Per developer Singular Perception (Epyka), the Steam demo was designed specifically to onboard new users with a tutorial and three sectors to explore. The Steam launch will include every post-release update from the Quest version including a unique in-game roadmap where players can vote on updates and features they would like to see next. The first new fan-voted feature is a crafting system to transform undesirable loot into ship upgrades that will launch either with the Steam version or shortly thereafter.

At the time of this article, we did not see a new trailer for the Steam launch. Here is the Quest launch trailer:

The game is built around an interactive spaceship designed for three players working three different positions: pilot, gunner and engineer, with communication and coordination required to explore, fight other ships, and salvage structures and planets to repair and upgrade the ship. Singular Perception is still developing a bot system called Automa that will automate some ship functions to support solo and two-player crews, but as we noted in our Early Access impressions, right now this is a game meant for a full trio of players.

Sol Protocol Early Access Impressions: A Sol-id Foundation

Sol Protocol in Early Access on Quest has a good foundation of co-op teamwork and exploration, but the limited scope has a lot of room for growth.

UploadVRJames Galizio

Sectors in the game are procedurally generated and can be chosen for travel via an interactive 3D map that gives information on the sector's potential hostility and potential rewards. PC VR players who want to see more of the game after playing the demo can sign up for a playtest planned for the end of this month via Discord.

Sol Protocol is available now in Early Access on Quest and comes to PC VR on November 11.

The team of 15 people behind the re-launch of Supernatural includes all of the fitness coaches who were with the prior iteration, as well as some of the design and support staff.

As recently reported by UploadVR, the app is launching with "thousands of workouts". Users of the previous, Meta-owned "legacy edition" can "transfer their points, start date, streaks, favorites and badges from the original app through Dec. 3", according to Supernatural.

In an email to users who registered for the new version, Supernatural provided details on how to transfer history by visiting a dedicated page on their website.

“It’s not every day you get to make a comeback, but thanks to the Supernatural community, that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Supernatural CEO James Senior in a press statement. “Early Access gets Supernatural back into members’ hands now, so we can build what comes next with them. We’ll be adding new workouts every week, bringing back more music and building features like Supernatural Together and a new mobile app. This is just the start.”

Supernatural says its future roadmap includes adding more workouts and music, reintroducing multiplayer workouts, new enhanced environments, and a new mobile companion app to track workout progress and heart rate.

I was able to download the new app today and confirm that there are many workouts already available from the previous app's catalog. The UI is slightly updated and a bit more colorful in places. Gameplay appears identical. I will do a deeper dive as new features launch and bring you those impressions here.

The new Supernatural is available to download today on the Meta Quest store. A subscription to the service is $19.99 monthly or $199.99 annually.

I love puzzle games, especially in VR, where the ability to reach out and physically touch the mechanisms and toy-like worlds of the best puzzlers becomes even more effective and rewarding.

Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow is the latest such game to take over my Quest headset, and its blend of relaxing vibes and genuine challenge makes it a truly great puzzler. However, it can also be frustratingly difficult, and this stubborn difficulty combined with occasionally finicky controls mar what would otherwise be an almost perfect experience.

What is Traffix XR?

Traffix XR was developed by Infinity Games, who (among many other projects) have previously released a flat screen traffic management puzzle game called Traffix for Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, and PC. While the earlier Traffix was presented with a simplistic and stylized aesthetic, and with gameplay in which you literally direct traffic by tapping on traffic lights, Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow takes a different road.

In Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow, you build miniature roadways to connect points of interest on a map in mixed reality or virtual reality (the latter of which places you in a generic and sparsely decorated living room). Connecting two points on the map will allow traffic and people to flow from one to the other, and back again, essentially activating these points of interest. Along the way, buildings will pop up as your city grows. New points of interest appear, and these too must be connected to the roadways, until all of the map's points of interest are connected successfully.

The challenge comes from the difficult terrain of the given maps, and the limited resources available to you. In each stage, you're provided a limited number of road tiles and a limited number of road types, and each map is typically arranged so that you must puzzle out the perfect routes that will link all points using only the number of tiles and road types available to you.

You can erase road tiles and redraw your route at any time, but obstacles, such as boulders and forests, rivers and lakes, will block your roadways. And even though you have bridges available to you, they aren't unlimited. The sum total of all of this is that you're going to have to think long and hard about how to get from Point A to Point B, and beyond, if you've any hope of success.

Those familiar with popular games like Mini Motorways will immediately understand what Traffix XR is doing. Those who have never played a traffic management game will pick it up pretty quickly, too, since its gameplay is intuitive and the built-in tutorial teaches everything you'll need to know in about ten minutes.

Get in We're Going Puzzling

There's a lot to like about Traffix XR. Its miniature worlds are charming and rich with detail. Its soundtrack is smooth, playful, and relaxing. Its gameplay is built on a central mechanic that's truly engaging. It has a vast quantity of maps, from a variety of interesting biomes to keep things interesting, and a custom map maker is also included for those who want to build and share their own creations.

But there are potholes, too.

The game can be played with hand tracking or controllers, and while each has their strengths and weaknesses, neither feels totally perfect. Grabbing roads with the controller or fingertips is sometimes equally unreliable. Erasing roads and linking roads you've already laid down with new ones can be troublesome, too. Even selecting a stage to play, which is done by rotating a mass of floating islands that surround you, is kind of annoying. Sometimes, triggers are used to grab things, while other times it's performed with the grip buttons. It just feels like there's not a lot of cohesion in the design language used for the game's controls, and in a game like this, where natural control is so important, it's a problem that slows the flow of the game considerably.

Then there's the difficulty. This game is simply hard. By the fifth or sixth level, you'll be scratching your head, struggling to find the perfect route through a cantankerous wilderness using only the tiles (and their configurations) available to you. When you manage to find the correct route, it all feels great. The citizens of your mini city get where they need to go, the city sprouts up like crabgrass in summer, and you clear the level (usually a three-stage affair).

But I'd be lying if I said this game didn't frustrate me with its rigid demand that each stage be solved in exactly the way the developer intended. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me like many of the game's puzzles could only be solved one way. For a traffic management game in which you spend the entirety of your playtime building creative roadways, this seems incredibly limiting.

Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow Review - Final Verdict

Traffix XR's pieces come together into something charming, fun, and engaging (if flawed). It's the sort of game that works perfectly in a mixed reality headset, with its cozy little worlds coming to life in your living room, and in VR, it works nearly as well. What holds it back from greatness, however, is the rigidity of its solutions. Too many stages feel overly difficult or solvable by only a single route, and its controls are a bit finicky. All that said, Traffix XR is a good game, and puzzle fans looking for a new puzzler on Quest will find much to like on its miniature motorways.

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

As we previously reported, Zero Caliber 2 will come to PS VR2 with the 'Remastered' edition that launched on Steam in October 2025 instead of the original Quest version.

XReal Games previously clarified that the port will run at a native 90 frames per second instead of 60 frames reprojected to 120. It will also utilize the headset's haptics, adaptive triggers on the controllers, and launch with native support for bHaptics products. We have reached out to ask if the co-op will be cross-platform with Quest and Steam. In the time since we last covered the game, the co-op campaign remains, as far as we're aware, restricted to same-platform players.

The first Zero Caliber launched for PS VR2 in December 2025 and currently has a 4.1 rating from 630 ratings. We reviewed the original Quest launch for the sequel, giving it a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Zero Caliber 2 can be wishlisted now for PS VR2 ahead of the November 5 launch.

Titan Isles launched in September 2025 with four suit types and developer Psytec Games (Windlands) has not expanded that number since then. In the game, you select one of these suits for your gameplay session, with each suit having its own specialized weapon loadout and traversal method. The fifth suit, Cage, flies through the large scale environments with anti-gravity rotors and engages in combat with laser-guided homing rockets and charged power shots. Cage is available as part of a free update that also adds a new encounter, Scrapspine Ridge, in the seventh campaign and a new look for the breakable loot boxes spread through the game's environments.

Titan Isles Review: Colossal Co-Op Fun, And Solo Too

Titan Isles is an absolute blast in both co-op and solo play, offering a strong VR action adventure worth exploring.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Here are the other suits you can choose from:

• Storm is similar to Marvel's Iron Man with a jetpack, wrist-mounted thrusters, and twin plasma pistols that combine into a long range rail gun.
• Hunter moves more like Spider-Man with a grappling-and-swinging movement system and a laser arrow bow.
• Goliath is a tank of a suit with an explosive cannon, a defensive shield (the only exo suit with a shield) and burst jets for enhanced mobility.
• Blink has a phase dash ability (hence the name), can air jump, and fights with homing bolts.

We reviewed Titan Isles at launch, saying it "delivers a compelling action adventure that's equally enjoyable in co-op and single-player."

Titan Isles is available now on Quest, PC VR, and PS VR2.

Meta VR Layout SDK & Gaze SDK

Historically, 2D apps on Horizon OS were largely restricted to tablet-style interfaces. Although multiple windows were supported, developers could not integrate floating or spatial elements into their UI without turning their apps into immersive experiences using the Spatial SDK.

The Meta VR Layout SDK changes that.

The Meta VR Layout SDK allows developers to add spatial components and windows around the main window of a standard Jetpack Compose or React Native Android app. The app remains non-immersive, can coexist with other open apps, and retains its existing activity and UI architecture. Developers do not need to switch to the Meta Spatial SDK.

The NBA app is one of the first apps to take advantage of this SDK, using it to improve the UI and support multiple views.

In essence, the Layout SDK enables window layouts similar to those in visionOS. However, it does not allow developers to spawn 3D objects or control the environment. Those capabilities still require the Spatial SDK.

The Meta VR Layout SDK is fully supported only on Horizon OS 2.7 and later. Meta says that on releases earlier than 2.7, the SDK falls back to its non-spatial behavior instead of placing spatial windows. The main window remains available while each spatial window component uses its developer-configured fallback.

Meta VR Gaze SDK

Alongside the Layout SDK, Meta will also be shipping a new Gaze SDK for Jetpack Compose, React Native, and Android Views.

Meta VR Glasses use a "Look and Pinch" input scheme by default, leveraging the device's Eye and Hand Tracking. This works well for most layouts, but highly customized components can have elements that the system misclassifies. Developers can use the Gaze SDK to provide the hints the system needs to understand their layout, as well as customize hover behavior.

The Gaze SDK is in early access and is compatible with Horizon OS 2.7 and later. However, it cannot be used in a shipping app until it leaves early access. Developers can request access through the developer support portal.

Meta VR UI Set SDK

In October 2024, Meta released the Horizon OS UI Set, a UI kit for Unity, Figma, and later the Spatial SDK.

Meta Finally Released A Quest UI Kit For Unity

Meta finally released a Quest UI kit for Unity, meaning developers can easily build interfaces that feel cohesive with Horizon OS.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

When developing for other operating systems such as iOS and Android, developers have access to high-level UI frameworks that help their apps feel cohesive with the operating system.

Before Meta introduced the Spatial SDK and the Horizon OS UI Set, developers building apps for Meta's VR devices often relied on game engines, such as Unity or Unreal without a first-party UI framework specifically tailored to Horizon OS. As a result, most apps used entirely different UI solutions, many of which were custom-made or repurposed from asset stores.

The Horizon OS UI Set was Meta's solution to this problem, providing developers with the components needed to build interfaces that feel cohesive with Horizon OS.

However, the Horizon OS UI Set was not a standalone SDK. This meant that its assets and frameworks were largely impractical to adapt for standard 2D Android apps, which is a major reason why most 2D apps on the platform still use their own implementations.

The Meta VR UI Set SDK aims to address this problem.

The Meta VR UI Set SDK is a Jetpack Compose design system for apps on Meta VR devices. It provides dark and light color schemes, semantic colors, typography, icons, component dimensions, and interaction feedback. It works with Jetpack Compose apps.

This makes the SDK relatively easy for 2D Android app developers to adopt, and Meta notes that it is optimized to be implemented by an AI coding agent. The company says that it is the successor to the Meta Horizon OS UI Set in Spatial SDK.

In practice, this could mean that many more 2D apps on the platform will adopt a consistent visual style and interaction patterns that match the rest of the system.

Disney+ Overhaul

The Disney+ app on Apple Vision Pro was custom-built with a unique spatial UI and launched with several immersive environments, with more released in the months that followed.

The app then launched on Quest in December 2025, with support for up to 4K resolution with Dolby Vision HDR. Disney+ Premium subscribers also had access to Dolby Atmos immersive audio in supported titles, a feature added to Horizon OS in v71, and could download content for offline viewing.

Quest Now Has A Disney+ App With Downloads & Dolby Atmos

Quest headsets now have an official Disney+ app, with support for downloads and Dolby Atmos immersive audio — but not for 3D.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

However, unlike the visionOS version, the Quest Disney+ app did not support 3D content and was limited to 2D media. It also lacked the custom 3D environments that could be used as virtual cinema spaces.

Now, Disney plans to take advantage of updates to Horizon OS and Meta's developer tools to bring many features of the visionOS version of the app to the platform. These include recent improvements to the Spatial SDK that enable enhanced audio, interactions, and more.

In November, Disney+ will receive a major update that overhauls its UI and makes the experience more spatial. The update will also add support for 3D media and introduce several of the 3D environments available in the visionOS app.

This update is expected to arrive around the same time that Meta adds the ability to rent or buy "hundreds" of movies on Quest in the US later this year. The company says that this catalog will eventually expand to "thousands" of titles available internationally by the time Meta VR Glasses launch in 2027.

Meta VR Glasses Officially Announced, Shipping Spring 2027 For $1300

Meta VR Glasses have 2.4K micro-OLED displays, weigh 100 grams, and are powered by a tethered puck with Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

This is another in our series of spooky season articles this month. If you are seeking more content, check out our list of horror game recommendations and upcoming horror games.

Our Favorite VR Games For Spooky Season 2026

Halloween is just around the corner. We've picked ten of our favorite scary VR games for spooky season 2026.

UploadVRMike Johnson

Updates are listed in alphabetical order by game title and we will update this article as new updates are released. The developers of Convrgence, Hard Bullet, & Ghosts of Tabor are teasing updates on social media we are keeping an eye out for and some of these updates tend to drop late in the month, so check back closer to Halloween for new entries.

If you know of any others, drop them in the comments below and we will add them in a future update to spread the word.

Here's our current rundown:

Breachers

Tactical 5v5 FPS Breachers gets into the spirit with a limited-time game mode: Infected. Teams break up into Enforcers tasked with killing any infected in sight or the Infected whose goal is to either take down Enforcers or choke them out with toxic gas grenades. The Infected mode is only available until November 9.

Alongside the temporary game mode, developer Triangle Factory has released Breachers' first character skin DLC pack, the Enforcer's hazmat suit Quarantine skin, for $9.99.

Additionally, the Hideout map, a fan-favorite, gets a Halloween makeover with a nighttime setting and spooky-themed decorations like pumpkins, coffins, and cauldrons.

Medieval Dynasty: New Settlement

Medieval life sim Medieval Dynasty: New Settlement kicked off its annual Halloween Event on October 14. If you haven't done it before, head to the swamps area to find a mysterious grave that starts a hunt for the gravesites of the Spectral Games team. Find them all to unlock a special skull-themed xylophone and new musical track to play as you explore the map. The event also reskins the main menu and several of the settlements in the game, and replaces the birds in the air with bats.

Spectral has also teased additional Halloween surprises before the event ends on November 14.

Phasmophobia Crimson Eye

Phasmophobia's Crimson Eye event is back for a third year. The limited-time special runs through November 1 marked by a red sky lit by a blood moon, cultish markings, and candlelight on the map of investigations. During Crimson Eye, the game ramps in difficulty with faster, more aggressive ghosts, but those brave enough to take on hunts get a bonus percentage of cash and XP.

The event kicked off on October 8 with a Twitch drop campaign to earn an exclusive T-shirt. From October 15 to October 22, you get double experience points and extra rewards. Finally, from October 26 to November 1, Phasmophobia hosts Ghost Hunts 4 Hearts, a crossover event with the American Heart Association with special rewards for participants.

Puzzling Places - Halloween Event

The 48th monthly pack for 3D puzzler Puzzling Places is available now with six new puzzles to dig into, all pictured below:

• Lonely Forest Cabin (up to 400 pieces)
• Farmer’s Market Stall (up to 400 pieces)
• Finnish Farm (up to 1,000 pieces)
• Povrly Blacksmith (up to 1,000 pieces)
• Family Dinner (up to 400 pieces)
• Halloween Mansion (up to 400 pieces)

Monthly Pack #48 is available on Quest and Steam for $5.99.

Real VR Fishing

The free Halloween-themed update for Real VR Fishing adds five maps, including three brand new locations and two returning favorites from previous Halloween events. Each map features a new fish species (some of them quite spooky), while virtual anglers can also catch returning Halloween fish like the Zombie Shark and the Haunted Goblin Shark. Last year's Halloween fish and all 12 fish from the game's sixth-anniversary event will also return.

Real VR Fishing Gets Into The Halloween Spirit With New Free Update

A new update for Real VR Fishing arrives next week, bringing spooky maps, haunted fish, mixed reality features, hand tracking, and more.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Table Troopers

Table Troopers is a mixed reality turn-based combat strategy game for up to four players. The $4.99 Halloween Pack includes three new maps, two new trooper types, and four new weapons. The maps are permanently added to your catalog and when you get together with friends, only one person needs to have the new maps for everyone to play.

Virtual Skate

Virtual Skate, a realistic skateboarding sim, has added a special Halloween-themed scavenger hunt. If you are able to locate all six pumpkins in SoCal Night, you will unlock a special 'hellish' portion of the map.

Developer Fast Travel Games confirmed the date and launch price of $24.99 in a press release and new trailer you can see here:

Aces High is a spinoff of the popular series of heist shooters from developer Starbreeze. James Tocchio and I played in the August closed playtest of Aces High with some of the Fast Travel team and came away eagerly awaiting more. That build only had one heist available while this new offering comes with two. All participants will receive a special kitty mask at launch for helping Fast Travel collect data and feedback in the final days before release.

Payday: Aces High Could Be The Next Go-To VR Shooter To Play With Friends

We went hands-on with Fast Travel Games' Payday: Aces High, and we think it could be the next go-to VR shooter to play with friends.

