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# The Steam Frame Is More Than Just Another VR Headset
- URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-frame-review/
- Published: 2026-09-14T17:00:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T18:39:52.000Z
- Description: The Steam Frame is Valve's latest VR headset and a worthy successor to the Index. But what powers it might be more consequential than many realize.
- Author: Chris Person
- Tags: valve, Hardware Reviews, Hardware, pc hardware, virtual reality, #top-story

The Steam Frame comes at a strange time for VR specifically and computing generally. Developed over seven years since Valve's previous entry, the Valve Index, it attempts to solve many of the problems that have plagued both PCVR and on-device VR units like the Quest 3\. On a hardware level it is more expensive than you’d like (although not much more than the original Index, at $1059 for the base 256 GB model and $1299 for 1TB) and arrives in the hangover of several larger, louder and better-funded companies trying and failing to force a cultural moment with VR. 

But unlike Meta or Apple, Valve never stopped remembering who VR is primarily for: a small base of committed enthusiasts. Like the [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/), the Steam Frame is a real computer running an ARM variant of SteamOS that you can run like a Linux desktop. Unlike its competitors, it can run many PC games on-device through a compatibility layer called FEX, although that is a work in progress much like Proton once was. And while it is more expensive than comparable money-hemorrhaging headsets for reasons outside of Valve’s control, I would argue that the steps that Valve took to create an open platform that just works are smarter and more consequential than any single VR headset ever could be. Also, it’s a very nice headset.

## **Son Of The Index** 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061641_S128-1-1.jpg)

The Steam Frame (Left) and its stalwart predecessor the Valve Index (Right). The old girl got me through some good times.

During the pandemic I got a Valve Index from Kotaku for coverage. I distinctly remember going to Stephen Totillo’s home to pick it up because it had been shipped to him. Up until that point I had previously used Oculus Rifts, HTC Vives, and whatever headsets people had attached to the demos we had gone to. Uniformly, these were queasy and unpleasant experiences. The headsets were heavy, the images had a low refresh rate and resolution, and the overall experience constantly reminded you that barfing was an active possibility. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061641_S134-1.jpg)

The Valve Index has these really cool floating drivers and a great mic that I always appreciated. They provided great isolation.

While the Index did not fix everything, it was the first time I felt like the technology had made meaningful strides to being something a normal person would want to use. It was and is a headset made with love. The directional BMR drivers it uses for audio uniquely floated over your ear, allowing for spatial awareness while making the overall experience a less claustrophobic one. The displays had a high enough refresh rate that I felt comfortable using it for extended periods of time. The array mic in it is still shockingly good, borderline podcast quality, and I became obsessed with how Valve pulled that off in a device like that. The controllers, which floated on your hands and allowed for articulation of individual digits, are still among my favorites in terms of visual design. And the way that Valve handled spatial tracking, using a series of base stations (called “Lighthouses”), is still considered the gold standard for professionals I know who use VR for performance and art.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/lighthouse-1.jpg)

The "Lighthouses" from the original Index were annoying to set up but great for the time they came out. You can rest easy now Soldiers.

It was also the first fully-realized hardware product I had interacted with from Valve, and the first time I suspected that the hardware team might know ball. It also happened to coincide with covid lockdown, so it gave me something to do that was not pacing back and forth in a tiny apartment. I spent hours throwing toilets off a mountaintop in a virtual house and going to a club in *Hitman* in a time when all other nightlife had been rendered obsolete.

0:00 

/0:41 

1× 

This is the kinda shit we did in March 2020.

