What you need to know

• Meta is laying off teams in its Reality Labs division as a part of its restructuring efforts.
• The Reality Labs division includes employees working in Oculus studios, Meta's gaming wing.
• Meta's spokesperson said that, "these changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience."

Meta, on Thursday (April 24), laid off an unknown number of employees from its Reality Labs division, which includes employees working in Oculus studios, who are responsible for creating mixed reality wearables as well as games for Meta’s Quest VR headsets.

In an email to Android Central, Meta spokesperson said, “Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size,” the spokesperson said.

These cuts are meant to help the Oculus studios work more efficiently on delivering mixed reality experiences, Meta added.

Reuters noted that employees working on Supernatural, a VR fitness game, are among those impacted in the latest round of cuts. This was confirmed by Meta's spokesperson as well.

They further added that, despite these cuts, "We remain committed to investing in mixed reality experiences, including fitness and games, and our drive to deliver the best experiences possible for the Quest and Supernatural communities remains unchanged."

As of December last year, the company's headcount grew by 10%, to 74,067. This comes after Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that he would cut 5% of Meta's lowest-performing employees and warned them that more cuts were slated for this year.

During Meta's Q4 earnings call in January, the company stated that Reality Labs experienced a record-breaking revenue in 2024. This was driven by Meta Quest 3S and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses sales, with Zuckerberg commenting that "the number of people using Quest and Horizon is steadily growing." He further described 2025 as a "pivotal year for the metaverse" and teased the company launching more "visually stunning content" soon.

However, it is important to note that despite its great overall performance, the Reality Labs division operated at a loss in Q4, with operating expenses totaling nearly $5 billion.

In other news, Meta is slated to announce its Q1 earnings for this year on April 30, which could give us more insight as to what Reality Labs' revenue looks like for this quarter.

The best Meta Quest battery pack can add hours to your VR play sessions, keeping you from having to take a break right when the action really gets going.

A fully charged Oculus Quest 2 or Meta Quest 3 will give you about 2–3 hours of battery life; the Quest 3 is especially short-lived, thanks to its performance boost over the Quest 2. For anyone who enjoys longer VR sessions or shares their Quest with friends or family members, 2 hours isn't enough time.

Battery packs are some of the best accessories you can get for your Quest because they can double — or in some cases, even triple — the headset's battery life. We've tested dozens of different head straps, batteries, and other Meta Quest 3 accessories to try and find a solution to this Meta battery issue.

Here are some of the best battery packs and battery straps for the Meta Quest 3 or Oculus Quest 2!

All the best Meta Quest battery packs for Quest 2 and Quest 3

Alternative power bank options

When using a VR headset, it's best to use bespoke hardware. You'll get comfort enhancements and play like it was meant to be played. You can also use a regular old USB power bank but, keep in mind that having a battery in your pocket and a long cable running up to your headset can be awkward. Still, we'd love to recommend a few low-fi Quest power bank options to get you going.

• Back to the top ^

What features to consider when buying a Meta Quest battery pack

The most important thing when choosing an external battery pack for the Meta Quest 3 or Oculus Quest 2 is that it should support at least 9V 2A (18W) for optimal performance. There are many batteries on the market with those stats, but there are many other things to consider, such as size and how long they will hold a charge. Still, connecting a battery pack can extend your gaming sessions in the best Quest 3 & 2 games without needing to seek out a wall charger every time you take a break.

The BoboVR M3 Pro for the Meta Quest 3 or BoboVR M2 Pro for the Quest 2 are the best way to add comfort to your play sessions and keep them going for longer with the ingenious magnetically detachable, hot-swappable and rechargeable battery packs. It's the most foolproof way to get longer battery life and not have to worry about a cord getting in the way.

Any of these power banks will let you stay in VR longer. Depending on your needs, some banks may be more suitable than others. Go with the largest battery capacity you can afford to get the most out of the extra charging abilities.

What you need to know

• The original Oculus Quest will no longer have access to Beat Saber's multiplayer as of November 2, 2024.
• Beat Saber leaderboards may also be phased out for Oculus Quest players.
• Developer Beat Games says it's doing this to "focus our development efforts on our next projects within Beat Saber."

For the past three years, Beat Saber players have enjoyed slicing blocks in friendly competition alongside players in the game's multiplayer mode. Beat Saber's multiplayer mode has allowed cross-platform play since the beginning, but Oculus Quest players will no longer have access to the feature as of November 2, 2024.

Developer Beat Games announced on  X (via UploadVR) that they would be moving forward to "focus our development efforts on our next projects within Beat Saber." While Beat Saber's most recent updates have mainly been in the form of new music packs, it seems the developers are planning something big, possibly to coincide with the seven-year anniversary of the game next May.

Oculus Quest gamers will still be able to play Beat Saber multiplayer if they play the game on a PC using the SteamVR or Oculus Rift versions of the game.

Beat Saber has long been one of the best Meta Quest games and is consistently at the top of the best-seller lists for every VR headset in existence. Meta recently announced that it would be phasing out the original Oculus Quest, starting with prohibiting new game development as of this month (May), while major support will be sunset for the headset this August.

The Oculus Quest has been around for five years, but it began receiving waning support from developers after the Meta Quest 2 debuted in 2020. Now that the Meta Quest 3 is out, the Meta Quest 2 is starting down the path to obsolescence, as well, with several 2024 VR games skipping support for Meta's second-generation standalone VR headset.

What you need to know

• Developers will no longer be able to publish new games for the Oculus Quest 1 after April 30, 2024.
• Newly published apps and games will not show up on the original Oculus Quest store after April.
• Meta will only provide security updates through the end of August 2024.
• The company originally set January 1 as the date when it would stop allowing new games on the Oculus Quest.

An email sent out to all Meta Quest developers detailed Meta's end-of-life strategy for the original Oculus Quest. The email notes that no new apps or games may support the original Oculus Quest after April 30, 2024. Furthermore, apps and games published after April 30 will not show up when searched for on an Oculus Quest 1.

Meta announced its original plans to sunset support for the Quest last January, but the original date for disallowing new apps was extended a few months. Originally, Meta planned to keep new Quest 1 apps from being published starting January 1, 2024.

This all means that developers can no longer make new games supporting the original Quest after May 1, which means customers will need to upgrade to a Quest 2 or Quest 3 if they want to continue to play brand new games. Many developers stopped supporting the original Quest in the past year or so, and Meta stopped supporting multiplayer parties on the system in March 2023.

Beyond that, Meta will send out the last monthly security update in August 2024, signifying the official end of life for the company's first major standalone VR headset. Users will still be able to access games they own and use the Quest as a PCVR headset, so while it won't become a paperweight, it would be smart to upgrade to a Meta Quest 3 128GB or 512GB headset to keep playing the best Meta Quest games in the future.

The Meta Quest 2 ships with a one-meter cable; however, it's far too short to safely use when wearing the headset. While Meta officially recommends that you should "only charge your headset with the charger that was included in the box," you can still find alternative cables easily, with many designed for Oculus Link. 

So whether you lost the cable that came in the box or you want an Oculus Quest 2 replacement charging cord to make room-scale PC VR easier and safer, we've rounded up a variety of options that will fit your needs.

The best cables to charge your Quest 2

• Back to the top ^

How to find the best Quest 2 replacement charging cables

There are two categories of products that could fit the bill here. Some people just want a longer USB-C cable to slot into the included Quest power adapter. In contrast, others want an Oculus Link-compatible USB 3.0 to USB-C cable to simultaneously handle data transfer and power charging. Whichever of the two you choose — if not both — they should be compatible with either the Meta Quest or Meta Quest 2. The exceptions on this list are the Anker Charging Dock and BeswinVR Charge Kit, which only work with Quest 2 and its touch controllers.

Remember that Meta recommends you only use their official Quest 2 headset cable for charging or the Oculus Link cable for PC VR. The charging cable is only 1m, making it too short to charge your headset while you wear it, but Meta support also suggests that you "avoid charging your headset while it's in use." This is because the headset can get too hot while charging and playing, which could cause performance or stability issues. If you're willing to take that risk and want a longer USB-C cable, look for one that at least hits 5V 3A, so it gives your headset enough juice, such as the uni Long USB Type C cable listed above or any of the best USB-C cables available.

It's worth noting that most Oculus Link cables will not keep the Quest powered indefinitely. Users have found that the headset doesn't really start to pull a charge from any cable until the power level hits 80% or lower; after that, the cable will give the headset more power, but your battery will still steadily drain. That being said, some Link cables charge and transfer data better than others. If you can't afford the official Meta option, Anker and TNE are great options, or you can check out some of the other best Link cable alternatives for the Meta Quest 2.

If you're looking for a way to extend your Meta Quest or Meta Quest 2's battery life without relying on a cable, try one of the best Meta Quest 2 battery packs, which you can strap directly to your headset to extend the battery life for hours upon hours.

What you need to know

• Meta announced its Q4 2022 financial earnings on February 1.
• Quarterly revenue was better than analysts expected, while daily active users reached a milestone of 2 billion.
• Meta recently laid off roughly 11,000 employees during the quarter to help streamline the business.

It's no secret that the tech industry is struggling, facing a string of layoffs while companies try to shed some financial weight amid challenging macroeconomic conditions. However, Meta reported better-than-expected numbers on Wednesday, which could signal that things may start turning around for the company.

Despite weaker revenue compared to last year, Meta's $32.17 billion was more than analysts expected for the quarter. Weaker ad spending has been one of the major factors affecting companies like Mate, Snap, and even Alphabet over the past year, but it seems things are beginning to level off. The company's outlook for Q1 earnings is also squarely within analyst expectations, which is a fairly good sign for the company after some troubling quarters in 2022.

"Tech investors are relieved to see that the slowdown across Meta’s key ad business was not as bad as feared," notes Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. "Investors are cheering Meta’s plans to return more capital to shareholders despite worries over rising costs related to its metaverse spending."

Meta is also seeing increased engagement across its family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company recently hit a major milestone for Facebook, hitting 2 billion daily active users for the first time.

"Our community continues to grow and I'm pleased with the strong engagement across our apps. Facebook just reached the milestone of 2 billion daily actives," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "The progress we're making on our AI discovery engine and Reels are major drivers of this. Beyond this, our management theme for 2023 is the 'Year of Efficiency' and we're focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization."

Meta announced in November 2022 that it was laying off roughly 11,000 employees in an attempt to make the company operate more efficiently. During Wednesday's earnings call, Zuckerberg doubled down on the decision, saying that a more efficient Meta should make it a better place to work.

"I do think things like reducing layers of management should make it so information flows better through the company, and so you can make faster decisions. And I think, ultimately, that'll help us not only make better, better products, but I think it'll help us attract and retain the best people who want to work in a faster-moving environment."

Reality Labs also came under question, as its a division that has continued to lose money for Meta despite its increased investment in AR/VR and the Metaverse. During Q4, Reality Labs widened its losses to nearly $5 billion, with its total losses for the year reaching over $13 billion. Last year, Zuckerberg was adamant in his decision to continue investing in the business.

"On Reality Labs, we still expect our full-year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023," said Susan Li, Meta's CFO. "And we're going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see."

Regarding VR, Meta recently came out on top after seemingly winning approval from a court to purchase Within, the company behind Supernatural.

Prime Day 2024 is just around the corner, which means we're likely about to witness the best Meta Quest 2 deals that have ever graced the shores of the internet marketplace. In the meantime, it's worth noting that the popular gaming headset recently received a permanent price drop to $199.99, so if you don't to wait for the big summer sale, there's never been a better time to enter the world of VR. 

Simply put, the Quest 2 is a VR video game console. But unlike other consoles, the Quest is a completely standalone device that requires no connection to a TV or computer (although there is an option to display what's happening inside the headset on a nearby screen). Once setup is complete, you're given access to all of the Quest 2 games and apps found in the Oculus store. Most of these games cost around $10-$40 and average about 1-2GB in size.

As we note in our Oculus/Meta Quest 2 review, the headset continues to offer the best VR experience for most people, and if you can get it for cheap enough, there's really no reason to not give it a try. So without further ado, let's take a look at the best Quest 2 deals available now. Didn't find anything today? Fear not, we'll keep adding new offers to this page as they appear. 

The best Meta Quest 2 deal on the web today

What about the Meta Quest 3?

What about the Meta Quest Pro? 

Now that you've saved some money on your new VR headset, use that cash to elevate your gaming experience with some of the best Meta Quest 2 accessories on the web. 

It's been almost four years since the original Oculus Quest was released but Meta is ready to pull the plug on the aging standalone VR headset. In an email sent out on January 9, 2023, Meta leadership explained that the original Quest will be officially sunset and will no longer receive software updates after January 1, 2024.

Even after that date, all existing games and apps that work on an original Oculus Quest should continue to operate normally, even after the final support date. If you're a PC VR player who uses an original Quest just for that purpose, you should have no issue continuing to use it after 2024, if you so wish.

Far sooner, however, is the fact that original Oculus Quest players will no longer be able to invite friends to their Meta Horizon Home environment or visit other players' environments after March 5, 2023. Given that this date is less than two months away and can be considered a newer major platform feature, it's a bit surprising to see Meta pushing it so far ahead of a likely October Meta Quest 3 release date.

The writing has been on the wall for the Quest for a while, as we've seen Quest 2-exclusive games for the past 15 months since Resident Evil 4 VR launched as the original Quest 2 exclusive. Likewise, actively-updated games like Population: One dropped original Quest support fairly recently because of the hardware's inability to run more advanced games at acceptable frame rates.

While I wholeheartedly support the deprecation of the original Quest at this point — it's an ancient piece of hardware running 2017 tech — I'm not sure that removing social features before the Quest 3 arrives is the smartest move on Meta's part. If Meta wants to do this, it should absolutely wait until the end of the year when its next-gen headset is readily available for folks who want to upgrade.

On that point, if Quest 1 users are still actively using the headset and expecting to continue using these soon-to-be-unavailable social features, Meta is giving them only one option: buy the 2-and-a-half-year-old Oculus Quest 2. The problem here is obvious; they'll be spending at least $400 on a headset that's going to be usurped in just a few months.

Folks have this argument regularly with smartphones and other annually released electronics upgrades but the Quest isn't some annually released product. It's a gaming console and those don't often get replaced any sooner than 4-5 years at a time.

As it stands, it looks like Meta is starting to follow the Nintendo model of hardware releases. Historically, Nintendo has introduced a new piece of hardware roughly every two years and it clearly has no issue with getting consumers to pay for them every single time. It does this without any sort of official trade-in or upgrade program, very much unlike the modern smartphone upgrade cycle where you can often get hundreds off of the best Android phones by turning in your old one.

The reason they can get away with this aggressive hardware upgrade cycle is that Nintendo continues to support its hardware for years. Often, these two-year release cycles are iterative hardware updates that build upon a base hardware design. Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED are three recent examples, with previous examples building on the 3DS, 2DS, original DS and DSi models, and plenty of others.

With that said, 2023 is absolutely the last year the original Quest should be supported. Like the Nintendo DS when it was released, the original Quest was an incredibly underpowered device that performed well commercially because it innovated on game design and offered an experience that no other gaming machine could at the time, despite the relatively poor visual experience.

But, unlike the original DS, the original Quest doesn't have the user base to continue to sustain new game updates and releases, and it doesn't make much sense for Meta to continue to support it given its continued restructuring plans.

At this moment in time, the Quest 2 has sold roughly 20x (or more) what the original Quest sold, and that gulf is only likely to increase as the year wanes on. In addition to that, the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset that powers the Quest 2 also powers brand-new headsets like the Pico 4 and even continues to power upcoming headsets like the HTC Vive XR Elite.

In other words, support for the Meta Quest 2 isn't going anywhere any time soon, even with the rumors that the Quest 3's processor will be at least 100% more powerful.

At the very least, I suppose you could always take your Quest 2 into GameStop when the Quest 3 gets announced and trade it in for an upgrade. That's really not a half-bad option, even if you won't recoup most of the cost.

January 9, 2023 email to Meta employees

We launched Quest 1 over four years ago and we are grateful to the Quest 1 community for pushing VR forward. As we look to the future, we remain committed to supporting the community of Quest 1 users and will continue to support the headset with a few changes:

You will still be able to use your Quest 1 headset and available apps.

We won’t be shipping new features to Quest 1.

We plan to continue maintaining the system software with critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024.

Quest 1 users will no longer be able to create or join a party.

Quest 1 users who currently have access to Meta Horizon Home social features will lose access to these features on March ‌5, ‌2023. You won’t be able to invite others to your Home or visit someone else’s Home.

Quest Link — once known as Oculus Link — is Meta's way to connect Quest 2 or Quest Pro headsets with a PC. Whether you're using it to play PC VR games, watch movies hosted on a PC, or work from a PC via virtual screens, Quest Link is a great way to get going.

But, like any technology, there are bound to be issues that you'll come across from time to time. The Oculus Quest 2  and Meta Quest Pro can both connect to PCs either wirelessly or via a USB Type-C cable.

First off, to get the best experience with wireless Quest Link, you'll want to ensure that you're using a fast Wi-Fi 6 router. But, if you're still having Quest Link problems, we've got a few solutions for you.

Quest Link randomly disconnects

Commonly, people will find that the Meta Quest will randomly disconnect from the PC and revert to the Quest home screen. While you might think this is caused by a bad cable or broken port, the solution is (thankfully) a lot simpler.

In order to fix this, you need to make sure to deny storage permission when connecting the cable. Any time you connect the Oculus Link cable from your PC to the Meta Quest, you need to select Deny Storage Permission on the permissions pop-up dialog that appears on your headset.

In a nutshell, when you allow storage permission, the headset is disconnecting the virtual reality interface any time Windows checks for new media files on it. That's a built-in feature in Windows when you connect cameras or phones to get pictures or video off of them, but it doesn't work so well for a device like a Quest.

Less often, a low-quality or slow cable could also cause disconnections. If you're still facing disconnection issues after denying storage permission, you might want to first try a different USB port. Like cables, ports can go bad, especially if you have a cable connected and it gets tugged too hard.

Another option is making sure your driers are updated. You should also always keep your drivers up to date by visiting the Windows Update section of your PC and downloading any new motherboard or display drivers. Out-of-date or incompatible drivers often cause all sorts of problems.

If none of these solutions solves your random disconnection issue, it may be time to pick up a new USB cable. The official Oculus Link cable is a great solution, as it's 15ft long and made of sturdy materials that can withstand abuse. The downsides are the cost, which is 2-3 times the cost of most other cables, and the fact that it's only a USB Type-C cable. If you need a cable with a USB Type-A end — that's the standard flat USB port — we've got some great picks for the best Quest Link cable alternatives.

Incorrect height

From time to time, you may notice that your height is incorrectly calibrated when connecting to the PC, either making you super tall or super short in VR. To fix this, you should just need to unplug your Quest Link USB cable and plug it back in. Typically, when this happens, the Quest didn't pass the room size information to the Oculus Rift software correctly.

Poor image quality on wired Oculus Link

Poor image quality on a wired Oculus Link setup is normally caused by a low bitrate, which means that your PC is compressing the image before sending it over the cable to your Oculus Quest. So long as you're using a cable with USB 3 or greater data speed transfer rates, Quest Link software should default to a high-quality image.

Lower-quality or slow cables with lower transfer speeds could cause the Quest Link software to downgrade the image quality. If swapping the cable out for a better one isn't an option, you could always try to adjust the bitrate that Quest Link sends through the cable.

In order to adjust the bitrate, you'll need to use the Oculus Debug Tool. It's not as scary as it sounds, I promise. Here are a few easy steps to follow:

1. Open up File Explorer in Windows and navigate to **C:\Program Files\Oculus\Support\oculus-diagnostics**.
2. Open up OculusDebugTool in this folder.

1. Under the Oculus Link section, select Disabled next to Encode Dynamic Bitrate.
2. Change Encode Bitrate (Mbps) to 250.

1. Close the Oculus Debut Tool.
2. Unplug your Oculus Quest and Plug it back in to restart the Oculus Link.

Your image quality should be significantly better than it was before. Meta suggests setting the bitrate no higher than 250Mbps, although the maximum number supported is 500Mbps. You can try experimenting with values between 250-500 to see if you notice a quality change, although it's likely that you'll affect performance beyond 350Mbps.

Stuttering on wired Oculus Link

If your Quest Link experience has become stuttery or jumpy, you can try a few things. First off, make sure your room has adequate light for the Meta Quest to track. Those cameras need light to see the environment around them, and insufficient light will cause tracking issues.

If you're not using an official Quest Link cable, it's entirely possible that the cable you're using can't provide enough bandwidth for a consistent experience. If you've adjusted the bitrate manually as in the steps above, go back and set Encode Dynamic Bitrate to enabled. This will allow the Quest Link software to automatically adjust the image quality based on available bandwidth, delivering a more consistent experience.

If you haven't adjusted the bitrate before, you might need to lower the refresh rate of the Oculus Link signal on the Meta Quest 2 or Quest Pro. The original Oculus Quest only supports one refresh rate (72Hz), so this step only applies to Oculus Quest 2 and Quest Pro. To do that, follow these steps:

1. On your PC, open the Oculus software.
2. Select Devices on the left side, then select Meta Quest 2 or Quest Pro from the list of connected devices.

1. On the menu that pops up on the right side, select Graphics Preferences.
2. Select 72Hz to bring the refresh rate down to its lowest possible setting.

1. If you're still experiencing issues, uncheck automatic resolution and scale the resolution lower than 1.0x.
2. A lower resolution will deliver a softer image, but will improve performance.

If you're still having trouble with stuttering, try updating your motherboard and display drivers. Otherwise, your PC may not be powerful enough to play PC VR games without performance issues.

Poor image quality on Oculus Air Link

Quest Air Link is the easiest way to play PC VR games on your Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro. Part of the magic of wirelessly transmitting PC games over your home's Wi-Fi network means that the Oculus Link software has to compress the image quite a bit to deliver a consistent experience. That means, at times, the image may look incredibly soft, and fine details or objects on the horizon can be difficult to see.

