Not ready to plonk down your first $100 on Quest games? Thankfully there’s an impressive number of free games, experiences, apps, and social VR platforms to keep you playing before you’re paying—all of them compatible with Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Meta’s latest, Quest 3.

Looking to make your Quest 3 gaming experience even better? Don’t miss our top picks for the most essential Quest 3 accessories.

Free Quest Games

Yeeps: Hide and Seek

As a Yeep, your belly is full of stuffing used to craft anything from pillows for building to bombs for destruction. Pull items from your vast imagination and toss them into the world. The game’s intuitive block-based building makes it easy to express your creativity at any skill level.

• Developer: Trass Games
• Store link

Maestro: The Masterclass

Step on the podium and become a true orchestra conductor in Maestro: The Masterclass. Play hands free or grab a chopstick and master the real hands motions that command the orchestra through an off the rail conducting masterclass that culminates with an epic symphonic concert in a packed opera house. Good luck, Maestro!

• Developer: Double Jack
• Store link

Gorilla Tag

Like your primitive ancestors, Gorilla Tag will have you lumbering around a tree-lined arena using its unique ‘grab-the-world’ locomotion style that lets you amble around like a great ape. Chase the other apes and infect them or climb for your life as the infected chase you. Pure and simple. Make sure you’re far from TVs, furniture, babies, and pets because you will punch something in the mad dash for sweet, low-poly freedom.

• Developer: Another Axiom
• Store link

Noclip VR

Riding off the success of cult-like status of ‘The Backrooms’ Internet lore, Noclip VR lets you and online players explore the liminal spaces, solve puzzles, and escape that which lurks within. To move, you’ll need to swing your arms, and always keep in ear-shot of your friends, otherwise they won’t hear you scream. Gameplay is a bit barebones, making it feel more like something you’d find imported on a social platform like VR Chat or Rec Room, although it’s definitely invoking Gorilla Tag vibes.

• Developer: SuperFPS
• Store link

Population: One

Population: One is basically VR’s most successful battle royale, letting you climb, fly, shoot, and team-up with whoever dares. The free-to-play game does feature microtransactions, but only for cosmetics, which is nice. It’s more than just a battle royale though: you can play in the sandbox for custom maps and rules, team deathmatch with customizable loadouts, a 12v12 war mode, and more.

• Developer: BixBox VR
• Store link

Gun Raiders

Gun Raiders serves up a healthy slice of multiplayer shooter action with multiple game modes that let you jetpack through the air, climb from wall to wall, and shoot down the competition. There’s the same sort of microtransactions you see in bigger games, but it they’re all avatar skin stuff, so no pay-to-win here.

• Developer: Gun Raiders Entertainment Inc.
• Store link

Gym Class – Basketball

Gym Class – Basketball is the solution if you’re looking to shoot some hoops and dunk like you probably can’t on a physical court. Online multiplayer lets you go head-to-head for a pretty convincing game of b-ball thanks to the game’s physics-based and full-body kinematics.

• Developer: IRL Studios
• Store link

Blaston

This room-scale shooter is now free-to-play, letting you take on friends, family and foes in head-to-head 1v1 dueling. Refine your loadout and jump into the action as you scramble for weapons and send a volley of hellfire at your enemies, all the while Matrix dodging through this innovative bullet hell meets futuristic dueling game.

• Developer: Resolution Games
• Store link

Hyper Dash

Hyper Dash is a multiplayer shooter that basically fills in where Echo Combat never could (never mind that Echo Combat was never on Quest, and is now entirely defunct on Oculus PC). Letting you quick dash, sprint, and rail grind around, Hyper Dash manages to serve up an impressive number of modes, including Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, and Elimination. You can also take on both Quest and SteamVR users thanks to the inclusion of cross-play.

• Developer: Triangle Factory
• Store link

Ultimechs

Ultimechs should look pretty familiar: it’s basically Rocket League, but instead of driving around in cars, you’re given rocket-powered fists to punch balls into the goal. Online multiplayer includes both 1v1 and 2v2 matches, offering up tons of opportunities to earn cosmetic gear that will let you outfit your battle mech into something unique. There are also now two paid battle passes too, offering up a ton of cosmetics to set you apart from the competition.