Despite the Index feeling like a leap forward, VR advocates have not sent their best in the intervening years. Mark Zuckerberg, [who is never right](https://aftermath.site/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ai-metaverse/), insisted that VR was the future of every online interaction instead of a thing for specific niche use cases like guys with racing rigs and furries who like to play *Beat Saber*. He burned an [entire mountain of money](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uq47v-o9iLo?ref=aftermath.site) that could have solved real, human problems in favor of a way worse version of *VR Chat* that nobody likes. This was a mistake of gargantuan proportions that society at large not only did not punish him for but also let him repeat with [pervert glasses](https://aftermath.site/meta-display-ai-rayban-glasses-ai-fail-demo-lmao-look-at-this-huge-dipshit/) and AI models that lag behind their competition. He tasked talented people to build an entire ecosystem with admittedly impressive hardware that could never escape the fact that it is ultimately a Meta product. He then [laid many of those people off](https://www.theverge.com/news/861295/meta-reality-labs-layoffs-shift-to-wearables?ref=aftermath.site), and pivoted to [sex criminal wearables](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-ray-ban-oakley-smart-glasses-no-face-recognition-civil-society/?ref=aftermath.site) when his low media literacy version of *Snow Crash* failed to cohere.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Quest-3S-1.webp)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Apple-WWDC23-Vision-Pro-lifestyle-with-battery-FaceTime-230605_big.jpg.large_2x.jpg)

The Meta Quest 3 and the Apple Vision Pro were made by talented people who unfortunately had to work for Meta and Apple. Credit (Left to right) Meta and Apple.

Meanwhile, Apple bet that a ludicrously expensive VR headset with no games was a viable platform to replace your laptop, which is the weirdest swing I’ve seen from a company that tends to make safe, logical bets. Like the Quest, Apple threw talented engineers and made impressive strides in augmented reality. The displays on the Vision Pro and the hardware required to make it work are fascinating, but at no point during production did they ever give a sufficient answer for “who is this product for?” You can make the argument that visionOS is a test bed for some larger product, but without an actual use case it’s largely an embarrassment. Every time I’ve gone to the Apple Store since, it remains on the tasteful hardwood table with no people clamoring around it, as if enveloped in a void of negative charisma. Apparently you need to make an appointment to even try it on. 

Sony and other companies, to their credit, understood that the appeal of VR always was in games. The PSVR2 is a nice piece of hardware, but it is exclusively a wired device that cannot be used standalone, and at this point I’m mostly compelled to use VR for playing PC games.

For a few years, the most annoying people on god’s green earth insisted this niche, beautiful category of devices was the future of everything, to the point where you questioned the utility of the devices to begin with. To be honest, the attempt to force a cultural moment felt unfair to virtual reality as a technology, whose only sin was impressing tremendously gullible and careless billionaires with no concrete sense of how normal people live lives. We now live in the hangover of that massive Silicon Valley fever dream: VR still exists, but in a modest and arguably more appropriate form. There have been improvements in the technology, attempts to make it less unwieldy, and though the Meta's headsets have taken up significant market share they remain weirdly proprietary. And in the intervening years, Valve has been working on the successor to the Index, dubbed the Steam Frame. 

## Enter the Frame

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061400_S024.jpg)

Frame time.

The reason I don’t take my Index out anymore is because it’s a huge pain in the ass to set up. Using the Index required direct tethering, setting up several tracking stations and defining a play space manually. Though the tracking worked wonderfully for the time, that amount of friction between wanting to play a game and actually playing it made it unappealing outside of covid lockdown unless I really wanted to try a specific mode or watch a 3D movie I had ripped and encoded.

By contrast, the Steam Frame takes no time to set up. Though I’m not the kind of person to fetishize unboxing, Valve’s package design is straightforward and gives you fairly clear instructions on how to get it up and running. If you have the Steam App installed on your phone, you can actually directly connect your Frame that way. When I did it, it showed me a chibi illustration of the Spy from *TF2* wearing a VR headset and told me to confirm that the image matched. You can also scan the QR code in the eyepiece with your phone, an admittedly wonky solution that Valve swears works.

The Steam Frame is by far the most well balanced headset I’ve ever used out of the box. Valve opted to put the battery pack for the device on the very back of the head on the top of the occipital bone. Though the device itself is light at 440 grams, the fact that all its weight is not on the front of your face, which puts a downward swinging force on your face when you move your head, does wonders for your neck muscles long term. The closest direct comparison would be something like the Quest 3 with either the optional [Elite Battery Strap](https://www.meta.com/quest/accessories/elite-strap/?ref=aftermath.site) (MSRP $129.99) or one of the many aftermarket straps, although that strap adds significant weight to the Quest, which is already heavier than the Frame.

