Game of the Year 2025 – Best Virtual Reality Game

by · tsa

As we come up on a decade since virtual reality gaming launched to the masses, it’s hard to say that it’s really managed to burst out of its niche. Sure, there’s been hits like Beat Saber that have entered into the mainstream consciousness, and everybody know that Meta, PlayStation, Apple and others have headsets ready and waiting for them to buy, but VR gaming remains more of a passion project.

But passion projects are the ones that bring the greatest leaps ahead. It’s these games that continue to pioneer new ways to think about existing genres, where teams dedicate themselves to finding those little

On the surface, Reach looks like many other VR games with fairly generic visuals, but you really have to play it to appreciate what Dreams Elevation have done.  A subset of nDreams, the team were set up to explore new ways of moving and interacting in VR, inventing subtle features and tricks that make traversing a VR world as smooth as butter.

“Reach raises the bar for VR gaming, and it’s a great reason to dust off your headset,” we said in our review and that remains true, Reach is a VR game where you can parkour through vast caverns and fling yourself around like an acrobat without any motion sickness. Chaining together moves, including throwing your Captain America style shield,  quickly becomes second nature and makes other VR games feel stilted and robotic.  There were a few glitches at launch but these have been patched out, so you really should add Reach to your wishlist.

– Tuffcub

The Midnight Walk – Runner Up

The first and most immediately noticeable thing about The Midnight Walk is its beautifully terrifying art style. It’s hard not to be impressed by the artistry, using actual, real-life clay to make a stop-motion video game is already quite the achievement, but to have it look so damn good and work well in VR is remarkable. You might be a little too busy to marvel at how impressive things are though, as it’s absolutely bloody terrifying. From the dark, dingy environments to the truly horrifying monsters that are stalking you, it’s an incredibly creepy and unsettling aesthetic that the music and sound design matches, as well.

Whilst you’re desperately trying to stay away from unspeakable abominations, you’re also trying to bring warmth back into the world with the help of Potboy, an adorable – in a Tim Burton kind of way – lantern who can help light things up a little for you. It involves a lot of walking, but in VR and in this world that’s plenty to keep you entertained, especially since there are horrifying monsters stalking you. Some of the puzzles are particularly creative as well, sometimes even unique, as you’re wrapped up in a wordless narrative that builds up to its emotional conclusion. The Midnight Walk is a game that really demonstrates how much of a difference playing in VR can make.

– Gamoc

Lumines Arise – Runner Up

Tetsuya Mizuguchi has completed the circle of his synaesthetic gaming journey, reviving the block-dropping puzzle game of Lumines for a new generation. The PSP original was already an experimental blend of game, music and visuals, as your actions and progress fed new sounds and added layers to the ambient soundtrack, and Mizuguchi-san was able to explore them once more with Tetris Effect in 2018, able to take everything so much further thanks to the dawn of VR gaming.

Lumines Arise takes the lessons learned from Tetris Effect and folds them back into Lumines’ framework, expanding on the series’ formula, bringing new life and energy with it, and in the process, crafting another genre-defining puzzle game. As with Tetris Effect, it’s a game that you really want to experience in VR if you possibly can.

– Stefan

Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

  • Deadpool VR
  • Ghost Town

What reasons did you find to put a silly hat on for your gaming this year? Let us know in the comments.

Catch up on our Game of the Year 2025 awards so far:

Tags: Game of the Year 2025, Lumines Arise, Reach, The Midnight Walk

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