UploadVRMike Johnson

The demos can be acquired from the Steam and Quest store listings. Payday: Aces High releases on both platforms on November 5 for $24.99.

Next Fest is a chance for players to go hands-on with anticipated upcoming games while developers get a boost in visibility, potential wishlists, and invaluable feedback to help shape their projects as they approach a release date.

Some of the participating games released demos prior to the start of Next Fest, like Rustmourne, The Rifted Skies, Drifters: Blackout Crew, and RAID VR. Co-op heist shooter Payday: Aces High will have a demo available with two playable heists after its closed playtest in August.

Please note that this list was provided two weeks ago by Valve and is subject to change. Developers can drop out of Next Fest if their demo is not ready or release a demo on short notice.

For now, here are the demos we are aware of.

Ancient Duel - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Arcane Architect

Archery Pro VR

ASMBL

Atlas Proxima Tether - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Bad Grip Club

Be A Chameleon

Board of the Future

City of Hunger

Cloud JourneyVR

Cute & Dead

Dance of Drauganna

Dark Trip

Drifters: Blackout Crew

Ghostly Late Night Show - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Halls of the Deep

Hyperlane Highway

I Am Octopus

It's All Ogre

Liminal

Long Trip

Low Level Hunters - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Magic Color Merge Puzzle VR

Moly

My Nuclear Octopus 2

Off The Top Rope!

Orb Rush VR

Outlander VR

Paranatural - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Parcel Panic

PatchWorld

Payday: Aces High

Plonk! A 4D Puzzle

Project Sever

Rec Room: A New Semester

Rustmourne

Saddlebow

Sapphobos

Sol Protocol

Stuffed: Two Foot Hero

Sunstone of Time

System Critical 3

The Evidence Cleaner

The Last Frame

The Rifted Skies

Undead Development 2 - Note: This is a flatscreen game with VR support. At press time, we do not know if the demo will support VR.

Voxel Playground

VR Cop Simulator

Wake

Wurst and Glory

Created by solo developer Paulo Cunha, Loony Laps is an upcoming toy car racing game that brings the magic of die-cast racing and elaborate toy tracks into mixed reality and VR. It's coming to Quest on December 15 and will cost $12.99. The game can be pre-ordered now.

The game's developer was originally targeting release on only Quest 3 and 3S, but they have now made the game available on Quest 2 and Quest Pro, as well as 3 and 3S.

We've embedded a trailer below which shows off the game's many wacky races.

Loony Laps features 29 handcrafted tracks designed to bring out maximum chaos and laughs. The tracks feature loops, jumps, magnetic hazards, branching paths, mobile obstacles and ridiculous gags. The cars are made to look like little die-cast toys and can be customized with paint, wheels, materials and other cosmetics.

The game is playable in VR, where players race within a dedicated miniature environment, and in mixed reality, where the wacky racetracks appear inside your physical space.

The game will launch with three play modes including Championship, in which progression unlocks cars and tracks, Quick Race, which lets you jump right into a chosen event, and Time Trial, which has you focusing on beating your best times. The game is built around short, replayable arcade sessions.

Loony Laps is coming to Quest on December 15 and it's available for pre-order now.

Shababeek Labs, a small game studio based in Abu Dhabi, recently announced their upcoming VR game Good Morning [Employee Name] VR. The announcement comes alongside a trailer, which scratches the Severance itch that we've all been unable to scratch since season 2 of Apple's breakout series wrapped.

We've embedded the trailer below.

Ahmad Abdallah, Shababeek Labs' founder, explained the game's premise in a bit more detail.

"Good Morning [Employee Name] VR is a seated VR narrative game [in which] you play as a new hire at Consolidated Dynamics, a 1960s company in a world where technology developed differently," they explain. "Over your working days you rotate through desk stations guided by handlers on the phone and a PA system that has a training film for everything. It's a slow-burn psychological mystery, rather than horror."

The entire game can be played seated, no locomotion is required, and it has a runtime of four to six hours. The story takes place over the first twelve days of your employment at Consolidated Dynamics, where everything seems nominally fine, if not a little strange and somehow unsettling.

The developers of Good Morning [Employee Name] VR are targeting release toward the end of 2026 on Quest and PC VR via Steam, where it can be wishlisted now.

The collaboration between Virtuix and Meta expands on the successful launch this past June of Omni One for Quest, an omni-directional treadmill made to work with Meta's Quest 3 and 3S headsets. The Omni One treadmill is currently compatible with more than 75 available and upcoming Meta Quest games, and over 100 PC VR games.

Virtuix has also announced that Omni One sales have increased "approximately 3X" compared to the same period last year following the release of Omni One for Quest.

Omni One for Quest is a full-body VR treadmill that allows players to physically walk, run, crouch, and move backward in 360 degrees inside compatible VR games. In addition to immersing players in virtual worlds, it's also often positioned by Virtuix as a great tool for fitness (they call it "Peloton for gamers").

The Omni One for Quest treadmill costs $2,595 without a headset. Bundling the kit with a Quest 3 or 3S adds $599 or $349, respectively. A PC VR Bluetooth adapter opens up PC VR connectivity, and adds $49 to the final price. Omni One Core is also available for PC VR players who already own a headset and controllers, and this costs $2,495.

You can browse the full line of Virtuix gear at their online shop.

Blackout Crew is the latest project from Salmi Games (Sweet Surrender), a co-op PvE FPS where you and your friend have to venture into a foreign world to get resources for your dying mothership and unlock or upgrade your weapons and tools.

Salmi has been conducting regular playtests for months, improving performance, adding new features and overhauling the weapon system as detailed in a recent developer blog on its YouTube channel. Personally, I'm looking forward to trying the flamethrower.

Blackout Crew was first revealed at the VR Games Showcase in June, showcasing Salmi's signature cel shaded art style and sci-fi aesthetic that carries over from Sweet Surrender. We had a chance to speak with Salmi Games founder Yacine Salmi in an episode of the UploadVR Gamescast.

Drifters: Blackout Crew's demo is available now on Steam.

Arvore is best known for the Pixel Ripped trilogy and also developed bullet-hell roguelike Yuki and this year's The Boys: Trigger Warning.

Fabula Rasa's comedic story is told through real-time conversations with AI-driven NPCs, using Large Language Models (LLMs) to dynamically respond to you as opposed to traditional pre-written branching dialogue systems that games and experiences like this have typically employed. We saw a similar experience to this in AstroBeam's sci-fi experience Stellar Cafe.

Here's the trailer:

You play as a prisoner trapped in a cage at the center of a medieval town trying to save yourself from being dropped to your death in the monster pit below. To free yourself, you must convince nine locals to assist you. Everything about the story including your crimes and the responses of the townsfolk is shaped by your choices to ensure no two playthroughs are the same.

To further incentivize multiple playthroughs, Fabula Rasa has a mix of different costumes to help spark your interactions and prompt different responses from the NPCs. The team at Arvore also consulted with improv comedians to help shape the LLMs driving the NPCs.

Fabula Rasa won this year's XR Experience Audience Award at the SXSW Film & TV Festival and the Best of Tech award at Miami Filmgate Interactive.

You can wishlist Fabula Rasa for Quest now ahead of its November 12 release.

The new levels are played from the viewpoint of the COI (Covert Operations Initiative), the antagonist organization of the game. Support Group features COI agents who managed to survive encounters with the game's protagonist, retired agent Alphonse Harding. The agents recount their overexaggerated stories of Harding's seemingly unreal abilities as you play the scenarios out in real time. This same story expansion was added to the original game in 2024.

I Am Your Beast VR Review-In-Progress: I Am A Speedrunning Badass

I Am Your Beast VR is a fast-paced cinematic action thriller that willingly sacrifices VR-specific elements for speed and efficiency.

UploadVRMike Johnson

After playing I Am Your Beast VR, I called it "gleefully entertaining with a specific action thriller vibe that everything in terms of visuals, music, level design and interactions plays into" in my current in-progress review and heartily recommended it for action-lovers. The Support Group update is available now.

Other Updates

In addition to Support Group, another patch posted on October 12 added a few new features and adjustments:

• Official support for bHaptics products, specifically the TactSuit Pro & Air, TactVisor, and TactSleeve.
• An online leaderboard showing your global rank after completing each level. Note: the leaderboards are not retroactive, so your times and scores previous to this update will not post
• Four new in-game achievements
• All level ranks have had two additional seconds of time added, making the time-limited levels more equitable for VR gameplay without ruining the game's core challenge

I Am Your Beast VR is available now on Steam.

What Convrgence actually is in practice is a roguelike shooter with extraction elements. Pick a location, build your loadout, then embark on an excursion through your zone in question - following your wristwatch's directional navigation to the exit, while keeping an eye out for enemies and gear along the way. Each run is randomly generated, offering a different layout; in order to take on a run in each map, you'll need to complete a raid in the previous map either during the day or night.

Raids during the day are easier, not least of all due to not having to worry about your flashlight. Raids at night, conversely, require you to make wider use of your kit. Your weapons, flashlight and backpack all are strapped to different parts of your body. Ammo can be stored in pouches at your waist, offering easier access for reloads instead of having to constantly grab your backpack. While it's not particularly noteworthy on its own, there are a few wrinkles such as how you'll have to count your bullets manually - with many magazines being somewhat transparent, allowing you to verify whether it's worth stashing from an enemy or not.

For the most part controls work well, but I would say at least while using a PlayStation VR2 on Steam, I did notice some trouble accessing my inventory, with many cases where the game would go for one of my equipped guns. During the tutorial, I also ran into a bug that necessitated me skipping a step, which certainly leads me to a few questions regarding the existence of a button to skip tutorial steps built into the menu. While the game is ostensibly released out of Early Access, this along with a lack of distinct graphical settings makes me wonder if the game was fully ready for that 1.0 version number.

At least in terms of gameplay, the game's a bit mixed. The team nails the VR interactions for reloading and tinkering with your weapons; crafting in between missions is satisfying enough, too. But levels being mostly linear and procedural means it's lacking a lot of what makes proper extraction shooters interesting - doubly so when you always know exactly the direction to go. Enemy AI feels pretty lacking at this point, too; as interesting and well constructed as the weapons are, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed when it takes so long for them to feel meaningful.

Levels do get more complicated the further along you go, but they remain linear regardless, and it's hard to care too much about alternate paths when you'll find plenty of loot whichever way you go. The base level gameplay feels a bit too basic to start and your German Shepherd companion doesn't get enough utility; you can whistle to give him short orders, but with enemy AI being as basic as they are, it's trivial to pick them off one by one, even without your pup. To that end, it's hard to say you'll ever need to bring more than one gun in when you'll inevitably loot another off an enemy's corpse before long.

I suppose there's a chance that things will click for me eventually, but for now I'm feeling thoroughly whelmed by Convrgence. It's not a complete skip, but I can't exactly share a glowing recommendation for it, either. Maybe I'll feel better about the game with a few more updates under its belt, but that's the last thing you want to say about any game right out of Early Access. We'll see if Monkey-With-a-Bomb can win me over in the long run.

In addition to the new song, the spooky update also brings limited time changes to the Spin City home stage and play stage. Bats flap their shadowy wings against the spooky night sky, while neon bloom and flash effects hit standalone headsets.

The update is out now on Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam.

Watch the trailer here:

This latest update follows recent news of Synth Riders adding hand-tracking support to Quest 3 and 3S. With hand tracking, Synth Riders is positioned to support Meta's recently announced VR Glasses from day one, a trend we expect to see other developers experiment with to keep in line with support on the latest XR hardware.

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

According to Supernatural, Early Access users can expect to find "thousands of workouts from day one, including your favorites, remastered, with brand-new workouts dropping every week." Also they say there will be new environments included, with new "higher-definition" environments expected in the future.

In a move sure to please their existing users, Supernatural says users will be able to "bring your Supernatural history with you, including points, streaks, favorites, and badges." This is a major win for the Supernatural user community, and has been a concern of users who have amassed streaks and points totals that they use as a measure of their personal progress.

In a new development, Supernatural will offer in-game collectibles. They say Founding Members will receive "...your Founding Member custom bat from day one, with more Founding Member rewards dropping regularly over the coming weeks." This is a new level of customization for Supernatural, which previously had a single type of bat and boxing glove for all users.

Supernatural says that they are working on many future enhancements, including music licensing deals, a new multi-player workout mode, and a new mobile app to "track your progress and heart rate, and stay connected on the go".

Early Access will be launching "soon" according to Supernatural, and will be open to everyone, regardless of Founding Member status. However, those users who register as a Founding Member prior to the Early Access launch will secure their discounted first-year rate, plus the new digital collectibles. Once Early Access launches, Founding memberships will no longer be available.

As reported by UploadVR, Supernatural was put into maintenance mode by Meta in January 2026, after being acquired in 2023. Coaches and staff were laid off, and no new content was to be produced, though users could use the existing workout library.

In June 2026 it was announced that Supernatural would re-launch as part of a new, independent company called Supernatural Health, with all of the existing coaches and some of the previous design talent joining the new venture.

The app is available on the Meta Quest store, with the subscription for content available for $20 per month or $200 per year ($180 for Founding members' first year).

We played Spymaster in Early Access, finding that Innerspace's signature charm from their previous titles carried over to this new spy-themed adventure. You control multiple spies in sandbox-like missions with a goal of getting each agent to the mission's end.

Here is a clip from my Early Access play:

If you screw up, as in the above clip where I get shot multiple times, this is where the quirkiness comes in. A device on your wrist called the C.A.S.S.E.T.T.E. allows you to rewind time and replay snippets of the mission from either agent's viewpoint, allowing you to fix mistakes in a run, complete secondary objectives, or simply fine-tune the run.

It's a novel concept that encourages replayability to perfect a run without any anxiety-inducing tension. Basically, having a veritable reset button means you can find your own path at your own pace. I will be revisiting Spymaster to complete the campaign and will have a final review in a future article.

Spymaster is available now on Quest and Steam.

Payne's Valley is the first in a planned series of five Big Cedar Lodge courses coming to the popular golf sim in the next few weeks. The others will be Buffalo Ridge, Ozarks National, Top of the Rock, and Cliffhangers.

Here's the narrated trailer for Payne Valley:

The southwest Missouri-based course was named in memory of golfer Payne Stewart, a Missouri native who won one PGA Championship in 1989 and the 1991 and 1999 US Opens before passing away later in 1999. Woods designed the course to be accessible to golfers of every skill level, with wide fairways and tight runoffs. It also features a bonus par-3 nineteenth hole designed by Johnny Morris, the owner of Bass Pro Shops who partnered with Woods and others on the overall course.

Payne's Valley is available now for $11.99. Players can also subscribe to the GOLF+ Pass service for $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) to get access to all courses.

Immersive Putting To Spin Off To Its Own App

The mixed reality Immersive Putting mode, which allows you to use a real putter and golf ball in your own play space with a virtual green overlaid on your floor, is being spun off to a separate app alongside the main game. Any players who have the current GOLF+ Pass subscription service can rest assured it will carry over to the new app. All stats, handicaps, and medals will also carry over.

This allows players to choose different courses to separately choose which courses to download for full rounds of golf versus ones just designated for putting. It also will negate the need to switch from controllers to hand tracking, depending on the selected mode. The new app is targeted for early November.

GOLF+ is out now on Quest for $29.99 and comes with three original courses. It is also available as part of Meta's Horizon+ subscription service. It can be wishlisted on Steam now ahead of its upcoming release on that platform.

We will have a full list of every PC VR demo when Next Fest starts next week, but multiple developers have opted to release their demos ahead of time, so if you are looking for something to check out on PC VR this weekend, consider these demos.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Most of these are games we learned of in VR games showcases earlier this year.

Rustmourne

We first revealed this Dead Space-like sci-fi first person shooter at the summer edition of our UploadVR Showcase in June. It has since racked up over 20,000 wishlists as of the end of August. Rustmourne launches in early 2027.

Get the Rustmourne demo here.

The Rifted Skies

The Rifted Skies was born out of developer DreamVR's desire to see more physical, player-driven movement in consumer VR games similar to the location-based-entertainment (LBE) experiences the company has previously built. The action-roguelike involves outrunning a world-consuming rift with arm pumping movement and parkour. It was first announced at the VR Games Showcase earlier this summer.

Get The Rifted Skies demo here.

RAID VR

R.A.I.D. stands for Rapid Assault & Interception Division where you serve as an intergalactic border patrol agent of sorts, inspecting ships and intercepting any that flag as suspicious. When you spot any red flags, you board the ship and engage in an action-packed shootout to defeat the criminals and seize the ship's cargo. The co-op roguelite is being developed by FusionPlay and will be published by Impact Inked.

Get the RAID VR demo here.

Board of the Future

Another from summer's UploadVR Showcase, Board of the Future is the spiritual successor to 2019's hoVRboard. The futuristic hoverboard rider can be played at a leisurely pace with multiple tricks to learn, unlockable stages, and new boards with different characteristics. The demo features a limited selection of boards and maps with 'some features still under development.'

Get the Board of the Future demo here.

Hyperlane Highway

Hyperlane Highway is another futuristic hoverboard experience, albeit one with combat and a roguelite game loop. You steer your board by physically leaning left or right. The demo has one class, three environments, one boss fight, and a cap on playtime and runs.

Get the Hyperlane Highway demo here.

Stuffed: Two Foot Hero

Stuffed: Two Foot Hero is a cooperative VR wave shooter where you play as the stuffed teddy bear owned by a little girl. You must fend off hordes of enemies to defend said little girl from her nightmares. The demo supports multiplayer with one map and a full arsenal of weapons to choose from.

Get the Stuffed: Two Foot Hero demo here.

Crashland

Editor's discretion here because I learned this game was coming to Steam when I checked the available demos. Personally speaking, sci-fi wave shooter Crashland is one of the hardest VR games I have ever played. You play as the worst spaceship pilot ever who inexplicably keeps crashing on hostile alien planets. You are forced to fend off an onslaught of aggressive creatures until your rescue ship arrives. New weapons and temporary power ups are airdropped to you periodically and believe me when I say you will need all of them. Between worlds, you can add perks to increase your chances of survival. The Steam version is a hybrid game with redesigned controls for flatscreen players, but the demo supports VR.

Get the Crashland demo here.