On the whole, the device is a joy to wear, which is something I don’t say lightly about any VR headset. There does seem to be slight airflow coming through the eyeset to cool the device, and while that could potentially dry your eyes out a little, it does add to the Frame feeling far less claustrophobic. As I used the Frame over a period of weeks, I became less afraid of using it impulsively, more likely to just throw it on without thinking. 

The Frame’s battery lasts over two hours standalone in my playtime, depending on what I was doing and what power mode I was on. Realistically speaking that is just enough time for me, as I was either in a situation where I could be plugged in (at my desk, in bed, on the couch) or did not need to do standalone uninterrupted for longer than that. The Frame charges via a USB-C port near the battery in the back. That seems like a small detail, but this is an ideal location for a cord to dangle from versus the temple on the Quest 3 or the side of the head on the Vision Pro. If I need to play without being tethered I can just do what everyone does and put a USB-C power bank in my pocket and plug it in. The Frame only comes with a USB-C cable and no power adapter, which is fine to me because I own more of those than I can count.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/stuff.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/stuff2.jpg)

This is a very good location for a USB-C port.

One of the biggest ongoing problems with PCVR generally is connecting to your PC. This either requires connecting via direct wire, which tugs and presents a tripping hazard, or connecting wirelessly via home wifi. For people with dedicated sim rigs, the former is an acceptable tradeoff. Valve went with the latter for the Frame, and their solution is elegant. The frame comes bundled with a specifically optimized 6 Ghz wifi dongle. In addition to the dongle, which has a short but robust line of sight range, the Frame can also use your home wifi simultaneously to maintain a secure connection to the PC. 

On top of this, the device uses eye tracking and what’s known as foeveated streaming, which optimizes the bitrate of the stream for wherever your eye is currently looking. In practice, the combination of the two techniques is largely invisible and leads to a seamless and reliable stream that does not stutter. If you absolutely need a wired connection, Valve has started to add conditional support for streaming over USB-C, which will make fans of racing sims or any stationary game happy. Ultimately, even those people might not need it.

Instead of base stations, tracking is done with a series of cameras on the device, which is now the standard among VR headsets thanks in no small part to Meta. In practice this works well out of the box, although I did experience hiccoughs when I did something particularly onerous like launching a PC game there was no hope of ever running on what is, from a processing standpoint, a very nice cellphone. 

For VR games you’ll need to define a play space. On the Index this was done with an elaborate setup where you drew the boundaries with the controllers and placed the headset and controllers on the ground. On the Frame, this is done in a few seconds, if at all, by using the pointer like a painting tool and grabbing the floor until it lines up directly. You can also recenter the space by holding down a single button.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061501_S045-3.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061500_S037-1-4.jpg)

The Frame controller is a bit more standardized, but with the ergonomic strap it more closely resembles the beautiful form of the Index controller.

The controllers themselves are more uniform and modest than the beautiful hanging harps of the Index. VR controllers have mostly standardized, and the Frame’s controller reflects that, being much closer in design to the Quest’s. Like the [Steam Controller](https://aftermath.site/steam-controller-review-living-room-pc/), Valve went with TMR sticks, which means you shouldn’t have stick drift long term. Each controller has two triggers near the back as well as a third interior one near where the ring finger rests that is primarily used to enable and disable pointer mode in the user interface. This process has a small learning curve but quickly becomes organic. Both controllers take a single AA battery, which makes it easy to swap in the middle of a play session if you are prepared. And like the Steam Controller, the power management on the device is so good that I have not had to replace the battery even after a few weeks of regular use.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061526_S109.jpg)

Double AAs baby.

