A New Quest 2 VR Shooter Ditches Controllers for Your Hands – CNET [CNET]

Are we ready for controller-free VR? Not entirely.

Are we ready for controller-free VR? Not entirely.

Most VR games rely on a pair of game controllers you hold in your hands to pull off moves just like any other regular console. The age of controller-free VR and AR sometimes seems like it’s right around the corner, though. Rogue Ascent, a new game on the Meta Quest app store, is ready for that moment now.

The first-person shooter relies entirely on hand tracking, a feature that’s been supported on the Quest and Quest 2 for years. There are plenty of games and apps that use hand tracking already, but few high-intensity action games like a shooter. It doesn’t entirely work like you think: you attack by making “finger guns,” which auto-fire. (According to the developers, rapid finger motions for shooting can get too exhausting.)

Playing some of the game myself, the motions tend to be broad versus nuanced. Holding a hand over certain spots teleports forward for movement. Fingers held up and aimed handle shooting. Two hands together form a shield. 

Hand tracking in VR games often reminds me of the motion-tracking camera on the long-gone Xbox Kinect, but there’s a possibility that hand tracking could get more advanced soon. Meta’s Quest 3 could possibly improve hand tracking accuracy, and Apple’s expected mixed reality headset may not have physical controllers at all. Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth, suggested last year that the eventual goal for Quest hardware could to evolve to a controller-optional design, but that the company’s “not there yet.”

If you’re curious, the game’s available to buy now. I don’t think it’s as good as playing with controllers, but it’s a sign that maybe fitness games and other games might get even better with just hand tracking, possibly making VR games easier to play for people who find the idea of button-filled controllers confusing in the first place.

This won’t be the last hands-only game for VR, though, and as headsets get smaller and become glasses, it might someday become the norm.