Top 5 games we want on the real-life death VR headset

In a brilliantly on-brand move, Oculus VR headset creator Palmer Luckey has created an explosive headset designed to kill the wearer if they die in a video game.The famous VR engineer has not worn the helmet himself, of course, as he's scared that it may accidentally trigger and blow his head off. However, we believe there’s some merit to this idea in the modern world of video games.

To prove it, we’ve written out the five games we think would be really enhanced by Palmer Luckey’s mind-blowing VR headset. Let's be real, it’ll never happen. This headset will ever actually go anywhere (at least, we hope not), but it’s a fun thought experiment to consider which games will be enhanced with that IRL threat, nonetheless.

League of Legends

It’s 3AM. You’re down 50LP in platinum and you’re running it down midlane for one final game before calling it a night. You’re a Zed main, because of course you are, and it’s up to you to carry the game on your back. You get to lane, hit level 2 first and press your advantage, going in for the kill.

After some missed shurikens and two tower shots to the face, you die. The last thing you hear are missing pings as your brain detonates. As your family rushes into your room in tears, the top lane Aatrox refuses to press yes on the surrender vote. For him, it is still winnable.

League of Legends is a great game. It’s also the most frustrating game I’ve ever played in my life. While the technical advantages of a VR headset wouldn’t really come into play much here, those explosive charges sure do match the ranked-grind vibe.

CS:GO

There’s nothing quite as impactful both visually and audibly as an AWP kill in CS:GO. The gun is like this combination of a scalpel and a cannon, able to take out other players from great distances with the force of a moving train. As such, when you manage to land a headshot with the AWP the enemy player gets blown away with a sudden bang.

But we can take this further. For one, we know that VR FPS games can be hella fun, and there’s no reason to believe that CS:GO isn’t just as much of a blast as it is played through a monitor. The real prize does in fact come from the head-mounted explosives though. There’s nothing better than a AWP-off down the centre of Dust 2, and I believe it’ll be even cooler if the loser goes out in a bang.

Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium is a heart wrenching, fascinating, and very funny RPG which goes over some heavy stuff. We’re talking some proper dives into political theory bud, buckle up. It also puts you in the shoes of Harrier Du Bois, an unconventional detective struggling to solve a murder at the back of the Whirling in Rags.

There are plenty of moments that would be raised to lofty heights of artistic merit with the aid of Mr Luckey’s VR headset. The start-of-game heart attack while failing to grab your tie of the ceiling fan. Failing to assert your authority over the Hardy Boys with Kim’s gun, botching your physical confrontation with Measurehead, and being called a n*nce by Cuno. It’s a match too perfect not to include.

Elden Ring

Look, this is obviously a rough one. There are plenty of moments that would lead to fair and righteous frontal lobe explosions if paired with Elden Ring. However, in my mind, I can’t imagine any funnier end-of-lie experience than misjudging the fall distance while navigating the open world on Torrent.

Just imagine it. Some doomed person, gently trying to make their way down a sheer drop with some clunky horseback platforming, slipping up and trying desperately to double jump to a safe spot on a cliff face. That obviously wouldn’t work out, because it rarely does, and the “You died” would send them on their way.

Cyberpunk 2077

This last one is a shoe in just because the idea that Palmer Luckey actually created this thing is a bit dystopian yeah? Just sitting in his office or garage, waiting for a brave person to put it on like The Mask from Jim Carrey’s The Mask, although probably with less hijinx involved.

I mean really, next to the talking vending machines, VR sex houses, bodily enhancements and all manner of technological weirdness in Cyberpunk 2077, an explosive VR headset seems a bit bland in comparison. Not when on your head when playing Cyberpunk of course, but you'd be experiencing the peak of immersive gaming before Johnny Silverhand t-poses and you fall through the map as your skull flies apart.

That wraps up our top five games we’d love to play on Palmer Luckey’s VR headset! If you can think of any more, let us know below. And just in case we need to spell this out, please don’t actually put the bloody thing on if you get a chance.