I’ll preface this by warning you that the below text is far too long, contains far too many parentheses and plenty of very personal opinions on the subject. It’s also more of a slightly edited flow of consciousness thing, so the structure isn’t the best.
Index is a costly high-end device for enthusiasts: Complex to set up, requiring external laser emitters being placed high up in the room and ensuring coverage of the play area; depending on your room’s layout and what you’re playing with the headset, you need to purchase additional emitters. Sitting for example is fine with two, as is if you’re mainly facing only two directions - but if you’re moving around a lot, you’ll want at least one more lighthouse. I wouldn’t really want to use this kind of system with less than three base stations. As you can see from this issue alone, it’s very much not a plug in and play kind of device, since even once you’ve figured out the hardware side, you’ll still spend a not insignificant amount of time configuring the software, often for individual games. The high refresh rate also means that hardware requirements are not exactly low (since you really do not want frame rate drops in VR - it’s 144 Hz or bust with this device, unless you like to lose the contents of your stomach in an unpleasant fashion) and the screens are starting to show their age in terms of color accuracy. While this is still one of the best options out there due to the groudbreaking controllers alone (which were tailor-made for HL Alyx), I wouldn’t recommend it as a first VR headeset, unless you take apart every device you’re using. Also keep in mind that it’s frequently sold without the necessary accessories second-hand, which might make it appear deceptively cheap. Always buy a VR headset with controllers and (if it requires them) base stations, since both are much harder to find on their own.
Look for a headset with inside-out tracking (which means no external cameras, sensors or emitters). [Edit: This advice turns out to be problematic in hindsight.] These are easier to set up and provide 90% of the experience at a fraction of the cost and complexity, with the added bonus of being quickly able to set up the headset in almost any location. Even then, the tracking will impress you.
In the past, I frequently recommended WMR headsets, since these are cheap on the used market, have excellent high-res displays (some even OLED), yet low hardware requirements and are extremely easy to set up. Five minutes from unboxing to working roomscale that will blow your socks off, at the most. Tracking is excellent for the headset and good enough for the controllers, but not outstanding - and the controllers don’t support fancy finger tracking due to their age. The problem is that Microsoft has sunsetted them after years of neglect, with the latest version of Windows already dropping support, so while I’ll continue to use my Samsung Odyssey Plus and it’s fantastic OLED screens for as long as it’s working (I configured Windows to only download security updates and ignore the feature update that would render it inoperable, staying with version 23H2, which should give me time until November of 2025), I can’t really recommend this platform to others anymore.
I have to admit, I haven’t paid that much attention to VR hardware since I bought the Samsung, because I’m really only an occasional VR user and it’s perfect for this. VR supplements normal gaming, but it’s not a replacement, in my eyes at least. VR gaming is a fundamentally different experience, since you are moving around, yet are essentially in a closed-off environment, which can be difficult if you have other people around you. It’s also much more of a commitment. You need to make space, put on a headset, make sure controllers are charged (and the headset itself if it’s not wired), inform people living with you not to burst into the room, since it can result in either accidents or heart attacks or both (I’m only slightly exaggerating, but you do NOT want to suddenly get touched when you are fully immersed).
Facebook is effectively dominating the market thanks to having invested astonishing sums of money into it (at least compared to prior to the LLM boom), to the point that some people think that “Quest” is a term for all VR headsets (Kleenex problem) or aren’t even aware of any alternatives. The Quest 3 in its two main variants (and storage subvariants) is a competent piece of hardware, no doubt, capable of both decent standalone VR (best for media consumption and exclusives) and PCVR, with good screens and solid controllers at a highly competitive (= highly subsidized dumping) price. Even the older Quest 2 still holds up and remains well supported for now. The problem is that you’re inviting a Facebook device littered with cameras and microphones into your home, a device that needs to create a 3D scan of your room in order for its inside-out tracking to function. Sure, Microsoft isn’t exactly clean in this regard either and their headsets required this as well, they at least never abused this highly invasive capability of their hardware standard (probably because they, unlike Facebook, didn’t build the devices and only licensed the tech to manufacturers). While you are not required to create a Facebook account to use their headsets anymore (you can just have a separate Quest account only for VR), I have no doubts they are doing whatever they want with the data they are collecting, regardless of user agreements and laws. It’s also worth mentioning that Facebook/Meta are just as guilty of ending support of older hardware, with the first Quest being essentially a paperweight at this point.
