Steam Frame’s first virtual environment revealed – and Valve Index owners will feel right at home
We’ve seen this somewhere before
👀 It looks as if Valve has reused the Aurora virtual environment for the new Steam Frame
👏 It was previously used on the Valve Index, and looks set to have a lot of personalization options
🔜 Valve is undertaking a lot of backend work to get the device ready for launch
📦 It got its first compatible game, and Valve keeps getting large shipments of the device
More news about the Steam Frame keeps coming ahead of impending launch, and the latest one has revealed a key piece of information about the headset’s first virtual environment.
Game developer Brian Lindehof posted a video of himself on YouTube testing his game Climbey on Steam Frame hardware, which has given us an accidental first look at the Steam Frame’s first virtual environment.
This was picked up by X account Steam Hardware Updates as being Aurora – very similar to the virtual environment found on the Valve Index, the brand’s previous VR headset effort.
From previous data miners’ efforts, we knew this may have been coming. We also know there will be a lot of personalization settings for this environment if they’re to be believed.
As the Steam Frame subreddit picked up, you should be able to tinker with everything from color of the stars to their brightness and even the speed of the aurora effect.
Alongside this revelation, Lindehof’s video also revealed that Climbey looks set to perform better on Steam Frame than on Valve Index, and that the controller tracking has improved with this new headset, by the looks of things.
It seems that with every passing day, we’re getting ever closer to the elusive Steam Frame release date.
Valve is undertaking extensive backend work ahead of the headset’s official release, as it did with the Steam Machine and Steam Controller, plus there has been a steady stream of shipments of the device in recent weeks.
Also, the Steam Frame recently got its first compatible game, and a more recent update noted the headset’s “Welcome Tour” is showing up in SteamTracking in multiple languages.
We’ve also got a range of other new details on Steam Frame in recent weeks, thanks to other backend updates, such as new photos of the device and other updates that have added icons for connectivity and an unboxing video, too.
The Steam Frame is anticipated to launch in a few short weeks, according to insider @SadlyitsBradley, who noted a similar launch timeline to the Steam Machine with the state of Valve’s internal prep for getting the device ready to go.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.