Asgard’s Wrath

Play it on: Windows (VR required)
Current goal: Get swept away

My Steam Year in Review revealed that upward of 30 percent of my Windows gaming time this past year has been spent in virtual reality (and that would’ve been higher if not for my unfortunate dalliance with Starfield). So you might think I’m all tuned in to VR games, but the truth is a lion’s share of that time was actually social VR, primarily hanging in VRChat and showing movies to friends in Bigscreen

While I know it’s not true, I actually struggle a bit to not buy into common negative VR narratives like “they’re all glorified mobile games.” While the VR games ecosystem definitely has plenty of room to improve, there are in fact already a lot of compelling games to discover. I just need to make more of an effort to get past my initial skepticism and try them, even if it generates a little more friction than just another comfy evening in VRChat

Case in point, Asgard’s Wrath popped onto my radar this month thanks to its sequel making a huge splash on Quest, where it’s garnering high praise. I’m really keen to see what the fuss is about, but of course my brain being my brain I had to get in on the ground floor. But I was also interested in going back because the first Asgard’s Wrath was a PC game. It’s a lot higher fidelity than most VR games made today, Asgard’s Wrath 2 included, because they’re often constrained by Quest’s standalone hardware.

And that’s the main thing I can report so far: It sure is prettier than I’m used to from recent Quest stuff! Asgard’s Wrath is making my 3080 sweat just a bit to maintain a solid 90fps, and it’s not lacking in detailed interiors and beautiful vistas. I’m still pushing through the early tutorial areas, but the massive-looking world map, accompanied by rather lengthy lists of quests, challenges, and other feats to accomplish, certainly suggests that the scope is there. Bring it—I’m ready and willing to get lost in this world, if it’s worthy of that. — Alexandra Hall

Virtual Desktop, still a winner

A few weeks ago, Valve’s new Steam Link offered a free and very convenient way to wirelessly stream your VR Steam games to Quest headsets. Some claimed the previous streaming king, the $20 Quest app Virtual Desktop , was now obsolete. But not so fast. Steam Link is great, but so is Virtual Desktop, and the latter’s a more versatile tool. With Asgard’s Wrath , only Virtual Desktop had the ability to stream this non-Steam, Oculus store game. As ever, 20 bucks well spent.