Interlocked: Puzzle Islands

We reviewed Interlocked: Puzzle Islands when it launched on Quest, saying "In a medium that often prioritizes excitement, tension, horror, and dopamine drip, Interlocked: Puzzle Islands feels radical in its serenity. It reminds me of what makes games like Lumines and Echochrome so impactful, not just as puzzles to be played and solved, but as experiences." At the time, we noted that a Steam release was in the works. This is a hybrid release with mouse and keyboard support, but the demo is VR supported.

Get the Interlocked: Puzzle Islands demo here.

Look for the full list of Steam Next Fest PC VR demos when the event begins on October 19.

The approximately 24-minute experience (27 minutes, including credits) invites you into the story that takes place in 19th-century London, to both witness and feel what it is like to be haunted. 

Remnants is a beautifully shot live-action ghost story. The limits of what you can see in its 180-degree immersive video and use of some traditional film techniques actually make the experience feel more unnerving.

You Do Not Feel Safe, Even As a Witness to What Unfolds

The Remnants experience does not give you a role in the story. You are invited back in time to witness what takes place. With no character to embody, West presents a wide range of views for you to take in, from extreme close-up moments with the characters, to bird’s-eye views of inside and outside the castle. The range of shot choices feels similar to a traditional film. 

During the slower introductory scene ahead of the visit to the haunted castle, the angles and quick cuts between the dialogue place more emphasis on the filmmaker than the ability to feel present with the characters and the story. But as the eerie experience unfolds, the selected perspectives start to feel intentionally unsettling. You are not able to choose where you appear or what you hear or are faced with within the 180-degree views. You are trapped in a slightly different way than the main character, Eleanor. The direction is a clever method to reduce the sense of control that you have in an experience that is already not interactive.

You Are Almost Like a Ghost

Throughout the experience at the castle, the fear, intriguing visuals, spatial sound and score make you feel present. The characters do not engage with you though, and you do not see your shadow or reflection. At moments, especially during some of the smooth longer shots I felt like I was floating and could have been a ghost. But this was not consistent throughout and does not seem like West’s intent. Even without a role, and frequent cuts to a range of perspectives, the way that you experience the story still makes it seem as if you are there with Eleanor and there is reason to be afraid.

A Haunting Story, Not Just A Series Of Scares

At approximately 24 minutes, Remnants is among the short list of longer Apple Immersive videos currently available. This gives enough time for the narrative to unfold which is helpful in building the eerie feeling of being in it. You are given the luxury of being able to take in the details of the environments in the story, which adds to the experience. This is not just a haunted castle visit with a series of jump cuts.

Did I scream at possibly more than one surprise? Absolutely. There were also a few moments I had a hand on my headset, ready to exit to reality if needed.

Beat Games has announced the latest shock drop for Beat Saber. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. brings the title track from the 1984 blockbuster film Ghostbusters to the VR rhythm workout game.

Who you gonna call? Beat Saber!

Anyway, here's a trailer.

An update released to coincide with the Shock Drop fixes a number of bugs across several environments, and upgrades the game's Level Editor. The complete list of updates can be seen here.

This spooky season-themed Shock Drop joins previous songs released this year, including "APT" by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars last month, Yungblud's "Zombie" in June, Bad Bunny's "Me Porto Bonito" in February and "Stressed Out" from Twenty One Pilots in March.

The game also added three new free original songs in May for its eight-year anniversary, and Meta announced the game's biggest update ever is adding a new gameplay mode called Flux, full hand tracking support and a new progression system. This update will launch in spring 2027 to coincide with the recently revealed Meta VR Glasses.

Ghostbusters for Beat Saber is available now on Quest and PC VR for $1.99.

The new chapter will be available to all players who purchased the $18.99 Story Pass add-on at no additional cost. When I reviewed Knights of Fiona at launch, I said the story was arguably the best part of the game and almost managed to overcome what I felt was unsatisfying combat, a nearly unbearable number of loading screens, and multiple issues with audio dialogue cutoffs and translation.

Developer Character Bank has taken player feedback from players and addressed many of the stated issues with three patches since release, including the following:

• A reduction of up to 80% in loading times
• Skippable tutorial and opening sequences
• Streamlined party fanfare and boss introductions when a quest is replayed
• Fixes for bugs that blocked the completion of certain quests
• Raising the level cap from 40 to 45

I will revisit Knights of Fiona when chapter six is added next week and offer my updated thoughts in a future article.

Stuffed: Two Foot Hero, first revealed at August's VR Games Showcase, is the successor to developer Waving Bear Studio's Stuffed, which released on Xbox in 2023 and Steam in 2024.

In Two Foot Hero, you take on the role of a stuffed teddy bear protecting a little girl from her nightmares in what fans have called "Call of Duty meets Toy Story."

The Steam demo features one full map, the full array of weapons, some cosmetics, and a 'taste' of the progression system. It also supports multiplayer. At the time of this article, we do not know if progression from the demo will carry over to the full game at launch. The full game will have six maps at launch and, like the original, supports four-player co-op gameplay.

Stuffed: Two Foot Hero launches for Quest and PC VR on November 3.

Sandisk describes this as a partnership with Meta and says it will be the "exclusive provider" of next-generation flash storage solutions for Meta VR Glasses when they launch in spring 2027.

The lineup includes microSD Express memory cards and USB-C flash drives, which Sandisk describes as "official Meta-tested" products. The company has not announced specific storage capacities or prices.

Meta's recently announced VR Glasses will ship with 128GB of internal storage and feature an expandable microSD card slot in the compute puck, a first for the company's VR products and a move likely intended to ease rising memory costs.

Alongside this, Meta has been gradually improving support for external storage in Horizon OS. Recent additions include the ability to browse and manage connected drives directly in the system Files app. An "Open With" menu also lets you open files in compatible 2D apps, including the system Media Player for supported media files.

In Horizon OS 2.9 PTC, the Settings app also now recognizes and lists external storage locations alongside the system's internal storage, allowing you to manage data across the device in one place.

Sandisk's new storage offerings will be the latest in a long line of accessories sold under Meta's Made for Meta label. The program allows third parties to build products "authorized by Meta" that meet its quality and compatibility standards. This includes notable hardware accessories such as the Logitech MX Ink.

Daumier: Lila & Ghost is a co-operative, story-driven VR puzzle game designed for two players. A second free copy of the game will be provided for every player who buys it during the first month of its availability. This free copy can be shared with anyone the buyer wishes.

In Daumier: Lila & Ghost, two players explore the same narrative adventure through different timelines by solving co-operative VR puzzles together. Clear communication and teamwork will be critical to solving the game's mysteries and completing its story.

A trailer has been released showing the game's beautiful visuals and co-operative mechanics in action.

In order to claim the second free copy of the game, players who purchase during the first month following the October 15 release will need to join the designated channel in the official Daumier Discord server.

In July, we were able to run through the first area of the game during an Alpha test with the game's community manager. We found it to be a gorgeous game with interesting puzzles, and an experience that left our writer eagerly awaiting the game's release.

We'll have a full review posted just after launch.

Daumier: Lila & Ghost is available now on Quest.

The original flatscreen version of Titanfall 2 leveraged an innovative combination of free-flowing movement, precision shooting mechanics, and mech-based combat to make you feel like the most powerful force on the battlefield.

While certain aspects of Titanfall 2 are more effective in VR, others get lost in translation. In the end, though there are frequent moments throughout its campaign that remind you the original game was not made with VR in mind, the Titanfall 2 VR Mod is still one of the best VR mods I’ve ever played.

What is Titanfall 2?

Titanfall 2 was one of the more interesting games released in the 2010s. It was made by Respawn Entertainment, at the time a new studio comprised of developers who had previously worked on the Call of Duty series, and it served as a follow-up to that studio’s highly anticipated first game, 2014’s Titanfall.

While the original Titanfall was well-regarded as a game with incredible mechanics that truly innovated the formulaic first-person shooter genre, with critics citing its parkour-infused run and gun combat and the ability to pilot enormous mechs in ever-fluid combat scenarios as major strengths, it was a multiplayer-only experience that landed prior to a time when multiplayer-only live-service games were an established force in the industry. As such, Titanfall left many reviewers and players wishing for a single-player campaign.

In 2016, Titanfall 2 addressed those wishes, launching with a single-player campaign that many critics and reviewers praised as an instant classic.

In Titanfall 2, you play as Militia rifleman Jack Cooper, who aspires to be a Titan Pilot. When a battle on the planet Typhon goes horribly wrong and Cooper’s commanding officer is mortally wounded, he spends his dying breath to transfer control of his Titan, BT-7274, to Cooper. Now, with the help of BT, Cooper must avenge his fallen comrade, stop the enemy from using a superweapon to destroy the Militia’s home planet, and earn the right to call himself a Pilot.

The game’s great gameplay hook was its mobility. This wasn’t a slow-paced FPS or a lumbering shooter. In Titanfall and its sequel, players sprint and wall-run and double jump with the help of sci-fi tech. In addition, the player often jumps into the cockpit of their faithful Titan, battling other Titans and infantry as a super-powered mech warrior. The relationship between Cooper and BT takes center stage, too, resulting in an incredibly evocative and affecting story of battlefield comradeship.

Though Titanfall as a series has been dormant since Titanfall 2’s release, its 2019 spin-off, Apex Legends, has become one of the most successful free-to-play battle-royale shooters of all time.

And What is Titanfall 2 VR?

Last month, a modder known as CircuitLord released a full conversion virtual reality mod for Titanfall 2’s single-player campaign. It features 6DOF movement, tracked motion controls, and fully articulated hands with finger tracking support. Established VR shooter norms are here, too, such as manual reloads and realistic weapon handling in which you physically eject magazines, grab fresh ones, and cock weapons by hand.

The VR port retains the fast-paced parkour mechanics of the original game, allowing you to double-jump, wall-run, and sprint slide independently of weapon aiming. You’ll also physically jump into your mech, using hand gestures to activate weapons and abilities, and like its source, the VR game is visually arresting and stunningly beautiful.

The mod launches with an incredibly simple installer that automatically detects your game files and works with any VR headset capable of connecting to a PC. We covered the noteworthiness of the mod's ease of use in another article, and it really is impressive.  

Power Fantasy? Or Presence?

So, that's Titanfall 2 in VR. But is it any good?

The bones are solid. The mod launches quickly and easily, the game runs great, and through the full campaign playthrough, I experienced zero bugs and no crashes. As far as mods go, there’s technically nothing to complain about. It looks great, sounds awesome, and feels nice.

But that’s not to say that Titanfall 2 VR is intrinsically better than Titanfall 2 on flatscreen devices. In some ways, it's true. In others, it’s not.

The best part of Titanfall 2 on flatscreen platforms was the power fantasy. You were a Pilot with a legendary companion in the Titan, and whether piloting BT or running and gunning on foot, after the campaign’s first half hour, you were the most fearsome soldier on the battlefield.

In VR, this is no longer the case. The gunplay is slower, the combat occasionally awkward. No matter how much you practice, every now and then you're going to fumble with weapons or screw up a reload. And nothing makes you feel less like a super soldier than dropping a mag in the middle of a reload or accidentally lobbing a grenade six feet shorter than you intended.

There are many design elements in the game that make it obvious that the original developers did not intend for Titanfall 2 to be played in VR. Weapons are complex, with critical parts, like bolts, which are a little too small to grip easily. Weapon swapping itself is cumbersome and clunky. Aiming down sights takes a lot of getting used to.

Similarly, the flatscreen game's legendary mobility is less effective in VR. While wall running and sprint sliding are still here and super useful, there's just not as much fluidity, speed, or effortlessness. Part of this comes down to the simple fact that you're standing while playing, moving your body around to get where you want to go, physically crouching or weaving. For some, this will be extremely engaging. For me, someone who's played over 500 hours in Apex Legends (a game that's grown out of Titanfall 2's movement mechanics) it's just kind of clumsy.

But I'm being intentionally harsh. I love Titanfall 2, and the original game on which this mod is based is one that is legitimately among the best games ever made in the FPS genre. Can its VR mod possibly measure up?

The truth is that in Titanfall 2 VR, unlike in the game’s flatscreen progenitor, you are not a super soldier and gunplay and mobility are far from the best parts of the game. Instead, the best parts of Titanfall 2 VR are the parts with heart.

The relationship with BT, which has arguably always been as important as the game's mechanics or game feel, is even more captivating than ever here in VR. BT is enormous, towering over you in virtual reality. He exists in real space, leaps into battles and smashes enemies; he picks you up in the palm of his hand and famously javelin throws you across the void. He struggles with you and succeeds with you, shoots you thumbs-up, which you can shoot back. He lives and dies on the battlefield with you, and the sense of connection with your larger-than-life mech is frankly powerful in VR.

So, the question is: what’s more important? Feeling powerful, or feeling connected?

Because, while the Titanfall 2 VR mod is a great mod, it isn’t perfect and it’s not a native VR experience. There’s jank, jitters, and flaws that don’t exist in the flatscreen game. And some other VR shooters play better.

But Titanfall 2 VR is a special experience, a must-play, just not for the same reasons it was a must-play on flat. It's more interesting than that. As BT says, "Trust me."

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

Quality magic is not a series of tricks. It is the real feeling that audiences get when they witness an engaging performance that feels like the impossible took place. Being present in a live-captured immersive video magic performance offers a special opportunity because not only can you watch several unedited performances take place, but you can also choose to re-experience the moments and watch the feeling of magic take over the audience members close to you, as well as magician Siegfried Tieber’s reactions. 

The experience is split into two stand-alone episodes that are about 20 minutes each. They include different performances and some quick insights into several elements that are important to magicians when performing... without giving away secrets of course. Both episodes are now available free to Fovii subscribers or to rent or buy on the app. They are also available for purchase on Front Row.

Small Spaces Force a Sense of Presence

Most performance spaces at The Magic Castle are designed for smaller audiences to get up-close with the magic. The proximity to the magician as well as other audience members makes you feel like a part of the show, instead of a spectator. 

In You Are Here: At the Magic Castle with Siegfried Tieber, you are invited into the Close-Up Gallery, which is often the toughest room to get into, and the Library Bar. You are at most a few feet away from the magic being performed while viewing the show from an audience seat, and in some cases you are right next to Siegfried Tieber. The natural but abnormally close camera placements make you feel present at the show. The magician sometimes glances at you as a member of the audience (and a possible method of controlling your attention). You are also able to take in the range of ways that audience members transition from possible disbelief to absolute shock and awe, along with you.

A Simple Setup Serves The Performance

The production has at most two cameras capturing Siegfried Tieber in the Close-Up room, and simpler captures elsewhere. But that is all that is needed to let you take in the experience of live magic up-close. Jumping back and forth from too many locations would have created an unintended distraction, and the magic is good enough to let you pause, rewind and rewatch uninterrupted shots without catching on to any methods. The switches happen at just the right times.

Live capture is valuable for this type of magic. In a digitally created environment, the story of an impossible moment could be dismissed as something programmed to happen. As I learned creating Magicians in VR, the first live magic show and event in VR, mentalism is the best type of magic to leverage in digitally created environments. Penn & Teller’s VR experience blended digital and real worlds. There is close-up magic as well as mentalism performed in You Are Here: At The Magic Castle.

Storytelling Invites You Into The Castle And The Art of Magic

In addition to the performances, I appreciate that the narrative in the experience layered in some of the history of magic and The Magic Castle, along with what it is like to be a magician. 

It is more than just an immersive magic show; it is a visit to one of the most significant magic destinations. Locations like The Magic Castle, David Copperfield’s International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts and even private magic collections like those owned by David Blaine are not highly accessible. Immersive access lets you watch the planned story unfold, while also controlling your experience in a small way by looking around to take in the details that interest you. The show is about more than the effects.

The shots of Siegfried Tieber speaking to camera that took place in a venue outside of the Magic Castle were the only elements that felt disjointed from the experience. It made more sense when his non-performance shots were in the Close-Up Room or the bar inside the entrance of The Magic Castle.

Combined, parts 1 and 2 of the experience are about 40 minutes and while they are not written in a manner that directly connects the narrative between the two, I recommend watching them both to get up-close with the range of magic performed.

Strategy games are almost perfect for VR - positioning a player like a gamemaster above the board, from which you can make your moves and witness the action all around you in the most immersive way possible. In the case of BattleGroupVR2, a space-faring strategy game sequel now available in Early Access, this takes the form of assuming your role as the captain on the bridge of a spaceship, controlling both your own ship and a fleet of allies in dogfights and traversal through deep space.

With the vastness of space at your fingertips and deep tactical gameplay, it’s a tantalizing proposition, one which propelled the original title into becoming a VR success story. There’s nothing quite like dictating the action of intergalactic warfare like pieces on a chessboard, only to see the action take place on a grand scale around you in real time. Even in the first game, the execution on this idea was already great. The promise of this sequel is to build upon the foundations of that game, not to necessarily transform them. Which feels accurate based on first impressions of my first few hours with the game in Early Access, though there are a few notable changes alongside a host of familiar ideas given a dose of polish between the first and second games.

For one, BattleGroupVR2 has received a rather spiffing visual overhaul. Jumping into the game’s tutorial, the vastness of the adventure ahead of you feels immediately apparent. A hologram of your ship sits in front of you as you look on at both the crew of your space vessel and the deep space beyond. Using a mix of the grips on the controller as well as the analog sticks to rotate and zoom both your ship and the miniaturized representation of the solar system you exist within, this serves as a virtual approximation of your surroundings from which you can point to a location in 3D space to command your ship in that direction.

A lot of time will be spent merely traversing through this vast expanse, which makes it helpful that the game can be sped up 5x or even 10x during long downtimes of moving through asteroid fields. Things get more interesting when you enter combat. Not only do you have full control over your own ship and the others in your fleet, you can influence battles by tactically moving ships behind debris for cover, choosing where to aim your assault, or strategically shifting power between a ship’s weapons, shields and engines in order to prioritize their offensive or defensive capabilities. All to most effectively counter and defend against enemy assault.

There’s a granular control to each area of your ship and skirmish that provides the depth of gameplay hardcore fans of the genre will desire, all while introducing these ideas in a way that won’t overwhelm newcomers. It helps that more attuned players can simply increase map size or difficulty to cater to their abilities and playstyle. It avoids situations where the difficulty curve can feel too steep for a game to reach mainstream appeal, with my only issues being that I occasionally found the controls in more congested moments featuring more enemies and allies clunky to navigate as pointers would snag against incorrect allies or enemies.