If you're suffering from these issues, try adjusting the following options:

1. Ensure your Quest 2 or Quest Pro is connected to your PC via Quest Air Link. You'll know you're in the right place because you'll be in the Oculus Rift home, not your Quest home (they look very different).
2. Press the Home button on your right controller to bring up the Oculus menu bar.
3. Select the Quest Air Link button, located on the left side of the bar.

1. In the Dynamic section, adjust the maximum bitrate that Air Link will use. A higher bitrate means better image quality.
2. If you still see a muddy or soft image, select the Fixed option.

1. Try starting at 100Mbps for fixed bitrate and see if that improves image quality.
2. Minimize the Air Link Bitrate window by selecting the minimize button on the bottom right corner of the window.
3. Play something and see if your image quality has been improved!

While Dynamic bitrate is great for slower Wi-Fi networks that might not be able to handle a consistent quality connection, a fast Wi-Fi 6 network should be able to handle much higher fixed bitrate images that'll deliver better overall quality. If you increase the bitrate too much, you'll notice the image begins to stutter or slow down, meaning you'll need to drop the fixed bitrate a bit to maintain a better connection.

Stuttering on Oculus Air Link

While Air Link doesn't require any cables to be connected, its Wi-Fi-dependent nature means that several variables could cause performance issues along the way. The first thing you can do is lower the bitrate that Quest Air Link uses to ensure a more stable connection.

1. Ensure your Quest 2 or Quest Pro is connected to your PC via Quest Air Link. You'll know you're in the right place because you'll be in the Oculus Rift home, not your Quest home (they look very different).
2. Press the Home button on your right controller to bring up the Oculus menu bar.
3. Select the Quest Air Link button, located on the left side of the bar.

1. In the Dynamic section, adjust the maximum bitrate that Air Link will use. A lower maximum bitrate means lower image quality but a more consistent connection.

1. Minimize the Air Link Bitrate window by selecting the minimize button on the bottom right corner of the window.
2. We suggest selecting a setting lower than 100Mbps if you're encountering stuttering while playing.
3. Play something and see if the stuttering is gone.

If you're still running into issues with stuttering, you might need to prioritize your Meta Quest 2 or Quest Pro and your PC on your home's Wi-Fi network. This step isn't quite as easy to layout, though, as it's going to vary wildly from router to router. On most router software — either the app or the web interface — you'll need to find the QoS or prioritize traffic section.

Most routers have a devices section front and center where you can select a device and choose it as a priority over others. It may look something like this:

Setting a device as the priority means your router will ensure enough bandwidth is available for that device to run optimally. In the case of wireless Wi-Fi-powered VR, setting both your PC and your Meta Quest as a priority device on your router is important, as it's the best way to ensure a consistently smooth experience.

Otherwise, when network traffic gets busy — typically caused by multiple devices in use or large downloads occurring on other devices on your network — your wireless VR traffic could become a lower priority for your router. By setting these two as priority devices, you can ensure that no other device in your home steals the bandwidth you need for an excellent VR experience.

When forever doesn't mean forever

Up until August 23, 2022, Meta required a Facebook account just to use an Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2. Thankfully, the company reversed its policy and now asks users log in with a Meta account instead of a Facebook account.

That means users will actually be required to remove their Facebook accounts from their Oculus Quest or Meta Quest 2 headsets and, instead, log in with a social media-free Meta account.

This Meta account is, ironically, quite similar to the original Oculus accounts system and is used only to manage payments and ensure digital ownership of games and apps.

Users can optionally link their Facebook or Instagram accounts to a Meta account for easier social media access, but there’s no requirement to do this just to use Meta’s VR services.

A better way to play

With the advent of Meta accounts, users no longer have to worry about their social media behavior affecting their ability to play VR. With the previous policy, users who incurred a Facebook account ban lost access to their Meta Quest headsets and all purchased games or apps. This policy caused a number of problems (and unhappy users) when it was originally enforced in 2020 with the Quest 2 launch.

With the latest policy changes, a user’s social media account can be optionally linked to a Meta Horizon profile but will not affect a user’s ability to play on their headsets, even if they are banned from linked social media accounts. That’s because a Meta account is a separate account that’s only used for managing payments and a user’s library of games and apps.

So far, this seems to have completely solved the conundrum many players found themselves in after the Quest 2 launched. Similarly, a Meta Horizon profile is a separate social presence that includes a user’s name, username, and digital avatar and is also separate from their Facebook account. That means you won’t have to worry about your Facebook friends following you in VR if you don’t want them to. 

Stuck between the Oculus Quest 128GB vs. 256GB? Both variants support the same features and have the same library of games, so the only difference is the amount of storage available and the price of each device.

No matter which model you choose, your Quest 2 will come bundled with two free games: Golf+ and Space Pirate Trainer DX. There's a wide variety of genres available on the Quest 2 and this bundle will give you a taste of just how varied VR gaming can be.

Once you pick it up, don't forget to pick up the best Quest 2 games, and be sure to keep an eye out for all the great Quest 2 games coming out soon!

Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs. Oculus Quest 2 256GB: Pricing and availability

Meta originally sold the Oculus Quest 2 in 64GB and 256GB variants. In August 2021, it discontinued the 64GB version and launched a new 128GB version at the same $299 price point. Be sure to keep an eye out for the best Quest 2 deals if that cost is too steep for your budget.

While we know the Quest 3 is officially coming this Fall, that headset starts at $499, making it $200 more expensive than the Quest 2. Since we're expecting the Quest 2 to be supported for years to come, it makes sense to pick one up if you don't mind not having the latest and greatest hardware.

The more affordable Oculus Quest 2 128GB hit the sweet spot between the deficient 64GB model and the behemoth 256GB drive — which the majority of Quest players may never fill — making it the best version for most people in my mind. As an owner of an original 64GB Quest 2, I will tell you that 64GB is simply not enough space.

So that brings us to the main question: is 128gb enough for the Oculus Quest 2?

128GB offers plenty of room for folks that don't plan on having a large installation library, which means more than 30 games (or so) installed at once. If you think you'll want more than that, paying $50 more for the 256GB model makes a pretty easy decision.

These days, many of our favorite Oculus Quest 2 games now tend to land somewhere around the 8-12GB range, and some people use their Quests to store local copies of movies or custom content. The extra space may very well be worth it for more hardcore VR gamers or media enthusiasts.

Keep in mind the Quest 2 doesn't support expandable storage at all. If you choose the 128GB version, you may have to manage your storage space more closely to ensure you don't run out. So let's make sure you don't have any buyer's remorse.

Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs. Oculus Quest 2 256GB: What's the difference?

The difference between Quest 2 128 and 256 is all down to storage. Both headsets have the same graphics, operating system, gaming library, and tech features. The form factor is also the same, meaning they look and weigh the same. They're even the same color — white. The only thing you get when you pay $50 more is double the storage.

Both headsets boast the same specifications, so they perform identically in nearly any scenario. The only exception would be filling your 128GB model to above 99% capacity, which could cause issues when saving games. This once happened to me while playing Jurassic World Aftermath on the original 64GB model, which corrupted my save file because it didn't have enough space to write the entire save.

Like any gaming console, the Oculus Quest 2 uses up a healthy chunk of its storage for required software: 11.3GB, to be exact. Plus, it comes pre-installed with a few demos and tutorials, but I uninstalled those to free up a few hundred megabytes. In practice, you get just over 116GB of actual storage with the 128GB Quest 2, while the 256GB Quest 2 ships with a gargantuan 245GB left for games, experiences, and movies.

You also might be wondering what the difference is between the Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest 2. Other than the change in logo on the front from Oculus to Meta, absolutely nothing is different. Facebook rebranded its company name to Meta in 2021 and that's reflected on newer Quest 2 units.

Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs. Oculus Quest 2 256GB: Game sizes, game saves, and multimedia

You can store custom content and media on the Oculus Quest 2, but most users will only store official games directly from the Oculus Store. So to decide how much space you actually need, think about how many games you plan to buy and the average game sizes for each.

Looking at some popular Oculus Quest 2 games, many of the classics are 2GB and under, with popular games like Beat Saber (1.4GB), Pistol Whip (1GB), Echo VR (1GB), Rec Room (1.7GB), and SUPERHOT (2.1GB) only grabbing a small portion of storage space.

On the other hand, newer games made with the Quest 2's enhanced graphical power tend to be a bit larger, like Contractors (11GB), Resident Evil 4 VR (8.8GB), and Medal of Honor (44GB). 

As of mid-2022, if you downloaded the 40 top-selling Quest games — not counting the absurdly large Medal of Honor — it would take up 107GB. That would leave you about 10GB of hard drive space on the Oculus Quest 2 128GB headset.

Of course, this doesn't take DLC into account, nor all the free and early access releases available to download through SideQuest and App Lab. But in general, you would truly have to spend hundreds of dollars on the largest-sized Quest 2 games to fill up the 128GB headset. Even then, you'd likely have about 30-45 games downloaded before you had to uninstall some to make room for more. I can guarantee if you buy that many games, you'll find at least a few that end up disappointing you, so you won't mind deleting them.

When I originally bought the 64GB model, I ran out of space, forcing me to delete games once I finished them. But that happened in part because I get to review so many Quest games sent to me directly from developers. And even with that limited space, I could still fit about 15 games on average. The newer 128GB model has proven more than enough for my needs.

Until recently, uninstalling a game deleted your save data permanently, making us recommend the 256GB model. But the Quest now uses a cloud save system to preserve your save data automatically. You can delete games off the Quest 2 without fear, then redownload them later if the mood strikes.

The only difference with the 256GB version is that you're less likely to have to delete those games in the first place, saving you time.

If you plan to download hard copies of films, TV shows, music, or other multimedia to watch on your Quest 2, that's another story. Deleting and managing storage for custom content is much more of a hassle. And high-quality video content, especially if it's 4K, tends to take up several gigabytes of space for each show or movie, so your 128GB Quest 2 will fill up faster than the 256GB Quest 2. 

We're pretty sure this applies to a niche crowd. I personally stream content on the best media apps for the Oculus Quest 2, like YouTube, Prime Video, Vudu, and Netflix, without bothering with custom media files. But if you plan to download personal content, strongly consider the 256GB Quest 2.

Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs. Oculus Quest 2 256GB: 128GB is best for the average gamer

Folks planning to play primarily Quest-native games on their Oculus Quest 2 shouldn't have a problem running out of storage anytime soon. With enough space to comfortably fit at least 30 games at a time, the 128GB Quest 2 is an excellent choice for anyone looking to get the best-priced version of Meta's latest VR headset. If you're wondering which Meta Quest 2 to buy, it's safe to say the 128GB version is the best value.

If you're concerned about running out of room, keep in mind that you can also avoid any storage issues by playing PC VR games. SteamVR and Oculus Rift game files are stored on your PC, so massive experiences like Half-Life: Alyx don't take up a single megabyte on the headset itself. Thanks to wireless Air Link, you can enjoy amazing graphics without tethering yourself to your computer.

Plus, since you'll save some money by opting for the less-expensive 128GB Quest 2, you can pick up a few of the best Oculus Quest 2 battery packs to enhance your headset's comfort and keep the battery lasting longer. 

You could put the extra $50 you saved toward the best Quest 2 head strap instead, doubling your battery life and significantly improving the headset's comfort. Or, a great Wi-Fi 6 router will make the biggest difference if you're looking for a wireless PC VR experience, as apps like Virtual Desktop and Oculus Air Link can deliver a near-perfect wireless experience on fast networks and powerful PCs.

Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs. Oculus Quest 2 256GB: 256GB is the best choice for power users

The number of people who might need the extra storage from the 256GB model is probably pretty low. Even as a daily VR gamer with a large library of games, I've never found myself in need of 256GB. With the cost difference now just a mere $50, though, doubling your Quest's storage isn't as much of an investment.

If you consider yourself a power user who wants to download as many cool games as possible without worrying about storage space, the 256GB model could be a good fit. Otherwise, stick to the 128GB model and save some money to spend on games and accessories.

Most inventors and great thinkers who've created something amazing have to have a little bit of crazy in their system. 

The philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras believed fava beans contain the souls of the dead. Sherlock Holmes writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed fairies were real. During his time at Atari, Steve Jobs thought if he ate enough fruit, he didn't need to shower. 

That brings us to Palmer Luckey, the founder and original creator of the Oculus VR headsets and the defense start-up Anduril, who sold his VR startup to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. He's created a new VR headset that should be called a "literal reality" headset because if a player dies in a virtual game, the headset will literally kill them. 

VICE reported that the Oculus company founder is halfway to completing a prototype for a new headset called NerveGear. Luckey announced the grim device on his personal blog on Sunday to help celebrate the launch of the VRMMORPG game Sword Art Online (SAO) based on the anime series of the same name. A VR headset that can kill its core audience definitely wasn't in the game studio's marketing plan. 

The NerveGear comes from the SAO universe. The fictional NerveGear headset looks more like the Doomslayer's helmet and traps players inside it until they complete a virtual game where the only reward is survival. A special Blu-Ray collector's edition released to celebrate SAO's 10th anniversary features the deadly headset on the cover. Luckey's NerveGear prototype doesn't look quite the same but the execution, stylistically and literally, is the same.

Luckey's prototype looks like an incomplete Meta Quest Pro headset with three triceratops horns sticking out of the top of its base. Luckey claims on his blog that these horns are microwave emitters "that could be overdriven to lethal levels." 

"I used three of the explosive charge modules I usually use for a different project, tying them to a narrow-band photosensor that can detect when the screen flashes red at a specific frequency, making game-over integration on the part of the developer very easy," Luckey writes. "When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, the charges fire, instantly destroying the brain of the user."

Luckey admits that his NerveGear isn't a complete recreation of the one from the SAO canon since it doesn't have a mechanism that can prevent players from removing the headset once they know their number is up and the microwave is about to scramble their brains. However, he's working on fixing that. 

He says he's not confident that the headset will only kill the player if they die in the SAO game, which explains "why I have not worked up the balls to actually use it myself."

He also came up with a great way to make the new Among US VR game on the Oculus Quest 2 WAY more intense — though killing off your user base may not be the most economically sound strategy! 

The best Oculus Quest 2 accessories make up for its many compromises to hit its absurdly low $199 price tag. It ships with an unsupportive, front-heavy cloth strap, the battery dies too quickly, and Meta had to include a silicone cover to protect your skin from the rash-inducing foam interface.

While the Oculus Quest 2 is the best affordable entry point into VR, and still among the best VR headsets of 2024, it's far from perfect. Thankfully, the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories will help curb some of these issues.

To improve your VR experience, we've chosen the top options from Meta or third parties in every category, from face covers and batteries to Link cables and VR-ready PCs.

Note: Most of these accessories won't work with the newer, redesigned Quest 3; check our best Quest 3 accessories guide if you've upgraded to the newer model.

At a glance

Best overall: Oculus Quest 2 Carrying Case

The Quest 2 might be a portable headset but you're probably not bringing it everywhere you go. As such, you might think a carrying case might be pointless. However, unless you want to keep your Quest 2 in the box it shipped in, there aren't easy storage solutions. Its delicate lenses can get damaged after just a few seconds of exposure to sunlight, and you'll need a place to hold any accessories you pick up to keep them from getting lost. A carrying case solves these problems.

Among the best Oculus Quest 2 cases, Meta's first-party accessory should be your immediate choice. Don't worry — this isn't because it's emblazoned with the Meta logo and ships for a hefty fee. It's because this case is outfitted with custom molding and inlaid dividers to hold just about all the accessories you could need to secure. That's all fairly standard, but what makes the official case stand out is that it can fit the Quest 2 with the Elite Strap attached. Most third-party cases are designed for the base headset, with no room for bigger straps.

Even if you don't have the Elite Strap, the case is still stylish, features an attached handhold for easier carrying, and it's specifically designed for the Quest 2, unlike some third-party cases which are actually repurposed Quest 1 cases. On the other hand, the soft material and lack of padding on its exterior won't protect it from falls or compression in a suitcase. If you're looking to carry your Quest 2 outside, you should probably consider a hard-shelled case from the linked list above as an alternative to prevent any extra wear and tear.

Before you grab the case by itself, Meta also offers a bundle that includes both the Elite Strap with Battery and a Carrying Case, so if you plan to pick up both accessories, there's no need to buy each individually.

Best head strap replacement: KIWI Quest 2 elite strap

The Oculus Quest 2's default head strap is easy to adjust and moderately comfortable in short play sessions, but it's unstable and leaves the headset feeling front-heavy. Meta sells an official Quest 2 Elite Strap that's much more ergonomic, including a Battery Pack model that also happens to double the headset's battery life. Initially the Elite Straps were fragile and often snapped under pressure, but Meta redesigned the accessory and fixed the issue.

That said, many of the best Quest 2 Elite Strap alternatives outdo Oculus — specifically, the KIWI Quest 2 Elite Strap. It's comfortable, well-designed, and can charge your Quest 2 like Meta's official Battery Pack model.

The KIWI strap adds comfortable, removable PU-leather padding on the top and back of your head. It cushions the Quest's weight during play sessions, then can be removed and washed afterward to ensure it's hygienic. The plastic frame on KIWI's headset is also more durable than the Oculus Elite Strap, so you can trust that it won't snap. And like the Elite Strap, KIWI's model has a knob on its back that allows you to fasten it to your head for the best fit.

Most importantly, KIWI's Quest 2 strap allows you to freely adjust the vertical angle from your eyes to the lenses, which you won't find in most other straps. It also leaves extra space for over-the-ear headphones, whereas other straps with more rigid and straight frames sit too close to your ears, only leaving room for earbuds.

Snug and well-constructed, KIWI's strap is a must-buy to make the Quest 2 better in longer play sessions.

Best controller accessory: KIWI Quest 2 knuckle grips

Oculus Touch controllers come with little built-in hand straps that prevent accidental throws or drops; but if they do slip, the controllers dangle awkwardly from your wrists and can still lead to some clumsy incidents. The only way to prevent that slipping is to keep a constant and rigid grip on them during play sessions, which puts strain on your wrists and can cause cramping in your hands. That's why many Quest 2 gamers like Quest 2 hand strap mods, which strap the Touch controllers directly to your knuckles, relieving you from an increased risk of wrist strain.

While we prefer VR Cover's grips, they're almost always sold out on digital storefronts, so we're subbing in KIWI Design's Knuckle Grips as a great alternative. They strap over your upper knuckles so the Touch controllers stay securely in your palms at all times, all while keeping the buttons within reach. The grips are made from a rigid silicone that will hold a firm shape when squeezed and wicks away any sweat. The faux-leather strap will dependably keep the controller in place.

What sets KIWI's grips apart is that they add a new battery compartment that you can open up by just pulling a tab. The standard Touch controllers require you to remove the grips before adding batteries and this design makes replacing batteries a breeze.

Best face cover: KIWI Design Facial Interface for Oculus Quest 2

Arguably the Quest 2's biggest design flaw is its foam padding on the inside of the headset. The pads absorb dirt and sweat causing irritate the skin, especially during long play sessions, and cleaning them can turn into a hassle. Meta even issued a voluntary facial interface recall and sent Quest 2 owners a free silicone cover to cover up the foam in 2021. If even Meta agrees you need a new face cover, you're definitely overdue to get one.

You can certainly make do with the cover that ships with Quest 2. It's free, after all, and does the job well enough. But it doesn't solve another persistent issue with the Quest 2: lens fogging. The headset design prioritizes blocking light, which traps heat inside the headset, making sweat condense on the lenses. KIWI Design's Facial Interface will help solve this issue.

Unlike Meta's replacement, KIWI's facial interface has vents, which allow some of the heat to escape from your headset.

Aside from the vents, it's also lined with PU leather padding, which is easier to clean and more comfortable than foam. Once it gets sweaty, you can easily clean the padding and reapply it without too much fuss. Our reviewer also found that you could install facial padding from other manufacturers onto the KIWI gasket if you'd prefer.

The KIWI Design Facial Interface's only flaw is that its nose guard lets in a bit too much light compared to rival interfaces. If that's something you can deal with, this design tops our list of the best Quest 2 face covers by a country mile.

Best headphones: Logitech G333 VR gaming earphones

The Quest 2 comes with built-in speakers, but those speakers sound tinny. Plus, nobody wants to hear your game audio spilling out if they're not playing the game with you. For better immersion (and to keep the people around you from getting annoyed), owning one of the best Oculus Quest 2 headphones is vital for any Quest 2 owner's arsenal. The Logitech G333 VR earphones by far are our favorite.

With dual drivers dedicated to mids/highs and bass, these compact earbuds deliver solid audio despite their lightweight design. They also have custom-length cords and velcro straps that ensure the cable doesn't dangle or bounce during active gameplay. As an added bonus, they're nearly latency-free, ensuring the audio matches up to the video perfectly.

Meta and Logitech worked together on the G333 VR earbuds to make the ideal pair of earbuds. Sure, they're a little expensive, especially since their custom length makes them unsuited for use with devices other than a VR headset. But they're easy to attach to your Quest 2 permanently, add no noticeable weight, and fit easily inside any carrying case. They also come in three different bud sizes, so they'll fit most ears without difficulty.

Whether you prefer these or over-ear headphones is a genuine matter of preference. We think the G333s work better for action-packed games or VR exercise regimens, but if you want more powerful audio, other Quest 2 headphones like the Logitech G PRO may work better for you.

Best link cable: VOKOO Oculus Quest Link Cable (16ft)

At least 33% of SteamVR users use the Oculus Quest 2, even though it's not designed for native PC VR. To play Steam VR games on the Quest 2, you can play games wirelessly with Air Link or Virtual Desktop, but a wired connection will get you the most stable experience — especially if your network isn't built to handle the required speeds.

You can buy Meta's official cable for the best performance, but it's pretty expensive. And if your PC doesn't have a USB Type-C port, you'd be out of luck anyway and would need to find a USB Type-C to USB adapter that supports the necessary transfer speeds. That's why we recommend these Oculus Link cable alternatives; of those, our absolute favorite is VOKOO's premium USB-C cable. It's a 16-foot, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C cable rated to transfer 5Gbps, which should give you everything you could need for PC gaming on your Quest 2.

VOKOO's cable is designed with plenty of give and flexibility for room-scale VR, and it has a right-angle head to slot into the Quest 2 charging port. Its ergonomic design helps keep you from potentially yanking and damaging your hardware (or, worse, hurting your neck). It's the closest you'll get to the freedom of wireless VR while still being tethered to your computer.

