Chill out with free roam mode, or race for the best times (and get a workout)

Ka?yaking is awesome �it's such a rewarding way to spend time outdoors and see a part of nature that many of us don't get to on a regular basis. That said, loading up a kayak with all your gear, driving to a good (not-too-busy) destination, hauling it out, and knowing you have to do it all again once you're done? It can be too much of a hassle sometimes.

While a simulation game isn't going to replicate the real thing, a newly-released PC VR game called Kayak VR: Mirage captures the scenic beauty and chill vibes of kayaking.

//youtu.be/z7eOwtJshQg

The visual fidelity really sells this ??kayak sim experience, and I appreciate the range of locales with tropical, chilly, and even stormy scenarios; you can take trips to Costa Rica, Antarctica, Norway, and Australia. There's wildlife, too. Don't sweat the killer whal?es.

It's a chill-out game if you want it to be �or, as the trailer shows, you can also go HAM with competitive time trials. The game has asynchronou?s multiplayer, including global leaderboards, so? if you're looking for more of a rapid-fire workout, the race is on.

To make it even more immersive, the developers recommend attaching controllers "to a stick or mount" to create a makeshift paddle; here's one example of a controller-holding stick that Quest players typically use for Beat Saber. You might have to get crafty.

Kayak VR: Mirage is out on Steam with support for Valve Index, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, and Oculus Rift VR headset?s. It's normally $22.99, but currently costs $19.54.

[caption id="attachment_335273" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Competing for the fastest time with asynchronous players.}[/caption]

Future updates

The team at Better Than Life has bigger plans for Kayak VR: Mirage, though I imagine the frequency and scope of future content updates will come down to how well the game sells. There's a public roadmap with potential ideas lik??e a stand up paddle board, fishing, whitewater, and trash collecting. There's already a strong base to build upon.

In other PC VR news, Steam is hosting a VR Fest on Monday, July 18, starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific. The event will have game deals and demos of upcoming VR titles.

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And that creature is you

Devolver Digital and VR are a combination I'm curious to check out, and the publisher is stepping back into the Immersion Zone with a new game that puts you in control of a giant creature with big, meaty tentacles. But instead of rampaging, in Firepunchd Games' Tentacular, you're a gentle giant. It's a pleasant game about a cozy islan??d, in fact.

To anyone who has played indie classic Octodad before, the ??appeal is clear. Being a well-meaning but out-of-place weirdo is something video games can do really well.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=usqOkcgbOVg

You'll see the world through the eyes of a towering creature, but what do you, like, actually do? There's "action" and "construction" gameplay, so it's a smidge sim-y, which isn't necessari?ly what I was expecting at first given the premise and presentation. But it works! As for the story, there's a reason the Great Tentacled One isn't out to get people.

As the developers explain on the Steam page for Tentacular:

"Raised among humans on the bustling and eccentric island of La Kalma, the time has finally come to unravel the secrets of your mysterious origin while working as the world’s strongest handyman. Help your human friends to research a strange and an incredibly powerful energy source through a colossal collection of action-based activities and constructions puzzles, using your titanic tentacles to aid your quest for answers and unlock eleme??nts for your very own playground in the creative sandbox mode."

Good VR games don't?? bite off more than they can chew (but also aren't too "tech demo"-esque either). Framing the scope a bit, we can expect "50+ puzzle and action levels."

Tentacular is coming to Meta Quest and Steam VR (that's Valve Index, Vive, and Rift as well) in spring 2022. (I hope you read that subheading up top in the style of Hoobastank.)

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Releasing December 11 on the Oculus store on Steam

I've been fixated on the story campaign in Respawn's VR-only Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, but the ??more I see of the multiplayer, the more I think that's going to be the? main draw for a lot of players.

Respawn is putting a surprising amount of care into Above and Beyond, and based on this trailer – and prior experience with competitive VR games in general – the multiplayer should be pretty nuts. After decades of better-looking but familiar-feeling gaming, you start to take things for granted. With the extra immersion of virtual reality, even?? the simplest player interactions can feel fresh and exciting. 

There are going to be five multiplayer modes in Medal of Honor, includi??ng the familiar Domination, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch, a rocket-launcher-toting king-of-the-hill gametype (Blast Radiu??s), and a scenario focused on planting and defusing bombs (Mad Bomber). It's a focused spread.