It’s effective overall, feeling dynamic yet also catered to your approach to each scenario, making any narrative journey through space or idle battle thrilling as you become attuned to implementing complex strategies and ideas on the fly amidst the game’s real-time combat.

BattleGroupVR2 is also a visual upgrade over the first game, yet there’s certainly an overwhelming sense of familiarity with the package being offered here. The narrative Open World mode is very similar in concept to the first game’s campaign, though this game at least does a strong job of attuning an educational journey through the game’s mechanics to an ever-growing sci-fi story.

You start off your adventure looking for allies in the galaxy, a quest that sends you warping between familiar and unfamiliar areas collecting supplies and defeating scavengers to eventually build a fleet that can assert themselves in a fight for dominance. While the separate tutorial is a necessary on-ramp even for veterans, this is a great way to fully come to terms with everything this game has to offer, wrapped in something more purposeful from a story perspective as it wraps lessons on supply management within the context of a universe.

For those who prefer to focus on the dogfight action, skirmish mode focused solely on these conflict moments is an option, though also feels remarkably similar to the original game’s skirmish mode in its current form. Gauntlet mode is new, but feels more like a variation on this tried-and-tested skirmish as opposed to something unique. Multiplayer is available for those who wish to duke it out with friends or opponents, and an endless mode is neat in the sense it allows for competitive leadership building and encourages a focus on ship parts and builds to survive the longest.

Yet it’s Conquest mode that will likely be the most tantalizing feature the more that the community builds around BattleGroupVR2, and already shows early signs of exciting emergent gameplay in this current form. This is a shared online galaxy where players can find allies and factions while contesting for control in a shared universe where everyone competes for dominance. It’s the sort of end goal of tactics gaming where everyone intimately familiar with these ideas is forced to face each other, and is already intriguing even in this early state. As with any long-running persistent strategy match, the true test of the game will take months to reveal itself as rivalries and alliances entrenched over months begin to assert themselves.

It’s the closest to truly being a commander of a space army when you can build long-term plans, including betraying your friends, for the goal of ultimate control, if it all plays out long-term, but it’s interesting even in this current state.

Letting the game down is the voice acting. At this stage, all voices for all characters were created using AI speech synthesis with a grating-sounding output. It should be noted the team plans to replace these with human actors by the time the game is ready to leave Early Access, but their inclusion here is a major detriment to the audio experience of the game. Everything important appears in textboxes that can also be read by the player, meaning it would have been just as effective if not more so to simply leave out voices altogether rather than having grating-sounding AI.

It’s a downer on what is otherwise an engrossing sequel and a great example of why these sorts of games feel so at home on the platform. Being able to pick a ship in 3D space and command it like a commander at the battlefield, watching it fly by or witnessing the results of my attacks, or making a decision to go to warp speed and physically taking that journey, is wonderful to experience and truly unique in a way no other platform can replicate even if it feels like a polished version of the familiar.

I'm sure plenty of us have taken a spoon, pencil, or any other kind of stick-like object and pretended to draw a motion in the air like we're trying to cast a magic spell - at least after we've watched Harry Potter. The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand lets you do exactly that and actually have a fireball shoot out afterward - though the path to being a master wizard is quite a challenge.

Spain-based developer Master Crowd Games entered the stage of VR with its musical title Rock Invasion, and now it looks to perform a magic show with its latest shooter, The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand. This mystifying VR experience was first announced back in January before finally emerging in time for the Halloween season.

You take on the role of a disgraced stage magician who comes across a magic wand enchanted by a mysterious spirit. Said spirit allows you to perform real magic spells, and the magician hopes to use this to find his missing twin brother. However, the world is currently being invaded by an undead army from another dimension called The Remnant, and it falls to you to use your newfound powers to blast these creatures back to the grave by finding the pages of the spirit’s lost spellbook before they take over your abandoned theater hideout.

The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand has a haunting, gothic atmosphere thanks to its grim visuals and haunting music. The world around you is a ruined place, and your adventure will carry you through grimy sewers and abandoned towns aflame. The spirit of the wand communicates through glowing, floating writing like a ghost in a horror movie, and the enemies crawl toward you with decaying flesh and sickly green eyes. I wouldn’t say the game's too scary, though.

Once you’ve collected the corresponding spellbook pages, spells are performed by holding down the upper right trigger and drawing the required gesture in the air before letting go. These spells run the gamut of mystical energy bolts, shields made of playing cards that can block a few enemy attacks, and icy winds that can freeze foes to buy you more time to focus on another group.

It can be tricky to aim at first, as the small targeting reticle is rather easy to miss. The motion controls are fairly intuitive, even if the gestures themselves can be difficult to pull off when surrounded by enemies. Luckily, you can project which gesture you need to perform with a button press, and switching between them is as easy as pressing another button.

Battles take place in closed off areas that you access via a map in the main hub room. The objective is to defeat all of the enemies without dying yourself. On your left hand is a health/mana gauge that keeps track of how many hits you’ve taken and how much magic you’ve used. Take too many hits, and you will fail the battle and be sent back to the hub room. Each wave of enemies is headed toward the theater, and if you die during an attack there, the game ends.

Luckily, if this happens you can start a new run with your unlocked spells and upgrades. Be prepared to grind through the first few days of the game before building enough health and stamina to survive the more challenging later battles.

Clues about what happened to your twin brother come in the form of “Echoes,” which are earned from completed waves. When you collect enough Echoes, another clue unlocks in the theater. These take the form of mementos that appear on a shelf, each one a cryptic piece of the ever-expanding puzzle.

If you wish for an even greater challenge, you can try Nightmare mode, which streamlines the game to a fixed number of battles against stronger and longer waves of enemies. Here, one death will restart the campaign, no matter where that death occurs.

The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand - Final Verdict

The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand is an intense challenge, but it's also a lot of fun. If you've ever wanted a VR Harry Potter game where you can wave a magic wand to perform all kinds of powerful spells, this is about as close as it gets. The motion controls are easy to pick up, yet difficult to master, and the story contains a creepy mystery to keep you moving through multiple playthroughs.

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

Called the "Thank You, Recruit! Update," it drops on October 15, bringing a whole slew of changes to the well-reviewed game.

First and foremost, the game has received a massive behind-the-scenes upgrade to its core engine, from Unreal 4 to Unreal 5.7. On the content-side, the game gets two new modes: Ascension Mode offers an ever-increasing difficulty to test your skills, while Daily Mode offers new leaderboards and wacky modifiers to present "unique and sometimes ridiculous challenges and surprises."

The new update also brings optional hand tracking implementation to Quest platforms. Hand tracking is auto-detected, allowing for seamless transition between hands and controllers, plus a new tutorial has been implemented to familiarize players with the new hand tracking controls.

The addition of hand tracking likely was spurred by Meta's recent announcement of its upcoming VR device VR Glasses, which can play all Quest games but does not ship with controllers. Every game that Meta spotlighted during its most recent Connect, during which VR Glasses debuted, emphasized full hand tracked control schemes. Mothergunship now joins their ranks.

Lastly, the developers of Mothergunship: Forge are keen to mention that the update brings "a ton of polishing, balancing fixes, bug fixes, and connecting issue fixes that we've been wanting to tackle over the last couple of years."

We reviewed Mothergunship: Forge back in 2022, describing the game as "an outrageous amount of fun."

Mothergunship: Forge can be found on Quest, where it's rated 4.7 out of 5 stars, and on Steam, where it has earned a Very Positive rating.

Mothergunship: Forge Review - Ridiculous, Riotously Fun Roguelite

Mothergunship: Forge isn’t a roguelite revelation, but its central hook makes for an outrageous amount of fun. Here’s our full Mothergunship: Forge review. I named him Goliath and I loved him. He was fitted with a chaingun at the front that ripped apart any that dared stand in

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Pico and TikTok owner ByteDance first mentioned the existence of its next headset during a presentation in November 2025, revealing some key specifications. The company then publicly teased the device back in March, calling it 'Project Swan'.

Pico said the headset will have micro-OLED panels with 4000 pixels per inch (PPI), a dual-chip architecture with a self-developed coprocessor for computer vision and image processing, and a new main processor that will have twice the CPU and GPU performance of the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 in today's Pico 4 Ultra and Meta Quest 3 headsets. It also detailed many of the visionOS-like features of Pico OS 6 and the RealityKit-like Pico Spatial Engine.

Pico’s Next Headset Has 4000 PPI Micro-OLEDs, Powerful New Chip & Next-Gen OS

ByteDance’s Pico announced the key display and compute specs of its next headset, coming later this year, and detailed the revamped XR operating system it will run.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Pico simultaneously opened applications for a "Global Early Access Program" that provided closed beta access to Pico OS 6 and the Project Swan headset.

The company said it would choose "a select few with deep expertise across XR platforms" to join the program, and wanted "rigorous feedback" on the hardware and software before a wider release.

While the company showed a stylized silhouette of the headset, it did not show an actual image or render, nor did it give any details at all about the design.

Then, in June, videos depicting the design were found to be present in a public Pico SDK.

The Design Of Pico’s Next Headset Leaked Via SDK Videos

The design of Pico’s next headset leaked in videos from a public SDK, and it looks like a cross between Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The clips showed a headset that is clearly inspired by both Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR, with a rear strap almost identical to the former's Solo Knit Band and a visor and forehead pad strongly resembling the latter. They also showed an external tethered puck.

In August, the company announced a launch event for the device via Asia-region social media channels, and also revealed the product name to be Pico Space Pro. However, just days later, the company abruptly announced the cancelation of the event, and noted that the device would be delayed to Q4 2026.

Then, in September, Pico Space Pro appeared to have received FCC certification the day before its originally planned launch event.

Pico Space Pro Appears To Receive FCC Certification Following Delay To Q4

A new Pico device, highly likely the upcoming Space Pro, received FCC certification following a delay to Q4. Filings reveal a tethered compute and battery puck.

UploadVRLuna

The filings list a "Mixed Reality Computer", with separate entries for the headset and external tethered puck under FCC IDs 2A5NV-AA1Z0 and 2A5NV-B3110, respectively. Their labels describe the two components as a "Mixed Reality Headset" and a "Mixed Reality Main Unit", respectively, with B3110 as the model number for both.

Now, Japanese regulatory filings have surfaced with images that show the physical device.

The documents are listed under certification number 202-JWM032, and the device carries the same model number, B3110, as the US FCC filings. Its overall design matches the SDK renders, including the rear strap, visor, and forehead pad.

However, this unit's color scheme and finish differ from the SDK renders, instead resembling those of Vivo's Vision headset, an Apple Vision Pro competitor that was announced and demonstrated in 2025 but has yet to fully launch commercially.

The documents also include teardown images of the device, offering a look at its front camera and sensor array, optical modules, and a central cooling fan.

The filings do not show a direct look at the external tethered puck. However, a test-setup photo shows a camouflaged version of the headset on a desk, with a similarly camouflaged box-like object directly behind it.

It remains to be seen exactly when Pico Space Pro will launch, though the company says it is now targeting Q4 2026. The short-term confidentiality period for documents in the US FCC filings is set to expire on February 28, 2027.

Terry's Terraforming was originally announced back in May under a different name, Janet's Planets. The game has been renamed and now has a release date, October 22, and price, $14.99 with a limited-time pre-order discount to $9.99.

Terry's Terraforming is a new VR terraforming space adventure about saving worlds. Your job is to transform dying planets and make them fit for new life. You'll meet all sorts of strange aliens, learn what makes them tick, and tailor worlds to fit their needs, all while a charming sci-fi story unfolds over a six-hour play time.

You'll also be able to use "Terry's SweetView" to instantly travel to a planet's surface, experiment in Sandbox mode, and take on daily challenges with global leaderboards.

Terry's Terraforming is being developed by Really Interactive, an indie developer based in Stockholm, Sweden that has previously created the original VR titles Toran (a short, and fantastic sci-fi puzzle game) and Virtuoso (a musical sandbox).

Terry's Terraforming is coming to Meta Quest 3 on October 22, and Steam at a later date.

James' Picks

When it comes to games, I'm a coward. I've said it enough times on our podcast that listeners will know I'm not usually interested in scary games. Still, over the years I've had quite a few gruesome and frightful experiences in a VR headset that are simply too good to resist.

Here are five of my favorite frightening VR games.

The 7th Guest VR

My first recommendation is probably the least outright terrifying game on the list, but that doesn't make it any less spooky. The 7th Guest VR is about as Halloween-y as it gets.

The game drops you inside the infamous Stauf Mansion, where you'll explore its haunted halls, uncover its buried secrets, and solve a collection of puzzles, all while supernatural forces make their ominous presence increasingly apparent.

The 7th Guest VR is a VR re-imagining of the classic point-and-click adventure The 7th Guest which first debuted on MS-DOS in 1993. As such, the new version has a delightfully old-school atmosphere. With full motion video actors playing the parts of the ghostly guests, and the haunted mansion itself acting as the star of the show, The 7th Guest is both nostalgic and unsettling.

The 7th Guest VR is available on Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam. Note: Purchasing the VR version will grant you access to the flat screen Remake, and vice versa, on PlayStation and Steam.

Dread Meridian

This atmospheric horror story has all the trappings of the best spooky fiction: abandoned research stations, frozen wastelands, and the uncomfortable feeling that you're seeing things no mortal was ever meant to see.

Released in January 2026 on Quest and Steam, Dread Meridian is a VR survival-horror game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, specifically his 1931 penned cosmic horror novella At the Mountains of Madness. You play as Daniela, searching for her missing twin on the frozen island of Oglanbyen, only to instead find mutated researchers and twisted nightmares.

True to its name, Dread Meridian is all about building dread. Its isolated setting and ominous atmosphere, plus the literary roots of its inspiration, give the game a particularly haunting feel while tropes like puzzle-solving, scavenging rare supplies, and dispatching hostile creatures with limited weaponry add that classic survival-horror touch.

Dread Meridian is available on Quest and Steam.

Metro Awakening

Dreadful horror games are nice. But every now and then you want one that makes some concessions to action. Metro Awakening is as scary and creepy as the best horror games, but it also lets you blast things with an arsenal of cobbled weaponry.

You play as a doctor searching for his missing wife (and the medicine she needs) in the underground Moscow Metro in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. You'll navigate tunnels filled with radiation, mutants, bandits, and supernatural nemeses.

The VR format takes the series' trademark survival mechanics and makes them considerably more immersive. You'll physically manage your weapons, ammunition, gas mask, and flashlight. When your resources start running low, so too will your nerves, as the darkness in VR becomes even more intimidating.

Metro Awakening is available on Quest, PlayStation VR2, and Steam.

MADiSON VR

If ever there was a game that made me regret putting on my headset, it's MADiSON VR. Remember when I said I'm a coward? This game may be the reason.

MADiSON VR is the VR version of MADiSON, a flat screen game that's often described as the scariest game ever made available upon any platform. It's a psychological horror game with extremely oppressive environments, violently disturbing scenarios and imagery, and an unshakable feeling of constant dread. In VR, it's the most disturbing game ever made.

You'll explore terribly frightening environments with nothing but a supernatural instant camera that allows you to capture but a glimpse of the nightmares lurking in the shadows. Of all the games on this list, this is the one for people who are seeking nothing but pure terror. It's a game for horror sickos (complimentary).

You can get MADiSON VR on Quest, but it's a definite downgrade over its PC VR and PlayStation VR2 counterparts. Grab it on PSVR2 or Steam if possible.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

Switchback VR is less terror and more spooky fun. It takes the concept of a haunted house theme park attraction and turns it into a VR rollercoaster.

The premise is simple: you're strapped into a roller coaster and sent hurtling through a series of horror scenes inspired by The Dark Pictures universe. Rather than slowly wandering through a creepy environment, or wrestling with hordes of zombies, Switchback is all about sudden scares and spectacle.

The game has an interesting blink mechanic, where things can change in the split second that your eyes are closed. This unique mechanic will have you questioning your sanity, something horror games have always attempted, but few can accomplish.

If you're looking for a game to pass around and play with some friends, something designed to make someone jump and yell with a VR headset, this is the easiest recommendation on the list.

You can get it exclusively on PlayStation VR2.

Mike's Picks

I could simply fire off popular games that most VR gamers are familiar with like Madison, Phasmophobia, and the excellent Resident Evil VR ports, but I'm going to go off the beaten path with my suggestions and dig up some older games.

James and I limited ourselves to five games each, but I want to give an honorable mention to my would-be sixth pick, Alien: Rogue Incursion, an excellent action-horror game from the now-defunct studio Survios marred by early performance issues and the unreasonable expectation of not being an official port or carbon copy of cult classic Alien: Isolation.

That said, here are my picks:

Cosmodread

One thing horror games can struggle with is replayability. Once you know where the proverbial landmines are, the game loses most of its appeal. Roguelikes are, by design, built to avoid this issue and Cosmodread is one of the few horror roguelikes out there. It is also the first horror game I ever 'noped' out of, though I did later go back and finish it.

You play as a scientist on a dying spaceship and have to repair, reboot, and refuel systems to escape to Earth in an escape pod. Complicating this is the near constant need for oxygen, delivered in one-shots from masks scattered around the ship. That and the crafting station you have to utilize for weapons and resources to defend yourself give you a reason to scavenge every nook and cranny of every room in the procedurally generated map. Visually, the game weaves grotesque flesh throughout the ship and the excellent sound design alone should have won an award.

Cosmodread is available for Quest and Steam.

Hinge

There are games that masquerade as psychological horror games while really just being yet-another jump-scare compilation and then there is Hinge, a total mind-word-I-can't-say-in-an-article of a psych horror experience I can barely begin to describe without giving away the plot. The no-spoiler synopsis is you investigate a mysterious 1920s hotel while trying to piece together your fractured memories.

From a gameplay standpoint, it plays out as navigating a series of interconnected hallways with the occasional trip into an unnerving alternate dimension. Hinge refuses to hold your hand and requires a fair amount of patience and attention to detail to progress. Action lovers should stay away, but if you want a game that challenges you mentally and can scare the hell out of you, Hinge is worth a look.

Hinge is available on Steam.

Edge of Nowhere

Before they were busy making nine-figure-budgeted Marvel games for PlayStation, Insomniac Games used to develop VR games for Meta's abandoned Oculus Rift store, including the Lovecraft-inspired Edge of Nowhere. As I write this, I am starting to realize how much I prefer psychological horror games, but this entry offers a lot more action than Hinge.

