Topic: What’s your take on VR gaming these days?

After all this talk about the Steam Frame, I dusted off my VR heat set this week and jumped into a bit of VR gaming. But my motivation didn't last long. I’ve had the Quest 3 for about a year now and spent a good chunk of time exploring what it can do in the first couple of months. The tech itself is super compelling. I love how immersive it can be. Half-Life: Alyx was hands down one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had. I even sideloaded Game Optimizer and tinkered with settings to squeeze out more performance with the games running native on the Quest.

But after that initial burst of excitement, my usage dropped off. Most VR games just don’t grab me, and honestly, the friction of getting set up, putting headset on, making space in front of my PC (if I am too far away the wireless connection sometimes sucks), endless meta updates and interface changes, makes it harder to jump in compared to just sitting down at my gaming PC. I still play Walkabout Mini Golf with the kids now and then (great game, by the way), but beyond that, I rarely feel motivated to dive back in. I also still get sick in motion heavy games, even so I can do fairly long sessions in Alyx with the point and teleport controls.

I think a big part of it is that Alyx set the bar so high that everything else I’ve tried since feels kind of…meh. Curious to hear how others feel. Are you still deep into VR gaming? Did your interest fade too?

I love VR, and played the crap out of most of the best games as well.

To use it more often, I really wish more games (especially first person games) would support the headset natively. To be clear, I don't need full VR support... I don't need (or even want, usually) motion controls, etc... just let me sit at my desk and play with the headset on, in 3D with head looking, and I'm a happy guy.

I know a full VR conversion on a game could be a lot of work, but I'm not sure how trivial it would be to just add the headset support like I mentioned. Sometimes I want to get up, and have a full body experience, but much more often, I'd love to just sit down with my KB/M or Controller, and play a first person game with my headset on. That's how I played through Subnautica, and it was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever because of it.

Edit: I haven't revisited the UE5 VR mod in some time. Perhaps it's come along further, but my first few attempts at using it weren't very successful. Too much tinkering for my liking. But admittedly, I didn't try messing with it a ton. I just want something easy out of the box.

I always really enjoy it while I'm using it, but I don't play it as often as I could/should. Probably because of the little bit of extra effort involved, like you mentioned. It's just not as convenient as a TV/monitor and gamepad.

But after months of not touching it, I did start using it again the other day. The latest Batman game is awesome, and I've got a bunch of other fun ones to get to.

Bodycombat XR is a legit good workout program that I enjoyed doing for a month. I need to get back to that too. It's one of the more fun ways to exercise.

VR is cool, so I'm glad to see development is still happening for it. Maybe someday it will be as simple as putting on a pair of sunglasses.

I really enjoy VR gaming, but I'm fortunate to have enough room where the Pro is so that the setup is very simple, basically just plug and play for me. And while I do think that currently the PSVR2 is missing some titles which I would enjoy, the current library is extremely strong and varied, a stellar showcase of what the tech can do. I'm looking forward to seeing what studios like Flat-2-VR can come up with next, since their games have been awesome.

Last check it just made me want to vomit but I'm still drawn to the Steam Frame

@SandyB yeah, same for me if I play for example Batman Arkham Shadow without snap/teleporting controls. I just have to climb one ladder up and I need a bucket. But as long I use snap turns and teleport I can play those games without getting sick. I think that is why I like Walkabout so much, you not really moving around. I can play this for longer sessions without getting sick.

My first week in VR was pretty disorienting, but using it in short 15–20 minute sessions helped a lot. Over time, I got used to it and it started feeling completely normal.

But we're all different. Teleporting is a nice option.

PSVR2 was my first and only VR experience, so I have nothing to compare it to

but so far, IT'S BEEN SPECTACULAR!

I also have the PC adapter.

I enjoy VR casually, mostly on racing games or VR experiences like Tetris Effect or Lumines Arise.

Sadly there's not much that interests me apart from Half Life Alyx and the Resident Evil games on Ps5 when it comes to story driven adventures.
I mean that's already some great content there, but AAA support is still thin in general.

I have yet to try VR mods for flat games like Cyberpunk but I'm curious how that will be compared to a game developed with VR in mind from the start.

