“Why click and scroll when you can touch and walk?” ask fans of the immersive web. Thanks to the growing hunger for hyper-real experiences, Meta’s VR store has expanded to more than 2,860 VR apps as of September 2024.
Virtual reality offers far more than fights with wizards or “cat-walks” around the house. Just like the improved experiences brought about by web 2.0, VR is leading us to richer interactions, transforming entertainment, retail, customer service and many other industries.
Even if you don’t design VR sites, they’re great references to guide and inspire your client projects. Firstly, the same web design principles apply, whether you’re building in VR’s WebXR or Wix Studio’s low-code platform. Plus, the latest web design trends already echo VR’s immersive techniques—take a look at interactive 3D elements and overlapping layers of animations.
See what other engaging web design tricks you can borrow from this list of the 17 best VR websites.
Create your next website on Wix Studio—with 100+ no-code animations.
17 best VR websites
01. Wonderland Studio
In the competitive world of stand-out portfolios, Wonderland Studio’s homepage delivers. Every creative portfolio has a project gallery, but this is literally a project gallery. Walk through the hall of agency projects displayed on oversized screens. If some users prefer a more traditional experience, the vertical menu makes navigation easy. Consider this a best practice for your web designs: make sure every elaborate user journey has a simplified and accessible alternative.
Create your stand-out portfolio from over 300 responsive templates.
02. Zoo
This interactive experience from the creative team Zoo is another example of an immersive portfolio. They’ve created a fusion of worlds to house their projects and they leave it to you to find your way through oversized halls, gravity-free galleries, exhibition boxes and an intergalactic funhouse. Zoo demonstrates the power of creative portfolios conceived as 3D interactive websites—it’s not just about the projects you’ve created, but how you present your innermost creative workings to potential employers and clients.
03. CLEO
An homage to Cleopatra, CLEO is a virtual reality dance performance that gives the viewer controls to manipulate the staging and perspective. While we can’t be certain Cleopatra had these moves, we can assume she’d be hypnotized by the VR website’s royal purple tones and electronic beats. Theater and performance art have long embraced live streaming, but CLEO points to new, immersive web experiences that could further reimagine screen-based performance.
04. Canoo Showroom
Electric vehicle manufacturer Canoo created a robust virtual reality showroom to give everyone everywhere a premium sales experience. (Not to mention the reduced environmental costs by cutting in-person visits and floor model shipping.) Even though a VR website won’t give visitors that new car smell, this sales journey is free from limitations: imagine access to products that are still in production and no waiting for an available sales rep. Besides the great customer experience, Canoo’s flow is optimized for the brand too—note the call-to-action buttons throughout the showroom.
05. Iconic Mints
Curated by Dow Jones, Iconic Mints is both an immersive web NFT gallery and a community space where you can interact with other visitors in real time. If you’re the kind who always takes the museum audio guide, this virtual reality website is for you. The exhibition is a journey through the ever-changing relationship between art and technology, with an in-depth voice over and wide range of artworks. Unlike the crowded and noisy IRL galleries you’re used to, this experience embodies Zen energy design with a capacious interior, soothing music, gently rolling clouds and tasteful water features.
06. Walking on Mars
Can fashion reach new heights? Well, thanks to SKP, it’s officially reached Mars. The Chinese retailer designed a one-of-a-kind catwalk—gravity included—for its virtual reality site Walking on Mars. This example of experience design is both seamlessly functional and creatively distinctive. It meets its business objective—presenting merchandise—but with unorthodox design twists and flairs that deliver a high-fashion vibe.
07. Bear 71
The project Bear 71 over delivers on all its objectives: education, environmental advocacy and a multimedia archive. It highlights both macro issues—like human interference in natural, wild spaces—and micro issues, giving a voice to an individual bear adapting for its survival. This virtual reality website showcases different perspectives of reality, leaving it to the visitor to choose between a bird’s eye view of Banff National Park and ground-level views at one with the wildlife. The design leverages elements of website gamification, with rewards—videos, voice overs and movements—for user actions.
