A Virtual Reality Escape room is one of the most immersive ways to get your remote team working together. Using VR headsets, you can transport every member of your department to the same digital location, no matter where they are in the world, sending them into a haunted mansion or a fisherman’s cabin.

For those that are new to the joys of VR, we’ve put together a list of thrilling puzzle-based games to get you started. Most of the ones highlighted here are short enough to complete in a couple of hours, making them perfect for a remote team bonding session.

We’ve also got articles on virtual game night ideas, board games for the office, Minute to Win It games, virtual scavenger hunt ideas, virtual trivia games, and virtual jigsaw puzzles. If your focus is on team building, we’ve got a selection to suit the entire team here, as well as some options specifically aimed at developers and designers.  

1. What Is a Virtual Reality Escape Room?

A Virtual Reality Escape room employs VR technology to provide a digital experience that mimics the sensations of being in a real-life escape room. Once you’ve donned your headset, you’ll be thrown into a computerized world that looks tangible and that you can interact with by just reaching out and manipulating the objects you can view through the VR goggles.

2. How to Create a Virtual Reality Escape Room for Team Building in the Workplace

2.1. Decide Your Theme

Virtual reality escape games can run the gamut of genres, from horror-themed escapades to detective-style mysteries. Ask your team for input on what VR experience they would most enjoy.

2.2. Select a Virtual Reality Platform

Valve Index, Meta, Vive – these are just some of the most popular companies that make VR headsets. Check the compatibility with your team’s digital devices as well as your chosen game(s) before selecting a platform.

2.3. Provide Clear Instructions

VR is a fairly new technology, and some of your team may struggle to utilize it the first time around. Supply a clear set of instructions to facilitate gameplay.

2.4. Set Up the Hardware Requirements

Check beforehand that everyone’s PC has the necessary CPU, graphics card, memory, and other essentials. You will probably also need to supply the VR headsets unless you happen to work with gamers.

2.5. Send Out Invitations in Advance

Ensure everyone can take part by scheduling the date and time well in advance. The invitations should also include instructions on how to join and how to play so everyone is prepped.

2.6. Host & Guide the Participants

Someone always needs to oversee proceedings, so that everything runs smoothly. This can be a person within your company or an external business that specializes in online team building.

2.7. Create Teams & Assign Roles

If you are hosting a team event for a large group, split staff into teams. This will allow everybody to participate more fully and avoid people getting inadvertently sidelined.

2.8. Keep Track of the Players’ Progress

The host should check in on the various players throughout the activity, providing support and guidance where necessary so that everyone has a good time.

2.9. Announce & Reward the Winners

Once every team has completed the escape room, reveal who made it out the fastest and awards prizes accordingly. This helps add an element of good-natured competitiveness to the proceedings.

3. 7 Best Virtual Reality Escape Room Ideas for Remote Teams

3.1. The Room VR: A Dark Matter

Fireproof Games released their first digital escape room game back in 2012, designed to work on mobile devices. With The Room VR: A Dark Matter, they elected to branch out into the realm of virtual reality, building an engaging world that is specifically designed for a VR environment.

A Dark Matter begins in 1908 London, where a renowned Egyptologist has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Working your way through various locations, you must unravel clues to find out why. This virtual reality escape room is designed to be a tactile experience, allowing you to pick up and interact with various objects. 

3.2. Last Labrinth

A spine-tingling game that first debuted internationally in 2019, Last Labyrinth sees the main character awake to find themselves strapped to a wheelchair. With limited mobility, they are forced to rely on the help of a strange, incomprehensible, green-haired girl to help them navigate a series of rooms inside a creepy mansion, solving puzzles as they go.

If you and your team are fans of the movie series Saw, the Last Labyrinth shares a similar vibe to that. There are plenty of ways for your adolescent companion to die if you fail to solve the puzzles correctly, so it’s not a game for the faint of heart.

3.3. A Rogue Escape

In A Rogue Escape, players navigate the insides of a giant mech suit (aka the Nautricrawl). The goal is to learn how to activate the various buttons, levers, and dials inside the giant machine, so that they can use it to escape a hostile alien planet.

What’s attractive about this game is that it takes the mechanics of an escape room but transposes them onto a completely fresh setting. There aren’t any instructions, so everything can be a little bewildering at first, as you tinker with the machine to try and figure out its operating system. For people who don’t believe in hints and helping hands, A Rogue Escape definitely ticks the box.

3.4. A Fisherman’s Tale

Named VR Game of the Year in 2019, A Fisherman’s Tale is a quirky, amusing take on the VR experience, providing mind-bending conundrums that play with the concept of meta-reality. In it, you take control of a wooden puppet fisherman who must interact with two mirror versions of his own world, one larger and one smaller, to reach the top of his lighthouse.

Does that sound confusing? That’s kind of the point of A Fisherman’s Tale, which delights in its own whimsy. Having said that, it’s a fairly easy game to solve once you get the hang of the gameplay, with hints that can be toggled on and off if your team gets stuck on a particular challenge.

3.5. The Exorcist: Legion VR

One for horror fans, The Exorcist: Legion VR takes its cues from the notorious ‘70s movie by director William Friedkin. What starts as an investigation into the gruesome murder of a priest turns into a battle against the forces of darkness, as players use their problem-solving skills across five different environments to exorcize the agents of Hell.

This game is one of the most terrifying VR experiences on the market, filled with tense encounters and disturbing ghostly whispers. The focus tends to be more on supplying the scares than creating truly ingenious puzzles, but sometimes the best way to bond a team together is through a palpable sense of group fear.

3.6. Myst

For something on the opposite end of the spectrum from The Exorcist: Legion VR, Myst is all about fiendishly challenging puzzles within beautifully designed environments. An update of the cult ‘90s computer game, the plot is set in motion by the protagonist opening a mysterious book that unceremoniously transports them to a strange island. How did that happen? Why have they been taken here? And what on earth are they supposed to do now?

Part of the charm of Myst is that none of the answers to these questions are immediately made clear. You and your colleagues will have to figure it all out from the scraps of information you unearth as you explore the various landscapes. This VR game is particularly good for team collaboration because so much of it is based on discussion and problem solving, as you attempt to figure out a way to bring the main character back to their home world.

3.7. I Expect You to Die

Ever dreamed of playing the role of James Bond, super spy? Well, this is your chance. I Expect You to Die puts the player in the shoes of a newly minted secret agent who must foil the plans of evil mastermind Dr Zor across several linked scenarios. 

Each of the challenges must be solved within a certain time, lending an air of jeopardy to the scenarios. And yes, as the title of the game suggests, you should expect to die multiple times before you figure out how to win. If your team really enjoys the experience, however, there are also two sequels you can purchase as well.

4. FAQs

4.1. Are virtual reality escape rooms good?

• VR escape rooms are much more interactive than run-of-the-mill virtual escape rooms.
• There’s a huge variety of options on offer, as the scenarios aren’t limited by the constraints of a real-life escape room.
• Fictional settings can be created in more detail in VR than they can in the physical world.

4.2. Can you do an escape room virtually?

Yes, there are lots of virtual escape rooms available online. The games we’ve covered in this article are specifically related to the immersive VR experience, but there are also more low-tech escape room options that don’t require anything more sophisticated than an internet connection and a computer.