The Best Meta Quest Games You Can Play Right Now
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An Adorable AdventurePolyarc MossRead more
A Captivating ShooterSuperhot VRRead more
For TravelersPuzzling PlacesRead more
For StorytellingDown the Rabbit HoleRead more
The Latest Quest headset from Meta comes with a substantial change from previous models. While the Quest 2's lower (then higher, then lower again) price made VR more accessible, the Quest 3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) adds substantial new features including full-color passthrough cameras, better hand- and object-tracking, and augmented reality apps.
The Quest 3 costs $500, putting it firmly in the mid-range for VR, but still one of the more affordable AR-enabled options. If you’re looking for the highest-end Quest headset, however, and have an extra $1,000 to burn, you should check out the Quest Pro. (You can check out the rest of our favorite VR headsets for more options.)
No matter which headset you have, there are hundreds of games available—everything from shooters to puzzlers to mini golf. The Quest 3's AR features enable whole new genres that can use your real environment as part of the game or application. We've spent countless hours trying dozens of games and apps on the Quest headsets, including the Quest 3. Here are some of our favorites.
Once you’re ready to start casting Superhot for your roommates’ enjoyment, check out our buying guides to the Best TVs and the Best USB Hubs and Docks.
Updated November 2023: We added Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Lego Bricktales, PianoVision, and BAM.
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- Courtesy of Polyarc
An Adorable Adventure
Polyarc MossMoss is one of the first games I show people new to VR. It’s the first VR game I ever sat down to play all the way through. Moss tells the story of an adorable little mouse on a quest to save her people. Most VR games put you directly in the shoes of the main character, but in Moss you play as a kindly forest spirit helping Quill (the mousey) through puzzles, traps, and even fights against tiny little monsters. Your perspective is more removed from the action, like you’re looking down into a gorgeous and interactive diorama. That makes Moss approachable, especially if you’re prone to motion sickness—Moss is primarily a seated experience.
More recently, Moss: Book II sees you return to the fray as Quill's faithful ally. This time our mousey protagonist finds herself chased by a mysterious force seeking to unmake the world. Once again, you get to accompany her on this journey, protecting, guiding, and helping her out all along the way. At this point I would take a bullet for Quill, so I was stoked to jump back into this world and go with her on another adventure. Not only is it a worthy successor to one of the best games for any VR platform, but it also stands on its own as yet another killer VR game from Polyarc. —Jaina Grey
- Courtesy of SUPERHOT Team
A Captivating Shooter
Superhot VRMore than five years after its initial release, there's a reason Superhot VR still tops the lists of games you have to play on your headset. In this first-person shooter, you’re forced to fight your way through a barrage of enemies, with one key twist: Time only progresses when you move. This means you can take your time planning your attack or just let out a defeated sigh as you stare at the bullet that's an inch away from your head and about to kill you.
- Courtesy of realities.io
For Travelers
Puzzling PlacesI have run out the battery on my Quest multiple times. I simply cannot stop puzzling. In Puzzling Places, you pick a gorgeous, detailed object or location, like a beautiful antique kimono or the French coast of Biarritz, break it into 25 to 400 pieces, and then … painstakingly put it back together. Flip through 2D cards to examine how each side should look. Rotate the partially built Swiss cathedral or Swedish drawing room in your hands. Click pieces into place with the most satisfying haptic click that has ever been clicked, and once it’s done, move through the hallways of an Armenian monastery examining candelabras. Once I’ve done all the 400-piece puzzles twice, I’ll have no choice but to email the developers and ask for more puzzles. It’s traveling and puzzling and it’s great. —Adrienne So
- Courtesy of Beyond Frames Entertainment
For Storytelling
Down the Rabbit HoleA beautiful twist on the Alice in Wonderland universe, Down the Rabbit Hole is a charming 360-degree puzzle game that switches between third- and first-person perspectives to bring clever game mechanics to life. You, the protagonist, are searching for your lost pet Patches when you fall down a hole hidden beneath a trap door. At the bottom, you land in the White Rabbit’s home, scattering the invitations he’s been preparing for the Queen of Heart’s birthday party. Think of this like a single-person escape room—if you were both the person stuck in the room and the person watching the person stuck in the room, who is able to see the bigger picture. Oh, and mix in a dash of excitement as you meet characters you know along the way. —Saira Mueller
- Courtesy of Beat Games
If You Miss DDR
