Patient 8 Games announced in a social media post yesterday that the price of their sci-fi survival horror shooter Memoreum has been cut by 50% on Meta Quest. The price has been slashed from $29.99 to just $14.99, a phenomenal value for one of VR's most ambitious narrative shooters.

The premise is simple but enticing: a colony ship flees a dying Earth. You awaken from cryo-sleep to find the ship overrun by horrible monsters. Only you can stand against the tide of mutants and a dogmatic military general, and save yourself, your child, and possibly humanity.

Memoreum Review: Ambitious But Imperfect Specimen

Memoreum is an ambitious survival horror game that has the right ideas, though it doesn’t always land.

UploadVRElijah Beahm

Memoreum originally released in October last year, to mostly favorable reviews. Our review described it as an exciting and sometimes terrifying sci-fi shooter.

Memoreum is available now on Quest, and coming soon to Steam. A PlayStation VR2 port has been announced, but no release date has been revealed.

For May 2026, Meta is bringing seven new games to its Games Catalog, as well as discounts on some really excellent VR and MR experiences. Starting with the Monthly Games, players can explore the narrative journey of A Fisherman's Tale 2 and delve into voxel-powered dungeons in Ancient Dungeon.

The Games Catalog is also bolstered by five new games. Players can become a deadly juicer with the classic Fruit Ninja, become a world-class barber in Shave & Stuff, shoot through mutant hordes in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles in After the Fall, wage tabletop war in Table Troopers, and venture down the rabbit hole in Escaping Wonderland.

Meta Horizon+ subscribers also get exclusive deals. May’s deals include:

• Townsmen VR, a city builder in which you’ll build towns, take care of its citizens, and expand your territory. Get it for 75% off this month.
• Cubism, a mixed reality puzzle game (one of my personal favorites) has you using colorful blocks to construct 3D puzzles. It’s available for 60% off.
• Red Matter, a dystopian Cold War, sci-fi tale puts you in the boots of an astronaut, exploring Saturn’s moon Rhea, where you’ll make your way through an abandoned base and uncover a mysterious story. Grab it for 50% off.

And now, here's a closer look at the Monthly Games for May.

A Fisherman's Tale 2

A Fisherman's Tale 2 is a mind-bending puzzle adventure game, and the sequel to the award-winning A Fisherman's Tale, in which you'll explore incredibly immersive miniature puzzles, alter your body, and bend your mind. A poetic story unfolds as your perspective shifts, revealing hidden truths about your past.

We recommended people play A Fisherman's Tale 2 when it originally debuted, with our review describing it as "a game that [experiments] with unique mechanics that engage with virtual reality in exciting new ways."

Ancient Dungeon

Ancient Dungeon throws players into a vivid voxel underworld, where old-school visuals meet modern replayability. With more than 200 power-ups to discover, the game is designed to keep every run feeling fresh. Whether you play solo or team up in four-player co-op, it's the kind of game that rewards both curiosity and persistence.

We reviewed this roguelike game when it first released, and found that its satisfying combat and ever-changing dungeons, combined with its beautiful visual style, make for a very good time indeed.

Horizon+ Games Catalog Games

Horizon+ continues offering a Games Catalog of Quest titles that any subscriber can access. New games this month include Fruit Ninja and Escaping Wonderland. Meta can add new games to and remove games from the catalog at any time.

Here is the current Horizon+ Games Catalog in the US:

• After the Fall
• Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
• Asgard's Wrath 2
• Beat Saber
• Blacktop Hoops
• Breachers
• Deisim
• Demeo
• Demeo Battles
• Dungeons of Eternity
• Escaping Wonderland
• Fruit Ninja
• Ghosts of Tabor
• GOLF+
• Green Hell VR
• I Expect You To Die 3
• iB Cricket
• In Death: Unchained
• Into Black
• Into the Radius
• Job Simulator
• Les Mills BodyCombat
• Maestro
• Medieval Dynasty New Settlement
• Moss
• Onward
• Pets & Stuff
• Pistol Whip
• Premium Bowling
• Prison Boss Prohibition
• Project Demigod
• Puzzling Places
• Racket Club
• Real VR Fishing
• Red Matter 2
• Shave & Stuff
• Spatial Ops
• Starship Home
• Synth Riders
• Table Troopers
• The 7th Guest VR
• The Climb 2
• The Light Brigade
• The Thrill of the Fight
• Thief Simulator VR
• Titans Clinic
• Vacation Simulator
• Walkabout Mini Golf
• War of Wizards
• Zero Caliber: Reloaded

Escaping Wonderland Review: A Curiously Wonderful Dream

Escaping Wonderland is an inventive, well-crafted VR adventure puzzle game that successfully builds upon Down The Rabbit Hole. Our full review.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Horizon+ Indie Catalog Games

Meta continues to add new games to the separate Indie Games Catalog, and you can see the entire list here.

Meta Horizon+ is a subscription service that gives players access to a monthly selection of games for $7.99 USD per month, or $59.99 USD a year. New Horizon+ users can enjoy a one-month free trial.

April was a busy month for virtual reality gaming. Early Access hits like Forefront and Into the Radius 2 moved to their 1.0 full releases. Highly anticipated titles like Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR Brutal Edition, Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes arrived and VR support was added for popular titles Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic and Microsoft Flight Simulator '24 on PS VR2.

This list is subject to change as new announcements are made by developers and events like the Creature Feature and Friends Showcase on May 6.

Note that this article only lists titles with firm, publicly announced dates, so any titles with a [month][year] distinction for May or that are rumored to release this month will not be included.

Proton VR - May 1 (PC VR)

Proton VR is a solo developer retro shooter inspired by the boomer shooters of the 90s. A playable demo is available now.

• Store links - Steam

*FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR - May 7 (PC VR)

A product of Flat2VR Studios' Spark initiative, FlatOut 4's long-awaited VR port arrives after a two week delay from its original April date. The reckless driving action game promises multiple game modes and vehicles, with vehicle interiors built from scratch for VR.

• Store links - Steam

*Spymaster - May 7 (PC VR)

The latest from A Fisherman's Tale developer Innerspace, Spymaster is a charming espionage adventure. Read our preliminary thoughts from the Game Developers Conference in March here:

Spymaster Confirms May Release Date And We Played It Early

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• Store links - Steam

Walkabout Mini Golf Blokhaven DLC - May 7 (Quest, PC VR, PS VR2, Pico)

Blokhaven, Mighty Coconut's 40th course for Walkabout Mini Golf is set on the docks of a charming island town constructed from discarded toys.

• Store links - Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR, Apple App Store

Crêpe Master - May 7 (Quest)

Arcade beat 'em up Crêpe Master from French developer Hallucinations Studio stars Hana, a magical girl who embodies the reincarnated form of the Crêpe Goddess. You'll wield a "Sacred Pan" to defend your home, Earth, and France's favorite pancake against a ruthless tyrant bent on destroying crêpes once and for all!

• Store links - Quest 3/3S

Evil Inside VR - May 7 (Quest, PS VR2)

Evil Inside is a P.T.-like psychological horror game originally released in 2021 for Steam and all major gaming consoles. It is being redesigned specifically for VR, with a revamped sound system, motion controls, and lighting for a more immersive experience. The narrative and puzzle designs will also be updated for VR.

• Store links - PS VR2, Quest 3/3S

Wingsuit: Romsdalen - May 13 (PC VR)

Pilot a high performance wingsuit through mountain landscapes in Norway's Romsdalen Valley in this high speed sports title. A demo is available now on Steam.

• Store links - Steam

King Crab - May 14 (PC VR)

King Crab is a hybrid, lighthearted, physics-driven defense game where players dig trenches, build up walls, and try to otherwise redirect waves to protect sand castles.

• Store links - Steam

A Long Survive - May 14 (PC VR, PS VR2)

Co-op horde shooter A Long Survive comes to PlayStation VR2 and PC VR following a short delay from its original April target. The Friendly Fire Studios-developed title released on Meta Quest in October 2025 and promises improved visuals

• Store links - PS VR2, Steam

Roboquest VR - May 21 (Quest)

Flat2VR Studios' hit roguelite Roboquest drops on Meta Quest after its initial PC VR and PS VR2 release.

Roboquest VR Review: An Instant Classic

Roboquest VR takes an already exhilarating FPS roguelite and delivers a near-flawless VR adaptation.

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• Store links - Quest

Virtual Hunter - May 27 (PS VR2, Quest)

Another delayed game, animal hunting sim Virtual Hunter arrives on PS VR2 and Meta Quest in late May. It is already available on SteamVR.

• Store links - Quest, PS VR2

This article will be updated with any new announcements or delays throughout the month of May.

Here are all of the Star Wars VR games with prices and discounts for SteamVR, PlayStation VR, Meta Quest, and Pico.

Vader Immortal (Quest, PS VR)

Vader Immortal is a three-episode narrative adventure set after the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. You play as a smuggler whose ship is intercepted by Darth Vader himself above the fiery planet Mustafar. A journey of self discovery alongside a wisecracking droid leads to learning the ways of the Force and extensive lightsaber action, culminating with a duel with Vader. It's wish fulfillment of the highest order for any Star Wars fan.

All three episodes also feature the lightsaber dojo, an escalating gauntlet mode separate from the story campaign to test your Jedi mastery. In keeping with the abilities learned in each game, Episode 1 just focuses on usage of a lightsaber, Episode 2 adds the Force, and Episode 3 incorporates weapons from stormtroopers.

Vader Immortal is sold as a complete bundle on the original PlayStation VR, currently on sale for $7.49, a whopping 75% off. On Meta Quest, Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3 are all 50% off, $4.99 each.

Meta also has all three episodes in a special May The Fourth bundle along with Tales From the Galaxy's Edge and Beyond Victory for $29.99.

Star Wars: Vader Immortal Trilogy Review - A Splendid Early Exercise In Story-Living

I don’t really like to echo a company’s marketing slogans, especially not in reviews, but in the case of Star Wars: Vader Immortal, you kind of have to. Note: This review is for the entire Vader Immortal trilogy. You can see our individual reviews for each episode below.

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Star Wars Pinball VR (PC VR, PS VR, Quest)

Play pinball on officially licensed tables based on films and series in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars Pinball VR is 60% on PS VR1 ($9.99) and 50% off on Quest and Steam ($12.49).

Available tables include:

• The Mandalorian
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Star Wars Rebels
• Masters of the Force
• Classic Collectibles

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Is this latest addition to the Star Wars VR library worth your time? Find out in our Star Wars Pinball VR review!

UploadVRJoshua Broadwell

Star Wars: Squadrons (PC VR, PS VR)

Star Wars: Squadrons is the game that kids like me, who grew up playing the Lucasarts-made flight sims X-wing and TIE Fighter, had waited our whole lives for. Squadrons puts you in the cockpit of the franchise's most legendary fighter ships and plunges you into a sprawling dual perspective story of pilots flying for both the New Republic (the good guys) and the reeling Empire (the baddies). There's also a full-fledged competitive multiplayer mode.

Originally released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and on PC, the game can be played entirely in VR via Steam VR and PlayStation VR (a port to PS VR2 never came, but you can play using Sony's newest headset via the PS VR2 PC adapter). The game has full HOTAS support, making for one of the most immersive Star Wars flight games ever made.

For Star Wars Day, it's 90% off on Steam ($3.99). Unfortunately, it is not on sale for PlayStation VR, still listed for $39.99.

Star Wars: Squadrons VR Review - The Galaxy’s Finest Space Combat

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UploadVRDavid Jagneaux

Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy's Edge (Quest, PS VR2)

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge is an interactive VR adventure set on Batuu, the Outer Rim planet most known as the fictional setting of the real-world Star Wars theme parks at Disneyland in California, and Walt Disney World in Florida.

In Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, you'll play as a droid repair tech who crash lands on Batuu, take on missions in the Batuu wilds, face off against the Guavian Death Gang, infiltrate a First Order facility and travel to other eras in the galaxy, in your own unforgettable Star Wars story.

On PlayStation VR2, Tales has enhanced graphics, sounds, and haptics compared to the original version designed for Oculus Quest. It also includes all the DLC, while on Quest it's a separate purchase.

Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Enhanced Edition is on sale for $9.99 on PlayStation VR2, 75% off the normal price. On Quest, Tales and the game's DLC, Last Call, are included for a limited time in the ILM May the 4th Bundle for $29.99. Separately, the base game and Last Call DLC are both 50% off, $12.49 & $4.99 respectively.

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With the launch of the Last Call DLC, balance is almost fully restored to Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge. Read on for our Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge full Review. At the risk of enraging seemingly all of the internet, let me recall a

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Star Wars: Beyond Victory (Quest 3/3S)

Set during the reign of the Empire, and featuring an original story involving the notorious podracing legend, Sebulba, Beyond Victory blends immersive VR storytelling with mixed reality play in which your real-world space is transformed into a holotable arena. Here, fast-paced, top-down podracing plays out, while a sandbox mode turns your living room into a playset environment.

Beyond Victory is half-off on the Meta Horizon store today, discounted to $9.99 from the usual $19.99.

Star Wars: Beyond Victory Review - Not The Podracer We’re Looking For

Star Wars: Beyond Victory brings third-person mixed reality podracing and a digital toy set to Quest 3 & 3S today.

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Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy & Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (Quest, Pico, PC VR)

Longtime modders Team Beef brought two classic Star Wars games to VR with full motion controls. Jedi Academy casts you as a student under Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In Jedi Outcast, you are Kyle Katarn, a now former Jedi who has severed their tie to the Force. Team Beef has instructions to get the game running on your platform of choice.

Note that you must own a copy of these games to use the mods. The mods simply add VR support to each game. Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast are 75% off on Steam right now, just $2.49 each.

Links: Quest, Pico, PC VR

Survios' first VR game was a sci-fi action shooter for the HTC Vive in 2016, called Raw Data, considered one of the headset's best launch-window titles and one of the first truly great action VR shooters. After two more original IP VR titles over the following two years, Sprint Vector and Electronauts, the studio secured major licensed VR titles, including Creed: Rise to Glory and Alien: Rogue Incursion.

• Raw Data (2016): a sci-fi action wave shooter where you infiltrate a dystopian corporation and fight off hordes of their killer androids using both firearms and energy katanas.
• Sprint Vector (2018): a competitive racing platformer, one of the first major VR titles to use arm-swinging locomotion for fast-paced movement.
• Electronauts (2018): a gamified music creation sandbox that makes you feel like a DJ, a truly made-for-VR take on the music game genre.
• Creed: Rise to Glory (2018): the studio's first major IP title, a boxing game in the Rocky universe with both a cinematic campaign and PvP multiplayer.
• Westworld Awakening (2019): a narrative-driven stealth horror game based on the HBO sci-fi series wherein you solve puzzles and hide from a killer host.
• Battlewake (2019): a VR naval combat game where you act as a mythical pirate lord, directly interacting with the ship's wheel and aiming cannons while casting elemental magic like whirlpools and the kraken to take on enemies.
• The Walking Dead: Onslaught (2020): the "other" Walking Dead VR game, Onslaught was both overshadowed by Saints & Sinners and considered the weakest of Survios' catalog.
• Puzzle Bobble VR (2021): a VR take on the classic arcade game Puzzle Bobble, adapted to 3D and first person.
• Alien: Rogue Incursion (2024): the studio's biggest, and perhaps final, title, a singleplayer action-horror survival game where you play as a Colonial Marine to take on Xenomorphs.

According to multiple posts from employees on LinkedIn, the studio has now undergone sweeping layoffs that could effectively halt its operations.

“I was informed today that Survios as it currently stands will be essentially shuttered,” wrote one combat designer. A senior game designer confirmed that “the majority of the development team” had been affected, while another employee suggested the cuts were not entirely unexpected.

Alien: Rogue Incursion Review - A Promising Yet Imperfect Entry

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UploadVRDon Hopper

The reported downsizing follows efforts by Survios to expand beyond its VR roots. In 2025, the studio launched an expanded version of Alien: Rogue Incursion across PC and consoles, in an effort clearly intended to diversify revenue streams.

The VR version had recently claimed the top spot on Sony’s PlayStation VR2 sales charts as recently as February, while Creed: Rise to Glory had sold over a million copies as far back as 2021, and remained a consistent presence on sales charts month after month. Despite these strong indicators of performance and the company’s move into traditional platforms, the studio has apparently failed to maintain stability.

Survios has not publicly commented on the situation, and the full scope of the layoffs remains uncertain.

Job Simulator recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and to this day remains a mainstay in the top sales categories for its VR platforms. When I first played DDS' Sporelando and chatted with Owlchemy Labs 'CEOwl' Andrew Eiche at the Game Developers Conference, one of the things we spoke about was getting back to basics with DDS.

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Owlchemy Labs has evolved its winning formula as VR itself has evolved, with more sophisticated movement systems and improvements in alternative control methods like hand tracking.

Dimensional Double Shift represents the next step forward in that evolution. Eiche has been outspoken about his support for hand tracking and sees it as a necessity for mainstream adoption. Conversely, he talked to us about pulling back the free movement systems introduced in Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High as they hindered the gameplay loop.

I kept all that in mind when I recruited three friends to join me in DDS' latest paid add-on, Sporelando. Dimensional Double Shift's fourth world riffs on the retirement golf community vibes of central Florida after similar send ups of other cultures in Treeatle (world coffee capital Seattle), Hexas (cowboy-inspired Texas), and New Joysey (New Jersey). The latter two, along with Sporelando, are available as a $4.99 add-on to the base free-to-play experience in Treeatle. In a move for wider adoption and replayability, only one player needs to own any of the add-ons for a full group to play.

Treeatle remains the base experience and I was on a review build, so I did need to run through the two Treeatle modules before Sporelando opened up to me. Bear in mind, I had already played the DLC with Eiche who, for the sake of time, gave clear direction to our media group on completing the various tasks. This is a fairly common practice in demo sessions where time is limited and we want to experience as much of the game as possible.

For this new session, I sat back and watched the learning process of my three friends with minimal intervention, just to see how intuitive it is. DDS's core gameplay loop consists of choosing from two different jobs: a vehicle repair shop and a diner. My father's side of the family is based in east-central Florida, so loading into Sporelando felt like a trip to a region I'm all too familiar with. The environment is populated with satirical billboards and a general atmosphere that nails central Florida. We started in the repair shop and I immediately picked up on the difference between DDS and other co-op experiences in VR.

A clunker of a golf cart driven by a cantankerous mushroom-like golfer eager to get back on the course pulled in to our repair bay. Everyone on the team immediately grabbed the handles in front of us and tried to lift it, independent of one another. It didn't budge at first, and this was the first of many lessons DDS teaches. It's not simply that all four of us exist in the same space. Teamwork is a key part of this game. This runs counter to many other co-op experiences where teamwork is optional. In shooters like Forefront or dungeon crawlers like Dungeons of Eternity, it helps to communicate, but players are fine to go rogue and do their own thing with only the possibility of failure.

DDS is different. Here, failure is guaranteed if you do not communicate with your team. This led to a few moments of frustration amongst the team as this lesson was made painfully apparent. Resolution Games' Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale is the best comparison to DDS' gameplay.

After we lifted the hood, all four of us were presented with small mini-game like 'repairs' to make. I watched as all three other players started speaking to themselves trying to figure out how to solve each riddle. I myself was presented with one side of a map location puzzle that had me confused until I remembered that most of these modules have two sides to them and require two players to complete. One by one, everyone figured this concept out.

• "Hey, we need to both pull this crank to power up the engine."
• "Okay, I get it. I can see where the slider needs to be on my side. Turn it to the left until I say stop. Wait, not your left, my left! Your right. I mean turn to your right."
• "Okay, put marker at the valley. I have the map here. It's in the upper left. Oh, my slider controls up and down. Yours controls left and right. I get it."

Ten minutes or so later, the fungal cart owner was off to the links. We did another vehicle, this time much faster, then moved into the diner.

Here, orders come in on a carousel with ingredients to prepare and serve. Again, products and equipment have to be shared here. I shared a chargrill with one player and a meat grinder with another. Ingredients needed to be passed from one station to another. The lessons from the cart repair shop had to be relearned here. After grabbing our tickets, there were brief moments of confusion when the necessary ingredients to complete a ticket were not available in that player's station. Again, the cycle of confusion to frustration to understanding to completion played itself out.

This module worked less well because it requires more precision from the hand tracking to properly place items. Players in VR are used to moving relatively quickly with controllers, so the lesson here was to slow down. Even with this, the hand tracking lets down a few interactions. Getting a product into the grinder was painful and passing the chunks of fish or cooked meat to another player did not work several times. Sometimes an item would just blast off into orbit, a la the janky physics of some sandbox games.

Eventually we just placed the needed items closer to the other player, who picked them up from the counter. This was easier than a direct hand off, something that has never felt great in VR, but when using hand tracking, it was a natural feeling interaction. Like "I am using my hands, so I should be able to just hand this to him/her." Unfortunately, as far as hand tracking has come, it's not quite there yet. Handing an item off was hit and miss. Movements have to be more precise and that feels like it hampers a player who knows what to do and wants to move faster than the hand tracking will allow for.

This is not necessarily Dimensional Double Shift's fault. It felt more like a technical failure of the system more so than DDS' usage of it. More than once, my friends lamented the lack of controllers, a common refrain I've heard in hand tracked games like Silhouette and Grokit. As hand tracking continues to improve, I would imagine this friction just fades away. Time and experience will benefit games like Dimensional Double Shift that can continue to experiment and iterate with different interactions as the technology itself continues to improve.

After our two shifts, we were rewarded with new cosmetics and funny superlative certificates, a nice touch that elicited a humorous reaction when one player did not get the moniker she was expecting. We wrapped up our time in Sporelando roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire adjacent to the job selector board, recapping what we had just done and laughing about a few interactions that went off the rails. By the end, it felt less like a game and more like four friends just hanging out in VR. The social aspect of Dimensional Double Shift is spot on and even with the moments of frustration, we were all laughing by the end.

This is where DDS delivers on, to use Eiche's phrase, "the promise of VR." That is, meeting the expectations of the player with minimal friction. Hand tracking jank aside, DDS gets the job done, with room to improve just from hardware and tracking advancements alone.

Dimensional Double Shift is available free to play on Quest and Android XR, with the Sporelando and other add-ons available for $4.99 each.

The full release of the comical birdwatching and photography game Birdseed VR has left the nest, spread its wings, and come to roost on Meta Quest 3 headsets. With our quota for questionable avian metaphors met, let's get on with the news.

For those not familiar, Birdseed VR is a cozy birdwatching and photography game in which you hang out in a forest and photograph silly and cute birds. It's been out in Early Access for a few months, and I wrote my impressions of the game when it originally released in EA (you can read about it here).

In short, it's a chill and charming little game where collecting birds, photographs of birds, and gear to better photograph birds is the core loop. You'll listen to music, wait for new feathered friends to arrive, laugh at their silly behavior, and take 12 pictures a day with your limited stock of film.

The release of version 1.0 brings quite a few major updates to the game. To start, it patches the game's multiplayer, allowing for birdwatching with up to three friends.