This footage shows what it looks like, but playing it – feeling surrounded – will be way more thrilling.

Also worth noting: Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is playable through Steam with support for Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus, so if you want to side-step the Oculus store and the whole mess with Facebook accounts, in this particular instance, you can. T?hat's super important for multiplayer queues.

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Flip on the ol' Developer Commentary

In-game commentaries are synonymous with Valve, but due to the rough year we've all been through, Half-Life: Alyx wasn't able to launch with the Developer Commentary fans have come to ??expect.

Almost eight months later – and just in time for game-of-the-year discussions to begin in earnest – Valve has added the commentary feature to Alyx with a free update released today on Steam.

There are caveats – as Valve admits, the team had to use "closets and blanket forts" instead ?of its "comfortable high-quality recording studio" due to COVID – but there are over three hours of behind-the-scenes tidbits?. The commentary touches on "art, animation, rendering, sound, and more."

Basically, it's perfect for your inevitable next replay – just start a new save with Developer Commentary toggled on. According to Valve, there are subtitles for English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Castilian Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Russian, P?olish, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

I always appreciate sincere, meaningful commentary tracks, but there's something extra special about the hands-on nature of Valve's narrations. In this case, the?re are 147 "points of interest" to find.

Commentary Update [Steam]

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Taking cues from Amnesia and Alien: Isolation

The World of Darkness is spilling out into video games again. Apart from the increasingly tangible Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, there's anot?her long-winded name to keep tabs on ?this year.

Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is a first-person VR horror romp from Fast Travel Games, the team behind last year's Budget Cuts 2, and we ?got our first – but not particularly?? forthcoming – look at it today.

As a Wraith in the Barclay Mansion, you'll "unravel the many mysteries that await beyond the Shroud." Beyond that for-now basic premise, the creative director of Afterlife spoke about his inspirations.

"I am a massive fan of games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Alien: Isolation, and have always felt that the kind of narrative-driven, exploration-focused horror these titles deliver would be perfect for VR," said Fast Travel Games' Erik Odeldahl. "To make such a game in the World of Darkness setting, specifically the rich and mystical world of Wraith: The Oblivion, is really a dream come true for me."

What's next? A proper "gameplay trailer" is slated for Gamescom, which starts August 27, 2020. Further out, Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is?? planning to release on?? "all major VR platforms."

I like the concept of Afterlife and Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood, I just hope they can stick the landing. Also, I get it, but these names. Brett said "They c??ould've titled it Don't Open This Email."

I'm glad I did!

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Looks like paper's back on the menu, boys

The peculiar PlayStation VR game Paper Beast is launching on Steam later this summer, and if you're into the idea of studying fantastic wildlife in a strange land that you can physically reshape, you're gonna want to check it out. It's the imaginative work of Pixel Reef and Another World creator Eric Chahi.

At a glance, this might look like a sandbox-style god game about a surreal ecosystem – it can be, if th????at's all you're after – but there's a main puzzle-solving adventure mode, too. You'll need to figure out what makes these creatures tick and how they can inadvertently help you. It's an exploration game.

The PC VR version of Paper Beast will have a f??ew advancements over the original PSVR edition. Oculus Rift, Vive, and Valve Index players are getting "continuous move support, upgraded visuals, gameplay tweaks, an expanded sandbox mode," and more animals, p??lants, and items, according to the developers.

"The initial reaction to the PlayStation 4 version by both the fans and the critics was beyond what we could have imagine," said Eric Chahi. Did anyone else play From Dust? I'm glad to see him back at it.

Pixel Reef is also planning to release a demo of Paper Beast as part of Steam Game Fest: Summer Edition, a digital event with ??playable builds of upcoming games. It's running from June 16–22, 2020.

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It's not quite Mirror's Edge, but it might be enough

VR parkour, as a concept, is full of thrilling potential – but only if it's done well. Only if it nails that sense of scale, speed, and danger without making you ill. After seeing the trailer for Stride, a first-person platformer coming to Oculus Rift, H??TC Vive, and Valve Index this summer, I'm crossing my fingers.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this Mirror's Edge in VR – the scope and execution aren't reaching those same heights – but that's the general headspace Stride developer Joy Way wants us to be in, I'm sure.