Beat SaberYes, Beat Saber was released in 2018. But you cannot deny that it is insanely fun. Come on, who doesn’t want to wield a lightsaber in each hand? And then have your controllers rumble when you accidentally (or purposefully, in my case) tap them together, so it feels like you’re battling yourself on Endor. Set aside the lightsabers and the game’s controls are very easy to pick up, which means you’ll be spacing out to some of your favorite songs in no time (Green Day or Skrillex, anyone?). If you’re the competitive type, you can also choose to play Beat Saber with friends so you can see who’s the best at slicing boxes and dodging walls to a beat. As a bonus, it is actually a pretty decent workout once you’re playing for a while on harder modes. —Saira Mueller
- Courtesy of Resolution Games
For Party People
BlastonIf you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to duel with pistols as people did in the 18th century, Blaston is the game for you. You can play it by yourself against online opponents, but it’s way more fun with a friend (or two or three). While only two people can duel at a time, other friends in the group can spectate the match—trust us when we say it gets ridiculous and hilarious. The dueling participants get dropped onto individual platforms in an arena, and weapons and shields spawn around their platform. Then it’s a best-of-two show match to deal damage and reduce your opponent’s health bar. If you really want to tilt your opponent (and do some damage in the process) throw your weapon at them once you’re out of ammo. If you get good enough, you can even enter an official tournament. Or, for some ridiculous snowball fun, check out the Arctic Blast mode. —Saira Mueller
- Courtesy of Steel Crate Games
For Game Night (With Only One Headset)
Keep Talking and Nobody ExplodesKeep Talking and Nobody Explodes has been out for a few years, but it's still an iconic title. In this game, one person wears a headset to manipulate a virtual bomb that has several puzzles all over it. The catch is, there's no way to solve the puzzles from within the headset. Everyone else in the room is given a dump of documents (which you can either print or view online here) that contain instructions the team must communicate to the person in the headset. Oh and, of course, there's a time limit. Because, you know, it's a bomb. This is one of the few VR games that manages to be engaging and fun for a group of people, even if only one headset is available.
- Courtesy of I-Illusions
For Game Night (With Several Headsets)
BAMTo my mind, BAM is less a game than it is a proof of concept, and it's an exciting one. If you have multiple Quest headsets lying around, you can get a group of people together to play this mixed reality battlefield game and experience a shared virtual vision. While it's best with the Quest 3's AR features, it can also run on the Quest 2 and Quest Pro. If you've upgraded in the past, all your old headsets are compatible as well.
Each player gets to puppeteer little robots in a central playing field, forcing them to battle like you're all some combination of ancient Roman gladiatorial audiences and high-tech gods. While I wouldn't go so far as to say the gameplay itself is revolutionary (you probably won't be playing this particular game for ages), it's a fascinating look at what kind of games could be made when having a few VR and AR headsets around the house is more common.
- Courtesy of Devolver Digital
A Touching Kraken Adventure
TentacularThe Meta Quest Store describes Tentacular as a heartwarming physics-based puzzler, and I can't think of a more accurate description. You play as a 16-year-old kaiju who grew up in a seaside town and is learning to find your way in the world—first off, by getting a job. You're the perfect size and shape to clear rock slides and stack shipping containers, with some kaiju-style constraints. For example, your tentacles are delicate and pointy at the tips but stronger and more stable at the base. This is one of the first VR games that I've ever played that approaches the appeal of a real video game, with a lengthy, absorbing storyline and puzzles that feel firmly grounded in reality. The writing is also very funny, too. —Adrienne So
- Courtesy of PianoVision
For Budding Musicians
PianoVision Mixed Reality PianoLearning the piano can be tough but rewarding. PianoVision is one of the most interesting tools I've seen to help develop this skill. It has a couple of mixed reality options for learning piano, and an entirely virtual piano that uses hand tracking to show you how to play songs. In my experience this was … fine, but not quite accurate enough to really learn much. Piano is a tactile instrument, and pressing fingers in mid-air on nonexistent buttons is more of an exercise in guessing what your headset sees than actually learning music.
It's the AR overlay on top of a physical keyboard, however, that makes it truly stand out. If you have a MIDI keyboard, you can connect it to a Meta Quest 3 headset and it will overlay notes onto the individual keys to help you learn what notes you're playing. Additionally, you can practice songs using a virtual piano roll that will highlight which notes to press, almost Guitar Hero–style. It's an impressive way to augment your piano lessons or just dabble for fun.
