VALVE INDEX

The new breed of virtual reality headsets are mostly focused on an experience that you can tidy away once you’ve done your Beat Saber for the day but what if you truly want to disappear into room-scale VR games? Well, the Valve Index, released back in 2019, is still one of the most impressive headsets on the market. Its stylings are somewhat more brutalist and functional than the new generation but that’s because Valve understands that you’re not going to care what it looks like when you’re wearing it. VR gaming isn’t about looking like you’re in your own lifestyle ad.

Be warned though, the bar for entry for the Index is significantly higher than most headsets today. Access to Steam’s selection of virtual reality offerings isn’t just a matter of handing over £919 for the headset, base stations and controllers, but also clearing a room, and investing in a gaming PC powerful enough to deliver the visuals the Index is capable of. Think thousands, not hundreds.

But once you’ve got your room ready, powered each base station and plugged in all three cables into your beast of a gaming PC, nothing looks or feels like the Valve Index as you disappear into VR. As you’d expect from the gaming leviathans, everything has been engineered for sheer immersion. The Index has dual LCD screens with 1440 x 1600 pixels per eye, exceptional clarity and brightness, and a 120Hz refresh rate. And, if your PC can take it, there’s even a 144Hz experimental mode for your eyes to feel even more intimidatingly immersed in the whopping 130 degree field of view. Gone are the tunnels of old school VR headsets – the Index makes you feel like you’ve been literally dropped into VR worlds.

And Valve won’t be outdone on controllers. Simply, the Valve Index Controllers work like hands. There are 87 sensors here to determine hand and finger positioning, motion and pressure. Every movement of your digits is expertly tracked so you don’t feel like you’re holding controllers and instead can use your hands naturally to grip, feel and interact with the environment. This is especially impressive the first time you load up Half Life: Alyx - a game that comes free with the Valve Index. Interacting with this world by touching, prodding and grabbing feels the VR future we were promised.

Where other VR headsets rely on the triggers of what are effectively standard pads cut in half, the Valve controllers can actually be squeezed to grip things. Because these controllers are effectively worn instead of held, these natural interactions mean VR universes become all the more inviting, without the need for spending hours with white knuckles. Add in the base stations for full motion tracking and it does feel like the Index still delivers the most natural VR experience. Just remember that the set up to get there isn’t as smooth as squeezing a trigger in Half Life: Alyx.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES +

+ EXCEPTIONAL CONTROLLERS + ROOM-SCALE VR + INCREDIBLE FOV

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- YOU’LL NEED A POWERFUL GAMING PC - STILL TETHERED - REQUIRES BASE STATIONS