HTC VIVE VR: Updated Impressions

I’ve had my VIVE for quite a few weeks now so I thought it was time to give some updated impressions of the platform – and that’s really how I’ve come to see the VIVE and, I guess, VR in general – as a platform.

You might wonder if the initial ‘novelty’ factor has worn off, but I’ve not really changed my mind about VR as an experience – I still consider my VIVE to be the most exciting piece of hardware I’ve bought in years. But like I said, I don’t just view VR as a hardware component, but as a unique platform.

I think this became clear to me when I put some time into two games that weren’t originally designed for VR, but integrated VR support post-release – The Forest and No Man’s Sky. And don’t get me wrong, I think they’ve done a good job (particularly in NMS) of adapting the experience for VR.

But now I’ve put more time into other VR exclusive games, I can also see a clear difference between the games that are designed for VR from the ground up, and those that have patched in VR support. And the difference is this – games designed exclusively for VR are far more enjoyable to play than those in which VR support has been added.

In the case of The Forest and NMS, I think it’s important to note that these are two games I’ve already played significantly outside of VR and that may influence my judgement – if I’d only experienced these games as VR titles, my impressions may be different.

That said, I think it would still be obvious to me that many systems in each game simply weren’t designed with VR in mind – particularly menu navigation and text. The truth is, as impressive as both games are to jump into in VR, they’re also a chore to play. Because neither game and their mechanics were designed for VR, everything feels more awkward and slow to do.

That’s not to say that every VR title is perfectly designed for the VR experience, or that other non-VR games may not do a better job of seamlessly integrating VR – I’m just basing these impressions upon what I’ve played and that is, admittedly, still limited.

But I think anyone who has played a lot of VR would probably agree that there’s a clear difference between games designed for the platform and those that weren’t. Even free VR games like The Lab provide a far more enjoyable VR experience because they were designed for VR from the ground up – movement, visuals, scale, text, menus, inventory, sound and gameplay mechanics – all the fundamentals of game design have to be carefully reconsidered for VR.

And that’s why I see my VIVE as a platform as opposed to just a piece of additional PC hardware – because it can offer a very unique gameplay experience. I think the real problem with VR right now though, is simply that there’s not enough high profile titles available.

The indie scene for VR is going strong, but there’s a noticeable lack of high budget / high production quality AAA games in the VR space. I know Valve is supposed to be working on at least one VR game – maybe more, considering they just released their own VR hardware – and based on The Lab, I’m sure whatever they release will be of excellent VR quality.

But I guess that’s what VR is lacking right now. The hardware quality has improved, the cost – though still high – is starting to creep down, and the VR player base does appear to be slowly, but steadily increasing. But what we really need is a killer app. A game which can sell VR hardware just on its own. The market is growing and the audience is building. When that killer app does finally arrive, it’s going to be an exciting time for the VR platform going forward.