Dreams made huge waves when it came out as a platform to build interactive experiences that you can share with others.
It was already highly imaginative but now, VR has been added into the mix.
This post explores the virtual reality component of Dreams to see if the platform offers the same level of functionality as its regular version.
Dreams VR
Dreams is a game creation platform that you can use to build experiences and share with others. The VR component allows you to seamlessly integrate virtual reality into these experiences. It’s as easy as the push of a button. You don’t need to create two different versions of the game.
Alternate #1
Roblox VR
Roblox is a free-to-play creative platform that can be used to build all sorts of experiences. You can use it to build regular games as well as games that utilize virtual reality. The community is extremely active and you can find several tutorials online that can help you create the best VR experience possible.
Alternate #2
Minecraft VR
Minecraft has been around for over 10 years but its VR version is still relatively new. When you experience Minecraft in VR, the sense of scale is heightened. This adds another layer of immersion and inspires players, both old and new, to let their imaginations run wild.
Quick Summary of the Main Product
Let’s first talk about what Dreams is: Dreams is a platform that provides you with all the tools you need to create games of your own. The functionality is insanely deep and you have the freedom to build experiences with highly deep mechanics, visuals, and audio.
When it comes to Dreams VR, it’s fairly obvious that the point is to provide those same tools to users so they can create VR experiences. The great thing about it is that if you want to create a regular version and a VR version, you can do both with ease.
It’s as easy as clicking a button, you don’t need to create two different versions of the title. This is insanely helpful and allows users to really delve deep into their craft and come up with dynamic mechanics for their games.
Features and Benefits
Let’s first talk about what Dreams is: Dreams is a platform that provides you with all the tools you need to create games of your own. The functionality is insanely deep and you have the freedom to build experiences with highly deep mechanics, visuals, and audio.
When it comes to Dreams VR, it’s fairly obvious that the point is to provide those same tools to users so they can create VR experiences. The great thing about it is that if you want to create a regular version and a VR version, you can do both with ease.
It’s as easy as clicking a button, you don’t need to create two different versions of the title. This is insanely helpful and allows users to really delve deep into their craft and come up with dynamic mechanics for their games.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Dreams VR
Price
It’s available at a very budget-friendly price and when you look at the value that you get for it, we’d definitely consider the price to be justified.
After all, you get access to a wide variety of VR games with user-generated content. Not only that but you also get the tools to create VR experiences of your own.
User-Friendliness
As mentioned earlier, the tools are highly robust and quite easy to get the hang of. The learning curve is definitely there but it’s not too steep to scare away casual users.
We feel it’s the perfect balance of usability, intuition, and depth in terms of functionality.
Replayability Value
A tool such as this can be something that you can gain entertainment from for years on end, really.
Even if you’re someone that does not want to use it for creation, the constant stream of new titles by other users is still something that can keep you engaged.
Advantages and Disadvantages
- VR is well-optimized
- Easy-to-follow tutorials
- Numerous user-generated titles to play
- Active community
- Easy to learn
- Some VR modules may be buggy
Social Proof
We had a great time with Dreams VR but we wanted to check out what others thought about it as well.
That’s why we scoured the internet for user reviews to get a general perception of what the public thinks of Dreams VR.
Here’s what they had to say:
Similar to Dreams VR (Recommendations)
#1: Best Free Alternative - Roblox VR Review
Roblox is an entirely free-to-play creative platform that gives you a wide variety of tools to create any experience you can think of. It could be a game with deep mechanics or it could just be a cinematic experience for the player to enjoy.
You can use the platform to create regular experiences but it can also be utilized to create virtual reality experiences.
Furthermore, the community is super active and you’ll always find new experiences being posted onto the platform. This gives you an endless collection of VR titles to experience and gain inspiration from.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Roblox VR
Price: As mentioned above, Roblox VR is entirely free. However, if you’d like to check out some of the VR titles available on the platform, you may have to pay the creators.
User-Friendliness: Roblox is super easy to get the hang of and there are tons of tutorials available online as well. Furthermore, the active community can help you out with any issues you may face with creation as well.
Replayability value: Since it’s a game creation platform as well as a platform where you can experience others’ games, the replayability value is pretty much endless. It’s only limited by your imagination.
- Works with controllers and motion controls
- Visually pleasing
- No nausea or motion sickness issues
- Responsive controls
- Great replayability
- Some VR titles are overpriced
Best Free Alternative
The best free alternative is Roblox VR thanks to its user-friendliness, deep user creation tools, and easy controls.
#2: Best User-Friendly Alternative - Minecraft VR Review
Minecraft has been around for more than a decade and at this point, most people know how addictive it can be. Similar to Roblox, the amount of fun you have in Minecraft really depends on how wild your imagination is.
The things you can build are endless.
The motivation to build stuff is really increased when you experience Minecraft in VR. That’s because it’s one thing to see your creation on a screen but it’s quite another to be inside the world with your creation.
The controls are surprisingly smooth and easy to get the hang of. This is true for both, individuals that are familiar with Minecraft and those who play it for the first time.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Minecraft VR
Price: It might not seem like it’s worth it to buy Minecraft VR if you already own the regular version. However, it’s an entirely different and enhanced experience. Hence, we feel the price is quite justified.
User-Friendliness: As mentioned earlier, we expected the controls to be wonky but they’re actually quite well-optimized and easy to understand. Not only that but they’re super responsive and satisfying to use too.
