The Lab Steam news

• Latest observed players47 · 24 September 2026 - 19:35:15 UTC
• SteamPulse tracked peak4,467
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• Review score95% positive
• Total reviews6,620
• Release dateApr 5, 2016
• DeveloperValve
• PublisherValve

Genres: Free To Play

Company pages: Developer: ValvePublisher: Valve

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The Lab Steam news

The Lab news collects recent Steam feed items, update posts, and announcements that SteamPulse can associate with this app.

Latest Steam announcements

• Minor performance updates, localization fixes - 26 August 2021

  Some minor performance updates to scene loads. Chinese and Japanese language users should be able to play the Slingshot scene again.

• The Lab Update - September 17, 2019 - 17 September 2019

  Fixed bug in longbow causing the bow to be dropped unintentionally.

• The Lab: Hands-On Update - 29 August 2019

  The Lab was released in 2016. It had been created for roomscale VR in a world with no roomscale VR games, and took on the difficult task of building its conventions from the ground up. Now, three years later, conventions have evolved, the state of the art has progressed, and it seems fitting for The Lab to progress as well. In the Hands-On update, we have brought the latest innovations in VR tech to the various pocket universes of The Lab. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F23034005%2Fe8c89e77b1252a18433245109d5051175ee53f9e.png Hands: On Step aside, incorporeal controllers and abstracted input. Thanks to tight integration with SteamVR's new skeletal input system, future-proof hand presence is available for all. Whether you're playing on controllers with full per-finger tracking, controllers with binary grips, or anything in between, you will see your hands…

• The Lab gets a handy physics-driven update - 29 August 2019

  The Lab was one of the first big showcases of modern virtual reality, and one of the first experiences many had after picking up a first-generation Oculus or HTC headset. Today, Valve are keeping up with the times and updating their free VR playground to better reflect modern technology, such as their own Index VR hardware . In what they're calling the Hands-On update, every part of The Lab now gives you properly physics-driven virtual hands, whether you have a finger-tracking controller like the Index or not. They reckon that your skeletal three-dimensional meathooks should be future-proofed and ready to map to controllers that don't exist yet, but also will work with older setups with binary grips or just simple buttons. And what's the point having hands if you can't poke things and laugh when they fall over? The other major change to The Lab is a physics overhaul.…

• Developing “The Lab” - 9 December 2016

  Developing games is hard. When you add in the unique challenges brought on by an entirely new medium, it is arguably even more so. Last October, several members of the team behind The Lab gathered at Steam Dev Days to talk about the experiments, difficulties, failures and successes that ultimately led to The Lab's creation. We thought some of you might enjoy this peek into the process: Developing “The Lab” If you’d like to see more talks from Steam Dev Days, you can find them all here.

• Developing “The Lab” - 9 December 2016

  Developing games is hard. When you add in the unique challenges brought on by an entirely new medium, it is arguably even more so. Last October, several members of the team behind The Lab gathered at Steam Dev Days to talk about the experiments, difficulties, failures and successes that ultimately led to The Lab's creation. We thought some of you might enjoy this peek into the process: Developing “The Lab” If you’d like to see more talks from Steam Dev Days, you can find them all here.

• The Lab Update - December 7, 2016 - 8 December 2016

  Oculus Touch users can press the X and A to rotate in place, 90 degrees left or right. Requires the latest SteamVR Beta Fixed issue with Korean subtitles displaying the wrong language in Slingshot Localization update

• The Lab Update - December 7, 2016 - 8 December 2016

  Oculus Touch users can press the X and A to rotate in place, 90 degrees left or right. Requires the latest SteamVR Beta Fixed issue with Korean subtitles displaying the wrong language in Slingshot Localization update

• The Lab Update - October 20, 2016 - 21 October 2016

  Longbow: Barrels and Oil now respawn when Wave 1 begins Longbow: Fixed a rare bug where The Lab would hang if exiting to the miniature view with only one controller turned on Xortex: During the title screen, the drone now instructs players to "Defend your ship" Engine updates to improve performance and stability Localization update

• The Lab Update - October 20, 2016 - 21 October 2016

  Longbow: Barrels and Oil now respawn when Wave 1 begins Longbow: Fixed a rare bug where The Lab would hang if exiting to the miniature view with only one controller turned on Xortex: During the title screen, the drone now instructs players to "Defend your ship" Engine updates to improve performance and stability Localization update

• The Lab Update - July 5, 2016 - 5 July 2016

  Fixed a lighting bug in the hub Updated localization

• The Lab Update - July 5, 2016 - 5 July 2016

  Fixed a lighting bug in the hub Updated localization

• The Lab Update - July 1, 2016 - 1 July 2016

  Update 1 Engine updates to improve stability and performance Fixed a bug which could prevent Slingshot from loading when playing in certain languages Updated localizations Update 2 Fixed a lighting bug in the hub Update 3 Rolled back the lighting bug fix in Update 2 as it was causing the "Headset Not Found" screen to appear if not running the SteamVR Beta.

