before treating real patients. Can we see VR game releases in 2022 break into the mainstream?
Virtual reality is about more than just gaming and entertainment, although that is important too! There are now other industries that are making use of the technology; largely thanks to have much it has improved over recent years. VR had been integrated into some industries for a while, however, the tech was still new and fairly basic until recently – and now it is proving a popular addition to things like live-action casinos, where people can play video poker and other casino entertainment games.
Popular Games Such as Oculus Quest 2
That was until the Oculus Quest 2 came into peoples’ lives. The console launched in 2020 and had a slow start with minimal games available for the console. However, the console itself represented a whole new way of gaming and received excellent reviews. Users remarked at how lightweight and comfortable the Oculus was, as well as how sleek the design felt. Additionally, once more games started to be released, users said how impressive the virtual reality experience was, with a lot of games being very detailed and living up the immersive experience that the Oculus Quest 2 promised. There still aren’t a huge amount of VR games on the market, but more are being developed with a lot of promising 2022 release dates.
The Last Clockwinder is due to be released on Quest 2 later this year and already has virtual reality fans excited. The Last Clockwinder is a Studio Ghibli inspired game and focuses on the idea of robot automation and assembly lines. Players will be required to act out jobs and create long chains of robots that will eventually help you to complete your goals – it’s a mix between an automation and puzzle game.
One of the biggest names in the game developing world, Rockstar, had a very exciting announcement for fans of the Oculus Quest 2 this year. Rockstar announced that they were intending to remaster Grand Theft Auto San Andreas to work in virtual reality on the Quest 2. While the gameplay will be the same, it will benefit from updated controls that will be tailored to work on the Quest 2. While for most people a remastered game isn’t the most exciting release, Rockstar will get away with releasing GTA for Quest because it’s a whole new way of experiencing the game – they just need to make sure that they do a good job. Rockstar will be closely watched to see if they do a good job because their last remastered GTA game left them with thousands of negative reviews for not improving the graphics or controls which were the two things they said they would improve.
What Other Games Can We Expect This Year?
Other games that we can expect to see released on Oculus later this year are no less exciting and even include some well-known TV franchises coming to the platform for the first time. A Peaky Blinders VR game is rumoured to be in the works at the moment, with a planned release sometime later this year. We have definitely seen an increase in popular TV and film characters being used in the gaming industry, especially online casinos and new technology such as virtual reality. The use of characters that audiences feel familiar with is no coincidence, it is actually designed to encourage customers in. This is because even though they’re using something brand new to them, it feels safe and familiar. After all, it is covered with characters that they know and love, helping to ensure that they feel at home using something new.
After a disappointing year for gamers in 2021, 2022 has already made up for it and it’s only set to get better; let’s see what games the rest of the year has up its sleeve and if this look of the top VR game releases in 2022 pans out.
Keen tech writer outside of my day job in I.T. and spending time with my family.