Best VR-ready PC: HP OMEN 30L

It feels strange to call a PC an "accessory," but that's exactly what it is in this case. The Quest 2's best games are certainly immersive and graphically impressive for a fully mobile VR headset. However, you need much more power to play many Oculus Rift or SteamVR-level games on a Quest 2.

First, check and see if your PC, laptop, or Mac is compatible with Oculus Link. If it isn't, a VR-ready PC will give you access to a wealth of new games and let you more easily check out mods for popular Quest 2 games like Beat Saber.

Most powerful PCs with a solid graphics card will work for VR. But if you need help picking one, we'd suggest the HP Omen 30L. Our colleagues at Windows Central love this model and recommend it as one of the best-prebuilt PCs for Oculus Link. Depending on which model you buy, you can upgrade up to an Intel Core i9-10900K, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 1TB of SSD storage with some HDD backup, and 32GB of RAM.

These specs are all more than powerful enough for playing the best SteamVR games with Oculus Link or via Link Cable. It has one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port — perfect for your VR Cover Link cable — and plenty of fan cooling to keep it running smoothly. Performance is excellent in various benchmark tests, at least with the best build. Really, the only issue with the HP Omen 30L is that the top builds are costly and often hard to find.

Best battery pack: VR Power 2 for Oculus Quest 2

Nothing's quite as annoying as the "low battery" warning popping up to ruin the high of an intense Beat Saber session and cutting your fun short. The Quest 2 only lasts about 2.5 hours on a full charge and will still drain if you leave it on standby. No matter what you do, you're probably going to run out of juice quickly. That's why we recommend strapping a reliable Quest 2 battery pack to your headset to help extend your playtime.

The Elite Strap with Battery will naturally add a better fit and a couple of extra hours of gameplay, but its 4,676mAh boost doesn't hold a candle to Rebuff Reality's 10,000 mAh VR Power 2. That beefy charge allows for all-day gaming sessions by attaching to the back of your head strap. It even displays its charge, so you'll know if and when it needs a recharge itself.

The VR Power 2 sits on the upper back of your head, resting comfortably thanks to its soft, interior padding. It's designed to work with the default strap, the Elite Strap (without the battery), or other third-party straps. It weighs 0.6 pounds, but that extra weight helps balance out the otherwise front-heavy Quest 2. It also ships with a cord that runs along the top strap and slots into the charging port and has clips that fasten to keep it in place.

Otherwise, you can check our larger list of Quest-compatible battery packs. Some incorporate batteries into straps, while others (like the VR Power 2) attach directly to the strap, making them more unwieldy but also more affordable.

Best accessory for glasses-wearers: VirtuClear Lenses

The Quest 2 ships with a glasses spacer, but it probably won't keep your glasses from sliding up against the headset's lenses — meaning either set of lenses can get scratched. Even if that doesn't happen, a tight fit can make wearing glasses painful or even cause headaches. For people who need glasses but also want a clearer, more natural VR experience, you can buy prescription Quest 2 inserts and ditch your glasses in VR.

Made "in partnership" with Meta, VirtuClear lenses are installed directly over the official lenses. VirtuClear will customize and ship customized lenses to you based on your prescription. It takes 7-10 days to create the lenses, then extra time for shipping. The company also recommends installing the Quest 2 Fit Pack for better comfort with these lenses.

Just like that, you'll have personalized Quest 2 lenses while freeing yourself from glasses.

Virtuclear's inserts are best for Quest 2 owners who don't regularly share the headset with friends or family members. Yes, you can remove and reinsert them every time you swap headsets, but it's not easy. It's important to note that you ensure your prescription is up to date before buying. These lenses aren't cheap, and it's always possible that your prescription has fluctuated since your last eye exam, so it's best to double-check that they're accurate for as long as possible.

• Back to the top ^

Enhance your VR gaming with the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories

The Quest 2 is in a league of its own thanks to its portability and reasonable starting price, even after the recent price increase. But part of the reason it's more inexpensive compared to other headsets is because it ships without some critical accessories in the box.

Once you're equipped with some of the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories, your VR experience will almost definitely improve. First and foremost, we recommend the official Quest 2 Carrying Case. Not only because it gives you a safe spot to store your headset but because it can safely fit the headset and many of the Quest 2's other best accessories as well.

Shoving your Quest 2 into a bag or desk drawer and calling it a day runs the risk of causing drift on the Touch Controllers' sticks or even damaging the Quest 2's lenses or charging port. A Carrying Case is an easy way to protect your investment and keep all your VR tools in one attractive container — plus, it has room for your upgraded Elite Strap.

The Touch Controllers for the Oculus Quest 2 ship with one disposable AA battery each. That initial battery will last for a while if you don't play with your Quest 2 very frequently — up to several months, in fact. However, it's wise to get one of the best Oculus Quest 2 replacement batteries so you can keep playing once they eventually run out of juice. 

If you're going to buy disposable batteries, it's worth purchasing a larger stack rather than a standard sized pack to save some money and ensure you'll have a supply whenever you need to swap a battery out. Or, better yet, invest in a charging station or rechargeable batteries to get even more bang for your buck! Here are the batteries and chargers we recommend for your Oculus Touch controllers.

The best battery and charger options for your Oculus Quest controllers

• Back to the top ^

Don't let batteries hold your Quest gaming back

As wireless headsets with wireless controllers, the Quest and Quest 2 headsets don't have particularly long battery lives. While the headset can simply be recharged with the included cable, the Touch controllers are a different story entirely. You'll need to replace the controller batteries at some point, especially if you play frequently. 

That's why we recommend getting rechargeable AA batteries, as you'll be able to easily have a pair handy when the batteries get low, and will have plenty of warning ahead of time. The only thing worse than having to stop playing the best Oculus Quest 2 games to replace your batteries is not to have any spare batteries to swap in.

When picking the best Oculus Quest 2 replacement batteries, pay attention to any information they give on recharge cycles and usable battery life. You'll want at least 500 recharge cycles and several years of promised durability to ensure your battery won't suddenly stop working or lose its charge. That's one reason why we love the Panasonic eneloop rechargeable batteries, which can recharge an absurd 2,100 times before you'll finally have to buy some new ones.

Battery capacity is also an essential factor to consider, though perhaps not as vital as you might think. The higher mAh rating you see, the longer the battery will last and the more it can handle demanding electronics. But the Oculus Touch controllers aren't that demanding and are frequently in standby mode. Since standby mode doesn't use any real power, it's important to get batteries that can hold their juice for a long time, even when not in use.

For reliable performance in both areas, the Panasonic eneloop Pros have a solid 2,500 mAh while also retaining 85% of their charge for a whole year. Or, if you don't want to bother with rechargeable batteries, the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries have a massive 3,000 mAh capacity, and can last up to 20 years in storage.

If you were looking for something a little more bespoke than generic AA batteries, both Anker and BeswinVR offer charging docks or special cables and batteries that'll get the job done without having to ever remove the battery cover again. They're a bit more expensive than regular batteries but shouldn't ever need to be replaced while you have your Quest 2, thanks to battery longevity.

Once you've chosen the batteries you need, look into ways to make sure your headset is staying properly charged as well. You can look into the best Oculus Quest 2 battery packs to attach to the Quest 2, or buy a replacement Quest 2 charging cable that'll keep you topped off as you play.

Owners of the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 know just how good the truly wireless experience is. What they may not know, however, is how their gaming PC could transform these devices into an Oculus Rift and enable even grander-scale VR experiences. Our step-by-step guide will show you the easiest path to using your Oculus Quest as a PC VR headset, as well as introduce a few ways to keep the experience truly wireless. The best part is that your PC will be storing all the games needed, so you can opt for the less expensive Oculus Quest 2 128GB. Let's get started with how to play SteamVR on Oculus Quest.

With Virtual Desktop (wireless)

Virtual Desktop is our method of choice for playing PC VR games on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 because it offers the greatest number of options and a wide range of customizations. Virtual Desktop isn't a free application, but the $20 price point will get you the best wireless experience available. Alternatively, Oculus Air Link now offers a similar experience for free.

When you connect an Oculus Quest 2 to a Wi-Fi 6 network, Virtual Desktop can provide even higher quality visuals with lower latency. Virtual Desktop now supports streaming directly from your PC to your Oculus Quest without the need for additional patches that were once required. That means all you'll need to do is install Virtual Desktop on your Quest, then get the streaming app installed on your computer.

Whichever Oculus Quest you use, make sure to buy the correct Oculus Quest version of Virtual Desktop, which can be found on the Oculus Store and is linked above. The Steam and Oculus Rift versions of Virtual Desktop won't do the same thing. Once you've purchased that, put your Oculus Quest on and get Virtual Desktop installed:

1. If you don't see the bar at the bottom, press the home button on your right controller.
2. Install Virtual Desktop by clicking the install button on the Virtual Desktop tile.

3. Ensure your Quest is on the same Wi-Fi network as your PC.
4. Once it's done installing, take your headset off. Don't launch Virtual Desktop just yet.

Head over to your gaming PC now

1. Make sure Steam is installed on your computer. You can get Steam here.
2. Login with your Steam account and download SteamVR.
3. You'll also need to download the Meta Quest app by scrolling down and clicking the download link under the "Air Link and Link Cable" section.
4. Sign in with your Meta account.
5. There's no need to go through the setup for adding a new headset since Virtual Desktop will handle that for you.
6. Download the Virtual Desktop streaming app.
7. Run the application once it's done downloading.

8. Fill in your Oculus username in the box and press Save.
9. For the best future experience, make sure Start with Windows and Start minimized in tray are selected.
10. With those options selected, all you'll need to do in the future is turn your PC and launch Virtual Desktop on your Oculus Quest.

Time to put the Oculus Quest on your head and get started

1. Launch Virtual Desktop from the library tab on the Oculus bar at the bottom.
2. When Virtual Desktop loads up for the first time, you'll need to select your Desktop PC from the list to connect to it. It's probably the only thing listed.

3. Once Virtual Desktop has connected to your PC, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to bring up the Virtual Desktop menu.
4. Select Start SteamVR on the left-hand menu
5. Once SteamVR loads up, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to pull up the SteamVR dashboard.

6. To bring up the Virtual Desktop menu again, long-press the menu button on the left Quest controller. You should always launch new games this way instead of browsing the SteamVR library from Steam.

Enjoy wireless SteamVR on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2!

With Oculus Air Link (wireless)

Oculus Air Link launched as part of the April v28 Oculus update and became available to all Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 gamers on April 23, 2021. Oculus Air Link is a free addition to the Oculus ecosystem and enables players to play PC VR games completely wirelessly on their Oculus Quest or Quest 2 via their home's Wi-Fi network. Air Link works just fine on a Wi-Fi 5 network, but the best Wi-Fi 6 routers will give you the best experience since they'll allow for a higher bit rate and frame rate.

1. Make sure Steam is installed on your computer. You can get Steam here.
2. Login with your Steam account and download SteamVR.
3. You'll also need to download the Meta Quest app by scrolling down and clicking the download link under the "Air Link and Link Cable" section.
4. Sign in with your Meta account.
5. Select Settings from the left side of the Oculus software
6. Select the Beta tab at the top of the settings section
7. Click the Air Link toggle to switch it on

8. You may need to accept a prompt from Windows Firewall to allow Oculus Air Link to get through

The option to enable Oculus Air Link should automatically appear if your Oculus Quest 2 is at least on software version 28. If you still don't see the option to enable Oculus Air link, here's how to enable Oculus Air Link an alternative way.

Now, put your Quest or Quest 2 on and power it up

With your PC powered up and the Oculus Rift software running, get your Quest powered on and put it on.

1. Press the Oculus Home button on the right controller to open the Universal Home menu.
2. Select the settings cog on the right side of the menu.
3. Click on the Oculus Air Link button on the right side. It's one of the three larger rectangular buttons.

4. On the pop-up screen, select your PC from the list of available computers and click the blue pair button to link it.
5. If you don't see your PC on this screen, ensure your Quest and PC are on the same network.
6. Once it links your PC and Quest, select the blue Launch button to begin Air Link.
7. Press the Oculus Home button on the right controller to open the Oculus Home bar.
8. On the Oculus Home bar at the bottom, select the Library button.

9. Click on the SteamVR icon to launch SteamVR. This is found under the apps section.

10. Once SteamVR loads up, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to pull up the SteamVR dashboard.
11. Launch any games you want to play via the Library tab. It looks like three books in a vertical stack.

Adjusting Oculus Air Link settings and returning to Quest Home

When you're all done playing PC VR games, it's pretty easy to return to the world of Quest.

1. Press the Oculus Home button on the right controller to open the Oculus Home menu.
2. Select the Oculus Air Link button on the left side of the Oculus Home menu.

From here, you can adjust the bit rate of the wireless stream. Slower Wi-Fi networks will want to keep the dynamic bit rate on the lower side, as too high of a bit rate can create stutters and other visual problems that might make you sick. Faster wireless networks can bring the slider up to increase the visual quality of the stream. If you've got a high-speed wireless network, you can even opt for a fixed bit rate for a more consistent cable-like experience.

When you're ready to quit, just select the quit button from this menu.

Enjoy wireless SteamVR on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2!

With an Oculus Link cable (wired)

While wireless is the preferable solution, wiring up your Oculus Quest or Quest 2 with an Oculus Link cable might be the best solution if you don't have a strong Wi-Fi network at home. A dedicated cable can provide a consistently great experience because it's not going to be affected by network congestion in the way a wireless solution might. To get started, all you'll need is a USB Type-C cable to plug your Oculus Quest into your computer.

The $80 Oculus Link cable will offer the highest quality experience and is officially recommended by Oculus. You can also opt for the best Oculus Link cable alternatives to save you money or connect via USB-A port, instead. Once you've got the cable, follow these instructions.

1. Make sure Steam is installed on your computer. You can get Steam here.
2. Login with your Steam account and download SteamVR.
3. You'll also need to download the Meta Quest app by scrolling down and clicking the download link under the "Air Link and Link Cable" section.
4. Sign in with your Meta account.
5. Connect one side of the USB cable to the appropriate port on your PC.
6. Connect the other side to your Oculus Quest/Quest 2.
7. The Oculus app on your computer should recognize the Oculus Quest once it's plugged in. Click Continue on the screen that pops up to enable Oculus Link.

8. If your cable fails the test, you should consider one of the cables we recommended above.
9. Click Continue and put the Oculus Quest on your head.
10. Be sure to select Deny if prompted to allow data access to your Quest. Selecting accept could interfere with the connection and cause random disconnections during play.
11. On your Quest, select Enable Oculus Link on the next pop-up that appears.
12. The Oculus Home menu will appear. It looks different from your regular Horizon Home on the Quest.
13. Once the Oculus Home menu appears, select Apps on the left-hand side of the screen.
14. Start SteamVR.

15. Once SteamVR loads up, press the menu button on the left Quest controller to pull up the SteamVR dashboard.
16. Lauch games from the Library menu at the bottom. It looks like a vertical stack of books.

Now it's time for you to experience just how good PC VR can be!

You're all set!

No matter how you get there, whether it's by connecting a wire or setting up one of the excellent wireless experiences, it's now better than ever to turn your Oculus Quest into an Oculus Rift and play super-powered PC VR games.

What you need to know

• Meta Connect's one-day virtual event is set for October 11.
• The event is set to showcase work being done on the metaverse and Meta's ambitions for AR technology.
• We are expecting to hear more about the coming Oculus Quest Pro headset.

The Meta Connect one-day virtual event has its date set for October 11.

Meta announced the set date for its virtual event today through an animated splash page. While the information currently provided for the event is a little light, the company gives us a brief overview of what to expect. According to Meta, this event will allow people to "discover how the metaverse is being built by many and why collaboration is the key to it all."

Meta also states it will be showcasing how it's building the metaverse along with the future of augmented reality. Industry leaders and developers will also be on deck to show off some new technologies and explanations on how/when they would be useful.

While not explicitly stated by Meta, we are expecting to see something about the new Oculus Quest Pro. Through Mark Zuckerberg's appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, we know that this device should arrive at some point in October. The rumors right now, per Brad Lynch's tweet, indicate the new headset could come out a couple of weeks after the Meta Connect event.

Some early looks at the Oculus Quest Pro showed us the device's solid, glossy black build. The device also appears to include transparent portions to allow the built-in cameras to gaze out at your surroundings. Other leaks say the Oculus Quest Pro could be more akin to wearing a pair of glasses with its thinner front. This is would be a welcome change considering the Quest 2 was quite front-heavy.

Another welcome change for the headset would be the rumor of a miniLED display. This is most commonly featured in newer TVs and would take Meta's new headset to another level visually, if factual.

Further speculation on the device says the total amount for its entire package could be around $1,500. That would include the headset, controllers, charging pad, and cables. The Oculus Quest Pro is rumored to feature a Snapdragon XR2 5G chipset with 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal space. The headset could also support Wi-Fi 6E and contain a 5,000mAh Li-ion battery. It's also worth noting that the Oculus Quest Pro is not the Quest 3. That device could see a fall 2023 release.

Additionally, when it comes to Meta's ambitions for AR technology, Zuckerberg stated that he would want an "iPhone moment" for it. Meta has plans to release its first set of AR glasses in 2024, with subsequent releases coming in 2026 and 2028. These glasses would pair with a person's phone and display notifications in their field of view.

Au revoir, Facebook

As of Aug. 23, 2022, Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 users can no longer use a Facebook account to log into their VR headsets. Instead, users will need to make a new Meta account that is separate from any social media presence. This account is free and only used to manage purchases and digital library ownership.

Meta had originally announced in October 2021 that the Facebook account requirement for Meta VR headsets would be sunsetted in the future. It took nearly a year for Meta to roll out the new accounts system, but that's now officially available.

From now on, users who put on their Meta VR headsets for the first time will be instructed to create a new Meta account so that they can continue to use their headsets. Only one account per headset can be used.

Users will then create individual Meta Horizon profiles for each user, which contain a person’s name, username, personal digital likeness avatar, and other pertinent information.

Once a Meta account and Meta Horizon profile are set up, users can then optionally link their Facebook or Instagram accounts to their Meta account for a seamless social experience. Unlike the current Facebook account design, users who get banned from Facebook will still be able to use their Meta Quest headsets since it will use a separate, unlinked Meta account.

One of the biggest problems with using a Facebook account is that your social media posts could affect your ability to log in and use your Oculus Quest. If your Facebook account got banned for something you said on social media, you'd lose all access to your Quest and any games purchased on it.

Thankfully, that mess is now history.

What will happen to my Oculus account?

All Meta VR headset users must use a Meta account by Jan. 1, 2023. Existing Oculus accounts can be merged with a new Meta account, which will operate similarly to the existing Oculus accounts system.

Users who log in to their Quest or Quest 2 with a Facebook account will be required to migrate to a Meta account immediately following the update's availability.

If you previously merged your Oculus account with your Facebook account, you will now be able to unlink those accounts in favor of a Meta account.

Putting on a VR headset and jumping headfirst into a virtual world for the first time is a truly special moment. Frustratingly, the jump can be dizzying too. In fact, it's very common for VR newcomers to get sick mere minutes after donning a headset. Your skin can get clammy, you might feel sick to your stomach, and you may even feel a strong sense of dizziness. It's not fun for anyone, believe me. But just because you're sensitive to motion in VR games like Resident Evil 4 VR, doesn't mean you can't handle VR altogether; chances are you just need the right game.

Plenty of factors can contribute to or cause VR motion sickness, but one thing that makes it worse is playing a game that's designed for those with more VR experience. If you put on your headset and immediately launch a game like Asgard's Wrath 2 you're probably going to feel dizzy. Luckily, there are plenty of games that are very friendly for VR newcomers. If you're struggling with getting your VR legs, our list of the best Quest 3 games for VR first-timers to avoid motion sickness will help you get the most out of your Quest 3 while acclimating to virtual reality. The best part is that all of these games are currently compatible with the Meta Quest 2 as well.

Puzzling Places

Puzzling Places is one of the most relaxing experiences available on the Quest 3. It's a collection of jigsaw puzzles with customizable difficulty options, letting you choose the number of pieces for each puzzle from 25, 50, 100, 200, or even 400 for those looking for a challenge. What makes Puzzling Places so special is that the jigsaw puzzles are in 3D, and rather than just placing pieces in front of you, you'll have to rotate the puzzle at every angle to figure out where they fit. It can be played completely seated and requires no movement, making it a perfect fit for VR beginners and anyone with motion sickness in general.

Painting VR

The Quest 3 has tons of art games and apps, but Painting VR is the best for VR newcomers and fledgling painters. It plops you into a huge virtual art studio and gives you a canvas with customizable dimensions, along with a vast array of painting tools ranging from teeny brushes to cans of spray paint. Painting VR also gives you an in-game browser that you can use to paint along with YouTube tutorial videos in real time and lets you upload your own reference images.

Vermillion

While Painting VR is great for beginners, anyone looking to step up their VR artistry without sacrificing comfort will find a lot to love in Vermillion. Painting VR is a more casual experience with a wide array of artistic tools; Vermillion has a more grounded approach that focuses on oil painting. Like Painting VR, it includes a web browser for you to follow along with online painting tutorials, and its paint mixing has to be seen to be believed. The best part is how accessible Vermillion is compared to other art apps on the Quest 3. Your easel can be rotated and bent at every angle imaginable, making it perfect for anyone wanting a sitting experience or even for those confined to their bed.

Tetris Effect: Connected

It's genuinely hard to put the experience of playing Tetris Effect: Connected into words. On the surface, it's just the classic gameplay of Tetris in VR. It's not until you play yourself that you realize how the trippy 3D visuals, emotional background music, and meditative gameplay harmonize with each other to create something magical. Tetris Effect: Connected requires no movement and instead lets you push or pull away from the Tetris board to get as close to the action as you want. It also features a unique multiplayer mode with full cross-play support, so you can play with friends regardless your platforms.

