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May 25, 2024 · The 8 Best VR Headsets for Kids to Experience Epic Gaming Fun. Connect to your phone, gaming console, and more to enter a 3D virtual reality.
- Overview
- Best free starter apps
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By Michael Hicks
published 15 January 2019
Keeping your headset PG-13
Deciding when it’s safe to introduce your child to VR can be a tricky decision.
TechRadar's VR Month
Fair warning: many VR apps often cost a pretty penny while offering a limited amount of replay value. So before spoiling your son or daughter with expensive experiences, start them off with VR freeware meant to introduce people to the mechanics of virtual reality.
Oculus First Contact (O) helps you master Oculus Touch controls as you build a virtual robot and then play with your creation one-on-one.
Playroom VR (P), on the other hand, is the Mario Party of Playstation VR, where the VR headset wearer plays with, or against, everyone else on the couch in a collection of fun minigames. Kids can enjoy VR in short bursts without feeling isolated from their families.
Our favorite VR intro is Valve’s The Lab (O/V), which inserts you into Aperture Science Labs (of Portal fame), where you can play mini games like archery, dodging projectiles, robot repair and teleporting across the Earth – all designed to help your kid become fluent in motion controls and walk around without crashing into furniture.
The best Earth exploration game, however, isn’t actually a game: it’s Google Earth VR (O/V). In this app, you can explore any region in the world mapped by Google’s satellites, from historical landmarks to the tops of mountains to your own front yard.
Mobile VR users will find plenty of free apps with 360-degree videos to enjoy. YouTube VR (All) hosts NASA launches, skydives, concerts and more – but don’t turn younger kids loose in it without parental controls activated.
Can’t get your game-loving teens out the front door? See if you can get them movin’ and groovin’ with games that will have muscles burning well before they stop having fun.
Beat Saber (O/P/V, $20) puts a lightsaber in your hand and has you attack blocks of sound to the rhythm of an overall song. Beat Saber will have kids frantically slashing at blocks and having a riotous good time. For younger kids, turn on No Fail mode so they have fun without feeling bad about their skill level, or help your teens to download mods so they can install custom songs based on popular music.
Audioshield (V, $20) is another Guitar Hero-esque rhythm game that has you punching orbs to the beat of your own music library, or your kids’ music, which should prove exciting for them.
To really get your teen sweating, try Sprint Vector (O/P/V, $30), an infinite runner racing game that makes you pump your arms to move forward and lean to dodge obstacles as you race against other players.
First-person shooter games translate really well into virtual reality, and the best ones keep your kid moving as they dodge and weave around enemy attacks. Don’t worry, we’ve chosen the best ones that don’t get too bloody.
Space Pirate Trainer (O/P/V, $15) drops the player into a robot-infested arena with blasters, shields and swords. It’s a frantic, fantastic experience to play and replay as you try to reach the harder levels.
Superhot VR (O/P/V, $25) has a simple premise: time moves when you do. As much a strategy game as a shooter, your kid will have to carefully plot out his or her movements around your living room to dodge bullets and take out enemies. And again, there’s plenty of replay value.
Rez Infinite (O/P/V, $25), a rhythm/ shooter hybrid that has you soaring and fighting through a space-like digital landscape to an EDM soundtrack, will blow your teen away. And for a more 12-and-under audience, try Shooty Fruity (O/P/V, $20), an adorable on-rails shooter in which your kid can aim and shoot at, well, fruit.
VR is the best way to experience puzzle and mystery games: there are no mental distractions, no online cheat guides, just a stimulating challenge for minds to overcome.
Despite its violent name, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (All, $15) is a relatively tame social party game for anyone 10 and up. One person inside the headset tries to deactivate a bomb while the non-VR group studies the bomb-defusing manual and tries to guide them through it before the timer runs out. Everyone involved will have a blast (pun intended).
Another scary-sounding but youth-friendly game, I Expect You to Die (O/P/V, $25), turns your teen into a Bond-esque secret agent trying to escape challenging traps and save the world.
Transpose (O/V, $20) will stimulate your teen’s mind with reality-bending physics puzzles in a dreamlike world, while Talos Principle VR (O/V, $40) will provide literally dozens of hours of challenging mind-teasers, where most VR games only last a few hours.
If your teen is a Clue fan, hit them with Invisible Hours (O/P/V, $30). Investigating the murder of Nikola Tesla, they will have to search a mansion for clues and investigate suspects like Thomas Edison, before naming the murderer.
Or for kids that will enjoy a more humorous, easy experience, try Job Simulator (O/P/V, $20) or the upcoming Vacation Simulator. These cartoonish games provide easy motion-controlled tasks that younger gamers can handle, but with enough subtle humor to entertain adults and teens alike.
If your kid skews more towards the artsy and creative than the violent or puzzly, you can’t go wrong with Google’s Tilt Brush (O/V, $20) or Masterpiece VR (O/V, $30), two apps that let you paint, sculpt and animate in 3D and then export your creations to your computer.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (P, $40) may be the best platformer (think Super Mario) that VR has to offer. As you guide your plucky robot through the beautifully animated world, you can lean forward into it to look for traps and then punch or head butt them out of the way.
If you’re not worried about your teen spending too long inside a headset, then the incredibly addictive Minecraft VR (M/O/V, $7) may be the last app you’ll need to buy them for a while. Or if you want to buy them an experience that you can’t find on consoles, send them to the rings of Saturn with the transcendent Lone Echo (O, $40).
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To get started, install the VR app on your headset, then download the companion app for your computer and phone. Immersed is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Download now for:
May 4, 2020 · Looking for great VR apps for Daydream, Oculus, iPhone, Google Cardboard, etc? Here are the 25 best VR apps (free and paid) to download in 2020.
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Aug 14, 2024 · The virtual reality headsets for PC, Android, and iPhone provide a fully immersive experience in the virtual world. These headsets come with specialized screens close to your eyes to help kids immerse in the gameplay or even the movies.
