First off, the app makes it clear that not all of Valve is entirely sure on what’s next just yet. Keighley claims that, privately, ‘most of the team’ wants to make Half-Life 3 but for traditional PCs and consoles instead of VR. The company’s Phil Co at one point teases that, after Alyx, returning to the Half-Life universe isn’t as intimidating, saying “We’re not afraid of Half-Life no more.”
Tejeev Kohli, meanwhile, adds “Going from [Alyx] to a new big thing, which will be even bigger, is pretty exciting.”
But the app also hints that more VR games could well be on the table for Valve. It also teases that a ‘small team’ has been working on a ‘top-secret’ project since early 2018. Again, no word on if it could be a VR title.
Turning to the hardware, Keighley notes that the team is “already working on what’s next”, and that Valve’s Jeremy Selan himself noted the Index was already “two years old technology” at this point. Valve boss Gabe Newell made a lot of interesting remarks about the potential for new hardware from Valve ahead of the release of Alyx and, in our own interview with the team, Greg Coomer suggested the game’s ending might have some interesting implications on the hardware side.
So, after a welcome six-month break in which we actually knew what Valve was doing, we’re back to our regularly scheduled mystery and speculation. Obviously we have our fingers crossed that Valve has more VR games (and hardware) on the way, but we probably won’t be finding out anytime soon.
A new SteamVR utility aims to make virtual reality more accessible to users with physical disabilities, such as those who are can only perform certain actions or have limited movement options. The software is highly customizable and covers a range of different situations.
The software, called WalkinVR, releases on June 29 on Steam and works directly with SteamVR in order to provide options for VR users who have physical disabilities. For example, if a user is in a wheelchair, it may difficult for them to physically turn or move while in VR. With WalkinVR, the user could be assisted by a third party, who uses an Xbox controller to make movements or positional adjustments for the VR user. Alternatively, WalkinVR also provides options to bind movement options to controller buttons, enabling the user to use a VR controller to simulate any required real-life movement that they may not be able to physically perform.
This is just one example of what WalkinVR can do — there are many more. If a user’s ability to move a controller is minimal or restricted, WalkinVR can dynamically adjust small or restricted controller movement to represent larger actions when translated into VR. Basically, slow or small movement of a controller in real life can be adjusted to be interpreted as a a faster or larger movement in VR. You can see this in action in the video embedded above.
One notable feature is the ability to use a Kinect device to track a user’s hands and translate this to controller movement in VR. This is aimed at users who are can’t fully grip or use controller.
As the software is for SteamVR, it is only available for PC VR headsets or Oculus Quest when using it via Oculus Link.
Skyrim is one of the biggest games of the last decade and the VR version is on sale with a big discount, one of the steepest we’ve ever seen for a Bethesda VR title. The game was, of course, initially released on PC and consoles and received VR support later down the line. However, unlike some other games, Skyrim VR is a standalone, separate purchase — if you own the game on Steam for PC already, you can’t play in VR. This also means you don’t need to own the PC version before purchasing Skyrim VR either — if you’ve never played the game and want to start with the VR version, then this sale is perfect for you.
While we’ve seen Skyrim VR go on sale on Steam before, it’s rare that we get such a hefty discount, especially just as a one-off and not as part of a larger seasonal sale. There’s only a few more days of the sale though, so get in quick if you’re keen.
If you have the VR version and want to add some amazing mods to improve your experience, then check out this list. While it’s a few years old, we still recommend quite a number of the mods on there if you don’t know where to start.
Snapshot VR is an upcoming paintball-style arena shooter with a focus on team tactics and high-speed action, coming this August to PC VR from Giant Scam Industries. It even features official NXL professional paintball maps!
Watch the announcement trailer, including gameplay footage, right here:
If you’re a fan of Rec Room paintball, like the look of Solaris: Offworld Combat, and wish there was something designed around being extremely fast-paced with next to zero room for error, then Snapshot VR could be for you. From the moment a match begins you need to scramble to key firing lanes to hold down positions and use call outs to communicate with your team and adapt.
According to the press release, matches usually don’t even last a full minute so hopefully loading wait times are extremely low or non-existent. You get shot once, you’re out. No respawns, no armor pick ups, no killstreaks — either kill the other team or hit their buzzer to win.