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, you play as Victor Howard, an explorer searching for his fiancée who was lost on an expedition to Antarctica. It's a relatively short game, clocking around three hours, and is played in third-person with a controller, so this is very much an acquired taste. If none of those caveats bother you, Edge of Nowhere is a great experience.

Edge of Nowhere is, sadly, only available on Meta's PC VR storefront.

Lies Beneath

The trailer for this Meta-exclusive action-horror FPS from developer Drifter, who also did the Quest port of Epic Games' Robo Recall, should be convincing enough for horror fans. Lies Beneath invokes a comic book aesthetic that looks fantastic in the headset, long before more well-known IP like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Men In Black did the same. Also, your 'health meter' is represented by an accumulation of literal blood on your hands, an incredibly clever and effective VR interpretation of a common video game feature.

You play as the survivor of a car crash near your hometown and set out to locate your missing father. In the course of your search, you face off with multiple grotesque creatures, including the creepiest VR quadrupeds this side of Half-Life: Alyx's headcrabs. Very little of this game is what it appears to be on the surface and the story that unfolds is equal parts riveting and disturbing with great VR action to boot.

Lies Beneath is available for Quest.

Propagation: Paradise Hotel

Okay, maybe I have a thing for hotels in horror games too. I'm going to be straight with you: I am bored with zombie shooters in VR and have been for years. So it takes an exceptionally well-designed title to engage me in the very notion of blowing off scores of zombie heads again. Propagation: Paradise Hotel pulls this off with an excellent combination of sound and level design. You play as Emily Diaz, a bartender at the titular Paradise Hotel who starts the game barricaded in the hotel kitchen with security guard Owen. A zombie outbreak has ravaged the hotel and surrounding city. In spite of warnings to sequester yourself to avoid infection, you set out to rescue your sister who is trapped elsewhere in the hotel.

The thing Paradise Hotel does really well compared to other zombie games is make them feel threatening. You do have weapons, but ammo is in short supply, so every shot counts and errant aim will leave you injured or worse very quickly, even if only faced with one assailant. Most of the hotel is blacked out, forcing you to light your way with a flashlight powered by batteries you constantly have to find and replace during your journey. That limited visibility adds to the tension and walking past a downed body always carries a feeling of dread that it will rise and attack you. I watched a friend livestream this game on Twitch and he was so unnerved he shot a wall that scared him when he turned around and ran into it. Paradise Hotel also doesn't lack for jump-scares, but they are sparingly used and never come off gratuitous.

Propagation: Paradise Hotel is available for PS VR2, Steam, and Quest.

And those are just ten of our favorite spooky VR games. Was your favorite included? What did we miss? Please share your favorite Halloween-y game in the comments section below!

Most horror games ratchet up the frights with clever sound design, low lighting, and a musical score that rises and lowers at opportune times to disturb you. Shil goes the total opposite direction, stripping the world down to next to nothing in a two-tone art style that is disturbingly effective. You are often times looking straight at seemingly nothing, but you know something is there. You can feel it. No screenshot or video I can add to this article can put the feeling of playing this game across. It has to be experienced to be appreciated.

I may be alone here, but one of the worst situations you can put me in is leaving me alone in a room with nothing but my thoughts. This is a crude metaphor, but playing Shil felt like sitting in a doctor's office waiting on test results. My mind kept going to the worst-case scenario. I got that same feeling of dread walking through Shil's world. Fear of the unknown can be very powerful, particularly in an environment with precious little available to distract your mind other than the path ahead.

You are trapped within the recesses of your shattered mind, tasked by an AI guide to reclaim your lost memories. This plays out as a series of rooms where you have to get from one end to the other by forging a path, defeating unseen enemies and manipulating available objects in the room to continue forward safely. Along the way, you pick up memories replayed in voiceovers to flesh out the story and make you question the intentions of your character, the AI guide, and other figures in your life. It sounds simpler than it is and you will breeze through the first couple of rooms, but then the amazing sound design and simple-but-effective obstacles will start to ramp up and make you pause and second-guess your next move.

Case in point, one of the first kinetic obstacles is a giant pistol on either side of you firing one-shot-kill bullets. Due to the aforementioned two-tone art style, said pistol is either black like the path, doorways, and pillars in front of you, or the other color in the room, say yellow for instance. You have a ball launcher that you use to recolor the yellow pathways in front of you. This launcher also works on the pistols, but turning the guns black for better visibility also turns the bullets black, meaning they completely disappear when over your walking path. So you either rely on the sight of the bullet crossing in front of you to know when to safely walk past the gun or make the pistol visible and trust your sense of timing to know when the path in front of you is bullet-free. Sounds simple enough, right? Add four to six guns all firing in different timings on both sides of your path and a simple concept becomes more complex. Moving enemies are also two-toned, allowing you to barely see their silhouettes fast enough to eliminate them.

Each portal to a new room tells you how many portals (i.e. path branches) and memories are available in it and the overall map lays out just how much you are missing as you progress. Along the way, you'll pick up additional tools and weapons aside from the primary, path-creating ball launcher you start with. Magnets manipulate objects like pulling floating platforms towards you for safer traversal and temporarily freezing the giant chopping knives. Yes, giant chopping knives. Slingshots help you fight enemies and move pillars to block traps.

Shil wants you constantly on edge, evaluating everything around you and questioning every step you take. Some trippy challenges, like an outlandish roomscale version of the classic game Minesweeper, give you a palpable sense of satisfaction when you complete a room. The game also has seven endings depending on which of the winding branches you take to the end, so this is a game to return to several times to see every room and recover every memory. At the time of this article, I have not seen every single room yet, but I absolutely will. Depending on your speed, you can finish a full run in about an hour, but with the different endings and paths, the playtime quickly adds up.

Shil - Final Verdict

Shil is a testament to the power of great game design, more concerned with tasking your mind and nerves than simply overloading it with disturbing visuals and in-your-face audio. It is akin to a more horror-leaning version of Superhot VR, another game that plays more complex than its simple aesthetics would have you believe. It is not outright scary, but the way it constantly messes with your head is consistently distressing.

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

Here is the full text of the announcement on Steam. An identical developer post is on the Meta Horizon Store, save listing the correct storefront:

We want to let our players know that we’ll soon be retiring online multiplayer support for Ultimechs and will transition the game to a single-player-only experience. You’ll still be able to jump into the arena and enjoy Ultimechs in single-player mode after multiplayer services end on October 20, 2026. On that date, the game will also be delisted from the Steam Store alongside the Ultimechs Spectator, which will no longer be able to spectate any matches. In preparation for this, in-app purchases have been disabled in the game, but you will still be able to spend any UltiCoins you have purchased already, even after multiplayer services have ended. Thank you to everyone who has competed in the arena with us over the years. Keep those GauntJets flying!

Ultimechs Is Resolution Games New Mix Of Rocket League And Mechs In VR

Demeo And Cook-Out developer Resolution Games has revealed its next VR title, Ultimechs.

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Ultimechs first launched free-to-play in September 2022, with a free and paid battle pass progression system to unlock new cosmetics. The game featured three different types of mechs, each with its own specifications and special abilities. It currently has a score of 4.2 from 767 ratings on Quest and a 'Very Positive' rating from 153 reviews on Steam.

This is not the first multiplayer VR title to be retired in 2026, joining Rec Room, Inverse, Firewall Ultra, Hyper Dash, Larcenauts, Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl, Frenzies, A Township Tale and Quantaar as multiplayer applications closing up shop this year. Additionally Zombie Army VR shut down its co-op gameplay mode earlier this year, though that was tied to a change in Unity services.

A Township Tale developer Alta's latest project, co-op dungeon crawler Reave, was canceled before ever releasing as were Triangle Factory's Breachers: Outbreak and The Binary Mill's Survive The Night, both of which were 'shelved indefinitely.'

Simply put, multiplayer servers cost money and that cost increases with higher player counts. For games with dead servers, at a time when studios are looking to save every penny in a struggling economy, it is an expense deemed not worth keeping on the books.

The Halloween-themed update adds five maps, including three brand new locations and two returning favorites from previous Halloween events. Each map features a new fish species (some of them quite spooky), while virtual anglers can also catch returning Halloween fish like the Zombie Shark and the Haunted Goblin Shark. Last year's Halloween fish and all 12 fish from the game's sixth-anniversary event will also return.

In addition, players can earn five pumpkin-themed costumes, two rod sets, and an exclusive title, all without spending any real-world money.

The update also introduces early versions of Ice Fishing and mixed reality fishing modes. Ice Fishing transforms the player's real-world floor into ice in mixed reality, while MR Fishing brings the game's greater waterways into the player's space. Hand-tracking mode has also been implemented to allow Real VR Fishing to be played without controllers.

Lastly, the free Clear Creek Park stage is offered as a celebration of the game's seventh anniversary, along with two new fish species.

Real VR Fishing's Halloween update launches October 13 on Meta Quest and SteamVR. The base game is priced at $19.99.

This is not the first hand tracking implementation for the popular rhythm game. Synth Riders has been a controller-free launch title for Apple Vision Pro, Samsung Galaxy XR, and Snap Specs. The entire catalog of over two hundred songs (including paid DLC tracks) is playable with hand tracking. Kluge noted that as far as the Quest family of headsets goes, this update is specific to Quest 3 and 3S, leaving Quest 2 and Quest Pro as controller-only.

The update also adds optional Neon Bloom visuals for Quest 3 and Steam Frame. Neon Bloom, previously only available for PC VR and PS VR2, adds a soft glow effect of the game's neon elements like note targets, UI panels, and the borders of obstacles. You can adjust the intensity of this effect in the game settings. This was not available on standalone headsets before due to a notable hit to the game's performance.

With hand tracking, Synth Riders is positioned to support Meta's recently announced VR Glasses from day one, a trend we expect to see other developers experiment with to keep in line with support on the latest XR hardware.

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

Escape From Planet Xylodon is the forty-second course for Walkabout Mini Golf and the fifth of a planned six new courses for 2026. Along with the standard lineup of 18 collectible balls on the Easy course and the Foxhunt for the themed putter on the Hard course, Xylodon also brings two new avatar heads and five sci-fi-styled customizations for the base avatar head.

Course Inspirations & Special Notes

We took a trek through Xylodon with Mighty Coconut's Shane Rhodes, who generously provided insights into the process of bringing the new course to life. You can view the full video on our YouTube channel.

Here are just a handful of fun facts from the course tour:

• The course was conceptualized and started as far back as 2022, but was shelved due to Mighty Coconut's collaboration with Meow Wolf in 2023. The similarities between that course and the plans for Xylodon necessitated some time between the two.
• The course features a new creature nicknamed 'the whale' internally that is rideable from two different positions.
• The team drew inspiration from Buck Rogers and Ed Wood in designing the alien world.

As always, UploadVR thanks the team at Mighty Coconut for being so generous with their time.

New Feature: Mulligans

A mulligan is a golf term for a penalty-free do-over of a bad shot. A common mistake in Walkabout is lining up a shot and accidentally tapping the ball, costing yourself a stroke in the process. I personally have done it even with the grip-to-putt feature turned on.

Now session hosts can set a number of mulligans allowed per player before starting the round or mid-round via a modifier on the scorecard. A mulligan button has been added to your wristwatch to activate while playing if you shank a shot or two.

Experimental Hand Tracking 

Quest players can help test a new hand tracking feature while golfing. This option can be toggled on or off in the options tab. A tutorial has been included to practice the new gameplay method first. The feature supports two play methods:

• Swing Mode is a more 'traditional' style where you grip your hand as if simulating holding and swinging a putter.
• Pinch-to-Putt Mode is the style recommended by Mighty Coconut and closely resembles the input for the now retired iOS app for the game. You pinch and pull back on the ball to bring up a power meter, then aim and shoot. You enter this mode by activating a radial menu, then performing the pinch/release gesture in the lower-right corner.

Bear in mind that the feature is still being tested and you need to have hand tracking enabled for the device to use it. Mighty Coconut will have a video and tutorial on its website that we will link as soon as we see it.

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

The Escape from Planet Xylodon DLC is available now for $4.99.

FunFitLand's version of knee strikes includes a familiar "grab and smash" mechanic, where the user grabs an overhead target and pulls it downward while at the same time lifting their leg to "smash" the target with their knee. It's far more complicated to describe in writing than to actually perform the move.

I've been beta testing the moves through two rounds of iteration, and the finished product works very well, providing a satisfying new mechanic that delivers a solid abdominal workout. The moment of impact delivers the visual and auditory feedback (and haptic feedback when using controllers) that FunFitLand is so adept at delivering.

FunFitLand founder Meng Zhang says they have no plans to add knee strikes to their modes, SwingFit and FlowFit, at this time. He said they work well in CombatFit because of the "percussive" nature of the hits, and knee strikes would be disruptive to the more flowing nature of those other sessions. He shared that user feedback during beta testing aligns with this view, with users in the beta calling this out as well.

Another learning from beta feedback was that the two-handed grab mechanic helped users balance more effectively during the knee strike, as opposed to a leg lift-only type of move. I can confirm this is true for me as well. The upper body motion of grabbing the target and pulling it down to meet my rising knee is far more stable than raising my knee by itself.

Zhang says that the knee strike tutorial will play automatically when a user selects a workout containing them for the first time. Should the user want to review it, the tutorial is available to replay any time as well. Users will also be able to disable knee strikes in settings should they wish.

Space Comes To Apple Vision Pro

FunFitLand also recently made their meditative Space sessions available on Apple Vision Pro. Users can experience a range of immersive environments for cooling down after a workout or simply to relax.

Together with the recently released mobile app, which includes heart rate tracking inside the VR workout, the Space update brings new features to the Vision Pro release of FunFitLand that were previously available on Meta Quest.

FunFitLand is available for download on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. A subscription to the service is $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually.

Their home field, MetLife Stadium, is lit up blue for the night game. The drum line pounds out a deep, primal rhythm, smoke rises, fireworks explode, and one by one the star players of the Giants make their dramatic entrance to the raucous cheering of 80,000 football fans.

Football fans can now experience this as if they're standing on the field. Giants 360 brings 2D 360° video to the team's mobile app and YouTube channel, allowing fans access to views they wouldn't normally get to experience.

“Fans just love to be able to get out of their seats and get on the field. And we wanted to try to recreate that experience from a digital perspective,” said David Dominik, Giants Vice President, Digital Strategy.

I viewed the 2D 360 video content in VR using the YouTube VR app on my Meta Quest headset. I was immediately transported to the turf surface at MetLife Stadium, positioned near the ground. The rhythm of the drums and the lights and smoke set a powerful atmosphere, and then suddenly the players begin their walkout. Star players get their individual introductions, culminating with the introduction of quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Admittedly, as a Giants fan, this was thrilling for me to witness. For those moments I was sitting on the field, seeing my favorite players jog past me. It was a visceral and emotional experience, watching from a vantage point that most fans don't get to see.

While not stereoscopic 3D with true visual depth, the immersive impact of the 2D video was still powerful enough to generate a genuinely memorable experience. Stereoscopic 3D uses dedicated dual-lens cameras to capture two images simultaneously which are then projected into lenses of the VR headset, creating a truly immersive sense of depth once your brain receives and processes the slightly different images.

I asked Dominik about future plans for 3D stereoscopic 360 content for Giants 360. He told me for now they are using a GoPro camera that is limited to 2D capture, but he's interested in understanding other technologies.

Dominik said Giants 360 could reach people who might not otherwise follow the team’s content. “We are sometimes considered to be very traditional and very conservative,” he said. “As a marketing department, we’ve been working to redefine ourselves a little bit.”

Dominik said they usually record about 20 minutes of raw footage before selecting a three-to-four-minute segment. “We’re trying out different things and we’re trying to give people whatever we consider to be the best perspective.”

The Giants production team uploads the clips to YouTube. Giants app developer YinzCam then makes them available through a 360 player in the team's mobile app, where the user can drag to look around.

Giants 360 is presented by Modelo. Dominik said that Modelo has supported other interactive projects with the Giants, and was eager to sponsor this one.

Through the first four weeks in the NFL season Giants 360 has featured the player introductions, pre-game warmups, and a halftime ceremony honoring the 1986 Super Bowl championship team.

Giants 360 Video Playlist

For the best viewing experience on Meta Quest, view this through the YouTube VR app. Also available via YouTube in the Quest browser using full-screen mode.

New York Giants player introductions for Game 1 of the 2026 season.

Honoring the 1986 Super Bowl XXI Champion Giants team, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the championship.

Other NFL teams have experimented with 360 video and VR in the past, as UploadVR has covered. Giants 360 is a team-led effort that arrives as companies like Meta and Apple are investing more in immersive sports content and building hardware designed to deliver it to users.

Dominik said Giants 360 could eventually be used to cover a draft party, a town hall, or summer training camp. After watching the first four Giants 360 clips in VR, I'm excited to see what the Giants do next.

The New York Giants mobile app is available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The Giants 360 videos can be experienced in VR on the Giants YouTube channel.

There are more than a few racing games available in VR, but few have the speed of Omega Pilot Evolution, mainly because it’s challenging to make a game with such intensity in VR without causing motion sickness. At its peak, the game can feel like a chaotic blend of Wipeout and F-Zero as you rush through futuristic tracks in speedy machines across environments that blend futuristic cityscapes with oversized Greek statues. At other times it can feel confusing to follow and frustrating, as design decisions sap some of the fun from the overall package.

The game is developed by XOCUS, taking on the challenge of bringing such high-speed racing to VR. No matter how attuned you are to the medium or immune to motion sickness wearing a headset, more intense games will cause wooziness if not properly calibrated, and the more intense the game, the more work has to be done in order to make it a comfortable experience. And few experiences are more intense than sitting in a virtual cockpit to race around hairpin turns at 300 miles per hour.

Though there’s a rather significant difficulty curve and admitted lack of guidance in learning the controls and coming to terms with everything the game expects, it’s rewarding when it all clicks into place. Jumping into the game for the first time, you’re presented with a menu from which to select between four gameplay modes: a career mode that essentially serves as time trials for all the tracks in the game, a series mode where you compete in various grands prix, playing numerous consecutive races against bots to claim first place, a mode called Bot Races that includes both standard races and arena battles, as well as a multiplayer mode.

