While Quest 2 has certainly soaked up much of the attention as it quickly became the most used headset on Steam, Valve’s expensive Index headset has proven its longevity, now taking second place among the most used headsets on Steam.
For a headset which is now more than two years old and still priced at $1,000, it’s impressive to see Index take second place as the most used headset with 17.5% of VR users on Steam using it, according to the latest data from Valve. It got there by growing 1.51% among the share of headsets used in September, while the discontinued Oculus Rift S fell to third place with 17.21% (−0.88%) share.
Interestingly, Index previously reached its all-time high of 17.63% share back in October 2020, but that put it in third place at the time, behind Rift S at 24.64% and the original Vive at 19.17%. Index nearly took the second place spot in January 2020, but that very month Quest 2 made its debut in the data and took the second place spot for itself.
But Index has persisted, and has watched as both the original Vive and Rift S have fallen away, finally earning it the second place spot among the most used headsets on the platform. It’s not entirely surprising to see a headset outlast the Rift S (which has since been discontinued) nor the original Vive (which launched way back in 2016), but given that Index has never been discounted from its steep $1,000 price point—and that it’s more than two years old—makes it pretty impressive for it to have snatched the second place spot in 2021. Despite supply issues early on, the headset seems to have seen strong demand ever since launch, consistently ranking among the 10 highest grossing products on Steam.
Beyond Index’s new ranking, the latest data from Valve gives us an update on VR’s performance on the platform overall.
Each month Valve collects info from Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the platform’s population, and to see how things are changing over time, including the use of VR headsets.
The data shared in the survey represents the number of headsets connected to Steam over a given month, so we call the resulting figure ‘monthly-connected headsets’ for clarity; it’s the closest official figure there is to ‘monthly active VR users’ on Steam, with the caveat that it only tells us how many VR headsets were connected, not how many were actually used.
While Valve’s data is a useful way see which headsets are most popular on Steam, the trend of monthly-connected headsets is obfuscated because the data is given exclusively as percentages relative to Steam’s population—which itself is an unstated and constantly fluctuating figure.
To demystify the data Road to VR maintains a model, based on the historical survey data along with official data points directly from Valve and Steam, which aims to correct for Steam’s changing population and estimate the actual count—not the percent—of headsets being used on Steam.
Overall the number of users using VR headsets on Steam grew from 1.74% to 1.8%. However, the small growth follows a trend of bouncy figures in the last few months which appear to show a slowing of VR headset adoption that started in May.
It’s tough to say precisely what’s causing the slowdown, though a common refrain among PC VR users is that the platform hasn’t seen many major VR game releases since Half-Life: Alyx back in March of 2020. Indeed, Quest and Quest 2 have been commanding significant attention among more experienced VR developers recently.
Share of VR Headsets on Steam
While Index grew the most in the last month and took the second place spot, Quest 2 still has a major lead and, now that it’s back on sale after a month-long pause on sales, has grown to 33.19% (+1.04%) of all VR headsets in use on Steam.
Rift S, the original Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, and the original Vive lost the most share over the last month, with Rift S at 17.21% (–0.88%), Quest at 5.02% (–0.68%) Vive at 9.70% (–0.31%), and Windows Mixed Reality at 5.48% (–0.31%).
As for the share among headset vendors, although Quest 2 grew in the last month, Oculus overall dropped to 60.71% (–0.42%) due to losses from Rift S and the original Quest. Despite being the most recent vendor to release a new PC VR headset (Vive Pro 2), HTC’s share continues its long decline, now down to 13.89% (–0.56%).
The only major vendor that grew its share in the last month is actually Valve which, despite offering only a single headset, is the third largest vendor of VR headsets used on Steam.
The public Phasmophobia Trello board outlines plans for future updates, with new content, an overhaul of the progression system and OpenXR support on the horizon.
The Trello board lists extensive changes and plans, with a mixture of specific and more general goals for the game. Some of the wider, game-wide changes planned include increased accessibility options (such as colorblind support and quick chat for ghost communication), randomized weather on each maps, more uses for temperature actions (such as opening a window or turning on a heater) and tracking of a player’s long-terms statistic (such as total deaths, contracts and hunts).