Little Cities

Little Cities takes a laidback and cozy approach to the city-building genre and does so with great success. Players hover over the island like a giant, invisible god and build cities from the ground up. Whereas fellow VR city-building sim Cities: VR requires you to micromanage budgets and powerline placement, Little Cities instead tasks you with maximizing the happiness of your citizens through strategic city zoning and building placement. A recent update has even added a sandbox mode that allows you to build an island from the ground up and customize it as much as you want. The simple aesthetic really pops in VR and gives a nice sense of depth, and the push-pull movement system keeps you from getting sick to your stomach. 

Beat Saber

For many, Beat Saber is the quintessential VR game regardless of platform. The premise couldn't be more simple — take the action of rhythm games like Guitar Hero but replace button presses with directional arm movements — and that's part of what makes it work so well. You don't tap the correct buttons to the beat but slice them with a musical lightsaber in the instructed movement direction instead. All the while, you're ducking and weaving through obstacles as you cut through virtual boxes. It's fun, exhilarating, and remains one of the best VR games you can play.

Pistol Whip

What happens when you combine the compelling mechanics of rhythm games with the stylish gunplay of John Wick? You get Pistol Whip. Equal parts Beat Saber and light gun game, Pistol Whip has you shooting baddies and dodging bullets as you move on rails through levels synced to music. You're also free to adjust the difficulty to your liking through modifiers. Would you rather your score be based on accuracy than rhythm? Do you want to give yourself a challenge by requiring headshots? Go for it! Pistol Whip has received numerous free content updates since launch, meaning there's plenty of fun gun action for you to enjoy.

Moss and Moss 2

Few games on the Quest 3 are as cute as the Moss games. Both all-ages adventures star Quill, a little mouse who's as just as charming as she is brave. They both might be a typical fantasy setup, they're far from your average fantasy adventure games. Both focus on environmental puzzles you'll need to solve to help Quill. Rather than shrinking you down to her size like you might expect, Moss keeps you at the perspective of your human height as you aid Quill on her adventure, creating a fun sense of scale that's perfect for VR all without shifting into a queasy new perspective. You'll feel like you're interacting with a living diorama as you help Quill on her journey in these must-play Quest 3 games.

Job Simulator

A VR staple, Job Simulator is a hilarious collection of job simulations that are very loose approximations of real-world professions. The fun of the game comes not only from its premise — robots show you what the working world used to be like by running you through simulations in a job museum — but its physics gameplay. Drawers can be opened, coffee can be chugged, and staplers can be thrown. Almost everything can be interacted with and it really shows off the level of immersion VR can accomplish.

Racket: Nx

If you're looking to work up a sweat, Racket: Nx is a great way to see how virtual reality can enhance a workout session without making you too sick to your stomach. Racket: Nx can best be described as anti-gravity racquetball, but rather than the ball just bouncing off a wall and straight back to you, it rolls around a 360-degree dome. You stay stationary and instead use a tractor beam on your racquets to pull the ball back toward you. It's an incredibly engaging gameplay loop and there are even a variety of different modes available, from score-based levels to a more pure and straightforward racquetball experience.

SUPERHOT VR

Like Beat Saber, SUPERHOT VR is considered by many to be a must-own game for any VR player. The gimmick of SUPERHOT VR is that time moves only when you do, meaning when you're swarmed by enemies, you'll need to stay still and take it slow if you want to make it out alive. SUPERHOT VR's stylish aesthetic and inventive gameplay make it one of the best VR games you can own, and it's a perfect choice regardless of how much VR experience you have.

Startenders

As you may have guessed from the title, Startenders puts you in the role of a bartender in space. You'll need to collect enough tips to purchase parts to upgrade your bar equipment, and that will require delivering drinks to your alien patrons accurately and quickly. There's a lot to keep track of and orders can get pretty complex, so it won't be as simple as pressing a button and garnishing with a funky umbrella. Startenders also has a mode that allows you to create your own custom cocktails that your customers can order in the campaign, boasting over 100,000 possible ingredient combinations.

Swarm

A word of caution: Out of all the games on this list, Swarm is the one that has the most potential to make you a little woozy. It's really best for those who feel they can graduate to a game with a bit more VR intensity rather than complete beginners. Swarm is a cell-shaded arcade shooter that has you swinging around a stadium in 360 degrees with grappling hooks, shooting hordes of robotic enemies with plenty of cool guns. It sounds like a recipe for disaster for anyone prone to motion sickness, but as many players can attest, Swarm's grappling mechanics somehow make its action feel not only tolerable but downright comfortable.

A Knight In The Attic

If you've already checked out Moss and Moss 2, A Knight In The Attic should be next on your list. It's not the exact same conceit as Moss' diarama-like setting, but it's pretty close. Set almost entirely in a tilt-based labyrinth, you're detached from the playing field in a similar way to the Moss series. Almost the entire game is played out in your hands, making it more palatable. It's a clever re-telling of Arthurian legend that unfolds in really cool ways. Plus, it's fun for all ages!

Mothergunship Forge

Mothergunship: Forge is a great example of a first-person VR game that doesn't hinge on movement in a virtual space. Still, it'll have you dodging bullets in place. That said, its environmental design and completely solitary setting lets its shooting-driven combat and clever roguelike design shine. It's a lot more high-octane than some of the other games on this list like Moss or Puzzling Places, but never forces you to move like Resident Evil 4 VR.

• Back to the top ^

Graduating to more intense VR games

Every person will adjust to VR at a different rate. Some won't get motion sickness at all and can jump into the most intense games right off the bat, and others might need to stick to more gentle experiences for a few months. Don't get frustrated if there are some games you can't physically play yet!

If even the slightest hint of motion makes you feel a bit sick, Puzzling Places and the Moss series are probably the best ways to find varied experiences without losing your lunch. When you feel that you've almost gotten used to VR but aren't ready to fully jump into something like Asgard's Wrath 2, games like Swarm and Startenders bridge that gap perfectly. Just remember that if you don't allow yourself time to adjust to VR, motion sickness might stop you from enjoying some of the best Quest 3 games available.

You could spend hundreds of hours playing through the best Meta Quest 2 games without looking for new ones, but you shouldn't sleep on the best App Lab games, and best sideloaded titles for the Quest 2. They often provide unique experiences from indie developers, many of which are free or dirt cheap. In contrast, others are mods of classic PC games that'll likely never make the Oculus Store officially. Oculus App Lab opened up a whole new world of experiences for Quest owners, but these games often cost money to play. We gathered a ton of free titles to check out with that in mind, so you can always keep something new on deck without making a monetary commitment. 

Gorilla Tag

In Gorilla Tag, there's no crazy locomotion method for you to adjust to; just use your hands to grab the ground and fling your monkey body around an arena where the only purpose is not to get caught. Several different game modes, arenas, skins, and moves will keep the action fresh, and you'll quickly remember why playing tag as a kid was so much darn fun! Gorilla Tag for Quest has crossplay with the PC VR version, and you can either play in public or private rooms for the best experience. What are you waiting for? Reject humanity. Become gorilla.

To The Top

Climb, skate, fly, and fall as a robotic cheetah with jets in your paws in this beautiful, geometric sandbox full of obstacles, challenging puzzles, and hidden treasures. There are 35 maps, with Mirror's Edge-esque time trials encouraging you to improve your movement mechanics and find new, faster paths through levels. To The Top is so popular that it's finally found its way to the App Lab, so you can wait to buy it if you don't want to deal with sideloading and it's absolutely worth the price.

H.A.X.

H.A.X. is a unique first-person shooter where your clip is more than just something you shove into the bottom end of a gun. Sure, it provides bullets as you'd expect, but it also doubles as a katana, a hatchet that you can throw, and so much more. It's like Smith & Wesson made a Swiss army knife. The full game is still in development and there's only a demo version available on the Oculus App Lab and SideQuest and it's only in single player mode. However, there's a lot of pulse-pounding action packed in such a small demo. 

Hibow

Archery in the real and the virtual world can be a lot of fun but what if shooting arrows wasn't just for hitting things? What if the arrows pulled you through the air enabling you to move in ways that feel supernatural? That's the aim of Hibow, an archery battle royale title that puts players in an arena and promises to keep you looking everywhere and never stop moving.

Operation Serpens

Arcade enthusiasts rejoice! Operation Serpens joins Crisis VRigade as a seminal example of how classic arcade shooters made the leap to VR. Each level in Operation Serpens is a slightly different style and sometimes even a different theme altogether. You'll take the role of an elite agent tasked with destroying the evil Snakes Organization, but beware: it's not just bad guys with guns you'll have to worry about. Part Time Crisis, part House of the Dead, and all fun, this wave shooter will have you coming back to beat your high score over and over again.

Rhythm N' Bullets

Take a classic shoot-em-up (shmup) from the golden days of the arcade, combine it with a rhythm shooter, and you'll get Rhythm N' Bullets. Take your ship in hand (literally) and whip it around to shoot the enemies in wave after wave of arcade action. Just remember to keep to the beat. Otherwise, you'll find the levels are nigh impossible to beat.

Crisis VRigade 2

The first Crisis VRigade used a cartoonish graphics engine, but the developers upped the visual quality in the sequel while keeping the same physical SWAT-shooter gameplay. New difficulty modes, bosses, weapons, and customization options make this game a complete experience. Duck and dodge your way through levels and save the day!

QuestZDoom

This truly awesome mod lets you play Doom and Doom II in VR (assuming you've bought them on Steam), plus other games running on the same engine, including Wolfenstein, Heretic, Hexen, Strife, Duke Nukem 3D and a bunch of various fan-made mods that are free and included. It's time to get violent and shoot 8-bit baddies, only with 6DoF motion tracking added.

Lambda1VR

Half-Life: Alyx will never come to the Quest 2 (officially), so enjoy the next best thing and dive into Gordon Freeman's HEV Suit in this VR mod of Half-Life 1. Purchase the original game and install the mod via SideQuest, and you'll be crowbarring headcrabs, shooting enemies, and dodging attacks using 6DoF support. Fair warning: running around in old VR worlds can cause serious nausea if you don't have strong VR legs.

Tea For God

Using Oculus's Guardian system for mapping your living room, this prototype game procedurally generates a never-ending maze for you to explore. The non-Euclidian (physically impossible) maze goes on forever until you fail to shoot your robotic enemies. Few titles incorporate room-scale VR so well, which makes Tea for God one of the best sideloaded games for Quest 2. It incorporates hand-tracking tech to shoot finger-guns at enemies and interact with your environment.

Deisim

Guide the human race towards prosperity and destroy heretics supporting other gods in this early-access Steam title. You place tiles of land and cast spells to shape the growth of society indirectly. Still, it would help if you occasionally used your omnipotent power to deal with troublemakers and keep humans on the right path with miracles. The one-person dev team added intriguing new features in recent updates, including modern and futuristic societies, warring kingdoms, and even UFO invasions.

Pavlov: Shack

The stripped-down port of this acclaimed Counter-Strike clone offers some of the best shooting mechanics you can find on the Quest. It offers multiple modes that let you team up with friends to capture objectives and kill zombies or kill friends and strangers alike in Deathmatch. It's the most popular SideQuest app, so you'll never wait long to dive into some violent PvP, and it's somehow free. The devs are working on an App Lab version if you want it in your official library.

Ancient Dungeon Beta

This extremely popular beta lets you dive into a Minecraft Dungeons-esque world with a sword, throwing knives, and arrows, facing random enemies and bosses in physics-based combat while rescuing NPCs and discovering secrets. You'll dodge or deflect attacks, take different paths with varied environments, buy items with the loot you find, and generally find ways to survive. There's so much content to enjoy considering it's free.

Swordsman

If you're one of those weekend warriors who goes to renaissance fairs and engages in "combat" with a foam sword covered in duct tape and a wooden shield, we've got something just for you. This fighting game puts you on the armor of a powerful sword swinger from a variety of time periods and uses real time physics to mimic the look and feel of a real sword fight. You can slice and dice as a samurai, a knight, a Viking, and a member of the Mongol horde using a variety of different swords and shields. The enemies are just as varied and challenging ranging from simple sword swingers to the mighty Kraken. 

Frenzy VR

This always happens during a game of Grand Theft Auto. You've run a few missions for the boss or completed a couple of side hustles in Vice City or San Andreas. Then you start to get bored, so you just start driving your car recklessly or get into a firefight with the NPCs. Frenzy VR is a virtual version of that moment except every goal is about creating destruction. The game puts you in a series of environments where everything can be broken and anything can be used as a weapon. You can break windows, fight friends and enemies with weapons or your bare hands and even step into the Octagon with an MMA fighter and take him out with whatever you can find. The options are limitless. Reducing things to rubble has never been this fun or legal. 

(Side)load up on indie VR games

App Lab games don't appear officially in the Quest Store unless you have a direct link or type the exact name in the search bar, making them hard to find. This App Lab games list helps you find the full list, but there are hundreds to sort through, so we recommend you start without favorites!

As for sideloaded games like QuestZDoom that'll never get an official Quest 2 release for legal reasons, you'll have to follow our guide on how to sideload content on the Quest to enable unofficial titles in your official library. That makes playing App Lab games much easier; but for adventurous gamers, the extra effort will be worth it. Regardless, App Lab games and sideloaded games are just as much worth playing as the best games that Oculus offers on its official store. 

In general, these indie games spend fewer resources on graphical fidelity and more time on fun gameplay, creating worlds that you'll be able to spend more than a few hours in. Procedural titles like Ancient Dungeon Beta or multiplayer titles like Pavlov Shack will let you sink dozens of hours into them, well beyond the few hours that official, expensive VR games will offer. Even if they don't "immerse" you in the same way as official Quest Store games, the best App Lab titles and the best-sideloaded games for the Oculus Quest 2 have plenty of unique fun to offer.

With its wireless design, Guardian barrier to warn you if you're too near furniture, and Oculus Move tracking, the Meta Quest 2 is hands-down the best VR headset for fitness. Plenty of Quest 2 games will give you some form of exercise simply by making you stand up and flail your arms around for an hour, but there are a few truly heart-pumping apps for aerobic exercise that'll get you sweating and your muscles burning. 

Here is a list of the best Oculus Quest 2 workout games that will give you a killer workout in VR. You'll feel the burn with hardcore fitness apps like Supernatural, while other apps aren't as active but are much easier to lose yourself in, so it doesn't feel like a workout at all!

These are the best exercise and workout games for Meta Quest 2

Supernatural

This pick is solely for people who legitimately plan to make the Quest 2 their primary workout tool. Supernatural is a serious exercise app that costs $19/month or $179/year after the free trial, in exchange for new daily workouts with fresh licensed music narrated by live coaches that tell you exactly what you should be doing or feeling. There's a wide range of genres and artists, with weekly spotlights on famous artists like Katy Perry or Coldplay, and even some Disney-themed workouts.

Supernatural gameplay is very similar to Beat Saber, but with more of a focus on squats, punching speed, arm extension, and other movements that are more natural than the wrist-swiping motions of BS. It even added leg tracking so you could kick obstacles, for an even more dynamic workout. A regular triathlon athlete told us that Supernatural is worth the subscription cost for an intense workout, and we agree. 

FitXR

Originally called BoxVR, this exercise app later added an entire dance workout system at no additional cost. FitXR received a stamp of approval from our resident group fitness instructor as an effective way for both beginners and experts to lose weight. 

You choose a class ranging from 3 to 25 minutes of various intensity, where you'll either punch, jab, uppercut, and squat your way through shadow boxing routines or follow along to dance routines — all with rock, dance, hip-hop, or electronic music in the background. With various difficulty levels and DLC workout to buy down the line, this has more than enough content to be a daily routine for months that'll get you fit.

Beat Saber

If Guitar Hero were a rhythm game with a sword as the instrument, it would be Beat Saber. You'll slash and dodge cubes to the beat of techno music. Beginner levels are plenty of fun, but progress to Expert+ and you'll really begin to sweat. Get your daily dose of cardio, squats, and arm workouts while going for high scores and combos. Gamers have reportedly burned billions of calories in Beat Saber, but it's one of the best Quest 2 workout games because it doesn't feel like a workout.

Best of all, the game has added a ton of DLC music packs from a variety of famous artists: The Weeknd, Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, BTS, Skrillex, and more, plus themed mixtapes for specific genres like rock or electronic with plenty of eclectic faves.

The Thrill of the Fight

This simulator introduces you to actual boxing mechanics while giving you a properly sweaty workout. Bob and weave, block blows and throw a variety of punches across multi-round bouts. Its visuals won't impress, but its collection of opponents with unique fighting styles will provide a proper challenge. 

There's also training modes that can help you show how effective your moves are and the opponents are challenging and make you do the work to get healthy. This game is an arm, body, legs, and full-on cardio experience, and at a very reasonable price compared to many alternative options.

Les Mills Bodycombat

Unlike Supernatural and FitXR, which have more frequent updates and new music but charge a regular fee for the privilege, Les Mills Bodycombat gives you 50 coach-guided and music-backed workouts for one upfront charge — more than enough for people used to working out to the same exercise DVDs repeatedly.

With workout names like "Total Punishment," "Full Body Hype," and "Fast Fury," you know you'll need to get serious as you punch, knee, and dodge your way to a fitter body. Though there are also "Quick Hits" workout for the times you have to squeeze a fast workout in before work starts. 

Dance Central

Unlike dedicated exercise apps, Dance Central is just straight-up dancing, and consequently, it won't feel as intimidating for non-athletes. Match your body movements with the avatars in the game. The 32-song soundtrack features some of the best smash hits and classics you'd hear in any club. 

Your legs aren't tracked in the game, but that won't stop you from throwing out a kick now and then. It's a lot of cardio that will feel less like a VR workout and more like a night out, especially with the in-game multiplayer lounge where you can challenge friends to dance-offs. The only unfortunate fact is that the game hasn't gotten any DLC since its 2019 release, but we still recommend it.

Superhot VR

Time moves when you do in this top-selling, highly-rated VR shooter. Each level is a puzzle that requires you to move very quickly and sometimes move very slowly to defeat your foes. Some parts of the game require you to hold a pose perfectly still to figure out your next move. It's a full-body workout that combines the action of a shooter game with Tai Chi. It's like being in The Matrix except you don't have to shove a giant, metal plug into the back of your head.

Ohshape VR

Power pose your way to a healthier body. Inspired by the Japanese TV show Hole in the Wall, in OhShape you must move your whole body to fit inside a series of rapidly changing holes with fast-paced music egging you on. 

Jump to dodge some obstacles, punch through others, and squeeze through the rest in a variety of challenging stances that strain your whole body. It has 32 official workouts with 4 difficulty levels; plus, the level editor lets you play other people's custom sets or create your own with officially supported custom songs.

Racket: NX

Imagine playing racquetball inside of a giant pinball machine and then adding the fun of the classic game, Breakout. The game starts at a slow pace, but as you progress, the ball moves faster and faster; the harder you hit the ball, the faster it'll ricochet back your direction. The 360º arena forces you to keep spinning in search of the ball, and you'll need both arm strength and precision to get a high score. All of the sweat-inducing intensity of playing racquetball is here.

Synth Riders

This Beat Saber-lookalike avoids the more famous game's wrist-jerking gameplay in favor of more natural moves that'll still get your heart rate up. You must move your hands to match up with the lighted indicators, bobbing and weaving to keep up and dodge obstacles. It has over 50 licensed electronica songs and weekend multiplayer dance parties that can be genuinely fun. Synth Riders is another rhythm game that'll have you too focused on mastering the beat to notice how hard you're working.

Audio Trip

This game checks many similar boxes to Synth Riders with its cyberpunk aesthetic and dance-focused gameplay, plus licensed music from Lady Gaga, Skrillex, Zedd, deadmau5, and Tiësto. Audio Trip has "Cardio mode" for its tracks, designed to get you sweating as you move your hands along flowing lines, swipe at fast-moving triangular targets, and dodge obstacles. 

The new Dance Full Out mode adds a campaign mode, plus modifiers and achievements to add greater challenges for experts. Overall, Audio Trip is a fun fusion of rhythm games and the dancing focus of Dance Central, and we highly recommend it.

Space Pirate Trainer DX

This is a fun VR game that resembles the classic arcade game, Galaga, and will have you moving, squatting, jumping, and bending in many directions throughout the entire game. Since the enemy attacks you from above, your arms are always above your head, giving your shoulders a great workout. 

Try to rise up the leaderboard while lowering your number on the scale. The game also added two-player modes for you and a workout partner including "ARENA" that turns a wide-open space into a game of hide and seek with laser guns and a "VERSUS" mode that turns the game's one-player droid shooter into a two-player competition. 

Pistol Whip

Who would've thought that the shooting and rhythm game genres could ever work so well together? Pistol Whip offers a great, low-impact aerobic workout that's perfect if you need a quick stretch. Each level is paired with a colorful, vibrant scene and a catchy EDM tune with a unique beat in the background. 

The game puts two customizable pistols in your hands and you have to shoot at and hit moving targets to the beat of the tune. The closer you hit the point of the beat that's blasting in your ears, the higher you score. However, these targets shoot back so you also have to twist, duck, and lean away from floating bullets while you're trying to shoot the figures who fired them at you. There are also a lot of low ceilings and bridges blocking your path that you have to squat to avoid so your legs, arms, and chest can get a good stretch. The game even has story-driven DLC modes with an original soundtrack to give it even more playability. 

VR exercise workouts show results

If you're someone who struggles with at-home workouts, the Meta Quest 2 sidesteps the problem by transporting you to somewhere else entirely. Playing games like Beat Saber or Pistol Whip doesn't even feel like a workout because you're too immersed in the bass-heavy music and the need to blast foes or swipe at musical blocks.

Frankly, many of the best Quest 2 games could get you sweating even if exercise isn't the point of them; you can use Oculus Move to track for yourself how many calories a given game burns. 

Still, once we tested how Quest 2 games serve for daily fitness, we found that only some games like FitXR or Supernatural hit the calorie burn per minute that you'd need for true fat burning. Other games on our list will help you maintain a routine and get sweaty, but only a few of the best Oculus Quest 2 workout games give you an efficient workout for those who only have a limited amount of time. 

Whichever games you choose, hold off on starting up a VR exercise routine until you've invested in some of the best Quest 2 workout accessories. These will help keep your headset from becoming a sweat- and bacteria-filled mess, help you avoid injuries, and even make your VR workouts that much harder.

