The best VR escape rooms

First, a quick distinction you'll see on our site. VR-only games need a headset, full stop; there's no flat-screen version. VR-supported games are regular games with an optional VR mode, so you can play on a monitor and switch to the headset when you feel like it.

The best example of the second kind is Escape Simulator. It's a collection of 28 rooms, plus thousands of community rooms through the Steam Workshop, and almost every object can be picked up, moved or smashed. Physics-heavy rooms like that feel great with your hands. It also has online co-op, which most VR escape rooms don't. The downside: some puzzles boil down to finding a code and typing it in.

The VR-only games, on the other hand, are designed around your hands from the start, and that shows. Take The Room VR: A Dark Matter. The Room series was always about fiddly puzzle boxes, and players say those layered contraptions translate naturally to tracked controllers. It's one of the best-received VR puzzle games on Steam. Its only real problem? Most players finish in three to five hours and want more.

Alright, let's talk about motion sickness. If smooth movement in VR makes you queasy, the good news is that escape rooms are mostly about standing still and looking closely. And some games take that further and let you play the whole thing seated.

I Expect You To Die is the classic here. You're a secret agent with telekinesis, sat in one compact, trap-filled scene per mission, and you grab what you can't reach with your mind. Dying is part of the joke: there are many ways to go, and players love how failure becomes a punchline instead of a frustration. The sequel, I Expect You To Die 2, keeps the seated play and adds accessibility options like no timed input.

The Secret of Retropolis is another comfortable one: a seated VR point-and-click about a robot detective in a noir city, with simple controls that suit first-time VR players.

Worth checking either way: movement options. A Fisherman's Tale uses teleport only, for example, while some games also offer smooth stick movement. If you get sick easily, teleport is your friend.

Here's the honest truth about VR escape rooms: many of them are short. Like, one-to-two-hours short. That isn't automatically bad (VR sessions tend to be shorter anyway), but it matters when you look at the price.

• A Fisherman's Tale is, I think, one of the cleverest short VR games out there. You're a puppet inside a lighthouse, and the model lighthouse on your table contains a smaller you. Reach into the model and the room around you changes. Several players finished in about an hour, and some call it more of a charming tech demo than a full puzzle game.
• Abode is a calm, untimed single-room escape in a run-down apartment, with puzzles players call logical and fair. It's 30 to 90 minutes, and held items sometimes fly through walls (reloading the autosave fixes it).
• PAGAN PEAK VR is the horror pick: an alpine cabin, a serial killer and excellent sound design, without relying on cheap jump scares. Pick Normal, because Easy starts puzzles half solved.

All three are best bought on sale. Short and sweet, but short.

Want something meatier? There are a few.

Egression is set inside a fictional luxury escape-room company. You get two full rooms plus meta puzzles hidden in the lobby that tie them together, which reviewers love. Expect four to six hours. There's no hint system, though, and the object grabbing is clumsier than in rival games.

I Expect You To Die 3 runs about five hours, and reviewers say the story is stronger than in the earlier games. Retropolis 2: Never Say Goodbye is a clear step up from the first game too, with four episodes of roughly an hour each, although later episodes slip into pixel hunts.

And then there's Wanderer, a time-travel adventure that sends you through historical eras and runs around nine hours. That's long for VR. The catch is bugs: one player couldn't finish because a fuse puzzle broke. Check the recent patch notes before you buy, and wait for a sale.

Just got a headset and not sure this genre is for you? Try a free one first.

• Belko VR is a free tie-in to the horror film The Belko Experiment, with a countdown timer in your head (literally, it's a chip). Expect one short session, and note the gory tone.
• Dungeon Escape VR is a single dungeon cell with safes, drawers and breakable objects, plus a buzzwire-style precision challenge that frustrates some players.
• Sam & Dan: Floaty Flatmates is a rare co-op VR one. You're each stuck in a flooded apartment with a shark circling below, and you have to rig up ways to talk to each other. It's over in under an hour, and you'll need a friend who also has a headset.

Okay, but if you want just one recommendation? Start with The Room VR: A Dark Matter or I Expect You To Die. Both are polished, both are among the highest-rated games in our VR list, and both show what VR adds to a puzzle in a way flat-screen games simply can't. The Room is the more atmospheric, Lovecraftian mystery; I Expect You To Die is the funnier, seated spy game. You really can't go wrong.

Already own Escape Simulator? Then try it in VR too. It's basically a free bonus :)

VR escape rooms are some of the most hands-on puzzle games you can play, but they come with trade-offs: length, price and comfort. If motion sickness is a worry, stick with seated games like I Expect You To Die. If you want value, look at the longer ones like Egression or Wanderer, ideally on sale. And if you're just curious, start free. So, put that headset on and pick one. Which one will it be?