What else is there? The Pico 4 Ultra is the most relevant competitor to the Quest, with hardware that can more than keep up, no Facebook data-leeching (instead it’s ByteDance of TikTok fame data-leeching - I can’t decide what’s worse…) and the same ability to function both in standalone mode and tethered to a PC. You aren’t getting those juicy exclusives though and there is no cheaper option like the Quest S, nor as much of a thriving second-hand market. If privacy is of concern, it’s just as nightmarish and since it’s no better of a deal while lacking interesting games, it’s a pass. If you’re in the US, they aren’t selling it to you anyway.
I started this comment out by recommending you to pick an inside-out headset, but the problem is that there aren’t many options left now that the WMR ecosystem is dead. As good as the Meta headsets are, they are primarily standalone headsets and by nature compromised when used with PCs (higher hardware requirements, compression reducing image quality, stability issues). The old Oculus headsets are all using cameras for tracking, so that’s a no as well with Facebook owning the company.
This leaves us back where we began. Maybe you actually have to use a headset with external tracking if this privacy issue I’m basing most of my dilemma is a priority in your eyes (without knowing whether you actually care, although in this community the chance is fairly high). If you’re fine with complex hardware and software, the tracking tech that the Valve Index is based on was first brought to market with the HTC Vive, developed jointly by Valve and HTC. Its screens and controllers are outdated, but still functional and it’s not expensive used. The Vive Pro has what looks like OLED displays that are identical in terms of specs to my Samsung, which makes it easy to recommend as a sort of in-between, if you’re fine with not having the latest controllers - which you could source from the Valve Index, but at that point, you’re not saving any money anymore.
Playstation VR2 remains an option. It’s PC compatible through an official adapter, but limited in terms of features (the neat stuff like eye-tracking remains console-exclusive) and too expensive unless you already have it for console. Pimax is another high-end alternative, but support isn’t exactly the best.
To be honest, I can’t really provide the best advice other than passing my confusion and frustration over to you. I apologize, but I hope that at least some of this is helpful.
If you’re actually curious about PC-VR, get a used headset for cheap and dual boot. Activate Windows with a tool instead of a license. Linus Torvalds won’t come to your house and disembowel you for getting a taste of the dark side. Maybe play a flatscreen game or two that’s not running on Linux yet (or ever) while you’re at it.
I think everyone should see Google Earth VR at least once, for example. It’s an astonishing experience. Like with Half-Life 2, it’s a totally different thing compared to looking at it on a screen. Scale is the big factor and it’s so perfect in regards to both, you will catch yourself trying to touch virtual objects, lean on virtual walls, duck under virtual obstacles. Hardware requirements, just like with HL-2 VR, are very low, so the barrier of entry is practically nil. I first experienced it on a GTX 960, which is most likely surpassed by integrated graphics by now.
I discovered this one recently. As the name implies, it’s a reverse-engineered clone of early versions of the game. It has extremely low hardware requirements, which allow the client to run on virtually anything.
The thing is, many physical patents are also describing extremely simple mechanisms or mere ideas for them. I don’t think your criteria reflect reality, as much as I wish they did.
Ready or Not is a thing and quite popular, although I haven’t tried it myself. As far as I know, it’s the closest to the old SWAT games and not exactly a low-budget Indie title. Similarly, covering the military side of things, there’s Six Days in Fallujah, which is considerably more aggressive and action-heavy than the titles of old, but similarly punishing.
Eh, I don’t blame the solo developer. Official Linux support would be nice, but it’s still only used by 2% of Steam customers, most of which are on the Steam Deck:
There is a non-trivial amount of work involved in creating and supporting Linux binaries. Based on what other developers have reported, despite the small number of Linux users, they can be responsible for a disproportionate number of support tickets. I think part of the reason for this is has to be the enormous number of Linux distributions out there. While most users are using a small handful of distros and their derivatives, there’s just too much variety within a very small portion of the market (plus the whole issue of poor GPU driver support on top), which can lead to all sorts of unexpected and difficult to replicate compatibility and stability issues.