- Courtesy of LEGO
For Master Builders
Lego BricktalesLego Bricktales isn't technically out until December 7, so while we haven't gone hands-on with it just yet, we feel pretty comfortable saying it should be on your radar. This game lets players build virtual Lego models using AR right inside your living room. Pick a table in your home and you can put a Lego workspace right on top with an effectively infinite supply of bricks, without running the risk of stepping on any later. We'll update this guide after we get a chance to go hands on, but this has been a dream of mine since I was 9. I think it's worth an early mention.
- Courtesy of Fireproof Games
For Puzzle/Escape Room Fans
The RoomThere’s something deeply satisfying about puzzle boxes. Picking up an object and manipulating it until a secret opens feels downright magical. That’s been the premise behind The Room series, which sets the bar for emulating the tactile pleasure of escape rooms and puzzles, but without being bound by the limits of physical reality. Which makes The Room VR: A Dark Matter all the more stunning. In this game, you can pick up keys, turn over objects, and move your head to get a better look at the items you’re investigating in ways you never could in previous games in the series. VR is such a natural fit for this game that it kinda makes me want to see all the previous games adapted to it as well.
Photograph: T3 Magazine/Getty ImagesTips Before Playing
The BasicsBefore you can actually play, there are a few things you need to do. Here are some tips for getting everything set up, because the Quest interface is not always the easiest to navigate.
Set your boundary. The last thing you want while playing is to run into an object in your room while essentially blindfolded. Your Quest will guide you through the process of setting up your boundary. Roomscale lets you draw a play space to move freely, Stationary when you're standing still. But what if you move locations? Or want to play a game sitting down instead of standing up?
To change your boundary, press the Oculus button on your right controller (it's the one just underneath the joystick). This pulls up the menu at the bottom of the screen (you only have to do this if the menu isn't already showing up). From there, if you hover over the clock, you can choose the Quick Settings panel. Then choose Guardian. If you pick Stationary, you just have to hit confirm and you're all set. If you pick Roomscale, it'll guide you through drawing a new Guardian boundary.
Buy the games. To buy games for the Quest, you only really have one option: The Meta Quest Store. But there are three ways to do it. Regardless of which option you pick, you need to have a payment method on file (credit card, debit card, or PayPal). The browser method is the easiest way to enter these details.
- Browser: Log in to the store. From there, you can either type the name of the game into the search bar on the top right or click “Apps & Games” to browse. Once you've chosen a game, there is a blue button on the right of its info page that lists its price. Hit that and it'll prompt you to purchase.
- App: Download the Oculus app and log in to your account. Click on the Store button on the bottom left and, as with the browser steps, you can either scroll through or search for a specific title. Once you've clicked on a game, the app uses the same button with a price system at the bottom of the screen. Just click on the button, review the payment details, and hit purchase.
- Headset: With the headset on, bring up the bottom menu again. The Store icon is the orange one with a little shopping bag. Click on this, and you have the option of browsing through games or search. Once you've picked a game and are looking at its info page, hit the blue button on the right with the price marker to purchase.
Note: If the game is free, the blue button will say “Get” rather than listing a price. And if you purchase the game via a browser or the app, you will still need to download it on your headset. See the next step for instructions.
Download and access your games. Once you've purchased a game, you need to download it. If you purchased it through the Store on your headset, the download should automatically start. Once it's done, the button will change to “Play” so you can jump right in.
If you purchased the game via the browser or app, head to the Store on your headset and search for the game. The store will list it as “Purchased,” but when you click on its info page the blue button will have changed from listing the price to saying “Download.” Hit that and it will automatically show you the download's progress bar.
To access all of your games—both purchased and downloaded—bring up the bottom menu bar by hitting the Oculus button on that right controller. From there, click on the “Apps” button on the right (the one with the nine dots). This will show you all of your purchases, and you can filter to see just the ones that are installed or the ones that aren't. Click on the game's icon and it should load right up.
Recenter your screen. Occasionally, you'll find that your screen is no longer centered the way you want it. Maybe you took off your headset to check your phone or drink some water, or maybe you're in-game and want to change your orientation. To do this, hit the Oculus button on the right controller, then enter the Quick Settings menu by clicking on the left where it shows the time. Underneath the Wi-Fi is a button that says “Reset View." Click on this and it will prompt you to move your head to where you want the screen to be, then hit confirm once it's in the right spot.
Check your battery life. When fully charged, the Quest's battery normally lasts around two hours. If you're not sure how much juice your headset has left, hit the Oculus button on the right controller to bring up the bottom menu. On the left, underneath the clock, is a little battery icon that gives you a rough gauge of your charge. If you click on it, it brings up the Quick Settings screen. In the top left is the exact percentage, as well as that of each of your controllers.
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