Buying VR titles from the Epic Games Store is a mess

Through a series of exclusives and discounted deals, occasionally ending in titles not being bachelor where the publishers originally announced they would, the Epic Games Store has made quite a proper noun for itself this year. While many of the headlines you see are in response to some sort of controversy regarding specific titles, the store itself is visually pleasing and adequately uncomplicated to apply. You become in, buy the game you want, and get to having fun.

Unless, that is, yous're buying a virtual reality (VR) title. If you want to get a sweet discount on a absurd VR game through the Ballsy Games Store, exist prepared to jump through hoops to actually play the game.

Not enough info in the listing

VR titles in the Epic Games Shop are listed like any other game, which means if the title works on Windows it just says Windows in the platform listing. Just it'due south not quite that unproblematic, and not every game sold in the Epic Games Store is universally supported on every VR platform. The Epic Games Store does non have a VR customer of its own, so it pushes you lot to one of the others.

You can't fifty-fifty purchase some games through Steam right now, merely SteamVR is required to play them on certain VR headsets.

That's not great, especially when it's not spelled out before yous buy. Sometimes you get titles like Trover Saves the Universe where later purchase y'all can choose to launch either SteamVR, Oculus, or OSVR. That is awesome, considering choice is awesome, and offering flexibility is a unique matter for Epic to practise. But sometimes you go titles similar the Epic Games Store exclusive Tetris Result which volition only run with support from SteamVR or Oculus.

Yeah, y'all read that right. You can't even purchase this game through Steam correct at present, but SteamVR is required if you're using annihilation other than a Rift or Rift S (like Vive or Windows Mixed Reality).

This causes some complications because information technology means VR owners could potentially buy a game from the Ballsy Games Shop, and then be asked to launch the game in SteamVR with no guarantee that launcher has been installed on the system. Information technology dramatically increases the number of steps that player has to go through in social club to get from purchasing the game to playing information technology, very quickly making it not worth the discount you got off the cost tag.

The only indication that something might be a fiddling unusual in the listing for whatsoever VR title in the Epic Game Store is a unmarried line of text at the bottom which reads "Cheque VR FAQ Page" simply the text doesn't fifty-fifty link to that page and it's non immediately obvious where that page is on the site. Individual FAQs for games like Trover Saves the Universe include a list of which headsets are supported, but even that doesn't paint the whole picture. In that location's no visual indicator anywhere for Trover working in OSVR if you get to purchase information technology from the Epic Games Store until later on you've installed information technology, which is confusing.

Failure to launch

Unfortunately, the problems don't stop with the list confusion or launch. The inconsistency in how games are launched, often without warning, is problematic at best. Occasionally information technology works like Subnautica, where you tell the championship to launch and Oculus fires up and everything just works. But that'due south not always the instance.

Multiple times, I've gone to launch a title and forgotten to plug my headset in offset. This launches the championship to my monitor but also launches SteamVR and Oculus in the background. You tin can nevertheless use a keyboard and mouse to play, but why are the VR apps as well launching? There are no instructions or warnings anywhere for any of this.

While I should know better than to launch a title without the right hardware connected, it'south articulate this organization merely isn't ready for people who aren't VR experts. That feels like the whole story here. Epic just sort of bolted VR "support" into its shop without a lot of explanation and basically no back up, expecting its users to effigy it out as they go. It'due south not but poorly implemented, it demonstrates a lack of basic respect for users that's non typically seen in the residual of the shop.

Affordable VR accessories you lot'll employ every time

Energizer rechargeable batteries ($14 at Amazon)

Bear upon and WMR controllers crave AA batteries to operate and speaking from experience, you lot're going to want to invest early on in some rechargeable batteries to save money in the long run. This pack includes a wall charger that can handle four AAs at once, and so you shouldn't have any reanimation while waiting for a charge.

SecurOMax microfiber cloths ($vii at Amazon)

There's nothing worse than foggy or dirty VR lenses. They obstruct your power to focus on the action in the headset properly, and frankly, they're just gross. These cloths from SecurOMax won't scratch your headset'due south lenses, and you lot'll be glad you lot have them on hand subsequently a couple of sessions.

Hyperkin FreeStep ($22 at Amazon)

If you're tired of tripping over the cable running from your VR headset to your PC, you can get it up off the basis with this suspension system. Information technology has half-dozen retractable carabiners that stick to a ceiling and provide the correct amount of slack to go along the cable at an ideal length.

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