Then there's the inclusion of Scout's Store, a shop where you can spend in-game currency to buy new camera skins, lenses, and charms, as well as new frames, more film, and other cosmetics. You can also buy in-game currency with real-world money, though this is not required.

The full release doubles the number of birds in the game, as well as adding Super and Ultra Telephoto lenses, new field guides, and more.

Birdseed VR is out now on Quest 3 and 3S. It's also coming to Steam VR sometime later this year.

Alta (A Township Tale) detailed the news in Discord with the following message:

Like many teams across the games industry, and especially within the VR space, we have faced increasingly difficult market conditions alongside the rising cost of development. Despite every effort, we have reached the difficult decision to end development of Reave at Alta.

While this may appear as though Reave is being left behind, that could not be further from the truth. If circumstances had allowed, we would have continued building and expanding Reave alongside all of you for years to come.

The current playtest will be the final opportunity for anyone interested to play the game before it shuts down on May 4.

Reave Is The New Dark Fantasy VR Action Game From A Township Tale’s Studio

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Reave was formally announced during the March 2025 VR Games Showcase after Alta spent the better part of a year posting developer vlogs about the game under the name 'Project 2.' Alta has run multiple playtests on Quest and PC VR since then.

Some disclosures upfront: I am a lifelong Ninja Turtles fan. From the comics to the 1980s cartoon whose theme song I can still sing to this day to the spotty history of the films and Vanilla Ice's hit "Ninja Rap." This review is also the third time I've played the game. I played a demo during Steam Next Fest and had a session with publisher Beyond Frames' CEO, Ace St. Germain, at the Game Developers Conference in March.

So I already knew Cortopia nailed the characters, particularly the turtles. I also knew the exterior sections of New York played out like a semi open world akin to something like Asgard's Wrath 2, albeit on a much smaller scale. This comes with enemy outposts to shut down and random crimes to prevent, with a crime level ever present throughout the game. The question I had coming into the full game was whether all of this holds up over an extended playtime.

Empire City starts with a tutorial level that lets you sample all four turtles. They each have different skill sets and a special 'focus' attribute that varies among the four. When fully charged by attacking and defeating enemies, this focus ability triggers, granting temporary perks like increased damage, faster focus building, and so on, depending on which turtle you select to play as. The sewer lair also houses a separate lab that serves as a physical skill tree of sorts. Here scrap that is collected throughout the game can be used to buy items, additional perks, and level up to unlock higher health and more perk or inventory slots.

With this system and the design of New York's exterior, TMNT: Empire City straddles the line between simple adventure and full-blown role playing game. There are a lot of choices here, allowing any player to cater their preferred turtle to their preferred playstyle. That is also before getting to the multitude of collectibles through the game. Artifacts can be turned into purchasable perks. Blueprints add to the list of craftable items. The lair has a full chess board with its pieces scattered all over the city. Multiple cassette tape recordings that expand on the storyline. Completionists will have plenty to keep them occupied.

Also, Empire City's campaign is fully playable in co-op for up to four players, so you can bring your friends in to help track everything down. In co-op, the host player is the only player whose storyline progresses, so a word of caution to anyone hoping to play part of the main campaign alone and part with friends. If this is you, then be sure to host the session or those co-op stretches of gameplay will have to be repeated solo. That said, running around the city with a buddy, wrecking outposts and stopping crime, is a shell of a good time. Another word of caution, there is a heavy amount of dialogue in Empire City, so be prepared to get interrupted often when talking to friends.

The story follows the remnants of the Foot clan in the aftermath of the death of the Shredder, the most infamous TMNT villain. The turtles find themselves caught between two ideologically opposite sides of a Foot clan power struggle. It is a good story and easy enough to keep up with if you are not familiar with the source material, with enough exposition delivered by the other characters to make sure newer fans are not left behind.

The combat in Empire City has a lot of complexity to it, with a parry system, unblockable attacks, items, and the aforementioned focus system. Unfortunately, these complexities don't really shine when fully engaged in combat. The Foot clan, an ancient group of ninjas, comprise the bulk of the rogues gallery with multiple variants, all of which can be fairly quickly dispatched. I didn't use a single smoke bomb after the tutorial level. Midway through the game, I didn't even think about the focus system anymore. I just kept jumping, dashing, and swinging. With so many character customizations and skills to choose from, the combat difficulty doesn't really befit the plethora of choices in builds.

Other than combat, the other flaw in the game is a few odd glitches. Enemies were able to hit me through walls from adjacent rooms with melee attacks. My 'strategic retreats' to single out each member of a squad backfired when the AI wouldn't come through the door and instead just knew where I was on the other side and hit me. Towards the end of the game, there's a timed sequence I failed, but because I had a 'rebirth' perk where I revived once if I died, I could continue. Everything in the building was "locked down" because time had run out and all I could do was reload my save and reenter the building to complete the sequence. I also had to start a new save file after a co-op session with a friend because I could not complete the crafting tutorial. Thankfully, this only set me back about fifteen minutes.

Visually, Cortopia leans into the comic-book art style with cel shading and sharply defined black edges that looks straight out of a panel of a TMNT comic. This aesthetic, closely resembling Men In Black: Most Wanted and Deadpool VR, is not for everyone, but everything is sharp with as much detail as this visual style will allow for. I did notice a lot of the collectible scrap would sometimes just float in midair for no reason, but that is the only visual flaw to bring up. The sound design generally gets the job done and the sound effects are particularly good during combat. The musical score is fine, but nothing memorable. The voice acting is excellent, even if a tad overbearing on coms at times.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City Final Verdict

Any issues I had with TMNT: Empire City were overcome by just how fun and breezy the game is to play. If I bumped into anything I didn't care for, seconds later I was on to something else and did not care enough to dwell on it. The glitches I experienced were a nuisance, but easily overcome.

Cortopia never forgets that this property is based on a comic book that across forty years has not taken itself too seriously while entertaining fans of all ages. Empire City lives up to that standard. Longtime TMNT fans and newcomers alike will find something to like in Empire City.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

Publisher Microsoft and developer Asobo Studio have announced that the update to bring the PlayStation 5 release of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 to PlayStation VR2 headsets is now live. Players who own the game can download the free update and experience flight on Sony's headset right now.

Alongside the news came a new launch trailer, which can be seen just below:

Bringing the game to Sony's headset was no simple task. In a PlayStation Blog post published in March, Asobo detailed the challenges and benefits of bringing their game to PlayStation VR2, which received redesigned cockpit interactions specifically tailored to the PS VR2's controllers, technical tuning to maintain smooth performance, and a major push to eke out the best visuals possible from the powerful headset. More on this can be seen in our previous reporting.

Initially launched in November 2024 on Xbox and PC, with optional PC VR support, and then on Sony's PlayStation 5 as a flat screen experience in December 2025, the game is landing on Sony's VR ecosystem for the first time.

You can hop aboard Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2 today.

With room for up to six guests at a time, full-body tracking, haptics, wind effects, and an interactive guided story, it taps into the strengths of location-based VR without relying on novelty or overcomplicating the experience.

The Right Mix of Story and Interaction

In an attraction with set timeslots, there is little room for delays in completing it. But often, attractions can feel so on-the-rails that it spoils the illusion of presence. Age of Dinosaurs offers the perfect mix of storytelling and interaction that helps you believe you are a part of the story world. 

A pre-recorded guide hosts the adventure, taking guests back in time aboard a ship that transports them between eras and scenes, while naturally sharing how to make the most of the journey. The pacing never feels rushed. Interactive moments and free-roam exploration give guests time to engage with the world before the narrative progresses. Each scene lasts long enough for memorable experiences like feeding large-scale dinosaurs or rescuing recently hatched babies, and then moves on while the excitement is still high. 

Guests can interact with the environments while using an intuitive multitool. Its functions change from scene to scene and are introduced by the host as the adventure unfolds, so there is little to learn or remember. It simply works when needed, keeping attention on the world rather than the controls. What remains consistent throughout the experience is the ability to capture photos of the world or selfies. Points are awarded for exploring more of what is around you. They reward curiosity, guide attention, and add another reason to stay engaged with each new scene. Good edutainment should feel like discovery, not homework. Here, information is woven into the adventure through the host and through exploration itself. It is also a multiplayer experience, making shared presence another part of the story guests create together.

Why This Adventure Needs a Venue

Some immersive experiences become more compelling when they can take advantage of the unique benefits of a physical space. Age of Dinosaurs is one of them. 

While the story and ship travel moments keep the timed experience moving forward, free-roam movement within each scene preserves the natural feeling of exploring prehistoric worlds rather than being pushed through them or relying on less natural locomotion systems.

Full-body tracking helps the illusion of presence as well. Looking down and seeing your and other players’ feet in another era, watching others react beside you, and moving through the world together creates a stronger sense of being there.

In addition, physical effects push the experience further. The haptic vest adds a sense of physical connection to movement in the world. Controller haptics enhance the feeling of moments like feeding dinosaurs. Wind effects make travel sequences feel more convincing. Small details. Big payoff.

Location-based VR also opens the door to more people who do not yet own an XR headset. Sandbox VR is a global leader that has mastered making its growing lineup of experiences intuitive and enjoyable for first-time VR guests through to VR veterans. The only downside I experienced is that the group pods in the venue I visited did not have ceilings, so noise from guests in the horror experience next door could be heard near the end of my session.

How the Journey Adds Value

The value of immersive experiences is measured by more than what happens when the headset is on. The full customer journey matters, and Sandbox VR benefits from understanding that. From the smooth reservation, check-in, and suiting-up process, through to the private group pods and what happens after the Age of Dinosaurs adventure ends - the overall experience feels premium.

After the session ends, guests are shown a personalized group video recap that is also sent to them alongside each guest’s selfie video. They highlight their unique moments in the prehistoric journey. These custom videos give guests something to revisit later, helping turn a fun outing into a memory that lasts beyond the day itself. They are also highly shareable content for friends’ timelines that clearly conveys the offering. Once shared, they can inspire others to book an adventure of their own and even spark a return visit for another Sandbox VR experience.

Ray-Ban Meta Optics Styles Promise “All-Day Comfort” For Prescriptions

The new Ray-Ban Meta Optics Styles promise “all-day comfort” for prescription wearers, with overextension hinges, interchangeable nose pads, and optician-adjustable temple tips.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

For years I have been preaching the requirement of accommodating visual impairments in VR and smart glasses – the need for technology companies to make sure their offerings can be utilized by the general masses, the majority of the population. As so many of my optically challenged colleagues will attest, the immediate burden of early virtual reality headsets was the complete lack of ability to adjust for your prescription glasses. The Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2 attempted to accommodate with several swappable lenses, but this generalized “one size fits most” solution would never work for someone like me who has such an atypical prescription. This led me to no alternative but to jam an old scratched pair of prescription “Harry Potter” style glasses into whatever headset I was using at the time. 


Eventually, the industry coalesced around a solution: prescription lens inserts as a paid accessory, every one a unique size to fit each headset’s specific lens dimensions. Imagine my horror when my prescription changed after my third set of custom headset lenses. Prescription lens inserts, in my opinion, are only a stop gap until headset manufacturers figure out a better solution, such as tunable lenses.



Then smart glasses entered the ring. Immediately I was excited for the aspect of a lens-first technology. It’s a pair of glasses, so obviously the focus would be on comfort and style rather than prioritizing packing them with bulky tech. Some companies focused on comfort, some focused on style, and some focused on bulk tech. Nobody seems to have gotten the recipe quite right yet.

Meta Ray-Ban Display Prescription Lenses: What You Need To Know

Looking to use Meta Ray-Ban Display as your everyday prescription glasses? Here’s a rundown of what prescriptions it supports, and how that works.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

I was disappointed that the Meta Ray-Ban Display has a limitation in its prescription support, which is handled at manufacturing time to support the waveguide, of +/-4.00. My own prescription is -4.25 in both eyes, so that fun new product just wasn’t for me. I am the poster child of the target audience, and I cannot use them. Bummer.

This month, Meta launched new styles of its displayless Ray-Ban smart glasses that it says are "optimized for prescriptions". That includes overextension hinges that open 10 degrees wider than standard, for less pressure on the side of your head, interchangeable nose pads to suit various nose shapes and sizes, and optician-adjustable temple tips that Meta says "can be shaped to a perfect fit".

I was a proud owner of the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarers, both Gen 1 and currently Gen 2. My Ray-Ban Meta Blayzers are on their way, and I am looking forward to assessing whether Meta truly is focusing on the right things to capture that over 50% of bespectacled individuals who would love to have a seamless transition from their tried and true prescription glasses to the smart glasses future that Meta is promising. Stay tuned for my review.

Out now on Quest and Steam, Beat Saber's The Prodigy Music Pack brings one of the most recognizable and influential electronic acts to your favorite VR headset. The pack features six tracks defined by high-tempo breakbeats, distorted synths, and heavy percussive drops, including the breakout global hits "Firestarter" and "Breathe" from their 1997 album The Fat of the Land.

The songs can be purchased individually or as a bundle.

Track List

• Breathe
• Firestarter
• Invaders Must Die
• Omen
• Poison
• Spitfire

The Prodigy Music Pack also brings a new The Prodigy Environment to the game, as well as the usual smattering of bug fixes.

The Prodigy Music Pack will not be coming to PlayStation VR headsets. In June of last year, Beat Games announced that it was ending support for both PlayStation VR and PlayStation VR2 headsets, and Beat Saber on PlayStation has not received OST 8, nor any of the recent shock drops. In addition, multiplayer support for the PS VR platform ended in early 2026. Despite this, Beat Saber remained the most downloaded PlayStation VR2 game as recently as March 2026.

Beat Saber: The Prodigy Music Pack is out now on Quest and Steam.

Last week we initially reported that PlayStation VR2 support would be added today, but we were not sure about PC. After confirming that PC VR support was indeed coming, we amended that article.

Steel Wool announced in a blog post today that PS VR2 players can jump in today, while SteamVR will get VR added "like very soon." Additionally, a Quest version is in development and expected sometime in 2026.

The PS VR2 release comes with a list of known bugs that will be patched in the near future. Here's a list of said bugs and features to be added, per Steel Wool:

• A Save State issue with the star in the Moon maze
• Distractable mice are not displaying in the Inventory Station
• Wardrobe hiding places not having the correct view point from inside
• Some ending credits are displayed only for one eye
• Various missing audio cue issues
• Adding teleport as a movement style

Five Nights At Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic is available now in VR on PS VR2.

The original April date was revealed during the VR Games Showcase in March with a new trailer and the promise of improved graphics and character models, more advanced lighting, new weapons, and better combat.

A Long Survive Coming To PlayStation VR2 & PC VR Next Month

Survival shooter A Long Survive is coming to PlayStation VR2 and SteamVR in April, alongside a major update.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Per developer Friendly Fire Studios, the late-stage delay is due to internal playtesting:

Over the past weeks, we’ve been running internal playtests and reviewing feedback carefully. Based on what we’ve seen, we’ve made the decision to take a few more days to improve key systems and ensure the experience meets the level of quality we want to deliver.

Friendly Fire promised a launch discount on PlayStation and Steam accompanied by a discount code for Quest.

A Long Survive can be wishlisted on PS VR2 and Steam. It is available now on Quest.

Yet I can't help but recognize craftsmanship when I see it, and Extra Dimensional is certainly a well-crafted game that knows exactly what it wants to be. Aside from a handful of shortcomings, it's a mostly successful take on the grim fantasy combat genre.

Developed over four years by Lords of Illusion, a small Italian dev studio, EXD - Extra Dimensional is a narrative-driven fantasy adventure game with physics-based combat and light puzzle elements. You’ll stab, slash, shoot, and solve your way through a story told across approximately 7 hours of play.

EXD's three pillars are its story, combat, and puzzles, and how effective it is at each of these facets is mixed. It doesn’t have the most original or engrossing story, nor is it told with total success, and its combat isn’t the most interesting or engaging, nor are its puzzles the cleverest I’ve ever solved. But EXD ends up being more than the sum of its parts, and much of this comes down to the game’s solid foundations and generally high level of presentation.

The Story

You play as Max Ventura, a middle-aged delivery driver working at the Megazon warehouse, balancing long shifts with being a good dad to your daughter, Julia.

The game opens on a morning like any other. You’re moving packages around the warehouse when a phone call from your daughter is suddenly interrupted by a calamity. Julia’s in trouble, but before you can react, an inter-dimensional portal rips through the fabric of reality and you’re pulled from your normal life into a nightmarish fantasy world of dragons, demons, zombies and monsters.

In this strange dimension, Megazon shipments have miraculously appeared for centuries, giving birth to a religious cult who worship a non-stick frying pan, an umbrella, a sneaker, and other everyday objects as sacred relics. This cult has long been tormented by a genocidal oppressor and sees your sudden arrival as a sign of their salvation. They call you The Chosen One, bestow upon you a sword, an energy drink, and a protein bar, and implore you to save their world. Easy peasy.

While some of the narrative's offbeat details provide some original personality, the story is fundamentally familiar. An unlikely hero is pulled into a grand adventure against their will, and the only way out is forward. By the end, we’ll solve some mysteries and answer some questions, but ultimately, the tall tale is delivered without major innovation or novelty.

While some of the exposition comes through first-person cutscenes, which are fine despite the occasional poor line delivery, much of the lore and background are experienced through written notes scattered throughout the world. Again, this is fine, but nothing new. What's worse, however, is that the story never really goes anywhere. No spoilers here, but if you’re playing EXD for its story, you’ll end up (at least temporarily) unfulfilled.

The Combat

It's a similar story with the game's combat. It's serviceable but rarely thrilling, challenging, or interesting. The physics-based system gives weight to your weapons and there's a massive variety of destructive tools available (swords, daggers, maces, axes, and giant hammers, for example), but using one weapon over another is somewhat meaningless and combat seldom requires any thought or strategy.

Additional tools like telekinesis and casting spells are neat, but you'll quickly realize there's no real need to use them when you have an axe or sword with which to settle every fight.

The crux of the problem is that enemy encounters never really evolve. Most fights, even endgame battles, boil down to an incredibly simple loop: smash or slash enemies until they fall over, then keep hitting them on the ground until they stop getting up. While certain powerful tools make things slightly more interesting (such as the object that slows time, or the elemental casting wands), there's no avoiding the truth that EXD's combat lacks depth.

You spend the final act of the game in part working your way through a gauntlet of enemies, which should feel intense and engaging. Instead, it feels repetitive. I wouldn't go so far as to say that combat feels bad; it's actually quite satisfying to smash a zombie or a dragon, for a little while. It just feels under-developed. Like much of EXD, it feels like we're 80% of the way to a great game.

The Puzzles

Progression in EXD is often tied to environmental interaction, finding hidden switches, activating ancient mechanisms, and solving light puzzles. There are plenty of rewarding discoveries, plus optional areas that hide useful gear, collectibles, or powerful weapons. But the game's puzzles fall short of feeling meaningful.

Many puzzles are just dead simple and there are very few "A-ha!" moments that leave you feeling clever. Instead, they feel more like simple chores you must perform to get to the next hallway or dungeon. Use your fire ability to shoot the button marked with a fire emblem, for example, or press a button before a spike trap skewers you, or use your telekinesis to move a stone or switch this way or that. The overall simplicity of the game's puzzling moments doesn't ruin the experience of playing EXD, but they don't really elevate it either.

The only memorable puzzle, really, occurred in the final act. The game funnels you into a sort of subterranean central hub where you reroute power through conduits to unlock new sections and activate machinery. But by the standards of something like a Zelda game, even this, the most complicated puzzle in the game, is rudimentary.

The Horror

There were many moments during my playthrough of EXD that I made a mental note to ask my colleagues at Upload why they keep asking me to review spooky games. Because it's scary. And this is the aspect of the game that is surely most effective.

The atmosphere is extremely oppressive, the dungeons dark and foreboding. Even in moments of relative calm, even in places where nothing is happening, it's a deeply uncomfortable place to be. Places like the catacombs are claustrophobic, filled with fog and flickering candles emitting just enough light to let your imagination run wild. The prison area, with the distant and unrelenting screams of the tormented captives, left me legitimately unsettled.

The enemies are universally repulsive, too. Gooey, crunchy, and dripping with filth, they lurch at you from the shadows with grotesque snarls and glowing eyes. Everyone looks wet in the worst possible way.

And then there are the spiders. So hard does the game lean into these multi-legged menaces that there's an arachnophobia warning at the outset. Indeed, a couple of set pieces starring the arachnids led to genuine distress, a testament to the effectiveness of EXD's dev team, and the power of VR.

EXD - Extra Dimensional: Final Verdict

Though EXD - Extra Dimensional is a truly stunning showcase for VR graphics, and an amazing auditory experience in dread and fear, it's also a game that doesn't quite reach its full potential. The combat is fun but shallow, the puzzles are functional but far from inspired, and the story shows glimmers of greatness but ends up feeling incomplete. Nearly every major aspect of the game feels like it's sitting at 80% completion.

And yet it works. EXD - Extra Dimensional is one of the most unique, engaging, and captivating games I've played this year in VR or not. The atmosphere is strong, the world is memorable, the voice acting, though stilted at times, is incredibly charming. It's a visual and audible feast for the senses, even if the meal leaves you feeling shaky, scared, and hungry for more.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

With its exit from Early Access, ports for PlayStation VR2 and Meta Quest, and the Dawn of History DLC, Legendary Tales has had a busy couple of years. Urban Wolf Games said in a recent developer post that it has realized most of the ideas initially planned for the game when it was still in Early Access.

Now the team is looking to the future with a tentative roadmap charting out future content. You can see the roadmap image here:

A sandbox mode has been a highly requested update from the game's fans, but Urban Wolf has always resisted, stating that its "desire to create a deep game felt at odds with the sandbox genre." The path is now clear for a sandbox mode since the main campaign and features of the game have already been completed. Sandbox is currently expected to enter beta this summer with a full release in the fall.

Regarding a friendly fire feature, Urban Wolf said this:

The goal is to create more entertaining and unpredictable situations during co-op play. While we expect some players might use this for PvP, I want to be clear: this is not being developed as a dedicated PvP feature. 

Friendly fire is expected to release this summer.

Additionally, Urban Wolf is currently mulling adding mod support, a roguelite DLC add-on, and a boss rush mode if they are deemed 'feasible.'

Possible mod support will only be pursued as a minimal single player feature to start. The game was not built with mod support in mind and retrofitting it to do so will be "time-consuming and may even prove impossible."

A roguelite mode has been in the research and development stage for six months, claims Urban Wolf. The initial plan was to offer this as a free update, but the complexity in development may necessitate it being a paid expansion. If a roguelite mode moves forward, expect it in late 2026 or early 2027.

Finally, the boss rush mode is also eyed as a free update, but resource workload may move it to being a part of the possible roguelite DLC.

Legendary Tales is out now on PlayStation VR2, Steam, and Meta Quest.

This is Walkabout's third DLC course in 2026 after Tiki à Coco in January and Passport Hollywood in March. We will have a full course tour of Blokhaven and interviews with Mighty Coconut developers detailing how the course was built next week.

