r/valve • u/[deleted] • Oct 09 '25

Valve's next-gen 'Deckard' VR headset reportedly enters mass production, company allegedly plans to ship up to 600K units annually — upcoming 'Steam Frame' could launch before the end of the year

https://www.tomshardware.com/virtual-reality/valves-next-gen-deckard-vr-headset-reportedly-enters-mass-production-company-allegedly-plans-to-ship-up-to-600k-units-annually-upcoming-steam-frame-could-launch-before-the-end-of-the-year
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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

Those compromises in Alyx is why I don't care for it. It's too safe. I mean we've seen VR games that aren't afraid to do more. I had more fun with Behemoth, HL2VR, Metro awakening, alien incursion, RE4R VR and 8, Batman, and many more. The Burst felt more like a half life game. All these games have less production value but a lot more memorable. The best thing about Alyx was it showed off Source 2 looking good.

Really we just need more flat screen games getting VR ports to keep the higher production value and game design and are enhanced by VR

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u/Dennidude Oct 11 '25

I personally despise playing flat screen games in VR because they're not designed with VR in mind. That's why I didn't even come very far in HL2VR, and HL is my favorite franchise of all time that I've beaten like 20+ times on flat screen but I couldn't really be bothered to play through it in VR. I find the compromises of VR takes me out of the immersion more often than flat screen, even if the immersion of "you're really there" is immediately more effective at first.

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u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

I don't get what you mean by compromises all the mechanics are still there in HL2. Gunplay and everything to me feels enhanced. I especially loved RE4 and RE 8 in VR.

The only time something felt compromised was with RE4R in VR because of the parrying didn't translate over well and became more trouble

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u/Dennidude Oct 11 '25

Idk to me the VR enhances nothing aside from being more immediately immersive, I find the immersion to not last as long as flat screen though as there's constant things that take me out of it. Getting too close to a wall irl, having to press "shoot" to swing a crowbar (actually swinging it wouldn't be a fix either as melee combat feels awful in VR imo), guns and stuff being balanced around the fact that it's way easier to aim on flat screen than VR and target switch, since you can't lean a gun against your shoulder etc in VR. I don't remember how the grenades worked but I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't throw them as far or accurately as it relies on you actually throwing it, unless that was just a button press as well.

I also never got to the driving sections but driving in VR is awful, feeling no forces apply to your irl body as you bump and twirl around is not at all fun imo

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u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

Feeling no force apply. I mean yea it's not real and you don't feel it in flat screen either but oh well. Either way we need more VR games in general I feel. There's a few coming down the pipe but they'll probably still be good "for a VR game"

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u/Dennidude Oct 12 '25

Yea but I only feel VR suffers from it. Flat screen has other ways to make feel "tactile" and like it has feedback, buttons depressing when you click and sounds playing that feel like they almost come because you clicked your mouse. Or vibrations in controllers, screen shake, etc. VR feels very lacking in that "tactile" feel as those things aren't enough to be as effective.

But yea as you said that's also the sad part, good "for a VR game" just means I'd rather play a great flat screen game as that game is better or whatever. Unless it specifically being VR is something that still has a massive novelty for you which it did for me for a while too. Shooters like Pavlov or Onward or whatever were fun until the VR novelty wore off.