Ergonomically, the focus is on the sticks more than D-pad or the face buttons, which is the correct call for VR, and the controllers do a solid job at being very usable for everything while not being the best for traditional games. When used in the SteamOS, you can not only see the controller in physical space, but the buttons will move when depressed. When the device was first announced I was a little bummed out because the Index controller had bands that hugged your hand and the whole thing was designed around articulated finger control, but Valve anticipated this and sells an optional strap as part of the ergonomic kit that lets the device function in a similar way. You can also currently connect any controller to the device, including the Steam Controller, and Valve says that a feature that allows the Steam Controller to be seen in VR like the Frame Controller is going to be added later.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061517_S065-1.jpg)

The cameras on the device responsible for the tracking. The mouse click button is surprisingly useful in a pinch, and the oblong shape meant I did not accidentally click power often.

Like much of Valve’s hardware, it’s hard not to be impressed by many of the choices and considerations. Buttons on the front are straightforward, there’s volume buttons on the side and a dial for adjusting lens distance as well as an internal lock to prevent that setting from drifting. A button above the power button on the right side of the headset enables functions like a mouse click, a surprisingly handy feature if your controller isn’t nearby and you just need to navigate the UI quickly. The Frame does not have standalone controllerless hand tracking, although a representative for Valve told me that they’re interested in it and fully believe the hardware to be capable of it.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IDG_20260906_180713_140.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7025.jpg)

Inside the battery pack.

The front padding of the eye piece is magnetic and snaps off easily for removal, and the Frame includes an additional magnetic spacer for people with glasses. As with the Quest, Zenni Optical sells prescription lenses for the device. The entire strap and enclosure of the device itself and the front compute module are also modular, locked in with three tabs. The modularity leaves the door open for improvements in straps or upgrades to the core device in the future. That modularity is one of the best impulses of the device, and given how robust the aftermarket for Quest accessories is, I could see it being a real high point. I wish that some of that modularity extended to the battery, which can technically be opened up by removing the Velcro pad and opening the back with Torx screws, but it seems trickier to service than the Steam Controller. When I asked Valve about user replacement of the battery, they noted that they are working with a partner to offer replacement parts but had no other details to share at this time.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/frame_parts.jpg)

The modular nature of the device opens up a lot of potential possibilities for alternate straps.

The Valve Index’s audio, both the speakers and array mic, were some of its standout features at the time. The set used two directional BMR drivers hovered over your ears to project crisp, clear sound that didn’t isolate the player or make them claustrophobic. The Index was so good at isolating sound that it would occasionally be copied and replicated in DIY setups, as well as products like the [Logitech Chorus](https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/chorus-for-meta-quest-2?ref=aftermath.site) and the HP Reverb V2\. 

The Frame’s audio, while good, cannot match the range of those dedicated drivers. This is to be expected, as the Frame is trading the Index’s driver performance for less weight and a simpler experience. The result is a sound with clear highs and mids but a far less robust low end, although how Valve deals with spatial audio works wonderfully. In an interview, Valve engineer Jeff Leinbaugh did imply that they were exploring the idea of bringing back that original floating driver design with a strap upgrade, a potential benefit of the modular nature of the device. The Frame's mic is stellar, like the Index's.

The one part of the Frame I do get a little bummed out about is the displays themselves. Though the pancake lenses are quite nice and give a wide and sharp field of view, they are LCD, and unfortunately we live in a world saturated with OLEDs and QLEDs with inky black levels. I fully understand why Valve went this route — this headset took a while to design, and it seems hard enough to hit a reasonable price point as is while getting something that can do a high refresh rate (120hz with support for an experimental 144hz mode). Micro OLEDs have traditionally come with tradeoffs, and that the technology may not have been there for Valve during production. I just hope that any potential Frame successor also could include a refresh of the display tech. 