Mighty Coconut CEO Lucas Martell recently told us that the team already has all of its 2026 and 2027 courses planned and is already planning for 2028.

How Lucas Martell Brings Hollywood Production & Storytelling To Walkabout Mini Golf

We sat down with Lucas Martell from Mighty Coconut at GDC 2026 to talk about bringing Hollywood principles to the design of Walkabout Mini Golf.

UploadVRMike Johnson

Despite recent layoffs, the team looks poised to continue adding content to Walkabout for years to come.

Walkabout Mini Golf is available on Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR, and Apple App Store. The game is also available as part of Meta's Horizon+ subscription service.

This roughly one-hour location-based immersive experience combines memorable pre- and post-show elements with a free-roam VR journey through a stylized life-sized version of the International Space Station. There, visitors can explore inside and outside the ISS and step into real 360-degree moments with astronauts working and living in space. These real immersive moments captured aboard the ISS come from The Space Explorers series, created and produced by Felix & Paul Studios in collaboration with TIME Studios, and currently available for Meta Quest. The out-of-home experience of Space Explorers: The Infinite makes these real captures of astronauts' life in space accessible to a wider audience. Over half a million guests have visited so far as it pops up in different cities. I recently tried the experience in Mississauga, Ontario, and it is also currently running in Atlanta, Georgia.

There was a moment I experienced while virtually exploring the ISS that stopped me in my tracks and became my favorite moment in Space Explorers: The Infinite. In a station module directly ahead of me, I noticed a family gathered around something. I could tell they were a family because their avatars appeared as life-sized human forms made of stars - two adults and a child. Together, they were visiting a live capture inside the ISS from the recent past where NASA astronauts were present with them, sharing what life is like roughly 250 miles from Earth.

Designed For Memorable Moments

What stood out most for me was how naturally the experience creates a connection with life on the ISS while also bringing people together. If you are visiting on your own, the experience does not feel overcrowded. Other guests appear as distant lights from afar, then as star-filled avatar outlines only when you get close in order to avoid walking into each other. If you are visiting as part of a group, your avatars appear in gold for each other while other guests appear in blue, making it easier to recognize one another in the station. That design choice matters because Space Explorers: The Infinite is not just an opportunity to view space. It creates opportunities for real memorable moments in a place most people will never experience firsthand.

The full experience feels thoughtfully designed for all visitors, including those new to VR. Before entering full immersion, guests move through a short pre-show area with elements like astronaut bios and one of Felix & Paul Studios’ cameras used in space. This is followed by an audiovisual installation where the immersive audio introduces the experience as “a tribute to light and space and a thirst for knowledge that drives all of humanity.” After the main VR experience, it closes with looping video footage from Artemis I, the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program. This expands the story beyond life aboard the ISS and inspires guests to engage more with space exploration.

Transitions between the headset-free spaces and VR portion are smooth, without logistical interruptions distracting from the sense of being on a journey. Even getting tracked headsets onto guests was the fastest I have seen in any location-based VR experience to date. My one exception to that flow was the instructional onboarding video, which felt better suited before the short Lightroom narrative.

Once inside VR, the artistic rendition of the ISS is easy and natural to move through at your own pace, whether walking or in a wheelchair like one guest in my group. From selecting orbs that transport visitors into real 360-degree moments captured aboard the ISS to moving between modules or even outside the station, the interactions feel intuitive and the design empowers natural exploration.

Real Footage & Physical Exploration

Space Explorers: The Infinite integrates segments from the Adapt, Advance, Unite, and Expand episodes into its free-roam ISS layer, letting visitors explore the station and step into real 360-degree moments with astronauts. The VR component unfolds across these chapters covering life in orbit, deep space exploration, and shared human progress.

What makes it especially memorable is how the video captures feel more real because of their proximity to where you place yourself on the ISS, both inside and outside the station. You can learn about life on the ISS, float outside to find the Canadarm, or even encounter a real spacewalk unfolding in front of you. Because you choose where to go next, those moments can feel more like personal discoveries than something passively delivered to you. You can choose to pop into moments with astronauts and simply enjoy the virtual station. As I overheard one child passing me by say to someone during my visit, “Let’s keep exploring the ship”, referring to the ISS.

Interaction is mostly driven by physical movement and content selection. Outside of a few objects you can engage with, like buttons that trigger audio clips or some floating items to play with, I would have liked to see more hands-on moments aboard the ISS to deepen the sense of presence already created here. Still, there is already more to see than most visitors will have time for in one visit.

Lots To See With Limited Guidance

The real footage in the Space Explorers series adds up to roughly a couple hours, making it impossible to see every segment placed in and around the ISS during a timed visit. That also inspires rapid exploration and creates opportunities for groups to compare moments afterward, since friends or family may have seen and learned different things. But while interested guests can return for a new visit to try to see it all, there is no easy way to remember which orbs they previously selected as they all appear the same. They would need to remember which orb they chose, in which module, during which chapter.

I appreciate the ethereal look of the orbs, which fits the overall design of the ISS, but I would have liked visual cues such as icons or floating images pulled from the footage to hint at what was inside and help guide my next choice.

Once viewed, the orbs disappear, which helps avoid repeated selections during the same visit and usher along the learning. But it also means you cannot revisit a moment even if you want to.

With so much to discover, Space Explorers: The Infinite offers more than a visit to the ISS. It can leave visitors with a deeper appreciation for space exploration, our shared Earth, and what humanity can achieve together.

The game first released in August 2017 for Steam and PlayStation VR. A Quest port followed in September 2021. It is currently on sale on Steam and Humble Bundle, with sales on its other platforms to follow soon.

While VRWERX originally planned to add more content to the game, it says it could not financially afford to do so, saying the following in the post on X:

We always wished we had the budget and runway to continue expanding the game with new updates and content. But without the license and the financial support required to sustain it long-term, this chapter has to close.

We have seen similar situations before with games like Tarzan VR also being delisted while other titles like The Twilight Zone VR and The Exorcist: Legion VR simply changed their names after their respective licenses expired.

Paranormal Activity is available (for now) on Steam, Meta Quest, and PS VR1.

Pluto TV is a FAST service, meaning Free Ad Supported Television. It offers a wide range of live and on-demand content in exchange for ads. Pluto previously had a 2D app on Quest, originally released in late 2022, which has since been deprecated. You can still access Pluto through the Quest browser.

What’s interesting is that this immersive version isn’t brand new. It first appeared in beta back in 2022 and only reached full release in November 2025. That gives it a longer runway than most VR media apps, and it shows in the design.

After a short tutorial, you’re dropped into a series of fully built environments. The art style leans colorful with a light sci-fi feel. There’s a beach setting on Earth, several spaces on what the app calls “Pluto TV Planet,” and a handful of environments themed around the SS Charon, named for one of the planet Pluto's moons. There’s also a completely black “void” environment if you just want to focus on the screen.

Some of these spaces are surprisingly large, with a real sense of scale. Others are tighter and more enclosed, closer to a personal media room. Across the board, they’re well done. Not just as backdrops, but as places you can actually sit in for a while.

The control design shows a similar level of thought.

Tapping the left controller button brings up a floating menu that arrives on small hovering “drone” elements in front of you. From there, you can browse channels using a standard 2D list or switch to a 3D globe-style interface.

The globe looks cool and fits the theme, but I didn’t spend much time with it. It’s more crowded and harder to move through quickly. I kept going back to the 2D list because it’s just easier. Still, I’d rather see them try something like that than play it safe.

One of the more subtle features ended up being one of my favorites. In indoor environments, you can dim or fully turn off the lights. Once you do, the space fades back and the screen becomes the focus. It starts to feel less like testing something and more like actually sitting down to watch.

Screen control is another area where they got it right.

You can grab the screen off the wall, pull it toward you, and adjust size and distance with the thumb stick. It’s quick and precise, and it doesn’t take long to dial it in exactly how you want it. When you’re done, you just place it back on the wall surface.

The Space Feels More Considered Than The Content

Spending more time in the app, the contrast between the environments and the content becomes hard to ignore.

The spaces feel intentional. Some are built like large social theaters, with rows of seating and wide layouts that clearly point everyone toward the screen. Others are more intimate. Across all of them, the design holds up. These are spaces you can spend time in.

But they also raise a question: Who are these spaces actually for?

A number of them feel like they’re meant to be shared. Rows of seats, open layouts, the kind of setup you’d expect other people to be in. And yet every time I used the app, I was alone.

Sitting in a large virtual theater with dozens of empty seats starts to feel a little strange after a while. It almost feels like the room is waiting for people who never show up. It even made me miss the kind of shared viewing you get in Bigscreen.

What makes that stand out more is that earlier versions of this app did experiment with social viewing. During its beta period, there were signs that shared experiences were part of the plan. In the current release, that layer is gone.

So these environments end up in an odd place. They still feel like shared spaces, but function as single-user ones, with no way to bring anyone else in.

At the same time, the content itself doesn’t change.

No matter which environment you pick, you’re still watching standard 2D streams. A live tennis match plays inside a massive theater. A sitcom runs against a sci-fi backdrop. The space changes. The lighting changes. The scale changes. The content doesn’t.

That creates a disconnect. The environments add something to it. I just don’t think the content has caught up yet.

Is Immersion Actually The Point?

This is where the Pluto TV Immersive app gets more interesting. It doesn’t really settle what TV in VR is supposed to be. If anything, it shows how open that question still is.

Pluto TV is built around browsing. You jump in, see what’s available, and move around until something catches your attention.

VR isn’t quite like that.

Even in its most relaxed form, putting on a headset is still a decision. You’re stepping into a space and tuning out what’s around you, at least for a while.

The app does a lot to make that feel comfortable. Adjustable screens, easy repositioning, lighting controls that let the environment fall away when you want it to.

But it doesn’t fully bridge that gap. At times, the space stands out more than what you’re watching.

There’s Still Something Here That Works

For all of that, I do enjoy spending time in these environments.

I’m a sucker for sci-fi spaces, and Pluto leans into that in a way that works. The lighting, the scale, the overall feel. It’s easy to settle in, especially once the lights are down and the screen becomes the focus.

There’s real care here. These environments don’t feel like an afterthought.

And in the right moments, it clicks.

More importantly, I keep coming back to it. When I want to put something on, zone out for a bit, and just sit in a different kind of space, this is one of the apps I open. Even without the social layer, it works surprisingly well as a solo viewing experience.

One thing that would help is a better bridge back to the real world. A simple mixed reality portal where you can check your phone or glance at your surroundings without leaving the space entirely. Right now it’s all or nothing.

Where This Actually Lands

There’s something here worth paying attention to.

The interaction model is solid. The environments are well designed. The lighting controls and screen handling are better than most apps in this category.

But it still feels like an incomplete version of a bigger idea.

This has been in development for a while, and that makes the missing pieces stand out more. The absence of social viewing, especially after it was explored during beta, leaves a noticeable gap.

Right now, Pluto TV Immersive places familiar TV inside spaces that often do more of the work than the content itself. What it hasn’t fully figured out yet is whether those spaces meaningfully change the experience, or how people actually want to use it.

For now, it sits somewhere in between, more engaging than watching on a 2D panel, and often a genuinely enjoyable place to spend time, even if it doesn’t fully change how or why you watch. And if they do eventually add a social component, you will likely find me there.

The Pluto TV Immersive app is available for free on the Meta Quest store and supports Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Quest 3/3s.

Before jumping into this review, a brief behind the scenes. This review for Kamitsubaki City Under Construction: Virtual Reality was initially slated to be published in December, to coincide with the game’s release. The title first came to my attention over two years prior at Tokyo Game Show, where I played a snippet of the game’s early story on the show floor and came away impressed at what was being presented. It had ambitious goals too: this was a fully-voiced, expansive 40+ hour musical visual novel with interactive battles peppering its dense sci-fi landscape. If it could succeed in reaching these lofty goals, it could be a truly unique experience for the medium.

Only, then, silence. Updates didn’t resume until last year, when we learned more about the game’s development and planned launch. Yet despite lengthy pre-release promotion that confirmed a multi-language simultaneous release for the game, and selling pre-orders and pricy physical collectors editions for hardcore fans of the broader franchise this title was a part of under this pretense, the game released solely in Japanese with no confirmed date for an update bringing with it the game’s English (or Chinese) translations. It’s just the first part of a multi-step blundering of miscommunication that dampens the release of what is arguably one of the best stories you can experience to date on Meta Quest.

Kamitsubaki Studio are a relatively new music and talent agency based in Japan, with the goal of promoting the ‘next generation of creators’, including virtual singers (music artists and performers that use a virtual avatar for public appearances and concerts). Beyond that, their goal is to develop not just their pool of artists, creators and others, but to develop Kamitsubaki itself as a brand that can attract fans as much as the stars themselves, which comes through direct intra-agency collaborations and broader projects that tie these people into a shared cultural IP. That’s where Kamitsubaki City comes in.

Kamitsubaki City Under Construction: Virtual Reality is in many ways a remake of the Kamitsubaki City Under Construction: Regenerate visual novel released last year for Nintendo Switch and PC that serves as but one aspect of an ambitious multimedia project from the studio that spans games, music, anime and more. With only some differences the two share the same story, the main difference being that compared to that title’s mostly-2D traditional visual novel structure, the entirety of Kamitsubaki City has been recreated in complex 3D for this experience, as you are thrust directly into the center of events that occur around you as you directly interact with the world you wish to save.

The production is a vehicle for five of the studio’s virtual singers - KAF, RIM, Harusaruhi, Isekaijoucho and KOKO - each playing simulacrums of themselves as teenage girls (named Kafu, Rime, Haru, Sekai and Koko) in an urban, high-tech and futuristic metropolitan city. Other stars from within Kamitsubaki Studio appear as cameos or minor characters.

The concept of the Kamitsubaki City project centers on this titular location, sheltered from the outside world by a barrier that keeps people safe, but also stops anyone from leaving or coming in. Beyond the barrier, most of the world has been destroyed by a mysterious incident known as the Blackout. This brought with it the Tesseractors, monsters borne of human discontent and malice that feed on people to survive. The only thing that can defeat them is a pure heart and the Song of Purification, something that can only be performed by Witchlings who possess a musical ability that since the Blackout have received enhancing powers as a result of a shift in the Earth’s physics. Thus, they fight the Tesseractors in order to learn the truth of Kamitsubaki City, the monsters, what caused the incident, and to potentially save humanity.

If that seems like a lot to understand, you need not worry. Not only are these high-concepts and litany of proper nouns slowly and carefully explained within Kamitsubaki City Under Construction: Virtual Reality’s narrative, understanding or knowing the events of the many multimedia offshoots are not required to play this game. Indeed, one could easily enjoy this game as an entirely standalone experience, though knowledge of how it came to be does provide a basis for why this game is developed the way it is, and provides context for just how ambitious and deep this game can be if you give it a chance.

Structurally, though the game has been remade in 3D, this is still a visual novel at its core. Thus, you play as a self-inserted protagonist invited to the city with no memories who befriends Kafu with your only memory being a mysterious alien creature telling you to save the girl from a terrible fate. This takes you on your journey to meet all the other girls and discover the truth to yourself and the city, but you play a mostly passive role in this story. Aside from select choices, battles with the Tesseractors and small minigames, you won’t be interacting or even wandering around this environment yourself, instead following the story along its pre-determined route as you get to know these characters and this world.

The moments you do get to interact, however, are surprisingly involved. Battles against Tesseractors involve the use of both a gun and a sword (switched between by using the grip button on the right hand), swinging the sword or using the trigger to fire the gun. In your left hand is a shield, used to deflect projectiles. These sequences play out somewhat like an on-rails shooter, firing at the enemy, defending projectiles, reloading by flicking the gun back towards yourself, slicing at the enemy if it comes close, and get surprisingly intense the further in the story you go. This is especially clear when you must use the various unique abilities of the girl using the X button in order to enhance your attacks or heal. While battles are minimal, they’re visually impressive and provide a welcome reprieve from the engrossing but extended sequences of listening to dialogue and tapping through long text boxes.

Indeed, the whole game is visually impressive, the lack of direct movement beyond the set path the game moves you automatically allowing every environment to teem with intricate character models for every main character and dense environments, particularly in scenes like the VALIS restaurant. Further, as should be expected by a game deriving from a project centering musicians, there’s a lot of music: songs from all the stars featured in the game are used for Songs of Purification or merely to enhance story beats. These aren’t made for the game, but are each exciting, multi-genre, electronic-infused J-pop songs that emotionally resonate in every scene, are often accompanied by flashy visuals and dances, and bring a heart to this story that charms you to the characters and the events at hand.

The fact you have so many songs performed in VR to such dexterity, with the chance to listen to them at will after hearing them in-game, is arguably enough to justify the experience and potentially introduce you to a few new music artists for your rotation in the process. After all, it was through these games and their music a few years ago that I became interested in these artists themselves, going on to see the very songs and artists featured in this game at live concerts.

Not only that, these songs enhance a story that’s far longer than competitors in VR, with compelling twists and turns and strong writing that are a genuine pleasure to experience. As someone who normally plays VR in shorter bursts due to the nature of the format, I could sit and play this game for hours without even noticing the time had gone. Having also played the original visual novel for which this game is based upon, I can safely say that the immersive nature of VR and the quality to which it’s been implemented here make this the best way to experience this story and get introduced to this world.

Even beyond the quality of its music or the people behind it, this is simply a compelling sci-fi story with a lot of value for the many hours needed to experience it all.

Yet why does it also feel like the developers almost don’t want you to buy this game? It’s not just the many months of delays it took for an English patch that allowed us to create this review that’s the issue here. Early in March, I happened to notice the game had been updated with the full English translation that was initially promised. Great news, right? Except, I’m vague on the specifics of this update as it merely appeared without any communication from the developers that it had been released. It took until March 27th for the developers to confirm this, in a Japanese-only tweet. Even now, the actual store page says the game is awaiting its English patch.

Even then, I can’t say this patch is perfect. Lyrics for the songs that pop up as in-game assets rather than inside text boxes aren’t translated, though this could be viewed as a stylistic choice since important story points linked to the lyrics are explained via additional dialogue and, as mentioned, most weren’t made for the game. What can’t be considered stylistic choices are the early-game tutorials that also pop-up as assets in Japanese only, which can be confusing for anyone not also versed in the language even if much of the guidance is also given in text boxes. It suggests a lack of polish that carries over to occasional awkward lines of dialogue and moments where the wrapping of text inside the dialogue boxes cuts to the next line mid-word.

This is a fully-voiced narrative adventure with a wealth of Japanese talent behind it! Beyond the musicians themselves, their virtual personas are designed by in-demand Japanese artists representing the most in-demand pop artists in the country today like PALOW and Mai Yoneyama, with songs similarly produced by prolific composers like Iori Kanzaki and others. There's polish even in minor areas that make the whole city feel alive and recognize that a full 360-degree field of view should be filled with something to see in all directions. Considering the other media offshoots attached to the game and the stars attached to the project, the game is compelling in its own right but exists also as a vehicle to enter this world and listen to these artists, meaning that no expense has been spared to give the best impression to newcomers and please long-time fans.

Which is why it feels so bizarre that a poor communication strategy and mishandling of the game make it still unclear to a wealth of people who would adore this game, whether fans of the artists or similar VR titles like Dyschronia and Tokyo Chronos, that the game is even available at all.

I can only hope, all these months later since its initial launch, that people will be convinced to give Kamitsubaki City Under Construction a chance. It’s genuinely a joy, and one of the most dense and enthralling narratives available in the medium. Whether it’s a standalone experience or a jumping-off point into the broader world of Kamitsubaki, there’s a lot to have, with future DLC promising even more to come.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

The UploadVR Showcase will premiere June 12th @10am PT on the IGN and UploadVR YouTube channels.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who participated in this past winter’s event - the VR community’s support and the trust of developers and publishers means everything to us, so please submit those secret showcase announcements. More thanks also goes out to last season’s sponsors: Breach, I am Bird, V-Nova, Basement Bunker Labs, and The Great Flood VR. You’ve helped UploadVR continue to bring you the latest and greatest in all things VR, XR, AR, KR... ZR... (what acronyms are we supposed to use nowadays?) and support your fellow developers by giving us the means to make the showcase.

Last season, the lineup was strong and the announcements were many! Whether you’re into fast-paced action like Unseen Diplomacy 2 and Men In Black: Most Wanted, cozy immersion with a meaningful storyline like Echoes of Mora and The Amusement, mixed reality experiences in your living room like Banners & Bastions and Jolly Match, or a horror game that scares the living daylights out of you like Dread Meridian – we had it all at UVRSW25.

As always, we’re searching for exclusive content, reveals, and announcements. If you have a new and unique game or exclusive news and you want to submit a video for this season, fill out the application!

https://showcase.uploadvr.com/apply

There is no cost to apply or participate. Final videos must be submitted by June 3rd, 2026.

As you know, we have a small team of judges from the VR community who will rate all the videos submitted, meaning we will be more selective about what is in the show.

If you wanna join us but you're already booked into other showcases or events around the time of The UploadVR Showcase, don’t worry! Our goal is to help developers share special news with our audience, so even if you’ve shelled out for a booth or placement you can still be part of ours! It costs nothing to apply or participate in our show, all we require is a custom video made just for us and an embargoed newsworthy announcement! Will our audience be excited about it? Is it something they’ve never seen? Then we over here in the UploadVR volcano would be stoked to include it.

If you are interested in sponsoring, please reach out to Beck!

The full release adds a full story campaign. The campaign is comprised of ten story missions and over 170 secondary missions spread across three main locations and two sub-locations. There are also 25 types of firearms (53 individual guns in total), a hunger system (with food), difficulty settings, an Iron Man mode, and achievements.

The price will not change for full release, remaining at $39.99. At the time of this article, the game is on sale on Steam through the end of April to celebrate the full release.

Most of the aforementioned feedback-driven changes centered on the narrative. Multiple voice lines have been re-recorded for Lauri the Guide and Supervisor Eva.

Both of these characters were introduced as part of the campaign, but after fan feedback, their frequency of appearances and number of voice lines have been reduced. Part of Lauri's story will now be delivered via interactable white figures. Eva's debriefings, previously done in person, will now be voice messages on the player's tablet, restoring more of the isolating nature of the game.

CM Immersive provided insight into its future plans for the game in a recent dev diary. Once the PC version is "stabilized enough," the full version of the game will release on Meta Quest. There is no estimated date for the 1.0 Quest release as it depends on any critical issues that appear in the Steam 1.0 release and optimization. CM Immersive will also "consider bringing the game to other platforms" (e.g. PlayStation VR2), but no formal plans are in place yet.

Into the Radius 2 Early Access Review: Barebones Survival

Into the Radius 2 lays a solid foundation for a sequel, but an onslaught of bugs, glitches, and various issues makes it hard to currently recommend.

UploadVRCallum Self

There are currently no plans to add any new locations or major content expansions. Instead the main focus will be on additional features, including expanding co-op from two to four players, adding mod support, localization into non-English languages, a shooting range, and perk-based artifacts.

CM Immersive also had a specific note about requests for modular pistols.

We want to note separately that modular pistols are not in our plans. At this stage, we believe the modular system works best for weapon types where changes noticeably affect both visuals and gameplay.