It's fun to play around, but I'm more of a flat screen gamer to be honest.

Sony started marketing psvr2 again so I am happy that there are some third party games holding the fort. As for the future, I am sticking with psvr, there is a lot of backlog and vr is not something I like to play everyday. To be honest the novelty wore off some time ago so it is more like an adventure when I do it, it has to be special. I have yet to get to buy the adapter for pc. As for the wire, I don't care for it, it reminds me that I should be mindful of the space because I don't want to move all my furniture to play vr

With the UK Championship just started, I would dearly love a good VR snooker game. I have played many hours of Snooker 19 and think it plays quite well. I have a PSVR2, which was a gift from my wife, so I try to play a little every month to keep her happy even though I find it a bit uncomfortable, but a Snooker game would definitely consume a lot of my time. It's a shame that it's still quite a niche sport, but with the huge interest in China, maybe one of their developer's may jump in. I haven't tried any of the pool VR games, which I probably should.

I would much prefer to play snooker in VR in my cosy room than go to a local club with all the sticky cues and beer fueled jeering at my bizarre technique.

I sold my PS5 VR headset a few weeks ago. No matter how much I tried to warm to it, the nausea and feeling of wearing a headset didn't sit right with me. I don't see VR taking off until many years into the future where it's as simple as putting a pair of glasses onto your face. We're years away from VR becoming a replacement for the traditional TV and controller method.

I do agree that the cumbersome nature of VR is a big hurdle for most consumers to overcome and is likely one of the main issues impeding mass adoption. Then again, I don't think VR (or AR) has to aspire to replace traditional experiences to thrive. I fully believe that with each generational leap, and assuming the economic situation doesn't pressure people to forgo entertainment even more, these headsets will find their niche more and more by being an additive rather than a replacement.

I love things like Beat Saber but, as others have said, it's just that bit more fiddly to set up and play so that's why it's not for me yet. I don't really have the space for it and the price for the 'proper' experience is high.

@Hustler_One I agree. I doubt it'll ever replace what we have now but it sits well alongside it. Hopefully there will always be a steady stream of games.

Ok. I really wanted to get back into some VR gaming, bought Metro Awaking on the Steam sale, just to find out that Meta AGAIN changed the whole user interface on me and I cannot find anything anymore. With every change they kill another piece of intuitive OS navigation. I played around with a link cable and wireless connection via Remote PC. Using cable link I cannot find anywhere an option to use 120hz mode when playing PC VR on steam. What the heck, Meta? You can change the Quest OS as much as you want....I'm not going to use any of your Meta Horizon stuff. The only OS change I want is the Horizon OFF button.

@JontGore Oh man, my Dad loves Snooker and I wanted to get a Snooker VR/AR game to introduce him to the Quest3. There are several on the market. Any idea which ones are the better ones? I heard @Rich_Leadbetter is a Snooker fan, maybe he can chime in.

@FrametimeSommelier A great win for Mark Selby! I hope your dad enjoyed the UK Championships as much as I did. The only modern(ish) snooker game I have played is Snooker 19 and it is not VR. It's a fun time though. Sorry, I haven't played any of the VR/AR games, so cannot offer any advice.

As an aside: sometimes I load up Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker just to hear the chalk noises. I used to chalk my cue for a good minute before every shot just to wind my brother up.

I had PSVR, then Rift S, and now PSVR2 with PC adapter, but the truth is I haven't touch it for more than a year now. One thinng is the hassle, other is the isolation. But I'm thinking of dusting it off and check what I can play on PS5 with it.

One more thing is that I kinda wish the PC VR experience was a bit more user friendly because there's always something and I just don't have time to play around with the settings to make things work.

How do people feel about flat game streaming to your VR headset? To me that feels like a compelling way to play in bed — streaming from my PC to the headset via something like Moonlight (or I guess Virtual Desktop is better for the Quest). I don't have a headset but have been considering getting one for that purpose alone (playing flat games on the headset, not VR games).

@Blahshead if it's strictly for flat games, I would prefer streaming to a flat panel like a streaming stick, phone, tablet, PS Portal, that kind of thing. At least to me it doesn't seem very convenient to choose a VR headset over any of those options.