The controls take a bit of getting used to, but make sense in the context of a futuristic racing game. Imagine your vehicle not as a car, but as a plane tethered to the racing track. The triggers of each controller are used for acceleration (right trigger) and brake (left trigger), while you can grip the joystick in front of you using either controller and moving side to side to steer left or right. The brake and acceleration, alongside adjusting your speed, can also be used to intensify your turning radius. By holding brake while turning a corner you can turn more sharply, and often this will be required in order to navigate some sharper turns. Simply holding acceleration consistently without utilizing the brake will not earn you the best time. The A button on a Quest 3 controller can be used as a Nitro speed button, while you can fire weapons using the B button (more on that in a bit).

As a pure racing game, and enjoyed for its time attack and skill ceiling, there’s a decent bit of fun to be had here. There are an impressive 27 tracks on offer, and though some reuse the same environments, they each offer unique challenges and routes to test your skills.

In its purest form, it truly feels like a game that’s easy to learn the basics but difficult to master. You will likely run hard into a wall on the first corner of your first race, and struggle to clock decent times in your early attempts. The time trial mode is going to be your best bet to get accustomed to the controls before you even think about improving your time or racing against bots or human opponents.

It will take a few races, but eventually you’ll get a handle on what it takes to turn a corner, build up the most speed, and things begin to click into place. It’s satisfying when you finally understand these interlinked systems and post a good time. Taking that against racers where you have to work around the ships of others is a challenge, but one that’s rewarding when applying what you have learned.

It’s when stepping beyond the comfort of time trials and no-weapon races that cracks begin to form. Simply put, weapons in this game feel awful to use. After competing in a few series, or by taking part in arena mode, you’ll be given access to items stationed in weapon boxes around the track. The item you receive is always random, but includes things like mines that can be placed on the track behind you, rockets that fire directly in front of you, a shield, and even one that fires itself into the distance in front of you. The problem is, aside from the rockets where you can plainly see the direction of movement and aim these weapons in front of you, there is no feedback given to the player that a weapon has been used.

When I fire the arching weapon that fires into the distance, I often don’t see it leave my vehicle, where it is going, or if it hits. I don’t even know how far it can or will go. If I use a mine, I don’t know when it causes damage or even where it’s been placed, compounded by how difficult they are to see on the track making for a frustrating experience when my speed screeches to a halt in consequence.

You can see your shield when you use it, but due to the lack of clarity for other weapons, it’s impossible to know when is best to use it or if it actually saved you from damage. I often just use it and hope for the best as a result. Races where weapons are active were by far the least enjoyable part of the experience, especially when they could stack without anything you can do about it. On more than one occasion, a rocket has destroyed me only for me to respawn and be immediately destroyed a second time without anything I can do about it. They’re slightly better in arena mode, but not by much.

Winning a race with weapons active never felt like it was about skill. That’s all before discussing ship upgrades. Rather than offering unique ships with different stats that were balanced against one another to increase strategy, earning money from races and time trials simply gives you money to upgrade your current vehicle. It’s the least satisfying form of player progression - you already feel a sense of improvement by beating your personal best on a track or winning a race, but paying to upgrade your vehicle rather than unlocking a new one in some ways taints the records you scored. If you buy an upgrade and score a new personal best, did you improve, or did the upgrade propel you to victory?

Until all upgrades are purchased, this choice means you almost can’t compete with the best times or feel like you truly improved based on your own skill, because how much is it truly down to your own hard work?

Omega Pilot Evolution Review - Final Verdict

Omega Pilot Evolution is a genuinely compelling racing game, and it looks pretty decent too. It’s hampered by the need to play for hours to max out a vehicle before you can truly be satisfied with your records and ability to compete, and weapons that turn the hairpin thrill of a race into frustrating randomized chaos. Stick to the time trials and play of your own accord, and you’ve got enough here to justify the package. The rest is best left aside.

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 creatives behind 2016's VR experience VR Noir: A Day Before the Night have announced a continuation of that detective noir story is coming later this year.

Set in Hong Kong, Coltrane follows the disgraced former SFPD detective turned private investigator, Veronica Coltrane, as a surveillance assignment leads her into a dark conspiracy. The show spans five 15-minute episodes that combine live-action performances with real-time immersive environments, allowing viewers to experience the story in an immersive way as it unfolds around them.

VR Noir: A Day Before the Night was originally released in 2016, and stood as an early attempt to combine cinematic storytelling, interactivity, and viewer agency in virtual reality. The title eventually surpassed 500,000 downloads on Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard.

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New Canvas co-founder Nathan Anderson, who was involved with the original VR Noir, returns as Coltrane's showrunner. Anderson says the new series represents an opportunity to take the ideas explored in VR Noir considerably further.

"When we released VR Noir in 2016," he says, "I described my career quest as finding the convergence of storytelling, game design, and interactivity. Ten years later, that's still the quest."

Immersive video has an interesting niche within the VR ecosystem. Recent releases like Starclash and Finding Frida have stretched our expectations and broadened the scope of just what a VR experience can be.

Coltrane will be coming to unspecified VR platforms sometime soon.

Over the past year, Meta has made a large effort to decouple the company's VR efforts from the Worlds social platform. The company emphasized this when it explicitly stated that the two would become separate platforms, and around a month later they expressed plans for the newer Horizon Engine-based Worlds to be removed from VR devices. This all came after the far-reaching layoffs and reorganization of the VR and Horizon teams within Reality Labs in January 2026.

One of the removed Worlds was Meta's VR events space, called Events Arena. This was introduced with the rollout of Horizon OS v81 PTC and allowed users to view media such as concerts with other users on a massive or surrounding screen in a theater-like environment.

Earlier this year, test events titled after classic films such as Jurassic Park were visible on the Worlds platform. Around the same time, dataminer and programmer Nori found evidence that the company was also testing a version of Events Arena designed more like a standard cinema space. This suggests that Meta may have been preparing to build a sort of social theater on the platform, similar to apps such as Bigscreen.

Now, with Events Arena closed and Meta's VR efforts having diverged from Worlds, the company appears to be working on a new cinema environment built directly into the operating system.

Strings and assets found in Horizon OS 2.9 PTC reference a "Cinema" environment for viewing media content. Dataminer and security researcher ToastConcern was able to access an alpha build of the environment, and I managed to get it running on a Quest 3S.

The displayed app name for the environment is Theater Home. It features a large home cinema-style room with high resolution textures and baked-in lighting. Firmware functions suggest that rather than being a traditional VR Home environment, it is selected from the Control Bar of the specific window you want to view on the center screen using a button labeled "Theater." The system then switches to the environment, and switches you back to the traditional VR Home when you choose to exit the cinema.

Strings found in Horizon OS 2.9 PTC suggest that this environment will also support a new feature known as Dynamic Ambience internally. References found in Horizon OS 2.6 and 2.7 describe it as adding a rendered "halo" of light around focused theater panels.

In practice, this would likely be similar to the media lighting features available on visionOS and in the numerous premium media player apps on the Meta Horizon Store, or real-world TV LED sync systems such as the Philips Hue Sync Box. A colored glow effect would appear around the currently focused window, with dynamic animations during media playback.

It remains to be seen when Theater Home may ship. The current build is tagged as v210, which suggests it could ship sometime after Horizon OS 2.9 moves to stable. It may even be released alongside the new in-development VR Home environment, codenamed Loma Home.

It also remains to be seen whether content in the cinema environment will be social or shareable. Meta Horizon TV and YouTube's co-watching features were removed from Horizon OS as part of the move to the Loft VR Home Environment, which began with the rollout of v81 PTC. Meta's planned replacement co-presence features were then canceled in conjunction with the operating system's decoupling from Worlds, with the company instead choosing to concentrate social VR efforts on the realistic avatar-focused Hologram calling.

This all comes as Meta's recent content focus has centered on integrating existing media and streaming platforms into Horizon OS ahead of the company's upcoming VR Glasses, which support the Dolby Vision HDR format and are the first VR product to be IMAX Enhanced certified.

The company is using the tagline "Cinema. Computer. Console." to market the device, and this virtual cinema environment appears to be part of the ongoing software efforts to better align with that product positioning.

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Getting the immediate question out of the way, yes, the Titanfall 2 VR mod is as great as advertised. Rather than a barely-performant, deeply flawed, subpar "early version" mod that wouldn't qualify for early access status if it were an actual game, like many of the vibe coded VR mods that popped up over the summer (yes, I played several of them), the TF2 mod feels like a finished product out of the gate.

We will have another article soon from a writer who had never played Titanfall 2 prior to the mod that gets into what makes it great. Having previously played the game myself, I cannot offer that perspective.

In spite of my enthusiasm for VR as a medium, I despise extensive tinkering and troubleshooting in any form. After a long workday and any needed household/family duties, when I put on a headset and press play for a game, I want it to just work. VR mods have always actively worked against that innate desire for a turnkey implementation. Even the Universal Unreal Engine VR Injector (UEVR), another excellent technical achievement, still requires profiles to be built for individual games if you want any of the VR comforts like full motion controller support and a more reliable camera, the latter being particularly important to comfortably play a third-person game in first person. These have to be sourced by the player, usually with multiple options to review and choose from. UEVR will get an Unreal Engine 5 game rendering in VR fairly quickly, but you will need to go profile hunting.

So when I volunteered to test the Titanfall 2 VR mod, having already completed the game on Steam a couple of years ago, I took a deep breath and steeled myself to have to relocate and rename files or install a profile or anything other than 'press play and go.' CircuitLord's installer took all of that away and that was easily my biggest takeaway. Installers for mods are nothing new, but rarely are they this painless.

After downloading, the installer does a three-step check to get you going:

• Ensures the game is installed and automatically marks the install folder
• Directs you to log into the EA app necessary to play the game
• A one-click mod install button

After that, it's simply press the play button with SteamVR open and you are in. This level of care and attention to the finer details extends to the available options within the game. There is a toggle for cinematic cutscenes to either render them in full VR (with the associated camera jerkiness that comes with that choice) or on a 2D panel for anyone prone to motion sickness. The in-game prompts have been adapted to account for the VR controllers, unlike other mods that would suggest you press LB, RB, L3, or R3 (traditional game controller buttons). When people say it "feels like a native VR game," this is part of that assertion. CircuitLord has put the time in to ensure all of this is seamless out of the gate.

Setting up mods manually, frankly, can be a pain and has proven to be off-putting for many VR users, whether they are enthusiasts, more casual, or somewhere in-between. So much so that entire Discord servers and subreddits have been dedicated to helping people troubleshoot their issues. There's a great support community around VR modding, but that community is necessary because mods by and large don't just work for everyone.

For as long as VR has been in the public eye, there has been an ongoing discussion about its pain points and what the technology "needs" for wider adoption. Headsets need to be lighter and more comfortable. We need higher PPD. Better FOV. More affordable for the casual consumer. Brighter panels. Better lenses. Better software. Higher refresh rates. None of these are necessarily wrong, but they all represent the same basic issue: friction.

CircuitLord's installer addresses friction and accessibility in a way I wish VR modding would make it a point to address more often. Modder MrSurvivor's VR hub is another great example of this, an application that guides you through installs, uninstalls, and updates for a bevy of games to get them running in VR in just a few clicks.

These tools are a step forward in accessibility, one of the more criminally overlooked aspects of XR technology. The easier and more comfortable something is to use, the more people will be willing to take a chance on it. Video game modding has largely been the realm of tinkerers for decades now, mostly because sideloading, file renaming, and any other additional steps to get into a game are a deterrent. That needs to change. Convenience matters. Accessibility matters.

Titanfall 2 is already a terrific game. A competent mod is all it needed to be a great VR experience and CircuitLord's work far exceeds that. The installer though, is the best selling point for getting people who are wary of mods to give it a go.

You can get CircuitLord's installer, which also works for their mod of Big Walk, here. Look for a full mod review from a Titanfall 2 newcomer here on UploadVR soon.

Fresh Tracks takes place in the mystical land of Norwyn, where magical beings called Mythics bless the people with music and storytelling. When the songs grow duller and sorrow befalls Norwyn, a hero named Skaii embarks on a downhill journey to gain the favor of the Mythics and restore peace to the world by jumping, sledding, and sliding to the tune of their music.

The VR version of Fresh Tracks trades the original's button presses for motion controls such as leaning left or right and swinging your magic Rhythmic sword at trees or enemies. Jumping, ducking, and steering between lanes are still controlled by the joystick, though you can also choose to hold down the triggers and move your hand to switch lanes. Overall, I'd say that the motion controls are responsive, with any issues I had probably having more to do with streaming issues than anything.

Stages are divided into courses, with obstacles and items to collect appearing in tune to the background music. By picking up floating spheres called Whyspers and Ekkos and slashing enemies, you will fill a special gauge and build up your score.

Many of the objects you will need to slash with your sword require you to swing in a certain direction, as noted by the arrow in front of the obstacle or enemy in question. There are different kinds of Rhythmic swords to be unlocked, each with its own special ability you can perform by clicking the right joystick once your gauge is filled.

At the end of a course, your overall performance is ranked. Before you start a new course, you can choose one of a few branching paths based on difficulty. Each one has a different reward, be it a temporary stat upgrade or an additional heart fragment.

Skaii’s health is gauged by a meter of hearts in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Each time you hit an obstacle, half a heart is taken, and if you run out completely, you have to start a new run from the beginning.

At certain points, Skaii will chance across a traveling merchant that will let them spend Whyspers on Charms that will give them special bonuses for the remainder of their current run. They can also purchase new skis with Ekkos that can give them more permanent perks before their next run. The main menu also has a mode called The Lark, which lets you replay stages you’ve run through before in hopes of getting a better score.

If you wish to just take in Fresh Tracks VR’s atmosphere without worrying about obstacles or combat, there’s the Scenic Route mode. This allows you to simply glide downhill to whichever of the game’s tracks or stories you’ve unlocked so far. Likewise, Practice Run lets you try out the game’s controls in a similar hazard-free setting.

Like many rhythm games, music is at the heart of Fresh Tracks’ gameplay, with a variety of rock, dance, and pop tracks. For the most part, the songs are catchy and well done, even if a few of them get repetitive to play through after multiple runs. A voiceover narration also narrates Skaii’s actions and shares lore about the history of Norwyn and the Mythics between songs, making this really feel like you're listening to a children’s bedtime story. This narrator can be switched out with any Mythics you've befriended on your journey, and the voice acting is solid across the board.

Fresh Tracks VR’s graphical style is simple and colorful, and features a mix of environments like snowy peaks, stone castles packed with enemies, and even strange cliffs with glowing, Tron-like cubes that block your path. Unfortunately, you can’t really look around the environment while you're playing. If you look away long enough, the screen goes black and a prompt tells you to recenter the camera. I understand that this game requires you to focus on what’s ahead of you, but it feels strange that an immersive VR experience won’t let you look around.

I also encountered some framerate stuttering during my time playing, though that could just be due to bandwidth issues on my end. Finally, I found the game’s default pause input (pressing both X and Y simultaneously) unresponsive, and had to change it through the SteamVR settings because there isn't any way to change the controls in-game.

Despite these possible technical issues, Fresh Tracks VR is an interesting take on last year's indie hit that works as both a relaxing skiing simulator and an epic fantasy workout, depending on which mode you're playing. Fans of Beat Saber might enjoy the use of a sword to slash away obstacles, while those who enjoy medieval settings in games like One More Delve can dive into the lore of Norwyn. With enough post-launch polish, Buffalo Buffalo could have another charming virtual reality gem to go with BirdseedVR.

Our next showcase is expected to premiere December 11th.

We want to thank everyone who made June’s event possible. The UploadVR Showcase wouldn't be the success that it is year after year without our incredible sponsors, developers, content creators, and of course, our amazing audience.

Last season, we shared an exclusive VR, XR, MR lineup with a little bit for everybody. Looking for mixed reality experiences? We had you covered with Disembodied, Theremin, and Color-A-Cube. Want to play something spooky? Rustmourne was there to scare us silly. Have a need for speed? Hyperlane Highway and Pedal Rebel VR delivered quite the ride. 

For those who don't know, participating in our showcase is free, and there are no application fees, either. To qualify all you need is a cool VR project, secret news, and a video made exclusively for our show! Videos are chosen by a panel of judges.

This December, we want to see your projects! We’re always on the hunt for exclusive content, game reveals, and important announcements. Think you have a one-of-a-kind game to release to the world? Does your current game have a new update to announce? Fill out the application and let’s get some eyes on your innovation. Submissions are now open!

Go to showcase.uploadvr.com/apply to submit your project!

Final videos must be submitted by December 2nd.

The main goal of The UploadVR Showcase is to give developers a place to share their hard work with the VR community, without the added costs most events have attached. That means if you’ve already signed up to another showcase or event, you can still be a part of our showcase, too. You'll just need a custom video and a newsworthy announcement that no one else knows about. If you think your project will wow our audience, we want to see it. 

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

Meta's latest update for the Public Test Channel introduces an overhauled 2D window management system, brings back a selection of legacy Virtual Environments, and more.

2D Window Overhaul & Redesigned Control Bars

Horizon OS 2.9 introduces an overhaul of its 2D window management system, internally codenamed Display Evo, which Meta describes as "A new way to organize your app windows."

While the Navigator replaced the operating system's tablet-style app dock with a more modern overlay-style launcher, the underlying 2D window system remained largely unchanged, still centering the experience around three apps in a relatively restrictive triple-monitor-style layout and forcing users to juggle additional windows between a simplified dock and the space around them.

Display Evo removes the dock entirely.

With Horizon OS 2.9 PTC, 2D windows now open spatially around you, and can be grouped by simply moving their edges together, or arranged into a "Stack" that you can flip through like a deck of cards.

This system also introduces a new component called the Window Manager, which Meta says can be accessed via Quick Settings in 2.9 PTC. This allows you to view all open 2D windows, bring them forward, or close them individually or all at once. This is broadly similar to Android XR's app management interface, presenting open spatial windows in one place for quick selection or dismissal.

In the Horizon OS 2.7 pre-release version of the feature, the Window Manager also includes "Stack" and "3-Up" presets for automatically organizing windows into stacked or triple-monitor-style layouts.

Alongside these larger changes, Meta is also rolling out redesigned window Control Bars, with a dedicated grab handle and separate function buttons. This appears to be designed around the gaze input system shipping with Meta VR Glasses.