With pistols, the majority of modifications would be mostly cosmetic or too limited in impact to meaningfully change the experience. So we’ve decided to focus on weapon system directions where modularity truly adds depth and feels significant.

Into the Radius 2 is available in full release on Steam and Early Access on Meta Quest 3/3S.

Last week, a listing for DIRECTV had quietly appeared on Meta's Horizon Store. At the time, DIRECTV hadn't announced details, nor confirmed a release date for what the store listing described as a live TV experience with access to sports, local channels, and on-demand content "in one immersive space." Now, that app has gone live.

DIRECTV's Meta Quest launch brings more than 150 live channels to the headset, plus available sports programming, on-demand shows, and movies from channels including ABC News Live, NBC News NOW, FOX Weather, Oxygen True Crime, Lifetime, Lionsgate, and Tribeca Festival. Sports streaming is another major focus of the service, with programming coming from ESPN, ABC, FOX, FS1, TNT, TBS, TruTV, CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC, USA, and Peacock.

For clarity, a DIRECTV satellite or streaming subscription is not required to watch much of the programming, however, DIRECTV is naturally hoping to drive users to subscribe to their service, such as their premium paid Sports Package.

We'll run the new app through its paces this weekend, find out just what's free and what's not, and share our experience next week. Stay tuned for that.

You can find DIRECTV on the Meta Horizon Store and in Meta Horizon TV.

The biggest new addition in the update is a long-awaited PvE mode. This new mode is playable solo or in three-player squads with a small caveat. The solo mode is free to play for anyone who owns the game. Co-op requires the purchase of a $9.99 Fireteam Elite add-on. Caveman Studio says only one player needs to own the Fireteam Elite DLC to unlock the squad mode. The DLC also includes multiple new skins and gear. Additionally, PvE has a separate progression track from PvP, allowing players to enjoy it without wipes affecting the experience.

Contractors Showdown Goes Looting In New Exfil Zone Mode On Quest & Steam

The Exfil Zone alpha is now live in Contractors Showdown, adding a new gameplay mode on Quest and Steam.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

The wipe update also brings several new changes:

• A new weather system adds fog and rain to raids, dynamically affecting gameplay through changes in visibility and making each raid even more unique.
• A redesign of the HQ. The second floor has been entirely removed, with all vendors repositioned on the first floor.
• Equipment vouchers that let players create their favorite loadouts as presets instead of building piece by piece for each raid.
• Unwanted items can now be sold directly in kiosks.
• The economy system has been overhauled for better balance and more rewarding looting.

The update comes with a daily login event for the first 20 days with new rewards and a limited time character skin.

Contractors Showdown is available on Meta Quest and Steam.

If you are not familiar with the Little Nightmares games, they center on a child (or children) protagonist(s) navigating a series of macabre environments while evading capture from twisted (sometimes humanoid) pursuers. It's a simple premise executed at a high level through creepily effective level design paired with nerve-racking audio. Altered Echoes sticks to this formula, almost stubbornly so, with some lost opportunities for more robust VR interactions and missing quality of life features experienced VR players will long for.

Altered Echoes stars Dark Six, the shadowy alter ego of Six, who starred in the first Little Nightmares and co-stars in the sequel, Little Nightmares II. New players to the series will be able to follow the entirely non-verbal story without issue, but those who have played the other games will spot references and tie-ins left and right.

For those who have not played either, Iconik faithfully recreates the scene from Little Nightmares II where the Thin Man, one of the series primary villains, captures Six, leaving behind a dark ghostly remnant of her. This scene is the origin of Dark Six and Altered Echoes starts from this very moment.

What follows is a four-hour, five-chapter journey to reunite Dark Six with her other half. There are collectibles in the form of music sheets in several chapters for those who wish to track them down. If you want a similar game, Flat2VR Studios' Out of Sight VR is the closest comparison.

As I said in my article about my hands-on demo at the Game Developers Conference, Altered Echoes nails the scale of this world. The children in Little Nightmares are miniscule compared to the giant world around them. As an example, a box of matches acquired midway through the game is nearly the size of Dark Six's body.

Comparatively, every disturbing enemy in the game is several orders of magnitude larger. I have never felt more small and helpless in a VR game before. Being spotted by any of these 'people' is an instant game over and respawn. Autosave points are thankfully plentiful, not leaving too much to replay upon death. There were instances where I was unsure where to go next, but some light exploration, including a few intentional deaths just to scout ahead, showed the way.

I do need to address the most frequently asked questions I received after my demo article was published. Can the vignette representing Dark Six's hoodie be disabled? Is there smooth turning? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding no. Here are Bandai Namco's direct words from a Q&A on its website:

No. Smooth rotation will not be available, as the current turning system was chosen to help minimize motion sickness.

No. The game has been designed with the hood enabled at all times to help focus the player’s gaze, reduce motion sickness, and enhance overall immersion.

The vignette is noticeable in headset (and looks worse on recorded video), but the default setting is not too intrusive. The snap turning is a shame, especially since there are no settings to adjust the degree of the turn. It is a one-size-fits-all choice of comfort that experienced VR users are likely to bristle at. Along the same lines, the left analog stick has to be annoyingly kept pressed in to run. This was a thumb ache waiting to happen and I would love to see a toggle sprint option added.

One other thing I did wish for was more disturbing death sequences. In the flat games, Six (and other protagonists) are snatched up, dragged underwater, eaten, and a host of other unnerving deaths. None of this happens in Altered Echoes. When caught, the screen simply fades out. This is likely another comfort decision and feels like a missed opportunity.

While stealth does comprise most of the gameplay, Iconik does change it up with some harrowing chase sequences. These are the best parts of the game, properly ramping up the tension so much that I made silly mistakes and died just from being rattled and panicking as the music starts to crescendo.

Altered Echoes has fairly basic gameplay: sneak, run, hide, crawl, climb, and occasionally distract the enemy to move forward. It excels in its presentation. The scale, the different locations, the sound effects, the situational musical score, all of it is stellar and elevates bang-average stealth mechanics. It does not deviate from what made the flatscreen games so popular and simply relies on the sense of presence VR offers to take it to the next level.

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes Final Verdict

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes is the best VR horror game in quite some time. Much like Batman Arkham Shadow, Half-Life: Alyx, and Metro Awakening before it, Altered Echoes stays faithful to its series while still shining in VR.

The gameplay is nothing groundbreaking, but the same can be said for the series as a whole. Altered Echoes keeps it simple and executes at a high level, getting nearly everything right with the exception of limited VR options. These ultimately do not detract from a top notch VR horror experience.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

Forefront, a 32-player Battlefield-style VR FPS, launches in full on April 23. Ahead of the release, Mike and I were invited to playtest the game's new weapons, gadgets, and attachments with 30 other content creators, journalists, and game devs all vying for dominance of the new map, Clearwater.

What followed was an hour of sprawling FPS warfare that hearkened back to the golden era of massive multiplayer Battlefield. We laughed, we cried, we bled, and lived to tell you about it.

What's New

Since launching in Early Access, Triangle Factory has been polishing, balancing, and refining Forefront's weapons, systems, and gameplay, plus adding new content with every update. The full release carries on with this tradition, bringing new weapons, like the combat bow, a new drone gadget, and general improvements to vehicle handling and controls. The new map, Clearwater, is a massive valley with mountains on all sides, pockmarked by military outposts and small bases. In addition, the PC VR build's real time shadows offer a big visual bump.

These updates make a great shooter experience even better. When I reviewed Forefront when it launched in Early Access last November, I described it as "exciting and tense, [with] VR gunplay [that's] tactile and satisfying."

Born on the Battlefield

Mike and I jumped into our playtest with UploadVR's old friend, Henry Stockdale, a squad that seemed hopelessly outgunned by (among others) many VR FPS veterans and shooter streamers. We held our own, but never won. "Why are we still here?" I wondered aloud. "Just to suffer?"

If you got that reference, you're probably familiar with most of what Forefront has to offer. If not, here's the breakdown.

You'll join a team of 16 other players, in squads of 4, and fight your way along the map, attempting to capture outposts and wear down the opposition. You can choose your class, comprised of Assault, Medic, Engineer, and Recon types, each bringing its own unique weapons to the fray. These infantry units also carry their own perks and abilities that influence the battle. You'll be able to fly helicopters, drive tanks and troop transports, quadbikes and other vehicles, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. It's Battlefield, in VR.

What was most striking about this new update, beyond the fact that weapons seem far more balanced than in my earlier play sessions and that vehicles control better and feel more impactful to the outcome of the battle, was that the new map feels extremely well-crafted.

There's an interesting verticality to the Clearwater map that makes battles feel incredibly dynamic. A small town sits at the bottom of a valley. We drop into it from the surrounding mountains to capture a point, and then climb our way out through a hail of bullets. An outpost sits atop a high peak, with ziplines to carry us screaming up to the summit (if we don't get shot on the way). Helicopters thump in the clouds raining down destruction, before a well-timed anti-aircraft missile slams into its side, wiping the enemy team.

Mission Accomplished

For the type of game that Forefront aims to be, everything is pretty much perfect. For me, this is no surprise. I loved the game when I reviewed it last year, and the fundamentals of Forefront haven't changed since then. My play session didn't reveal anything I didn't expect, just that this very good VR FPS is even better than it was six months ago; more refined, better looking, more balanced.

Forefront is available now in Early Access on Quest, Steam, and Pico, with the full launch coming tomorrow. Version 1.0 will cost $27.99. A PlayStation VR2 release has been announced, though no release date has been revealed.

It’s not hard for VR users to find top-tier fitness apps. The leaders in the space are pretty clear at this point. Subscription platforms like FitXR and FunFitLand, and until recently Supernatural, have set the standard with a steady cadence of new workouts, ongoing feature updates, and communities that keep people coming back. That consistency comes at a cost, usually a monthly or annual fee, but for many users it’s what turns VR fitness into a habit rather than something you try once and forget. I’m happy to pay for that when it delivers steady updates and a sense that the platform is continuing to evolve.

Supernatural’s Uncertain Future Leaves VR Fitness Users Looking For Options

Fitness with VR depends on habit, trust, and long-term commitment. Options for Supernatural subscribers are plenty.

UploadVRCraig Storm

At the same time, there’s another group of apps taking a different approach. Titles like Les Mills BodyCombat and PowerBeatsVR skip the subscription model entirely. You pay once, get a full experience upfront, and can choose to expand it with DLC if you want more content over time.

The Best of the Rest

Once you move past those top-tier names, things get a lot less defined. There’s a wide layer of VR fitness apps that don’t have the same polish or ongoing content, but still deliver real workouts. Many of them cluster around boxing and rhythm-based movement, where the barrier to entry is low and the goal is simple.

Rather than trying to cover everything at once, I wanted to narrow in on a specific slice of this category. For this round, I focused on a group of boxing and rhythm-driven apps that are easy to jump into and clearly designed to get your heart rate up quickly. They’re all approaching the same basic idea from slightly different angles, which makes them a good test case for what this tier of VR fitness actually delivers. While they don’t have the same level of structure or progression as the subscription platforms, they can still get your heart rate up quickly, especially if you’re just looking to jump in and move.

Hitstream

Hitstream leans into full-body movement more than most apps in this group. You’re not just throwing punches in front of you. Targets come from all directions, and you’re reaching, stepping, ducking, and turning as the session plays out. It takes a little time to get used to the space, but once it clicks, it feels more like moving through an environment than reacting to a fixed rhythm lane.

It also stands out right away for how it looks. There’s a level of polish here that most apps at this tier don’t have. The environments feel bigger, more colorful, and more deliberate. It has that visual pop that makes you want to stay in it a little longer, and it’s not hard to imagine this evolving into something closer to a top-tier experience with more development around it.

Hitstream follows a one-time purchase model, with additional content available through DLC packs. The base offering feels solid enough to get started, but like a lot of apps in this category, long-term variety depends on whether you’re willing to expand it. There is a free demo version available.

It makes a strong first impression, and I’ve gone back to it a few times as a change of pace from my usual rotation. It’s easy to jump into when you want a quick workout that feels a little different, with more emphasis on full-body movement than straight cardio boxing. Hitstream is priced at $19.99 on the Meta Quest store (currently on sale for $11.99). Two DLC packs are available for $1.99 each.

X-Fitness

X-Fitness is more open-ended than most apps in this group. It doesn’t guide you through workouts the same way. Instead, it gives you the tools and lets you set things up the way you want.

At its core, you’re mixing standard boxing hits with a slashing mechanic where you slice through incoming orbs. The game switches between them automatically, so you don’t have to think about it. Once you get into a rhythm, it flows pretty well and keeps the pace up.

You can also add blocking with shields, but I turned that off pretty quickly and stuck with straight boxing and slashing. It just feels better and keeps things moving without breaking your rhythm.

The built-in music is actually solid, with a good mix of styles, so you’re not forced to bring in your own tracks right away. Sessions are on the shorter side, which makes it easy to jump in for a quick workout.

Where it really works is in the feel. The haptics and sound design are dialed in, and hits land in a satisfying way. It doesn’t have the same level of polish or structure you get from something like Hitstream or the top-tier apps, and there’s not much in the way of progression. But it holds up as a quick, repeatable workout if you’re just looking to jump in and move.

It’s a one-time purchase with no subscription, and the custom music support becomes your main way to keep it fresh. That works if you’re willing to put the time in, but it also means you’re doing more of the setup yourself.

I ended up using it more as a supplement than something I’d rely on regularly. I still come back to it every week or so for a quick session, and it fits well in that role. It’s easy to jump into, feels good to play, and does exactly what you need it to without a lot of friction. X-Fitness is priced at $19.99 on the Meta Quest store (currently on sale for $9.99).

Boxing Fitness

Boxing Fitness is about as straightforward as it gets. You’re standing in place, hitting incoming targets in rhythm, with a mix of punches and basic movement. It doesn’t try to build a larger system around you. It just puts you into the workout.

The targets will feel familiar if you’ve spent time in Les Mills BodyCombat, with a similar sci-fi style. The environments are more varied than you might expect, ranging from those futuristic portal-style spaces to lighter settings like sandy beaches. There’s also a mixed reality mode available, which gives it a bit more flexibility depending on how you want to use it.

Mechanically, it sticks to the basics. Targets come at you in predictable patterns, and the goal is simply to keep up. The punch mechanics themselves are solid, with good haptics and sound design that make hits feel satisfying. But even at the highest difficulty setting, “Hell,” I found myself wanting more speed and intensity. It works, but it never really pushes you the way some of the other apps do.

There’s a free version available, titled Fitness Free, which gives you a limited slice of the experience. The full version is a one-time purchase, with no subscription model. That makes it one of the more accessible entry points if you’re just looking to try VR fitness without committing to anything.

It still works as a workout. If all you want is something simple that gets you moving without a learning curve or setup, it does the job. But compared to something like Hitstream or X-Fitness, it’s harder to see it holding your attention long-term unless you’re specifically looking for that level of simplicity. Boxing Fitness is $19.99 on the Meta Quest store (currently on sale for $9.99).

Punch Fit

Punch Fit keeps things pretty focused. It’s built around boxing drills and combinations, and it sticks to that.

You’re working through punch sequences rather than just reacting to single targets, which gives it a bit more structure than something like Boxing Fitness. When it clicks, it feels good. Landing a clean combination is satisfying, and there’s a rhythm to it that keeps you engaged for a session.

There’s a little more around that than I expected. You’ve got levels, awards, and unlockable glove skins, which gives you something to work toward. It’s not a deep progression system, but it’s enough to add some motivation. There’s also bHaptics support if you’re using a vest, which adds to that impact feeling.

It’s a one-time purchase with no subscription. There is a DLC pack available, but overall it’s still a pretty contained experience compared to apps that are constantly adding new workouts.

There’s also a mixed reality mode, which fits the way this app works. It doesn’t try to immerse you in a big environment. It just drops the workout into your space and lets you go.

I found it easy to jump into for short sessions, especially when I just wanted to focus on combinations. It’s not something I’d use as a primary fitness app, but it works well in bursts when you’re in that mindset. Punch Fit is on the Meta Quest store for $9.99 (currently on sale for $4.99). There is a DLC pack priced at $3.99 (currently on sale for $1.99).

Sometimes You Just Want To Hit Something

These four apps fall into what I’d consider the “best of the rest” category in VR fitness. They’re not trying to compete directly with the top-tier platforms, and in most cases they don’t have the polish, structure, or ongoing content to do that. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have value.

Each one carves out its own lane. They all have things I like, and things they could improve. Some lean more into polish and presentation, others into flexibility or focused drills. That mix is really what defines this group.

None of these have replaced my main subscription-based fitness apps, but that’s not really the point. I’ve found myself coming back to each of them at different times, depending on what I’m in the mood for. Sometimes you want structure. Sometimes you just want to move. Or just hit something. This group leans more toward the latter.

There are plenty of other apps in this space, and I’ll be taking a closer look at more of them in future pieces. But for me, the cutoff is simple. If I don’t enjoy using it and don’t find myself going back to it, even occasionally, it’s probably not worth your time either.

Taken together, these are all worth trying and working into your rotation, even if they don’t replace your main VR fitness apps.

One of the downsides to multiplayer VR gaming is the lack of people to play with. This is made worse if you (like me) have zero interest in public lobbies and will only fire up a multiplayer game if you have a friend or two available to join in.

Every VR title here, listed in no particular order, has a flatscreen component, be it PC, mobile, or console.

Note: This is by no means a comprehensive list. Feel free to add any additional games in the discussion section below.

Acron

Platforms: Quest, Steam, Pico

Acron is an eight-versus-one party game where the VR player is a tree trying to protect its golden acorns from an army of squirrels piloted by players on a mobile app. This is an accessible game (no stick-based movement) where the headset can be passed around allowing everyone to play as the tree. If you don't have eight friends, the missing squirrels can be filled in with AI bots. The game only requires two humans to play.

Acron: Attack of the Squirrels Review: A Nutty Delight Of A VR Party Game

Resolution Games might have cracked it here. The Swedish studio’s back catalogue, overwhelming in number, is filled with cheery games, all with a faint smack of commerce. Whether it’s freemium experiments or tie-ins with irritating animals, the studio (notably formed by Candy Crush developer Tommy Palm) has struggled

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes

Platforms: Quest, Steam

A pioneering VR party game, Keep Talking first released for Gear VR in 2015. The player in the headset has a ticking time bomb in front of them with multiple panels that have to be defused. The person(s) outside the headset frantically scans a document linked on the game's website, giving the VR player instructions on how to solve each panel before time runs out.

The game escalates by adding more panels to the bomb and distractions in the room like sounds and flickering lights to disorient the VR player. In addition to Quest and PC VR, the game is available on PS VR1 and multiple gaming consoles.

Carly And The Reaperman

Platforms: Quest, Steam

Carly and the Reaperman is a dark comedy co-op platformer. The VR player is the Reaperman, a giant floating skull that can move objects to assist Carly, controlled by another player via a free PC companion app. Communication is key in this game, especially in later levels when platform destroying ghosts and time sensitive lasers raise the difficulty.

Carly And The Reaperman Review - VR’s Best Asymmetrical Co-Op Overcomes Its Scrappy Side

Carly and the Reaperman’s winning central mechanic is bolstered by great level design and versatile options, helping you overlook its scrappier side. More in our Carly and the Reaperman review! Even when it originally released in 2018, Carly and the Reaperman’s ideas weren’t especially new. We’ve

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Among Us 3D VR

Platforms: Steam, Quest, Pico, PS VR2

Formerly a VR exclusive, Schell Games' port of the murderous game of deception was renamed Among Us 3D and released on PC in 2025. The new version, which recently released a definitive edition, supports crossplay across all of its platforms.

Among Us VR Review: Deception & Detection In Another Dimension

Among Us VR is available now on Steam and the Quest Store from Schell Games. Is this VR’s new party game or will it become a ghost ship? Read our full review below. Schell Games is about as veteran a VR game studio as you can find. Its two

UploadVRIan Hamilton

Elsewhere Electric

Platforms: Quest, Steam

Very similar to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Elsewhere Electric is a co-op escape room puzzle game with one player in VR navigating the room and the other on a mobile app guiding them through. We reviewed the game, saying it was challenging, but held back by a lack of proper tutorials and native in-game voice chat. The latter is not an issue for local multiplayer, but remote players will need to use a third party app like Discord.

Elsewhere Electric Review: A Challenging, Intriguing Escape Room

Elsewhere Electric is a challenging, intriguing co-op escape room puzzler that’s out now for VR and mobile.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

VR Giants

Platforms: Steam, Quest

VR Giants is an asymmetric co-op platformer akin to Carly and the Reaperman, albeit with a much brighter aesthetic and tone. Again, the VR player is the titular 'giant' and the player on PC is a tiny human navigating obstacles, collecting coins, and hitting checkpoints to reach the end of the level. Unlike Carly, the PC player can use the giant as a platform and mode of transportation. To avoid cheesing levels by simply picking up the human and waltzing to the end, the giant is tethered in place.

Panoptic

Platforms: Steam

Picture playing hide 'n seek in VR, but you are (once again) a giant chasing a diminutive figure, the PC player counterpart. A sequel was announced at the Spring 2026 VR Games Showcase that expands to four tiny PC players.

Panoptic Review: Creative Ideas Spotlight Asymmetrical Multiplayer

Panoptic has been floating around in various pre-release forms for a little while now, but it’s definitely a perfect game for a pandemic. It’s a two-player game where one wears the headset in an effort to vaporize the other, who is traversing the landscape on their computer. Panoptic

UploadVRJason D’Aprile

Demeo (series)

Demeo is a series of tabletop role-playing games for up to four players. The original Demeo features a cast of seven original characters in archetypal tabletop role playing game classes (paladin, ranger, rogue, etc.) adventuring through five three-level books that comprise a full story campaign. Demeo Battles is a 1x1 or 2x2 PVP version featuring the same heroes and creatures from the original game. Demeo x Dungeons and Dragons: Battlemarked returns to the co-op gameplay of the original game, adding officially licensed elements from Dungeons and Dragons into the Demeo gameplay system.

Demeo is available on Quest, Steam, Pico, PS VR2, Android XR, and Apple App Store.

Demeo Battles is available on Quest, Steam, Pico, and PS VR2.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is available on Steam, PS VR2, and Quest.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked Review

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a mostly natural crossover and a fitting evolution for the VR tabletop RPG.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Phasmophobia

Platforms: PS VR2, Steam

The affectionately nicknamed 'Phasmo,' a co-op ghost hunting horror game, launched with crossplay VR support in 2020. PlayStation VR2 fans joined the hunt in 2024 with a hybrid PS5/PS VR2 release.

Phasmophobia is still in Early Access, but receives regular updates.

Phasmophobia Review-In-Progress: Frighten Your Senses

After four years on Steam Early Access, VR horror hit Phasmophobia still delivers hours of co-op thrills and it’s out tomorrow on PS VR2.

