8 Great Virtual Reality Ports of Existing Games

It’s great to see all the creative ways game developers use virtual reality to create new immersive gaming experiences. However, sometimes you just want to turn off your brain and play an old classic.

So, why don’t you try playing your favorite classic title in virtual reality as well? There’s a surprising amount of VR ports of existing games that you can play today. So, here are a few great titles we think you should try on your VR gaming setup.

What Is a VR Port?

A video game port is a title developed for one console system and brought to another. This is usually a console game that’s getting a PC release too. In short, it’s the same game brought over to a new system.

For example, Namco made the original Pac-Man game arcades in 1980. But in 1982, Atari ported the title to the Atari 2600, allowing the game to invade many kids’ homes. This made Pac-Man a staple of the gaming industry, even making it one of the best retro gifts you can give gamers and non-gamers alike.

In the context of VR games, porting a game to VR consoles would mean potentially adding fully realized depth, body presence, and even motion controls into familiar old worlds.

As you can imagine, porting a game into VR is challenging. Sometimes a VR port is just getting the game to run in the headset, but often it is an effort to introduce room-scale play as well.

Some games on this list are official projects, while others are free mods. Nevertheless, all of them are worth a look if you’re a fan of the original game.

Skyrim has roughly ten different versions across different systems, and it’s safe to say Skyrim VR is one of the game’s most interesting and engaging versions.

Skyrim VR is an official port developed by Bethesda, so this version of Skyrim allows you to step into the world with full motion controls right off the bat. You can swing weapons, shoot arrows, and cast magic, all while frantically dodging around your play space.

This version gets even better when you consider mods. Skyrim VR has its own fork of the popular script extender and a handful of VR-specific mods that can enhance your experience even more. Even better, Skyrim VR can run a wide range of mods from the regular Skyrim version as well, so you should check out all these massive Skyrim mods!

Another Bethesda-developed port, Fallout 4 VR is very much like Skyrim VR. It offers full motion control and room-scale support, but this time, arming you with guns to aim and grenades to throw.

Unfortunately, the gun interaction in this port is rather basic for an official title. All of your weapons are one-handed, and there are no reloading mechanics.

Again, much like Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR has a relatively active modding scene that can go a long way to fixing some of the issues of this port.

Surprising everyone with its redemption arc, No Man’s Sky continues to impress with its VR mode.

Unlike the previous entries on this list, this isn’t an entirely new game. If you own a VR headset and No Man’s Sky on Steam or GoG, you’re good to go.

This VR version of the game boasts decent visuals and on-foot gameplay, but where it really shines is the vehicle gameplay. You can hop into your ship or land vehicle and physically interact with the controls, be it a steering wheel or throttle-and-stick combo. Not many VR games allow players to transition from on-foot to vehicle gameplay, and the No Man’s Sky VR port handles it gracefully.

This one can be a little tough on those with weak VR legs, but the views are worth it. And, just like Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR, you can install mods to No Man’s Sky to further enhance your VR experience.

Borderlands 2 invites you to dive into the loot-and-shoot experience in VR, and it’s a nice enough port. The visuals are breathtaking, and it performs well. Unfortunately, it’s missing a few things.

Namely, it doesn’t have multiplayer of any sort. Borderlands is renowned for its co-op experience, but you’ll play the VR version alone. If you can get past that, you’ll find yourself having a great time mowing down hordes of enemies and using unique character abilities with small VR twists.

This is another game that tends to be rough on the stomach, if not just due to its fast movement speed. The game does include a teleport locomotion mode and comfort options, which can definitely help ease you into playing it in VR.

5. Alien Isolation VR

Alien Isolation was originally going to launch with a VR mode in 2014, but it was scrapped. Enough code was left behind in the game’s final version, meaning the Alien Isolation VR mod was quickly made. Now it’s one of the most developed fan-made VR mods out there, with highly crisp visuals and low performance overhead.

Because it was based on the original VR code the game launched with, and because not many VR headsets back then even had motion controls, this is, unfortunately, a purely seated experience. That means you can’t use a game-changing omnidirectional VR treadmill to play this title. You’ll have to stick with your controller, which is considerably less immersive.

However, the port still holds up as one of the most visually compelling and terrifying experiences available for VR. And although you have to do the legwork of installing a user-made mod to the original game, its setup is streamlined, and the experience is absolutely worth it.

Another fan-made mod, REFramework is an all-in-one VR mod for many Resident Evil titles. Resident Evil Remake 2 and 3, and even 7 and 8, have all been made into fully playable, room-scale-enabled VR titles.

That means you’ll be aiming your own shots and swinging your own knife. Unfortunately, there is no reload interaction, and the game has a high performance cost. Even when playing on a high and stable frame rate, the UI elements can be difficult on the eyes, and motion sickness can be hard to avoid.

Regardless, running through worlds that look this realistic in VR is an experience few other games can offer.

The world of Half-Life brought thousands over to VR, but Half-Life: Alyx isn’t the only way to see City 17 in full 3D. Half-Life 2 VR is a fan-made port of Half-Life 2, bringing the entire campaign over with fully revamped weapon systems to boot.

You’ll be able to interact and reload with your weapons to about the same degree that you can in Half-Life: Alyx. On top of that, you have full stick-based locomotion, teleport, and a host of other comfort options.

Due to the original game’s age, this is a very easy port to run. It’s not the prettiest VR game out there, but sometimes, you just can’t beat the classics.

Perhaps the most ambitious port on this list, Outer Wilds VR brings all the uneasiness of flying through space in six degrees of freedom to your VR headset. This mod is a pet project by some passionate fans and goes the extra mile to incorporate full motion controls and room-scale play to Outer Wilds.

It has quite a performance overhead and is guaranteed to challenge even the strongest VR legs. Still, nothing else out there offers quite the same experience as Outer Wilds does.

VR Game Ports: A New Way to Play Your Favorite Classic Games

VR changes the game, sometimes, quite literally. While playing all-new VR games can give you experiences simply not offered anywhere else in gaming, playing old classics in VR can give you a new perspective on old games that were previously unseen.

So enjoy running around these older game worlds, assuming your VR legs can handle it.