8 VR Games You'll Want To Play This Year

VR gaming, or Virtual Reality for those who may not be aware of the abbreviation, is on the rise and it's coming sooner than you think. Virtual Reality gaming is where a player can experience being in a three-dimensional environment and interact with that same environment throughout the game.

The equipment used determines how much you interact with the game itself, some headsets include gloves lined with sensors that record the way your hands move and interpret that data to the game, others include controllers like the ones you would have with a standard gaming system.

As you can imagine, with the forthcoming new generation of game equipment, both Microsoft and Sony are on the forefront of that advancement. Sony has developed their Sony VR, which will bring a collection of original games but also will interact with the PlayStation console. Microsoft is no different as they have partnered with Oculus Rift to allow for compatibility with the Xbox console.

With all that said, there is a big push for beautiful original content, and not just compatibility with the player's console of choice. Now don't get me wrong, I will be playing Call Of Duty, Borderlands, Dragon Age and several other games once I get my hands on a VR headset. Yet, there are several games to watch out for once you buy your headset.

Lucky's Tale is probably one of the most anticipated VR games, as it carries the charm and nostalgia of a Mario-esque 3D platform adventure. Lucky's Tale looks to carry a similar feel to the Nintendo classic, but is available as a polished and graphically beautiful adventure. Using the VR headset's positional tracking allows you to 'lean in' closer for a better view of the action as you jump and spin into whatever comes across the path ahead.

Have you ever wanted to pilot your own starship? Well, with Eve: Valkyrie you'll be able to. This MMO offering allows you to sit in the cockpit and dogfight with various other attacking ships. Eve: Valkyrie is shipping with each preorder shipment of the Oculus Rift headset, and will be available likely as a separate purchase for the PlayStation VR.

This game definitely carries some Uncharted vibes, which is something special considering this game is coming only to Oculus Rift and Uncharted was/is a PlayStation based franchise. You'll find yourself as a one-man search party venturing into the Antarctic mountains. You're searching for a missing expedition team and will face collapsing environments as you not only fight to survive, but also fight off your own insanity. This adds an incredibly psychological twist to the game.

This is probably the game that there is the least known about it, other than the fact that you'll control a mystical golem creature. A PlayStation exclusive that uses the PlayStation Move interface to capture your movement as you use the VR Headset to interact with the environment of the game.

Wayward Sky started off as a demo for the Gear VR but never made it into full development. It disappeared from many players' radars before popping back up as a PlayStation VR exclusive. You'll switch from a first to third person point of view as you hide from robots, use cranes to move obstacles and try to save your dear old dad.

The Assembly will find you smack dab in the middle of a much slower paced game than some of the others on this list. You'll play as one of two different protagonists as you find yourself exploring a mysterious headquarters.

If you created a rock climbing game solely for a console, you'd probably sell enough copies to pay for cab fare to find your next job, because nobody would buy it. But put that same game onto a VR headset and you might just make a thrilling experience, that's what I expect from The Climb.

P.O.L.L.E.N finds, you, the player exploring the moon Titan (deep space) at a space base built by the U.S. and the Russians. Also, you're in a timeline when President Kennedy was never killed, so obviously there are some differences — but all that aside, this game broke records on Steam Greenlight so it's sure to be a quick hit.

Add these games to the already announced games that are compatible with the VR headsets, and we are sure to find countless hours worth of gaming material.