UploadVRLuis Aviles

Social VR Applications

Sadly, we have to omit Rec Room from this entry since it will be shutting down this June. Social VR platforms VRChat and Resonite have flatscreen and VR support on Steam, so you can go world hopping with your friends in and out of your headset.

Resonite is only available on Steam. VRChat is available on Steam, Pico, and Quest.

Note: some worlds in VRChat are not compatible with standalone headsets and mobile phones, so be sure to check ahead if you are with friends on multiple platforms.

Tetris Effect: Connected

Platforms: Quest, Steam, PS VR2

Tetris has been around for over forty years and should not need an introduction. Tetris Effect started as a PlayStation 4 exclusive with PS VR1 support in 2018. The 'Connected' expansion added crossplay multiplayer for all platforms in 2021 when it released on Steam.

Tetris Effect Oculus Quest Review: Achieving Transcendence In Standalone VR

I’m a life-long fan of the iconic line-making game Tetris and I was excited to see it come to VR with the release of Tetris Effect in 2018 on PlayStation 4. I’ll admit, however, its move into VR didn’t really settle right with me. That is, until

UploadVRIan Hamilton

No Man's Sky

Platforms: Steam, PS VR2

Hello Games' space epic added a VR mode in August 2019 for Steam and the original PlayStation VR with full crossplay supported, allowing VR and flatscreen players to explore planets and the galaxy together.

If you have any other games to add, feel free to mention them in the comments section below.

Marrow Marrow is a perfect example of how virtual reality can elevate a simple concept into something supremely intense and engaging. At its core, Marrow Marrow is a roguelike shooter about movement, momentum, speed, and accuracy, and after spending an afternoon in its lo-fi polygonal demon arenas, I'm hooked.

Developed by Monster Moon, a two-person studio based in Canada and Denmark, Marrow Marrow is a fast-paced movement shooter with roguelike mechanics and arcade sensibilities. Across more than 20 arenas set in three different worlds, players will jump, dodge, grapple and shoot their way through waves of monstrous polygonal demons while acquiring up to 50+ new power-ups, weapons, and other upgrades.

Like the now-ancient Quake and Doom of my youth, Marrow Marrow channels a demon-slayer aesthetic, sending wave after wave of grotesque, low-poly monsters charging your way. There are flying skulls, evil totems, and horned bipedal goats, spider-like mini-bosses and one final boss per run, all vying for your blood.

We dispatch these with a concise and customizable arsenal of weaponry: a primary gun with two firing modes, and a shoulder-mounted cannon. These are upgradable and interchangeable with various weaponry as we progress through the game, which allows for a surprising variety of playstyles. Likewise, you earn upgrades throughout play that provide status buffs or special effects which provide meaningful differences in how each run unfolds.

Your offensive weapons are augmented by a grappling hook. Set to your left hand, the grappling hook allows you to zip around the arena and pull yourself onto almost any platform or surface. It also allows you to execute staggered enemies by grappling them with your hook. This hookshot, coupled with the game's dash mechanic, leads to intense moments of pure acrobatics in the game's highly vertical play spaces.

We shoot our way through each run, with every level escalating the challenge and the stakes. If we die, it's game over and we have to start again. If we succeed, we earn a place on the leaderboard.

On paper, none of this is all that revolutionary. In the headset, it feels immediate, exciting, and visceral. With the electronic industrial soundtrack grinding in your ears and the stark visuals bleeding against your retinas, Marrow Marrow is a never-ending assault on the senses in all the right ways. Its low-poly aesthetic not only provides a striking visual identity, but keeps everything running at an incredibly smooth clip that facilitates the game's omnidirectional movement and frantic gunplay.

It's challenging on easy mode, tough as nails on normal, and impossible enough on hard that I never made it to the game's toughest difficulty level. On any difficulty, you're forever dashing, grappling and repositioning while lining up shots under intense pressure. When it all comes together, there's a sort of rhythmic flow that feels almost perfect.

But this intensity does not come without trade-offs. Marrow Marrow is a game that assumes a certain level of comfort with the medium. In short, it's a horrible fit for players prone to motion sickness in VR. While the game does feature several concessions to comfort, the core concept simply demands so much rapid movement that no amount of snap-turning or motion vignetting will help. If you get sick in VR, skip this one.

For those who can handle the speed, and those that are interested in tight and interesting roguelike shooters, Marrow Marrow is a no brainer.

Marrow Marrow is out now on Meta Quest and Steam VR.

Secret of the Mimic, the eleventh mainline game in the series, first released on PlayStation 5 and PC in June 2025. Five Nights, colloquially nicknamed FNaF, has two previous VR titles: Help Wanted & Help Wanted 2.

Watch the date announcement trailer here:

The first Five Nights At Freddy's: Help Wanted is an anthology of minigames from the first five games of the main series. FNaF: Help Wanted 2 drew its minigames from FNaF: Sister Location and Security Breach.

Five Nights At Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic is available now on PlayStation 5 and Steam for $39.99.

Sock Puppet Superstar features hand-tracking and a custom voice synthesizer built in FMOD to transform players into sock puppet performers. Using hand tracking or traditional controllers, players control one or two sock puppet singers, raising and lowering them to control vocal pitch in an attempt to sing as accurately as possible. The result is a mix of rhythm gameplay and utter silliness that looks and sounds refreshingly hilarious.

Sock Puppet Superstar is being made by Brandon Montell, a technical artist and software engineer currently working at Pixar, who describes it as "a goofy VR singing game." His recent project update videos went viral on TikTok, where clips of the game have been viewed over 5 million times.

I reached out to Brandon and he was kind enough to share some thoughts on going viral, plus his plans for Sock Puppet Superstar.

"I'm a solo dev with a background in software engineering and tech art, and I love playing music," Brandon says. "I started working on this game last year after playing around with hand tracking and voice synthesis. I've been blown away by the reception on social media and am super excited to share more."

Sock Puppet Superstar is coming to Meta Quest and Steam sometime in 2026 (no release date has been announced). The game can be wishlisted on both platforms now.

I’m on the Public Test Channel (PTC), and I’ve noticed a new screen capture tool that makes it much easier to share an exciting game shot or captivating mixed-reality moment without missing the details that matter most.

What You See Is What You Get

Meta calls the feature Capture Markers. Before taking a screenshot, my Quest now shows crop marks at the corners of the frame, making it much easier to line things up properly. That fixes two big problems: crooked screenshots and missing the action.

It’s surprisingly easy to grab an angled or off-center image in VR. The image might be good enough, but there’s a reason photographers use a tripod. Keeping the horizon level helps the viewer orient themselves.

As frustrating as an off-kilter image is, a bad crop can make a screen capture pointless. Without capture markers, I had to guess what portion of my view would fit within the rectangular bounds of a Quest screenshot. To make matters worse, the aspect ratio can be square, portrait, or landscape. If I forgot which I chose, my screenshot might miss a huge portion of the shot I was expecting.

The new system means what you see is what you get, which feels like a long overdue improvement over older Quest screenshot methods and even broader advice on how to take a screenshot in virtual reality. I can just line up the corners and wait for the screenshot countdown. Screen recordings show capture markers too.

When this feature rolls out, it can be found in Camera settings. The three options are Off, Auto hide, and On. On keeps capture markers visible throughout a recording. Auto hide removes them after about five seconds.

The listing describes a live TV experience with access to sports, local channels, and on-demand content “in one immersive space.” Beyond that, there’s not much to go on. There’s no confirmed launch date, no feature breakdown, and no indication yet of how much this leans into VR versus functioning as a simple virtual screen.

DIRECTV hasn’t formally announced the app, and there’s been no press release or developer commentary tied to it. Right now, the store page is the only public signal that the company is moving in this direction.

If it launches as described, it would be one of the first major traditional TV services to offer a native experience on Quest. On-demand apps like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video are already available in VR, but live TV has largely been missing. Netflix dropped its native app for Meta Quest in 2024, pushing users back to a browser-based experience. Most users still rely on browser playback or desktop streaming tools to fill that gap.

Right now, it’s hard to tell how deep this goes. This could be a real VR experience with multiple screens and shared viewing, or it could just be a basic 2D stream inside a headset.

But even the listing itself is notable. Most traditional TV providers aren’t here at all.

BlackGate is free-to-play for the engineer role. Playing as an alien requires a $19.99 'BlackGate Premium Game' add-on. As of this article, this purchase only unlocks the original Squid alien.

The new Titan character can be unlocked if players reach level 20 in the paid version or as an additional $9.99 add-on (on top of the premium game add-on).

Each alien has its own set of abilities to hunt down and eliminate the engineers before they can restore the space station to working order and neutralize it. The Titan has an engineer-paralyzing sonic roar along with smash and dash attacks.

Fun Train (Exorcism of the Legion (Last Rites), Jungle Man) also teased a new map, Cargo, coming at a later date.

BlackGate is available on Meta Quest.

That is why I was so excited for the New York City episode of Elevated, now available free for Apple Vision Pro in the Apple TV app, especially after enjoying the earlier episodes released free for Apple Vision Pro.

In true New York fashion, directness often moves things forward for the better, so I’ll keep it real. The creative choices in this new New York City episode often feel overstimulated and oddly unconcerned with how it feels to be immersed in the captured 180-degree moments, leaving limited room to connect more deeply with its people and spirit despite some striking views.

Good Stories Need Guides

Narrative elements are guides that help people understand what they are seeing, why it matters, and even who they are within an immersive experience. Traditional verbal narration can help act as a guide, but it is not always required because visitors can take in other cues to understand the story they are part of. Strong creative choices, from details in scenes to purposeful editing and audio, can guide the audience without a single spoken word.

The music and audio clips integrated in the New York City episode do most of the work providing any sort of framework for the tour. It opens with a strong, upbeat sequence and what seems to be a radio segment declaring the day we are about to visit is a great warm day as we fly over Central Park before being rapidly transported to different places and vantage points. It made me think I was about to be guided through a journey, but that sense of intentional storytelling quickly fades. Just over halfway through, while flying toward the Statue of Liberty, different voices begin reading portions of The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, introducing ideas about opportunity, belonging, and new beginnings that could have added meaningful context much earlier.

While I appreciate the musical soundtrack and also moments the music paused to direct more attention to the sounds of the city, the timing around placement of the few spoken audio moments feels sporadic and disjointed. There are also a few moments with audio clips that seemed to be left in by mistake, like where I heard someone behind my view confirming that they are rolling, reinforcing the sense that I was just seeing views through camera placement decisions and not as a visitor being guided through the experience.

Lots of Views, Little to Connect With

From the opening moments, the episode feels more focused on showing views than placing visitors inside meaningful moments. There is no shortage of perspectives, including one odd angle that feels like being hung upside down by your feet over the city for no clear reason - a jarring contrast to the more epic upright shots overlooking New York seconds before.

Visitors are taken above the skyline, over the water, onto bridges, down to streets, then back into the air. Rooftops, towers, traffic, parks and people appear and disappear often with little clarity about where you are in the city or the location’s significance to the intent of the tour.

Some of the higher views are genuinely strong with so many elements to take in. I felt more present in the city the more I was presented with details to absorb and the time to do so. The issue is not the variety of viewpoints. It is that many feel chosen without enough purpose or context. Strong viewpoints should reveal something about the city, its rhythm, or the feeling of being there, not simply remind you the camera can be moved anywhere.

Too Fast To Feel New York

At nine minutes in length, every creative choice matters. New York moves fast, but that speed should come from the life of the city itself, not from relentless cuts and rapid transitions that seem to show little awareness for how they feel when fully immersed in them. Shots appear and vanish before they have time to land, moving visitors from seconds in front of New Yorkers to entirely new neighborhoods and heights with little chance to absorb any of it. It creates motion, but not immersion.

There is strong material here, from vendors and artists to views that are virtually impossible for most people to see in reality. These could have formed the heartbeat of a guided story instead of becoming quick flashes visitors are transported to and from. Too often, people and places become texture rather than moments you can experience. The potential of what was captured is clear. This edit just rarely lets it breathe.

The short developer post on Steam says the delay is to "add a few more improvements so Early Access players get the best possible experience."

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR's original April date was announced at the Spring 2026 VR Games Showcase with a developer video hosted by Flat2VR's Elliot Tate.

In it, he detailed that Total Insanity is being developed as part of Flat2VR Spark, an initiative from Flat2VR Studios connecting talented VR modders with studios to collaborate on official VR ports. You can read that article and watch the video here.

Flatout 4 VR: Total Insanity Races Into PC VR Early Access In April

Flatout 4 VR: Total Insanity, finally comes to PC VR in Early Access this April.

UploadVRMike Johnson

The project required extensive artwork to add first person full cockpits for each vehicle as part of the conversion.

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR can be wishlisted now on Steam. It releases in Early Access on May 7.

Developed as a faster-paced evolution of the original Squingle, Squingle Arcade tasks players with guiding bubbly orbs of light through intricate, three-dimensional mazes while avoiding obstacles and collecting baubles.

What's a Squingle?

The visual identity of Squingle Arcade is unique, leaning into a psychedelic, vibrant, and almost hypnotic aesthetic. When played in mixed reality, the world around you is rendered in saturated and color-shifted hues, and the walls of your living space can be altered in real-time by the game, while in VR, you'll race through puzzles in a dynamic, ever-shifting iridescent universe.

The devs cite influences ranging from the ever-trippy Tetris Effect, to the mechanical challenge of Kururin, a series of puzzle games that appeared on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and GameCube in the early 2000s in which the player's job was to guide objects through complex mazes.

There's a timer, leaderboards, races, time attack ghosts, and accolades for finishing each puzzle in the shortest time possible.

Brief Impressions

Maybe, like me, you saw the game's announcement trailer during last month's VR Games Showcase and thought, "Huh. That's a weird one." Maybe you weren't all that interested, or thought the game was too niche. After all, an abstract puzzle/time attack/psychedelic MR/VR game in which you maneuver blobs of light through floating tubes isn't exactly an easily-categorized type of game.

I've played Squingle Arcade, and even set a few best-times, and I'm happy to report that it's a far more interesting, engaging, and fun game than I expected it to be prior to playing. The trailer doesn't really do it justice; in VR, it's a mesmerizing experience, one that drove me to compulsively play again and again.

But that's just me. Luckily, you can try Squingle Arcade yourself.

Participation in the free public playtest is offered only on the Quest 3/3S, however Squingle Arcade will support all major Meta Quest devices and SteamVR (PCVR). Players interested in the public playtest should join the game's Discord server and follow the instructions in the announcement channel to be eligible for the playtest.

You can check out Squingle Arcade on Meta's Horizon Store, where it will be releasing at a later date.

Watch the announcement trailer here:

The full track list is as follows:

• Levitating
• Don't Start Now
• Physical
• Houdini
• Future Nostalgia
• Hallucinate
• These Walls

Each track can be purchased separately for $1.99 each or as a bundle for $11.99.

The Nintendo Switch version gets three new DLC packs today: Dua Lipa, the 80s mixtape Side A, and a licensed pack for Crypt of the Necrodancer, a rhythm roguelike game. I only mention this because the Crypt of the Necrodancer DLC is not available on VR platforms.

Developer Kluge Interactive, who recently confirmed mass layoffs this past December and January, says this new pack will be available for VR players "in the not-so-distant future." The 80s mixtape Side A is already available for VR platforms.

Synth Riders is available on Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, Apple Vision Pro, and Steam.

Developer Raikiri is setting out to create a VR massive multiplayer online game that will truly put players in an expansive virtual world, and is working on fine-tuning each aspect of such a project through a variety of smaller titles. Just One Man is the first step in this journey, focusing on refining VR combat that will make players really feel like they are engaged in blistering sword fights against an unyielding enemy army.

To fend off these enemies, you will need to first block their attacks before landing a few of your own through various motion prompts. For the smaller standard enemies, you block their strikes by holding up your arm in the path of their blade, then fight back with jabs and swinging blows. Larger foes can’t be blocked, but you can dodge their clubs by moving in the direction the onscreen arrow prompts you to.

Eventually, an enemy will drop their sword when they go down, allowing you to pick it up to even the score. You can hold swords in either hand, hold them in a reverse grip, and even dual-wield. Slashing at enemies with your own katana is satisfying, and perfect for living out your dreams of being Leonardo ahead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City.

However, the swords only last for a certain number of strikes before they break, requiring you to use your fists once again until you can get another. As a result, battles are frantic and require extremely quick thinking and reflexes. Be prepared for sore arms if you plan on playing this for longer periods of time.

Once you kill a certain amount of enemies, you can unleash a powerful Super Move that is activated by holding down the trigger and performing a certain motion. Given how chaotic the action can be, it is pretty hard to tell if you even have the move available, let alone perform it. Still, it can clear a screen of enemies and looks impressive to pull off.

Just One Man has three primary game modes: Training, where you learn how to play, Challenge, where you test your skills against a wave of enemies in a certain location, and Endless, which pits you against a horde of opponents that doesn’t stop until you run out of lives. After a round of combat, your final score is tallied and in Endless Mode you can compare your performance with other players through an online leader board.

Just One Man’s visual style is simple but striking, featuring blocky, colorful characters and vibrant environments. Landscapes include crimson-skied battlefields, quiet green meadows, and peaceful cherry blossom fields. The Endless Mode stage is especially notable, featuring a dark blue background that makes the upcoming battle against a never-ending army all the more foreboding. The music includes energetic rap and techno, adding to the stylish aura that Just One Man is going for.

Only time will tell if Raikiri can piece together its dream VR MMO, but Just One Man feels like a promising start when it comes to developing a simple but challenging combat system. Charging at opponents and slashing at them is intuitive and thrilling, and while there isn't a whole lot to the game besides that, it can be a fun way to hone your digital samurai skills and maybe burn a few calories in the process.

Original developer JanduSoft will publish the VR port. Evil Inside VR, it claims, is being redesigned specifically for VR, with a revamped sound system, motion controls, and lighting for a more immersive experience. The narrative and puzzle designs will also be updated for VR.

Watch the announcement trailer here:

Evil Inside VR was originally listed on the Meta Horizon Store to release next week on April 23. Next week already has several highly-anticipated titles lined up, including the 1.0 releases of Into The Radius 2 and Forefront, Flatout 4 VR Total Insanity, and Little Nightmares: Altered Echoes VR.

Bowl of Tentacles' last VR release was arcade shooter Aimtropolis in May 2023.

Evil Inside VR can be wishlisted now for PS VR2 and Quest 3 headsets before the May 7 release. The Quest 3 version can be preordered now for $11.99, discounted from the full price of $14.99.

• Quest 3S (128GB): $300 → $350
• Quest 3S (256GB): $400 → $450
• Quest 3 (512GB): $500 → $600

Meta says the price hikes are coming because "the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly".

"The global surge in the price of critical components — specifically memory chips — is impacting almost every category of consumer electronics, including VR", the company said in a prepared statement.

Official accessory prices are not changing, but refurbished headsets are also seeing an increase in price.

We should note that the 512GB Quest 3 model was actually $650 when it first released in 2023, before seeing a price cut as Quest 3S was launched, so it still remains cheaper than it was at launch. Though the simultaneous discontinuation of the 128GB model means the entry price for Meta's higher-end headset has increased by $100, regardless.

Sony Significantly Increasing PS5 Console Price Again

Sony is again increasing the price of PS5 and PS5 Pro, bringing the buy-in price for a full PlayStation VR2 system up to $1000, higher than it was at the headset’s launch.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Of course, Meta is far from alone with this move. Sony has increased the price of PS5 consoles twice now, as has Microsoft for its Xbox consoles and Surface computers. Samsung has also increased the price of many of its phones and tablets. Of the tech giants with products that include notable amounts of RAM, only Apple and Google have held steady, and rumors suggest their future products will be priced higher.

(Apple's latest MacBooks are more expensive than their predecessors, but also include new chips and more storage, so this wasn't truly a price hike.)

Back in February, Valve said that it needed to "revisit" its "exact shipping schedule and pricing" for both Steam Frame and Steam Machine given the memory chip crisis. When announcing the headset back in November, Valve told UploadVR it was "aiming" to sell it for less than the $1000 Index full-kit, but it's now unclear whether it will hit that target.

Valve To “Revisit” Steam Frame Shipping Schedule & Pricing

Valve says it needs to “revisit” its “exact shipping schedule and pricing” for Steam Frame and Steam Machine amid the global memory shortage.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Alongside today's price hike announcement, Meta also reiterated that it "remains committed to investing in VR and leading the category", and that it has a "long-term roadmap full of new hardware and experiences".

That echoes statements from Meta executives in recent months confirming that it's still "building future headsets" and suggesting that a gaming-focused Quest 4 is still on the roadmap.

Jorg Neumann, the Head of MSFS, specifically mentioned PS VR2, saying the update has already passed Sony certification. He added that there are two to three "must-fix" bugs that have to be addressed before the update can be released, but he and the team are confident this will happen within the next week.

Microsoft Details Flight Simulator 2024’s Upcoming PlayStation VR2 Support

Microsoft shared new details and insight into Flight Simulator 2024’s upcoming PlayStation VR2 support.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Sim Update 5 will also bring the first batch of third party content to the PlayStation 5 Marketplace, with more add-ons to be available as they pass Sony's quality assurance requirements. A new weather radar will also be introduced that includes tilt functionality.

The full, wide-ranging livestream can be viewed here and there is a summary on Flight Simulator's official website.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is available now on PlayStation 5 with PS VR2 support coming soon.

Current virtual reality is focused on stimulating your vision and hearing, with some limited haptics depending on exactly what accessories you're using, leaving your other senses untouched.

One such sense not addressed with today's technology, with extremely niche exceptions, is smell. Scientists describe smell as the most primal sense, with the olfactory nerve directly connecting to your limbic system, bypassing your higher-level cerebral cortex that other senses pass through first. The limbic system includes the hippocampus, where memories are formed, which is why smell can often trigger vivid recall of old memories in a far more visceral way.

One could argue that even when the Visual Turing Test is eventually passed, your subconscious won't truly feel like it's in another place if you're still smelling the physical room you're in, with the smells that should be coming from the virtual world entirely absent.

Why Smells Are So Difficult To Simulate For Virtual Reality

How do you think virtual reality will improve over the next few years? You’re probably hoping for better ways to see, hear and touch virtual worlds. Michael Abrash, chief scientist at Oculus, seems to agree: when he outlined his predictions for the next five years of VR last October,

UploadVRDavid Matthews

There have been many attempts to solve this over the years. Famously, long before modern virtual reality, in the 1950s, systems with branding like "Smell-O-Vision" and "AromaRama" wanted to bring smell to theaters, with very poorly received results, leaving them short-lived, though recently some "4D cinemas" have started doing the same for a few films.

Riding the VR hype wave spawned by the launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in 2016, multiple startups tried to bring smell to VR as a widespread clip-on accessory for headsets, including Feelreal and Vaqso, but all of them failed, beyond some niche medical use cases.

The reason all these attempts failed is that they relied on physically emitting chemicals towards your nose, typically from aromatic liquid cartridges. As well as putting them in the same strict regulatory space as e-cigarettes, presenting significant legal roadblocks, this also requires the user to continuously buy refills, inherently limits which smells can be represented, and means that some smells will linger far too long. It's simply not a viable approach for smell to become a widespread part of virtual reality.

