In February 2022, I jumped into VR with the Meta Quest 2. The first two games I bought for it were those that fit to my tastes. Starting out with Dash Dash World on the first day of owning it, a few days later I would then buy the Quest Starter Pack. For one reason. Walkabout Mini Golf. I’ve already talked about my experiences with Dash Dash World and other VR racing games earlier this month, so this article will focus on all other experiences.

I enjoy a good game of mini golf, especially those that theme themselves well. So Walkabout Mini Golf very quickly grabbed my attention. It was also an easy game for me to play with the space I have. Simply sit on my bed in such a way I could get a proper swing motion going. So I started out with the first course which was pirate-themed. I… wasn’t exactly the best, but that didn’t deter me.

Onto more of the courses, I started to realise there was a hunt available within the normal versions of these courses. Every hole had a lost ball to find. Which I started looking for. To the point the lost ball hunt became my primary focus. Some of them can be easy to find, while others will be a challenge. Fortunate that there’s a free-flight mode to make that hunt easier.

Those lost balls would get added to my collection, with many various designs to them. Including world flags. So, if there’s a hunt for lost balls, then what of the thing used to hit them? Each course has its own themed club, but you have to unlock them. With a treasure hunt on the hard versions of these courses. These treasure hunts can be tricky, with the clues coming in the form of rhymes or even just pictures. Free-flight mode is absolutely needed for these.

All of these courses are great to traverse through, with Tethys Station and Quixote Valley being some of my favourites of the bunch. They all have good theming, however. And they are all very relaxing to be on. Along with all these base game courses, there’s plenty of DLC to explore with even greater themes. I’ve not explored all of these courses yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, they are excellent.

Within the Quest Starter Pack were three other games. Well, two games and an app. Thrill of the Fight I haven’t even touched, since it seems like it’d require too much activity that the space I have wouldn’t be able to handle. As for A Township Tale, I gave up almost immediately with it. The crafting in the tutorial didn’t want to work for me, and when I skipped it to create my own world to mess around in, it was just so empty.

So that left the app of Wander. Using the images of Google Streetview, it allows a person to view the world at eye level. I used this quite a bit to have a look around many places, with it being easy to quickly jump around locations. Of course, not everywhere is viewable, especially places such as hiking trails. So YouTube comes in very handy for that. The YouTube app is great for 360-degree videos, since you can grab and rotate the video without needing to physically look in that direction.

Before those were bought, I couldn’t resist the lure of Hitman in VR. With it on Game Pass, and IO Interactive having brought the VR mode to that version, it was easy to get it going and explore the locations of the World of Assassination from a new perspective. It was something I loved doing, even if I was terrible when it came to actually completing the missions.

Physically aiming the guns, throwing objects, and even punching proved a bit too much for me to start. The more I played, including messing around with a few settings, the more natural it came. Even if I was still bad at accurately hitting targets with guns. Including with the laser sighting. While I did uninstall it to make room for Flight Simulator, I definitely do intend to return to it again.

Still within 2022, I’d added to my collection of VR games on the Quest with Startenders and Wings 1941. Both at first had a major issue that meant my time on them was small, but both those issues were fixed. For Startenders, it needed an easy reach mode to allow grabbing items easier. With Wings 1941, there was a bug that stopped progression when it came to a certain level.

Both games are fun to play. For Startenders, you are an intergalactic bartender, creating the drinks that a range of alien customers will order. There’s a lot to be aware of with this one, with washing of cups, mixing of liquids through various means, and even flash-freezing or -heating the drink. For those who can’t handle the frenetic gameplay, there are settings to make sure you aren’t penalised for it should you wish.

Wings 1941 is an interesting one in that it doesn’t put you in a first-person perspective of a plane. Instead, your head is the camera while your hands control the plane’s position and targeting. It’s a fun one to control, even if while sat down there can be a few issues with keeping the plane out of danger at certain points. Flying through caverns can be tricky when said cavern angles up to almost the limits of my reach.

At the end of 2023, I added a few new games to my Quest library. First up was Epic Roller Coasters. I’d occasionally wonder whether this would be worth it. The base game was free, so it wouldn’t cost anything to try it out, but I held off for quite some time. Until recently, where I felt the urge for something new. The free content was fun, so I quickly bought one of the extra coaster packs for it.

This is more than just riding rollercoasters, though doing that is fun with their theming. Flying through a zombie apocalypse or exploring a dinosaur park will always be exciting. For extra excitement, there are two other modes to try. The shooting gallery gives you two guns while on these rides, with plenty of targets to shoot at and aim for a high score. Also scattered through the levels are bonus tokens, which don’t affect your score but are a nice extra to find.

Then there’s race, where you control the speed the rollercoaster goes. This can be trickier, as it isn’t just a case of speeding through everything at maximum. Turns need to be taken slowly, otherwise you’ll fly off the rails. Finding the maximum speed to approach each section to saves seconds off the time is where the fun comes from with this one.

Nature Treks was bought as a bit of a relaxation tool. The app gives you many different locations to load up and spend time in, such as a snowy forest or a beach. These small sandboxes have controls to change between day or night, add some rain, or even mess around with adding new foliage to the scenery. I’ve not explored all of the locations it provides, but there’s many of them to love.

Lastly, there’s PowerWash Simulator. One of my highlights of the Switch, now in VR. I loved this game on the Switch so much that I completed all of its career levels, and I’m well on my way to doing that in this VR version. All the same controls are here, such as going prone or swapping between nozzles with a single button. There is the ability to use a toolbelt to do that, but I disabled that thing as soon as the tutorial was over.

There’s a lot more freedom that having this game in VR provides a player. Where other versions you can only control camera or power-washer direction, here you can do both thanks to the motion and head tracking capabilities VR affords you. Even changing how I’m holding the power-washing device. It is unfortunate you can’t dual wield them, as my left hand awkwardly floats around with nothing to do.

There is plenty to enjoy about the world of VR. My favourite experiences within VR always have to do with exploring places on foot, though as seen from my VR racing experiences article, I absolutely love that type of experience too. I am hoping that there will be new experiences in both available from the Quest store across this year. Even if not, there’s plenty of great experiences to have with what I already own.

Images Taken From:
Walkabout Mini Golf on Meta Quest | Meta
Hitman VR is peak comedy | Call Me Kevin
Wings 1941 on Meta Quest | Meta
Epic Roller Coasters on Meta Quest | Meta