The most wanted PCVR games coming in 2026

There are many potentially great title coming up - but some may have a more limited audience, so let's just keep them to this comment:

WADE

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3886430/Wade/

LANESPLIT VR

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3278310/LANESPLIT/

PENGUIN FESTIVAL (from the maker of Vacation/Job Simulator and Cosmonious High)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3552090/Penguin_Festival/

RUSTMOURNE

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3775210/Rustmourne/

FALLGRADE

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4590270/Fallgrade/

VOXEL PLAYGROUND

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4350620/Voxel_Playground/

AETERNUM INFECTI

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4297040/Aeternum_Infecti/

DAGGER WOODS VR

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1996740/Dagger_Woods_VR/

Maybe the biggest surprise this year - after being delayed for years, Geronimo is finally launching 10 July:

"Geronimo" was the code name used by the United States military for the specific operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Also looks like proper PCVR with detailed dynamic shadows and high-res textures. Requirements should be fine for most:

System Requirements Recommended:

OS: Windows 11

Processor: Intel i7-4790 3.6 GHz

Memory: 16 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3060

Storage: 25 GB available space

VR Support: OpenXR. Standing Only

Find the game here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2019620/GERONIMO/

Another awesome VR game - which did launch a month ago, but I only tested it last week - is Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2215390/Five_Nights_at_Freddys_Secret_of_the_Mimic/

The game is 50% off until 9 July. I'm not much into the other FNAF VR games, but this game has much exploring, full locomotion and the quality is great.  86% of more than 10,000 Steam reviews are positive. This is an elephant in the VR room - could easily be VR GOTY 2026 for many. 

Short news:

New tracks (DLC) have also been added to VRacer Hoverbike, find them here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/668430/VRacer_Hoverbike/

Fixer Undercover could be of interest too, but I'm not totally convinced by the trailer - check the game out here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3102370/Fixer_Undercover/

Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades version 1.0 launches after 10 years in early access:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/450540/Hot_Dogs_Horseshoes__Hand_Grenades/

The game already is legendary with 97% positive ratings based on more than 20,000 reviews. That's similar to Alyx for such high ratings - but the game/sim feels more like a compilation of tech demos to me - even if the demos now are plenty. 

The recommended specs are:

OS *: Windows 8.1 or later, Windows 10

Processor: CPU: Intel i5-6600 or better

Memory: 16 GB RAM

Graphics: GTX 1080/980TI, Radeon RX Vega 4GB or better

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 20 GB available space

Sound Card: N/A

VR Support: Room Scale 2m by 1.5m area strongly recommended.

Additional Notes: Internal SSD HIGHLY Recommended, Windows Virtual Memory MUST be enabled (16gb recommended)

Btw, the game does not have a proper - and short - launch trailer, so this 34 min vid was the best I could find.

New trailer from Tales of Glory 4 does look great - and Tales of Glory 3 does have close to 90% positive ratings on Steam, so let's hope for a great game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4274260/Tales_Of_Glory_4__Ragnarok/

The game is expected to launch Q3 this year. 

Another upcoming PCVR game, Adrian's Quest, seems to be coming along nicely - and these physics are very impressive:

Combat looks great too:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2779620/Adrians_Quest/

- and a few screenshots from the game:

Looks very good. Haven't played any of these to be honest, I've been in gaming for only a, year and a half and only VR! Haven't tried PCVR yet but hope too.. One question,, can you choose your character? I'm hearing a woman's voice from the hero, and that's great, but if I'm playing a game like this, I want it to reflect me, not a woman. 

Dream Hackers VR has just been announced - and looks beyond awesome:

And a longer intro with some more in-depth explanations:

Some screenshots:

More info here - and the possibility to wishlish the game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4475020/Dream_Hackers_VR/

And UploadVR thinks this could be VR game of year - I guess the year the game launches ;-)

"Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give Dream Hackers VR thus far is how excited the demo has left me for the game's full release. I've had the opportunity to play and write about some of the most amazing VR games ever made. If the Dream Hackers VR that releases in 2027 is even just a tiny bit bigger, better, and somehow more polished than what I played today, ARVI VR may have a genuine Game of the Year contender on its hands."

https://www.uploadvr.com/dream-hackers-vr-is-the-game-im-most-excited-for-in-2027/

Probably the game won't launch until 2027, so I'll just mention it in this comment and will not modify the original post. 

Forgot to post about Paleo Dive - it looks much like Subside, but with quite different content in the water, lol:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4818760/Paleo_Dive/

Recommended system specs:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 11
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | Intel Core i7-12700K
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: RTX 4060 / AMD RX 7600
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 7 GB available space
• VR Support: OpenXR: Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro, Valve Index, HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Vive Pro 2, Pico 4, Windows Mixed Reality Headsets

Subside is one of my favorite VR games/sims of all - and Paleo Dive looks potentially awesome. Then again, anyone remember Ocean Rift? A nice little sim that many may remember as the "unintended horror diving sim" - because you easily could teleport out of the cage in the location with a hungry great white shark - and in another level you swam together with big dinosaurs.  This is Ocean Rift:

Paleo Dive could indeed be the next unintended horror diving sim, lol - especially for those of us thinking it's safe to get into the water... 😅

Paleo Dive launches September 4 - this year ;-)

I been following PCVR for soon 10 years on a daily basis, and of course nothing beats the golden Oculus years with games like Lone Echo, Asgard's Wrath, Robo Recall, Stormland, The Climb, Medal of Honor Above & Beyond, Artika.1 and many more awesome VR games, which today only have been topped by Alyx. 

But something new is emerging, namely the ability to turn 2D games into seemingly full-blooded VR experiences. And I'm not talking about some fans making mods, but by pros turning some popular 2D games in real VR games. The last days the following games have been announced:

By normal standards, the above games are potentially massive releases - and then we're also very close to getting this game - which also looks potentially awesome:

Btw, Rustmourne just got a new trailer - that game is looking increasingly super-awesome :-)

Lastly, Adrian's Quest may be the underdog, which could turn into a real diamond:

Rustmourne and High On Life are not expected to launch before 2027, but the remaining games should be available in 2026. I'll keep the 2027 games in this post, so I don't forget them in the upcoming "Most Wanted PCVR Games In 2027"-thread ;-)

Gunman Contracts launches later today:

Find the game here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2421750/Gunman_Contracts__Stand_Alone/

Btw, my Jurassic Dive sim also has arrived - and after 10 patches it's pretty good:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4818760/Paleo_Dive/

I've tested the game using both Rift CV1 and Index. Even using DLSS, Rift CV1 didn't shine much, and oled was not a game-changer. I think this game is optimized for LCD, and ASW2.0 did not kick in. So Index res 200%  in 80 Hz with DLSS and motion smoothing was the best I could do with an RTX 3090 (using high in-game graphics settings) - the game is very gpu demanding, an RTX 5090 is by far not wasted here!

Tiny Flock is out - and is a surprisingly fun game:

The PCVR version seems nicely enhanced with very detailed dynamic shadows. The Quest standalone version supports mixed reality with no rendered backgrounds (you see your room). 

Find the game here - 21% off until 13 October:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3133010/Tiny_Flock/

My slightly more detailed impressions are here:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970329732/recommended/3133010?snr=1_5_9__402