Best Gear VR games: 7 Samsung Gear VR games you have to play

Just bought a Samsung Gear VR headset for your Samsung Galaxy S8, or simply looking for some new games to play on your older Gear VR headset on a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S7? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

We’ve put together a list of our favourite games available on the Samsung Gear VR, ranging from some casual experiences to enjoyable VR romps you can have from the comfort of your sofa. With our guide, you can cut through the immense amounts of dross clogging up the Oculus Store for Gear VR and delve into fulfiling and enjoyable mobile VR experiences, with or without a Bluetooth gamepad and Gear VR controller.

If you’re struggling to find the Oculus Store for Gear VR, you can actually download it very easily by simply putting your Samsung Galaxy phone into the Gear VR housing. The app should begin to download automatically, meaning you can browse and download games both in and out of the Gear VR.

It should also be noted, you can actually play all of these Gear VR games on Oculus’ new standalone headset the Oculus Go – which is rather fantastic and a lot cheaper than picking up a Gear VR.

The best Gear VR games

1. Esper and Esper 2

£4

An early release on the Gear VR, but still one of the best. Both Esper and it’s brilliant sequel Esper 2 will keep you busy for hours thanks to its witty and wry tone and excellent telekinetic puzzles. It intuitively makes the most of Gear VR’s built-in controls, while also working with a gamepad if you so wish. It can be fiddly at times, but it’s great fun and there’s even a free demo if you don’t fancy forking out for it right away.

2. Republique VR

£8

Building upon the mobile and home console game Republique, Republique VR brings you a whole new level of immersion as you help a woman named Hope escape from a dangerous totalitarian state. Using your ability to jump between electronic devices and hack doors, computers and telephones wide open, you must guide Hope past perils and into new areas so you can help her escape to freedom. It’s a huge game too, spanning around ten hours in length and it’s utterly gorgeous to boot. It’s, easily, one of the best VR experiences you’ll ever have on a mobile device.

3. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

£8

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is the perfect multiplayer VR game. One person dons the Gear VR and is presented with a briefcase bomb in need of defusal. Other players must work together to instruct how the player should defuse the bomb by reading an instruction manual with details for how each stage of the bomb works. You can print it out for a more tactile experience, or read it on your phone for bomb defusal fun anywhere you go!

4. Land’s End

£6

Land’s End is a brilliant VR puzzle game from the people that brought us mobile smash Monument Valley. Set in a beautiful and tranquil archipelago, you solve puzzles by linking dots together with your gaze. It may sound pretty minimal in design, but that’s part of the attraction. It’s also not very long, most people will get through it in an hour or so. Despite that, it’s still well worth buying, with its huge quality outshining its relatively small quantity.

5. Damnfields

Free

Damnfields is a title that lives upto its name, you’ll be cursing a lot playing this. On the whole, though, Damnfields is a great free puzzle-cum-platformer where you simply guide a dot with your gaze through tight and twisty series of 2D levels. Think of it as a wire-test game but for your head. It’s fiendishly hard, so be prepared to get sweary.

6. Hitman GO: VR Edition

£6

The first entry into the “Go” series from Square Enix has been given the VR treatment to turn this board-game like puzzler into an immersive VR experience. This minimalistic take on its classic Hitman series sees you peering over a board of tiny figures, as you guide Agent 47 towards each exit while taking down as many guards and targets as you can. Puzzles are pretty fiendish, but you’ll be rewarded for collecting extra briefcases and eliminating either all or none of your foes. It’s also well worth the cost of entry as there are 91 levels available to play, all of which are in VR.

7. Dreadhalls

£4

Two warnings, first Dreadhalls is described as an ‘intense horror experience’, which is fairly apt. Second, you need a Bluetooth controller to play Dreadhalls. Thankfully there’s a demo so you can be sure that everything is working and to your tastes before splashing any cash. As a game, Dreadhalls is rather self-explanatory in that it consists of navigating a maze while assailed by terrifying foes and a psychologically testing barrage of sound effects and visual trickery. Do not play this just before bed.

8. Augmented Empire

£8

Set in a neon-soaked neo-noir future, Augmented Empire is a beautiful turn-based strategy game with contextual one-button controls that make it incredibly simple to pick up and play. It’s VR aspects work fantastically as it frames the action like a diorama hovering in front of your face, with you being able to lean towards it to peer in closer to the action. Excellent fun.