The Steam Frame is not the most advanced VR headset on every front, but the choices Valve made put it in an attractive sweet spot relative to its competition. The PSVR2, Bigscreen Beyond 2, and Apple Vision Pro have OLED displays capable of more aggressively black levels. The Quest and the Vision Pro have color passthrough by default compared to the monochrome of the Frame. The Beyond 2 is technically lighter, although having worn both side by side it’s not as big a difference as you’d think. But each of those devices also comes with compromises. The Quest 3 is cheaper but lacks foveated streaming and is a closed ecosystem run by Mark Zuckerberg. The Vision Pro basically doesn’t have games, costs $3499, and weighs twice as much as the Frame. The Bigscreen Beyond 2 is PCVR only, caps out at 90hz, requires Valve’s own Index Lighthouses to track properly, and requires you to be wired into the device. The PSVR2 has nice OLEDs, but fresnel lenses. And no other headset does wireless streaming as well and seamlessly as the Frame.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sd_card.jpg)

The microSD card reader makes the base model much more attractive for people that only plan on streaming games from the PC.

Valve originally intended the Frame to be less expensive than the Index had been at launch, but instead it has arrived slightly above it for the base model. Unfortunately, 16 gigs of RAM (double that of the Quest 3) is not cheap right now. When I spoke to representatives of Valve, engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed to me that the Frame went through a similar price increase as the Steam Machine due to the increasing prices of RAM and flash memory. Like the Steam Machine, I could imagine this as a no-brainer for tons of people at a lower price, but I do think the shock of the Steam Machine wearing off, coupled with the fact that the device is pitched to a smaller and more dedicated market, makes the entire value proposition slightly more palatable. Also, like the Steam Machine and Deck, the inclusion of a microSD card reader is a godsend for people who might want to save money on the entry level version of the device. 

## **Virtual Environment** 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7189.JPG)

Finally an adult computer.

When the Apple Vision Pro launched, Apple leaned heavily on the idea that you would spend a significant amount of time doing work in it. This was always a tremendously bad idea for a device that weighed 800g distributed in the front, but also because the device itself did nothing compelling that a laptop could not do more comfortably for a third of the price. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7187.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7188.JPG)

The UI is quite nice in practice and you can use the streaming feature to remote desktop.

Bizarrely, however, the Steam Frame’s status as a normal-ass computer is far more interesting in practice than I had originally assumed. SteamOS in VR presents as a floating version of gaming mode with a task bar underneath it. If you want to access a browser window or desktop and install apps, a Linux desktop is there for you. Apps you use with any regularity from that desktop will populate a dropdown menu automatically. Individual windows can be snapped off from the main taskbar, attached to your hands, and stretched. If you are someone who loves gaming while having a browser window open in a second monitor, imagine that but you’re able to make the monitor the size of a movie theater screen. The same streaming used for games can also be utilized to remotely view a desktop on your PC, and while I wouldn’t want to edit Highlight Reel in there full time, I did for half of an episode. This type of environment is not unique to the Frame, but the particular way the Frame implements its UI feels more like an adult computer than a big cellphone, and Valve representatives in my interview indicated that some of the UI improvements on the Frame might make their way into Steam generally.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7191.JPG)

Playing **Balatro* on a big ass screen with pointer controls while an NTS window floats in space. 

If you’re like me and you’re a pervert who tweaks his wifi APs to maximize your performance, the Frame excels as a device to stream non-VR games from a primary computer. This may seem slightly redundant if you own a handheld, but being able to have a convincing, fake giant display on-demand when you can’t use a TV can be useful if you’re in a relationship. I even kinda see the appeal of watching movies this way while traveling in a pinch. I found myself using it more and more to play *Star Wars Zero Company* than I ever imagined possible.