The Oculus Quest is an excellent device to bring to parties. It doesn't require any external sensors or wires, so you can bring it anywhere and pass it around so everyone can play. However, if you want people to see what's going on inside the headset rather than watch someone flail their arms around, you'll need a Chromecast device. Even though there is a wide range of supported devices for casting the quest, the best three options are the first three devices that supported casting, and the best of the best is the Chromecast Ultra.

Check out these great Chromecast for your Oculus Quest.

The Google Chromecast Ultra has a similar design to the Chromecast 3rd generation but has one key difference that effects Oculus Quest streaming, the ability to connect it using ethernet. By connecting the Chromecast Ultra to an Ethernet port, you're removing one wireless component from the casting equation. Even if you use it over Wi-Fi, users have reported that the Chromecast Ultra works better when it comes to casting the Oculus Quest.

When it comes to streaming media content, the Chromecast Ultra pumps in a lot more power than the standard Chromecast. The Chromecast Ultra supports 4K and HDR. If you're looking for a media device to stream 4K content and to cast your Oculus Quest, then the Chromecast Ultra is your best option.

The third-generation Chromecast is the least expensive device that's officially supported for streaming the Oculus Quest. The performance of streaming varies on a variety of factors, including Wi-Fi strength and if you're on a 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz band. 5Ghz is generally preferred for casting the Oculus Quest. While this budget-friendly Chromecast works with casting the Oculus Quest, many users have had stuttering or connectivity issues. We've used this ourselves, and it worked reasonably well in our testing. Still, if you have the budget, it might be worth looking at more expensive options.

In addition to being able to stream the Oculus Quest, the Google Chromecast 3rd Generation delivers over 2,000 apps in 1080p. It's a great budget-friendly option for people with 1080p TVs or users on a budget.

The NVIDIA Shield TV is a 4K HDR media streaming box that can also play games from the Google Play Store. It has a library of popular PC games that you can download and play and allows you to cast PC games to your living room TV. Now, with the addition of Oculus Quest casting, the NVIDIA Shield is an even better hub for gamers.

The NVIDIA Shield is the best Android TV available and one of the only devices that can stream so many different types of content. The only reason that it's not the best overall device on this list is its price. At $200 for the pro edition, the NVIDIA Shield is an expensive purchase if you're just planning to use it for Oculus Quest streaming. You can get a non-pro version for $150, but that's still expensive when compared to the other entries on this list. If you already have the NVIDIA Shield TV or you're looking for an Android TV device, this is your best option. If you're having a hard time picking between the Shield TV and the Shield TV Pro, check out our guide comparing them.

Bottom line

There are more options than ever for casting your Oculus Quest. The Oculus Quest recently gained support for more casting devices, including the NVIDIA Shield TV, Google Home Hub, and some smart TVs. It also works with all generations of Chromecast.

The Google Chromecast Ultra is the best option for Oculus Quest casting because it supports ethernet connectivity which will ensure a solid connection. It's also a better streaming device with support for 4K HDR media.

To increase your chances of seamless casting, you should attach your Chromecast through Ethernet, if possible. If you are using Wi-Fi, you should use a 5Ghz band to reduce interference. When it works smoothly, casting the Oculus Quest to a Chromecast instantly livens up a party and lets you share your VR experience with everyone around you.

The original Oculus Quest was a great headset for its time, but Facebook improved it across the board when designing the Oculus Quest 2. Now called the Meta Quest 2, the second version is lighter, more powerful, and more refined than its predecessor.

And it's not just the hardware improvements that make it a better choice. Like any new console, the Oculus Quest 2 has exclusive games like Resident Evil 4 VR that are too graphically intensive to run on the original Quest. Additionally, Oculus has made significant improvements to the software experience since the Quest 2 launched in fall 2020, including upgrading the display to 120Hz and doubling the refresh rate on the external cameras for a better hand tracking experience.

If you're buying a new VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2 is the clear choice, unless you want to wait for Project Cambria later in 2022. But if you're still an Oculus Quest 1 owner and want to know if you should upgrade to the newer headset, we have all the info you need to decide.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: Comparing the specs

Facebook improved the Oculus Quest 2 across the board compared to its predecessor. The Snapdragon XR2 processor is several generations newer than the Snapdragon 835 of the original Oculus Quest, and the 6GB of RAM of the Oculus Quest 2 helps the headset run more smoothly.

All of those internal improvements add up. In our Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest graphics comparison, games were significantly better on the Oculus Quest 2 even at launch. These days, all new game releases feature enhanced graphics when played on an Oculus Quest 2 compared to the original Oculus Quest.

The Oculus Quest 2 delivers better performance at a higher refresh rate and frame rate, sharper images, and all-around better-looking games. As more developers take advantage of the Oculus Quest 2's hardware, games will continue to perform and look even better on the latest headset hardware.

In addition to improving the major hardware internals, Facebook also refined the design when making the Oculus Quest 2. As a result, the Oculus Quest 2 is lighter, has more ergonomic Touch Controllers, and supports more accessories than ever before.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: Pricing for your budget

The Oculus Quest 2's price was one of the biggest surprises when it launched in 2020. Rather than lining up with the launch price of the Oculus Quest, the Oculus Quest 2 starts at $299. With a starting price that's $100 lower than the original Oculus Quest, it's a lot easier to jump into the next generation of VR.

Widening the gap even further, that $299 model now comes with 128GB of internal storage. That's the same amount of storage the original $500 Oculus Quest had. $399 will bring that total storage up to 256GB, leaving even more room for games and apps in the future. If you're debating on if the extra cost is worth it, we have a full breakdown comparing the 128GB and 256GB versions of the Oculus Quest 2 to help you out.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: Shining display

The display of the Oculus Quest 2 is also significantly improved. While it only supported 72Hz at launch, the Oculus Quest 2 received an update that increased that refresh rate to a whopping 120Hz. That's a 60% improvement in refresh rate in just one generation! The display of the Oculus Quest 2 also has significantly more pixels than that of the original Oculus Quest.

The Oculus Quest 2 display utilizes an RGB stripe layout, which means the sub-pixels are laid out in a straight line. That straight line forms together nicely with others when putting them all together in the square grid that makes up the display. Conversely, the original Oculus Quest uses a diamond PenTile pattern, which leaves gaps between pixels when arranged in a grid.

The result is a sharper-looking display when compared to PenTile OLED displays. Even if the Oculus Quest 2 and Oculus Quest had the same pixel count — which they don't — an RGB stripe display would still look sharper.

The only drawback of the Oculus Quest 2's display is that it is LCD rather than OLED. As a result, blacks aren't as dark on the Oculus Quest 2.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: What about Facebook accounts?

The Oculus Quest 2 is the first headset from Facebook to require people to use a Facebook account. That's considered a downside for some, but the original Oculus Quest will also require a Facebook account in the future to maintain full functionality by January 1, 2023. You'll have an option to merge their Oculus and Facebook accounts before that date. 

Before you get too worried, Meta has since promised to remove the Facebook requirement, which means that some new form of account will likely be available on both the original and newer Quest models. This will likely take effect before Quest 1 owners have to rely on a Facebook account.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: A growing library of games

Both headsets share the same growing library of the best Oculus Quest 2 games, but there are a few Oculus Quest 2 exclusives that won't work on the original Quest, like Resident Evil 4 VR. Plus, even though most games work on both headsets, all games will look and likely perform better on the Oculus Quest 2.

Both headsets also support Oculus Link, allowing you to play PC VR games by connecting your VR headset to a gaming PC, either via a cable or wirelessly through your home's Wi-Fi network. In addition, since it supports the best Wi-Fi 6 routers, wireless PC VR gaming on the Quest 2 will look better and be more responsive than on the original Oculus Quest.

PC VR titles will look better on the Oculus Quest 2 because the Quest 2's screen is sharper and higher resolution.

Oculus Quest 2 vs. Oculus Quest: Should you upgrade?

It's not surprising that the Oculus Quest 2 is better than the Oculus Quest in just about every way. If the Oculus Quest 2 wasn't better, that would be a reason for concern. It's akin to the PS4 being better than the PS5.

The jump from the original Oculus Quest to the Oculus Quest 2 isn't just about improving internal specs. Yes, the Oculus Quest 2 has a much faster processor, a better display, and more RAM, but it also has an improved design, better Touch Controllers, and support for more accessories.

Unlike laptops and phones, where buying an older model might save you some money and be worth it in terms of bang for your buck, the Oculus Quest 2 is better when it comes to price as well. The Oculus Quest 2 starts at $299, which is $100 cheaper than the original Oculus Quest. Even if you opt for the Oculus Quest 2 with 256GB of storage, it's still selling for $399, which is the starting price of the original 64GB Oculus Quest.

The Oculus Quest 2 is better across the board than the original Oculus Quest, and those improvements come with few drawbacks. The Oculus Quest 2 is more powerful, lighter, more refined, and cheaper than the original Oculus Quest. And Meta continues to add new features to it every month, features that the Oculus Quest doesn't have the specs to support.

So if you love your original Oculus Quest and want to get an even better VR experience, the Oculus Quest 2 is worth the upgrade.

Magnetic chargers make plugging your headset as simple as a satisfying snap by offering a great, hassle-free option for charging your Quest 2 without having to remove your headset. And, in case you do accidentally snag it, the chord safely pops out from your headset, potentially keeping you from damaging your headset or hurting yourself. 

Since these are all USB Type C cables, you can use them with your mobile VR headsets, but we made this list specifically with Meta's Quest family of devices in mind. To work with a Quest or Quest 2, though, it needs to support a high data transfer speed and quick charging, making the compatible picks below your best starting point. The Cafele USB-C magnetic adapter is our number one pick for those exact reasons, and it checks all the boxes with flying colors.

All the chords, none of the fuss

You can pick up Cafele's cables in your choice of colors in sets of two or three. The small USB Type-C stud will plug into your Oculus Quest 2 headset, and the 6.6-foot cables will magnetically connect to the stud and charge your Quest. These cables even feature an LED light at the end indicating their connection status, so you can always know whether or not your Quest 2's charging. Thanks to their durable, braided construction, these cables are sure to last for a while. Just make sure you've Velcroed the chord to your headset because this cable doesn't have a 90-degree cable connector. That's not a deal-breaker, but it could get snagged on a wayward controller or arm if it's not held in place.

In addition to high data transfer speeds, this cable offers Qualcomm QuickCharge 2.0 and 3.0 standards, which will help keep your Quest 2 charging while playing when paired with the best battery packs for Quest 2. That means you'll never have to remove the magnetic tip just to plug a standard USB cable in to hook your Quest 2 up to a PC (or another device).

If you really like these cables, you even can pick up additional USB Type-C, microUSB, or Lightning connectors to charge all of your USB devices hassle-free.

This one-of-a-kind magnetic controller charging kit comes with a special pair of AA batteries that let you charge your Quest 2's touch controllers. Its tip magnetically connects to the included cables, which can plug into any charger of your choice as long as it has the standard USB Type-A port. That makes it so much easier to charge your Quest's touch controllers; you'll never have to replace your batteries again!

Adding BeswinVR's optional silicone grips to the set will set the cost a bit higher than other options on this list, but they're specially designed to keep that magnetic charging tip exposed. This way, you'll never have to remove the grips just to charge the controller. That's good since most other grips and covers won't fit the controller with the extra charging pin sticking out.

The Quest 2's battery life is one of its biggest flaws, so an external battery pack can greatly help you extend your playtime. We recommend mounting them to the back of your headset so you can continue to play while you charge but also help counterbalance the front-heavy headset. This magnetic cable's only a foot long, so it won't have much excess wiring in the way while it's plugged in. It also supports charging up to 9V/2A and will easily detach in case it bumps or gets caught on anything while playing.

A battery pack will free you from being tethered to a wall outlet or your PC while charging. Since it's a battery pack, you'll still have a wire plugged into your headset, but mounting it to your headset means you don't need to stay tethered to a wall. This cable's only a foot long, which means it can plug into the side of your headset and attach to a battery pack mounted on the back of your device.

This braided cable's circular design lends greater flexibility because it can charge at any angle. It also supports fast charging up to 5V/2.4A and has an LED indicator to let you know that your headset's charging. At 3.3 feet, this cable enables you to carry a battery pack in your pocket or attached to your waist instead of mounted to your headset in case you don't want to add any additional weight. Plus, this cable doesn't have to point directly up, down, back, or forward thanks to its 360-degree design. Instead, it can comfortably slide into the perfect angle for you.

Anker's Charging Dock for Oculus Quest 2 technically fits the bill of a magnetic charger since both controllers and the Oculus Quest 2 headset dock to charge magnetically. But unlike other options on the list, it's not just a single-function piece of hardware.

It can sense when your controller and headset batteries are full, meaning it can help prolong battery life by shutting off charging when the batteries are full. The magnetic connector fits perfectly in your Quest 2's USB Type-C port for hassle-free magnetic docking; all you need to do is set it down. The dock also ships with special rechargeable batteries for each Touch Controller, complete with a new battery door with POGO pins on it, which allows for simple drop-and-go charging. Of course, you can't use this solution while playing, but it brings the ease of magnetic charging to the safety of a dock.

Stay charged

Armed with one of the best Oculus Quest magnetic chargers, it's much easier to keep your headset charged during long play sessions. Pairing a medium-sized magnetic cable, like the Cafele USB-C Magnetic Cable and Tips, with a battery pack means you can take advantage of standing or room-scale VR experiences without worrying about yanking the cord and potentially damaging your headset (or your neck) or your Quest running out of battery.

BeswinVR's magnetic charge kit for the Quest 2's Touch controllers is another amazing — if a more expensive — addition that makes charging your controllers a breeze. Instead, connect the magnetic cables to the special tip on the included rechargeable batteries when they're not in use. If you're looking for something even more low-maintenance, Anker's Charging Dock for Quest 2 makes it simple to dock your headset and controllers after each play session to ensure you have a full battery every time you begin playing.

A reliable magnetic charging cable can kick Quest gaming sessions up a notch, not just by keeping it charged, but extending the sessions by keeping your Quest 2 safer thanks to the quick magnetic release if it were to get tugged. Be sure to check out some of our other favorite Quest 2 accessories for more ways to make your Quest 2 experience even better as well.

The Oculus Quest is an excellent device for gaming, but there's more to virtual reality than just playing games. For example, we've all thought about how great it would be to have a personal movie theater at home. The Oculus Quest can actually give you one by taking advantage of what's possible in VR.

Whether it's watching YouTube, streaming films and TV shows from subscription services, or viewing your own videos that are stored directly on the headset, here are the best media apps for the Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 to help you get even more out of your VR experience.

Enjoy your favorite shows and movies with the best media apps for the Oculus Quest

YouTube VR

YouTube has billions of views for a reason; there's an almost unlimited amount of content on the platform. If you really want to up your YouTube viewing experience, you can watch standard 2D videos on the Quest in a movie theater-like space. However, the YouTube app really shines with its support for 360-degree videos on the headset.

Netflix

Netflix has been in the streaming business for years. Its native app on the Quest headset puts a giant screen in front of your eyes and makes it feel like you're watching Netflix content in a cinema or a nice cozy virtual cabin. It's a great way to watch an action flick or unwind with a romcom, though your head might tire during more extended viewings.

Prime Video VR

With this app, you can watch all of your favorite Prime Video content in a virtual theater. Just the Netflix Oculus app, Prime Video's entire library can be viewed inside your own private cinema. You'll be able to watch a huge selection of movies and TV, including hit Prime Originals like The Legend of Vox Machina and The Boys.

ESPN

If you're looking to watch sports in VR, there's no better Meta Quest app than ESPN. You can watch live games and studio shows anytime and have access to various ESPN channels, including ESPN+, ESPN2, and SEC Network. 

Bigscreen Beta

This video streaming application allows you to watch 3D videos with your friends in a virtual theater. Bigscreen Beta supports both side-by-side and over-under 3D formats. On top of allowing you to stream videos from your PC, Bigscreen Beta also lets you wirelessly play PC games straight from your headset.

Skybox VR Video Player

This video player supports DLNA media streaming, can stream your PC to your Quest headset, and can help you view natively stored content. It can stream videos with an output of up to 8K on the Oculus Quest 2, supports HDR, and the PC client can even stream out the same content to multiple Oculus Quest devices at once.

Grab the popcorn

The Oculus Quest can add a new dimension to how you watch videos. There are plenty of apps to stream videos and movies from your PC or directly from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. You don't have to put your headset away if you want to watch some TV or enjoy a good movie.

If you're looking for a versatile player that can handle local files and content from a media server, you should check out SKYBOX VR Video Player. And if you want to watch 360-degree videos to see how VR can bring your viewing experience to a whole new level, YouTube VR is the perfect choice.

Save for Skybox VR Video Player, all of these media apps are free. That's good, because you'll probably have to download a combination of them to view all the content you want. If you want to extend your viewing sessions and make your virtual movie night more comfortable, make sure to grab some of the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories. Or if you're having some trouble getting custom video content on your headset, check our guide on how to stream movies and TV to the Meta Quest 2.

Oculus Touch controllers come equipped with wrist straps to keep them in place, but you still have to keep an uncomfortably tight grip while playing. Using hand or knuckle straps will help keep your controllers secure in your hands, even when you completely loosen your grip. We've researched the best Oculus Quest 2 hand straps — plus a few straps for the original Quest model's differently-shaped Touch controllers — to make longer periods in VR easier on your hands and wrists.

These are some of the most comfortable Quest 2 hand straps out there

These hand straps are designed with the third-generation Oculus Touch controllers that ship with the Oculus Quest 2 in mind. If you're still rocking the original Quest, we've got you covered in the second section towards the bottom of the article!

Compatible with the original Oculus Quest

Meta halted production on the Oculus Quest over a year ago at this point, so accessories for the original headset can be hard to come by. Thankfully, we've found some really solid options for anyone still using original Quest hardware that's looking to improve their play experience.

• Back to the top^

Choose your grip wisely

We scoured the internet for the best Oculus Quest 2 and original Oculus Quest hand straps and grips to ensure we picked only the best. If you're unsure where to start, VR Cover's accessories are always reliably high quality, but its Quest 2 controller grips are a standout product, even among an offering of other stellar accessories. We've tested these straps thoroughly and found them both safe and comfortable. We also recommend investing in a halo controller protector if you're concerned about smacking or dropping your controllers.

Once you've chosen the best Quest 2 hand straps for you, you'll be able to get more immersed in Quest 2's library of games and experiences! Try looking into the best Quest 2 face covers, which will help keep your headset clean and more comfortable, and then try looking into some of our picks for the best Oculus Quest 2 games for exercise to put those new accessories to the test.

As with any good gaming console, the Oculus Quest and Meta Quest 2 headsets are intended to work without a Wi-Fi connection. This sort of thing is a staple for consoles — especially ones that come in a more portable form-factor — but many Quest owners will know that this feature doesn’t always work as expected. That’s especially true since Facebook accounts became a requirement for Quest users.

Case in point, If you own an Oculus Quest or Quest 2 and tried to use it to play games in the last few days, there's a good chance you weren't able to do much with your headset. That’s because of a weird issue that’s affecting both Oculus and Facebook accounts, which is keeping players from even being able to log into their account at all.

While this might make sense for an online-only title where an active account is required to play, it makes absolutely no sense on a headset where games are already installed. If you’re a Quest gamer who just wanted to play any one of the best Oculus Quest 2 games that are already installed on your headset, you wouldn’t be able to unless you could first log in with your Oculus or Facebook accounts.

Let's say you wanted to take your Quest with you on vacation but didn't want to hook it up to the hotel Wi-Fi. That would be fine since the headset would recognize it's offline and have no way to check with Meta's servers first. The only hurdle you'd run across is that you couldn't play online games with other people. Totally expected behavior.

But what happens when you do connect to Wi-Fi? Well, when Quest headsets have an active internet connection, they check in with Meta’s servers before doing anything else. If that account check fails, everything else beyond that also fails.

I previously wrote about this exact issue back in October when Facebook’s servers went down globally. While that rendered Quest headsets useless for maybe six hours or so, this most recent accounts problem has, in the case of some users, rendered Quest headsets useless for days at a time. Comments on our social media accounts have proven that this isn’t just a widespread problem; it’s also one that’s lasting a lot longer than it should.

As I said in the October piece, these types of issues are totally avoidable if Meta would just implement one simple solution: true offline play.

Sure, you’d never experience this issue if your Quest was not connected to a Wi-Fi network, but that’s an unreasonable request. If I turn on a Quest headset and it has games installed, I should be able to launch every single one of them. Account validity checking is something that should happen when I’m trying to play an online game or hopping on to the Oculus store to download or update a game.

While Meta is still working on decoupling Facebook accounts from the Quest experience — a process that’s incredibly complex and, I surmise, is probably partly responsible for what happened this week — the company really needs to give its users the ability to play installed apps and games no matter what their account status might be.

After all, if I purchase games, I expect to have access to my library at all times. That’s especially true if I’ve already got them installed on my system. Folks who have their Facebook accounts banned also face the same problem of losing access to everything they’ve ever purchased, and that’s really just not okay.

I posed the possibility to Meta but the company was unwilling to comment beyond the statement that was already given to Android Central previously:

“The vast majority of accounts have now been restored. Anyone still experiencing an issue is encouraged to contact Oculus Support.”

While that will almost certainly get a user’s account fixed, it doesn’t fix the wider problem. Meanwhile, because of this huge oversight that’s not a problem on any other console in existence, users cannot play games they own, and that’s the real crux of the issue.

There are a lot of problems here with licenses and other types of similar checks. I totally understand that these issues are complicated and require complicated solutions and agreements with developers and publishers, but these are conversations that need to happen.

In the age of DRM — that's Digital Rights Management — developers and publishers understand that gamers can't always be online. That's why there are requirements for games to check in every once in a while to ensure you're not running a pirated copy. That's beyond the scope of this article, but it's a solvable solution. After all, everyone else in the industry does it.

Meta, it’s time to get this fixed once and for all. For all we know, the next problem will take even longer to fix than this one.

What you need to know

• Meta is rolling out the v38 update for Oculus Quest and Meta Quest 2 headsets.
• The update transforms the lonely home space into a more social one, including the ability to add your couch and desk to the space.
• Recent tracking issues should be fixed, settings and multiplayer-enabled games are now easier to find, and it's now easier to make friends with recently-met folks.