A task labeled “Horror 2.0” features such as new ghost events (and an overhaul of ghost events in general), hallucinations, new death rooms and new death animations are mentioned.
There are also plans to overhaul many of the game’s larger systems, such as an overhaul of the sounds, the UI and the main menu room. Changes are also planned for the equipment layout in the starting van and the design of your journal. In terms of an overhaul of the progression system, there’s not too many details but the Trello board lists reworks of the objectives, equipment, leveling, money and difficulty systems.
For new content, the goals are described very vaguely but include new ghosts, new evidence, new maps and new equipment.
For VR specifically, the goal is to swap from OpenVR support to OpenXR, which will allow support for new and future headsets and controllers with easier integration. OpenXR is the new industry standard that provides an API for VR and AR content making game engines compatible across various different hardware platforms. Valve, Microsoft and Facebook have all recommended that games engines use OpenXR moving forward.
Overall, it looks like lots of good changes are on the horizon for Phasmophobia. That being said, it seems like a lot of the planned work is still in early stages, so don’t expect anything too soon.
SteamVR version 1.18 brings some fixes for Oculus headset performance, particularly in the way of headset disconnections.
The update is mainly focused on improving the experience of Oculus users when connected to SteamVR, including specific improvements for Link users:
Oculus users will no longer be required to restart SteamVR every time the Oculus runtime needs to reconnect to the HMD. You may still see a slight disruption during reconnection, for example, the Oculus software may prompt you to re-enable Oculus link if appropriate.
The more specific patch notes outline “increased robustness” for Quest 2 error handling and disconnections for both regular wired Link and Air Link.
This is a key fix that will cut downtime significantly for users who disconnect their headset mid-session — instead of having to restart the Oculus software and then close and restart SteamVR, Oculus users should now just be able to pick up where they left off at the point of disconnection. Valve says that “connection loss to the [Quest] is now survivable in many cases.”
There’s also improvements for OpenXR support, as well as some minor changes for Valve Index support and SteamVR Home. In particular, Valve is encouraging Index users not to play with their controllers plugged in, as it may cause damage to the USB-C connector.
After almost 2 years of waiting, Australian customers will finally be able to purchase the Valve Index from August 18.
The headset and controllers will be available in Australia through games retailer EB Games, an Australian division of GameStop. In other markets, the Index is available to purchase online through Valve directly on the Steam Store. When Australian customers visit the Steam store listing, the checkout buttons read ‘Not Available In Your Country’. This forced many customers to use shipping redirect services to import the headset from the US. However, this comes with large added costs, as well as complications with warranty and customs import fees.
For now, the store listings seem to indicate that EB Games will be the Index’s exclusive Australian retailer. It’s unclear if it will also be available through the Steam Store come August 18.
In Australia, the complete Index kit is available to pre-order for $1,899.95 AUD. The headset by itself is available for $999 AUD, the headset and controllers for $1499.95 AUD, a single base station for $249.95 and a 2-pack of controllers for $499.95. The Index and its peripherals are modular, allowing you to use parts of the system with select other, non-Index hardware within the SteamVR ecosystem. For example, the Index controllers can be used with an existing room-scale setup and Vive Pro headset. Likewise, the Index headset can be used with old Vive wand controllers. Those with an existing PC VR setup may be able to cut some costs depending on the equipment they already have.
The latest Steam sale includes a bunch of PC VR titles available with decent discounts, including Star Wars: Squadrons, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, No Man’s Sky and more.
The sale is called the Open World Sale and features a bunch of VR and non-VR games that, you guessed it, feature open worlds. It’s live now and runs until 10am Pacific time on May 31.
There’s not a huge amount of prominent VR games in the sale but there’s still a few solid deals to be found.
Here’s some of the best VR deals we caught while browsing the store:
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is available now on SteamVR, after previously launching on the Oculus Store for both Quest and Rift. The launch also coincides with an update for all platforms that adds some minor new content and addresses some bugs in the previous release.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a new VR horror game from Fast Travel Games and the first VR entry in the World of Darkness series, which otherwise mainly consists of horror-themed tabletop RPGs.
