Quest 3 owners with a copy of the original Tomb Raider can now play the game in mixed reality with BeefRaider XR.
Yes, correct, you read that right.
VR headsets now enable players with an original copy of Tomb Raider 1 from 1996 to revisit the game in mixed reality with the game world as a kind of dollhouse and Lara Croft as a fully controllable 1/24 scale action figure.
The BeefRaider XR mod already embodies players as Lara Croft from the classic 1996 game, which is just $6.99 on Steam as of writing. If you own the recent remaster, that should also include the files you need to play it with BeefRaider.
With recent advances, Team Beef seems to be exploring how to make classic games more interesting or enjoyable in headset, with Tomb Raider as a testing ground. Dr Beef, aka Simon Brown, told UploadVR now that they have mixed reality support working with Tomb Raider, they might look to see where else the feature might make sense.
Patreon supporters of the Team Beef group usually get early access before updates arrive on SideQuest. Pressing both controller grip buttons accesses the ability "to rotate, move and scale the world," explains modding group Team Beef. There's also a PCVR build without passthrough called "Fixed Camera Mode". "Battery Saver" mode on Quest, meanwhile, will optionally disable the passthrough view for the same effect in a standalone headset.
As Meta is expected to debut Quest 3S with more power at lower prices, getting a headset as a playground for retro gaming is becoming a more interesting idea each passing day.
We've been following Dr Beef's efforts for some time and, along with Flat2VR Studios and advancing open source emulation tools, VR's new golden age of gaming sees many groups intent on bringing artifacts of their childhood into headsets as soon as possible.
