Epic Exclusive Tetris Effect VR Uses SteamVR, But Doesn't Necessarily Require It

Tetris Effect made its way to PC this week as a platform exclusive to the Epic Games Store. In a funny turn of events, it will require SteamVR, but only for certain VR headsets.

This doesn't affect the standard, non-VR Tetris Effect at all. But in order to play the virtual reality version of Tetris Effect on your HTC Vive, you'll need SteamVR set up in order to play said game in VR through another client. However, contrary to some early reports, Oculus won't need SteamVR to run.

Originally, Epic Games told DSOgaming in a message that "Tetris Effect VR does require SteamVR, both on HTC Vive and Oculus." But in a follow-up piece, PCGamer found the Oculus didn't need SteamVR to run as the report said, and got its own confirmation from Epic that this was the case.

Tetris Effect developer Enhance took to Twitter to outline the particulars yesterday evening. Essentially, you can play in VR using SteamVR, but it's only required to launch for Vive and a few other headsets that work with the OpenVR API. Oculus uses Oculus VR. Basically, each headset uses its foundation. I mean, are there folks out there with Vives who don't have SteamVR set up?

The ongoing competition between Valve and Epic for platform superiority has been fun to watch, and has resulted in a few funny mishaps, like indie Metroidvania Axiom Verge accidentally deleting a crucial "steam" sound effect in its transition to the Epic Games Store.

But really, if you have a solid PC and haven't played it yet, you should give Tetris Effect a shot. The PC version comes with a lot of resolution options and sliders alongside some wild VR support, and it's also just a really good game. Just make sure you've got everything set up right before you boot it up on your headset.