The game released first on Quest and Rift in April, and now, a month later, is available on SteamVR with support for HTC Vive and Valve Index headsets. It’s listed as$29.99 on Steam, but will be available at 10% off until May 31 to celebrate the launch. As previously announced, a PSVR version will launch sometime later in 2021.
The SteamVR launch also brings an update that applies to all platforms and introduces a small amount of new content. According to the patch notes, the update adds 10 new collectibles spread across the Barclay Mansion, which give “additional context to some of the characters and the story.”
There’s also a plethora of bug fixes that amend some issues present in the Quest and Rift release – you can view the extensive list of those in the full patch notes.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (PC review / PSVR review) is one of the most expansive video games out there with nearly endless amounts of content. However, it’s not the most immersive from a VR port perspective. Thankfully, the PC modding community is here to fix that.
Skyrim VR Mods: Before We Get Started
Skyrim VR is the type of game that will continue to evolve for years and years to come. The original version of Skyrim first hit PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 nearly 10 years ago and it’s still getting new mods to this day on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Unfortunately, Skyrim VR only has mods for the PC version—not PSVR.
When looking up mods for Skyrim VR on PC there is one important thing to keep in mind: The VR version of Skyrim is based on the Skyrim Special Edition iteration of the game, otherwise known as SSE, and not the original legacy version of Skyrim on PC. Almost all of the Skyrim Special Edition mods will work on Skyrim VR without any trickery needed — you can usually just use them just like you’re playing outside of VR — which is great.
If you’re interested in further expanding your modding and finding even more mods to try out, I highly recommend subscribing to the Skyrim VR subreddit and checking out the Lightweight Lazy List for even more mods and tweaks. There are countless guides, lists, and more on there to check out and people are always releasing new mods and discussing the latest mods they’ve tried.
For my list below, I’ve collected the mods into a handful of subcategories to organize things. First are the required tools and plugins that you need before you can even use most of the other mods on this list. Then we’ve mods I’ve classified as “essential” if you want to get the most out of Skyrim VR, followed by graphics mods, immersion mods, gameplay mods, and “other” mods such as followers and quests.
Preferences, Mod Manager, and Load Order
When it comes to the graphics mods specifically, keep in mind that everyone has different visual preferences so what I list here may not apply to you. Maybe you really love the Vanilla weather effects (if you’re unaware vanilla = unmodded) or maybe you want three different tree mods. That’s up to you, so treat this modding list as a starting point only.
You should also use a Mod Manager to streamline things more. I recommend either Mod Organizer 2 if you’re extremely new to this or Vortex, which is directly connected to Nexus Mods so it’s pretty straightforward as well.
And in regards to Load Order, generally speaking you want to make sure your mods are arranged in order of most general to most specific because if a mod loads later in the list it will overwrite whatever loaded before it if they cover similar areas. For example, if you have a mod that changes all textures in the game and then a specific mod to make the road signs a particular texture, you’d put the road sign mod after the general texture mod. And sometimes there are patches that make mods compatible with each other when they conflict—in those cases make sure patches are loaded after both of the other mods.
For more information on load order, you can read this guide.
This is a script extender which means it’s a mod that unlocks more modding potential for other mods to use. Many of the best mods require you have this one installed already.
This is technically a UI replacement mod that just makes things a lot better and easer to navigate and the VR version is specifically enhanced for VR. Also, plenty of other mods require this one.
This is the big one. Skyrim VR does not natively have a full-body for your player character while you’re playing. This means you just have two floating hands and if you look down you don’t see anything at all. VRIK fixes that with a full body to look at. In addition, it also includes weapon holstering on your body itself as well as gesture-based spellcasting and equipping gear and spells. All of this is powered by inverse kinematics. Requires SKSEVR and SkyUI.