Snapshot VR features 5v5 matches that require “snapshot” accuracy. This is a paintball term that refers to the ability to quickly rotate, aim, and fire from behind cover. Leaning into this connection even more, Snapshot VR will feature actual official National Xball League (NXL) maps and allows players to create their own custom maps using 2D Paintball’s Field Creator that can be exported into Snapshot VR.
The developers at Giant Scam Industries are also focused on providing lots of stats and analytics, including heat maps for post-match analysis on specific arenas to formulate better strategies.
You’ll also be able to pick from three different locomotion methods, but we don’t know what those are exactly yet. Judging from the trailer, full smooth locomotion seems like a given. You’ll also be able to pick from lots of customization options, which is oddly lacking from most VR shooters.
Snapshot VR is slated to hit PC VR headsets on Steam Early Access and Viveport this August. Specifically, developers plan to support Rift, Rift S, Vive, Vive Pro, Cosmos, Cosmos Elite, Windows MR, and Index from the start.
Did you miss out on the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition? Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
Earlier this week Valve released Update 1.4.1 for Half-Life: Alyx which introduces a handful of crash and bug fixes for the game and workshop, as well as adds new Workshop Documentation and features to help new modders and creators.
In the update notes Valve specifically link to a new ModelDoc Tutorial, Replacing Sound Tutorial, Custom Pistols Tutorial, and Hotspot Texturing Tutorial. All of that should aid modders that want to crack open Half-Life: Alyx and get to work on creating their own content for Valve’s flagship VR shooter.
In addition to those new tutorials, Valve added a handful of other features as well. Specifically, there is now a “data-driven weapon entity” called hl_vr_weapon_generic_pistolto be used for workshop customization in conjunction with the new tutorials. There are also now sources for “many” of Half-Life: Alyx’s AnimGraphs as examples, complex shader examples and dynamic expressions, more lighting options to Source Filmmaker, and cut down on memory usage when compiling maps from the Workshop.
Did you miss out on the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition? Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
Today at the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition we revealed the announcement trailer for the Meatgrinder update in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. This big new update will introduce brutal new horde mode-style battle arenas for a quicker and more replayable way of killing zombies.
Watch the first-ever footage of the new update right here:
This is a big feature that a lot of people were clamoring for even back when the game first came out. As great as Saints & Sinners is with its meaty campaign, massive maps, and reactive sandbox-style gameplay that adapts to your actions, it’s hard to replay a game like that. It just isn’t the same.
But people still wanted more of the experience, so Skydance Interactive are releasing the Meatgrinder update! This new update delivers a handful of maps, one of which is brand new, to let you fight through waves of zombies that get progressively harder as you craft weapons and fend them off for your own survival. There’s even a brand new katana added into the game for this too.
The Oculus Quest version of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is still due out later this year, in Q4, but we don’t know anything else about that yet. For now, the Meatgrinder update is coming to both PC VR and PSVR along with all of its bloody, gory action, in July 2020.
Looking for the best VR games in 2020? Look no further!
Well, 2020 might not be going the way anyone exactly planned, but one thing’s for sure; there’s already been a lot of great VR games. As we approach the halfway point, it’s time to reflect on some of the best experiences released for headsets so far.
To recognize as many games as possible we’re splitting our current list of best VR games in 2020 into two parts. First is the all-new releases, but we’re also recognizing ports of older games that made successful transitions to other headsets. Also check out our lists for the best 25 games on PSVR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and SteamVR!
Best VR Games 2020: All-New Releases
Half-Life: Alyx
What Is It?: Do we really need to remind you? Valve’s legendary series finally returned in fine form as a prequel to Half-Life 2 in which we play as Alyx Vance.
Our Score: 5/5
What We Said: “But, for the already-initiated and those susceptible to it, Alyx is a triumphant return; a stunningly produced, meticulously refined capping off of the past four years of VR learnings. Its 10+ hours of best-in-class combat, evolving level design and, every so often, moments of truly inventive ideas swiftly establishes it as a new benchmark for the platform.”
