Steam and Half-Life Alyx could save PSVR 2’s bacon thanks to a new app

Ever since PSVR 2 launched last February, Sony has given it about as much love as a clutch of chicks being forced to have dinner with a fox in a hen house. The PS5 virtual reality headset has been starved for decent software (just like its PS4 predecessor), and outside rare examples like Gran Turismo 7 getting a legit wonderful VR update, it feels like the Japanese giant has already given up on its gizmo… or so I thought.

Enter Valve to save the day.

Rumors of Sony making PSVR 2 compatible with PC have been circling for months, and back in early June the company finally confirmed fans of the best Steam games would be able to use the headset with their rigs via the snappily named “PlayStation VR2 PC adapter”.

Said gizmo launches on August 7, and will set you back $59 / £49, and a day prior, Valve will launch a Steam app to support the headset and its shiny new adapter. Here’s a quick breakdown of the minimum PC specs courtesy of the PlayStation Blog …

PC players obviously aren’t starved when it comes to the best VR headsets — hey, Meta Quest 3 ! — yet despite Sony’s anaemic software support for PSVR 2, there’s no denying it’s an excellent piece of kit. Its 4K display is stunning, those controllers feel lovely to hold and you can even enjoy movie-like experiences if you watch Blu-ray movies through your PS5.

Sony PSVR 2: was £529 now £349 @ Amazon
The PSVR 2 brings serious high-quality gaming credentials with a 4K OLED picture at up to 120Hz refresh rate, the best controllers I’ve ever used on a VR headset with accurate tracking and impressive haptic feedback, and a strong (if small) library of PlayStation titles that is set to get so much larger when PC VR support arrives on August 7.

Price check: £349 @ Very - £349 @ Currys View Deal

As a quick aside, for the five months I owned my PSVR 2 before selling it, the best experience I had with the headset was watching A Star is Born on it. What. A. Film.

While the Steam app isn’t going to change the outlook for owners of the headset who purely play games on PS5 or the slightly skinnier PS5 Slim , if you own a version of Sony’s smash hit console and a gaming PC, the prospect of buying a PSVR 2 suddenly looks a whole lot more enticing.

Steam has literally thousands of VR games that PC players will soon be able to enjoy with PSVR 2, and the undisputed queen of the crop is Half-Life: Alyx .

I played through Valve’s astonishing VR shooter during the pandemic, and it’s exactly that: ASTONISHING.

We may never get Half-Life 3, but honestly, I’m no longer that fussed about seeing Gordon Freeman and his legendary crowbar return because Alyx gave me cherished memories that I’ll be dining on for years.

The prospect of replaying it on PSVR 2’s stunning OLED headset is almost tempting me to rebuy Sony’s headset. Almost. Yet for folks out there who own both PSVR 2 and one of the best gaming PCs , that first week in August is shaping up to be pretty damn special.

More from Tom's Guide

• PSVR 2 future looks pretty bleak — is this the next Vita?
• I ditched the PSVR 2 for the Meta Quest 3 — here’s what happened
• PSVR 2 one year later — here’s the good and the bad after 12 months