Can you really game in 3D without glasses? That’s the question I had when I met with Samsung at One World Trade Center to test out its Odyssey 3D, a new addition to the Odyssey line of gaming monitors. Glasses-free 3D gaming was not a new concept to me—I spent many years with my trusty Nintendo 3DS by my side, even if I rarely used the 3D effect for more than a few minutes. Like the little 3DS, Samsung’s display comes with a big promise: You’ll see high-definition 3D without needing to don any eyewear, via advanced tech built into the monitor itself.
We’ve seen glasses-free 3D in stand-alone monitors before, like in the Sony ELF-SR2 Spatial Reality Display and the Lenovo ThinkVision 27. But those panels weren’t built for gaming, mostly professional workflows instead. Nothing wrong with that, but gaming poses very different challenges and demands different capabilities. What happens when you want your enemies to pop out of the screen?
Honestly, I had my doubts about the Odyssey 3D going in, and I still have questions, mainly about the supported game library. But I walked away largely impressed by the display technology in play here.
An Odyssey to Another Dimension
In some ways, the Samsung Odyssey 3D (G90XF)—now available for pre-order at $1,999—shares similarities with other gaming monitors in its class. A 4K 27-inch IPS display with a 165Hz refresh rate, the monitor comes equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports and offers AMD FreeSync Premium support. It’s also Nvidia G-Sync Compatible.
But look more closely at the top of the monitor. There, you’ll find the tech that brings the 3D: tiny cameras using advanced eye-tracking technology and a proprietary lenticular lens. To run that gear, you’ll need Samsung’s Reality Hub app.
The app scans your computer for 3D-compatible games across multiple storefronts. So, if you own a compatible game, it doesn’t matter if you got it from the Epic Game Store, Steam, Xbox Game Pass, GOG, or the Microsoft Store. You can access it through the Reality Hub and play in 3D.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
I’m there. What can I play? Well, Samsung says it is actively collaborating with major game developers to make the most out of its 3D technology. The first of these collaborations includes The First Berserker: Khazan (by Nexon) and Lies of P (by Neowiz). In addition to these two games, there will be an additional 10 titles supported at launch, including Palworld, Like a Dragon: Ishin!, and Octopath Traveler, with an expected 50 games supported by the end of the year. These additional titles will work with the Odyssey 3D, but they aren’t part of Samsung’s collaboration with studios. Some of titles on the horizon include Epic Mickey: Rebrushed and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy—The Definitive Edition.
You probably had the same thought I did: Why these games? It’s a seemingly random assortment of titles. Or consider some other games the Odyssey 3D supports: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, and Psychonauts 2. The answer is that these games, as different as they are, all share the same Unreal game engine. And, as of now, the Odyssey 3D only supports games developed with the Unreal Engine. A Samsung spokesperson didn’t confirm if that support extends to Unreal Engine 5.
So that’s the kind of lineup you can expect (so far). Titles that Samsung co-develops will be marked with a gold ribbon within the Reality Hub’s interface.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Booting up The First Berserker, I was blown away by how good the 3D looked. The effect is impossible to capture on video or in photographs, so you’ll have to take my word for it, but The First Berserker’s anime art style literally popped out of the screen. Hacking and slashing through the first few enemies, I was impressed by the depth of field and equally impressed that it seemed like there were no visual compromises to make it happen. Overall, the effect was seamless. (You can adjust the effect’s intensity or shut it off completely in the game’s settings.)
Some Blurred Lines
I wish I could say the same for the other supported titles. While Khazan’s 3D start-up is seamlessly integrated, the supported titles have the controls bolted on via a toolbar at the top of the screen with shortcuts to adjust the 3D settings. For compatible titles, the user has to manually alter the 3D effect via keyboard shortcuts. This is different from the co-developed game, which had its 3D effect set “as the artist intended,” and, in my opinion, didn’t need much alteration, if any at all.
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Because these games were not tailor-made for 3D, the effect was far more jarring. A few times, I had to roll my chair back a few feet from the screen; the 3D effect was so intense and blurred it made my eyes spin. After some adjustment, I found a level I was mostly happy with, but then other issues started to crop up. While I was playing Palworld, I noticed the text boxes and character models seemed to have different 3D intensities, as if one were more effective than the other. The game was also noticeably choppier than Khazan, but I’m unsure if the 3D effect had anything to do with that.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
I also realized that, by default, Reality Hub’s shortcuts use Ctrl and a combination of the 1-5 keys. But that created a conflict: Both Ctrl and the number keys are essential for playing Palworld, and it didn’t seem that there was a way to remap the hotkeys within the Reality Hub. You can use a controller or remap the Palworld keyboard controls in the game settings to sidestep the issue, but it’s an issue nonetheless.
Recommended by Our Editors
Switching to the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City remaster (all three titles in the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Definitive Edition will be compatible at a later date), I didn’t come across any button overlap as I did in Palworld. But, again, it seemed like only certain assets were popping out, as if they were carved out of the background.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Admittedly, the optimal settings for every 3D game are subjective. It remains to be seen what other functionality Reality Hub might offer. I’d like the ability to create presets for certain games, and of course, I hope the game library will grow to include some of the latest AAA titles.
It Does Movies and TV, Too
While Reality Hub’s main use is video games, the monitor has another trick up its 3D sleeve: AI video conversion, which uses artificial intelligence to transform compatible 2D video content into 3D. In my demo, I pulled up a video clip of Avengers: Endgame on YouTube. After enabling the 3D effect, I was surprised to see the scene pop up at me seamlessly.
The conversion tech is not without caveats. First, Reality Hub must be running in the system tray, and the video must be in full screen. Plus, not every video player supports 3D conversion. You also can’t apply 3D conversion when HDR is enabled or when you’re watching DRM content. Finally, the system requirements are worth keeping in mind. You must have an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU or higher. In addition, Samsung recommends an Intel Core i7 or higher—or an AMD Ryzen 7 1700X or higher—and 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM.
I’ve still got more questions about the Samsung Odyssey 3D, but we’re eager to get it into PC Labs. Be sure to check back for our full review.
About Zackery Cuevas
Analyst, Hardware
