Multiplayer Games You Can Play In VR With Friends Who Don't Own A Headset

Sadly, most of our friends and family don’t own a VR headset. Thankfully, there are many crossplay hybrid games you can enjoy with them.

One of the downsides to multiplayer VR gaming is the lack of people to play with. This is made worse if you (like me) have zero interest in public lobbies and will only fire up a multiplayer game if you have a friend or two available to join in.

Every VR title here, listed in no particular order, has a flatscreen component, be it PC, mobile, or console.

Note: This is by no means a comprehensive list. Feel free to add any additional games in the discussion section below.

Acron

Platforms: Quest, Steam, Pico

Acron is an eight-versus-one party game where the VR player is a tree trying to protect its golden acorns from an army of squirrels piloted by players on a mobile app. This is an accessible game (no stick-based movement) where the headset can be passed around allowing everyone to play as the tree. If you don’t have eight friends, the missing squirrels can be filled in with AI bots. The game only requires two humans to play.

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes

Platforms: Quest, Steam

A pioneering VR party game, Keep Talking first released for Gear VR in 2015. The player in the headset has a ticking time bomb in front of them with multiple panels that have to be defused. The person(s) outside the headset frantically scans a document linked on the game’s website, giving the VR player instructions on how to solve each panel before time runs out.

The game escalates by adding more panels to the bomb and distractions in the room like sounds and flickering lights to disorient the VR player. In addition to Quest and PC VR, the game is available on PS VR1 and multiple gaming consoles.

Carly And The Reaperman

Platforms: Quest, Steam

Carly and the Reaperman is a dark comedy co-op platformer. The VR player is the Reaperman, a giant floating skull that can move objects to assist Carly, controlled by another player via a free PC companion app. Communication is key in this game, especially in later levels when platform destroying ghosts and time sensitive lasers raise the difficulty.

Carly And The Reaperman Review – VR’s Best Asymmetrical Co-Op Overcomes Its Scrappy Side

Carly and the Reaperman’s winning central mechanic is bolstered by great level design and versatile options, helping you overlook its scrappier side. More in our Carly and the Reaperman review! Even when it originally released in 2018, Carly and the Reaperman’s ideas weren’t especially new. We’ve

Among Us 3D VR

Platforms: Steam, Quest, Pico, PS VR2

Formerly a VR exclusive, Schell Games’ port of the murderous game of deception was renamed Among Us 3D and released on PC in 2025. The new version, which recently released a definitive edition, supports crossplay across all of its platforms.

Among Us VR Review: Deception & Detection In Another Dimension

Among Us VR is available now on Steam and the Quest Store from Schell Games. Is this VR’s new party game or will it become a ghost ship? Read our full review below. Schell Games is about as veteran a VR game studio as you can find. Its two

Elsewhere Electric

Platforms: Quest, Steam

Very similar to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Elsewhere Electric is a co-op escape room puzzle game with one player in VR navigating the room and the other on a mobile app guiding them through. We reviewed the game, saying it was challenging, but held back by a lack of proper tutorials and native in-game voice chat. The latter is not an issue for local multiplayer, but remote players will need to use a third party app like Discord.

Elsewhere Electric Review: A Challenging, Intriguing Escape Room

Elsewhere Electric is a challenging, intriguing co-op escape room puzzler that’s out now for VR and mobile.

VR Giants

Platforms: Steam, Quest

VR Giants is an asymmetric co-op platformer akin to Carly and the Reaperman, albeit with a much brighter aesthetic and tone. Again, the VR player is the titular ‘giant’ and the player on PC is a tiny human navigating obstacles, collecting coins, and hitting checkpoints to reach the end of the level. Unlike Carly, the PC player can use the giant as a platform and mode of transportation. To avoid cheesing levels by simply picking up the human and waltzing to the end, the giant is tethered in place.

Panoptic

Platforms: Steam

Picture playing hide ‘n seek in VR, but you are (once again) a giant chasing a diminutive figure, the PC player counterpart. A sequel was announced at the Spring 2026 VR Games Showcase that expands to four tiny PC players.

Panoptic Review: Creative Ideas Spotlight Asymmetrical Multiplayer

Panoptic has been floating around in various pre-release forms for a little while now, but it’s definitely a perfect game for a pandemic. It’s a two-player game where one wears the headset in an effort to vaporize the other, who is traversing the landscape on their computer. Panoptic

Demeo (series)

Demeo is a series of tabletop role-playing games for up to four players. The original Demeo features a cast of seven original characters in archetypal tabletop role playing game classes (paladin, ranger, rogue, etc.) adventuring through five three-level books that comprise a full story campaign. Demeo Battles is a 1×1 or 2×2 PVP version featuring the same heroes and creatures from the original game. Demeo x Dungeons and Dragons: Battlemarked returns to the co-op gameplay of the original game, adding officially licensed elements from Dungeons and Dragons into the Demeo gameplay system.

Demeo is available on Quest, Steam, Pico, PS VR2, Android XR, and Apple App Store.

Demeo Battles is available on Quest, Steam, Pico, and PS VR2.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is available on Steam, PS VR2, and Quest.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked Review

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a mostly natural crossover and a fitting evolution for the VR tabletop RPG.

Phasmophobia

Platforms: PS VR2, Steam

The affectionately nicknamed ‘Phasmo,’ a co-op ghost hunting horror game, launched with crossplay VR support in 2020. PlayStation VR2 fans joined the hunt in 2024 with a hybrid PS5/PS VR2 release.

Phasmophobia is still in Early Access, but receives regular updates.

Phasmophobia Review-In-Progress: Frighten Your Senses

After four years on Steam Early Access, VR horror hit Phasmophobia still delivers hours of co-op thrills and it’s out tomorrow on PS VR2.

Social VR Applications

Sadly, we have to omit Rec Room from this entry since it will be shutting down this June. Social VR platforms VRChat and Resonite have flatscreen and VR support on Steam, so you can go world hopping with your friends in and out of your headset.

Resonite is only available on Steam. VRChat is available on Steam, Pico, and Quest.

Note: some worlds in VRChat are not compatible with standalone headsets and mobile phones, so be sure to check ahead if you are with friends on multiple platforms.

Tetris Effect: Connected

Platforms: Quest, Steam, PS VR2

Tetris has been around for over forty years and should not need an introduction. Tetris Effect started as a PlayStation 4 exclusive with PS VR1 support in 2018. The ‘Connected’ expansion added crossplay multiplayer for all platforms in 2021 when it released on Steam.

Tetris Effect Oculus Quest Review: Achieving Transcendence In Standalone VR

I’m a life-long fan of the iconic line-making game Tetris and I was excited to see it come to VR with the release of Tetris Effect in 2018 on PlayStation 4. I’ll admit, however, its move into VR didn’t really settle right with me. That is, until

No Man’s Sky

Platforms: Steam, PS VR2

Hello Games’ space epic added a VR mode in August 2019 for Steam and the original PlayStation VR with full crossplay supported, allowing VR and flatscreen players to explore planets and the galaxy together.

If you have any other games to add, feel free to mention them in the comments section below.