So... I got myself the Valve Index Virtual Reality set. I expected a lot from VR tbh. But in all honesty, it's even better than I expected. Especially the controllers are crazy. Tracking the movement of your fingers to a degree, having an in-built grip strength sensor, translating your movements to the game in real time... It's all there. Not once have I noticed a delay in the movement or in the tracking (aside from occasional bugs, but those were rather in the minority)
Anyway, you can expect somwhat of a mega post. So here are the games I tried out over the last week:
Aperture Hand lab
This is a free "game" in the Portal universe. It's much more of an introduction to the Index controllers to show you what you can do. I think playing this first is pretty much the best thing you can do. It's only about 5 minutes or so, but it features quite a few moments where you simply go: wow.
The Lab
This is another free sample, also in the Portal universe. There are a couple of minigames included, which range from a 3D Space Invaders, over a 3D Angry Birds to a 3D Bow exercise. All of them are pretty fun. There are also 3 more stages, which are nice to explore, though those stages might leave you in awe, they won't take much of your time away.
Playing this right after Aperture Hand Lab was the correct choice imho. There are a couple of things to explore, and you could potentiall spend hours in there, but you could also just close it after half an hour.
Hellsplit Arena
This was the first game I bought, aside from Half Life Alyx which came with the VR set. I liked the idea of fighting zombies or skeletons in an Arena. Unfortunately, this game caused me severe motion sickness because the movement was simply too fast. If the movement was slower, I wouldn't have refunded it. The idea was great, but yeah, not playable for long, at least for me.
Blade and Sorcery
This is kinda similar to Hellsplit Arena, except you're supposed to have a campaign and venture into the world. I didn't get motion sickness here because the movement speed was slower and thus better for my stomache. Unfortunately, the campaign gets added only in a couple of months, so I thought to myself: "meh, I'll refund it since this isn't worth buying for full price yet..." What I saw so far was pretty good though. Using a sword you can either stab your enemies, or cut them until they die. Both are valid strategies and work well in the game. There are a couple of other weapons in the game, though the two-handed weapons feel really clunky. I couldn't figure out how to use magic though, so I can't comment on that.
Google Earth VR
The trailer looked awesome, but the program itself was rather meh. Well, it's free so w/e. The graphics isn't good enough imho to spend much time in here, but there are apparently people with over 400 hours inside this program.
Beat Saber
This is one of the longer lasting games. It's a blast to play it, even if the music choice isn't much to my personal liking. But it's still fun and easy to get into, but hard to master. Playing this game can potentially be used as a replacement for a work out, though there are other contenders on this list, that make beat saber look like a walk in the park.
Fantasynth
This isn't a game, but a relaxing trip through a 3D world that evolves thanks to the music. It's definitely worth checking out since it's free. I imagine this would be really trippy on psychedelics, but in a good way. It's pretty enjoyable.
theBlu
This is pretty much the closest thing you can get to experiencing what diving feels like for a cheap price. It's not very long though, so the 10 bucks... well, I don't know if it's worth it. For a diver it probably isn't, but it's probably a good way to introduce the older generation to VR. There are 3 "worlds", one where you're in a reef, one where you're at a sunken ship and one in deep depths, where you have to use a torchlight to see. If you already have VR set and don't mind the low price, it's definitely a nice diving experience. The surroundings can be interacted with. Fish will scram for example if you get your hands too close.
You could potentially refund it after "playing" it through, but meh, I like the worlds so I want to support the devs.
Ragnarock
This is what I was talking about earlier. It's like Guitar Hero, except you have 4 drums in front of you and 2 hammers that you swing with your hands. And all songs are from the metal/folk rock genre. This game is soooo damn difficult. It's a lot harder for beginners than Beat Saber, but it's a lot more fun as well. Standing on your viking boat riding through the viking worlds while listening to metal and drumming like you're insane has something really satisfying to it. Both me and a friend who tried it out found this game a lot better than Beat Saber. But you'll quickly get the catch of it and go try the next harder difficulty, so in terms of progression it's pretty good.
I played 10 songs in a row so far and I can already feel my muscles ache. Maybe I shouldn't have played them on the 2nd difficulty, but it's whatever. So far my highlight from the VR experience, even if Hand lab and the lab come close behind that.
karnage Chronicles
So yet another 1st person fantasy thingy thing with blades and bows. In this game you're exploring dungeons. In general I really like it. However there are a couple of things I really disliked. 1st of all, there's a bug when you use a bow, that makes the bow shake uncontrollably. The only way to fix it is to switch weapons, which in the heat of the battle is a lot more annoying than just keeping the melee weapon and hit the enemy with it. I won't play that game any further until that bug has been fixed. Another issue I have are the monsters. They are completely quiet until they are right behind you. I peed a little because of those jump scares more than once. I had no motion sickness though.
I have started Half Life, but I'd rather comment on that game once I've played through it. It's a blast though!