Meta also notes that the standalone "Anchor" option for 2D windows has been removed from the Control Bar in favor of relying on Magnetism, a default window behavior introduced in Horizon OS 2.1 that automatically anchors and attaches windows to vertical surfaces such as walls when they are pushed against them, which Meta says now works more reliably in 2.9 PTC.

Classic Home Environments

Beginning with the rollout of v81 PTC in August 2025, Meta overhauled the Horizon OS Home Environment system, replacing the many Virtual Environments from over the years with a single high-quality space called Loft that features unrestricted locomotion and customizable Scenery styles.

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While reception of Loft’s higher quality and unrestricted locomotion was mostly positive, many existing users were frustrated that Meta chose to remove all of the older Virtual Environments with little warning.

Meta now appears to be directly addressing that feedback with a new feature called Classic Environments.

Horizon OS 2.9 PTC introduces a new Classic Environments submenu within the Home Editor, accessed by pressing the menu button on the left Touch controller or performing a palm-facing pinch with your left hand. It contains pre-v81 Virtual Environments seemingly ported to the Horizon Engine, with optimized performance and the same free locomotion as Loft.

The two environments available at the time of writing are Desert Terrace, Quest 2's default environment, and Space Station, the fourth environment released for the original Quest in April 2020.

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Facebook introduced a new virtual home environment for the Oculus Quest this week called ‘Space Station’.

UploadVRHarry Baker

Dataminer and programmer Nori was also able to display many other Virtual Environments with active development channels in the Classic Environments submenu, suggesting that more may be released on a rolling basis.

QR Code Scanner

Horizon OS 2.9 PTC adds a system-level QR code scanner to Quest 3 and 3S. The scanner can be accessed by opening the Camera app and scrolling to the bottom of the Camera Bar widget. It can also be added to Quick Controls as a tile through Settings > General > Quick Controls.

Meta also says it can be accessed through Navigator's Global Search, or by asking Meta AI, "Hey Meta, open QR code scanner," though I haven't been able to get it to surface through those entry points.

In my testing, it works well enough in terms of speed. However, a major caveat is that it is currently an immersive app, meaning you can't use it to scan QR codes alongside 2D windows in Passthrough. You also can't use it to scan QR codes that may appear within 2D windows or inside immersive apps, including QR codes that world creators sometimes use in social apps such as VRChat.

Improved Surface Keyboard And Touchpad

Introduced with v85 PTC in January 2026 as an Experimental feature on Quest 3 and later added to Quest 3S, Surface Keyboard and Touchpad allows you to place a virtual keyboard and touchpad on top of any surface, such as a table or desk. It is set to be a core feature of Meta's upcoming VR Glasses, and Horizon OS 2.9 PTC sees the company continuing to improve it.

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

Horizon OS 2.9 PTC simplifies the layout of Surface Keyboard and Touchpad's UI to more closely match what was shown in the Meta VR Glasses reveal video, while making it easier to access shortcuts and adjust its position.

Meta also says that "Surface Keyboard and Touchpad now works in fully virtual environments as well as passthrough." However, this was not functional in my testing, suggesting it may be a separate rollout.

Additional Changes

Boundary Setup Recovery

Meta notes that Horizon OS 2.9 PTC changes the scene capture system so that if Boundary setup or space scanning is interrupted, Quest will now revert to the previous Boundary or default to a Stationary Boundary.

In my testing, this also seems to mean that you can start a space scan for a Roomscale Boundary, cancel it, and then restart the process in the same space while retaining the partially scanned area. It is unclear how long the system can preserve interrupted boundaries.

Touch Controller Troubleshooting

Meta says that Horizon OS 2.9 PTC introduces a troubleshooting flow for Touch controllers:

"If a touch controller stops responding, you can now troubleshoot it from your Quest. Go to Settings > Devices > Controllers and select Troubleshoot controllers."

Search Improvements

Meta notes that Navigator's Global Search has been improved with the ability to access device settings directly, including while offline:

"You can now find and change settings directly via search. Type Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do not disturb, Travel mode, Passthrough, and more to see the settings for each in the results - even when you’re offline."

Lying Down Mode Moves To Stable

An undocumented change, Horizon OS 2.9 PTC moves "Use apps while lying down" from the Experimental menu in Settings to general availability in Accessibility > Mobility. This feature allows you to rotate the virtual coordinate space upwards using the recenter action, letting you comfortably use immersive apps and games in bed.

Quest v63 Adds Lying Down Mode On Quest 2 & Quest Pro

The Quest v63 update adds a lying down mode - but only on Quest 2 and Quest Pro, not Quest 3.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

For reference, this feature was first added with v53 PTC in April 2023, was removed from the stable version as Meta explored how to make the tracking mode more robust and simple, re-added to Quest 2 and Pro with v63 in March 2024, then added to Quest 3 with v64 the following month.

Pause Hand Tracking In Gamepad Mode

Another undocumented change, Horizon OS 2.9 PTC adds an optional toggle that prevents the system from automatically switching to Hand Tracking when using the new Gamepad Mode introduced in Horizon OS 2.7, helping prevent accidental hand inputs.

Quest 3 Gets Up To 240 Hz Refresh Rate & Gamepad Emulation

Meta’s Horizon OS 2.7 is rolling out, bringing Gamepad Emulation to Quest Touch Plus controllers and extended refresh rates up to 240Hz on Quest 3.

UploadVRLuna

In addition to the usual release of two monthly games, new games added to the catalog, and discounts on games in the Meta Horizon store, Horizon+ now offers subscribers free add-ons for games. The first free Horizon+ add-ons will unlock cosmetics and in-game currency to spend in Orion Drift, the massively multiplayer game from the makers of Gorilla Tag.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked and Deadly Delivery also join the Horizon+ games catalog this month, and there are a few great discounts on some excellent experiences (including one of the best looking games on Quest).

Let's take a closer look at the two Monthly Games for October 2026.

Swarm 2 is a fast-paced roguelike shooter which features nearly as much grappling as it does shooting. With deadly guns and acrobatic grappling hooks, you zip through battlefields at breakneck speeds, blasting enemies in all directions. When we wrote about Swarm 2 back in 2024, we called it "Spiderman with guns!"

Waltz of the Wizard is described by its creators as "a Reality Experience" where you can do anything you like, and in which you can speak to the game's NPCs, and they'll speak back to you realistically with thousands of reactions. Inside this "highly reactive" world, your wizard powers allow you to bend time, create and reshape objects, and conjure magical fireballs and storms.

Horizon+ subscribers also get exclusive discounts on select games every month. The deals for October are:

• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets: 50% off the normal price.
• Red Matter 2: 50% off the normal price.
• Synth Riders gets two song discounts: Wonderland by Caravan Palace and Humble by Kendrick Lamar are 67% off for subscribers.

Horizon+ Games Catalog Games

Horizon+ continues offering both a Games Catalog and Indie Games Catalog of Quest titles that any subscriber can access. Meta can add new games to and remove games from these catalogs at any time.

Here are all of the 100+ games included in the current combined Horizon+ Games Catalog and Indie Games Catalog in the US:

• Action Hero
• After the Fall
• Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
• Arcade Paradise VR
• Asgard's Wrath 2
• Audio Trip
• Banners & Bastions
• Barbaria
• Barbershop Simulator VR
• BattleGlide
• Beauty Salon Simulator VR
• Blacktop Hoops
• Breachers
• Cactus Cowboy - Desert Warfare
• Cave Crave
• Cave Digger 2 Dig Harder
• Chess Club - Daily Puzzles
• Coffee Quest VR
• Cooking Clash
• Crime Shop Simulator: A Prison Boss Game
• Crisis Brigade 2 reloaded
• Darksword: Battle Eternity
• Deadly Delivery
• Demeo
• Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked
• DIG VR
• Dragon Fist: VR Kung Fu
• Drums Rock
• Dungeons Of Eternity
• Elements Divided
• Escaping Wonderland
• Espire 1: VR Operative
• First Person Tennis - The Real Tennis Simulator
• Fruit Ninja
• Galaxy Kart
• Genotype
• Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game
• GOLF+
• Green Hell VR
• Grill on Wheels
• Hide The Corpse
• Home Invasion
• I Am Cat
• I Am Hamster - Simulator
• iB Cricket
• I Expect You To Die 2
• In Death: Unchained
• Innkeeper VR
• Into the Radius
• IRON GUARD
• IRON GUARD: Salvation
• Ironlights
• Job Simulator
• Killer Frequency
• Laser Thief
• Last Stand
• LES MILLS BODYCOMBAT: Fitness workouts
• Little Cities
• Little Thief
• Loop One: Done
• Maestro
• Medieval Dynasty New Settlement
• Moss
• Motion Soccer PRO
• Onward
• Outta Hand
• Pets & Stuff
• Pistol Whip
• Premium Bowling
• Project Demigod
• Puzzling Places
• Racket Club
• Real VR Fishing
• Retropolis 2: Never Say Goodbye
• RUINSMAGUS
• RUNNER
• Shave & Stuff
• Shooty Fruity
• Slot Car VR
• STARWAVE
• Stilt
• Survival Nation
• Surviving Mars: Pioneer
• SWARM 2
• Synth Riders
• Table Troopers
• The 7th Guest VR
• The Climb 2
• The Obsessive Shadow
• The Secret of Retropolis
• The Thrill of the Fight
• The Wizards
• Thief Simulator VR: Greenview Street
• Tiny Archers
• Titans Clinic
• Toy Monsters
• Ultimate Swing Golf by Clap Hanz
• Vacation Simulator
• Vibe Punch
• Viral Descent: Together
• Walkabout Mini Golf
• Waltz of the Wizard
• War of Wizards
• We Are One
• Zero Caliber

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.

Infinity Games has shared that their traffic management game Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow is coming to Quest 3, 3S, and Quest Pro on October 15. The developers describe Traffix XR as "a relaxed mixed-reality traffic puzzle where you [...] connect road tiles to landmarks, make the traffic flow, and watch the city grow procedurally around your network." The game can be played in mixed reality or in full VR.

In Traffix XR, you'll plan, place, erase, and redirect roads to link landmarks across a variety of environments, while homes, towers, bridges, and subways emerge in the city around you. Traffic flows from place to place, and it's your job to keep things flowing smoothly. You'll also sweep snow, clear roads, and blow away sand with natural hand motions.

While I've not yet played Traffix XR, its trailer reminds me of a flat screen game that I've spent many hours playing: Mini Motorways. That's a good game!

UploadVR has been granted access to a pre-release build, and a full review will be coming when Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow releases on Quest 3 on October 15.

This article is one of several features James Tocchio and I will be publishing this month for players much braver than the two of us. We have both said multiple times on the UploadVR Gamescast that horror is not our favorite genre of games, but that does not stop us from playing them. Keep an eye out for more horror-themed lists and reviews throughout October.

Games are listed in no particular order.

Out of Sight VR

This one is a bit of a cheat because it is already in Early Access on Steam, but Out of Sight VR has been confirmed to expand to PlayStation VR2 later this year and Quest in early 2027. The Little Nightmares-akin stealth-horror game casts you as a stuffed teddy bear. No, that is not a typo. You are the cuddly companion and literal eyes of a little girl who has been blinded by her captors in a huge mansion invoking the oversized furniture scale of the Bandai Namco-published Little Nightmares franchise. Yes, we got an actual Little Nightmares VR game earlier this year that I quite enjoyed. Out of Sight is still a well-made slice of horror with a rare second-person perspective and great atmosphere that Flat2VR Studios will thankfully bring to new audiences in the near future.

Confined: Leaving OKB-134

I played the demo for Confined: Leaving OKB-134 during a Steam Next Fest and while it had the rough edges expected with most early drafts, there was a lot of claustrophobia-inducing suspense to be had. You play as a tourist so gullible you might as well have come from a 1980s slasher-horror film who gets locked in an abandoned bunker and has to repair the defunct structure to escape. The demo is still available to play on Steam.

Total Chaos VR

Good news for anyone who already owns the 2025 flatscreen version of this game on Steam: you will get Total Chaos VR for free. Developer Trigger Happy Interactive and publisher Apogee Entertainment confirmed plans for SteamVR support and a standalone version for Quest.

You play as a Coast Guard officer responding to a distress call from an ominous island. When a storm wrecks your boat upon the shore, you discover the island's dark past isn't totally forgotten. Compelled to explore the island by cryptic radio transmissions, you must delve ever deeper into this twisted and uncertain reality.

The original game has a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam from 1.5k reviews.

Affected: The Asylum

We don't have store listings yet, but we have been hearing about Affected: The Asylum, the successor to the brief-but-excellent Affected: The Manor for years now. After a long period of radio silence, it resurfaced earlier this year.

Developer Dead Boss Games has taken over production from original studio Fallen Planet Studios. The Asylum has shifted from its originally planned multiplayer focus to an unnerving single-player thriller where you investigate a secretive cult in a desolate mental health institution. Despite the removal of multiplayer, you are not alone. Subject 357, an inhuman result of the cult's experimentation with a parasitic entity stalks you throughout the asylum. Joy.

This one was originally slated for release this summer on Quest and PC VR and we're past that point now, so we will continue to monitor this one for future updates.

Poppy Playtime VR

That thumbnail alone is spine-chilling. Poppy Playtime was a hit with gamers when it launched in 2021, currently sitting at a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam from over sixty thousand reviews. Flat2VR Studios confirmed a VR port as one of its numerous projects in a 2025 VR Games Showcase. You must survive Huggy Wuggy and other hazards in an abandoned toy factory. The Five Nights At Freddy's series has proven many times over how terrifying animatronic toys can be in and out of VR.

We have not heard any additional details about planned platforms yet, but Flat2VR has published on PlayStation VR2, Quest, and PC VR in the past, so there is no reason not to expect the same with this title.

C.A.B.A.

C.A.B.A. (Center of Anomalies of Buenos Aires), is a short first-person survival horror experience similar to Exit 8, launching with full VR support on PS VR2, Quest, and PC VR, plus flat versions for PS5 and Steam.

Set in a Buenos Aires subway station that shouldn't exist, the game is a terrifying trek through a subterranean liminal space. You can't fight what walks the tunnels down here; you can only try to escape.

The Obsessive Shadow - Chapter 2

The next entry in developer Pablo Heckman's mysterious stalker jumps forward in time from the 1980s to 2006. Old Diamond Drive, the location of the home from the first chapter, is now abandoned with your character, sixteen-year-old Justin, spending a night there after losing a bet. The Obsessive Shadow - Chapter 2 taps into Blair Witch-like found footage territory with Justin's camcorder capturing his experience as shown in the trailer above.

Chapter 2 is expected on PS VR2, Quest, and PC VR sometime this year.

Spirit Ritual

Spirit Ritual is a supernatural horror game, played in either VR or MR, in which you play as a psychic medium attempting to break a demonic curse. You'll use hand-tracking controls to conjure a spirit board to enter the spirit realm and equip your old-timey spirit camera to capture ghosts.

The Fatal Frame-like title is coming to Pico, PC VR, and Quest.

Project Louisiana - The Bounds VR

Uncover the truth behind a cursed Louisiana mansion while searching for your missing daughter in story-based Project Louisiana - The Bounds VR. This is another one I played during a recent Steam Next Fest. The Bounds blends puzzle-solving with authentic voodoo mythology and the creepy Baron Samedi (the rightmost character in the title banner for this article) serves as your guide. The demo I played oozed atmosphere, but needed some work with onboarding and a general sense of direction.

Developer Build the Light has vowed to take all of the player feedback from that demo period and polish the game before it releases for PC VR and PS VR2.

Fyr: The Lost Island

FYR: The Lost Island is a psychological horror game set on the shores of a remote Norwegian island. As you explore the island seeking clues and relics to unlock its secrets, you are hunted by a 'relentless' monster. A demo has been available on Steam since last year, showing strong visuals and leaning into the suspense thriller atmosphere its foggy setting naturally lends itself to. Your flashlight reveals ethereal projections of the island's past inhabitants to aid in piecing together the island's history. I played this demo and thought it was a strong start, enough to merit a wishlist for future follow-up.

Birdseed VR, a comical birdwatching and photography game, is coming to SteamVR on October 8. The SteamVR release will include cross play with Quest users, too.

For those who may not know about Birdseed VR, what you're getting is a cozy birdwatching and photography game in which you hang out in a charming little forest and photograph silly birds. The game has been out on Quest for some time. We reviewed it when it landed on that platform, describing it as a game that "invites you to relax, slow down, and simply enjoy a peaceful slice of nature filled with charming, delightfully curious birds."

Hands-On: Birdseed Invites You To Relax & Photograph Cute Dumb Birds

Birdseed is a cozy VR game about photographing silly birds, and so far we simply love it.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Birdseed VR left Early Access on Quest in April, adding new updates such as a Scout's Store in-game shop to buy camera skins, lenses, and charms, improvements to the game's multiplayer, and several new birds. We'll find out soon if the SteamVR release includes everything in the Quest build.

Birdseed VR is out now on Quest 3 and 3S. It's coming to SteamVR next week.

The series follows four-time NBA Champion Draymond Green through six therapy sessions with sports psychologist Dr. Carrie Hastings. In addition to maintaining her private practice, Dr. Hastings is also the team psychologist for the Los Angeles Rams NFL team.

Open Season allows the viewer to get up close with Green and Hastings as they embark on an exploration of Green’s background and thought processes. They make it explicit in the first session that Green has consented to having the sessions recorded, acknowledging the normally private nature of therapy sessions.

Going Deep With Draymond Green

Using the 2025-2026 NBA season as the backdrop for the series, Green and Hastings work through Green’s struggles with his fiery personality that sometimes gets him into trouble on the court, injuries that plague his team, personal relationships, parenting responsibilities, and the looming end of his playing career.

As someone who follows basketball casually, I knew of Draymond Green, mostly for his infamous game ejections. But a series like this really delivers the feeling of getting to know Green as a complete person.

There’s an intimacy to the format that delivers a deeper impact than 2D TV can. The feeling of being present with Green and Hastings during their sessions is powerful, truly like a fly on the wall.

As the viewer, you’re seated off to the side, angled so you can see both Green and Hastings. You have an expansive 180° view of Hastings’ office, the couch, the water glasses, and the customary box of tissues. There is nothing abnormal or unusual to anyone who has experienced a therapy session for themselves. And that’s the magic of it: this is a real session and you’re getting to sit in as an elite professional athlete works through his stuff, like anyone else.

