Top 10 VR Psychedelia 2020

Virtual Reality has been anticipated as a digital drug going back to its inception in the late '80s. VR brings us into otherly worlds. It brings us into the computer. It's a naturally trippy experience. Even an unintentionally trippy experience like sailing in VR can feel pretty trippy at times, but today we will explore something more deliberate. We are here to sail the high seas of consciousness.

Many seek psychedelics for fun. Others refer to them as "teachers". You can have your cake and eat it too. A decent psychedelic VR app should be entertaining and novel at the least. The best ones will challenge your normal perception of body, space, time. Maybe it will even reward you with an epiphany. When you can take away something like that, you and the psychedelic did its job. While none of these apps are a substitute for sacred molecules such as LSD and psilocybin, the best ones harness the power of the medium to bring their own bit of magic.

All VR apps were tested on HTC Vive and purchased through Steam. No games listed. These are experiences. Retail price listed at time of writing in mainland China. So check your set and setting and let's go!

10. Best Perspective: Overview (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality ￥37)

This guided tour of space is named after the noetic experience astronauts often have while in space. An experience so profound it brought Edgar Mitchel to create the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Many astronauts have publicly reflected on this overview effect. Overview (VR) doesn't exactly bring me into a mystical experience of being one with the universe, but it does brilliantly convey the vast size of space. Even more impressively it seemed to expose just how slowly light moves through the vastness. That perspective insight earns it a spot on the list.

For a perspective from innerspace, check out COSM.

9. Best Sacred Geometry: Exogen (Vive, Rift, Index *free)

OMG dude! I was flying through space and seeing shapes and colors. Entry level stuff here, but done well.

8. Difficult Experience: In - Sight (Vive *free)

A hard to integrate experience that will make you question your body habitus and throw you into a nightmarish VR hellscape. Not for everybody. Consider this the salvia of the bunch.

After In - Sight, if you need a trip sitter to right your ship, I recommend the calming cosmic kaleidoscope, Cosmic Flow. It's even available on Oculus Go.

7. Best Video: Conscious Existence (Vive, Rift, Index, WMR ￥22)

Stunningly beautiful and moving. Very 3DoF, but this top shelf experience doesn't need any more.

6. Best Song: Crystal Vibes feat. Ott. (Vive, Rift, Index ￥6)

A deep psychedelic experience is often hard to put into words. This is one of those. It literally left me floored the first time I played it. If you like music in VR, also check out Show It 2 Me.

5. Best Aesthetic: Sacred Siren (Vive, Rift, Index *free)

Here's a real Vaporwave hidden gem. Sacred Siren features smooth transitioning into a place of deep distortion and manufactured nostalgia. Lean wit' it.

4. Best Dimension: DMT: Dynamic Music Tesseract (Vive, Rift, Index, WMR ￥22)

DMT is an audio visualizer for VR. You will literally be cast in the 3D shadow of a 4D object as it goes bonkers in your headset. I love when the controllers echo into the distance for an OBE. Intense!

3. Best Trip: Visionarium (Vive, Rift, Index ￥32)

If your daring enough to go into one of these apps while under the influence, this is probably the most friendly space to venture. Visionarium is a half hour journey through space where you come face-to-face with cosmic entities, hyper objects and awesome music. I'd recommend it to anybody.

2. Best Museum: Galactic Gallery (Vive, Rift, Index, WMR ￥22)

VR and museums go great together, but the best ones use the medium to transcend the art. Galactic Gallery does that wondrously as these art pieces are best viewed in VR. Albeit a rather small collection, Galactic Gallery is the greatest VR museum.

1. Best Om: SoundSelf: A Technodelic (Vive, Rift, Index ￥90)

The world psychedelic means mind manifest. SoundSelf feels like voice manifest. This is next level stuff. After seven years in the making, I am thrilled to finally have this experience available at home. It reverberates your vocalization into the subtle abstract experience. SoundSelf is the most recent release on this list and completes this list as the crowning chakra.

VR was made to hijack our senses and take our minds somewhere else. Some apps have done a great job distorting the sensation of bodily presence with controller echoing such as in DMT, but SoundSelf uses the mic in a fantastic new novel way. I can't wait to see where VR psychedelia goes next. BCI, please!

For further exploration check out an entirely different list composed a few years ago here TOP 10 trippiest Vive VR experiences Also, here are eleven honorable mentions that didn't make either list. Apex, Ayahuasca, Chroma Lab, DreamTank, Flock VR, Kinese, A Lullaby of Colors, Northern Lights, Recreational Dreaming, Raybeem, Time