A note on that potential pit in your stomach: "The gameplay has been designed such that the player's hand movements coincide with his avatar's movem?ents. This means that the load on the player's vestibular apparatus is kept to a minimum. Although most people do feel minor uneasiness when they first start playing the game, as you master the controls, motion sickness disappears entirely."

The trailer seems far more focused on the player's agile maneuverability than the enemies, who are armed but don't seem particularly threatening or eve??n all that responsive, at least in this footage.

The main parkour side of Stride &nd??ash; racing across rooftops, leaping from balconies, zip-lining between buildings – looks entertaining enough to carry most of the burden, though. We'll just have to see.

You can keep tabs on Steam if you're in a District 13 sorta mood.

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Valve is back

Every so often we tackle dual reviews, where two authors share their takes on a game and provide a single combined score. What better game to bring that concept back than Half-Life: Alyx, the first new Half-Life game in ages.

Gather around as Chris Carter shares his thoughts with the Valve Index version of the game??, while Brett Makedonski plays it on the Oculus Rift.

Half-Life: Alyx (PC [reviewed with a Valve Index and an Oculus Rift])
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Release: March 23, 2020
MSRP: $59.99

Chris Carter (Valve Index):

I still can't believe I played a new Half-Life game. It took Valve long enough, but we're here. And yes, it does feel like a new Half-Life, thank you very much!

This is 2020: we're past the era where high-profile VR games are assumed tech demos, as some recent big names have shown us. Valve is equally up to the task with Alyx, and gives us one of the most technically impressive VR games to date, especially on a high-end rig. Even something as simple as looking up at the sky through glass in its opening moments will be enough to elicit a jaw-drop from veteran VR players, and of course, those who are coming into the hobby blind. Ha, through the looking glass! I'm going to be super vague here on story details as I'm sure a lot of you have been walking on eggshells around Alyx coverage.

Whether or not you're new to VR, Alyx is extremely accessible with four difficulty settings and three movement options, all of which can be swapped at any time. Even if you go for full locomotion (read: FPS movement with the left analog stick), a clever use of a "jump" teleport mechanic allows you to easily re-orient your setup without having to back out into a main menu.? Playing standing the entire? time (I need to be able to instantly turn around!), it's one of the most comfortable VR experiences I've had the pleasure of being a part of.

You know what's uncomfortable (in a good way)? How creepy this game can be at times. You're not just fighting the Combine threat (which, to be frank, is a bit old at this point but they'll do), you're navigating droves of Xen creatures like Barnacles, Headcrabs and Zombies. Seeing all of these up-close, right in front of your face, is enough to scar some people for life, and frankly, reinvents them for a new era. I literally don't even look up when I get caught by a Barnacle, preferring to blind-fire my pistol at them: I hate th??em that much. Out of the 100+ VR games I've played in my lifetime, this is one of the most terrifying worlds I've been a part of.

The story is a mix between things you've seen before and new developments. A [speaking] Alyx is the main star, which is possibly the most new thing on offer, but there's plenty of mostly tasteful fanservicey things sprinkled in. You have to give it to Valve though, it all feels authentic, even minute gameplay choices. Puzzles rule in Half-Life: Alyx, and I'm not even talking about the typical "hand c??rank" or "button pressing" literal puzzles.

You can grab a giant barrel with two hands and chuck it at something then run away. Or you can stack boxes like that one scene from Home Alone 2 ("solid as a rock!") to get somewhere. All of that, which requires no jostling and no UI, is accomplished by moving your hands around in the VR space, or by naturally grabbing and flicking ??items toward you with your Gravity Gloves.

So I'm coming at this from a different perspective on the technical side, which is partly why we have two reviews. I own every current major VR headset on the market, and have been playing VR games consi??stently since 2016. While Valve knocks it out of the park in the story department, they still have work ahead of them when it comes to VR controls. Again, Val??ve did a great job here, but I have a few hangups.

A lot of current VR designers are getting away from excessive menus, in an effort to keep inventory management more natural. So when you need a pistol, you grab it from your hip. If you need a shotgun, it's on your back, and an SMG is on your chest; that sort of thing. In Alyx, you need to navigate a small "+" shaped menu with a button press to swap between those three aforementioned weapons and your multi-tool (which plugs into stuff an?d solves puzzles). When you're walking?? around, it's an annoyance at worst. During the heat of a really intense firefight, it can be a problem and hamstrings fluid combat.