• Developer: Resolution Games
• Store link

Battle Talent

Battle Talent is one of those fighting sims that let you go ham on ragdoll baddies, which in this case are wily goblins and loads of skelingtons. This physics-based roguelite action game lets you climb, run and slide your way through levels as you slash, shoot, and wield magic against your foes.

• Developer: CrossLink
• Store link

Cards & Tankards

Cards & Tankards is a pretty addictive social collectible card game, letting you collect and battle friends with over 180 cards. With cross-play against SteamVR headsets (also free on PC), you may consider hosting your regular game night playing more than a few rounds in the game’s characteristic medieval fantasy tavern.

• Developer: Divergent Realities
• Store link

Vegas Infinite

No real cash gambling here, but PokerStars’ Vegas Infinite not only let you go all-in on games of Texas Hold’em, but now a full casino’s worth of table games a machines that are sure to light up the dopamine starved pleasure centers of your brain. It’s all free play, so you won’t be risking real cash unless you buy in-game chips, which cannot be turned back into real money: it’s only to keep your bankroll flush for free play.

• Developer: LuckyVR Inc
• Store link

Bait!

Since the Fishin’ Buddies update, this classic VR title has gotten a whole new lease on life as a multiplayer VR fishing game that lets you sit back and crack a cold one with the boys as you reel in the big’uns. The additional social areas also let you sit back between your fishing adventures to take part in casual mini-games.

• Developer: Resolution Games
• Store link

Gods of Gravity

Gods of Gravity is an arcade-style RTS game where you compete in an epic showdown of between celestial gods (2-8 players). Scoop up ships and fling them to capture a nearby planet, or open wormholes to teleport them across the solar system. Hold planets and moons to boost your production. Mine asteroids for the powerful resources within. And if you dare, capture the sun for the ultimate buff. Then send a massive fleet to conquer your enemy’s home planet. Last god standing wins.

• Developer: Trass Games
• Store link

Social VR Platforms

Rec Room

Without a doubt one of the most fun, and most expansive VR titles out there… and it’s free. Sure, you can pay real cash for in-game tokens to buy spiffy clothes for your avatar, but that’s really up to you. Gads of mini-games await you in both first-party creations such as the ever so popular co-op Quests—that could be games in their own right—to user-created stuff that will keep your pocket book gathering dust. It’s social VR, so meet people and have a ball for zero dollarydoos. Fair warning: there’s a ton of kids.

• Developer: Rec Room
• Store link

VRChat

If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet in the last few years, it’s likely you’ve already heard about VRChat, the user-generated social VR space filled with… well… everything you can imagine, re-pro games included like Among Us, Mario Kart, and even a version of Beat Saber. Fashion your own avatar or download the millions of user-generated avatars out there so you can embody SpongeBob, Kirito from Sword Art Online, or any one of the million anime girl avatars that you’re bound to see there.

• Developer: VRChat
• Store link

Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds has changed a lot since launch. It now includes more tools, user-generated content, and some more compelling first-party games which has rounded out things to make it more competitive with Rec Room and VRChat. You may want to check in just to see the state of Meta’s first-party VR social platform. Whatever the case, the price of ‘free’ is hard to argue with.

• Developer: Meta
• Store link

Continue on Page 2: Free Experiences & Apps»

Netflix has pulled its video streaming app from the Quest content store.

As first reported by UploadVR, the long-neglected Netflix app for Quest is now gone from the store. If you already downloaded the app before then, you’ll find it no longer works.

That doesn’t mean you can’t watch Netflix on Quest though. The streaming giant recently bumped streaming quality in the Quest Browser to 1080p, which comes in stark contrast to the app’s 480p capped resolution, which notably didn’t support mixed reality passthrough or downloads.

Originally released in 2015 for Samsung Gear VR and developed by former Meta CTO John Carmack, the app experienced very few updates over the years, with the latest arriving in 2019 alongside the launch of the original Quest.

Why not simply develop a new official app? Netflix requires devices to be certified in order to push streaming beyond that 480p cap, which requires meeting technical requirements, submitting the device for testing, and even possibly negotiating a licensing agreement, which are all things Meta would have to initiate.

Notably, Quest has native apps for Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV, MLB, in addition to its own Meta TV app. It lacks Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, and HBO Max.

