This week in VR, Half-Life: Alyx makes a million new VR players, Oculus is making a new Quest headset, and there’s a few new games you should try on Steam.

The biggest headline this week is Half-Life: Alyx, or rather, what Half-Life: Alyx has accomplished. According to Valve, there are now a million more VR users on Steam since Alyx released. That’s three times as many people on Steam with a VR headset than last year, which is a huge accomplishment. Alyx has shown what VR can do and that Valve is still in the business of making ambitious games that push the boundaries of what modern technology can do.

Next up is Oculus with a new Quest. The Quest headset has always been the budget option of the Oculus line, but an updated model better able to meet the demands of something like Half-Life: Alyx might catapult it into becoming the next must-have VR device.

According to sources speaking to Bloomberg, the new Quest will be smaller, lighter, and more comfortable. It’ll have a boosted refresh rate of 90Hz to ease eye strain and redesigned controllers. It’ll also have 4 external cameras and support for Oculus Link for greater performance.

There’s no timeframe on when we might see this new Oculus, and with COVID-19 still causing havoc in global supply chains, don’t expect it anytime soon.

We’ve got three new games to check out this week, with the first being War Saber. As the name suggests, it’s a sword-fighting game with lightsabers. They don’t call them that, of course, but that’s what they are. It’s still in the very earliest stages of development, but if you really want a virtual lightsaber, War Saber is here for you.

Perhaps more exciting is War Dust, a massive 32 versus 32 person battle simulator. War Dust looks to be like Battlefield but in VR. It’s set in modern times with modern armaments, including guns, tanks, helicopters, jets, and more. It’s getting some positive early reviews, so check it out if you want to play soldier in your living room.

And finally, we have Wet Dog Corp. This game puts you in charge of a dog washing company, only the dogs are on conveyor belts and you clean them using soap and water guns. It was by Virtual Reality Development students at Ringling College of Art and Design, and it’s available on Steam for free. That’s right: $0. Just download it and play. You can’t argue with that price.

Source: Steam, Bloomberg