Great intro to VR for newcomers
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“A fantastic introduction to virtual reality. This game is a masterclass in showcasing VR's core strengths.”
Steam review · 5.7 h played ↗
The Lab
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 91%Very Positive · 91%Valve2016Sandbox · Action · Adventure
Free to play
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 6 h ago
The verdict
A free Valve VR sampler of Portal-flavored minigames, great as a first VR experience and for the archery. It's short and shallow, and it crashes on some headsets and in some minigames, so skip it if you want depth.
Great for
VR newcomers and anyone showing friends what VR can do, especially Portal fans and archery lovers
Main risk
Crashes, failing to load, or broken minigames (Robot Repair, Secret Shop) on your headset
What players love
Fun, varied minigames
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“the three mini-games are really fun and addictive”
Steam review · 14.3 h played ↗
Portal universe charm and Valve polish
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“Love the Portal enviroment. Same humor as Portal 2.”
Steam review · 5.6 h played ↗
Free and great value
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“just a neat little bundle of tech demos. yeah they're short, but it's free. so why complain?”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Cute robot dog
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“how did they make the dog so cute. im not joking, i couldnt stop smiling while looking at it.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Excellent archery (Longbow) minigame
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“it has the best archer mechanics in any vr game”
Steam review · 15.8 h played ↗
What players complain about
Poor compatibility with some headsets (Quest, WMR, Rift)
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“I'm sure this works great with a Vive. It's *rough* with an Oculus Rift.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Won't launch or stuck on loading screen
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“haven't even been able to get past loading screen. I have searched all over for a fix and it seems to be a very common issue with 0 fixes available.”
Steam review · 0.2 h played ↗
Crashes in Robot Repair
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“the Robot Repair demo made in Source 2 still crashes after so many years, valve pls fix”
Steam review · 1 h played ↗
Lag, stutter and poor optimization
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“the game is terribly optimized. I can never get this game to run at a reasonable frame rate for anything longer then 5 minutes.”
Steam review · 1.1 h played ↗
Shallow and short, little to do
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“Just a techdemo that shows off steam VR. A few minigames and a brief story sequence and thats about it. Kill an hour and you'll probably never touch it again.”
Steam review · 0.7 h played ↗
Teleport-only movement, no turning or seated play
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“This game needs locomotion controls, there is only one good game to play other wise and not being able to turn in place for the robot repair really destroys the games play ability.”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported
Minimum
OSWindows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10
ProcessorIntel® i5-4590, AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or better, Video Output: HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
OSWindows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10
ProcessorIntel® i5-4590, AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or better, Video Output: HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
More games to check
Other games we’ve read the reviews for
Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 Complete Edition
Very Positive · 84%
+ Strong nostalgia and charm
− Many bugs and softlocks
analyzed 9 d ago
Tower Unite
Very Positive · 90%
+ Huge variety of minigames and activities
− Toxic community and NSFW condos
analyzed 3 d ago
−20%
Groundwork Simulator
Mixed · 49%
+ Great potential and forgiving early-access view
− Overpriced and too rough for early access
analyzed 3 d ago
SpaceEngine
Overwhelmingly Positive
+ Immense, seamless, realistic universe
− Crashes, bugs and failure to launch
analyzed 4 d ago
Weekly digest
Fresh games worth a look, in your inbox
The most interesting games we’ve just analyzed, once a week.Once a week we send the most interesting games we’ve just analyzed: the verdict, top pros and cons, and what changed. No spam.
One email a week · unsubscribe in one click