Not ready to plonk down your first $100 on Quest 2 games? Thankfully there’s a good amount of free games, experiences, social VR platforms, and apps to keep you playing before you’re paying.
Note: We didn’t include demos for paid games in the list, but you should definitely also check out these too for a quick taste of the full thing, such as Synth Riders, Journey of the Gods, Creed: Rise to Glory, Beat Saber, Superhot VR, and Space Pirate Trainer.
We have however included App Lab games. If you want to see more, SideQuest’s search function is a great resource for finding free stuff and demos. Below you’ll find some of the top App Lab games in addition to those hosted on the official store.
Free Games
Gorilla Tag
- Description: This humble game of tag has taken both SideQuest and App Lab by storm with its infectious gameplay. You’ll be lumbering around a tree-lined arena using its unique grab-the-world locomotion style that lets you amble around like a great ape. Chase the other apes and infect them, or climb for your life as the infected chase you. Pure and simple. Make sure you’re far from TVs, furniture, babies, and pets because you will punch something in the mad dash for sweet, low-poly freedom.
- Developer: Another Axiom
- Store link
Pavlov Shack Beta
- Description: Every wanted to play Counter-Strike on Quest? Pavlov Shack Beta offers up a pretty comparable experience, as you play in either deathmatch or co-op mode. It’s got all of the realistic gunplay and much of the fun of the paid PC VR title, but it’s still going strong with a free open beta on Quest.
- Developer: Vankrupt Games
- Store link
Echo VR
- Description: Zero-g sports aren’t possible unless you’re stationed on the ISS, and even then you probably shouldn’t muck about. In this fast-paced game of ultimate frisbee-meets-hockey-meets-whatever you’ll launch at speed to the goal, evade the opposing team and chuck your Tron-style frisbee-thing for the win. Remember: you can smash your opponent in the face, but please follow the same suggestions mentioned in Gorilla Tag above.
- Developer: Ready at Dawn
- Store link
Rec Room
- Description: Without a doubt one of the most fun, and most expansive VR titles out there… and it’s free. Sure, you can pay real cash for in-game tokens to buy spiffy clothes for your avatar, but that’s really up to you. Gads of mini-games await you in both first-party creations such as the ever so popular co-op Quests—that could be games in their own right—to user-created stuff that will keep your pocket book gathering dust. It’s social VR, so meet people and have a ball for zero dollarydoos. Fair warning: there’s a ton of kids.
- Developer: Rec Room
- Store link
VRChat
- Description: If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet in the last few years, it’s likely you’ve already heard about VRChat, the user-generated social VR space filled with… well… everything you can imagine, re-pro games included like Among Us, Mario Kart, and even a version of Beat Saber. Fashion your own avatar or download the millions of user-generated avatars out there so you can embody SpongeBob, Kirito from Sword Art Online, or any one of the million anime girl avatars that you’re bound to see there.
- Developer: VRChat
- Store link
Tea for God
- Description: Tea for God has been around for a while now in a pretty basic form, however through successive updates it’s really come into its own. It adapts to the size of your actual room, letting you use natural room-scale locomotion to explore the vast, procedurally-generated world. There’s a shooter element as well, available in arcade and a roguelite modes, although you can just as easily turn that off if you’re looking for a unique bit of exploration.
- Developer: Void Room
- Store link
Ancient Dungeon Beta
- Description: This plucky roguelite dungeon crawler is still in beta, but there’s a reason it’s become an App Lab favorite. Explore a vast dungeon to explore, housing plenty of baddies just asking for the steel of your sword, knives, and arrows. You’ll climb over deep pits, dodge lethal traps, and search for hidden treasures. Smash all the pots and crates you can before it officially launches on Quest sometime in the near future.
- Developer: ErThu
- Store link
Elixir
- Description: Would-be wizards, this is your time to shine. Explore a magical laboratory and take on the job of apprentice wizard. The lab is full of gadgets and magical stuff to mess around with; as one of the games that natively supports Quest’s hand tracking, you can put your controllers down and get experimenting with this little slice of the dark arts.
- Developer: Magnopus
- Store link
PokerStars VR
- Description: Pokerstars, but in VR and without real cash. Okay, that last part isn’t exactly true because you can buy in-game chips for more fun (non-transferable). If you’re good at Texas Hold’em, you may not need to buy any at all by working up from your starting chips. Just make sure you’re not giving off any tells, because in VR they can see you bluff almost as good as in real life. Also black jack and slots if you’re into it.
- Developer: Lucky VR
- Store link
The Under Presents
- Description: Ok, so it’s not a game in the traditional sense, but The Under Presents is a true tour de force when it comes to immersion, exploration, and downright weirdness that you can only experience in VR. This mind-bending adventure is an optional social experience that’s almost too big to describe, but suffice it to say you can easily get lost uncovering the game’s mysteries and puzzle-like room configurations. It also includes over 30 minutes of single player mysteries to discover for free.
- Developer: Tender Claws
- Store link
Free Interactive Experiences
Anne Frank House VR
- Description: This interactive experience takes you into the secret annex where Anne Frank lived for two years in hiding from the Nazi regime. The experience lets you explore the entire annex where eight people hid, and experience what it must have been like for Frank up until the group was discovered and shipped off to concentration camps in August 1944.
- Developer: Force Field
- Store link
Mission: ISS
- Description: Get your space boots and Tang ready, because you’re about to take a trip into orbit to learn about life board the International Space Station. You’ll float around in the station’s microgravity environment and experience how to dock a space capsule, take a spacewalk, and let real NASA astronauts guide you on the ISS through informative videos and images. Look out over the pale blue dot and marvel at humankind’s most awesome achievements.
- Developer: Magnopus / Oculus
- Store link
Home After War
- Description: Home After War is a room-scale, interactive experience that takes you to Fallujah, a city that was, until recently, under Islamic State (IS) control. Even though the conflict has ended, there’s a looming fear of returning refugees: booby trapped homes and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the neighborhoods. Awe-inspiring. Human. Disturbing.
- Developer: NowHere Media
- Store link
Goliath: Playing with Reality
- Description: Narrated by Tilda Swinton, Goliath guides you through the unsettling world of Goliath, a man who spent years isolated in psychiatric institutions but finds connection in multiplayer games. Expect to have your heartstrings pulled by expressive dialogue and immersive visuals as you explore the mind and experiences of Goliath.
- Developer: Anagram
- Store link
Continue on Page 2: Free Apps & Films »
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