How to play Steam games on ​​Oculus Quest 2: Get into AAA virtual reality gaming!

Getting your PC ready

Minimum and recommended PC requirements

First and foremost, you'll need to check the system requirements of the SteamVR games you plan on playing. Your PC needs to meet those for you to have a good virtual reality experience.

Every Steam game has a minimum and recommended specs list on its page, under "System requirements" (which is right under the game's description).

For example, a popular SteamVR game – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR – has the following recommended system requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 or 11
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB / AMD RX Vega 56 8GB
• Storage: 15 GB available space

Note that running games in virtual reality is taxing on your PC. A PC has to do over twice the work to get a game like Skyrim VR running smoothly, as it does running it in traditional 2D. So once again, be sure that your computer meets the minimum requirements, at the very least, in order to be sure that you'll get good performance, and an enjoyable time in VR.

Installing Steam and SteamVR, as well as the Oculus app

If your PC meets the minimum requirements, you can proceed with the next step: You'll need the following apps running on your PC, in order for your Quest 2 to connect with it, and be able to play SteamVR games:

• The Oculus app (available here under "Air Link and Link Cable")
• Steam, with SteamVR installed (available here)

Downloading and setting up those apps is pretty straightforward. The Oculus app in particular will require you to do a quick set up, if you haven't done it already, and should be ready to pair with your Quest 2 afterwards.

Once you have those apps installed on your PC, as well as the Steam games you actually plan on playing through your Quest 2, you can proceed to connect your headset with your PC…

Understanding SteamVR, Oculus Link and Virtual Desktop, and connecting your Quest 2 to your PC

What's SteamVR? Well, it's Valve's framework for virtual reality games. For you as a consumer, this is just a required, free Steam app that you'll need to install, before you can play Steam games in VR, with or without the Quest 2.

What's Oculus Link? This is the Quest 2's framework for connecting to a computer. Once you have the Oculus app running on your PC, and it and your Quest 2 are on the same Wi-Fi network, you can put on your Quest 2, click the clock (bottom left on the main taskbar), then click "Quest Link" to connect to your PC. This connection can either be fully wireless, via Wi-Fi (recommended – simpler and cheaper), or via an Oculus Link cable, which is expensive and sold separately.

What's Virtual Desktop? That's an alternative method you can use to connect your Quest 2 with your PC. It's a $20 app available on the Quest 2 app store, and it works very similarly to wireless Quest Link (a.k.a. AirLink). Virtual Desktop is particularly useful if you plan on playing non-VR Steam games on your Quest 2.

Time to play SteamVR games on your Quest 2

Once you have your Quest 2 connected to your PC via one of the above ways (Quest Link is recommended, as the simplest), you should start seeing the SteamVR homescreen.

It's a black void with a grid pattern on the floor. You can now use your Quest 2 controllers to launch a SteamVR game, and play it on your Quest 2. Press the Oculus button on your right Quest 2 to open the SteamVR settings menu at any time.

You can also launch your Steam virtual reality games from your PC, and then put on your Quest 2 headset, if that's more convenient.

Troubleshooting, questions and answers

How to fix connection and latency problems

If you're noticing latency or connectivity issues, you're likely using AirLink (wireless Oculus Link), which is reliant on the speed of your Wi-Fi connection.

An optimal setup would be to have your internet router reasonably close, and your PC plugged into an ethernet, which is faster than Wi-Fi.

If that doesn't help, and you're unable to switch for a faster Wi-Fi connection, you can purchase the Oculus Link cable, which serves as a wired connection between your Quest 2 and your PC, overriding the need for fast Wi-Fi.

Be advised, however, that the Oculus Link cable is pretty expensive for what it is ($80), and you may want to look into alternative cables that offer the same functionality. There are plenty of third-party Oculus Link cables, just be sure to read the reviews, and make sure you get a good one, as some could be of poor quality.

In any case, once you switch to a wired connection, those latency issues should disappear.

Unless the latency problem you're having appears to be caused by your PC struggling to perform, which could happen if its specs are below the system requirements for your SteamVR games. In which case, you can try this…

Adjusting the in-game settings for better performance (and the SteamVR resolution)

Every bigger-budget modern game has a settings, or an options menu, where you can adjust the graphics. For virtual reality games in particular, you'll want to lower their resolution, which has the biggest positive impact on performance, albeit makes the image blurrier and less distinct.

That's unfortunately a balancing game you'll need to deal with, if your PC does not meet the system requirements of your VR games.

In addition, SteamVR itself allows you to change your VR resolution. To do that – press the Oculus home button on the right controller while in-game, which would bring up the SteamVR menu.

Press the gear icon (bottom right) to open settings, then navigate to the General menu, where you'll find an option called "Render Resolution Per Eye". Lower that, in order to boost your performance. Afterwards, restart your game to apply your new resolution settings, and in most cases – your performance should be noticeably better.

Avoiding controller mapping and tracking issues

Not all SteamVR games are perfectly adapted for the Oculus Touch controllers. Many SteamVR games prioritize Valve's own Index headset, and its controllers, which may lead to odd or missing functionality when playing with Quest 2 controllers.

Before buying a VR game, make sure that it has been confirmed to work with the Quest 2. We'll tell you how to find Quest 2-compatible SteamVR games next.

In addition, you may want to look into mods, as some SteamVR games do have community modifications available, which make them work with the Quest 2, even if they don't necessarily support it natively.

Finding the best SteamVR games for Oculus Quest 2

The Steam pages for all VR games used to have a list with compatible VR headsets, but Valve eventually made finding Quest 2-compatible games a bit confusing by removing it.

The good news is that these days, pretty much all SteamVR games will work with the Quest 2 out of the box.

Your best bet to learn just how well each SteamVR game works with the Quest 2 is to check the reviews. Since the Quest 2 is the most affordable, and thus widely used headset, there are reviews sharing how well each game works with it under every Steam page.

In addition, we can recommend the following SteamVR games for you, that we've tested to be working with the Quest 2:

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
• Fallout 4: VR
• Half-Life: Alyx
• Pavlov VR
• No Man's Sky
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Boneworks

Is the Quest 2 compatible with SteamVR?

Yes, the Quest 2 is perfectly compatible with SteamVR, so long as you remember to download and run the Oculus app on your PC, before attempting to use them together.

We've explained the how-to process above, right here.

Can I play all SteamVR games on my Oculus Quest 2?

Yes, these days you can effortlessly play pretty much all SteamVR games on your Quest 2, so long as you have a powerful enough PC, of course.

Rarely do some games lack perfect compatibility with the Quest 2's controllers, so especially for big-budget AAA titles, facing any issues is unlikely.

However, there could still be some outliers that work exclusively with a different headset (e.g. the Valve Index or HTC Vive), so be sure to double-check their descriptions and reviews.

Is it possible to play non-VR Steam games on Oculus Quest 2?

Yes, you can play non-VR Steam games on your Quest 2. People swear by the Quest 2 app Virtual Desktop for that, although you can also simply use the built-in screen mirroring feature of Oculus Link.

Your desktop, and any non-VR Steam game you launch, will be projected on sort of a virtual wall for you in your Quest 2. But do keep in mind that non-VR games will have to be played with a controller, or a keyboard and mouse. You won't be able to use your Oculus Touch controllers for non-VR gaming.