What to do in virtual reality

The Oculus Quest and Quest 2 are some of the best stand alone VR headsets consumers can get their hands on.

Technology improves at a rate faster than people realize. Virtual reality has improved quite drastically from when it grew in popularity in the mid-2010s. It’s finally the new year and what better way to start than experiencing it in virtual reality? 

Companies such as Oculus have steadily worked to improve their consumers’ experience with VR. Throughout the years, they have branched out and expanded the reach, especially when they introduced the Oculus Quest, their standalone VR headset. This is very different to their previous VR headset line, the Oculus Rift S, which required a powerful enough PC to work. They have also improved their standalone device’s graphic output as well as increased the headset’s refresh rate – which makes images on the device much smoother – with their introduction of the Oculus Quest 2. This fast and sudden development actually brought upon the fall of the Oculus Rift S as the Quest 2 was able to do what the Rift was able to and more. 

There are a multitude of things you can do in Virtual Reality, including playing virtual sports, exploring places you wouldn’t think you could explore in real life, socially interacting with others, playing VR games of varying genres and much more. Some VR experiences available on Oculus devices that stand out from the rest include VRChat, Rec Room, Beat Saber and more.

VRChat is a place where people can socially interact and play virtual games in worlds made by the players themselves. It is one of the most popular applications on Oculus devices, however it is not available on other forms of VR headsets such as the Playstation VR. 

Much like VRChat, Rec Room is another application that people can use to socially interact and play virtual games, but one upside to Rec Room is that it is available on the Playstation VR. This means that there is a larger reach to consumers when it comes to Rec Room when compared to VRChat.

Beat Saber is a full-on VR game unlike VRChat and Rec Room which is limited to being used as a platform to just socially interact. It is a VR rhythm game that makes you swing the controller in the correct direction to the beat of a song. There are multiple difficulty levels to each song you can play, and some make you dodge obstacles in your path. The point of this game is to purely have fun while challenging yourself to play and beat your previous scores on songs you have played.

Besides VRChat, Rec Room and Beat Saber, VR has so much more to offer to all kinds of people. You can have experiences such as visiting locations virtually, riding roller coasters, fishing, boxing and all kinds of other pastimes. If you have not had the opportunity to try Virtual Reality for yourself, the start of a new year is sure to be the best time to try, and with the rise of yet another new COVID variant, now may be the time to secure yourself a VR headset, as there is always another possibility of a nationwide lockdown.