Not to mention, this game is playable on the Steam Deck. It seems to work just fine on Linux (or at least Arch) through Proton, so why complain?
V Rising. I just started playing and am already hopelessly addicted. Please send help.
For those not familiar, it’s a Diablo-esque (with direct controls) open world hack and slasher with light RPG elements, but a comparatively much stronger crafting, building and upgrade component, so much so in fact that there are barely any character upgrades beyond some unlockable spells. The core gameplay loop revolves around finding resources (by killing enemies - ranging from humans and animals to all sorts of supernatural creatures and beings - opening chests and farming resources in the environment), then refining them and thereby unlocking new items and things to build in your castles. The latter can be built pretty early on, but in the beginning, it’s little more than a few palisade walls (and no roof) protecting a handful of crafting stations and storage chests.
The no roof thing is relevant, because as the V in the game’s title implies, the protagonist is a vampire, which means they can suck blood and assume some of the capabilities of their foes. This also means that they need extra strong sun cream, but since it hasn’t been invented yet and the substitute magic potion isn’t very effective, longer boss fights (which are plentiful and can happen everywhere) that stretch into the day turn into an interesting game of dashing from shadow to shadow while at the same time dodging enemy attacks in order to not get roasted by the fiery ball in the sky. Before I managed to find the necessary resources and crafting stations required for building stone flooring and walls, which automatically create a roof (must be vampire magic), I had to help myself by using braziers that turn bones (a rather plentiful resource, thankfully, given the enormous kill count you rack up in this title) into a mist that blocks out sunlight over a fairly generous area.
Just like other resource-consuming stations, it keeps running even when the game isn’t playing. This has advantages and disadvantages: On one hand, you can just do something else for a couple of hours and return to piles of resources having been crafted, but on the other hand, your castle also consumes another resource in order to even remain standing - although this can be turned off, at least in games you host yourself for singleplayer or co-op. V Rising is very generous in this regard anyway, allowing the player to customize virtually every balancing aspect in excruciating detail.
I’m still not very far in the game, having only just unlocked the ability to turn humans into slaves. Depending on their class (from lowly worker to skilled fighter, at least that’s what I’ve encountered so far) and the quality of their blood, the ability of the servants you create can vary quite widely. Capturing slaves is neatly done: You have to bring their health down to at least 30%, then use a special spell to control them. You cannot cast any other spells as you are doing this. The player then needs to carefully bring the extremely vulnerable human back to their castle and place them in a coffin, which starts the conversion process to a servant. The way back home becomes a tricky obstacle course as you try to avoid any bigger fights in order to keep your almost dead human alive until you reach your destination. It’s also advisable to kill all other enemies the human is with first, being careful not to use any area of effect spells that might inadvertently kill that rogue with 96% blood purity you so desperately want as your loyal servant.
If there’s one thing about this game that is below average, it’s the presentation. The intro is the usual cheap motion graphics with voiceover style doing the absolute bare minimum to establish the scenario (vampires once ruled the world, humans fought them, won, you slept for centuries waiting to take over again - that’s it), sound effects and music as generic as the fantasy scenario, voice lines repeat themselves all the time, objects are low-poly and textures muddy even from the far away default camera perspective. It’s serviceable, but clearly extremely outdated. Nobody would have been impressed by this even 12+ years ago. Effects like magic and explosions are solid though, the day night cycle is well done, the forest is dense and environments have a large number of destructible objects, so at least there’s that.
Overall, I’m impressed. V Rising is addictive, challenging and motivating, with tight controls, frantic combat and excellent crafting. This is a clever, well-made game with what appears to be plenty of staying power, exposing new systems and mechanics to the player at a nice, even pace.
Are you using your Deck only as a portable system or also with a monitor or TV? I’ve done this a few times, but not very often, mostly because I rarely see the need (but I have a PC as well, so my situation isn’t the same).