Includes Batman: Arkham Shadow VR

Meta Quest 3S 256GB VR Gaming Headset

$399.99 save 18%

$329.99 at Amazon

The Quest 3S was released shortly after the Quest 3 and is a perfect gateway for newcomers to the world of VR gaming. For one, it’s $200 cheaper than the Quest 3 even before any discounts. Despite the 40% price drop, it retains most of the Quest 3’s features. For example, it’s equipped with the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, which means games should run equally well on either headset. The Quest 3S also comes with the same Touch Plus controllers, which are lightweight and offer excellent inside-out tracking accuracy even without any base stations. Finally, the Quest 3S continues its support for AR passthrough thanks to six cameras positioned in two clusters on the front of the headset.

So what do you lose by shedding $200? The only compromise you make is with the optics. The Quest 3S has a smaller native resolution and lower FOV than the Quest 3. It also uses the Fresnel lens like the one found in the previous Quest 2 as opposed to the Meta Quest 3, which uses a newly designed pancake lens with a much wider sweet spot for focusing. For VR veterans, I would recommend the Quest 3 over anything else because of the improved visual clarity at a reasonable cost. However, for casual VR gamers, the Meta Quest 3S is more than good enough in all respects.

Of course what really makes the Meta Quest 3S so attractive is that it can be played completely untethered. That means you can play games like Beat Saber or Pistol Whip without having to own a powerful gaming PC or a PlayStation 5 console. In IGN’s 9/10 Quest 3S review, Gabriel Moss wrote that “raw processing power, full-color passthrough, and snappy Touch Plus controllers make the Quest 3S a fantastic standalone VR headset that also brings entry-level mixed-reality gaming to the masses for – arguably – the very first time.