That's why the new approach of a small group of independent researchers seems so promising and is arguably revolutionary. When I say "new", I should be clear that the team first presented this in November, but we think it's more than worth bringing to your attention regardless.

The team of four are Lev Chizhov, Albert Yan-Huang, Thomas Ribeiro, Aayush Gupta. Chizhov is a neurotech entrepreneur with a background in math and physics, Yan-Huang is a researcher at Caltech with a background in computation and neural systems, and Ribeiro and Gupta are co-researchers on the project with software engineering and AI expertise.

Instead of targeting your nose at all, the device directly targets the olfactory bulb in your brain with "focused ultrasound through the skull". The researchers say that as far as they're aware, no one has ever done this before, even in animals.

A challenge in targeting the olfactory bulb is that it's buried behind the top of your nose, and your nose doesn't provide a flat surface for an emitter. Ultrasound also doesn't travel well through air. The solution the researchers came up with was to place the emitter on your forehead instead, with a "solid, jello-like pad for stability and general comfort", and the ultrasound directed downward towards the olfactory bulb.

To determine the best placement, they say they used an MRI of one of their skulls to "roughly determine where the transducer would point and how the focal region (where ultrasound waves actually concentrate) aligned with the olfactory bulb (the target for stimulation)".

We found our “sweet spot” to be low-frequency ultrasound focused right below the forehead and angled downward toward the bulbs. Specifically:

• 300 kHz frequency (low enough to penetrate the skull well)
• Focal depth of about 39 mm (where the ultrasound energy converged beneath the forehead)
• 50–55° steering angles (to point the focus down toward the bulbs)
• 5-cycle pulses at a 1200 Hz repetition rate (short, rapidly repeating bursts)

According to the researchers, they were able to induce the sensation of fresh air "with a lot of oxygen", the smell of garbage "like few-day-old fruit peels",
an ozone-like sensation "like you're next to an air ionizer", and a campfire smell of burning wood.

"We distinguish between a smell and a sensation here because, subjectively, they feel different. The smells are strong and localized to the noise, almost like you could sniff around and find the source. The sensations are more diffuse: a weak, slow-onset impression of a smell, often paired with other (likely placebo) feelings, such as a light tingling on the face.

Both smells and sensations are strongest on a light in-breath, so we tested by sitting there, with a probe to the forehead, mildly sniffing. Sometimes there is a slight waft of a smell that comes on over a few breaths, and sometimes it just hits you. The first time Albert smelled the garbage, he jerked his eyes open thinking a garbage truck just drove in!"

While technically head-mounted, the current device does require being held up with two hands. But as with all such prototypes, it likely could be significantly miniaturized.

Fascinatingly, but somewhat outside our purview, the researchers also speculate that their approach could be used for far more than VR. Current functional BCI (brain computer interface) systems are squarely focused on reading from the brain. This approach, technically sending signals to the brain, falls into the realm of writing to the brain non-invasively – the stuff of science fiction. While admitting that the idea is "speculative", they suggest that a more advanced implementation of their approach might be able to go far further than smell, given the olfactory bulb's direct connection to key regions of the brain.

In a far less theoretical future though, the approach explored by these researchers could allow future headsets to induce smells without refills. While it's unlikely that anyone in the consumer space will find the cost of this worth it any time soon, it's not out of the question that an enterprise headset maker could tackle this in coming years – something we'll keep a close eye out for.

Payday: Aces High was first announced at the Spring 2026 VR Games Showcase from veteran developer Fast Travel Games (Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice, Action Hero).

Like any Reddit AMA, questions were asked and answered multiple times, and of course Odeldahl had to be cagey with topics he could not comment on. For convenience, we will break this down by general topic with Erik's direct responses.

On the possibility of a PlayStation VR2 port

We all love the PSVR2. The thing is, [we're] a pretty small studio and decided to first focus on Quest3 & Steam, with cross play support. We are not closing any doors on a PSVR2 version though!... Please keep praying for PSVR2 support, and we'll see if we have the opportunity to make it happen. No promises though!

How Aces High connects to other Payday games

This group of heisters put on their masks for the first time when the game begins. Their handler is an old friend of Shade's, and it's via those contacts that they are brought into the clown fold.

The Aces story itself is a new one, and doesn't require you to know anything about Payday in advance, but if you do, you'll find a ton of things you recognize.

The Queen of Hearts knows Shade personally. It is very likely the OG gang would have to approve of another masked gang of heisters, or else they'd might become annoyed

You'll meet the Shield, the Bulldozer and Snipers at launch. Rumor has it that some of the locations are patrolled by drones of different kinds too.

Game design

The game will require an internet connection, but you will be able to play solo with AI team mates!

All our characters are fully voiced. The Aces (Hearts, Clubs, Spades & Diamonds) as well as their handler The Queen of Hearts and our antagonist, Warren Jupiter.

Currently there is no plan for voice activated commands. We did experiment with it a bit during early development, so I won't say it's never gonna happen, but definitely not for launch.

For this game we chose to go with hands only, because we found it suited both the slower stealth, and the fast paced gameplay really well. Getting full body right, and not janky, is very time consuming, and we wanted to spend that time on things we felt were are more important for the experience.

The game fully supports both seated and standing play. The team plays using both every day! We will also have options for snap/smooth turning, blinders etc. You can expect the usual stuff! In addition to that, we allow the player to choose if they want to do reloads and chambering using gestures or a shortcut button.

Gameplay and replayability

You will have a safe house as a base of operations in the game. This is where you plan your heists, practice shooting your guns or try out new mods. We'll see how we can visualize all the money you steal for you.

You will be able to select which mask, outfit and gloves you're wearing, but most of the visual stuff has to be unlocked by completing heists and other challenges in the game!

We have four main categories (ARs, SMGs, pistols & shotguns). Each has three or four unique models each, as well as two variant versions. You can also buy red dot sights, laser sights for some of the models. Most pistols can be fitted with a silencer.

All weapons support manual reloads and chambering. There is a button interaction for it as well, which takes roughly the same time to perform, so it is all up to you to choose how you want to handle it.

All heists have a healthy amount of randomization in them at launch! We are of course hoping that the game takes off so we can put more stuff into it. We have a design for something similar to Infamy, but we'll have to wait with talking about that for a while. Aces High handles progression and unlocks a bit differently, and we want to make sure that whatever we decide to add to the game post-launch doesn't break the balance.

We will have both free and paid DLC, as well as community challenges where you all work together to unlock new stuff. Our intent is to not split up the player base, so new heists will be free.

You can throw all kinds of things. We're not 100% sure you will be able to throw ammo etc. We did have it in the game for a while, but it led to weird complications where you often picked up empty clips, and it felt pretty buggy. We still haven't abandoned it though, and are thinking of ways to make it work fluidly and intuitively. The cool thing about working on a living multiplayer game, is that features can be added or tweaked after launch too.

Payday: Aces High can be wishlisted now on Steam and Meta Quest.

Initially, it had just one: toggling passthrough. Pressing it conveniently switches between an immersive view for VR gaming and a paused passthrough mode where you can see your actual room. Still, more customization is always welcome, and since v85 PTC, Meta has been rolling out the ability to choose between 5 options:

• Passthrough (the default)
• Meta AI
• Capture picture
• Capture video
• Mute microphone

I can also pick an action for long presses, doubling up the usefulness.

Quest 3 v85 PTC Can Turn Any Surface Into A Virtual Keyboard

With Horizon OS v85 PTC, Quest 3 can turn any surface into a virtual keyboard and touchpad, and Meta says you can remap the Quest 3S action button.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Since I’ve been using Quest 3 for years, I’m used to double-tapping the side to enter passthrough, and that muscle memory often overrides the action button. By the time I remember it, I’ve already switched the outside camera view. That’s why this action button customization makes it much more powerful. I can use it for other purposes.

Quicker Captures

When I set the action button to Capture picture, I can quickly snap a well-timed screenshot while using hand-tracking. The awkward combination of the Meta button and trigger failed me often, but the action button works reliably every time.

The same is true for screen recording. I set the action button’s Long press to Capture video, so I don’t have to deal with a finicky button combination or navigate menus to start recording.

Meta AI On Tap

The default way to activate Meta AI, other than awkwardly saying "Hey Meta", is by holding the Meta button and squeezing the grip button on your right controller. That works but feels slow. Maybe that’s why I use Meta AI with my Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, but I rarely do so in VR. Still, it’s nice to have the option.

If you do use Meta AI in your Quest 3S, it’s just a tap away if you select Meta AI in action button settings. A single press speeds up activation so you can prompt and get an answer faster. Meta AI’s arrival on Quest already hinted at how much more central voice interaction could become in Horizon OS, and this makes it feel a bit more practical.

Meta AI Is Coming To Quest Headsets In The US & Canada

Meta AI is coming to Quest headsets in the US & Canada in August, and it can answer questions about what you’re looking at on Quest 3.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Cut The Chatter

If you’ve ever been startled to find your mic is active in a shared space, you might want to set your action button to Mute microphone. It’s nice to click to silence a cough or cut background sounds bleeding in from real life.

Waiting For Roll Out

My Quest 3S is on the Public Test Channel (PTC) and I’m on v2.1, but I just received the action button customization setting that was described in v85 PTC. As is typical with Meta, it could take months before action button customization rolls out to you, or it could arrive tomorrow.

This feels like a great addition to the platform, so I hope it goes live for all Quest 3S owners soon. The action button is found only on the Quest 3S, so you’ll need to rely on the older screen capture, Meta AI, and mic controls if you own a Quest 3 or older models.

As a concept, Space Control is instantly intriguing: a part-game, part-animated series inspired by the irreverent tone of Rick and Morty and Futurama. On paper, that sounds like a fantastic fit for VR. A comedic space adventure where you can physically interact with the world around you while a story unfolds has all the ingredients for something genuinely fresh.

Unfortunately, while the premise is good, the actual delivery falls well short of its potential.

Welcome to Glorpo

Space Control is structured like an interactive cartoon series. The 'game' includes three episodes, each roughly an hour long, that follow a ragtag crew of interstellar oddballs as they work off their debt to a sinister corporation called Glorpo Inc.

The setup is preposterous enough to work. You play an unnamed human (referred to as “Newbie”) who has been inadvertently abducted by Glorpo as part of a shady debt collection scheme, in which indebted aliens are forcibly recruited into indentured service. Despite being harvested from a planet designated as “just for laughs”, Glorpo’s strict no-refund policy means that like it or not, you’re stuck.

It’s a funny enough hook and one that immediately sets the tone for the game’s blend of sci-fi absurdity and workplace satire. You’re quickly assigned to Crew 68, a group of lovable weirdos that includes Melody, the highly strung team leader; Zorgle, a giant softie with more heart than brains; and Widget, a wisecracking engineer-slug who easily emerges as the standout personality of the bunch.

As a setup for an episodic comedy, it’s a reasonable start.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Fart

The story begins in your crew quarters, where you spend time getting to know your new teammates while the game establishes its world and tone. From this point on you’re free to roam around and fiddle with the various novelty gadgets scattered throughout the various game environments.

At first, this is encouraging. There’s enough charm in the setting and enough visual gags in the environments to make poking around the area mildly entertaining. The problem is that there simply isn’t much meaningful interaction to be had. Most objects can be picked up, squeezed, whacked or moved around, but little else.

That quickly becomes a problem because Space Control asks you to spend a lot of time simply standing around while dialogue unfolds. If you happen to gel with the writing, that may be enough. But if you don’t (and I largely didn’t) then the game’s long passive stretches start to feel sluggish very quickly.

The writing clearly wants to channel the chaotic energy of Rick and Morty and Futurama, but it rarely lands with the same wit or nuance. Instead, much of the humor feels crass and oddly juvenile, despite (or perhaps because of) the adult content and language, with a surprising number of jokes revolving around bodily functions. Basically, be warned: there will be butts.

That creates a strange tonal mismatch. The writing is too infantile to consistently entertain adults, but too adult to recommend to younger players. By the time the credits rolled, I was left with one overriding question: who exactly is this game for?

Working Hard? Hardly Working...

Once the introductory setup is complete, Space Control splits into three episodes, each built around a different job or scenario for Crew 68. These range from abducting new recruits to the Glorpo empire to operating an intergalactic daycare center, right through to concocting bizarre gaseous enhancements for performers at a Eurovision-inspired song contest.

Again, on paper, this all sounds great; whacky, irreverent premises that should allow for mad-cap adventures and amusing interactions.

The issue is that the gameplay underpinning these scenarios is extremely shallow. The trailers suggest something closer to a chaotic time-management game; fast-paced multitasking with over-the-top humor layered… over the top. In reality, what you get is a series of very basic, Job Simulator-lite interactions with no time pressure, no fail state and no meaningful sense of challenge.

You are essentially just repeating simple actions to trigger the next story beat.

Take the first episode as an example. You’re tasked with retrieving new recruits using a claw machine-style grabber, dragging them around a processing station where you shave them, stamp them, and make sure their more sensitive areas are appropriately... investigated.

There’s an absurdity to the setup that should be funny. But the actual flow goes something like this: a few minutes of dialogue plays out, a control panel unlocks, you complete one simple task, another minute of dialogue follows until another task unlocks.

That rhythm, as well as the tasks that you perform in between dialogue, then repeats for about 20 minutes.

The result is that the interactive elements never feel meaningfully integrated into the experience. They don’t create tension, they don’t encourage experimentation, and they don’t really add much beyond giving your hands something to do while waiting for the next punchline.

More disappointing still, your actions have no bearing whatsoever on the story. There’s no room for creativity, alternative approaches or consequences based on how well you perform. The game simply pauses progression until you do the exact thing it wants you to do. That makes the whole experience feel oddly static and interactive only in the loosest possible sense.

This is perhaps Space Control’s biggest missed opportunity. Had these sequences been truly gamified - with real fail conditions, time pressure, or branching outcomes based on performance - there’s every chance this could have been a genuinely entertaining hybrid of narrative comedy and VR time management. The characters are engaging enough and the potential for pithy dialogue as you foul up a task under pressure would have been immense. Instead, the gameplay rarely rises above being vaguely functional.

That said, not everything falls flat. The final interactive segment, in which you [SPOILER] was a surprising amount of fun. It was the one point in the game where the interaction actually felt naturally tied to the scenario, and it was easily the highlight of the entire experience.

Don't Quit Your Day Job

Visually, Space Control gets the job done without ever truly impressing.

The universe has a coherent visual identity, and there’s a certain charm to inhabiting what feels like an episode of an animated sci-fi show; artistically something that sits in the broad orbit of Final Space. There is also a decent physics system in place. Being able to mess around with objects while dialogue unfolds helps inject some mild engagement into otherwise passive scenes.

Still, the game feels rough around the edges. There are small but noticeable technical blemishes, from clipping assets to awkward model interactions. These aren’t game-breaking, but in a game that is essentially an interactive animation, one would hope that the focus on the animation itself would have been a little better.

The sound design is perfectly serviceable. The voice cast actually do a commendable job with the material they’ve been given. For the most part they hit the tonal balance that an ensemble ‘show’ like this needs to hit, and the actors play off each other well enough within the limitations of the script. This is somewhat of a relief given how much weight their performances bear on the success of the experience.

Final Verdict

Space Control is an underwhelming experience, not least because the seeds of a genuinely cool VR concept are clearly there. The premise is decent, the setup works well enough and the idea of blending episodic animated storytelling with interactive VR gameplay feels like something that absolutely should work.

As a narrative comedy the writing lacks the sharpness and consistency needed to sustain so much passive listening, and as a game, the interactive elements are too limited and too consequence-free to feel genuinely engaging. Unfortunately, Space Control never fully commits to either side of that equation, and as a result fails to deliver on either.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

I have to start with the movement because that was my primary issue when I played The Amusement's demo during February 2026's Steam Next Fest. I played in a very large open room with more space than I needed for the game, and it wasn't until I watched developer Curvature Games' excellent developer video that I realized that I created my own issue. The Amusement is meant to be played in a relatively small space. Curvature Games' redirected roomscale style, once understood, is the optimal way to play the game for maximum immersion and presence.

The final release adds (slow) smooth turn and stick-based locomotion options that seasoned VR gamers will welcome. After finishing the game, I went back and played two chapters again with stick-based movement and teleport separately. Both lose some of the game's charm and luster, though admittedly, they do allow for seated play, so points for accessibility and player choice.

The Amusement stars Samantha, a young woman dispatched by her mother to her late father's amusement park in the 1920s. Samantha is tasked with inspecting the abandoned park's attractions in preparation to sell it off.

The Amusement's story is told via hand-drawn stop-motion interludes between chapters and intermittent conversations, including a younger Samantha, her parents, and some of her father's coworkers, depicted by marionette-like shadow puppets throughout the park. These scenes never overstay their welcome thanks to strong voice acting and a concise, snappy pace.

The Amusement's story is its strongest element and arguably the selling point for the game. You can feel the uneasy tension between Samantha and her mother in all of their conversations, a relationship clearly strained by grief from the absence of their father/husband. This game also takes place post-World War I, with references throughout that history buffs will appreciate. VR storytelling can sometimes be perfunctory at best, only serving to get the characters from one stretch of action to the next with shallow or impersonal characterization. Curvature Games tells a moving family story with confidence in a way that works for VR.

The story is strong enough to carry the game to the finish line as the puzzle elements start to run out of steam. By the game's midway point, you will have been introduced to every tool, traversal method, and environmental interaction available. The backend simply repackages all of these in different scenarios.

These are not complicated mechanics either. Figure out a way to return power to a dead control panel, deploy ladders (with a creatively used yo-yo), maneuver across chasms using wooden platforms, elevators, and a fun grappling gun. Everything is grounded in real-world interactions that pair nicely with the redirected roomscale movement. There's just not enough of them.

I finished The Amusement in three hours, and the back half of the game, when I knew what metaphorical signs to look for, went much faster than the front half. There's a lot more hand-over-hand midair movement in the second half, which can border on tedious depending on how quickly you figure out what needs to be done. Compared to other recent puzzle games like Fixer Undercover and Ghost Town that continually change things up all the way to the end, The Amusement comes up short on variety.

Hans, Samantha's father, is omnipresent throughout the game as a voice offering navigational guidance and filling in the blanks after story points that Samantha was too young at the time to understand. Hans also serves as the game's hint system and this is one of the issues with the game. He often gives a clue less than a minute after approaching a new obstacle, totally unsolicited. Hint systems in puzzle games are fine, even welcome, but the player should choose if they want a hint or not. It comes off like unnecessary hand-holding.

Visually, at least on PC (I have not played the Quest version yet), The Amusement gets the job done with sharp visuals and a general look of grimy rust and decay that befits an abandoned park. It does show clear signs of concessions for a standalone port that holds it back visually, but just barely. The sound design is strong. Every creaky turn of a rusty wheel or groan from an elevator that hasn't been used in ages resonates. I do wish the game made more effective use of controller haptics, particularly during the climbing and pulling mechanics.

The Amusement Review: Final Verdict

The Amusement's affecting story about a broken family is some of the finest storytelling I've experienced in a VR game. The redirected roomscale movement, once properly understood and embraced, adds a sense of immersion and presence few other games can match. Unfortunately, even with a short runtime, its limited number of environmental puzzle mechanics hold it back from being truly exceptional. It still remains an excellent entry into any VR puzzle lover's library.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

Lucent VR looks amazing on Quest 3, and it's instantly become my personal showcase for the heights that standalone VR graphics can reach.

In Lucent VR, you explore seven scenes, interact with your environment, and enjoy the sights and sounds of these wonderfully crafted virtual spaces. When you begin, only one scene is available, but hidden artifacts found scattered throughout the experience gradually unlock the rest.

There's an island, grassland, a snowy vista, a rainy house, a crackling mountainside campfire under a gorgeous night sky, an undersea area, and an interplanetary romp upon one of Saturn's moons, and each of these scenes is beautiful in its own way.

From a technical perspective, the game is exceptional, presenting some of the best graphics that I've seen in a Quest experience. The water physics are phenomenal, the lighting exceptional, the overall fidelity fairly awe-inspiring, especially considering we're playing on standalone VR.

But artful design is not just about technical performance or visuals. It's about creating an environment that speaks to something deeper. Lucent VR brings that too, for example, when in the campfire scene we're visited by an unexpected guest, or when a gargantuan whale appears from out of the blue in the underwater zone. These fun or awesome moments are worth experiencing (without spoilers).

Lucent VR's less grand moments are thoughtfully designed, too. There's something surreal about the environments, and something lovely, too, about wiping the steam from a window, and peering through the mist to the rainy mountain valley below, and watching the clouds drift and reshape themselves endlessly, and the way that water droplets bead off your goggles when you emerge from the sea into the sunshine.

These artful touches coalesce around Lucent VR's broader audio design. Consisting mostly of relaxing ambient noises of rustling plants, ebbing tides, and gentle breezes, the game's soundscape puts you in a slow-down state of mind. There's the realistic sound of water filtering into your ears as you descend beneath the surface, and the muffled echo of submerged eardrums, and the crunch of snow beneath your boots, and the patter of rain on window panes.

Not all of Lucent VR's scenes are perfect. Some aren't as interactive, or as vast, while some are inherently less impressive than others. It's hard for a cozy house to feel as epic as bouncing around on a moon in space, after all. And while I personally adore the relaxing vibe, simply existing and enjoying the sights and sounds of a cool technical showcase, some players might become bored pretty quickly. At a leisurely pace, you'll run through the currently offered seven scenes in about two hours.

And though I've called Lucent VR a game several times in this writing, Lucent VR is not really a game in the usual sense. It's something else. I can appreciate it for what it is, but maybe you can't. Neither perspective is right or wrong.

What I do know is that I keep returning to Lucent VR's windswept grassland, an experience that feels as striking to me as ThatGameCompany's Flower did when I first played it on PlayStation 3 back in 2009. And while Lucent VR is even less a traditional game than the unconventional Flower, it's no less impactful.

Wherever people talk about games as art, they almost always mention Flower. I get the feeling that those of us who "play" Lucent VR will still be talking about it years from now.

Lucent VR is now available on Quest 3 headsets via the Meta Horizon Store.

After the Steam release date for Echoes of Mora was changed on April 9 from 'April 29' to 'Q3 2026,' Selkies posted a clarifying statement in its Discord.

We've adjusted the release date on Steam because we're currently in discussions with publishers. This is incredibly exciting for us as you can imagine with our debut title. When you release a game on Steam, you have a small window of time to make updates to release dates, so given the potential outcome of talks with publishers, we decided to get ahead of it and adjust now. If we do decide to move forward with a publisher, it would give us some extra runway to really polish the game further before we set a new launch date.

We played the demo for Echoes of Mora last year, saying "the approachability doesn’t take away from the sense of achievement, especially as the reward of precious lore adds to the process. However, those looking for a testing, enigma-filled VR experience... might not be satisfied here."

Echoes of Mora Hands On: Approachable Underwater Puzzler With An Emotional Heart

Echoes of Mora sees you solve a mythical missing persons case in a dreamy aquatic puzzler.

