Originally announced by HP and Valve in March, the Reverb G2 features an impressive 2160 x 2160 resolution for each eye, making it 4K ready and boasting one of the highest pixel counts on the headset market, outpacing the 1440 x 1600 displays on the Index. HP brought the high-res display from the original Reverb headset forward with a set of lenses designed by Valve, and inherits the Index’s near-field speakers as well.

RELATED: Valve Working on a New VR Headset with Microsoft and HP

HP says the unit’s speaker sits off of the user’s ear by 10 mm, bringing “fully immersive spatial audio” with it. An adjustable IPD switch and detachable face masks are included for users to modify the unit to fit their own view, and HP says the Reverb G2 has improved weight distribution to enable longer, more comfortable play sessions – perfect for more ambitious VR titles, like Half-Life: Alyx.

Fans of the Oculus Touch controllers will also find a lot to like in the Reverb G2’s accompanying controllers, which use a similar button layout. Valve’s finger tracking system isn’t included, but thanks to the headset’s built-in support for SteamVR and Windows Mixed Reality, any existing hardware users have for those systems should work fine with the Reverb. HP says the headset works without the base stations required by the HTC Vive and the Index, though players will still have to use the headset with a 20-foot connecting cable at launch.

Players who might be looking to either get into VR for the first time or to upgrade an existing hardware setup will likely want to keep the Reverb G2 in mind. At $600, the headset isn’t the absolute cheapest way to get into VR, with the Oculus Quest undercutting its price tag by $200. But the Quest has been notoriously difficult to get since launching last year, frequently selling for hundreds more than its intended price, and has only grown harder to get since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

HP is taking pre-orders for the Reverb now to measure demand for the headset in time for a fall launch, so those in the market for a VR headset can get in on the ground floor if they want to avoid the availability issues comparable displays have had. With the virtual reality space in need of more players to bring some variety to the market, the Reverb G2 seems to be a compelling offering. Not bad for a printer company.

MORE: Half-Life: Alyx Mod Lets Gamers Play Without a VR Headset

Source: Gamasutra, Engadget