That said, the two-hand system is extremely versatile, and ??squeezing a grenade with the Index remotes or triggering individual finger movement is wild. There was one moment where I was sticking? my hand into a med bay for healing, and using the other hand to grab items in that same room while looking around. That's not something you can typically do in a non-VR game, and Valve did right by the modern VR fantasy. It feels justified as something that needs to be VR. Just a word of warning: if you're using the Index, charge your controllers between sessions! This is a long game (my first run took me 10 and a half hours, with a near 100% completion rate) and those things can run out of juice after a long session.

My Half-Life: Alyx experience can best be described as "joy." Joy found in playing another Half-Life for the first time in...forever, and joy found in natural puzzle solving. This is legit, folks. A 10-12 hour Half-Life might finally be en??ough for you to spring for a VR headset.

Brett Makedonski (Oculus Rift):

Half-Life: Alyx is a Half-Life game. That's a sentence I was terrified I wouldn't be able to write. I was worried --convinced nearly -- it'd be a glorified tech demo or an impostor wearing a Half-Life mask. As it turns out, a silent man wielding a crowbar is not necessarily criteria for a Half-Life game.

Sidekick extraordinaire Alyx Vance slides into the star role's spotlight like she had been the lead woman all along. Passed the torch (crowbar?) from Gordon Freeman, Alyx leaves her own mark on Half-Life, providing observational commentary and occasionally chatting away on a two-way radio. It's natural and fitting. Valve deserves credit for having the confidence to pull off a protagonist swap, especially considering how strongly and passionately people associate Half-Life with Freeman.

However, Valve's greatest accomplishment with Alyx is that it managed to craft a narrative that's essential to the Half-Life canon. This isn't an inconsequential side-story of different people in a different time. (Remember: It takes place prior to the events of Half-Life 2.) It cleverly interjects itself into existing storylines, filling in gaps and giving new perspectives. Starting with Alyx out to save her father (Eli Vance, the name probably rings a bell) after he's abducted by the Combine, it quickly unravels into a whole bigger thing. Alyx is such an indispensable Half-Life game that I legitimately feel bad for any fans who are without?? ?the means to have a virtual reality setup.

It doesn't take long with a helmet strapped to your head to understand why Valve was so insistent that Alyx be a VR game. VR truly elevates Half-Life, bringing the world of City 17 alive in incredible ways. The opening minutes had me fascinated, watching Combine patrol units police the str??eets. That fascination never waned, whether it was carefully peeking around rafters to look straight up a??t a barnacle's horrific maw or knocking around the heads of now twice-dead zombies like the psychopath I am.

That immersion, VR's inherent ability to place you inside worlds, is what makes Half-Life: Alyx so special. In the 15 hours it took me to get through the campaign -- I evidently played much slower than Chris -- I never once felt at ease. I had plenty of flashbacks to Resident Evil 7, as I dreaded every upcoming encounter and scrounged for resources that always seemed in perfectly short supply. More appropriately, Alyx constantly conjured memories of Half-Life 2's Ravenholm. We don't go there for a reason. Alyx is a mast??erclass in unnerving environment, and the whole thing is just so fucking in?tense.

Virtual reality can be a double-edged sword, even if the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Valve implements an awkward weapon-wheel menu that can lead to unintended weapon swaps. It's frustrating to fail thanks to your own flailing during battle or when a particularly feisty headcrab sends you into a panic, and you switch to the wrong gun and it's out of ammo. Also, the limitations of VR are evident in the design as Half-Life: Alyx rarely sends you into large-scale battles. It'd be too calamitous and disorienting to have bullets flying at you from all direc????tions, so Valve usually confines Combine fights to waves of three. It's still intimidating.

There are also obvious seams where Valve designed Alyx to cater to innovative interactions that VR affords. For instance, a new alien flo?ra is introduced out of nowhere in service of framing a later chapter arou?nd using the tracking controls to avoid a hazard. It comes off as neat if not a little gimmicky. Don't worry: The rest of that chapter is superb in every way.

Although I didn't play on the Valve Index, which Alyx was specifically developed for, I didn't notice any real drawbacks to playing on the Oculus Touch controllers. It quickly becomes second nature to use the triggers for the Gravity Gloves to coolly fling things toward you, catch them, and then toss them. You'll do this many times, and you'll eventually feel like a badass when it's effortless and smooth. Oculus Rift with Touch controllers is a perfectly suitable and valid way to pla?y, and that's presumably the case for the other compatible VR headsets.