UploadVRSarah Thwaites

Echoes of Mora can be wishlisted now on Steam. The VR-supported demo is still available to play.

"Vibe coding", if you're unaware, refers to building an application by conversing with an AI that generates the code for you, rather than writing the code yourself.

While Gemini can already tackle this out of the box, the XR Blocks Gem – Google's name for extensions that give Gemini custom instructions and resources to better suit specific tasks – provides the AI with context about how to use the company's XR Blocks WebXR SDK, including code examples in the context window for it to learn from.

After providing it with a text prompt detailing what kind of experience you want, in less than 60 seconds, after performing its reasoning step, Gemini will produce the necessary HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, populating it into the Canvas feature, a view that appears beside the chat thread and gets updated as you request changes.

The generated WebXR experiences can include a user interface, hand interactions, and physics, with Google claiming that Gemini itself is "physics-aware". Google calls the entire workflow "Vibe Coding XR".

Because XR Blocks has a built-in flatscreen desktop simulator feature, complete with a virtual home environment to substitute for passthrough. If you preview your generation on a PC web browser, you can use the WASD keys and your mouse in three modes: User Mode, Navigation Mode, and Hands Mode. It's a rather complex way to map the limited inputs of flatscreen mouse and keyboard to the high-bandwidth input dynamic inherent to XR, but useful for testing without needing to be in a headset.

How "Vibe Coding XR" is really meant to be used, though, is in a headset. Google, naturally, recommends the Samsung Galaxy XR, but I found it works just as well in a Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro. In your headset's web browser, you can instantly launch into the created WebXR experience with no need to compile anything. It's the lowest friction path for building and developing truly custom interactive XR experiences yet, letting people with little or no coding experience build them in seconds.

Of course, from your headset's web browser, typing isn't exactly convenient by default. Vibe coding with the floating virtual keyboard would be a pain. Instead, make sure to connect a Bluetooth keyboard, Quest 3's Surface Keyboard feature, or speech-to-text.

Here are some examples Google provided of what's possible with some example prompts. You can click the name of each to bring up a hosted demo.

An important note is that the quality of the WebXR result, and how long it takes, will depend on which model you select, and therefore whether or not you have a paid Gemini subscription.

In Gemini, as of the time of writing, there are three 'modes' available to select from the dropdown: Fast, Thinking, and Pro. Fast uses Gemini 3 Flash with reasoning set to 'Minimal', Thinking uses it with a higher reasoning budget, and Pro, as you might expect, uses the vastly more intelligent Gemini 3.1 Pro. Google recommends only using Pro for Vibe Coding XR, stating that it produces an error-free result around 95% of the time, compared to around 87% for Thinking. How many Thinking and Pro requests you can use depends on your Google AI plan, so you'll need to subscribe to get the best results.

You can try out Google's XR Blocks Gem in Gemini here. For the best experience, do so inside a headset.

Exoshock has been one of the most hotly anticipated VR shooters on my radar for quite some time. Originally announced back in March 2025, PolarityOne’s sci-fi shooter immediately caught my attention thanks to its intense first-person combat, visceral visual effects and an intensity that felt unlike much of what was being shown in VR at the time.

Those early trailers had a kinetic energy that was hard to ignore. Camera shake, heavy weapon feedback and chaotic firefights all suggested something that could finally scratch that elusive big-budget sci-fi shooter itch many VR players have been craving.

In late 2025, PolarityOne made the decision to delay Exoshock beyond its originally planned Fall 2025 launch. That delay not only gives the developers room to work on the core VR experience, but to focus on the game's flat screen version as well. Far from being a last minute pivot amidst the uncertainty of the current market, the developers had planned for a hybrid game all along.

Nicholas Bechen, Lead Developer (one of the two developers that make up PolarityOne) says "From the beginning, the goal was to build an intense, satisfying cooperative shooter that could work in both VR and flatscreen, while helping bridge the gap between those player bases through cross-play. Very few games have seriously attempted that, and even fewer have designed around both formats from the start."

Pushing Forward

Following a successful open testing period, PolarityOne have announced a new way to access the game during the final stages of development. Dubbed ‘The Founders Edition’, players can now purchase access to the development version of Exoshock at the ‘lowest price it will ever be’.

At $12.99, the Founders Edition essentially functions as a kind of ‘early early access’ for players eager to jump in before the Early Access launch later this year. Buying-in grants access to every build released between now and launch, while also guaranteeing ownership of the game on your chosen platform once it officially enters Early Access.

For players who like to follow a game’s development and see systems evolve in real time, it’s a compelling proposition.

That said, it’s worth being clear about what is and isn’t currently present. Right now, the Founders Edition offers a complete and engaging set of mechanics but is still missing some key elements that bring these together into a finished gameplay loop. PolarityOne are upfront about this, though.

Access to a new map, a new objective type, co-op multiplayer and a progression system are already on the roadmap, set to be implemented first in the Founders Edition before arriving in the broader Early Access release.

Contact!

At its core, Exoshock is a visceral first-person sci-fi shooter built around tactical mercenary-style missions. When it launches into Early Access, the full experience is set to revolve around four-player co-op missions fueled by tactical decision making and intense combat. Missions are available in a range of difficulty options, and these options make a world of difference in how the scenario will play out.

Once selected from a job board in a central hub world, players will deploy into a variety of industrial-looking sci-fi environments with objectives that range from assassinating key targets and stealing access cards to sabotaging systems and extracting defectors.

The setup feels smart. Rather than simply throwing players into wave-based firefights, Exoshock appears to be aiming for something with a little more structure and tension. Before each mission, players choose their loadout from four item slots and three weapon slots, covering a main weapon, sidearm and special weapon. Even in the current build, that level of choice already adds a welcome tactical edge.

Good Bones

The strongest thing I can say about Exoshock right now is that the core mechanics already feel fantastic.

Gunplay is excellent. Every weapon I used felt satisfying, punchy and weighty in the hand. There’s a real sense of impact to firefights, with every encounter carrying an intensity that made me want to push forward and see what was around the next corner.

Loadout flexibility also adds a nice tactical layer. Choosing the right combination of weapons and items before heading out makes a tangible difference, and there’s enough variety in how you can approach encounters to make experimentation feel worthwhile. You can already tell that once multiplayer goes live squads will be able to designate roles and choose the gear to match.

Even in its current single-player-only state, missions are consistently engaging. One thing that helps immensely is the quality of the AI squadmates. In many games, AI companions are little more than background noise - shambling around, blocking doorways and occasionally getting themselves killed. That’s very much not the case here.

Across the missions I played, my three AI teammates were genuinely useful. They took sensible positions in firefights, laid down suppressing fire when needed, and more than once got me out of trouble when things started to go south.

That level of competence goes a long way toward making the solo experience feel worthwhile, rather than like a stopgap while waiting for co-op.

If Looks Could Kill

Probably the most impressive and original thing about Exoshock right now is the atmosphere it creates.

Visually, the game is already excellent. PolarityOne’s use of lighting is particularly strong, creating an oppressive sense of tension as you move through dark corridors, expansive hangars and industrial ship interiors.

Some of the most memorable moments I had came in lower-lit sections where visibility dropped significantly and I was forced to rely almost entirely on the flashlight mounted to my weapon. Those moments were genuinely tense in a way that surprised me. For a straight shooter, Exoshock already does an outstanding job of building suspense.

The sound design is equally impressive. The soundtrack does an excellent job of shifting between quiet, tension-building ambience and full adrenaline-fueled intensity once firefights erupt. It’s dynamic in exactly the way that games like this need.

Weapon effects are also great. Every gun has the right amount of crunch and punch, making firefights feel almost overwhelming in their intensity at times. Combined with the visual effects and strong environmental audio, it all works together to create a cohesive and immersive experience.

Last Merc Standing

Based on what I’ve played so far, Exoshock is shaping up to be one of the most exciting shooters VR has seen in a long time. The foundations are incredibly strong; the gunplay is satisfying, the atmosphere is excellent and the overall presentation already feels polished in all the areas that matter most.

For those who just can’t wait, the Founders Edition offers a chance to look behind the curtain as the last gameplay elements are implemented. For those who prefer to hold out until things are finished, the good news is that Exoshock already has enough going for it to make it one to keep an eye on.

I know I’ll certainly be there for every major update - and when Exoshock properly launches into Early Access, you can guarantee I’ll be in those servers on day one.

Developer Incuvo released its 2026 roadmap for Green Hell VR in a post on its social channels. Among the listed updates is a long-awaited update to the SteamVR version of the game.

Here is the image:

In the post, Incuvo wrote the following:

We know the PCVR version has been missing out on updates and co-op, and we hear you.
As a small team, we pour everything we have into making Green Hell VR the best it can be. The Meta Quest and PSVR2 versions share a similar codebase, but the PCVR build was a completely different story under the hood.
Maintaining it alongside the others meant we simply couldn't give any version the attention it deserved.

This summer, it’s about to change! We’ve decided to add a port of the PSVR2 version to Steam, bringing co-op and all the content updates to PC VR players to unify the experience.
If you already own Green Hell VR on PCVR, you'll automatically get the new version.

The Quest port of Green Hell was a scaled-back, streamlined experience, a necessary move to get the game to run on standalone hardware at the time. Despite the PC VR edition being more of a 1:1 translation of the original, more open-world game, the Quest (and later PlayStation VR2) edition saw more regular updates, including a co-op feature in December 2024.

Green Hell VR: Quest Edition Review - Streamlined But Engrossing VR Survival

Green Hell on Quest isn’t the same game as the flatscreen original, but look past the changes and you’ll find a great VR survival game. Here’s our Green Hell VR: Quest Edition Review. Let’s get this out of the way first: Green Hell VR’s Quest

UploadVRJamie Feltham

This update will bring the PC VR version in line with the other two, which seems to indicate all versions of the game will be the streamlined edition originally brought to Meta Quest. The PlayStation VR2 port was a visually upscaled version of the limited Quest game instead of the more open PC original.

The roadmap also includes character customization, new structures for base building, a new storage place, and the ability to paint your base.

Green Hell VR is available on Quest, Steam, and PS VR2.

When Google Glass was first announced in 2012, smartphones were relatively new, and video recording glasses were unheard of. Early adopters faced a strong backlash, regardless of their intentions. Now the term is back, and so is the argument behind it. As Meta Smart Glasses sales accelerate, a broader privacy debate is growing at the same time.

Meta & EssilorLuxottica Sold 7 Million Smart Glasses In 2025

Meta and EssilorLuxottica sold more than 7 million smart glasses in 2025, and they were the “dominant driver” of the Ray-Ban owner’s wholesale growth in H2.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The argument is that a wearable camera makes it easier to record others without their knowledge that it’s happening. That’s a valid concern that deserves consideration. However, there’s also a contradiction here that’s getting harder to ignore. The same people who recoil at cameras on glasses often think nothing of the smartphones in their own hands and everyone else’s pockets, even though phone cameras are more powerful, less socially constrained, and often better equipped for invasive recording.

Why The Label Still Lands

Google Glass left a cultural scar that continues to challenge modern smart glasses that have cameras. While the product itself was limited to 720p recordings, much shorter and lower resolution than the latest devices, the backlash stuck. Glasshole became shorthand for someone socially oblivious, outpacing tech acceptance, and maybe a little too interested in other people’s lives.

Once a technology gets branded as creepy, every product that follows has to fight through that stigma to reach a point where people will even consider its value. The label is powerful but also problematic because it’s not just criticism of a device. It unfairly defines anyone that wears such a device.

The old accusations are resurfacing at a moment when this technology is becoming harder to dismiss. Since virtually everyone is making smart glasses now, this category is starting to look less like a novelty and more like a real consumer product. That’s exactly why the old glasshole stigma matters. If smart glasses are finally gaining momentum, the social backlash that haunted Google Glass could still slow them down.

The Privacy Concerns Are Real

It’s not that people are overreacting. A phone usually has to be raised, aimed, and held in a way that could signal what’s happening. Glasses are different, staying on your face while you talk, shop, walk, and make eye contact. Even when they’re not recording, they can create uncertainty, and that uncertainty changes the social atmosphere.

Critics are right about one important thing. Holding up a phone is a clearer social signal than wearing glasses. If someone points a phone at you, the message is obvious. With glasses, the ambiguity is part of what unsettles people.

Meta knows this, which is why its glasses use a front-facing LED to indicate when photos or video are being captured. If the LED is fully blocked, the glasses won’t record. That doesn’t settle the debate. It just means the company recognizes the potential problem. The issue could get bigger as smart glasses gain more features and stay on people’s faces longer. We’ve already seen Meta add new listening features and even make plans for environmental scans.

The privacy issue isn’t only about bystanders. It can also affect the wearer. Recent reports about Meta AI have raised questions about how visual queries are handled and when they’re reviewed to improve the model. Meta’s privacy worries continue.

What About Smartphones?

This is where the glasshole debate starts to weaken. The smartphone in your hand can be a surprisingly capable surveillance device.

The average phone has better cameras than smart glasses. Many models feature zoom lenses, better low-light capabilities, and advanced computational photography that enhance small details. A phone can be held casually in a hand, placed on a table, leaned against a cup, or made to look like texting while it records. You probably wouldn’t give a second thought to someone standing across the street, but a phone’s 20x zoom can bring them close and personal, filling the screen with your face.

Pictures matter, but a phone’s built-in microphone can be more invasive than you might realize. Smartphones have trained us to tolerate microphones everywhere. We carry them into restaurants, waiting rooms, workplaces, and private conversations. We put them face-up on tables and barely think about it. If privacy concerns are serious, it’s strange to reserve our strongest fears for glasses while treating phones as socially neutral.

Despite concerns, smart glasses aren’t the first portable recorders to enter our public lives. This is just a new form. We normalized pocket computers with premium cameras and ever-present microphones long ago. Given a little more time, smart glasses could find that same acceptance instead of being seen as a blatant attack on privacy.

Spy Tech Is Creepier

Another practical point that gets lost in this debate is that truly covert camera tech already exists, and it doesn’t announce itself with a familiar frame on someone’s face. Hidden cameras have long been sold in things like pens, hats, clocks, and chargers. That’s the category that deserves the word creepy.

By comparison, Meta’s glasses aren’t exactly invisible. Even if the recording light isn’t immediately apparent, the hardware is still visible on your face. There’s a noticeable difference at the corners, a lens for the camera in the top left of the frame, and another for the warning LED on the right. Meta smart glasses aren’t meant to be spyware and most users simply want to capture hands-free video to share on social media or explore wearable AI technology.

Meta built in some privacy features and most users have good intentions, but that doesn’t prevent abuse. With a quick search, it’s easy to find LED covers for smart glasses that claim to block the alert light from the front while leaving the sides open so the light sensor won’t stop video recording. The LED is better than nothing, but it’s not a magic solution.

It’s The People, Not The Devices

The temptation with a word like glasshole is to treat the device itself as the problem, but that doesn’t really fit the situation. A person can wear smart glasses thoughtfully or obnoxiously and the same applies to any other recording device.

Someone filming strangers through glasses for prank content can absolutely be acting like a glasshole. So can someone shoving a phone into a stranger’s face for TikTok, or leaving a phone on the table to covertly record a private conversation. The behavior is what deserves judgment, not the tool.

The label rushes to accusations that are rarely consistent with the behavior of most smart glasses users. Shouting glasshole is an easy way to condemn a futuristic gadget while giving a pass to the potential of the covert device in the pocket.

If smart glasses really are the next phase of consumer computing, a more productive conversation is how social norms, design choices, and legal boundaries should govern ambient recording tech of all kinds. That is becoming more urgent as companies push toward face recognition and more persistent AI features.

So, Do Meta Glasses Make You A Glasshole?

Meta smart glasses don’t make you a glasshole by default, but the cameras can be used for spying. The same will be true of competing smart glasses from Google, Samsung, and others. Smart glasses users should be considerate of who and what they’re recording.

Everyone Is Making Smart Glasses Now

Most coverage focuses on Meta, but a surprising number of startups and established companies alike are making smart glasses too. Read our full roundup here.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Some public concern is reasonable, but the automatic panic around smart glasses is too selective to be fully convincing. Meta glasses don’t automatically make you a glasshole, but acting like one still does.

In TaVRn's Takedown - Naheulbeuk, your job is simple: beat the snot out of taverns-full of orcs, goblins, and humans, and restore peace to the watering holes of the land of Mliuej. You'll do this with your fists, with powerful weapons and gear collected throughout your quest, and with whatever blunt objects you have on hand.

Smash skulls, drink booze, save the day. What could be simpler?

Presentation

The most immediately striking aspect of TaVRn's Takedown is that it's simply gorgeous. Visually, the game's art style lands in that delightful zone of cartoonish fantasy epitomized by games like World of Warcraft, where characters are more like caricatures and the world is rendered as if it were a lovingly crafted theme park.

And then there's the audio. TaVRn's Takedown features talented voice actors that have appeared in media such as Baldur's Gate 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Stargate SG-1, and Hearthstone, and their pedigree shines through in Takedown's script and delivery.

The animations are smooth, the lighting is nice, and everything looks and sounds lovely.

Gameplay and Combat

The gameplay loop of TaVRn's Takedown is fairly succinct. You begin the game in a small base which contains a friendly host named Margaux, a training dummy, an upgrade station for inspecting and equipping your card-based gear, and a diorama-like world map which shows fifteen-or-so orc-infested taverns (missions) that are available to visit. You select one of these taverns to liberate, and the beatdowns begin.

Each mission takes place in a tavern, and each tavern is overrun by malevolent creatures who are ready to attack you on sight. You'll use your fists and any nearby weapons (barstools, goblets, trophies, brooms, buckets, mops, etc.) to knock out wave after wave of onrushing goons. This is the meat of the gameplay; punching your way to victory.

Combat feels great. There's definite weight to every landed punch, while blocking and dodging adds (light) strategy to each encounter. Some enemies are small, some are tall; some have more or less health than others, and some wear armor that requires special attention. Hit detection is perfect. Scooping up nearby bludgeoning weapons is simple and reliable. And the physics engine does well to ensure that everything behaves the way you might expect (toss a knocked out goblin into an onrushing orc and everyone takes damage).

When you smash enough enemies and clear the room, another room unlocks and you repeat the smashing. Do this a handful of times, and you clear the tavern. Clearing a tavern unlocks the next, and you repeat the process until you clear all the major taverns and reach the final boss.

I'd like to say it's a complicated system, but it's simply not. You smash the faces of your foes until they're no longer conscious, and then you move on and do it again. What makes it all compelling is that it just feels perfectly honed. It's just fun to smash stuff, especially in a VR world that's so well crafted.

During your runs, you have access to magical brews and special abilities acquired and equipped via cards earned in the natural course of play. These are varied and interesting, for example, some might imbue your fists with a charge-up shockwave ability while others allow you to shoot water in a ranged attack, or leave a slug trail of acid whenever you dash, or pull objects toward you from a distance (there are many, many more). Cards can also give you status buffs or gear with special attributes, like upgraded defense or increased damage against a certain enemy type.

Health is acquired by eating food scattered around the levels. While the game isn't necessarily difficult, you'll need to top up your HP fairly often.

Boss fights are a mixed experience, mostly coming off as uninspired. While bosses have their own unique attacks and motifs, for example, one has a penchant for poisons and another has a minor rage problem, they're all pretty much dispatched the same way: avoid their attack and clobber them a lot.

You'll move around a lot, you'll flail your fists a lot, and while you won't necessarily be challenged too deeply or have any sort of transcendent experience, you'll at least come away from a session of TaVRn's Takedown feeling like you achieved a light workout and saved a fantasy world in the process. The entire game takes about four or five hours to complete, while collecting all the upgrades and clearing optional taverns will add some time to the campaign.

What limits the game from being a truly amazing experience are the uninspired boss fights and the general lack of variety of both enemy types and combat. There's just not enough strategy, not enough variety, and after a few taverns, everything starts to feel repetitive. You'll dodge, close in, swing for the fences, without ever really changing tactics or behaviors.

I solved for this problem by taking breaks from the land of Mliuej, putting the headset down for a few hours until the urge to punch orcs cropped up again. And, don't forget, it's sometimes nice to mindlessly punch stuff.

What's important, though, is that the urge always came back. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the game is technically well-made and very artfully crafted. It's a fun place to visit, and a fast and satisfying arcade-like brawler.

TaVRn's Takedown - Naheulbeuk: Final Verdict

Despite a lack of familiarity with TaVRn's Takedown's source material, I enjoyed almost every minute I spent in its cartoonish fantasy world. I was captivated by the game's high production value, its gorgeous art direction, and exceptional voice acting. While some boss fights were bland and I sometimes wished for more variety in TaVRn's enemies and their tactics, its combat is immediately satisfying, and it's a gorgeous and charming game.

TaVRn's Takedown is available now on Meta Quest and SteamVR.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

After Onward's development ended, the VR tactical milsim category was left decidedly thin. Tactical Assault VR, still in Early Access, is the most popular current option for players at the moment.

When developer XReal Games announced Zero Caliber: Frostbite last week, it also teased a second game announcement to come this week. Here is the full text of the post from X:

"Alongside FROSTBITE, we’re also working on COVR - a hardcore tactical VR milsim.

Zero Caliber sits between arcade and realism. This does not. COVR is built around deliberate pacing, consequence, and proper CQB execution.

Expect high-stakes solo and co-op missions across tightly designed environments, with a focus on realistic weapon handling, dynamic enemies, and systemic gameplay where your decisions actually matter."

XReal included a link to a playtest sign-up form with the announcement. Both titles are said to be in 'early development' and are expected to release sometime in 2026. XReal did not offer any specificity about planned platforms.

Zero Caliber 2 first released on Meta Quest in August 2024. A 'Remastered' edition hit PC VR in October 2025 and a PlayStation VR2 version is reportedly in development. Time will tell if XReal follows a similar staggered release schedule for Frostbite and COVR.

Zero Caliber: Frostbite can be wishlisted now on Quest.

It's clear as day that Plasmaborne took its cues from id Software's classic FPS, Doom. The font selection, usage of a DoomSlayer-like character in the marketing artwork, and the game's pulse-pounding soundtrack all evoke the thirty-plus- year-old pioneer shooter. The danger in doing this is when a game fails to answer a very simple question: why would I not simply play the brilliant game this is based on rather than this game? The appeal of playing a Doom-like in VR only works if the gameplay holds up and in that respect, Plasmaborne is a mixed bag.

Each room in a run has to be completely cleared of enemies before moving forward. Pretty standard arena-based roguelite stuff here, similar to games like Hellsweeper VR and Street Gods. The aforementioned drones will occasionally beam in support items and weapon upgrades. After clearing a room, you get your choice of three perks to carry forward to the next room. Roguelite players will feel right at home in Plasmaborne.

Visually, Plasmaborne has a heavy cel-shaded look like Sweet Surrender that looks fine in the headset, though the aggressively burnt-orange look of the first world wore thin fairly quickly. The music and sound design screams Doom, but no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. It effectively got my heart rate up as I moved around the room taking down mobs. The teleporter movement doubles as a dash to get out of trouble. The game would be nearly impossible without it because the walking speed is comparatively slow. It is the only thing in the game that doesn't adhere to the boomer shooter tropes Doom helped to popularize.

