Crytek's Back to Dinosaur Island VR experience is now free on Steam

If you've got a VR headset you can now download and experience Crytek's Back to Dinosaur Island demo for free. It's not a game per se, but it's a pretty stunning demonstration of what VR is capable of at the moment, and yeah, it has dinosaurs.

Months after showing off Back to Dinosaur Island at GDC in March, Crytek announced Robinson: The Journey, another VR experience that seems to extend the premise of Back to Dinosaur Island, albeit this time in a more 'game-y' way. According to Crytek's June announcement, Robinson will "offer players an unparalleled sense of presence in a game world as they assume the role of a young boy who has crash-landed on a mysterious planet." A mysterious planet with dinosaurs, of course.

As for Back to Dinosaur Island, Tyler had a go back at GDC and came away a little bit rattled, apparently. "It made me realize that we're going to have to put a lot of trust in the people making VR games," he wrote. "They can't mess with us, or at least, not any more than we agree to be messed with before putting on the headset."

Back to Dinosaur Island is now on Steam.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.