I've just upgraded my VR system to a Valve Index headset backed by a Dell XPS 8950, displaying graphics generated by a RTX 3080 and a Core i7-12700 feeding it data. I thought this was a good checkpoint to pause and write down a few of my personal VR highlights in the years since I entered the world of 6DoF PC VR with a HP Windows Mixed Reality headset.

Beat Saber

A simple concept executed brilliantly, Beat Saber is an easily understood pick-up-and-play VR experience that showcases 6DoF headset tracking integrating video with audio. There may have been predecessors I don't know about, but the success of Beat Saber made way for an entire genre of VR rhythm games that followed.

Gameplay perspective only moves as the player moves, minimizing chances of motion sickness. Graphically simple blocks meant this title was a great fit for computationally limited hardware like the Oculus Quest. If Beat Saber was the only thing I played in VR, I wouldn't need to upgrade my PC: it was fine running Beat Saber at 120Hz with a Valve Index.

Valve Index controllers felt much more secure in my hand than the old controllers, letting me focus more on swinging my arms and less worry on gripping tightly to ensure my controllers don't go flying.

Moss (and Moss: Book II)

I loved this experience of stepping into a fairytale storybook. Our gameplay perspective is of a human sized entity looking around the mouse-sized world of our protagonist. Like Beat Saber, our perspective only moves as we move. Though not much movement were required, as these games were designed to be compatible with a seated experience.

This game would stutter on my previous PC even with graphic level set to low. While Moss is more graphically demanding than Beat Saber, it was far short of the level of Half-Life: Alyx yet felt similarly demanding of hardware. I suspect they have not been fully optimized for PC as they were built first for PlayStation VR and ported to PC afterwards. I read these titles are also available on Oculus Quest. If true, those ports must have required some pretty significant performance optimization work.

Half-LIfe: Alyx

The original Half-Life was a groundbreaking title that raised the bar on what a PC FPS shooter could be. Now Half-Life: Alyx has done the same for VR. It is an incredibly immersive experience to feel like I'm standing in the middle of City 17, what's left of a human city on a planet Earth under brutal alien occupation.

Unlike the previous two titles, the gameplay perspective needs to move for us to adventure through City 17. The game designers have done an admirable job implementing traversal while minimizing risks of motion sickness, but it still isn't as comfortable for me as the fixed positions of Beat Saber or Moss. Despite the occasional discomfort I would frequently revisit Half-Life: Alyx and have played through the campaign multiple times. Frequently pausing to just drink in the atmosphere.

My previous PC could almost run Alyx at 120Hz with graphics set on low fidelity, but a stutter once every 10-15 seconds was nauseating. My new PC runs stutter-free on high fidelity settings.

Star Wars: Squadrons

My big "a-ha" moment in VR came while I was sitting in a virtual cockpit of Elite: Dangerous feeling like I'm actually at the controls of a spaceship. Now I have a much better choice: Star Wars: Squadrons optional VR mode. The game can be played without VR on a monitor, but that doesn't make me feel like I'm at the controls of a starfighter. My big VR moment in this game was sitting in an X-Wing looking over my shoulder to see my R2 unit chirping away. Hell yeah.

The game designers must have known people would love to just cruise through a fleet looking at all the ships we recognize from the movies. Before the action starts on our first New Republic mission, we can fly our X-Wing around a Mon Calamari cruiser task group. Extra bonus: this game lets us fly for both sides, so there's a counterpart Imperial mission where we launch a TIE Fighter right out of the belly of an Imperial Star Destroyer and can circle around to admire its assault force through our viewports.

That alone was worth the price of admission, which is good because the actual gameplay is disorienting on two levels. First is the expected motion sickness issue: maneuvering a starfighter while I'm actually seated at my computer quickly made me uncomfortable. But I also struggled to maintain situational awareness during missions. Where is my objective? Where are other members of my squadron? Where are my threats in surrounding space? It takes me a few seconds to get oriented and, in that time, an enemy gets on my tail and starts shooting. I go into evasive maneuvers to fight for my life. If I survive, I have to get reoriented, and the cycle starts again.

I only got a handful of missions into the single-player campaign before my skill fell short of the required skill level, and I never bothered to try online multiplayer squadron assaults. But I have launched the game many times just to replay those first missions. $40 is a lot for Star Wars: Fly Around the Fleet but I paid it willingly.

Honorable Mention: the opening menu for Star Trek: Bridge Crew is shown as pretense of a Starfleet shuttlecraft control panel. We're seated in the shuttlecraft as it flies around Stardock waiting for us to choose what to do. I would load up the game just to admire USS Enterprise docked outside.

And as far as I can tell, none of these experiences will be available on Apple's upcoming Vision Pro.