Quest users, it's that time again! The March 2022 update, better known as the Quest v38 update, is rolling out to Quest users everywhere and should appear on your headset automatically over the next few days.

Meta began testing some components of the update prior to the v38 rollout, as evidenced by a few Twitter and Reddit users posting about Horizon Home features appearing on their Quest and Quest 2 headsets, even though they were still on the v37 firmware.

The rebrand to Horizon Home brings about several changes to the Oculus Home space, including the ability to teleport around the environment, invite friends to socialize in your home space, and easily make friends with folks you have recently played with online. Games that support enhanced multiplayer features will also be highlighted in your library, ensuring you know which games are easiest to play with friends.

Last month's update included more keyboards to track — including the Apple Magic Keyboard — and v38 makes this option, as well as Bluetooth settings, available to all Quest users. All users can also now add their couch or desk to their environment. Previously, these options were only available in the experimental menu.

Meta is also working on redesigning the settings and other menus to make them more user-friendly. While Meta and other tech companies like it are always looking for ways to improve their UI experience, these specific changes are likely being made in response to user complaints about the complexity of the Oculus UI in the past.

Lastly, Meta is addressing a number of other tracking-related complaints in this update and says that some users may need to redraw their Guardian boundaries. Hopefully, that solves the issue folks have been seeing lately where Guardian boundaries would get lost in the middle of a play session. Check out the full release notes to see all the little tidbits Meta added to this update.

What you need to know

• Over the past few days, Oculus Quest users have lost access to their accounts.
• Losing access means you cannot use your headset or access your library of apps and games.
• Meta says it has restored access to most accounts, but some lingering problems may still exist.

Oculus users around the globe have been having issues accessing their libraries of apps and games over the past few days. The problem seems to only be happening on Quest headsets and does not appear to affect the Rift platform on the PC. While some users initially thought this was caused by merging Oculus and Facebook accounts, Meta tells us that's not the case.

A Meta spokesperson said "recently we received reports of account issues, including log-outs and missing app libraries. This affected both Facebook-linked accounts and non-Facebook-linked Oculus accounts. The vast majority of accounts have now been restored. Anyone still experiencing an issue is encouraged to contact Oculus Support."

Meta acknowledged the issue on March 9, reporting a "high number of users" seeing the error. While it appears that accounts have been deleted for some folks, Meta says this is not the case and that users should not create new accounts. Instead, users should submit a ticket with Oculus support to get it resolved. The company has been a bit vague on the details, but we could guess how such a problem could happen.

We haven't heard much from Meta since it announced that it would be dropping the Facebook account requirement back in October. It's entirely plausible that work on this new feature could have caused such an outage. We saw a similar problem occur back in early October when all Meta services went down just before they announced the Meta name change.

Since this is an account-delated problem, it won't matter if you have the Oculus Quest 2 128GB or 256GB models. Since users facing this issue have been signed out of their accounts and weren't able to get back in, there was no way to access even games or apps that were already installed on the headset.

It's why we, among many users, have called out Meta on the account issue with Oculus headsets since the Facebook account requirement was initially instated. If you are still facing trouble with your Meta Quest headset and cannot access your library, Meta says you should contact support and submit a ticket. We'll be keeping an eye on this and asking Meta for continued updates.

What you need to know

• Questcraft beta is a port of Minecraft Java Edition for the Oculus Quest and Meta Quest 2.
• Players will need to own Minecraft Java Edition in order to play.
• Questcraft is a free download but will need to be sideloaded.

If you've been waiting for Mojang to finally get around to porting Minecraft VR, your wait is sort of over. Questcraft is now available in beta for the original Oculus Quest and the Meta Quest 2, and it enables players to jump into the world of Minecraft Java Edition right on their Quest headsets. This is a native version of the game, too, so you won't need to have a PC that can run Minecraft in order to play.

A quick tutorial was put together by mitchv2020 & Gabe_Spartan on YouTube that walks you through the steps but, first, you'll need to make sure you know how to install SideQuest on your Quest headset.

SideQuest is a 3rd-party marketplace that allows users to install all sorts of mods, indie games, and fun apps that aren't available on the official Oculus Store.

Once you've got Questcraft installed on your Quest headset, you'll just need to log in to your Microsoft account and hit the download button. Since Questcraft only works with Minecraft Java Edition — that's different from Minecraft Bedrock Edition like you'll find on consoles, smartphones, and PCs — you'll need to own Java Edition in order to play.

Nearly two years ago now, John Carmack teased the possibility of Minecraft officially coming to the Quest. It could easily be one of the best Quest 2 games if it were to ever come to the official Oculus marketplace, but this is a fantastic alternative for folks who are willing to get sideloading working.

Questcraft works on the latest version of Minecraft Java Edition, which includes the 1.18 Caves & Cliffs update. Since this is a beta release, you should expect a few bugs going in, but this is the first time Minecraft has been playable natively in VR on either Quest headset. Previously, only PC players could play Minecraft in VR with Oculus headsets.

What you need to know

• Meta made Horizon Worlds available to all U.S. and Canadian Quest 2 users in December 2021.
• Since the public launch, Meta's over-arching Horizons metaverse has seen a 10x increase in users, totaling 300,000 active users each month.
• This statistic includes Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues users combined.

The metaverse might be a relatively vague concept in some sense, but companies like Meta have slowly been creating the building blocks over the past few years. Horizon Worlds, Meta's virtual world that can be joined via a Meta Quest 2 — previously known as Oculus Quest 2 — headset, had been in beta for years before finally being released to the public in the U.S. and Canada in December 2021 for users 18 and up.

Since then, the Horizon metaverse has seen a 10x growth in players, up to 300,000 players joining in each month.

Meta recently announced this figure at a company meeting earlier this week, as noted by The Verge. The 300,000 monthly players figure is a combination of players on both Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues.

As a refresher, Horizon Worlds is the virtual world players can socialize in and build their own spaces, while Horizon Venues is a way to virtually experience concerts and other live events like sports.

Meta has never been particularly vocal about the number of users on any of its Horizon platforms, which includes Worlds, Venues, and Workrooms. Each of these apps is a separate space but utilizes your Meta avatar and requires an active Facebook account to join. Soon, even the Quest home screen will be known as Horizon Home — although that won't require a Facebook account just to use in the near future.

Another similar metaverse-style title, Rec Room, announced last January that it had surpassed 1 million active monthly users. Rec Room was one of the first big VR social spaces that launched back in 2016 alongside the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, so it's got a bit more history on its side as a publicly-available title than Horizon Worlds has.

Since its launch, Horizon Worlds has seen a number of quality improvement patches, including a personal boundary feature that was launched on February 4. Personal boundary gives players a literal 4ft-diameter invisible bubble around them to help ward against harassment and inappropriate behavior.

To date, Meta says that over 10,000 separate worlds have been built in Horizon, showcasing the platform's ability to scale well with whatever worlds players want to make. Conversely, this past weekend's virtual Foo Fighters concert in Horizon Venues didn't go as smoothly, with users on social media complaining that they were completely unable to join in on the music.

Clearly, the metaverse is growing.

What you need to know

• Meta changes the social media accounts of its VR brand to Meta Quest.
• The change follows Meta's company rebrand that was announced in late 2021.
• No one liked it then, no one likes it now.

Facebook, or Meta, as it now likes to be called, is going through with the rebranding of its popular Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, changing the beloved name to "Meta Quest."

A cursory glance at all of the Quest's renamed social media accounts will show the same meme highlighting the decision between Oculus and Meta Quest. Probably because Meta finds it amusing to poke fun at our emotions and lighten the mood in an attempt to get us to go along with the name change. Well, Meta was wrong.

The response on social media has shown that fans are anything but amused, with people criticizing the move as a betrayal of the brand, with some asking why the company can't just keep the Oculus name under the Meta brand, similar to what it does with its other products like Instagram and WhatsApp. Others simply poke fun at it.

Ben Schoon, senior editor at 9to5Google, perfectly sums up the response to the rebrand in three words:

Others are a bit more vocal about their dislike for the rebranding, prompting a response from the social team to try and quell their emotions:

On Facebook (the app), things aren't any better. Fans have likened the new "Meta Quest" name to something that just sounds very wrong.

One response suggests the name change is an attempt to move the brand away from the negative reception around Facebook and how it handles consumer data:

Our Nick Sutrich points this out as a possible reason for the rebranding as well, explaining that it acts as a first step towards decoupling the best VR headset from Facebook. He highlights other moves the company is making, like removing the Facebook login requirement. However, he notes that Meta will take more than a name change to clean up its reputation.

Not to mention, Meta is throwing away a lot of search traffic in the process:

Regardless of the real reason, the move is leaving a bad taste in fans' mouths, and it's one that might take some time for us to chew up and swallow.

What you need to know

• The FTC and several states are investigating possible non-competitive business practices at Meta's Oculus division.
• The probe looks to be investigating the low price of the Oculus Quest 2, in addition to claims by several software developers that Meta stole ideas without properly compensating them.
• This probe comes as two other major FTC investigations have been opened into Meta's business practices.

Meta looks to be having a bad week as Bloomberg reports that the FTC has opened yet another probe into what it calls anti-competitive business practices. Earlier this week, the FTC opened a probe regarding anti-competitive practices for its Instagram and Whatsapp acquisitions, but this time the new probe focuses on the company's Oculus business division.

The FTC and a group of states, led by New York, are questioning VR developers who have created Oculus apps for the Quest platform, which includes the Oculus Quest and Quest 2. The probe is specifically looking into how Meta may have used its influence and power in the market to stifle competition, both on the hardware and software side.

The probe seems to be looking at two components. The first is the price of the Quest 2, which is significantly less than the competition at $299. The second are claims from several developers who say they have been Sherlocked — a term that stems from Apple's theft of an app's ideas in the late 90s, in which Apple never compensated Karelia Software for its idea — saying that Meta illegally worked software concepts and designs into its Oculus operating system.

Specifically, Bloomberg's report highlights two documented cases that Android Central has covered in the past. The first is the similarity between YUR Fit — a fitness app developed to track calories burned while playing VR games — and Oculus Move, Meta's own version of the concept.

The second is Oculus Air Link which provides a way for Quest gamers to wirelessly play PC VR games through their home's Wi-Fi connection. That capability was launched many months after Meta blocked Virtual Desktop from the app store for nebulous reasons.

It's unclear what the aim of this FTC probe is, but it builds upon several other probes into Meta's business practices, including the acquisition of fitness app Supernatural in December 2021. We've reached out to Meta for comment but didn't receive a response in time for publishing.

What you need to know

• Population: One players have been having trouble communicating with each other since the January 6 update.
• Developer BigBox VR released a patch on January 10 that should fix the problems.
• Players who are having trouble updating should uninstall the game and reinstall it from the store.

Update January 10, 2022 4:00PM ET: BigBox VR has updated the game with a patch that should fix the communication issues.

While many players have been enjoying the latest Population: One season content, popping New Years balloons, and scoring big points, a big problem cropped up last week that's been preventing squads from being able to hear each other. If you've been playing and suddenly can't hear or speak with your squad, don't worry, you're not alone. Thankfully, a fix is here.

The problems seem to have started around the New Years content update, which went live on January 6. This issue also appeared in a previous update sometime in 2021 but was eventually fixed.

Developer BigBox VR posted an acknowledgment of the issues over the weekend, saying that players should expect a fix to come in the near future. That update went live on January 10 around noon PST.

BigBox VR notes that some players were also having issues properly muting players using the mute icon in the game. Additionally, some players were experiencing black screens when an update was required. Both issues have now been fixed, as well.

In the future, if you ever run into communications issues like this with Population: One or any other game, you can always create an Oculus party, instead.

Oculus parties are a great way to get together with friends and join in on the same games with little to no hassle. You can voice chat with your party at any time, so communication isn't relegated to the game that's being played.

Population: One is one of the best Quest 2 games, pitting players against each other in several different modes, from team deathmatch to battle royale. Players can climb literally anything and glide anywhere they want on that massive map, making this one of the most unique VR shooters available.

Virtual reality turned a bit of a corner in 2019. The rise of the Oculus Quest and the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx brought VR more into the mainstream and created a fair bit of buzz. 2020 looks to be another great year for VR, with added functionality for the Oculus Quest, the potential growth of wireless VR, and the release of one of the most anticipated games in VR's history. Additionally, rumors circle a potential PSVR 2, and several other impressive-looking titles are on the way.

The announcement of Half-Life: Alyx was quite a surprise in the gaming industry. People have clamored for a sequel to the Half-Life series for 12 years, but most didn't expect the sequel to come in the form of a VR title; in fact, some people are upset that the title is a VR-exclusive. But in mid-November, Valve shared the news that a Half-Life sequel was on the way.

Half-Life: Alyx looks to continue the feel of previous games, building a story around physics-based puzzles and dynamic shooting. The trailer below shows off some of the gameplay. Valve seems to have integrated the gameplay into VR in a meaningful way, including being able to grab headcrabs off your face and throwing them, as well as digging through shelves to find ammo and items.

One of the major criticisms of VR is that it doesn't have a "flagship" game that's a must-have title. While I disagree with that complaint, it's made frequently, so the release of Half-Life: Alyx might change some people's minds. The game's listing is already up on Steam and is set to come out in March 2020.

Unfortunately for Playstation VR users, Half-Life: Alyx isn't on the way to the platform yet, but that doesn't mean there aren't exciting things on the way for PSVR. Camouflaj announced in April 2019 that an Iron Man VR game is on the way. The game places you inside an Iron Man helmet and lets you fly through the sky. You navigate by pointing your controllers around as if they were the suit's thrusters and can combat enemies and overcome obstacles.

Camoflaj shows off the game's flying mechanics in the video above, which emphasizes that the game immerses you into an open sandbox that you can zoom through freely. The game comes out on February 28, 2020, and is exclusive to Playstation VR. You can preorder it now through the PlayStation Store.

In addition to waiting for Iron Man VR, PlayStation fans are on the lookout for the next evolution of the platform. While Sony hasn't confirmed anything regarding a PSVR 2, unveiled patents show a potential wireless future for the device. The design shown off in the patent looks similar to the current PSVR but lacks any wires. If this device came to be, it would help the PSVR compete with the likes of the wireless Oculus Quest while also building off the impressive PSVR platform.

Speaking of the Oculus Quest, Facebook's wireless VR headset is set to have an excellent 2020. The Oculus Quest gained preview support for Oculus Link and hand tracking earlier this year. Both of these should improve in 2020 and likely come out of beta and preview. These features greatly expand the library of games the Oculus Quest can play and the capabilities of the headset.

Oculus Link allows you to connect your Oculus Quest to a PC to play PCVR games. While the hardware of the Oculus Quest differs from the Oculus Rift S, Oculus Link, in essence, converts your Oculus Quest into a PCVR headset. This blows the doors off the library of games available for Quest users and allows people with a Quest to play powerful PCVR games at home while still having the option to play dedicated Oculus Quest games anywhere. We went hands-on with Oculus Link months ago and followed its progress all the way through its beta release. It's one of the most exciting aspects of the Oculus Quest right now.

Hand tracking is still in its early stages for the Oculus Quest, but it shows promise. The feature is currently limited, but by releasing it in preview, developers can find ways to integrate it into games. Several developers have already started playing with the feature and begun work to integrate it into games or to build games around the feature. We also went hands-on with hand tracking months ago, and have a summary on everything you can do with it right now.

While the internals of the Oculus Quest are a bit dated at this point, Facebook continues to improve the device. I don't remember the last time I've seen a device improve this much through software updates, and it was already good to begin with.

Virtual reality is knocking on the door of becoming mainstream, and 2020 could be the year that it goes through that door. Playstation VR continues to provide a way for console gamers to immerse themselves while Oculus covers mobile and PC-powered VR through the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S. The release of Half-Life: Alyx is a major boost to PCVR which needs a flagship title to stand out to more people. Toss in rumors of about a sequel to the PSVR, added functionality to the Oculus Quest, and a growing library of VR games, and you get a promising future for VR in 2020.

If you're tired of questing solo in your Oculus Quest, fear not. There are plenty of online multiplayer experiences, as well as party multiplayer with friends and family in the room, to enjoy. This list will focus primarily on the first option, with the best games for connecting and competing with your fellow gamers virtually, but there's couple couch co-op options thrown in as well. Try these Quest VR titles for creating lasting friendships and bitter rivalries.

Our top picks

Your choices should be predicated on whether you have friends with VR headsets, and if so, which headsets and games they own. Prioritizing games with cross-play, party chat, and either co-op or versus modes depending on your preferences makes sense. We recommend Rec Room as your first choice. It's a free title, so it's easy to convince friends to try it out, and the variety of minigames means you'll find a game mode for everyone.

On the other hand, if you prefer a challenge for you and your friend(s) to overcome more than a casual social setting, then consider titles that demand teamwork and communication to succeed. Games like Arizona Sunshine test your friendships when increasingly tough waves of enemies approach and you must each have each other's backs to succeed. A familiar voice shouting "there's a zombie behind you!" is so much more immersive and exciting than when an NPC says it.

If, however, multiplayer is all about solo competition for you, then ditch the co-op titles and try a game like Racket: Nx to get your blood pumping. Matchmaking in many VR games can offer a steep learning curve and make you feel generally terrible at said game, but Racket: Nx tutorials teach you everything you need to know to succeed, and each game feels within reach until the end if you put in the physical effort.

What you need to know

• Horizon Worlds is finally exiting beta after more than 2 years of testing.
• The virtual world is powered by Facebook's social network profiles and is only available for folks 18 years and older in the U.S. and Canada.
• Support for the original Oculus Quest is ending on January 13, 2022 and will only work on Quest 2 after that.

It's been a long time coming, but Meta's Horizon Worlds is finally leaving beta and is now available for all Oculus Quest 2 players who are ages 18 and older and reside in the U.S. and Canada. You can grab Horizon Worlds on the Oculus Store by browsing the app on your smartphone or downloading it directly from your Quest or Quest 2.

Quest users should be aware, however, that support is for the original Oculus Quest is ending on January 13, 2022, and Horizon Worlds will no longer be playable on the headset after that date.

Launching alongside the public version of the app is a new team-based 3v3 laser tag game inside Horizon Worlds, where players can join up with their friends and play virtual laser tag. Meta is also launching brand new mechanics and templates for folks to use to make their own worlds and games inside Horizon Worlds.

Horizon Worlds was originally announced as Facebook Horizons way back in September 2019 before it was rebranded to Horizon Worlds in early October 2021. Over the past 2+ years, Facebook (now Meta) has been tweaking the formula and testing its massive user-created virtual world, throughout that time maintaining an invite-only system to keep the crowds relatively small.

Meta says it uses your Facebook profile for Horizon Worlds to ensure you are actually who you say you are, citing that it ensures a safer online presence versus other similar virtual social hubs like VRChat.

Several community favorite worlds were highlighted in the blog post, including:

• Pixel Plummet: A vapor wave-themed battle royale with an arcade-style retro twist.
• Wand & Broom: Channel your inner wizard or witch as you fly your magic broom around town with your wand at your side.
• Mark's Riverboat: No, not that mark. This one is named after its creator tMARKbirman and is a great way to hang out with friends while enjoying a relaxing riverboat ride.

Soon enough, Quest 2 users will be able to invite their friends into their home spaces with Horizon Home, a replacement for the existing Oculus Home that keeps your favorite home spaces, just with a more social flair. Check out the Horizon Worlds launch trailer below and see if it's something that piques your interest.

Oculus Quest 2

The Oculus Quest 2 is the best way to experience VR. It costs less, works better, and has more apps and games. It's time to jump in and see what you've been missing!

• From $299 at Amazon
• From $299 at Best Buy
• From $299 at Oculus

The Oculus Quest 2 and Oculus Quest are practically built for shooting games. Their support for two Touch Controllers and the lack of wires or external hardware make them an excellent device for dodging bullets and firing at enemies. The Oculus Store has several titles that take advantage of this setup, ranging from post-apocalyptic zombie shooters to robot mauling mayhem. Here are some of the best Oculus Quest shooting games to buy right now.

Ready, aim, fire!

The Oculus Quest has a wide range of shooters. You can play less violent shooting games like paintball within Rec Room or blow off zombies' limbs in games like Dead and Buried II. The Touch Controllers track well enough that you can accurately aim at opponents. Their triggers make it natural to shoot down your enemies. If you want to enhance your VR shooting experience, you should pick up some of the best Oculus Quest 2 accessories.

The first shooting game I'd recommend on the Oculus Quest is Robo Recall: Unplugged. It's a frantic shooter that lets you rip robots apart and blow machines up with shotguns and other weapons. It's incredible on the Oculus Quest because you can spin around and fight enemies freely. The controls are also natural, allowing you to reload and switch guns from virtual holsters on your hip and back.

Another great title is Space Pirate Trainer. It feels like an immersive version of space invaders mixed with a classic arcade. It's an excellent display of the Oculus Quest's abilities as a shooting VR system and a great game to show your friends.

If you're the proud owner of an Oculus Quest 2 (or Meta Quest 2, whatever you want to call it), PlayStation VR, or are just looking forward to the PSVR 2, developers just unveiled a ton of new games on the Upload VR Winter Showcase for you to celebrate.

The bi-annual Upload VR Showcase is now on its fifth show and has previously revealed tons of new titles with every show. It's a bit like the PC Gamer's PC Gaming Show in that it's designed to be an industy-wide showcase of upcoming titles for all of VR, although the industry primarily supports the Quest and PlayStation VR platforms due to their popularity. Without further ado, here's everything announced at the 2021 Upload VR Winter Showcase!

Cities: VR

Quest 2, Spring 2022

Cities: Skylines is coming to VR for the first time ever as the appropriately-titled Cities: VR. Just as you'd expect from the series, Cities: VR brings the city-bulding sim into a more personally interactive medium exclusively on the Quest 2 this coming spring. The gameplay reveal trailer above shows players plotting out buildings and roads, altering landscapes, and getting right up close with their denizens as mayor of the town.

As you might expect from the series if you've ever spent time playing it, you'll be designing neighborhoods, constructing buildings, directing the flow of traffic, handling the economy, managing emergency services, providing healthcare, education, entertainment, and basically anything else your citizenry might demand of you as an elected official.

