Meta Quest 3s Review: Probably The One We’ve Been Waiting For

Meta’s champion determination pinch nan Quest 3S? It comes pinch Batman: Arkham Shadow.

Yes, nan Quest 3S is Meta’s step-down headset from nan Quest 3, but it tin play each of nan aforesaid games. Meta mostly made nan correct tradeoffs pinch its newer and cheaper headset, truthful being Batman will yet consciousness beautiful akin crossed immoderate devices. The Quest 3 is simply a amended headset, to beryllium clear. It’s too $499.99. At $299.99, nan 3S is nan amended buy.

So if you don’t already ain a Quest 3 but want to dabble pinch VR, prevention $200, get nan Quest 3S, and hop into Gotham. And past cheque retired everything different you tin play. There’s overmuch to do than you mightiness think.

The Quest 3S itself is overmuch aliases small nan assemblage of nan Quest 2 and nan courageousness of nan Quest 3, including nan aforesaid Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, nan aforesaid cameras for full-color passthrough, and nan aforesaid Touch Plus controllers. Like different Quests, it’s a standalone instrumentality that doesn’t petition to beryllium plugged into point to work, which I deliberation gives it a limb up connected nan PSVR 2.

At 514 grams, nan Quest 3S is fundamentally nan aforesaid weight arsenic nan 515-gram Quest 3. But nan Quest 3S is noticeably bulkier than nan Quest 3 because of nan 2 places Meta recovered to prevention money: nan lenses and displays.

The Quest 3S, for illustration nan Quest 2, uses Fresnel lenses, whereas nan Quest 3 uses pancake lenses. Not only are pancake lenses thinner, but they tin too personification amended image worth and bring nan headset personification to your face, which makes it consciousness overmuch balanced. The Quest 3S too has nan aforesaid solution (1832 x 1920 pixels per eye) and conception of position arsenic nan Quest 2, meaning you won’t spot alternatively arsenic overmuch successful beforehand of you arsenic you would pinch nan Quest 3’s 2064 x 2208 solution and somewhat wider conception of view.

That said, I’ve ever felt that nan Quest 2’s show was perfectly bully for playing games and wide web browsing, and I deliberation it’s still acceptable for nan 3S, peculiarly astatine this price. And it’s been bully successful Arkham Shadow. Sure, nan graphics aren’t anyplace adjacent arsenic bully arsenic a PS5, but connected nan Quest 3S, everything looks bully tin to make skulking done sewers and ducts and taking retired waves of bad guys a afloat blast.

Of course, nan Quest 3S’s graphics aren’t arsenic bully arsenic a PS5’s, for a batch of reasons different than conscionable nan lenses — 1 is simply a elephantine location console and nan different is simply a look computer, you know? — but nan Quest 3S is overmuch than serviceable. If you want Quest games to look arsenic bully arsenic possible, you should get nan Quest 3, and that’s fine. But I don’t deliberation you suffer each that overmuch opting for nan 3S and redeeming $200.

I should opportunity coming that if you personification a Quest 2, nan Quest 3 will consciousness for illustration overmuch of an upgrade. Yes, nan hardware connected nan Quest 3S is overmuch improved, meaning things are mostly snappier and that you tin play better-looking games. But, astatine slightest for nan moment, location are only a fistful of games that you tin only play connected nan Quest 3S and Quest 3 — 1 of which is Arkham Shadow — and nan Quest 3 too has a visibly amended show and conception of view.

The champion connection for nan Quest 3S, and perchance for VR arsenic a afloat correct now, is Arkham Shadow, which is free pinch nan headset until nan extremity of April. No matter which headset you play it connected — it’s bundled pinch immoderate nan Quest 3 and 3S — there’s point really cool astir playing arsenic Batman successful VR. Hiding successful nan rafters and swooping down connected a baddie is Batman’s afloat thing, and this crippled lets you do it from nan first-person position of nan Caped Crusader. Meta is bundling nan crippled for a reason: beyond conscionable nan Arkham lineage, nan crippled is that good. We’ve been waiting for a genuinely awesome VR crippled for a agelong time, nan 1 that sells nan afloat setup each by itself. Arkham Shadow mightiness beryllium that game.

If caped crusading isn’t your jam, though, you’ll too personification entree to nan immense room of Quest VR games, for illustration Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4. I really enjoyed Maestro, a precocious launched euphony crippled wherever you behaviour an orchestra. As of past year, you tin too wirelessly watercourse VR games connected Steam from a PC to your Quest headset. 

The VR app business is getting beautiful bully connected nan Quest. But while Meta has too pushed difficult connected nan augmented reality and passthrough elements of nan Quest 3 and Quest 3S headsets, I haven’t seen immoderate mixed reality games aliases apps that look worthy playing complete point that’s afloat immersive VR.

Passthrough — which lets you position nan world astir you while you personification nan headset connected utilizing its cameras — still seems for illustration a mini characteristic to me. While I emotion nan “action button” connected nan Quest 3S that lets you easy move betwixt passthrough and immersive modes, it’s point I’ve only utilized to type a connection astir a crippled I was playing aliases cheque Slack connected my laptop earlier pressing it again to spell backmost into VR. The expertise to put windows wherever you want successful abstraction is bully (and is point you tin do pinch different Quest headsets, too), but I don’t do immoderate Serious Work successful a headset that would require that level of organization.

And sure, you could bent retired and play games successful Meta’s Horizon Worlds. But each crippled I’ve played successful Horizon Worlds has been terrible, truthful I wouldn’t impulse it. I could perchance springiness Meta a locomotion coming if Horizon Worlds was marque new. But Meta has been pecking distant astatine Horizon Worlds for years, and I still don’t deliberation location is immoderate constituent to utilizing it.

The Quest 3S doesn’t spread immoderate of nan problems inherent to VR: you’re still putting connected a ample headset that covers your eyes and mostly shuts you retired from nan world astir you. Hand hunt is conscionable okay — you’re astir apt still going to want to usage nan controllers to really interact pinch things while wearing nan headset. After spending 45 minutes aliases truthful playing a crippled for illustration Arkham Shadow, I commencement to consciousness nan weight and petition to propulsion up nan headset to springiness my caput and cervix a break. The Quest 3S, astatine least, comes pinch Meta’s Y-shaped apical strap, which is overmuch comfortable and overmuch configurable than nan Quest 2’s modular strap.

I too noticed that I was mostly only picking up nan Quest 3S for nan purposes of penning astir it for work; aft activity aliases connected nan weekends, I preferred to play games connected my Steam Deck aliases PS5. I deliberation location are a less reasons for this. One is that those different devices fto maine overmuch easy chat pinch my female while I play, alternatively of shutting her out. We personification a caller babe crawling around, truthful erstwhile I get immoderate clip to play a crippled while nan babe is asleep, I’m tired tin that I’m not looking for nan physicality of VR. And nan games, for nan astir part, don’t liking maine for illustration nan games I tin play connected my non-VR gaming devices. (If you publication my article astir regretting buying nan PSVR 2, these arguments whitethorn sound familiar.)

The cheaper Quest 3S doesn’t lick VR’s inherent tradeoffs and limitations. And if you already personification a Quest 2, you’re not missing retired connected excessively galore games. But $299.99 for nan aforesaid chipset arsenic nan Quest 3 but pinch somewhat worse displays makes nan Quest 3S nan champion headset to bargain correct now.

Even if it’s conscionable an Arkham Shadow machine, it’s astir apt worthy it.