Combined with VRIK, HIGGS VR truly transforms Skyrim VR into something that almost feels like it was natively made for VR. This mods adds hand collisions, object grabbing so you can just pick up and use items instead of having to navigate to your inventory menu first, and even gravity gloves like in Half-Life: Alyx for picking up things. Requires SKSEVR and SkyUI.
Regardless of how beefy your PC is Skyrim VR is a taxing game and the more mods you install the higher the demand goes for your system. This mods won’t solve every issue, but it does help maintain a high framerate and help avoid reprojections and FPS spikes. Definite must-have for everyone. Requires SKSEVR.
It’s bizarre that you need to mod this in, but here we are. This mod makes sure that sounds actually come from the proper direction in 3D space when you’re in VR. It makes a huge difference for immersion.
This mod is simple: it lets you sit down and use beds in more places. It’s a pretty nice immersion bonus to actually feel like you’re part of the world more.
This isn’t actually a mod, but it’s a plugin that lets you control your character’s movement in VR by moving in real-life. So you can swing your arms or use trackers on your feet to move around instead of the analog stick. Combined with a treadmill or even just jogging in place, it can really feel more immersive that way. It’s the next best thing besides a VR treadmill like the Kat Walk.
This lets you use your voice to actually read out dialogue options over your mic rather than selecting with the controllers. It’s a bit complicated to setup, but worth it.
You know how in Skyrim your character “shouts” dragon words to do special abilities? Well, this lets you actually say them out loud to activate the powers. It’s a huge immersion benefit.
I almost included this one under essentials because of how great and transformative it feels. This is a very lightweight mod that is specifically made for VR to totally revamp the weather and sky to make it all look and feel far, far better.
This mod emulates water reflections and makes all bodies of water look a lot better. It’s directly compatible with the aforementioned mods, Onyx VR Weathers and Realistic Water Two.
More detail and nuance for space, stars, and constellations at night time. Combined with Ethereal Clouds it really transforms the mood at nighttime in Tamriel.
This combination will give Skyrim VR a fresh look that is much more vibrant and sharpens the visuals to get rid of the rampant jagged lines you usually see in Vanilla.
This is a big combat overhaul mod. It changes and adds so much you should just read the Nexus page for more details but I highly recommend it, especially for melee characters.
With this mod, you’ll do different amounts of damage based on which body part you hit on an enemy with your arrows and spells. This sounds minor, but Location Damage VR really improves combat a lot in terms of immersion and realism.
This adds more VR-focused interactions and movements to access and navigate menus. As a mage in Vanilla Skyrim VR you spend a ton of time in menus, so this mod changes that. This is basically essential if you plan on playing a mage or using magic, at all, in any way.
This adds arcane archery to the game that more effectively lets you combine magic and archery into one character with things like elemental arrows and archery skills based on various schools of magic.
Best Other Skyrim VR Mods
This list of other mods is entirely based on my own personal preferences, so there is a high chance that you may not even like these things—and that’s okay. Take these recommendations with a grain of salt, if you will.
I’ve played through the opening in Skyrim so many times I can’t really stand it anymore, to be honest, so I always use the Alternate Start mod now for something different. Immersive Citizens is a great mod as well to add more behavior variation to NPCs. For some great follower companion mods, I absolutely love both Inigoand Sofia, who are fully-voiced, and this mod which fleshes out Seranaeven more from the base game.
To add in new content via Skyrim VR mods like quests and expansions, it’s hard to not recommend Legacy of the Dragonborn, which feels like a proper DLC for the game more than a fan-made mod. I’ve also got a soft spot for Helgen Reborn, which lets you rebuild the city of Helgen after Alduin attacks during the intro, The Forgotten City questline which won a Writer’s Guild award for its script, and of course the excellent Moonpath to Elsweyr, which lets you visit the border of Elsweyr, the home of the Khajiit people.
Ultimately, there is no such thing as a complete list of all recommended Skyrim VR mods because everyone’s needs and wants are different—not to mention more new mods are released all the time. Just look over the list of most popular all-time Skyrim mods for more ideas.
Did we miss any of your favorite Skyrim VR mods? Let us know your other recommendations down in the comments below!