Cities: VR comes from Fast Travel Games, developers of an incredibly wide variety of games ranging from the horrifying Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife to the family-friendly Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets.

NERF: Ultimate Championship

Quest 2, 2022

Ready to jump into 4v4 competitive NERF battles in VR? Developer Secret Location certainly hopes so, as NERF: Ultimate Championship aims to deliver that satisfying thwumpft you get from a real NERF gun, only with a lot fewer lost darts. This multiplayer shooter was first unveiled this past Summer but we finally got a look at the gameplay at today's Showcase, which looks to focus on player movement, double jumping, and epic parkour skills.

Impressively, developer Secret Location modeled each NERF gun not just visually to its real-world counterpart but also outfitted each blaster with a unique blasting pattern, different dart fallout, and variability to the dart flight trajectory. Guns also feature manual reloading, priming, and revving triggers, as well as some dual-wielding options for the extra brave.

NERF: Ultimate Championship debuts on the Meta Quest 2 sometime in 2022.

Lucky's Tale

PSVR, release date

The original VR platformer, Lucky's Tale, just saw a release on the Quest 2 in November and is now coming to PSVR for the first time ever. This one used to be an Oculus Rift exclusive back in the day, and Lucky saw plenty of adventures on platforms like the Xbox, PlayStation 4, and Switch with the release of Super Lucky's Tale.

But here's the deal; this game is built for VR and really makes the most sense in that format. Peer around environments, find hidden secrets within, and delve into a platformer in a way you never have with this brilliant recreation of the original release.

The Chewllers

Quest 2, PSVR, 2022

The Chewllers is a co-op multiplayer tower defense shooter where you'll be protecting your tower against the hungry Chewllers. These little beasts are out to get into your tower and will use every means possible to gain access.

Create your own weapons by combining resources you find throughout your adventures, repairing walls between waves, and fighting off giant bosses alongside your friends. Whether you're tossing explosives or looking down the sights of a gun, there's plenty of variety to keep you coming back and screaming alongside your friends in your attempt to hold the fort.

RUINSMAGUS

Quest 2, 2022

In this VR-exclusive JRPG, you'll be seeing the world from a perspective not often seen in these types of games: right from the eyes of the hero. As a first-person action JRPG, you'll be fighting it out on battlefields and arenas throughout a 26-chapter story. The game currently only features Japanese audio but the team at CharacterBank is working on an English dub via support from a Kickstarter campaign.

In the game, you'll play the role of a novice wizard who teams up with a researcher to unlock the mysteries within the ruins of Gran Amnis. Classic JRPG combat looks to get a refreshing new take with this release.

Smash Drums

Quest and Quest 2, Out now

There are rhythm games aplenty in VR, but few deliver the visceral experience of Smash Drums. Making an official appearance on the Oculus Store today, December 2, Smash Drums is also introducing co-op and versus modes for up to 8 players. You'll be pounding the drums along with your friends through 30 songs in 8 different environments. But beware: not all drums can be smashed equally.

You'll need to watch your strength on those crystal drums so they don't break, but be sure to smash the heck out of the drums that are on fire. It's a test of your ability not only to rock out but also to show finesse and quick thinking.

Ultrawings 2

Quest and Quest 2, February 2022

Ultrawings 2 was previously announced for Quest and Quest 2 back in September, but today we got more footage of the port. The original Ultrawings was a PC VR flight sim that broke ranks with other flight sims by enabling players to interact with their cockpit using only their motion-tracked controllers.

Ultrawings 2 ups the ante with four new aircraft and dog-fighting fun, whereas the original was a single-plane flying-only type of sim.

Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures

Quest 2, Fall 2022

Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures is making its adorable Quest 2 debut in Fall 2022, alongside plenty of space dogfights and planetary exploration. The unique ships in Ziggy's Cosmic Adventures are fully roomscale environments, letting players actually walk around their cabin, explore, and interact with just about anything they see.

Among the instruments and containers is an adorable little stolen research project that you can pet and interact with in many different ways. Everything points to this being part virtual pet, part dogfighting sim, and all fun when it launches next fall.

Garden of the Sea

Quest and Quest 2, 2022

Garden of the Sea has been in beta on Steam for quite some time, but Budget Cuts developer Neat Corp is now ready to release the title fully on the Oculus Store for the Quest and Quest 2. Explore a happy little island filled with wonderful creatures, take pictures of beautiful surroundings, take a boat out and explore the seas, or just cast a line and catch whatever fish might come along.

You'll also be solving puzzles, interacting with townsfolk, completing quests, and trading with merchants along the way. Oh, and don't forget gardening. There will be plenty of that in the aptly named Garden of the Sea, which is launching the Quest platform in the near future.

Little Cities

Quest 2, Spring 2022

Create your own little island city with only your hands. This one adds a more personal touch, as you'll be constructing each individual building, adding cell phone towers, putting our fires and solving other emergency needs, and managing your tiny island city to your heart's content.

Little Cities changes things up by giving you different types of islands to build on. From green and lush paradises to dry desert landscapes, each island holds its own challenges for the player to solve.

Propagation: Paradise Hotel

Quest 2, PSVR, late 2022

The sequel to the short 2020 zombie shooter of the same namesake, Propagation: Paradise Hotel is anything but a paradise as an epidemic has turned seemingly everyone into zombies. It's hard to get enough of shooting the undead, and that's precisely what you'll be doing alongside friends in this full-fledged sequel. Today's unveiling was just a tease, so we expect to see more throughout the next year.

Lost Recipes

Quest and Quest 2, 2022

Schell Games latest explores recipes lost to time, tasking you with cooking all sorts of delicious-sounding concoctions from all manner of ancient civilizations. From medieval China to ancient Greece, the temples of the Mayans, and many others, you'll be learning how cultures of old were able to create such delicious masterpieces without modern technology.

Schell Games has been making VR games for years and has made brilliant titles like I Expect You To Die 2 and Until You Fall, among many others. This one's quite a different affair and looks to break ranks with the hoards of other VR cooking games that tend to focus mostly on speed to keep things interesting.

Zenith

Quest and Quest 2, PSVR, release date

MMOs and VR are a rare pair, and Zenith aims to fill that gap in a big way with its release sometime next year. For now, though, you can enroll in the beta, which starts on December 18. Development has been ongoing for several years now, beginning with a Kickstarter campaign back in 2019.

As an MMO, Zenith is a large open-world players can traverse at their whims. This trailer unveiled several locomotion options including gliding mechanics and real-time combat with either weapons or magic attacks. You'll also be able to cook in the game, likely to keep you from falling prey to an early death.

Moss Book II

PSVR, Spring 2022

Moss is a masterful experience that tells the tale of an unwitting hero, told entirely in a unique book-like format. Quill's next adventure takes her to frozen wastelands, lush garden scapes, steampunk paradises, and ancient ruins in this PlayStation VR exclusive title. As with the original, you'll be viewing Quill from afar as you guide her movements and combat along throughout the adventure.

This one is a direct sequel to Moss, which is among the very best Quest games you can get. It was also originally a PSVR-exclusive release that eventually made its way to PC and Quest platforms.

What you need to know

• Quest December v35 update brings along half a dozen new features and has begun rolling out starting November 30, 2021.
• Cloud backup for save files is now enabled in this new version, which will automatically back up any game saves you have on your Quest.
• Multi-user support is exiting beta, Facebook Messenger can now be used for calls in VR, mixed reality camera makes it easier to stream your VR gaming sessions, Horizon Workrooms features more customization, and more web apps (PWAs) are now becoming available.

Exactly one month ago, Meta announced that cloud save backup would be coming to the Quest and Quest 2 in the coming weeks. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait very long for this feature, as it's now rolling out alongside the v35 December update for both headsets.

That more or less solves the conundrum of whether to pick the 128GB or 256GB Quest 2 because, before this update, save files were directly tied to the game's own files. This meant that if you were to uninstall any game from your Quest or Quest 2, you would also lose your save files.

This update will now automatically back up all game saves from your headset onto Meta's cloud systems, meaning you can finally install Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond on a 64GB Quest 2 without uninstalling all of your games.

In addition to what was probably the most-requested feature for the Quest platform is Multi-user and app sharing support, which is now exiting beta and will now be available in the regular Quest settings menu. Folks using a single headset in their household can now share games without having to share a single account. Just have everyone else that uses the Quest log in with their Facebook account, and everyone will have separate profiles.

Additionally, all secondary accounts are able to share a library with the main account on the headset. That means you can use multiple accounts per headset without having to buy multiple copies of the same game.

Facebook Messenger support now includes the ability to make calls over Messenger in VR, making it easier to communicate with everyone in your life without taking off your headset.

If you find yourself working in Horizon Workrooms or using Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) like Instagram, Facebook, or others, you'll be pleased to know that both features are getting notable updates in this release, as well. Workrooms now includes more customization that can be made to your workspace, and even more PWAs are now available through the Oculus store.

Lastly, in this release is the addition of the Mobile Mixed Reality Camera. This feature is currently iPhone-only and needs an iPhone XS or above running iOS 11.0 or higher. With this new ability, the camera feature in the Oculus app gets a massive upgrade, making it possible to show your entire body in VR using spatial awareness technology. VR streamers, in particular, will likely be thrilled with this new feature as it requires no additional equipment to make it work.

Meta Quest 2

The 128GB Quest 2 model is double the storage of the original at the same great price, opening up the path to install dozens of games without worry. It's hassle-free VR in every single way.

• $299 at Amazon
• $299 at Best Buy
• $299 at Walmart

What you need to know

• The Roots of Evil is the second free story expansion for Demeo.
• The new expansion, titled The Roots of Evil, will introduce a new playable character class: a bard.
• The expansion is set to launch on December 16 on Oculus Quest and Steam VR.

Resolution Games took to Twitter to announce a second expansion for their beloved, card-based RPG, Demeo. The free DLC is set to include new cards, enemies, levels, and even a bard as a new playable character class.

The announcement only confirmed the new character, but Resolution Games also uploaded a brief developer Q&A hosted by their community manager, Ciwiel, on their YouTube channel. The Q&A included a few details about the upcoming DLC, including some concept art for the game.

The video also hinted at what else players can expect in the team-based RPG's future. It confirmed that more similar expansions are in the works at Resolution. It also announced that they would be raising the level cap in the game and that more in-game cosmetic items were on the way.

Our own Nick Sutrich enjoyed Demeo as a chance to enjoy all the fun of classic tabletop roleplaying games with his friends in the world of VR. The Roots of Evil is set to launch as a free update on December 16 on Steam VR and the Oculus storefront.

Demeo

Demeo brings the charm, feel and fun of Dungeons and Dragons to the world of VR. Its isometric, team-based gameplay brings the collaborative fun of classic board games to roguelikes and VR.

• $30 at Oculus
• $30 at Steam VR

I remember the first time I used an Oculus Quest. After years of hamstrung solutions from Oculus, the Quest felt like a breath of fresh air and the first time the company had truly done something remarkable since Facebook purchased it in 2014. Since then, the Quest has taken VR on a journey of exponential growth that developers and investors had been waiting for.

But enthusiasts haven't been happy with Oculus for years. The company has pushed its own proprietary development tools since before the Oculus Rift CV1 launched on PCs in 2016 and split the PC VR market in an unnecessary way. Facebook's hunger for data has made many people uneasy and unwilling to further invest, especially after the launch of the Oculus Quest 2 which ushered in the requirement to use a Facebook account just to operate the headset.

That account requirement led to a host of other issues, with players unable to play games they've purchased if their Facebook account was banned or deleted (or, on the off chance that Facebook's servers go down). They've even acted in untoward ways with developers, making it incredibly difficult to get apps and games approved — or nearly impossible to find in the case of App Lab — and, in some cases, outright stealing their ideas.

So what could a simple name change from Facebook and Oculus to the all-encompassing Meta possibly do? Everything, it seems.

The reign of the czar

After Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014, I wondered if anything good could possibly come of the move. When the original Oculus Rift CV1 launched in 2016, my fears of Facebook's disinterest in making VR a viable space were realized. At launch, the Rift was little more than a display you strapped to your head with the ability to look around — a reality that was further fleshed out by the fact that it shipped with an Xbox controller rather than the full movement motion controllers of the HTC Vive.

Not only that, but the Oculus Store presented a huge problem for PC VR enthusiasts that just wanted to use their headset of choice and play any game they wanted. We had grown used to the far more open Steam model and unless you had an Oculus headset, you likely had to deal with issues or incompatibilities when running mods that made Oculus games playable on non-Oculus hardware.

After the Oculus Quest launched in the Spring of 2019, things finally felt like they were changing for the better. The Rift had progressed significantly but nothing was quite so impressive as a standalone headset that could deliver proper room-scale experiences and full motion tracking.

Facebook's move to make the Oculus Store an exclusive fare had begun to make more sense. With bespoke hardware and a console or smartphone-like digital delivery system, Facebook could own every part of the transactions made on its platform.

But during that time, Facebook chose to ignore the toxicity of its own name, instead, planting it firmly upon the Oculus brand. With every move it seemingly injected itself further and further into the lives of Oculus users, eventually culminating in the requirement to login with a Facebook account just to use any Oculus headset when the Quest 2 launched.

Facebook further melded its brands by including them under the Facebook Reality Labs around the same time as the Quest 2 launch in 2020, finishing the transformation it had begun and finally absorbing the Oculus brand, in totality.

Because there was no way to separate Oculus from Facebook at any fundamental level, the brand became watered-down and as toxic to many users as the company that held its purse strings. I have more than enough friends who will attest to this — both enthusiast VR players and those casually interested in trying VR — to tell you that it has affected adoption rates at least in some degree.

At the helm of all of these decisions is Facebook's CEO — its czar, if you will — Mark Zuckerberg, who has driven the company to success no matter what it takes. Cix Liv, a developer who has been personally burned by Facebook in the past, put it best when he said "Facebook doesn't need a new name, it needs a new CEO."

https://twitter.com/CixLiv/status/1454182074735280143?s=20

Transformation, not change, is needed

After the announcement at Connect 2021, lots of people — enthusiasts, especially — have been discussing the name change from Oculus to Meta. The concern is that this act will erase any mindshare Oculus currently has in the market, especially since many mainstream conversations about VR usually reference the word "Oculus" rather than "Quest."

But I've come to feel that Facebook — or Meta as I'll start calling them from here on out — is smart to do this name change now. The Quest 2 is the most successful VR headset of all time, selling somewhere in the ballpark of 5 million (or more) headsets in the first year alone. That's a great start but that's just it: this is only the beginning.

Given that there's no real competition for the Quest in the marketplace at this time, there's really no worry that consumers won't be able to figure it out in short order.

The name change from Oculus to Meta isn't just about trying to put a new coat of paint on and calling it a day. Rather, if we're to trust the words of Meta's Boz and Zuckerberg, it's the turning of a new leaf that represents a more open and willing group of people to accept that they cannot be the "content czars" of the metaverse, as Oculus Consulting CTO John Carmack so eloquently put it in his Connect 2021 keynote.

While there's no sign of the current structure of content distribution changing — that's the Oculus Store for mainstream titles and App Lab for beta or indie titles — Zuckerberg specifically stated that Meta will continue to support side loading and linking to PCs.

Sideloading is a particularly big deal because it's something most other consoles don't offer. The only real exception is Microsoft with the Xbox Series X|S, but you have to boot into a separate developer mode to run those titles, while sideloaded Oculus titles require a simple change of sorting in your list of installed games.

Previously, we saw Oculus moving to the OpenXR platform in what I called the worst way possible, citing concerns from developers over compatibility issues. They, thankfully, cleared up any misconceptions that were present in the initial announcement, showing that they were truly all-in on OpenXR and developing a more open-source ecosystem.

But App Lab is one of the ways that Meta has used to mitigate criticisms around developer accounts requiring personal information says Anshel Sag, a senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. He goes on further to say "that said, I think the company does realize that some of the best applications may never reach their marketplace through traditional means much like we've seen with mods."

On the consumer end, they announced a brand new cloud save system that'll automatically back up all of your saves without developers needing to do anything. That's a stark contrast to some other OS updates recently, which require developers to make changes just to fit in with new OS features.

The last piece is the biggest, and it shows that Meta looks to be serious about the changes it's making. It's also the single best piece of news that came out of Connect 2021. Sometime soon, using an Oculus Quest will no longer require a Facebook account. Better yet, Meta says it's going to make it so that players can delete their Facebook accounts without losing access to their library.

We don't yet know what sorts of accounts Meta will allow to be used on Quests in the future but the fact remains that the stubborn Facebook policies of last year seem to have been peeled back significantly.

But here's the deal: even if this does mean you'll need a new Meta login to use your Quest headset, it means that VR usage is being decoupled from the social network, its policies, and, most importantly, the ramifications that follow if your account gets banned.

Who wants to lose access to all their purchased VR content when they might have just had a bad day and pissed someone off with a post on Facebook? No one, that's who. This should put a stop to that nonsense, and it's exactly what we've needed since the Quest 2 launched.

One of the tenets of Facebook's ability to subsidize Oculus hardware in the past has been its data collection practices. Facebook and, of course, Meta by virtue of the fact that the company itself never changed — just the name — collects data on its users for the purposes of targeted ads and more nefarious purposes as outlined in many of the huge legal battles the company has undergone this year alone.

Sag is still concerned that dropping the Facebook account requirement could still constitute ways for the company to collect data. "I think this is an extremely positive move as someone who thinks Facebook should've never had the requirement, but it doesn't change the depth of data collection and user tracking that a Meta account could possibly have."

Meta even tore Facebook off the Facebook Reality Labs name, making it simply "Reality Labs." In addition to that, it'll finally be divulging earnings numbers from the VR division — a first since Oculus was acquired in 2014 — and is showing a level of confidence in a more open ecosystem that didn't exist before.

Am I being overly optimistic? It's possible, and I know everyone won't agree with me here, but Oculus needed some big changes to get away from the stigma of Facebook and this could very well be the best way to go about it. After all, people don't normally say Sony when they speak of PlayStation. Microsoft isn't often heard next to Xbox in normal conversation.

I think Quest, too, will become the name synonymous with VR in the near future rather than just the Oculus name, as it is now. It's important for Meta to get this right, and starting with a fresh slate, of sorts, is the right move.

What you need to know

• Facebook has rebranded to Meta and will also sunset the Oculus branding.
• The Oculus Quest will become Meta Quest in 2022.
• Meta Quest will no longer require a personal Facebook account sometime in 2022. This rollout begins with work accounts later in 2021.
• You'll be able to delete your existing Facebook account and still maintain your VR library, according to Reality Labs VP Boz.

Updated with additional info on October 29 at 8:28 am.

Facebook announced a number of new concepts, technologies, and software at Connect 2021 — including its new name, Meta — but none may be quite as surprising as the company's move to drop the Oculus branding and, even further, to remove the Facebook login requirement for Quest headsets including the Oculus Quest 2.

In a blog post shared on Facebook, Facebook Reality Labs VP Andrew Bosworth (Boz) talked about how rebranding to Meta will affect the company and its many users going forward, including retiring the Oculus branding in 2022.

More than likely, we'll see this branding change as Meta moves toward new hardware, like the next-gen Quest headset Project Cambria, but we'll need to wait to get more details as everything progresses.

Boz later confirmed in a Tweet that you'll be able to delete your Facebook account and still continue to play the games you've purchased. That's a stark contrast from the current process, which deletes your entire library if your Facebook account is deleted or banned.

Further than that, Meta's push toward including everyone, everything, and every company in the metaverse means that the forced Facebook login on Quest headsets looks to be going away in 2022, as well.

During the Connect 2021 conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that they're "working on making it so you can log into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account." We reached out to Meta for clarification and a representative confirmed that the rollout will begin later this year with work accounts and will roll out more broadly in 2022.

What you need to know

• Meta announced a next-generation Oculus Quest headset called Project Cambria at Facebook Connect 2021.
• Project Cambria is designed to be a high-end headset with cutting-edge technology, not a replacement for the Oculus Quest 2.
• Cambria will feature realistic face tracking, eye tracking, and even body tracking.
• Cambria is designed with new smaller lenses and "pancake" optics.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg — or, more appropriately the company now known as Meta — took to the virtual stage at Facebook Connect 2021 to tease Project Cambria, a next-generation standalone VR headset. Zuckerberg said that Cambria isn't designed to replace the existing Oculus Quest 2 but will be compatible with existing Quest software.

Project Cambria is a high-end headset that's designed for the best possible experience rather than for a lower price point, as current Oculus Quest headsets are. Cambria will feature a brand new type of thinner lens with what Zuckerberg called "pancake optics."

These new lenses work by "folding light several times over" to achieve a smaller form factor, resulting in a smaller, lighter headset. Zuckerberg also said that Project Cambria will feature eye tracking, some form of facial tracking, and even hinted at body tracking.

All of those technologies will result in virtual avatars that move and interact more naturally.

We recently saw a big Oculus Quest Pro leak reveal many of what appear to be Project Cambria's features and form factor. We expect brand new controllers, as revealed in that leak, as well as a more comfortable headset since Zuckerberg stated that this headset is designed to be worn for longer periods of time.

What you need to know

• Beat Saber is the first game to hit $100 million in revenue from the Quest platform alone.
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has amassed $50 million in revenue across all VR platforms.
• Several other developers have reported record sales, citing huge growth in the Quest player base, in particular.

At Facebook Connect 2021, the company's annual AR and VR conference, Facebook announced that Beat Saber had amassed over $100 million in revenue on the Oculus Quest platform alone. Earlier this year, we saw that only six games had surpassed $10 million in revenue, and the quick milestone of $100 million for one of the best Quest 2 games shows just how much the market has grown in 2021 alone.

While Beat Saber has been out for well over four years on the PC, it took a while to make its way to other VR platforms like the Oculus Quest 2. Over the years, Beat Saber has become synonymous with the term VR and has become rather a cultural phenomenon, and now we know just how big the game has really grown.

On a similar front, Skydance Interactive also announced that The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has amassed over $50 in revenue across all three platforms that it's available on — that's PC, PSVR, and Oculus Quest.