OhShape (Quest, PC VR, PSVR coming soon)
What Is It?: Beat Saber meets human Tetris; you have to fit shapes in a wall, avoid obstacles and grab coins to the beat. A nice change of pace from other VR rhythm games.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: ” It’s a smart, straight, no-nonsense rhythm game with an energetic core mechanic and plenty of options to tailor the experience to your liking. There’s a few presentation hiccups and the initial track list could be more inspiring, but these are minor and very fixable issues. If you’re growing tired of slashing or shooting beats in VR, then you should definitely try throwing some shapes here instead.”
What Is It?: Based on the enduring comic book series, Saints & Sinners takes players to zombie-infested New Orleans, where they shoot and stab their way to survival.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Despite its minor issues like relatively boring environments, repetitive mission structure, and human AI that leaves a bit to be desired, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is easily the best zombie game in VR to date. The shooting mechanics feel heavy and impactful and melee is extremely violent in just the right ways. There’s plenty of depth between the survival systems and crafting mechanics and it packs a large and dense adventure unlike anything else out there.”
Paper Beast (PSVR)
What Is It?: Another World creator Eric Chahi makes his VR debut with this sensational VR animal kingdom.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “It is a game not content with just one miracle, be it the authentic, almost documentarian approach to a virtual ecosystem, nor the technical milestones such a feat requires. Even its set of puzzles somehow emerge as a remarkably natural extension of its core themes and systems, creating a cohesive and curiously precious VR game to be preserved and savoured. Though it usually comes with unintended pitfalls, Paper Beast proves playing god can be great from time to time.”
Down The Rabbit Hole (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: An all-new adventure set in Wonderland that takes you on a whirlwind tour of strange places and crazy characters.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Even Down The Rabbit Hole’s sheer existence seems like lunacy. It’s as strange a VR game you’ll find, one that refuses to be pegged down to any one demographic or tick any certain box. There might be a touch of tameness to some of its puzzles and the adventure is over a little too soon, but when the game tips its box of ideas upside down, magic usually falls out. Down The Rabbit Hole is as Mad as a Hatter, and that’s exactly what you’d want it to be.”
The Room VR: A Dark Matter (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: Fireproof Games’ award-winning series delivers a compelling VR-native series of intriguing puzzles.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “The Room VR: A Dark Matter is an exemplary puzzle game that not only serves as a prime example of what makes puzzle games so compelling in the first place, but elevates the genre via VR with supreme interactivity, excellent visuals, and a palpably mysterious atmosphere.”
Lies Beneath (Quest, Rift)
What Is It?: Drifter does Silent Hill in this story-driven first-person shooter that pits you against horrific monsters.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “While Lies Beneath doesn’t pack enough true terror to be considered a new peak for VR horror, it does manage to craft an intriguing story in a stylishly formed world with mostly satisfying combat and palpable tension. It’s exciting to see a developer that was so previously rooted in the fast-paced action shooter category branching out to something more slow-paced, narratively-driven, and visually unique.”
Pixel Ripped 1996 (Quest, PC VR, PSVR)
What Is It?: The next in ARVORE’s series of love letters to retro gaming, Pixel Ripped 1995 has players enjoying tributes to classic consoles inside VR.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: Pixel Ripped 1995 is a bigger, bolder, and even more nostalgic walk down memory lane that shifts the focus from the late 80s to the early 90s — perhaps the most iconic and formative decade of the video game industry to date.
Spaceteam VR (Quest, PC VR, PSVR coming soon)
What Is It?: A successful conversion of a frantic mobile party game, Spaceteam has up to six players working together to keep their vessel going.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “Inevitably, some of the same-room companionship is lost in the transition from physical to virtual, but not nearly as much as you might think, and thoughtful additions made possible by headsets go a good way to making up for it. Spaceteam VR will break friendships, ruin your vocal cords and raise your blood pressure. That is to say, it’s quite a delight.”
Best VR Games 2020: Ports
Ghost Giant On Quest
What Is It?: A touching story-driven adventure in a gorgeous papercraft world, with fun puzzles and a mature take on a troubling subject.