This week a new mod released for indie co-op horror shooter GTFO from 10 Chambers. The mod features full native VR support including motion controllers and cross-play with non-VR. Check it out in the trailer below:
GTFO VR Mod
In the trailer we can see everything from motion-controlled melee weapons, free aiming guns with laser sights and flashlights, impressive lighting and fog, and lots of truly gruesome blood and gore. GTFO is the kind of game you really need a full group of people to get the most out of it, similar to Phasmophobia, except with a lot more guns and violence.
This mod is certainly an unexpected but welcome surprise since the dark and creepy atmosphere in the game is such a perfect fit for VR. Once the monsters show up things get crazy fast and I can only imagine how frantic things would feel inside a VR headset if the game already makes me sweat outside of VR.
GTFO is in Early Access still on Steam for $35 with a ‘Very Positive’ review average after nearly 18,000 user reviews. I’ve played it in non-VR and can confirm that it’s extremely tense, terrifying, and very fun with friends—but it’s also extremely difficult and requires real coordination to succeed.
Pick your price and donate what you want to the Humble ‘Spring into VR’ Bundle and get 8 PC VR games including Borderlands 2 VR and Sairento if you commit at least $15. The deal is available for two weeks, until March 21.
Humble Bundle: Spring into VR
Humble Bundle is a charity-based bundle website in which you choose to donate however much you want. If you donate at least $1 then you get Detached, pay at least $14.67 to also get Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality, Swords of Gurrah, and Espire 1: VR Operative, and if you pay at least $15 you also get Job Simulator, Sairento VR, and Borderlands 2 VR. That’s over $160 worth of PC VR games.
This is only the second PC VR-focused Humble Bundle and it’s a really solid collection of classics that all headset users should consider having in their library. The $15 price tag is a great deal for any one of the top tier games on offer here, so getting all eight really is a good bargain.
Just like all of the bundles, you get to choose where your money goes by splitting it up between the game publishers, the Stop AAPI Hate charity (or a different one of your choosing), and Humble itself as a company. You can divide your contribution up however you see fit, including all of it to just one source if you want.
When you buy a Humble Bundle you’re given a Steam key for each of the included games. If you get a key for a game you already have, you could give it away or give it over to a friend.
Find out more about this Bundle on the official page.
Parkour VR game STRIDE is getting a big new PC VR update soon and is running Closed Beta tests right now. Plus, the PSVR version is delayed to late 2021.
STRIDE – VR Parkour
There are no details on what the big new update is exactly, but it’s being described as a “major content update” for STRIDE. You won’t need to own the game already either — you’ll be provided access.
STRIDE is a VR parkour free-running game, similar in style to Mirror’s Edge, except it’s got an “endless runner” format along with a gun that lets you fight back against assailants. In the short clip posted to Reddit, it looks like the content update is probably adding a more exploratory game mode that lets you explore the city in more directions rather than going in a straight line. Perhaps this is the long-alluded to Story mode.
If you’re interested in helping test the new features for STRIDE, you can visit the Closed Beta sign up page right here. You’ll have to be willing to sign an NDA, available to playtest today at a scheduled time, have access to a VR-ready PC with a Rift, Quest + Link, or Quest + Virtual Desktop, and you must live in the EU, UK, western CIS countries, Turkey, or North Africa. Feel free to invite friends to apply as well.
It’s tough to say precisely what’s causing the slowdown, though a common refrain among PC VR users is that the platform hasn’t seen many major VR game releases since Half-Life: Alyx back in March of 2020. Indeed, Quest and Quest 2 have been commanding significant attention among more experienced VR developers recently.
Rift S, the original Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, and the original Vive lost the most share over the last month, with Rift S at 17.21% (–0.88%), Quest at 5.02% (–0.68%) Vive at 9.70% (–0.31%), and Windows Mixed Reality at 5.48% (–0.31%).
The only major vendor that grew its share in the last month is actually Valve which, despite offering only a single headset, is the third largest vendor of VR headsets used on Steam.