• The Lab Update - July 1, 2016 - 1 July 2016

  Update 1 Engine updates to improve stability and performance Fixed a bug which could prevent Slingshot from loading when playing in certain languages Updated localizations Update 2 Fixed a lighting bug in the hub Update 3 Rolled back the lighting bug fix in Update 2 as it was causing the "Headset Not Found" screen to appear if not running the SteamVR Beta.

• The Lab Update - June 7, 2016 - 8 June 2016

  Fixed an issue in Xortex Infinite which caused certain enemy types not to properly self-destruct after a time out. Unfortunately, as this bug could impact scoring, we have reset the global leaderboard for Xortex Infinite. Fixed the ‘-longbow’ launch command not properly starting the player inside the full scale castle Fixed a missing localization string in the hub and in Longbow Updated localization files Also, a reminder to players that Leaderboards can be found on the web from The Lab’s Steam Community hub under ‘View Stats’ -> ‘Global Leaderboards’, or directly at this URL: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/450390/leaderboards/1267291/

• The Lab Update - June 7, 2016 - 8 June 2016

  Fixed an issue in Xortex Infinite which caused certain enemy types not to properly self-destruct after a time out. Unfortunately, as this bug could impact scoring, we have reset the global leaderboard for Xortex Infinite. Fixed the ‘-longbow’ launch command not properly starting the player inside the full scale castle Fixed a missing localization string in the hub and in Longbow Updated localization files Also, a reminder to players that Leaderboards can be found on the web from The Lab’s Steam Community hub under ‘View Stats’ -> ‘Global Leaderboards’, or directly at this URL: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/450390/leaderboards/1267291/

• Appliance Of Science: Valve Adds Global Leaderboards To VR Playground, The Lab - 7 June 2016

  It upsets me that I associate the phrase “Appliance of Science” with Zanussi because it means that at least one of my chances to create a treasured childhood memory was co-opted by a white goods manufacturer’s advertising campaign. ANYWAY. Appliance Of Science is also the name of Valve’s new update to The Lab – its VR experiment anthology. The big thing? It’s adding competitive global leaderboards for Longbow (the archery one), Xortex (the space shootery one), and Slingshot (the box explodey one). There are also a number of changes to the modes. I’ll list them out at the end but here are the basic points to note: …

• The Lab: Appliance of Science Update - 6 June 2016

  Update News What's science without a little competition? Why, it's barely science at all! That's why we applied some science to The Lab and created the Appliance of Science Update, introducing a spirit of bloodthirsty competition to the world of ethically questionable research. Now you can compete with your fellow test subjects on the new global leaderboards for Longbow, Xortex, and Slingshot, and prove to the world that you're the best at science. But hold on to your grant money, because we didn't stop there. We've also made a bunch of gameplay adjustments to all three games. Longbow now features an unlimited number of enemy waves, along with a new scoring system to reward slaying enemies, nailing headshots, popping balloons, and more. Each successive wave includes more enemies, who will move faster and have an increased chance of wearing armor. Your exploding barrels and oil cauldrons…

• The Lab: Appliance of Science Update - 6 June 2016

  Update News What's science without a little competition? Why, it's barely science at all! That's why we applied some science to The Lab and created the Appliance of Science Update, introducing a spirit of bloodthirsty competition to the world of ethically questionable research. Now you can compete with your fellow test subjects on the new global leaderboards for Longbow, Xortex, and Slingshot, and prove to the world that you're the best at science. But hold on to your grant money, because we didn't stop there. We've also made a bunch of gameplay adjustments to all three games. Longbow now features an unlimited number of enemy waves, along with a new scoring system to reward slaying enemies, nailing headshots, popping balloons, and more. Each successive wave includes more enemies, who will move faster and have an increased chance of wearing armor. Your exploding barrels and oil cauldrons…

• The RPG Scrollbars: Virtual Reality, RPGs, And Me - 9 May 2016

  Like most people who can’t resist casually mentioning they have an HTC Vive, I recently acquired a HTC Vive. Finally, I have the ability to personally step into worlds of wonder and creativity more realistic and inspiring than anything mankind has ever created before. Instead, I’ve… uh… been playing mini-golf. Like, a lot of mini-golf . The one VR experience I could literally have better and at higher resolution by getting up going into my own town, only that wouldn’t be cool, because I wouldn’t regularly float over cliffs as I cack-handedly putt-putt away like I’m trying to join a parade. I have no idea if virtual reality is the next big thing or just a passing fad. Even as potential fads go though, I can’t wait to see what it has in store for RPGs. As long as it’s not giant spiders in my face, obviously, I’ve been looking for…

Patch notes and updates