Virtual reality was supposed to be the next big thing back in 2016, when the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive launched. It was the tech whose time had finally arrived. Or so we thought. As it turned out, VR was still a little too expensive and perhaps alienating to take over the gaming world like Oculus and HTC had hoped. But it is still a lot of fun. Nowadays, there are a lot more games to play, not to mention a new breed of standalone headsets trying to carve out their own virtual space. If you’re itching to dive into VR, we hope the guidance below will help you choose wisely.
Note: You might find that VR headsets are sold out these days, now that there’s increased demand since everyone’s stuck inside. A lot of prices are inflated right now, so we recommend waiting until they’re back in stock.
Updated for April 2020: We added the Oculus Quest and Rift S. We also made a section for other headsets, mentioning the Vive Cosmos Elite and Valve Index, and we removed the HTC Vive.
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