New games continue to release on Oculus App Lab, the new distribution method for VR developers that lets them release Quest games without getting full Oculus Store approval, and the latest batch has two real standouts: Space Walk VR and Crop Craze.
Also, make sure to read our list of the best App Lab games for more.
In order to keep up with new Oculus App Lab releases there are two primary methods. Firstly, you can visit this website which just displays them all in a big collage for quick and easy browsing—like a Store page would. However, there are no sorting options. To find things that released/updated recently or to use other filters, you can visit the SideQuest website’s App Lab section.
Space Walk VR Experience
New games continue to release on App Lab basically every day as Facebook ramps up its efforts on that team and I want to highlight two that are particularly impressive.
First up is Space Walk VR Experience from Forward Thinking Interactive for $7—which you might remember came out on Oculus Go previously. This brief little app is split into three sections: the Earth, savings the world, and the space station.
In the first section you can just hang out up in space while orbiting over the planet. You can pick which part of the planet to gaze out at and even customize things like the time-of-day while you recover satellites for the space station.
After that you’ll have to stop an asteroid that’s suddenly spotted hurtling towards the planet. You’ve got to go out and plant explosives on the asteroid as it travels through space to blow it up in time before it hits Earth.
Finally, you can float around in and explore the space station from the inside. There’s a robotic arm to control, solar panel repair puzzles, and more. Overall it’s a simple little app but they did a good job of adding some interactivity to something that could have easily just been an empty 3D environment to float around in. Probably not the best option if you get motion sick in VR, but definitely worth a look if you’re curious.
Crop Craze: Farming Simulator
Next up is Crop Craze: Farming Simulator from PicoPlanet Developing for $10. This actually came out on App Lab back on March 9th, but we missed it. As you can guess from the title, this is a lite farming simulator that’s a bit barebones right now, but has a lot of potential.
Right now in Crop Craze you can buy seeds, grow crops, and sell them for profit while exploring your serene little farm. There’s a beautiful countryside view, a campfire for roasting marshmallows, and ways to upgrade the farm so it can make more money.
Eventually you’ll even be able to get animals on your farm and even build a greenhouse as you expand with more land. As a tiny little indie game it’s off to a good start and has some real potential if the developers can support it.
Let us know what you think of these two apps and any others you’ve seen on App Lab worth recommending!