Building a content rich site? Read more about this CMS for designers.
08. Origami simulator
Feeling crafty but low on supplies? This origami simulator comes with all the controls to customize a digital paper creation. The experience is simple and clean: a plain white background puts the focus on your origami figure’s style and movements. Unlike hands-on paper play, this virtual reality website is about the process and not the outcome—in the end, you won’t have something to display on your bookshelf.
09. Let it snow
Feeling crafty but don’t want to make a mess? Cut up a custom snowflake on Let it snow and then unleash the best designed snowstorm you’ll ever see. Try this VR site on a mobile device for a fuller snowy experience.
10. Fallen Angel
You know it’s an immersive website when you get goosebumps and your heart races. Fallen Angel takes you into a dark, Spanish forest with a single, creepy mission. You’re surrounded by sounds of unknown origins and can barely see through the thick night. Unlike other virtual reality sites that you keep navigating or playing, this experience takes the user to a definitive end. For web designers looking to create a similar linear narrative, use scrollytelling to tell an interactive story with a final message at the end of your page.
11. Project 2075
This virtual reality website has all the finesse of metaverse design without any need for a VR headset. Oakley imagined an apocalyptic future to showcase its futuristic eyewear line. Visitors explore a Hans Solo-like holdout, interacting with characters as well as eyewear products (and navigating to the online store if they’re ready to purchase). It’s a marketing strategy that’s cohesive end-to-end: using the technology of tomorrow to promote the styles of tomorrow.
12. Space Lamb
Even though this VR site might not resemble your reality, brush aside your skepticism and embrace Space Lamb’s reality. This immersive web game challenges players to get Space Lamb home safely, as long as you can dodge asteroids and grab tokens along the way. Remember to always give your site visitors enough information to maximize their experience, whether that’s product descriptions or a clear call-to-action. As for Space Lamb, some game instructions would be a helpful addition.
13. Sustainable Horizons
First impression of Sustainable Horizons? You’ve landed in a ball pit whose depths take the form of an Inception-like cityscape. From there, it’s a gentle journey of metallic and cosmic color themes, abstract figures and a curriculum that challenges your everyday perceptions. This virtual reality website successfully merges the real with the unreal, driving fascination and wonder but still feeling relatable. Plus, the calm technology design—like the slow, soothing voice overs and fluid, rounded shapes—creates a feeling of welcome.
14. Instagrampier
You guessed it—it’s a pier of Instagram photos. This virtual reality website serves as a memorial to the now defunct Instagram Pier in Hong Kong, a once popular spot for capturing selfies, poses and views. The VR site’s creators gave the landmark a surreal twist, featuring only segments of posted photos and injecting fanciful animations. This begs the question: is this a historical record or digital escapism?
15. HarrodsXBurberry
Want to experience the metaverse but without the chunky headset? Thanks to Emperia Digital—creators of virtual reality shopping spaces as metaverse experiences and VR websites—you can. For HarrodsXBurberry, they’ve built the ultimate luxury shopping experience up above the clouds. Truly, the only setting for buying a designer handbag is when you’re looking down on the little people below. The one thing missing is your glass of champagne, because surely it’s on tap up there.
Build a rich shopping online experience with Wix Studio’s eCommerce platform.
16. Moon Rider
Simply for the thrill of it, the game Moon Rider takes you on an outer-world music road trip, heightening the feel of a song’s beats, trills and vocals thanks to the colorful icons you plow through along the way. The design features neon hues, star-born gradients and an endless horizon. Personalize the game with your song of choice and see if you can be the next high scorer.
17. TRACK
You’ve made it through the article. Now sit back and enjoy the virtual reality disco you didn’t know you needed: TRACK. (Glow sticks not included, but recommended.)
Sign up for Wix Studio to create your next client website.
.jpg)
.jpg)
