We investigated the effect of three virtual reality design features on users’ emotional responses, including two visual features (object luminosity and background lighting) and an interaction feature (available actions). Our findings revealed the affective quality of these three design features, showing that object luminosity and actions significantly increase positive emotion, while dark background lighting induces slightly negative emotions. Object luminosity and action also had an effect on perceived presence, whereas background lighting did not. Only action increased the level of perceived cognitive load. We discuss the implications of our findings for the emotional design of VR games for learning.