Check out these amazing App Lab games for the Meta Quest 2 VR headset.
Meta launched App Lab back in early 2021 as an alternative to the Quest Store. App Lab allows developers to publish free and paid content without having to go through the curation process required by the official store. The platform currently contains over 1,440 apps and counting, with content varying greatly in quality. In this list, we sort the wheat from the chaff and take a look at 10 App Lab gems available to download for your Quest right now.
Pavlov Shack (Beta)
- Genre: Action, Shooter, Social
- Price: Free
Starting with perhaps the most obvious choice, Pavlov is an online shooter that you’ll find included on many Top 10 lists. This popular multiplayer shooter includes a wide selection of weapons with realistic VR mechanics and a variety of 5 Vs 5 game modes. Because of its popularity, there is also a sizeable player base so you will rarely find yourself stuck trying to find someone to play with online.
Gorilla Tag
- Genre: Action, Casual, Social
- Price: Free
At first glance, Gorilla Tag doesn’t look like much with its crude visual style but don’t let that put you off. The goal is simple: run, jump, and climb around the map with other players in a big game of virtual tag. One of the best things about Gorilla Tag is the fun parkour locomotion that works by frantically swinging your arms and hands to launch yourself across the ground.
Cards & Tankards
- Genre: Casual, Social, Strategy
- Price: Free
Battle players online using your own custom deck of spells and monsters in this competitive online card game. There are over 160 cards to collect and four different warring factions to choose from, each with its own unique abilities. Cards & Tankards allows you to hang out with other players in the virtual tavern or chat with your opponent in the midst of battle, making it as much a social experience as it is a card game.
Guardians
- Genre: Action, Shooter, Strategy
- Price: $19.99
Think of a Halo-style first-person shooter (FPS) mixed with a real-time strategy (RTS) game like Starcraft and you’ll have some idea of what to expect from Guardians. Defend your base from hordes of bug-like aliens whilst building structures to harvest the planet’s minerals.
Mined minerals can be used to purchase offensive and defensive structures and units, such as mechs, gun towers, and armories. You can even command units to attack, defend, patrol, etc., just like classic RTS games. Guardians features a main campaign with single-player and co-op modes for up to four players, an eight-player PvP mode, and a dedicated map editor.
BattleGroupVR
- Genre: Action, Space/Universe, Strategy
- Price: $24.99
Become the captain of your very own starship and lead your fleet into battle in this epic real-time space strategy game. BattleGroupVR lets players switch between micromanaging their own flagship vessel and commanding an entire fleet via the holomap.
There are a lot of crucial decisions to be made if you want to claim victory, from the ships purchased and captains hired to the commands given during the heat of battle. BattleGroupVR has single-player, co-op, and online PvP game modes.
Cave Digger 2
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Exploration
- Price: $19.99
Dig through procedurally generated mines, caves, and ruins in your quest to find loot and discover the long-forgotten mysteries of ancient civilizations. This epic adventure for 1-4 players includes a host of quests to complete, riddles to solve, and hidden secrets to uncover.
Use the riches you find to unlock new features, buy tools and upgrade your trusty six-shooter which you’ll need for fending off the dangerous creatures that lurk below.
Tea For God
- Genre: Adventure, Exploration, Shooter
- Price: Free
Tea For God is an experimental first-person shooter that creates procedurally generated environments to fit within your playspace, meaning you can walk through the entire game with no teleportation or artificial movement required.
However, you do need a play space of at least 2 meters by 2 meters for the best experience. There’s a variety of locations to explore, from tight, claustrophobic corridors to wide-open expanses, and plenty of game modes and modifiers to customize the experience to your liking.
Rogue Ascent
- Genre: Action, Arcade, Shooter
- Price: $24.99
Rogue Ascent sets itself apart from other VR shooters thanks to its unique use of the Quest’s hand-tracking technology. Everything from the combat to the locomotion is achieved via a series of unique hand-tracking gestures.
Raising both of your fists in front of your face, for instance, generates a shield which can protect you from enemy fire. This past May, the developer introduced Twitch support for Quest, allowing you to live stream your gameplay, chat with viewers, and access unique in-game events.
Dungeon Maker
- Genre: Action, Arcade, Passthrough
- Price: Free
Dungeon Maker makes excellent use of the Quest’s passthrough technology to transform your living room into a mixed reality dungeon. The game features a variety of unique traps and obstacles that you can place anywhere throughout your real-world space.
Don’t let the simplistic gameplay and basic visuals fool you. Dungeon Maker is a must-try mixed reality experience on Quest 2.
Z-Race
- Genre: Flying, Racing, Sports
- Price: $14.99
Z-Race is a VR racing game for Quest guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any F-Zero fan. The “zero-gravity” racer features unique third-person gameplay to mitigate motion sickness while still-providing a break-neck racing experience.
Using your Touch controller, you’ll bob and weave around a variety of futuristic obstacles in asynchronous multiplayer. Despite being a work-in-progress, Z-Race is already an addictive VR racing experience.
Feature Image Credit: Divergent Realities