Since its launch, the Oculus Quest 2 has become the defacto place for gamers to get a fantastic experience without having to make much of an investment. Likewise, the influx of customers has been extremely lucrative for developers, who have been largely withering on the vine for years while VR slowly grew. Recent titles, like Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife have seen 90% of sales on the Quest platform.

Other developers of note who have reported record sales lately include BigBox VR of Population: One fame and Downpour Interactive of Onward fame — both studios that Facebook has since acquired to join its Oculus Studios first-party brand.

What you need to know

• Facebook is launching the Presence Platform for Oculus Quest, which includes three new development kits.
• Insight SDK, Interaction SDK, and Voice SDK are designed to make these experiences easier for developers to successfully implement in their apps.
• Users should see better hand tracking and AR experiences in the future, as well as the ability to use their voice for more natural input.

At Facebook Connect 2021, the company announced a brand new trio of software development kits designed to help developers create better AR and hand tracking experiences, as well as adding in the ability for players to use their voice for search and control. Facebook calls this trio the Presence Platform, and it's one of the many ways the company is working to create a better Oculus Quest 2 platform for all players.

Hand tracking has been around since before the Quest 2 launched in Fall 2020, but it's always been a bit hit or miss. Newer software like Unplugged has proven that hand tracking isn't a lost cause, and Facebook's new developer tools should help more developers create experiences that are more similar to Unplugged instead of the janky early hand tracking titles.

Hand tracking improvements can be found in the new Interaction SDK. A new Unity library will include predefined actions like grab, poke, target, and select, making these complex interactions a significantly easier process to implement into games.

Similarly, the new Voice SDK will help make it easier to offer voice as a third form of input in games. Oculus used several examples of how voice could be added into a game, including searching for your next song in Beat Saber, issuing commands to a squad, or casting a magic spell.

Last is the Insight SDK, which helps enable better Augmented Reality (AR) or Mixed Reality (MR) experiences. Insight SDK enhances the passthrough capabilities of the Quest — that's how you can see the world around you via the Quest's external cameras — and allows developers to more easily create more cohesive experiences with the world around the player.

Several new technologies are being introduced with Insight SDK. Spatial anchors let developers and players add virtual objects to a real-world location so they can stay in place when the player walks around. That's great for keeping virtual walls in place in games like Space Pirate Trainer, or for tracking the keys of a piano and making it easier to learn how to play, as you'll see in the image below.

Note that, despite the player's head moving, the virtual notes stay in line with the keys.

Scene understanding, likewise, helps the Quest understand how to better blend the real and virtual worlds together by mapping your room in the virtual space.

Facebook says that it's following its Responsible Innovation Principles for these developments, ensuring players are comfortable and that any data collection is outlined specifically before a user jumps into an experience.

Soon, Oculus will also debut the Tracked Keyboard SDK so you can bring your mouse and keyboard into VR with fewer restrictions.

What you need to know

• Oculus Home is becoming Horizon Home in the next Quest update.
• Horizon Home uses existing Oculus Home locations but allows you to bring your friends along for some quality virtual hang out time.
• Oculus is improving how parties work, making it easier for players to invite their friends to Horizon Home and then quickly jump into parties within games from there.
• Oculus Avatars should be making an appearance in more games soon, as they're being added to Unity and Unreal engines for developers to use.

If you've ever turned on your Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 and wondered why you're all alone in an empty virtual room, don't worry, Facebook has been thinking the same thing. That's why Horizon Home will be replacing the existing Oculus Home, giving you a fresh new home location to spend time with friends or by yourself, if you so choose.

Horizon Home is the next extension of Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms, allowing you to create your own home space and giving you the chance to invite all your friends in for some quality virtual hang out time together.

Horizon Home is an in-place update of Oculus Home, meaning your current environment and any that you have saved or downloaded will still be usable in Horizon Home — just with a lot more social capabilities.

Facebook says it's also working on enhancing Horizon Home so that players can further customize their space and make it fully theirs. More than likely, we'll see similar functionality to what the desktop Oculus Rift version of Oculus Home does.

Inviting friends is as easy as opening up the new redesigned friends dialog and sending an invite. Once your friends accept, they'll be transported to your home where you can hang out, party, or easily join up together in your favorite games without having to separately be re-invited. This will still only work with supported title,s but Facebook expects that list to grow.

Oculus Venues is becoming Horizon Venues, letting you bring all your friends to a virtual venue after joining up in Horizon Home. Just as before, Horizon Venues will let players take part in virtual concerts or other events alongside their friends and plenty of strangers, giving you a more real-world feeling of presence than a simple live stream could deliver. Live NBA games will soon be making an appearance in Horizon Venues, too, so keep an eye out for that in November.

In addition to that, you might be seeing your Oculus Avatar in more places over the coming months, as Facebook is adding Oculus Avatar support to Unity Engine in December and Unreal Engine 4 early next year. That means developers can now integrate your Oculus Avatar directly into their games, much like Nintendo did with personal Mii characters on the Wii.

At the very tail-end of 2020, Oculus Studios released one of my favorite VR games of the year, Jurassic World Aftermath. While the game wasn't without its faults, it was one of the strongest examples of a game that makes the most sense in VR. After all, hiding from dinosaurs — just raptors in the first game — is absolutely terrifying and wouldn't give you that sense of terror without being in the world.

Nine months later, developer Coatsink delivered Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2, the direct follow-up to the cliffhanger ending of the first part. Instead of being a free addition, Coatsink is charging $15 for the game — a $10 price reduction over part 1 — much to the chagrin of some players who didn't notice the buy button for the expansion pass upon the original's release.

In part 2, you'll not only complete the story that began with you unceremoniously crashing onto Isla Nublar, but you'll also encounter more than just raptors this time around, solve new types of puzzles, and visit fantastic environments that are as beautiful (and non-interactive) as the first part's. It's a solid follow-up that doesn't change the core dynamics but offers enough additions and challenges to keep you crawling along for the ride.

Disclaimer: This review was made possible by a review code provided by Coatsink. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2: What makes this a great expansion

While you'll need to own part 1 and have to shell out $15 for part 2, you won't need to have a completed save file to begin part 2. This is a massive improvement over games like Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, which require you to have a completed save file to start the DLC.

That's particularly problematic on a device like the Quest or Quest 2 when there are several months between content releases because save files are deleted when a game is uninstalled. It's unreasonable to design a game without taking these platform issues into consideration, and Coatsink was smart to not force players into playing through the first part all over again.

As in the original, you'll play as repair technician Sam, who is stranded on Isla Nublar with only the injured Dr. Mia Everett holed up in a safe house somewhere on the island. As you have just barely managed to escape Blue and her companions at the end of the last episode, you finally learn that it's Blue's DNA you've been after the entire time.

The turn of events that leads to this revelation is narrated by none other than Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role as Ian Malcolm from the films. As always, Goldblum gives a superb performance — even if it is just his voice — and helps fill in some of the more mysterious bits of the story.

While I haven't been a fan of the Jurassic World movies, I love the overall universe and lore and have found myself enjoying spin-off series' like Camp Cretaceous on Netflix. Aftermath's story ends up playing perfectly into that world and even takes plenty of story hints and clues from Cretaceous.

Toward the end of part 1, things began to feel repetitive but ended just in time before I found myself getting bored with the mechanics. Part 2 adds a slight layer of complexity to the formula but doesn't stray too far from the original mechanics.

The familiar feel only lasts around 45 minutes until you get into what feels like truly newly minted content, encountering other types of dinosaurs — meaning, not raptors — and completely different puzzle types that are mechanically completely different from the Simon Says style puzzles in the beginning.

Unlike part 1, part 2 changes scenarios up the more you trek along with the story. What was just running from raptors and pressing buttons turns into popping open locks, feeding a triceratops, and narrowly escaping the clutches of a T-Rex as it looms overhead the disheveled mail room.

Puzzles are also a bit more complex this time around. For example, routing packages through areas with no power require you to backtrack and keep track of cable positions, rerouting power to the proper place, and flipping switches to move the cargo along.

Just about every plan you undergo gets foiled at some point during execution, a tactic that I knew was coming but kept me interested nonetheless.

I do hope we get more stories in this fashion in the future because the concept and mechanics are extremely well-executed, and I can see the improvements in Coatsink's formula in just the nine months that it took to make the second part.

I also admire how much work Coatsink put into the accessibility options of the game. Crouching most of the game made my neck hurt, but clicking in the right stick to virtually duck gave me a break. That also makes it possible to play while seated, which is something not always possible or comfortable with every VR game.

Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2: What could use improvement

While part 2 did a great job in mixing up puzzles and adding in much more environmental variety, there's no escaping the fact that most of the environments are simply works of art to traverse through. Like a museum, you'll be admiring the visuals as you make your way through each section but aren't allowed to touch, well, basically anything that isn't a part of the story.

Some of the mechanics are also a bit simple for my liking. For example, there's no inventory management, and you won't even need to remember keypad combinations as the game simply paints them on the wall above when you learn of the combo from an email or other part of the dialog.

Simplicity is certainly going to be a positive for some folks, especially if they're overly stressed by the dinos lurking around every corner. Still, I'd love to see more interaction and less hand-holding in future installments.

One of my complaints revolves around me being a Jurassic geek and wanting to see more of the island than the game allowed. One particular marketing campaign made me think we were going to see some of the more unique experiments from the Camp Cretaceous show, but, alas, that wasn't the case. Maybe in the future?

Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2: Should you play it?

4 out of 5

Jurassic World Aftermath part 2 is a direct continuation after the cliffhanger ending of part 1. As with any good Jurassic story, there's both finality and ambiguity, leaving plenty of room for parallel stories or continuations in the future. Jurassic World might be a wreck, but it's clearly still worth talking about.

While the newness of the formula has worn off, developer Coatsink did an excellent job of introducing several new puzzles and gameplay elements that change up the core gameplay enough to keep players interested. I wish we saw a bit more of the other dinos in the story, but I was happy that they were there to break up the action a bit more. As it stands, this was another excellent 5-hour adventure that kept me glued to my headset the entire time.

Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2

Bottom line: Jurassic World Aftermath part 2 finishes the story from the first part, as you might expect, but it also adds in brand new puzzles, more environmental variables, and a few new dinos to keep the action fresh. Better yet, you won't need to have a completed part 1 save file to start part 2.

• $15 at Oculus

What you need to know

• Facebook Horizons is getting a rebrand to Horizon Worlds to better represent the VR social network's content.
• Horizon Worlds is Facebook's way to socially network people in a VR-focused way, including thousands of user-created worlds to explore.
• The new Creator Fund is designed to incentivize content creators with up to $10k in cash prizes.

After two years in beta, Facebook Horizon is getting some big changes, including a brand new name. Facebook Horizon, the VR extension of the company's social network, will henceforth be known as Horizon Worlds to better fit the app's function. Facebook is also launching a new creator's program as it shifts to using its own world creation tools exclusively, hoping to entice content creators to join them in making rich VR worlds.

If you're an Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 owner, you can head to the sign-up page to register for the Horizon Worlds beta and see what all the hubbub is about. Once accepted, you can download the fancy new Horizon Worlds update and get to exploring all sorts of virtual worlds with friends and strangers, alike.

If you've ever played any of the best Roblox games, you'll get an idea of the organization of Horizon Worlds. Players create their own avatar and can take that new online identity into hundreds (or thousands) of different worlds to explore. Each world is completely different and may include games, social spaces to hang out it, or even ticketed virtual events to attend, like concerts or plays.

In essence, Facebook is looking to replicate real-life with something like Horizon Worlds rather than the concept of social media as we currently know it. It's certainly hard to escape the fact that Facebook removed its own name from the platform, though, no doubt making many wonder about its plans for the concept, at large.

Facebook's own blog post on the update details the new $10 million Creator Fund that will help incentivize folks to make new and better virtual worlds for everyone to inhabit. They'll even be running community competitions for creators that include up to $10,000 in cash prizes for the winners. If you're interested, definitely check out Horizon Worlds and see what you can create.

Since its launch a year ago, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has remained at the top of the best Quest 2 games list. While the impressive gameplay is one of the biggest reasons to spend your hard-earned money on this game, Skydance Interactive has seen fit to update the game time and time again.

Earlier this year, players got to experience the challenges of The Trial — a totally free arcade-style content update that was separate from the main story — and now Skydance is back with yet another free content update, this time addressing what happens after the end of the game. That's The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Aftershocks.

Since this is a free update for all owners of the game — regardless of whether you finished the story or not — I'm going to be taking a look at whether it's worth your time to jump back into the world of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. Is this an update only for folks who got all the way through the Saints & Sinners story, or is it more readily available for everyone as The Trial is? Let's take a look.

For this review, I played the SteamVR version of the game, using an Oculus Quest 2 with an Oculus Link cable. Early access to the update was provided by the developer. The content of the Aftershocks update will be identical across all platforms.

Filling out the end game

At launch, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Aftershocks update is intended solely for players who have completed the main story in the game. In the next update, Skydance Interactive will be adding in a "quick jump" button on the main menu that lets players jump right to the beginning of this new content but, until then, the only way to access the new content is by continuing from a save file that completed the story.

To begin the next tale in the world of Saints & Sinners, you'll have to tune in to channel 47 on your bus radio. When the time is right, the dulcet cajun accent of a new stranger will fill you in on the details of the plan. In short, the lost cache of The Reserve has been scattered throughout the city and it's your job to liberate its contents from the clutches of warring gangs and factions that have it in their grasp.

As you make your way through familiar locations, you'll notice changes in the environments that weren't there before. New fortifications, new traps, maybe even a new hole or two in a wall that you can crawl through. It's a bit disappointing to visit the exact same locations as before, but at least they have been updated a bit to follow along with the story.

As you make your way through the extended story, it becomes clear that whoever was able to secure the Reserve Cache has caught on to your thieving ways and begins to anticipate your arrival more and more.

Each of these caches is filled with supplies for the end game, allowing you to prepare better weapons than you might have had a chance to the first time around. The narration is on-point as usual, with unique voices, excellent voice acting, and great dialog.

You won't find any notable new enemies or weapons that you haven't built before, but it's entirely likely that most players didn't build all of the weapons and other items in the first place. This gives you an opportunity to do that, and it feels like many more people will be able to experience the full breadth of what the game has to offer. The new content will last you around 5 hours or so, depending on how quickly you make your way through the multi-tiered missions.

Polar opposite of The Trial

While The Trial was an arcade-style mode that focused on high scores, a fast pace, and quick planning — all with a temporary character geared up for each encounter — Aftershocks falls back to the more methodical pace of the original game. That makes sense since you'll be using your existing character to once again trudge through post-apocalyptic New Orleans, this time to stock up with more recipes, supplies, and weapons than you ever thought possible.

It's almost like Skydance is getting your character prepared for something truly epic to happen in the future.

Skydance has yet to introduce any sort of multiplayer to the game which truly is the game's only real weak point. Heading through abandoned school hallways and being jumped by a zombie busting through a door would be even more fun with a friend, but at least we can dream of the future of the game.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Aftershocks update is available for free on September 23, 2021, for all players. Skydance says the Quest update weighs in around 6.73GB, so be sure you have around 15GB of free space on your Quest before hitting that update button. PSVR players can expect a 9.67GB update size, while PC players will find the update weighing in at a whopping 31.3GB. The game does look quite a bit better on PC, which likely explains the massive size difference.

If you're a Walking Dead player who already finished the game and is ready to get back to the grind, it's high time you put your headset on and began roaming the streets of New Orleans once again. For everyone else who hasn't finished the game yet, you might want to hold off until the first patch, which will be introducing that quick start button to get into the new content right away.

Have you ever been jamming out to a favorite song and found your fingers pretending like they're playing guitar? Even those of us who have no idea how to actually play guitar — that's me, for the record — have found myself pretending to shred the air along with a particularly fierce guitar solo more than once.

Unplugged lets you take your unfounded air guitar skill and hone it into a way to play music. It's a rhythm game with no equal, and that all comes down to the tech being used. It's truly the Guitar Hero of VR, as our Unplugged preview shows, but it doesn't require any kind of special controller. In fact, you won't be using a controller at all. This is purely a hand tracking experience on Quest, which means you'll use your hands one hundred percent of the time.

This Unplugged preview was played on an Oculus Quest 2 with access provided by publisher Vertigo Games.

A master class in hand tracking

Unplugged uses Oculus hand tracking tech — tech that has, historically, been a gimmick even on the best hand tracking games — and, subsequently, is playable only on the Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2. Unplugged gets hand tracking right in ways no other game has been able to so far, and it likely has a lot to do with how your hands are positioned.

Because of how you would naturally hold a guitar, the Oculus Quest cameras can see your fingers at all times. That's the key to making sure that the system understands what your hands are doing and where many hand tracking experiences get it wrong. After all, if you're reaching out for an object and the back of your hand occludes the cameras' view of your fingers, the system has no idea what you're actually doing.

Since the guitar can be held in either right or left-handed positions, you can use either hand to hold the fretboard. To change notes through the song, you'll slide your hand up or down the imaginary neck of the guitar and hold it in one of four marked spaces. As you look at your fingers in VR, you'll note that each one has a unique color: the index finger is red, the middle finger is blue, the ring finger is green, and the pinkie is yellow. You won't use your thumb to play notes.

As you move past easy difficulty, Unplugged has you using more combinations of your fingers to hit notes. Some notes require two fingers, while others use three. Riffs only require you to strum once at the beginning of the note and hold the fret cords until the riff ends. Other notes will play off the imaginary cord vibration and have you switch your hold on the frets without adding in an extra strum.

Without having played guitar myself, it certainly feels a lot closer to how I imagine an actual guitar is played versus something like Guitar Hero, where you simply press a single button for each note. You can see me play through The Kids Aren't Alright by The Offspring on normal difficulty in the short video above.

At the beginning of each song, you'll position your guitar by grabbing the whammy bar with your strumming hand and the neck with your fret hand. The guitar itself is held in place throughout the song but rotates with your fret hand as you move it around. Think of it as locking the guitar to a tripod at the beginning of the song, so it doesn't float away but still gives you the freedom to comfortably rotate the guitar as you jam with the song.

Despite not having any tactile feedback at all — not even vibration since you're not using controllers — strumming on this imaginary air guitar feels surprisingly realistic. Part of the magic is that the guitar rotates with your fret hand — as stated above — and the other part is that you can see your hands clearly moving up and down the fretboard, no matter where in the air your hands actually are. Matching up your hands with a rotating guitar does wonders to make you feel like you're actually holding it.

Unique mechanics, familiar formula

In this hands-on Unplugged preview, I got the chance to strum through the intro — starred by Satchel from Steel Panther, a pastiche 80's hair metal band from L.A. — and four songs, each with several difficulty levels to play through. Those included:

• The Kids Aren't Alright - The Offspring
• Say it Ain't So - Weezer
• Flying High Again - Ozzy Osbourne
• Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

From the get-go, you can scroll through the carousel of available songs with your finger — probably the only hand tracking mechanic that was tricky to get the hang of — or pick a song and play in succession for as long as you'd like by just tapping the "next song" button. This "next song" mechanic was particularly well done and not something you often find on rhythm games. It really helped keep me in the zone while playing rather than being interrupted by a menu every time a song ends.

Each playthrough nets you a score based on how well you did, and some rounds will even qualify for a special bonus round, as well. During the bonus round, you'll catch objects thrown at you from the crowd, with each trinket adding to your bonus score. After that, you'll be added to the global leaderboard and shown your standing, just as you might expect from a rhythm game.

While it wasn't shown off in this Unplugged preview, players will get the chance to earn additional guitars throughout their play, as you'll note in the screenshot above, which takes place in the backstage area where you begin the game. There also appears to be a fanbase that you'll grow over time and likely other features we weren't able to see in this preview build.

Like most rhythm games, lower difficulties tend to be less synched with the song itself. Unfortunately, that could actually make it more difficult to play with the music since it doesn't feel like some of the notes line up just right. It's necessary to go through these easier difficulties in order to develop your skills, but they always present their own problems in rhythm games.

Harder difficulties will have you moving more quickly, using more varied combinations of cords, and add in several different types of cords that you'll need to master. My wife had a more difficult time getting acclimated to the game than I did, so it's possible that the disjointed feeling of not actually holding the guitar could take a bit more adjustment for some folks. On the other hand, I didn't start having trouble until hard mode, which falls in line with what I expect from my time with other rhythm games.

I wish there were better audio cues for when you hit or miss a note. There's a definite "oops" note that plays when you miss, but the music doesn't stop at all, and it feels a bit disjointed. Some rhythm games will drop the audio level a bit as you miss, letting you know you made a mistake without needing to see it. Given the amount of visual information presented on screen, I really do hope to see something like this added in the final game.

Unplug and unwind

Unplugged feels like an ideal addition to the Oculus Quest library, if for no other reason than the fact that it makes the nearly effortless Quest platform even more effortless. All you need to do is put your headset on and use your hands to navigate the UI, launch the game, and jam away without ever having to touch a controller.

That also means you can't use a controller with this game — something that might be a turn-off for some players — but it isn't any less limiting than the requirement to use a special controller on the rhythm games of yore. It's also a lot less expensive than those games since you'll only need to buy the game itself and not a special controller, too.

Folks with disabilities or other accessibility needs can be confident that developer Anotherway put some serious thought into these needs during the game's development. Cords are color-coordinated with your fingers but are also in unique positions that make it apparent which fingers you'll need to use to press on the fretboard to hit a note. Oculus already has colorblind options built into the system anyway, so between those two things, users with color impairments should be able to play without issue.

If you don't want to stand the entire time, it's easy enough to take a seat and bring the guitar down to your lap. Since the guitar doesn't move its physical position and only rotates along the base, aligning with the hand that holds the fretboard, Unplugged can be comfortably played sitting down as well as standing up.

I'm not yet clear on how players who might be missing fingers will be able to play the game, as there were no real options in the preview version, but I've asked the developer about this accessibility need and will update this preview with more information. Right now, a Valve Index is the only way to play the game with a controller since it has full finger tracking. That version will be available on SteamVR.

Unplugged is coming to the Quest and SteamVR platforms this year. However, since the controller-tracked version probably feels quite a bit different from playing the game with just your hands, we'll reserve judgment and comment on that version of the game for a later time.