The perks are where the game stumbles. On my second run, these are the first five perks I got: an infinite ammo upgrade for my pistols, a bomber drone assistant, a sniper drone assistant, a healer drone, and a laser sight for my pistols that added damage when trained on an enemy. With this loadout, even with the underpowered starter pistols, I was borderline invincible. If I took damage, all I had to do was simply teleport away from the horde and allow a few seconds for my healer drone to restore my health and shield.

This run likely would've carried me to the end of the game, but I voluntarily quit shortly before reaching the second boss. Using the underpowered pistols for the entire run, the enemies in the last few rooms of the first stage of the game were absolute bullet sponges. I spent several minutes in there, simply teleporting around, healing and holding my triggers down without any worries about having to stop and reload. I got the distinct impression these rooms were meant to kill new players without the upgrades and new weapons to quickly dispatch these tougher enemies, but I had no such issue. It simply took a long time to take them all down.

This extended to the first boss, a near fifteen minute long slog of a fight spent dodging its area of effect attacks while avoiding more of the bullet-sponge enemies that spawned in. My pistols felt like mosquitos stinging a mountain as I chip damaged this hulking monstrosity into submission.

I continued through the next few arenas in the second stage before letting myself die and ending the run with over one hundred thousand dollars to buy whatever weapons and upgrades I wanted for my next run. Again, I feel like I was meant to die in that fight before the pistols could rack up enough damage, but that simply didn't happen and the longer the fight wore on, the more tedious it became.

The enemy AI also needs some fine tuning. Some enemies appeared to be proximity triggered, such that if I moved far enough away, they never attacked me and were easily picked off from afar. Other enemies simply could not reach me when I stayed on a raised platform, allowing me to sit and shoot them for upwards of a minute straight until they died, as shown in this clip:

Thankfully, all of these can be fixed with patches. Checks and balances on the spawn of certain perks, tweaks to the enemy recognition range, and Plasmaborne can be a serviceable roguelite. It already is, really, but your luck with the randomly selected perks can wildly change the course of your run.

Plasmaborne is available on Meta Quest for $9.99

March's Jigsaw Nationals in downtown Atlanta, Georgia was the largest event the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association has ever put on. 1,800 competitors and 3,000 people in total visited the event over the late March weekend. When I arrived to the event, I made a beeline for the second floor where jigsaw puzzle exhibitors were selling their work. Tucked in the back left corner of the floor was VR Villa's setup, a VR free play station with dozens of Quest headsets, battery backups, and wide-eyed jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts discovering VR for the first time through their existing shared passion. This is where I met Steve Lukas from ContractXR, the developer of Jigsaw Night, and Jeff Basladynski, the owner of VR Villa.

Over the years, Jeff has amassed over two hundred Quest headsets and a roster of paid employees and volunteers to help realize his vision of introducing people outside of the VR bubble to the medium. If you have been to a gaming convention anytime in the last few years and seen a bunch of people in headsets playing games like Walkabout Mini Golf and Puzzling Places, chances are it was Jeff's team. VR Villa services upwards of seventy events across the country, all fueled by sponsorships and Jeff's other company, Baz LLC, an artisan chopstick business. VR Villa has conducted sessions for tens of thousands of people and Jeff has set a goal of one hundred thousand unique users in 2026.

For this particular event, the star experience was Steve Lukas's Jigsaw Night. We've covered Jigsaw Night in depth before, so to summarize, it is a social VR jigsaw puzzle game currently in Early Access on Meta Quest. After introductions and pleasantries, Steve asked me to take a photo in front of the Jigsaw Night banner before putting me in a headset to play the game. Jigsaw Night is playable in virtual or mixed reality with controllers or hand tracking. Given the public setting, I opted for passthrough and hand tracking.

I completed a quick twenty-five piece introductory puzzle, then Steve joined my lobby and showed me one of Jigsaw Night's special features. He had taken the picture I took in front of the banner less than five minutes before, scanned it, and used Jigsaw Night to turn it into a customized puzzle. Incredible. While working on that puzzle, he walked me through Jigsaw Night's feature set, including scaling the size of the pieces up or down to accommodate any user, a gesture-tracked 'capture bubble' to grab multiple pieces at once, and the custom avatar system.

During my time there, I watched dozens of jigsaw competitors experience Jigsaw Night (and VR) for the first time, competing in speed competitions, working together, and most importantly, smiling and having fun. Some of the comments I overheard:

• "I was always afraid VR would make me sick, but this is great. I feel fine."
• "I could do puzzles with my dad. He lives out on the West Coast and can't travel, so we never see each other."
• "It's so responsive and seeing all the pieces in the air around me is just... wow!"

Steve Lukas barely slept that weekend, working the station from sunrise to well past sunset. He flew back home with pages of first-hand feedback from the true jigsaw experts and the priceless experience of seeing live people having the time of their lives in his application. He told me the experience was more than worth the time and money he invested into the VR Villa partnership and traveling to the event. If ever there were a target consumer for Jigsaw Night, Steve had a direct line to them for three days, all enthusiastic to play and help make the game better. For any game developer, that is an invaluable level of access.

After the weekend, Jeff's team announced on LinkedIn that they serviced 229 unique players across 286 sessions. Do the quick math and see that this means people were coming back for more VR at an event that had nothing to do with gaming, VR or otherwise. Fifty-five percent of the users had never used VR before that weekend. Sixty-three percent of them were aged thirty-five and older. Jigsaw Night, unsurprisingly, saw the highest usage at 106 total play hours across the weekend, all in fifteen to thirty minute sessions.

Bear in mind, this is one of VR Villa's smallest events with maybe a couple dozen headsets sent to the show. Jeff's team has serviced New York Comic Con, Anime NYC, MAGFest, and Lvl Up Expo, among others. Huge events with tens or hundreds of thousands of attendees. So take those numbers I listed above and extend them ten or a hundred fold.

Most VR fans would agree that VR has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Jeff's vision is exactly that. A grass roots passion project grown into the largest free-to-play VR gaming entity in the country. Every VR Villa worker is trained on proper new user onboarding. Jeff's partnerships with developers like Mighty Coconut, Resolution Games, Realities IO, and now ContractXR ensure these new users have safe, accessible experiences in a controlled space with no worries of physical harm or motion sickness. Jeff's team conducts entry and exit surveys from willing participants about their experience. The conversion rate, the number of people who were unsure about VR coming in and walked away prepared to buy a headset is over fifty percent.

Before we parted ways, Steve gave me some insight into the future of Jigsaw Night. Long term, Steve envisions following the same model as other successful premium titles like Puzzling Places, Golf+, and Walkabout Mini Golf. The initial purchase gives players access to a starting set of eighteen puzzles, a puzzle builder with double-sided puzzle capabilities, and customizable avatars utilizing the Quest's inside-out body tracking (IOBT). A Jigsaw Night shop is on the roadmap with in-app purchases for additional puzzles and other content.

Jigsaw Night also will lean heavily on its social interactions. It already has a working Facebook integration, allowing users to pull from their existing photos to create new puzzles personalized to their lives and families. This is what he used to convert the photo he took of me into a puzzle in a matter of minutes. It also has fully functional co-op for up to five players with voice chat and colocation support. The press kit I was sent for this article has videos of Steve playing Jigsaw Night while traveling on a plane and with his son on a train, indicating travel mode support.

UploadVR thanks Jeff, Steve, and their teams for taking the time to speak with us during a busy event weekend.

You can learn more about VR Villa's upcoming events on its official website. Jigsaw Night is available on Quest in Early Access for $17.99.

I had a sinking feeling when I booted up Darts VR2: Bullseye because, well, this is darts. Then the electrifying zombie-grasped dartboard logo splash screen smashed into view and I snapped to attention. This is not just darts. It is darts.

After the surprisingly aggressive logo, the main menu loaded and for the first time in a while, I was greeted with a 360 degree menu in a VR game. I tried to turn with my right controller, only to find out that wasn't allowed. I had to physically turn. Somehow, this made me smile. I felt like I was back in a VR arcade in the late '10s, playing stationary VR experiences on an OG Vive headset and having a blast with the simplest of games.

The Party Mode is not yet available in this Early Access period, but the other modes, avatar customization, and leaderboards are all up and running. The avatars are just heads and hands, adding to the old-school VR design. You also get your choice of darts skinned with country flags.

Darts VR2: Bullseye, the sequel to the now delisted 2017 original, has four gameplay modes: 501, Around the World, Killstreak, and Zombies.

501 is the more traditional, 'professional' way to play darts. It starts you with a score of 501 points with a goal to get said score down to exactly zero. That is a level of precision that will require skill and mastery, neither of which I have. Throwing mechanics in VR rarely feel great, and this was one of my concerns coming into the game. Thankfully, Bullseye gets that right. I was terrible, but I felt my hand arcing down at the release point and knew I was going to miss. It felt true to form.

Killstreak quickly became addictive. The goal is to hit the same zone on the board with consecutive darts. You have five lives and lose one each time you fail at this simple task. I was one and done in my first run, never hitting the same zone twice. This was mildly triggering. So when the UI popped asking me if I wanted to restart, it was an instant yes. Next try, I only got a streak of two, but that second dart literally electrified the board, giving me a dopamine hit I instantly wanted more of. Restart. Two again. Restart. This time, on the third hit, the board increased in size, making the zone easier to hit. Later, another dart lands, turning the zone from blue to purple. Another hits, changes the board color. Then I missed and fought the urge to hit restart again. I could have played Killstreak all day. That leaderboard will be interesting to see in the future.

The same cannot be said for the Zombie mode. It is a stationary wave shooter (darter?) with points awarded for hitting different zombie body parts. A headshot, of course, is the Holy Grail one-shot kill. VR has had scores of zombie wave shooters in the years between the first game and Bullseye. Everything in this mode, the map layout, the zombie models, the sounds, all of it feels very dated. Also, the physics-based throwing mechanics that work so great when throwing at a board fall apart when trying to hit slow-approaching zombies from clear across the room. Gravity really takes over at long distance. There are explosive darts that are periodically earned, but overall, there are much better zombie wave shooters out there and the novelty of killing zombies with darts was not enough to overcome the been-there-done-that feeling.

Around the World requires hitting every zone on the board in numerical sequence from 1 to 20, followed by the bullseye. After a few embarrassing throws that missed the board entirely, I caught fire and hit three numbers in a row a couple of times. When I finished, I looked at how many darts it took me to get to the bullseye and thought "I can do better than that."

This is ultimately the charm of Darts VR2. Unless you are really good, and I am not, rounds are over so quickly that it is very tempting to run it back one more time. This is how games become rabbit holes and one loses track of time when in VR. Darts VR2: Bullseye's simplicity is its strength.

Darts VR2: Bullseye is available now in Early Access on Meta Quest, Steam, and PS VR2.

An uproar of grief and dismay resulted; Meta then clarified that "existing games" would remain available on headsets after the closure date. That still means that many Horizon Worlds will lose VR access entirely, though, effectively splitting the platform according to how players are able to access it.

What becomes of a userbase that has managed to persist in a platform that, while plagued with issues, has still managed to gain its own unique community?

Log in to Horizon Worlds now and you might see signs like this at mainstay bars such as Gatsby's. It's one of the many ways Horizon communities are planning ahead. While some groups are deciding to remain where they are, others are moving altogether or building twin maps on rival platforms.

I took a look at the people who run venues within Horizon Worlds, their take on the impending closure date for VR access, and what they intend to do afterwards.

Hoping For The Best

Nikki goes by Thickaz24 online and runs the venue Mirage On The Water. Mirage is a late-night urban club; when I enter the map to speak with its owner, a game of spades is in play in the back lounge. The world is awash in animated ocean life, underwater foliage, and neon colors that throw everything under a blacklight filter.

Mirage is one of the many venues Nikki runs in Horizon Worlds with the architectural help of community member Tone2tymes. Her entertainment network is part of a larger cluster of party spaces that Horizon users flock to for hip-hop, reggae, soul, and slow classics. "I’ve always believed that creating moments for people to come together, have fun, and feel seen is something that comes from the heart," Nikki explained in an interview. "For me, being a party promoter in Horizon Worlds felt like a natural extension of who I already am."

She notes some of her friends are moving to VRChat as Horizon Worlds shifts its attention to mobile. For now, she's waiting to see what happens. "I put so much time and effort and money into Horizon, I can only be optimistic. It's a revolving door in Meta Horizon Worlds, so new people circulate all the time."

Relocating And Reinventing

For European Horizon users, The White Lotus was a mainstay for lowkey events and casual conversation. Bar owner 3 Eyed Tiger has run the virtual establishment for three years and held a higher minimum age than most (25+) to ensure mature patronage. Where Mirage On The Water is an after-hours daydream, The White Lotus was a lounge fashioned as a pantheon featuring a large pool and balconies overlooking its courtyard.

By the time she heard of Horizon's closure, 3 Eyed Tiger was already running bar nights on more than one platform. She's less than impressed with Horizon's recent announcement that certain experiences would remain available for VR.

"The news from Boz feels like a very glossed-over way of saying the platform is still being sunsetted," she wrote to UploadVR. "By the time we face the lack of updates, the inability to build or change anything, and the disappearing monetization incentives in April, there will be no one left to run communities or build VR-focused games by the June 15th cutoff."

Nowadays she runs a Twitch stream while working to reassemble The White Lotus in VRChat. Until then, she hosts social events while playing games such as Fish! or relaxing in crowd-friendly worlds. "I think this will be a telling time. Many are realizing that a strong, well-built community is now the only factor that truly matters. Most of the biggest social communities don't even have their own dedicated worlds in VRChat—it’s a completely different angle altogether."

Not All Is Lost

The news of Horizon Worlds sounds familiar to another group who's suffered a similar fate. Altspace veteran SereneLiminal has been in VRChat since her favorite immersive platform was shuttered 3 years ago by Microsoft.

She recalls when the news hit and how the feeling of loss soon transformed into a need for action. "It was a shock to everyone, and people quickly united to save worlds hosted in Altspace, tried to figure out how to clone avatars. People came together to help each other, people who didn’t know each other, people who previously didn’t get along, we all came together. It was a unified grief for all of us."

The last moments of Altspace are explicitly something that sticks out in Serene's mind. "We remember the last minutes before Altspace Servers shut down. Gathering with friends in our favorite worlds, singing, talking or just being near each other. Then at the moment of shut down everyone’s avatars freezing, disappearing and then you were in the room by yourself then the sad and awful last message from the Altspace team."

Since 2023, SereneLiminal and others have come together to retain their identity while settling into new virtual lands. One example of how they've kept their memories alive is the Altspace Legacy Venue. The space serves as both a small museum of Altspace avatars and photos, a stage for gatherings, and a memorial for Altspacers who have passed away.

Losing a beloved platform hurts. When you're online, your favorite place in cyberspace is like a second home. You form memories of that world and soon enough, those memories sit in your heart right alongside the important moments of your physical life. Having a community to help transition from one platform to another can not only ease the grief, but provide hope for building anew.

As Horizon veterans look for new places online to settle, SereneLiminal hopes they'll find a light at the end of the tunnel the same way her community has. "We may all be expats or digital refugees from Altspace," she says, "but it’s the people that make a platform, not the platform itself."

Released in full in 2024, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin set itself apart from other examples in this emerging genre by building its foundation using the Quake-1 Tech. The retro look is a given, of course, while the moment-to-moment gameplay blends tradition with modernity. The VR version is a valiant effort in terms of adapting its greatness — even if some of its weakest elements are more noticeable when experienced through a headset.

If you're here for the story, you're not in the right place. And that's deliberate. Like the '90s shooters that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin so clearly reveres, the setup is quick and to the point. You play as the Outlander, who finds himself on the shores of a strange place plagued by the Guardians of the Old World, who will be your targets. There's a total of 15 maps scattered throughout three hub worlds, meaning that you can plunge through them in any order the moment you enter a hub.

The levels themselves tick all the necessary boxes, and then some. Moody, labyrinthine graveyards, catacombs, forests, and ancient ruins are a common occurrence, but they're also filled with secrets to find, from enemy encounters to powerful items. Foes will make use of every turn of a corner and elevators being activated to jump at you, but the moments in which I felt out of traversal options were few and far between. Levels can be a weapon used against you as much as they can be another weapon in your arsenal.

Speaking of which, the VR rendition of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin allows you to dual-wield weapons, as well as use both hands on a singular one to improve stability when aiming, as well as enabling a powerful secondary shot in most weapons. The signature blade, which is present in the protagonist's wrist, can be used in any direction as if you were playing a game designed with sword combat in mind. It's intuitive and extremely deadly for enemies, and this VR version also has some specific features, such as positioning both blades as a cross in front of you to protect you from projectiles, and charging an attack that can push you forward, which pairs perfectly with a well-timed jump.

There's a vast assortment of VR-specific tweaks, which are appreciated. Reloading is done with gestures, as you'd expect from a VR shooter worth its salt, and there's also a ground slide that you can perform when running. I found the latter to not be super effective, as it can be slower than what you'd expect, and far from the grandiose acrobatics that games like Hellsweeper have come to offer over the years.

Still, even if some of the new additions aren't that surprising or lack some polish, the overall experience feels substantially different than playing the flat-screen version on PC or console. With this, however, comes other complications, as Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a tough game to fully immerse yourself in VR. Boomer shooters, by definition, are quite fast-paced. Even if you're like me and have decent VR legs, however, the issue is less about the pacing itself and more about the fact that it's harder to keep up with everything on screen when the original experience wasn't initially designed for VR.

Even with three difficulty settings to choose from, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a tough shooter. By default, saving your game consists of using an item that is found in levels sparsely, which allows you to create a save point wherever you're standing. If you meet your demise, you'll be sent back to that checkpoint. Since you never know what will come next, this item becomes quite precious, and it adds pressure to your strategy in how you navigate through a level.

While the level design is quite strong, it's the shooting aspect that doesn't quite gel together. Aiming and successfully landing a projectile on enemies that are far away from you can be a hassle, depending on your weapon of choice. The reload animations, while novel and immersive, aren't as snappy as they could be, which can be the difference between life and death during intense encounters.

Most notable were the moments in which I found myself hiding behind corners to try and avoid enemy projectiles and slowly chipping away at their life from afar, luring them in to finish them with a shotgun blast or a quick slice from the blade. For a shooter that pays tribute to titles that excelled at keeping you moving at all times, I felt like Wrath was constantly slowing me down. When some of the cumbersome VR additions got into the mix, the overall experience began to feel detracted, not really allowing me to fully buy into the power fantasy as games like Doom and Quake always managed to achieve.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR - Brutal Edition - Final Verdict

The additions of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR - Brutal Edition are substantial enough to set it apart from its original rendition. The adaptation of the overall experience isn't without its faults, often showing the hardships of translating a shooter that wasn't initially designed for VR. Yet, its robust campaign and retro feel through a modern lens are worth seeing through — just don't expect the fast-paced rhythm that others in the boomer shooter wave are known for.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

Star rating updated after publication to better reflect the text.

Wave shooters have never been in short supply in VR gaming. In the 2010s when developers were still figuring out how to let players move around without getting sick, we got trendsetters like the still relevant Space Pirate Trainer, Raw Data, and Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope. This type of gameplay quickly spread to melee combat with arena games like Gorn and Hellsplit Arena. To this day, 'horde' modes are still a go-to feature for many VR shooters and melee combat games.

I mention this because anyone familiar with the concept will feel right at home in Skytail, the latest title from Coatsink (Men In Black: Most Wanted, Augmented Empire). The premise is quite simple and Coatsink gets it out of the way in a matter of minutes. You live on an island in the sky with your giant pet skytail, a sweet-natured winged creature guarding its unhatched eggs. After learning how to use telekinesis to light a fire and cook snacks for it, a literal dark cloud comes over the island. A grotesque creature attacks, wrecks the island, steals the eggs, and the two of you set off to get them back.

From there, the game falls into a basic formula. Explore the current island, telekinetically gripping clumps of purple blight polluting the land and squeezing them until they pop and disperse. Somewhere on the island is a portal that warps you to what could aptly be called tutorial limbo, a void where you learn about your powers. The first ability is how to perform the aforementioned telekinetic squeeze and pop. After the stint in limbo, you feed the skytail, hop on, and fly off to the next island.

Between the islands is where the action lies. Flying imps attack you and your skytail as you soar, with your travel progress and health visible on the skytail's collar. Imps can be dispatched with your telekinetic powers while either grabbing or dodging the imps' projectile attacks. Things veer into bullet hell territory if the imps are allowed to pile up on the screen. Health is restored by popping food that randomly appears during battle. Survive and you'll arrive on another island with more blight clusters to pop, a hungry skytail to feed, and a new skill to learn.

Skytail feels very safe. The gameplay is well executed and the combination of riding a flying creature and the telekinetic abilities offers a different aesthetic, but it starts to get formulaic inside an hour. It does ramp quite well, offering new imp variants requiring a bit more skill to dispatch and new abilities early and often, but I found the formula wearing thin very quickly.

However, it does feel satisfying to crush imps. The telekinetic powers are very responsive and accurate. Petting and feeding the skytail is genuinely heart warming. Nothing here is bad per se, but the telekinesis and flight barely do enough to liven up a well-trodden road in VR.

Visually, Skytail feels a bit dated and this is disappointing. Coatsink has previously shipped titles with a distinct visual flair, like the comic book art style in Men In Black & Jurassic World: Aftermath and Augmented Empire's sci-fi setting. Skytail is bright and colorful, but its simplicity makes the islands dull to explore. The design of the imps makes them all blend together, even with the variants in later battles. Skytail plays much better than it looks.

Wave shooters have endured in VR for good reason. They are generally accessible and intuitive to play, easy for VR newcomers, and still fun in the right context for VR vets. Skytail is no different. Its presentation lets it down, but the cozy atmosphere and gratifying telekinetic powers can be a nice change of pace for the right player.

That is, anyone looking for a different, more pleasant outing than shooting/cutting down scores of the undead in one of any dozens (and dozens) of VR zombie games or a younger player in need of a more approachable adventure. If either of those descriptions fit, you could do worse than Skytail and it is priced affordably enough for what it offers.

Skytail is available now on Meta Quest for $11.99.

Maze Theory has announced that the immersive mixed reality game Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars will be launching late this year on major MR and VR platforms. Developed in collaboration with Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, Journey Among the Stars is a completely new chapter in the Project Hail Mary story.

You'll step into the role of Ryland Grace, the main protagonist of Weir's novel and the character played by Ryan Gosling in the just-released film adaptation. You'll experience a critical moment in the Hail Mary mission. The ship's systems are failing, and it's up to you to diagnose and solve the problem with the help of your friend Rocky, the alien intelligence whose partnership with Grace defines the story's emotional core.

You'll build a relationship with Rocky, bond over the course of the experience, and use your scientific and engineering training to save the day.

Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars will launch on major mixed reality and VR platforms in late 2026. We'll have further info on gameplay, platforms, and our impressions in the coming months.