Half-Life: Alyx is an accomplishment no matter which way you spin it. It's a technical marvel as a generally excellent VR game. It's a narrative triumph in how it brilliantly navigates a new protagonist to add vital pieces of canon. And, it's an incredible adaption of a cherished series to a platform that does nothing but enhance what makes it special. As I took off my headset for the last time, I found myself thinking Valve can't keep us waiting another decade-plus between games. Half-Life: Alyx reinvigorated my love for Half-Life. W?e can only hope it similarly reinvigorated Valve??.

_{[This revi?ew is based on a retail build of the game pr?ovided by the publisher.]}

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But not for long

The Valve Index is in high demand ahead of Half-Life: Alyx's March 23 lau?nch, but there aren't enough to go around. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, manufacturers in China aren't able to produce enough of Valve's headset, leaving it backord??ered for months now.

A few weeks ago, Valve confirmed that the Index VR set will be available to buy again in the?? near future, but stopped ?short of giving a firm date. Now we know that March 9 is the planned restock. It'll go up for sale at 10am Pacific.

Timing is key here because Valve has already said the restock won't be enough to meet demand. In fact, Valve expects this round of sales to go quickly. It'll be gone long before Monday, Ma?rch 9 is over.

So, if you're in the market for a Valve In??dex, make sure to be waiting in the virtual line next Monday, credit card info ready to go, and hope fortune is on your side. Best of luck.

@Steamdb [Twitter]

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Rise and shine

After all these years, the next chapter in Valve's unshakable sci-fi saga is nearly upon us. Half-Life: Alyx will release o??n March 23, 2020, with suppor??t for the Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift headsets.

"Pre-order bonuses for anyone who has purchased a Valve Index will start rolling out the week of March 2, beginning with Steam VR Home environments inspired by locations in Half-Life: Alyx," Valve announced today. "We will have more information on upcoming Valve Index availability soon."

I feel like the less I know going in, the better, but if you're curious about the scope of the game, Half-Life: Alyx is said to be comparable to Half-Life 2 "in terms of total amount of content." The built-for-VR game is set between Half-Life 1 and 2, and you'??ll "battle to save the futu??re of humanity: engaging in visceral combat, solving puzzles, and exploring a world decimated by a mysterious alien race."

If you're in a Half-Life mood, it's worth remembering that the whole dang series is free to play on Steam right now. That promotion extends until Alyx's launch day on March 23, so you can?? marathon it.

Valve [Twitter]

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Sonic headset, Knuckle controllers

Are you ready for another VR headset to hit the market? Kinda? Too bad! Valve thinks so, and I've been putting the Ind?e?x headset through its paces for the past month.

My verdict? It's mostly a win for Valve, even if it isn't a massive shift forward for the industry as a whole. I covered a lot of the fundamentals in this writeup, but here goes.

Product: Index
Manufacturer: Valve
Input: One USB 3.0, one DisplayPort
MSRP: $999 (two base stations, two Index Controllers, Index headset) / $749 (Index headset, two Index Controllers) / $499 (Index headset)

Setup and tech

Although setup doesn't feel nearly as smooth as a modern VR headset should, it was a lot simpler than my experience with the Vive. The new base stations feel much more receptive in terms of their field of view, so placing them around the room wasn?'t too much trouble given that they're wireless and just need their own AC adapter plug. If you want, you can also go up to four base stations as a result of the 2.0 shift.

Given that I already had SteamVR up and running it was a matter of just plugging in the headset (one USB, one DisplayPort, and yet another AC adapter) and I was good to go. Steam picked up the Index, new base stations, and the Knuckle controllers. I even tried setting up on a brand new machine that did not have SteamVR and it was relatively painless. If you have a compatible GPU you can use the VirtualLink system: it is not included.

With all that in mind, I'm hurting on space. The Index and the Oculus Rift S are competing for s?pace right now and the Rift S is winning with its built-in headset tracking (which I haven??'t had any major issues with so far). If you're just replacing your Vive with your Index it'll be more manageable, but note that multiple VR setups could be unwieldy. We should be getting away from more cords and wires if possible, as that's the direction VR is going.

