Virtual Reality Party Games For Guests Without a Headset
Virtual reality Party Games can be an isolating experience for guests who don’t have a headset. Luckily, plenty of great multiplayer games only require one headset to play.
Loco Dojo lets players huddle around a virtual table and compete in eclectic dice-based, equally hilarious and skilful challenges. With mischievous Takelings and rhythmic sabre duels, it’s a fun pick for everyone.
Late for Work
When hosting a VR party, choosing games is one of your most important decisions. Whether you want to take your guests on an adventure to the end of the galaxy or just a few feet from their couch, the suitable game can transform a regular gathering into an unforgettable event.
While most Virtual Reality Party Games require a headset and a PC or console, some tremendous multiplayer games only need a single headset for everyone to enjoy the fun. This allows you to invite guests who don’t own headsets to join in on the action – perfect for those who may not be ready or willing to purchase their device just yet.
Many people think Virtual Reality Party Games is an isolating experience, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many VR games have been designed to encourage interaction between the headset user and those playing with them using gamepads. For instance, the popular game Late for Work pits one player (in the headset) against up to four other players in the real world who use their gamepads to fight the rampaging gorilla.
Alternatively, the classic game of hide-and-seek is given a unique twist with this whimsical Virtual Reality Party Games. The headset user plays Hal, who must hunt down and exterminate pint-sized creatures called Takelings in his home. With his arsenal of weapons ranging from toasters to nail guns, the game offers a fun challenge that will surely give your party plenty of laughs. This game is available on Daydream, Oculus Home, Gear VR and SteamVR.
Keep Talking, and Nobody Explodes
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a fantastic party game that’s a perfect fit for virtual reality. It’s a great way to showcase the capabilities of the PlayStation VR headset, and even non-gamers can play it, as it doesn’t require players to move around or spin in their chairs to play; it simply requires them to stay seated.
It also doesn’t cause any kind of nausea or dizziness. It’s an exhilarating game and is a lot of fun for people who love cooperative brainteasers and language puzzles. It can be frustrating at times, and it’s not for everyone, especially those who don’t like stressful games or aren’t good at explaining things clearly to their friends.
The premise of the game is simple enough: one player plays as the “Defuser” and must try to defuse a procedurally generated bomb displayed on their screen by reading instructions from a manual that they can’t see. The other players are the “Experts” and must explain the steps of disarming the bomb to the Defuser in a timely fashion. The game can be played in local multiplayer, and all players only need one copy of the game to play.
While other games use the same premise as this one, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is unique in that it’s an experience that will test both your communication skills and possibly your friendships as you all try to communicate and work together to solve these puzzles. The fact that the levels are procedurally generated is a huge bonus, which means the game will never get boring or repetitive. It’s a fantastic party game to bring out at a party and can be as tense or as funny as you want it to be.
Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!
Choosing the suitable games for your virtual reality party is one of the most critical steps. You need to choose games that match up well with your guest list, considering things like age, physical abilities, and familiarity with VR. It’s also a good idea to avoid games that involve a lot of stress or severe combat. There’s a higher chance that your party guests aren’t experienced players and might get frustrated or overwhelmed by more difficult gaming challenges.
Acron is a fun and quirky little game focusing on local multiplayer mayhem. It requires one VR headset user to embody a tree while up to eight other players on mobile phones enter the game via a free app to play as squirrels. The goal is to protect the golden acorns from the ferocious squirrels in matches that last only a few minutes.
The game uses a mix of projectiles and traps to increase the intensity of the gameplay. For example, the tree player can fling seeds that explode in contact with enemies or use tree sap to slow down their foes. There are even different types of squirrels to unlock with specialized abilities like fast-running, digging short tunnels and generating shields.
Acron has a very cartoonish art style reminiscent of many other animal-based platformers. The trees bob with every movement, and the game’s graphics are rendered bright, almost pastel colours. The whole presentation is amiable and inviting. Unlike other Resolution Games titles, this title focuses less on pushing the technical envelope and more on being a fun experience for everyone involved. It’s a great way to introduce people to VR gaming.
Beat Saber
Beat Saber is a fun and exciting VR game that lets players feel like Jedi as they use the Force to slash incoming blocks in time with the music. It’s a great game to play with friends and will entertain both beginners and experts alike.
The game uses a pair of HTC Vive or Oculus Rift controllers. The player appears as a pair of arms with red and blue lightsabers in their hands. The game presents a stream of approaching blocks that appear as coloured boxes on a grid, arranged in line with the song’s beats and notes. The player must hit the boxes with their sabres, matching the direction of the arrow on each block or the box’s colour.
Unlike Ragnarock, where frustrations centred around difficulty in timing movements, most users who experienced frustration with Beat Saber indicated that they could not ‘understand’ the Game Mechanics. This may have resulted from the sabre movement being less natural and intuitive than the drumming motions in Ragnarok, requiring more sensorimotor activation.
Another theme identified in both Beat Saber and Ragnarock was the need to ‘avoid obstacles in the virtual environment’, a concern that was significantly more prevalent in Beat Saber than in Ragnarock. This reflects the significant impact of physical concerns on users’ perceptions of system immersion, particularly about Beat Saber.
The games you choose to play at your virtual reality party will determine how much fun your guests have. You’ll want to consider your guest list, their age and physical abilities, and how familiar they are with VR to ensure that you pick a few games that will be fun for everyone.
Job Simulator
This early VR game by Owlchemy Labs is a physics-based sandbox that lets you reach, grab, smash and throw about anything you can see in the world around you. It’s not the most innovative or advanced VR experience, but it’s fun. Its tongue-in-cheek approximations of various jobs — including auto mechanic, gourmet chef and store clerk — make for a surprisingly entertaining game.
However, the novelty of being able to precisely interact with objects in VR isn’t enough to keep most people interested for long, especially when there are only a few tasks that you can perform. That’s why some players may find Job Simulator a bit grind.
Nevertheless, it remains one of the most popular virtual reality party games on PlayStation 4 and Oculus Rift. The game’s compelling comedy stylings, simple mechanics, and broad appeal are aided by its effectiveness at entertaining and amusing its players.
The game’s premise is that you are in a “job museum” run by robots who display not-so-historically accurate representations of the work lives of four occupations: a car mechanic, a gourmet chef, an office worker and a convenience store clerk. Each simulated occupation has its own set of mundane chores that you must complete.
The game is a testament to the fact that many people enjoy their jobs, even if they hate them. It’s a reminder that working isn’t always easy or pleasant but can be rewarding, especially if you like your coworkers. And it’s also a reminder that you can change your job if you don’t like it. Just get a good night’s sleep before your next shift.