Meta’s social VR platform Horizon Worlds hasn’t been available to everyone, with the company restricting the app’s use to only a few countries. Now it’s rightfully rolling out to every region where Quest is supported.

Despite being available on the web since last January, geolocation restrictions only allowed Quest users access in select countries, which included Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Meta today announced that starting this week the company will begin rolling out Horizon Worlds “to people in all Meta Quest markets in supported languages so more people can connect with each other around the globe.”

This includes access for users 13+ across the following Quest-supported regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Users must be 14+ in South Korea and Spain.

This comes as the company ostensibly seeks to promote Horizon Worlds as a more fundamental social layer to its rapidly growing platform, which is soon set to include third-party VR headsets for the first time.

Horizon Worlds will come part and parcel with Horizon OS (ex-Quest OS) and the Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store), which will be available on Quest-like headsets built by ASUS, Lenovo and Xbox.

Meta has released a tool that will allow Quest users the ability to force software updates via a tethered connection.

Update (11:50 AM ET): It appears the tool is now live. The original article reporting the tool prior to its public release follows below:

XR enthusiast and serial data miner Luna uncovered existence of the tool, which is said to allow users the ability to update Quest’s operating system over USB via the “Sideload Update” option in the recovery menu.

Luna also shared a screenshot and link to an informational page detailing the ostensibly web-based update tool, which appears to be 404’ed at the time of this writing.

In it, the tool is said to “help fix software-related issues such as slow performance and unresponsive apps. Updating your software will not affect the data saved on your device, including app progress and settings.”

Luna also showed a screenshot of a support page detailing the software update tool, noting that users require at least 2GB of available storage on your computer, a USB-C cable that came with your headset, and a data backup of the headset.

The support page in question is still live, however it currently reads: “The feature may not be available at this time. Please view our help article to learn how to update your device software.”

Luna is credited for having discovered a number of Quest-related features before their official announcements over the years, most prominent of which was the release of Quest 2’s tutorial video before its official debut at Connect 2020—giving us our first confirmation of the headset’s specs.

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Provided the tool indeed releases, it’s likely to allow Quest users greater flexibility on when to download OS updates, as Meta tends to release them on a rolling basis that can lag behind in some regions.

How open the tool will be, and whether it will allow users to effectively rollback updates remains to be seen. We’ll be F5-ing those pages linked above and keeping glued to the company’s developer blog too, so make sure to check back soon.

Meta announced a new developer accelerator aimed at kickstarting ‘Lifestyle’ apps for Quest which make use of mixed reality, AI and hand-tracking.

Meta says in the announcement selected participants of its new ‘Meta Quest Lifestyle App Accelerator’ can apply for seed-stage grant funding, as well as product resources and mentoring from Meta and participating VC partners, which include a16z, Anorak Ventures, BITKRAFT Ventures, Boost VC, and Lightspeed.

“The program focuses on fun, delightful consumer experiences with novel, engaging, and retentive mechanics that leverage the unique capabilities of Meta Quest in emerging lifestyle categories such as Fashion, Beauty, Home Design, Shopping, Cooking, DIY, Arts & Crafts, and more,” the company says.

One such example cited by Meta is Zac Reid’s PianoVision, which uses mixed reality to teach users how to play piano.

Aimed at small teams, the six-month program will include three paid milestones to help teams prototype their concepts, as well as up to three Quest 3 dev kits for teams in supported countries. Notably, selected participants will retain full ownership of their IP, code, assets, design, and distribution rights, Meta says.

“We’re looking for founders who want to build companies dedicated to MR apps in Lifestyle categories that drive engagement with Meta Quest users. Whether your company has a long track record of publishing apps or is just getting off the ground, our Meta Quest Lifestyle App Accelerator could be a great fit if you’re working on a brand-new Meta Quest lifestyle app that is big enough to be a standalone business.”

Who shouldn’t apply: companies at Series B or later, and studios marketing activations, B2B apps targeting schools or professionals, video games, media consumption, fitness & wellness, or sports. Interested teams should check out the full eligibility requirements and developer FAQ first to make sure they qualify.

Submissions are now open, with the cut-off date scheduled for October 15th, 2024. Meta will select participating teams on December 31st, 2024, with the program officially running from December 2024 to May 2025.