Replayability value: Similar to Roblox, you’re only limited by your imagination here. However, Minecraft only allows you to build and explore. On the other hand, the other titles in this post allow you to create full-on VR experiences.
- Decently priced
- Great replayability value
- No motion sickness
- Polished controls
- Great, soothing soundtrack
- Can be buggy sometimes
Best User-Friendly Alternative
The best user-friendly alternative is Minecraft VR thanks to its well-optimized movement, responsive controls, and decent pricing.
Buyer’s Guide
There is a ton of factors to think about before you buy a VR game that many consumers don’t even consider. Then, they get upset when a game is not to their liking. While it’s definitely upsetting, it pains us to say that that’s partly your fault.
If you don’t do the research, you’ll end up with the wrong game.
When we say the “wrong game”, we mean you’ll end up with a VR experience that does not fulfill your standards and needs of what it should be.
Hence, you must first figure out what you need from a VR game. What is the type of experience you’re looking for? What would you enjoy?
Asking questions to yourself and figuring out what you enjoy will really help you make a much better and more informed decision.
Some other factors that you must also think about before you buy a VR title include:
Price
This is something that you must consider before you buy pretty much any product at all: How much you can afford to spend on it. Naturally, this will dictate the quality of games that you can actually afford.
Don’t get us wrong though. There are tons of great VR titles out there that are being sold for super cheap prices. However, we just want to let you know that your options will be limited, of course, if your budget is low.
Look at the value you get in relation to the price.
Some games might be highly-priced but that doesn’t necessarily make them overpriced.
Why?
Well, a game might be expensive because it has a ton of content to offer that could keep you engaged for months or even years. It might also be expensive because it offers a unique experience that no other title can.
In these cases, a high price may actually be justified. However, if you simply don’t have the budget for it, then you may have to consider other options.
The games you must avoid at all costs are the ones that are highly priced but don’t necessarily justify that price. These are simply cash grabs that take the money out of your pocket but don’t provide you with an engaging enough experience.
User-Friendliness
User-friendliness when it comes to VR titles is paramount. This is because fixing technical issues within VR is one of the most frustrating things that you can experience. Oftentimes, such technical issues might not even have fixed if the game isn’t well-optimized.
Apart from optimization, you must also consider how user-friendly the controls and overall navigation inside the game is.
When we say “user-friendly”, we don’t mean a game should necessarily be easy.
Some of the most rewarding games out there are the ones that are intentionally tough and difficult to master.
However, that’s exactly the key: they should be difficult to master. However, they should still be easy to get the hang of. The controls should feel good and responsive and satisfying to use.
If they feel clunky and awkward, the game will not be fun to play and in most cases, you probably won’t stick around long enough to get to the end anyway.
Not only do awkward controls make the game less fun to play but they also make it frustrating when they don’t work properly. You may have been wanting to jump over a boulder but the jump may not register and you might smash into it.
Examples like these can cause a lot of frustration and it definitely sours the VR experience.
Replayability Value
We talked in the price section about how you must look at the price of a game in correlation to how much value it offers you.
This can be in terms of the quality of the content, the quantity of the content, or both. Some games have a ton of content to offer and others have active communities that constantly keep adding content to the game over the years.
However, other games increase their longevity in another way: By being insanely replayable.
Examples of such games are ones that have multiple endings so you can try out different paths to see how the narrative changes. Other games just have core concepts that encourage replayability such as Minecraft, Roblox, Dreams and more.
If you intend to get the most out of your VR game, ensure that it has a ton of replayability value. Such games can keep you entertained for months and sometimes, even years.
Nausea and Motion Sickness
Motion sickness issues in VR are all too common and they can happen for a number of different reasons.
The first reason could be that the game is just poorly optimized. This means that the movement and field of view settings inside the game just don’t seem natural. Hence, when you’re in that space and you move unlike the way you’re used to, it can cause motion sickness.
In this case, the only thing you can hope for is that the developers update the game and release patches to fix the motion sickness issues. In any case, this is the type of game that you want to avoid buying. At least until you hear the news that it’s being patched.
The second reason could be that the game is well-optimized but just the nature of the game causes motion sickness initially. For example, there are many VR games out there about space exploration and exploring distant galaxies.
Such games have you exploring these worlds in different gravities and naturally, the movement will be different than what you’re used to. Such games may cause you to be nauseous at first but when you get used to them, nausea subsides.
For such games, it’s up to you. If you think you can handle the initial motion sickness, you can buy them. However, if you want to have a pleasant experience from the start, then you should avoid them.
Genre
This is an entirely subjective factor and it’s something you must assess about yourself.
What genres do you enjoy in VR?
Would you like a calm and relaxing experience? Or are you looking for something action-packed? Do you want to be soothed by a meditation app? Or do you want to be scared out of your pants with a VR horror game?
Different people enjoy different things and if you buy a game from a genre that you don’t enjoy, there’s really nobody to blame but you.
Hence, research a game first and find out what it’s about and what the gameplay is like before you actually buy it.
Wrapping Things Up
That’s the end of our Dreams VR review.
It’s an incredibly robust platform with a slightly steep learning curve. You can use it just to play other people’s titles or you can use it to create one of your own. If you give it time and learn all the intricacies of its tool, you can really create something super special.
What do you think of Dreams VR? Have you ever created something with it? Let us know in the comments section below.