Our Score: 5/5
What We Said: “Ghost Giant remains a delicate balance of charm and poignancy; an important story told with the right amount of sensitivity, steeped in the power of VR connection and companionship. Solving its puzzles might present the occasional road bump, but you’ll otherwise be swept up by its marvellous world of miracles and the characters that live in it. And, thanks to Quest, that’s easier to do than ever.”
Final Assault On PSVR
What Is It?: VR does the WW2 RTS with fantastic results.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “There’s a fun focus on planning and improvising in Final Assault, making it an engaging, albeit somewhat less involved, entry for the genre even if it wasn’t on a headset, but in virtual reality, the RTS shines as an imaginative chest of colorful toys. Just make sure when you’re planning your attack to call in a supply drop of dramamine.”
Form On PSVR
What Is It?: A sublime piece of VR puzzling with first-class interactions and amazing visuals.
Our Score: 4/5
What We Said: “FORM is a little too short and lacking in challenge for it to be considered a true classic, but it stands tall as a VR puzzler unlike any other. There’s an understanding of this new medium here that few developers have been able to demonstrate. Its atmosphere is dense and engaging and its puzzles capture a strong sense of discovery, resulting in a brilliant blend of gameplay and experience. The flood of VR puzzle games could learn a lot from the foundations that Charm Games has laid here.”
Tetris Effect On Quest
What Is It?: Tetris… in VR. Yes, really.
What We Said: ” Playing Tetris Effect that way is a real prospect with an Oculus Quest — and an utter joy — that would be very hard to achieve with a console or PC tethering you to the house.”
Gorn On PSVR
What Is It?: Free Lives’ gloriously silly battle sim that rips up the rules on VR violence.
What We Said: “All that said, if you’re able to optimize your setup and come in with the right expectations, I’d still say Gorn is an easy recommendation for PSVR fans. No, you’re not getting an epic adventure comparable to the bar-raising The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, but there’s still some of VR’s most entertaining combat on offer here.”
Do you agree these are the best VR games of 2020 so far? Let us know in the comments below!
Transpose is one of the best VR puzzle games on the market and you can grab it entirely for free this weekend (from today April 10-13) on Steam. All you need is a PC VR headset and you’re good to go.
Free weekends aren’t rare on Steam, but usually when they happen they’re more like extended demos and you lose access to the games after the weekend period is over. In this case, if you redeem it for free this weekend, you actually get to keep it forever in your digital library as if you had bought it.
Developer Secret Location revealed the news yesterday on Twitter. The move is a response to current efforts by governments around the world to insist on people staying home as much as possible, limiting travel, and avoiding contact with people outside of your own household to undercut the spread of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
Thankfully, the puzzle genre is a natural fit for VR. It’s one of the most well-represented genres with several amazing games on every platform. Back when we reviewed Transpose in late 2018, it felt like a revelation. For me personally, I think it’s probably one of my all-time favorite VR games.
What makes Transpose unique is that you record yourself doing things and then have those actions played back by apparitions that act as echos of your past actions. Combining multiple echos with your real-time movements is key to solving the game’s 30+ levels.
Transpose is a stunning VR puzzle game that elevates the genre and delivers an out-of-body-like experience about manipulating gravity and bending time. There isn’t much of a story to follow and not all of the puzzles are as satisfying as the rest, but fans of the genre would be doing themselves a disservice to not play this excellent adventure from Secret Location.
On Steam Transpose has official support for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows MR headsets, but Oculus Quest via Link and any other SteamVR headset (such as Pimax) should work fine as well. Normally, Transpose costs $19.99.
Let us know if you grab it this weekend and what you think down in the comments below!
The latest Steam Survey data became available this week, showing a record number of headsets in use on the platform as well as a surprising shift in the popularity of specific headsets.
That’s based on March 2020 data released this week from Valve’s Steam Survey. Each month the company 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.
This latest data is the first time we’re seeing the numbers since Valve revamped the Survey to collect more accurate information about which headsets are being used on Steam. In addition to revealing new headsets in the data for the first time—like Quest, Pimax, and PSVR—it also understandably brought a significant shift in the numbers from the prior month.
While the Steam Survey had previously only detected headsets that were connected to a user’s PC at the time of data submission, the new method stores information about any headsets connected to the PC in the last month and reports those headsets accordingly.