Non-VR gaming on the device itself also kicks a frankly startling amount of ass. While a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 isn’t going to be groundbreaking when it comes to performance, I was pleased at the number of PC titles meant to run on x86 in Windows that I was playing with little compromise on an ARM-based Linux VR headset. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7182.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7183.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7184.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7115.JPG)

**Mouthwashing, Mina the Hollower, Fallout: New Vegas* and **Cruelty Squad* all launched despite not being approved.

As with the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine, Valve has clear indicators on what games run well on the hardware. Many indie games that are not Frame-approved, like *Neon White*, *Pizza Tower*, and *Devil Daggers* worked without a hitch for me. Others didn’t or ran with issues, but that’s to be expected given what the Frame is doing under the hood. *Fallout: New Vegas* ran without a hitch. *Balatro*, *Funni Racoon Game*, and *Hades II* all have official Steam Frame support and mostly run fairly well (minus some hiccoughing in *Racoon Game*), and I’m kinda surprised how much I enjoyed playing *Balatro* on a giant imaginary screen using pointers while a 100” YouTube window hovered to my right. And while game compatibility is still a work in progress, we have a good rough ballpark of what the device can handle based on how similar chips perform elsewhere.

The Frame also ships with *Half Life: Alyx*, the greatest single narrative VR game ever made, even now. This works wonderfully streamed from a PC as it was originally intended, but Valve has somehow also managed to fit that experience on the device itself without changing the geometry of the assets. Frankly I’m impressed that they got it to work on the Frame at all. 

“The *Alyx* team has done a ton of software work to make stand-alone play possible,” a representative for Valve told me via email, “including support for foveated rendering, adding new Vulkan features, numerous graphics driver optimizations, and improvements to depth reprojection. Of note, many of these improvements (including reprojection, driver fixes, and driver optimizations) apply to other games on Frame.” 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7177.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7176.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7174-1.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7175-1.JPG)

On-device (Left side) vs. Streamed (Right). The tricks required to get it to run on-device are not a fully seamless experience yet, but what it could mean in the future is quite interesting.

While it definitely works, the beta version is not without tradeoffs. Hands and objects felt a bit jittery despite the environment feeling smooth. The dropoff in the foveated rendering is noticeable in your peripheral vision. It is not the ideal experience, but as a proof-of-concept of how much full fat PC gaming they can theoretically squeeze out of a cellphone SoC through two layers of translation it’s impressive, and I am curious what else they can manage with further optimizations.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7181.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7180.JPG)

God this game is good.

With the wireless dongle on PC, however, *Alyx* sings. I had absolutely no tracking problems with it in my space aside from the occasional VR collision and my girlfriend sneaking up on me to scare me by touching my ear. The field of view is wide and sharp, the streaming tech was seamless when I used it, and tracking did what it says on the can. With the ergonomic straps, finger control worked well, as the Frame’s controllers do support digits. If your goal is to play PC games without wires, you won’t find a more seamless and enjoyable experience.

Other wireless games work equally well. Launching at the same time as the Steam Frame is *ANB\_Seth’s Gunman Contracts “Stand Alone,”* a game that started its life as the *Gunman Contracts* mod for *Alyx*. Made by a lone developer, you play a contract killer who hunts down criminals in a spectacularly vicious gun simulator. The plot itself is a tad threadbare and the banter between you and your dispatcher is corny, but that’s in keeping with its *Hitman* by way of Chad Stahelski roots. Though the game is in Early Access and I encountered occasional audio and collision glitches, once I dialed in my *Alyx* movement settings and got to the missions I did enjoy it quite a bit. It is both disquietingly violent and vaguely reactionary in the way that tacticool culture downwind of *John Wick* tends to be, while also accurately simulating how sick it would be to duel wield an uzi and a pistol and blind fire them down opposite directions of a hallway at a bunch of Russian gangsters in bullet time. If politicians in the 2000s saw this game they’d have hearings.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7194.JPG)

 /.

Seated streaming gaming works equally wonderfully. *Beat Saber* is still *Beat Saber* both on and off the device. The remake of *Riven* is fantastic in VR. *Assetto Corsa EVO* is so vivid that it made me seriously consider spending several hundred dollars on a wheel despite having no desire to own a car. The official multiplayer in *Star Wars: Squadrons* is functionally dead save for whatever custom servers people have going, but it still hits hard. *Project Wingman*, the only game to ever touch *Ace Combat* and a miracle of small indie development, has a fantastic VR mode, and on the Frame it was so transcendent that I got legitimately emotional for reasons that my colleague Jacob Geller is better at articulating. While wearing that headset, I was metal and beautiful and unconcerned with human concepts like gravity.

