With the price of high end VR that remains out of reach for most consumers combined with high duty rate in many countries that adds on top of an already expensive system, the majority of VR consumers are still stuck with the low-cost solution of Chinese's plastic HMD and YouTube 360 combos. Even Though YouTube 360 has a lot of video to offer, the majority we have probably seen.
So I went on a search to find unique VR experiences that is differ from the rest. The selected videos on this list has an interesting combination of visual and sound elements which makes it unique and stand out from rest of 360º videos we’ve seen. You don’t need to own a fancy headset to enjoy these incredible apps, just a simple Google Cardboard would suffice. now that we get the intro out of the way lets get right in.
Music: Adult Swim
Visual: Adult Swim, Wevr
Available on: apk-dl.com
Adults Swim Brain Load takes you into a vivid dream and an abstract universe. The imagery of 2-D and 3-D varies in shapes, forms and colors woven together to create new experiences that you cannot get elsewhere. The video lasts about 3 minutes with well-crafted visual and sound. For those of you, who do not live in The U.S., this app will not be available in Play Store so you have to install the app manually using apk file with the obb folder included.
Music: Square Pusher
Visual: The artists Marshmallow Laser Feast, Blue Zoo Animation Studio, illustrator Rob Pybus
Available on: YouTube, Play Store, App Store
In this VR experience, you are a headless person who travels through several interesting landscape. Travel through a colorful city mankind’s ever seen, a weird desert with people shamanic dancing around a statue that beam laser out of its eye and a dystopian city where everybody wears VR goggles. The excellent synchronization between upbeat music and clever animation in this app delivered a fun and impressive experience for the audience. Overall a combination of great animation, unique visual and music make Stor Eiglass a well-made VR experience that I would recommend to anyone.
Music: Yong Yosef
Visual: Phenomena Labs
Available on: YouTube
If you want to relax in VR, we recommended you put on this dream like journey through polygonal landscapes. In When We Land, you are placed on an island slowly drifting through a polygonal surroundings with pink fishes swimming and jumping around in the sky. The environment change in shapes, speed and colours diverting between dark theme and pastel colour reacting to the music creating a floaty, pleasing and relaxing scenery that does not get old.
Music: Space Dream VR
Visual: Space Dream VR
Available on: YouTube, Oculus.com
This is an in-game environment on an oculus application called Space Dream VR. Luckily there is a 360º video version of the game so people could see a preview of the app in google cardboard. In this preview you are floating in space on an asteroid with giant whales and jellyfish flying around. What differentiates this 360º video from the others on this list is the realistic shapes and textures. The Skybox, plants, animals and planets are quite realistic while creating a unique sense of immersion.
Visual: Unreality Journey
Music: FrankJavCee
Available on: YouTube
If you never come across the term Vaporwave, this 360º video could be your gateway into this art movement. A YouTuber under the name of Unreality Journeys produces a moving collage in 360º video that puts you through a journey in colorful art style of vaporwave and nostalgic sensation of the 80s and 90s. The video is only two minutes long, so if you still feel the need for more aesthetic from vaporwave 360 after you finish, don’t worry because there is several more 360 video like this in his channel.
Music: Bengfang
Available on: YouTube
Here is the trippiest 360 VR music video on this list. The viewer is guided through many different interior structures made of marble and neon outlines creating a sense of unease. In the second half of the video after the bass kicks in it's an acid trip from there on until the end of the video. Different symmetric geometric shapes and colours would appear to be reacting and changing continuously with the upbeat music from the artist. Through the use of these visual elements the artist aim is for the audience to perceive reality differently after the VR experience. So if you want something that is very out of ordinary, you should definitely check this one out.
Visual: Digital Introspect
Sound: Maxwell Powers
Available on: YouTube
This is one of the trippier music video. The video moves you around the VR space going through objects while changing the scene back and forth between two virtual space. In one space you can see the singer in several display screens singing and many 3D objects floating around changing colours. In another space you are floating around a fractal pattern. The lyrics of the music also talks about technology which ties the massage to the medium of the work that is Virtual Reality. Strange visuals and a strong massage makes this virtual reality music video from Maxwell Power a very interesting experience to try.
If you want the best experience from these YouTube 360 videos, we recommend to stream it in highest quality possible. And if you do not have a fast internet connection, an alternative would be downloading via video downloader application like 4K downloader then upload it to your mobile device for viewing. It’s a bit of a hassle, but trust me, it’s worth it.
Many creators recently have been exploring and trying out new approaches to see the capability of 360 video. We will be updating on new VR content as soon as we know more about them. So stick around!