half life alyx is dope

beat saber and pistol whip

superhot

I'd strongly recommend starting off with slower games with less movement. You heard a lot more about it when the VR headsets first started taking off, but it's still an issue. You feel like you should be moving more than you actually are, it makes you feel sick at first. Myst and Beatsaber will be great starters. Valve also seems to have made their games work with VR quite well, I've heard great things about Portal and Alyx

Superhot is great, it was clearly made for the earlier, more nauseating headsets. The movement of the game lends itself perfectly to VR.

Dolphin (GC and Wii- also any other 3D game that had a virtual console release but I haven't tested these), Citra (3ds), and RPCS3 have side-by-side (SBS) stereoscopic 3d output-modes that you should 100% try.

They aren't "VR" in the sense that you're the player, but it's like playing a 3d movie in theaters (if you ever played a 3ds with 3d on imagine that but overwhelmingly good).

On that front you should also know that HSBS (half side by side) and SBS (side by side) 3d movies are also watchable in VR and are probably the best way to consume that media outside of a real movie theater.

If you have any questions feel free to ask

Since you mentioned Myst, Cyan published a vr game called The Last Clockwinder. It's a cozy little game where you solve puzzles using automatons that repeat your own recorded actions. So for example, you record yourself picking up an object and dropping it in a bucket, and then a robot repeats the same actions over and over. Before long you're creating assembly lines of robots that are all interacting with each other, and are all recordings of you. It's easier to understand from watching a trailer. Anyway, it has a cute solarpunk(?) aesthetic, some nice casual queerness, and the kind of corny, earnest performances I remember from the Myst games. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1755100/The_Last_Clockwinder/

Beat Saber is an obvious good option, but before you spend any money on song packs, check out a site like BEATSAVER. Beat Saber can be modded and there are custom song managers you can use, but you don't have to bother with all that if you really don't want to. Downloading the zip file from beatsaver and dropping it into beat saber directory is enough (assuming the custom song didn't require any mods, some of them do). There are so many good songs on there that rival anything officially released.

Also Blade and Sorcery. It's rough around the edges, but the implementation of magic is pretty great. Hurling fireballs, using telekinesis to pick up and throw weapons, objects, and enemies, holding a ball of electricity in one hand and using it to imbue the sword you're holding in your other hand, it's all very fun. Even if it does make me more motion-sick than just about anything I've played in vr.

Walkabout mini golf is super fun too, beyond all the other things folks have already recommended.

Humblebundle has a decent VR bundle right now, just fyi.

Keep in mind I'm poor so I mostly just play older games and Half Life:alyx and its 3rd party campaigns, some of which are really great. Arizona Sunshine was pretty good. Gorn, Crisis VRigade, I expect you to die, Propagation VR, The LAb is a classic, Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator are cute, Angry Birds VR can be pretty fun, Google Earth VR is awesome (check out the DPRK), Budget Cuts was really good, A Fisherman's Tale was interesting, Cartoon Network Journeys VR, Hello Puppets was creepy but cool, ACRON is a really cool asymetrical multiplayer thing if you have friends over for game nights.

The "I expect you to die" games are pretty fun, and good for starting out in VR.

Elite: Dangerous

No motion controls or anything so it isn't the best full demonstration of VR, but (with the exception of on-foot content with Odyssey) everything that it does do in VR from how it handles the UI to the overall feeling of actually being inside your own ship and piloting it is done extremely well. Paired with its sound design, it should be a very memorable experience. Also hope you don't have too much motion sickness, because piloting ship-launched fighters in VR is way too fun to not try to experience at least once.

Played through Budget Cuts and most of it's sequel, they're pretty good to start with I figure.

Phasmophobia is pretty fun, and playing in VR actually allows you to carry around an extra item in your extra hand

edit: oh yeah there's this neat tank simulator game, Steel Crew that I've kept my eye on, since that idea has always appealed to me: basically any kind of game trying to extrapolate the strategy/management aspect of commanding and crewing a tank would be cool, like say how Bomber Crew works.

It feels weird to say the VR is my hobby, but I guess that's the most accurate way to describe it. My first headset was a rift s I got second hand back in 2020. I've been a big fan of VR gaming since. Most of the games I was going to recommend have already been listed so I'll just share my favorites.

For shooting and gun type games, H3VR(Hotdogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Granades) is the absolute best. The guns are great, the dev does almost weekly updates, and it's still getting better.

Into The Radius is an awesome horror survival game that's basically Stalker in VR. The atmosphere is perfect, and it's probably one of the most immersive vanilla games you can play. Reloading magazines in the middle of a fight, bullet by bullet, can really ramp up the tension.

Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR are both incredible games once you mod them. In vanilla form they honestly suck, but with mods, they become a completely new game.

VRChat is wonderful. It's free. Go to the world LSMedia and watch a movie in 3d. LSMedia is one of the "movie" worlds that has pretty much every movie, TV show, and anime you can think of. 3d movies in VR just work. They work how they were supposed to in theaters. It's kinda mind blowing to be honest. I'd just recommend staying on private worlds unless you like hanging out with strangers. I just play with friends on private.

DCS and VTOLVR are both great flying games. VTOL is meant from the ground up to be in VR, so it's a lot more simple. DCS is a full blown flight sim. VTOL is a lot more casual, DCS is a lot more rewarding. I like both of them for different reasons.

Vermillion is oil painting in VR. Painting in VR is such a natural way to use VR. Vermillion is great if you've ever wanted to try out oil painting but dont want to go buy all the stuff.

Flight games, like Il-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles, or any racing games seem like an obvious choice (but require additional stupid toys to plug in lol)

You can install Wabbajack and pick out a Skyrim VR mod pack. The popular ones are pretty well tested and mostly plug in and play

There's also a surprisingly good VR mod for Alien Isolation if horror games are your thing

Grimlord

Also Rumble

VRChat, Pavlov.

They're both very much "make your own fun" kind of games.

If you like train sims Derail Valley could be fun and I hear War Thunder VR is good

Half life alyx and dirt rally are basically all I play in VR. Annoyingly dirt rally is vr exclusive to oculus headsets but there were some mods around to make it work woth others.

Rumble looks really cool.

I hear good things about bonelab, apparently has a pretty good sandbox mode and mod support. Haven't played it though, so take this with a grain of salt.