Shoutout to Jacob. Being a plane rocks.

As with the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame feels like a moving target sometimes. Certain features were not present during review, like the ability to use the wireless dongle with a Linux machine or the ability to use a regular gamepad paired to the device while streaming from a PC (although a controller connected directly to the PC you’re streaming to works fine). Valve says they’re working on getting that specific game pad input working before the device ships and Linux dongle support after launch. 

## Add-Ons

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/camera_front.jpg)

The (optional) Arcturus Vision camera

One of the biggest initial critiques against the Steam Frame when it was first announced was its passthrough cameras, which are not full color like on the Quest or the Vision Pro. When you boot up the stock Steam Frame, your environment via its passthrough camera appears in a functional, blueish haze: enough to navigate around the world and identify people and objects but not enough to seriously interact with it (For example: you absolutely cannot read a phone). For many people this will be enough for their use case of the device.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061516_S059-1.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/cam_1.jpg)

But for those who really need full color passthrough, Valve and the company that helped produce the tracking system for the Frame, Arcturus Vision, sell an upgraded camera. The Arcturus Vision Camera costs $149 and features two 36 megapixel Sony sensors, and can do full 5k streaming at 10-bit HDR (with the caveat that the displays on the device cannot handle that full range). This stands in contrast to the Apple Vision Pro, which maxes out at 6.5 megapixels, and the Quest 3\. With this camera, recording full stereoscopic video is possible, as is color passthrough. They also included a cue on the camera that indicates that you’re recording, similar to the Meta Ray-Bans, although using the Steam Frame in public does not have the same concerns about clandestine recording as Meta’s Ray-Bans. 

The two lenses on the camera are small sensors usually used for selfie cameras. The upgraded camera plugs in directly through the expansion port at the bridge of the nose of the camera. Overall the passthrough image is functional, although noise depends on your ambient lighting conditions and can be a bit grainy in the kind of lighting you normally have in your house, so don’t expect miracles. In dedicated recordings, however, the image is sharp and bright, so if you have any interest in augmented reality, stereoscopic recording or just having a color passthrough, the upgrade is a no brainer.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/2026-09-07_01-30-12_stereo-00.00.09.115.png)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/2026-09-14_11-19-49_stereo-00.00.23.176.png)

The camera quality itself is quite nice.

Arcturus Vision ships with two pieces of software, one for stereoscopic recording and playback, and another for playback of what are known as “Gaussian Splats.” The recording software is fairly straightforward and can be configured to transfer to a companion app on either Mac or PC. “Gaussian Splats” are a form of volumetric rendering and still fairly new, and the viewer lets you plop directly into a scene captured that way. Currently the software does not ship with a pipeline for turning the footage you get into something usable, although multiple open source workflows (like COLMAP and LichtFeld Studio) can be used to construct a space. In my version, the app came with several Splats of the Arcturus CEO’s house in the process of construction. It is terrifying to suddenly be transported into another man’s living room, and then to slowly see volumetric snapshots of that house over the years before it was completed. The center of that space is vivid and clear, and you can bend down and see dogs sleeping. The further you pull away, the murkier it gets, eventually dissolving into a mist of brush strokes. It is like living in another person’s memory. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061645_S157-1.jpg)

The ergonomic kit features a top strap (right) similar to the Index's, an adapter for people with smaller noses, and wraparound grips for the controllers that make digit articulation similar to the Index.

Valve also offers a few other upgrades. There is an ergonomic kit at $59 USD, which provides the ergonomic hand straps that make the controllers a bit closer to the Index, a head strap for more dialed-in support on the top of the head, and an alternate nose bridge for people with small noses. I found that, despite not having a small nose, I actually did benefit from the improved light seal (although everyone’s face is different). The added strap made the device feel closer to a pair of night vision goggles and allowed a slightly looser fit on the sides, although I found it worked well both with and without the added strap. As with most headsets, you can also order prescription frames for the device. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Fex-textlogo_full.png)

One reason that all these retro handhelds can suddenly play PC games.