As the data represents the number of headsets connected to Steam over a given month, we call the resulting figure ‘monthly-connected headsets’ for clarity.
Monthly-connected VR Headsets on Steam
The latest figures from March show that 1.29% of Steam users had connected VR headsets to their PCs over the course of the collection period. That’s an increase of 0.28% over the previous month, but there’s two caveats here: first, we can’t be sure how much of that is attributed to actual growth vs. the change in data collection methodology, and second, Valve advised that most of the Survey data is collected in the first few days of each month, meaning that we won’t see most of the impact from the release of Half-Life: Alyx (which came later in the month) until the next set of survey data.
The data shows a bit of chaos surrounding the change in collection methodology, but either way, it’s the next data point in a trend which has been stepping upward on average. To put the number into perspective, the latest Survey data also shows that 0.87% of Steam’s population is using Linux and 3.80% is using MacOS.
While Valve’s data is a useful way see which headsets are most popular on Steam, the trend of monthly-connected headsets has always been obfuscated because the data points are exclusively given as percentages relative to Steam’s population—which itself is an unstated and constantly fluctuating figure.
To demystify the data, Road to VR has created a model based on the historical data, along with official data points directly from Valve and Steam, which corrects for Steam’s changing population to estimate the actual count—not the percent—of headsets being used on Steam.
While the percent of Steam users using VR headsets didn’t reach its highest point in March, our model estimates that March saw the greatest count of monthly-connected headsets to date.
With more accurate information from Valve, our latest estimate of the number of monthly-connected headsets on Steam stands at 1.77 million. That’s a sizeable leap, and though we can’t be sure how much of the change is from real growth rather than the change in collection methodology, it’s a record high number for monthly-connected headsets on the platform. If the current trend continues, we expect to see some 3 million monthly-connected headsets on Steam around January 2021.
Share of VR Headsets on Steam
As for the share of individual headsets on Steam, things got understandably jostled around, including the introduction of headsets previously not shown in the Survey. Valve says the changes offer a more accurate picture of headsets in use on the platform, so here’s what we now know:
Valve’s Index has surpassed all WMR headsets in use on Steam (10.94% vs. 8.28%)
Oculus Quest has surpassed Vive Cosmos (2.89% vs. 1.25%)
Oculus Rift S is the single most popular headset in use on Steam, surpassing the original HTC Vive (27.05% vs. 26.67%)
Oculus Rift (CV1) was overrepresented in earlier data; collectively all consumer Oculus headsets now account for 45.50% on Steam (53.73% previously)
Lesser-used headsets are also now showing in the data. Coming in at less than 1% of the share of headsets on Steam is Pimax 5K Plus, Pimax 8K, and even Playstation VR (which is not officially compatible with Steam but enabled via some third-party workarounds). There’s also 2.91% of “other” headsets shown, presumably a range of lesser-known and likely even misidentified headsets.
As ever, it’s worth noting that the Steam Survey only gives us a glimpse of the overall VR market, as it only counts headsets connected to Steam. That means it doesn’t count some portion of Rift users which may not use Steam at all, nor other major headsets like PlayStation VR on PS4 and Quest standalone.
Half-Life: Alyx made its way into the top 25 of Steam’s concurrent players list on release day. At the time of writing, it peaked at 42,858 concurrent players, placing it firmly in the top 25 games for the day with the highest concurrent players on Steam, VR or otherwise.
March 23 was a big day for Valve, Half-Life and VR fans alike. Valve’s flagship VR title, Half-Life: Alyx, finally released to the world and we are huge fans. While it doesn’t do everything exactly right, the things it does do are absolutely sublime and make it one of VR’s best titles, without a doubt.
It looks like it was a fairly successful launch day for Alyx as well, according to Steam statistics available from Valve. Each day, users can visit this site and see the concurrent players for any game at that point in time, along with the peak concurrent players for the day.
At the time of writing, Half-Life: Alyx peaked at 42,858 players on release day. That put it in the top 25 titles for the day, at least at the time of writing. It is also, notably, the only VR game in both the top 25 and the entire visible concurrent players list.