Here's the tech breakdown: two panels with RGB LCD (not OLED) to help cut the screen door effect at 1440×;160?0, and a 120Hz refresh rate. This beats out most tech on the market (the Vive Pro has the same resolution with OLED, but a lesser refresh rate of 90Hz  - the Rift S is 2560x1440 at 80Hz), which should please early adopters.

Comfort

The Index might be the best-desig?ned mass market VR headset to date when it comes to day-to-day usage.

It feels great on my head even throughout long term sessions, and although I've used a PSVR, Rift, and old school Vive for extended periods of time (read: ov??er 10 hours) without a major issue in terms of comfort, the Index beats them all.

A lot of it is due to its built-in headphones, which rest over your ears but still pump?? out high highs and low lows. It's night and day using the Index and any other VR he??adset in terms of how great the sound is, and Valve managed to accomplish this without forcing users to grab an third party solution. That's a big win and one of the best aspects of the Index.

The actual design of the headset itself is stellar, as it's super easy to sl?ip on and off and doesn't feel like a cheap piece ?of plastic. You can see where the money went.

Controllers

Outside of the ??confines of the headset, the Knuckles (Index) controllers are another crow?ning achievement for Valve. I swear by the Oculus Touch remotes; I think they're one of the best controllers ever made, but the Knuckles really won me over this past month.

It's amazing to play something like Aperture Hand Lab (more on that in a moment), flick a robot off with individual finger movements, and have them react to it. See all that blank space where your hands wrap around? Sensors are picking up your fingers, which actually matter in games where you're g??ripping objects, climbing walls, and re??loading weaponry.

Charging them is also a breeze given that it's easy enough to plug them in af?ter a d??aily session, and there's no concern over battery life. The Knuckles inputs are a metaphor for how the Index is pushing the envelope as a "generation 1.5," similar to what the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X achieved in the console market.

So how far does Valve and the rest of the market really push the c?oncept with actual games? Not super far,?????????????????????????? which leads us to our next point.

The Games

No, Half-Life VR is not a thing yet, and may never be a thing. The closest you're going to get is Aperture Hand Lab: a parody of sorts of Portal, droids and all, that works as a sort of tutorial for your Knuckle remotes. In all you're looking at around 15 minutes of Valve hilarity, then you're done. There are a handful of Knuckle-updated games like Arizona Sunshine, Climbey, Vacation Simulator, and more are confirmed to be on the way like Boneworks.

So what's left? Pretty much any existing HTC Vive enabled SteamVR game is at your fingertips. At this point, that's a fairly hefty catalog you have at your disposal, all made better by the massive upgrade that is the Knuckles remotes when directly compared to the lacking Vive controllers. Even without full-on Knuckle support they still work as emulated Vive inputs and make every game with hand motions that much better. Fruit Ninja VR, Pavlov, Moondust, and Shadow Legend were all better when playing with Knuckles.

The only thing you're really leaving on the table is the Rift store. Here are the games opti??mized fo??r the Index right now.

How it stacks up against the Rift S and final thoughts

I'm in love with what the Oculus Quest is doing for VR right now. The tetherless approach is huge, and I know folks who are just now getting into VR for the first time because the Quest offers them a fairly powerful, self-contained machine, complete with the (still g?reat) Oculus Touch remotes. It's kind of a watershed moment for the industry as a whole.

That said, there is still plenty of room for VR experiences that demand a massive rig, and Valve is catering to that crowd hard with the?? Index. Part of the big sell of the headset is how open it is for tinkering, as Valve even m??ade a special port just for long term support.

The Rift S also just came out, so it's still fresh, but I've been splitting my time between the Rift S and the Index. The Oculus store has some really strong first-party games, but the Index isn't a slouch either given that so many VR projects are coming to Steam in favor of multiplatform releases: gone are the day?s where Oculus can throw money at every studio.

In that sense, I'm torn. The Index does look a little better than the Rift S: you pay for that privilege. And the Knuckles remotes are more impressive on a technical level. But in a way, the Quest actually moves the goalposts entirely: I've been using my Quest more than either. In the end, there's no clear "winner," as VR has progressed?? to the point where pretty much everyone wins due to fierce competition.

Games matter the most. If you're okay wit?h the idea of a tethered headset and have a gaming PC, consider both the Index or Rift S: they're each pioneers in their own way.

_{[Hardware was provided by the manufacturer for this assessment.]}

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