## The Future Is FEX

All of what I’ve said today may be of little or no consequence to you. VR is not for everyone, and so you may have no use case for an admittedly nice and slightly premium VR headset that plays PC games two ways. But the steps needed to get to the point where the device can actually play PC games on device is as important, if not more important, than the device itself. 

[Steam Machine today, Steam Phones tomorrowThe Steam Frame is a Trojan horse carrying Arm’s gaming future.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/android-chrome-512x512-339038e9-88e7-4aba-9f96-6cfdb0239a15.png)The VergeSean Hollister![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/258049_Valve_2025_EverythingTimeStudio_0008-6e61abce-ad7c-404a-9f91-90b26f8bd43f.jpg)](https://www.theverge.com/report/820656/valve-interview-arm-gaming-steamos-pierre-loup-griffais?ref=aftermath.site)

For the last several years Valve has been funding a project called FEX, a compatibility layer that lets ARM chips (the kind found in cellphones, Android devices and Apple Silicon Macs) run programs originally intended for x86-64 hardware (think PCs, consoles, and bigger handhelds like the Steam Deck). Despite being able to stream from a PC, the Steam Frame has an ARM-based Snapdragon processor on it normally found in high end smartphones. 

Retro Game Corps has a good piece on the current state of Armada, a linux distro for ARM that uses FEX. Projects like Gamenative also use FEX.

Making the Windows games already on your PC library run on Linux on ARM is a tricky proposition, but Valve has paid talented people to put in the work on the problem. The Frame existing as both a streaming headset and a standalone device makes it the perfect testbed for working out the kinks of FEX in public, like the Steam Deck and Steam Machine have done with Proton and SteamOS in both handheld and living room settings respectively. Valve's family of devices is not simply about their individual use cases; they are open source R&D projects for extending what both PC gaming and Linux can be to the greatest number of situations possible. And in addition to FEX, Valve has also introduced Lepton, their own software similar to Waydroid that helps Android apps (like many existing VR games for the Quest) work easily on the Frame.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/image.png)

Credit: [Jiikae](https://bsky.app/profile/jiikae.com/post/3mv635anlgk27?ref=aftermath.site) on Bluesky

ARM-based PC gaming is neither abstract nor limited to the Frame; it’s real and already here in an early form on the most exciting and growing category of devices: retro gaming handhelds. What were once niche AliExpress devices devoted exclusively to running emulators have evolved in complexity and power to handle increasingly demanding and modern titles. High end handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 6 and the AYN Thor have enough horsepower to handle many of the top indie games on Steam. Software that lets Windows games run on Android GameNative, Gamehub and Winlator have taken big strides, and now dedicated versions of Linux like ROCKNIX and Armada have started becoming more popular on these handhelds. 

FEX as a project directly helps open source projects like these, and as this category of niche devices grows so too does the number of devices running Steam natively. Given that hardware has gotten so much more expensive, a situation that shows little sign of improving, any push to open the frontier of the most affordable and portable devices on the market, and potentially even cell phones, is a smart one. It’s Snapdragons all the way down. 

## The Frame

The Steam Frame is not for everyone; I’d argue VR isn’t generally. But despite taking far longer than it should have to materialize and costing more than I’d like, the Steam Frame is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware I’ve seen in the space in years, one that gave me that same feeling of optimism that the Index did so years ago. The Frame builds on the work done by its competitors in the years since the Index and solves so many friction points I’d had to actually engaging with VR as a medium at all. It is a device that is doing massive amounts of hard work to unify several different use cases into a single open platform, and, despite its individual parts being less novel, that unity is game changing. It is hardware whose importance may ultimately eclipse its remit, one with potentially massive consequences for PC gaming, but on its own terms it hits the sweet spot that I've yearned for so much from a successor. I only pray we do not have to wait another seven years for more.

**UPDATE 9/14/2026: Slight tweak to clarify the duration of the battery.**