Cut scenes feature Green and Hastings individually, along with several other important figures from Green’s life, such as his mother, a Warriors teammate, and his Michigan State basketball coach. Those cut scenes make an impact because of the sense of presence and proximity you feel, as though they are seated just across from you, speaking directly to you.

Cutting Edge Video

Open Season was shot in stereoscopic 3D 180º with Blackmagic URSA Cameras, and the results are impressive. The 3D effect is natural and did not produce any notable eye strain as I binge-watched all six episodes over the course of two evenings. The level of clarity is remarkable. I used my Meta Quest 3 to watch, and this was the clearest, most detailed video I have ever seen on Quest. 

It’s amazing that nearly three years after it launched, the Quest 3 is finally getting some content that can really showcase what its displays and lenses are capable of. I’ve also watched some Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro, and while the quality of the Vision Pro is next-level, the quality of this content on Quest was good enough to fuel the comparison in my mind. 

You're There

The video quality was notable at first and I spent most of the first episode paying close attention to the picture clarity and how the director chose to shoot in this format. But soon I was drawn in as the immersion took over, and I became fully engaged with Green, his conversations with Hastings, and his larger story. 

I was invested, following along to see if Green actually put into practice a coping mechanism that he and Hastings discussed in a session before a game. I came away feeling like I really had seen a glimpse of Green at his most human and vulnerable. 

Of course I’ve been engrossed in 2D TV programs in the past, but the high-quality 3D and VR immersion heightened the connection I felt, as if I had actually been somewhere with these people, not merely watched them on TV.

I came away with the feeling that this viewing experience is so good that it will be ubiquitous in the future.

More Immersive Content Coming Soon

Open Season is the first in a slate of immersive media experiences from Meta Presents. At Connect 2026, the company also announced other plans for 3D movies, sports, documentaries, and concerts in advance of their new Meta VR Glasses, which are expected to ship in Spring 2027.

Immersive sports content is often lauded for delivering the big plays and the thrill of being close to the action. And that’s true. But this series shows that the immersive format is capable of delivering an emotional punch from quieter content as well.

Despite the video being only 180°, this experience is so well done that it feels completely immersive.

Many Perspectives, Carefully Choreographed

The eight-minute experience feels like a complete journey. Big Wave Surfing moves visitors through a significant range of perspectives without feeling jarring. The perspectives help you grasp just how extreme and beautiful surfing can be in Teahupo’o. The contrast between the calm moments and the surfers riding the massive waves shows just how brave these athletes are.

You get in the water with some of the best surfers in the world as they train, including with Olympic Gold Medalist Italo Ferreira, World Champion Molly Picklum, local hero Michel Bourez, and more. You visit fish in the reef, get near the surface of massive waves and calm waters, join spectators and photographers on boats, and also soar above it. The transitions feel smooth, almost keeping pace with the waves as they form and break. Each moment holds just long enough to take in what is happening before transitioning to the next spot, but you’ll want to visit it again to catch details you may have missed. Look out for the rainbow that forms over a massive wave.

Just Enough Narration To Support The Experience

At moments throughout the experience, the voiceover narration gives the context needed to understand what it is like to surf in Teahupoʻo. Visitors get enough information to better understand what they are seeing, and then enough space to take it in for themselves. The extreme consequences and payoffs of the sport are better understood by virtually being there.

There is no break in the narrative to hear individual surfer stories. Instead, you get glimpses of the wider surfer community from different positions within it.

And, while this is a Red Bull experience, as with their other content, the brand is not forced into the story. It is just naturally integrated into shots as it appears on some apparel. The athletes and the premium experience are supported by Red Bull. It is not a veiled ad.

Details That Create Intense Immersion

The beautiful direction paired with the rich visuals, sounds captured during the epic shoot and subtle soundtrack creates the kind of immersive experience that shows off some of the best features of the Apple Vision Pro. The details are perfectly aligned to temporarily convince you that you are there.

You can see the details in the coral below the surface, through to the different ways that sunlight passes through the calm and massive waves that feel real enough to reach out to touch. I caught myself ducking as sparkling water splashed in my direction.

With spatial audio alone, the moments feel real as you can hear the changing environment around you. The underwater moments where noise is muted are so calming.

For me, Big Wave Surfing sets a new gold standard for Apple Immersive sports storytelling.

Sega Amusements has unveiled a new immersive VR game in the The House of the Dead series. "The House of the Dead: Reawakened" is described as a two-player VR experience that brings players physically inside a Gothic manor, complete with doors and windows.

The House of the Dead: Reawakened features a themed facade around the game cabinet which has been designed as a Gothic manor with creepy doors and shuttered windows. The front door is an 85-inch display, while the two windows are 43-inch displays. These are said to offer jump scares and to reveal the VR play area.

Once inside, players will use commercial VR headsets and weapon controllers capable of haptic recoil (remember Time Crisis?) to blast their way through three missions. The game can be played by up to two players, with each player having their own 2.1 channel audio system.

The House of the Dead: Reawakened follows in the footsteps of the original The House of the Dead, which was first released in arcades in 1997 and then ported to Sega's then-current home console, Sega Saturn, in 1998.

Numerous mainline releases have followed in arcades, with standalone games and ports appearing on a wide range of home game consoles since. The series has also enjoyed several spin-offs, and at least one (fairly terrible) movie. A new film is currently being developed.

The most recent all-new release in the series was 2018's arcade shooter The House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, which was a more traditional arcade shooter that did not feature VR tech.

The House of the Dead: Reawakened will be shown at IAAPA Expo, one of the world's largest arcade, attractions, and amusement park trade shows. IAAPA Expo is being held in Orlando, Florida from November 17-20.

We'll have more coverage as The House of the Dead: Reawakened rises from its grave. (Let us know if you caught that extremely old Sega reference in the comments.)

We're into the fall now, typically the busiest time of the year for gaming. September was busy with the release of Valve's Steam Frame, Meta Connect unveiling the new Meta VR Glasses & announcing several new games coming to the new hardware and Quest.

In gaming, we got the anticipated releases of Knights of Fiona and Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone. Other highlights include Tiny Flock, The Lightkeepers, I Am Your Beast VR and Sol Protocol.

We also saw fresh updates for Demeo X Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, Puzzling Places, No Man's Sky, Dungeons of Eternity, Just Hoops, Forefront, Real VR Fishing and Golf+ among others.

As always, we will update this article all month long with any new dates or delays. If we missed any new titles with confirmed dates, let us know down in the comments. Also, keep an eye on our ongoing 2026 upcoming VR releases article for coverage beyond this month.

VMX - October 2 (Quest)

VMX utilizes gesture-based movements to pull off tricks on BMX bikes, scooters, and mountain bikes in a multiplayer skatepark. Players will also be able to customize their vehicle and purchase clothing for their avatars from an in-game shop. It already launched in Early Access on PC VR on March 26.

Store link(s): Quest

Pedal Rebel VR - October 5 (Quest, PC VR)

Pedal Rebel transforms any exercise bike into a cyberpunk-themed motorbike racing game. Players can keep track of their fitness, gaming performance, stats and high scores while engaging in an immersive story.

Store link(s): Steam, Quest

Walkabout Mini Golf Escape From Planet Xylodon DLC - October 8

Walkabout Mini Golf's latest DLC course charts a path for an alien world with beautiful and strange plant life. The new course will have the standard normal and hard courses with 18 collectible golf balls and a scavenger hunt for a themed putter.

Store Link(s): PC VR, PS VR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR

Into The Radius 2 - October 8 (PS VR2)

Dystopian survival shooter Into the Radius 2 will run at a native 90fps on PlayStation VR2 with eye-tracked dynamic foveated rendering to boost performance. It also has headset haptics and utilizes the Sense controllers' adaptive triggers. That said, the game will not support co-op gameplay at launch. That is planned for a free update in Q4 2026. The game is already out for PC VR and Quest.

Store Link(s): PS VR2

Shil - October 8 (Quest)

In psychological horror puzzle game Shil, you will navigate a fractured, ever-changing world with unseen enemies built by an AI that serves as your guide. You are armed with a slingshot to fend off the invisible enemies and unlock more parts of the world as well as a magnet to assist with the puzzles. The game will launch on Steam at a later date.

Store Link(s): Quest

Birdseed VR - October 8 (PC VR)

Birdseed VR is a cozy birdwatching and photography game in which you hang out in a forest and photograph silly and cute birds. It started on Quest in Early Access before going to a full release this spring.

Store Link(s): PC VR

The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand - October 15 (Quest)

The Magician VR: The Cursed Wand adds a wrinkle to the standard arcade shooting formula. Instead of guns, the early 20th century fantasy shooter uses gesture-based spells to defeat waves of enemies. You take on the role of a down-on-his-luck magician attempting to reclaim his former glory. In doing so, he accidentally sparks an interdimensional invasion.

Store Link(s): Quest

Spymaster 1.0 - October 15 (Quest, PC VR)

Spymaster is a time-bending espionage action game from Innerspace (A Fisherman's Tale). Players control multiple agents in parkour and action-laden espionage missions. The most unique mechanic is the C.A.S.S.E.T.T.E., a wrist-mounted device that allows players to rewind time and fine-tune the agents' actions for speed, accuracy, and synchronization where needed. The full release will come with three new missions to round out the campaign.

Store Link(s): Quest, PC VR

Daumier: Lila & Ghost - October 15 (Quest)

Daumier: Lila & Ghost is a two-player co-op puzzle adventure where each player experiences different timelines of the same world. You and your partner must communicate back and forth to progress through the story-driven campaign. For the first 30 days of release, you can get a second key for the game through the developer's Discord after purchasing the game.

Store Link(s): Quest

Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow - October 15 (Quest)

Traffix XR: Cities of Tomorrow is a relaxed mixed-reality traffic puzzle game built for hand tracking. The objective is to connect road tiles to landmarks, make the traffic flow and watch the city grow procedurally as you work. Hazards can be cleared using gestures like sweeping snow away with an open hand, pressing down on flooded tiles, and physically blowing at quicksand. The game also supports user-generated content with a creative mode for players to design and publish levels for others to play.

Store Link(s): Quest

Bad Inmate - October 15 (Quest, PS VR2)

Bad Inmate locks you behind bars and throws away the key, leaving you with one simple goal: to escape! You'll use ordinary (and not-so-ordinary) objects as escape tools, steal keys, outwit the guards, crawl through passages, and use your resources and creativity to wriggle your way between the greasy fingers of the law. A PC VR release is planned for a later date.

Store Link(s): Quest, PS VR2

Disembodied - October 16 (Quest)

Disembodied is a mixed reality platformer that turns your real hand movements into precise, physics-driven gameplay. You'll guide a pair of disembodied (!) hands through a range of different challenges, including platforming sections, stealth areas, and puzzle-solving levels, while interacting with the environment in a natural way.

Store Link(s): Quest

Arizona Truck Driver - October 22 (Quest 3)

Arizona Truck Driver is an open road trucker simulation coming to Quest standalone in Early Access this October, from Carbon Studio (The Wizards). Carbon says the game offers a detailed trucking experience with over twenty-five hours of gameplay. Instead of simply driving between two points, you'll be responsible for cleaning, servicing, and refueling your truck while accepting jobs from different companies to build up your business.

Store Link(s): Quest

Camille World XR - October 22 (Quest 3)

Camille World is a free-to-play mixed reality puzzle game driven by user-generated content. You build worlds via a web browser interface that go through an approval process before being turned into playable puzzles in mixed reality. The base game comes with six free worlds, with a one-time purchase of $4.99 adding more worlds. Developer Ohhh Inc. says the game will launch with a total of forty puzzles available.

Store Link(s): per Ohhh Inc. the store page will go live when the game releases; you can see the browser interface and learn more about the world here

Terry's Terraforming - October 22 (Quest 3)

Originally titled Janet's Planets when it was revealed at the Creature Feature & Friends Showcase earlier this year, Terry's Terraforming is a new VR terraforming space adventure in which your job is to transform dying planets and make them fit for new life. You'll meet all sorts of strange aliens, learn what makes them tick, and tailor worlds to fit their needs, all while a charming sci-fi story unfolds over a six-hour play time.

Store Link(s): Quest 3

Operation Together VR - October 27 (PC VR)

Operation Together is a one-to-four-player co-op military simulation with a focus on tactical gameplay and coordinated teamwork. You play as a special operations unit deployed on missions to neutralize hostile threats, and safely rescue civilians while securing the operation zone. The game has a Quest store listing as well with a 'Fall 2026' release window, so we are not sure if both versions will launch together.

Note: there is no trailer available for this game on its storefront listings.

Store Link(s): PC VR

Dark Trip - October 29 (Steam)

In Dark Trip, you play as an investigator hired by a retired businessman to locate his missing daughter. This brings you to an abandoned laboratory whose mysteries have to be solved. You progress by solving escape room style puzzles, and occasionally by taking pills to force a hallucinatory state that transforms the environment. It is launching as a hybrid title with VR support on Steam after its Early Access release on Quest in 2025.

Store Link(s): Steam

No Release Date Currently Available

• Sol Protocol (Steam)
• Zero Caliber 2 (PS VR2)

Following the game's latest preview event in San Francisco, California, its developers have released new footage of Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections. The new trailer shows off pre-release footage, including some extremely strange elements.

We've embedded the trailer below:

Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections is the first installment in a planned trilogy that aims to cover all 26 episodes of the TV series. The immersive action-adventure will tell a new story from the perspective of an original protagonist who dreams of becoming a pilot, making connections between the anime's “key episodes” and the game's new characters.

“Players will enjoy the story set in the locations from the anime from their own perspective. Battles between Evangelions and Angels, various interactive elements, and engaging captivating storylines with original characters are also planned,” Pixelity noted in a press release.

The new footage looks undeniably cool, though the "Pre-release footage. Final Product may differ" disclaimer gives pause. This, combined with some unusual footage, makes me question what this game/experience is all about. (Had you given me 100 chances to guess what we'd see in this trailer prior to viewing, interactive hedge-trimming in front of an onlooking Rei Ayanami would not have made the list.)

I like weird stuff, though, so I'm very interested to see more.

If you're interested, too, and you happen to live in or are visiting Frankfurt, Germany in the near future, you'll have a chance to attend the game's next preview event. The exact date and location of the next event have not yet been released. Previous hands-on events have been held in Japan and, most recently, in San Francisco, California.

Pixelity has not yet revealed specifics on platform or release date, listing only "2027" and "various VR devices" in press documents. For more details on upcoming hands-on preview events, follow Pixelity on social media, and stay tuned to UploadVR.

The song was co-written by both artists and served as the lead single from 'Rosie,' the debut album for ROSÉ. It currently has over two billion streams on Spotify.

The Shock Drop series is an ongoing collection of popular hits mapped by Beat Saber developer Beat Games. "APT." is the fourth shock drop in 2026 after Yungblud's "Zombie" in June, Bad Bunny's "Me Porto Bonito" in February and "Stressed Out" from Twenty One Pilots in March.

The game also added three new free original songs in May for its eight-year anniversary and Meta announced the game's biggest update ever adding a new gameplay mode called Flux, full hand tracking support and a new progression system. This update will launch in spring 2027 to coincide with the recently revealed Meta VR Glasses.

"APT." is available now for Beat Saber on Quest and PC VR for $1.99.

Dungeons of Eternity turns three years old in a few days (October 5) and across all the various updates adding new weapons, enemies, limited-time events and expansions to the outposts, the three dungeon types have always been the constant. Collect souls to craft potions in green Soul Harvest dungeons. Build exo-points to unlock perks in blue Crystal Hunt dungeons. Pick up new weapons, armor, cosmetics, and other loot in the red Dungeon Raids.

Developer Othergate has offset this with new room designs, but the core objectives have really never changed. In that respect, the new Tomb Extraction mode is a breath of fresh air. Most of this article will focus on the new mode, but the update also added a lot of quality-of-life features you can read about here.

A new area of the main outpost introduces the rune system that generates your extraction dungeon. You enter a sequence of runes to determine the layout, loot, and difficulty for the run. The biggest change in extraction runs is your loadout, or rather, the lack of one. Tomb extractions are naked runs, with all of your inventory and weapon slots emptied out. Upon loading in, you enter a room with the five weapons available to you:

• The Crypt Keeper's Staff shoots out an orb of light that illuminates crystals to light the dark dungeons. Orbs can also be exploded by pressing the trigger for an effective AOE attack.
• The Tomb Breaker Hammer is needed to smash sealed tombs open for loot and is very useful against armored enemies.
• The Gravelight Bow also illuminates crystal lights and explodes on impact.
• The Necromancer Staff will charm an enemy, giving you an extra ally to fight with.
• Skull Daggers can be found throughout the tomb and are all-around weapons for combat.

This is a welcome change of pace and challenge compared to the other three dungeons, but it comes with two side effects. First, solo runs force you to pick up the bow or staff unless you want the extra challenge of feeling your way through an eerily pitch black map. I did this once and did not care for it. Also, unless you have unlocked a second shoulder slot or care to brave the darkness, you cannot also take the hammer to bust open sealed tombs and thus miss out on the loot contained within. For this reason alone, Tomb Extraction is significantly more enjoyable with a friend or three, more so than any other dungeon type except maybe Soul Harvest. Having most or all of the new weapons in the party makes for a more satisfying run.

Second, being limited to five weapons also restricts the combat. Exploding enemies with the orb staff was a lot of fun, but by my fifth run (two in co-op, three solo), it already started to wear thin with the daggers and hammer being the primary melee weapons. The enemy variety is pretty basic, mostly sticking to skeletons and the lone new enemy, the Crypt Guard. The guard is easily dispatched with daggers or the hammer, but DoE's signature breezy combat, excellent music, and sound design remain satisfying and fun.

The other new element of Tomb Extraction is the loot. You have two new slots, a ring for each hand. There are over thirty rings to be found in Tomb Extraction, each with their own perks to further expand DoE's already extensive player customization system. Rings can only be acquired in Tomb Extraction, offering a reason to grind this dungeon type, especially for tenured players who have most or all of everything else in the game unlocked. Also, it felt like extraction-run chests were more lucrative, with higher gold amounts than others. This might have just been my perception though.

You start with a handful of runes unlocked for dungeon generation. To get more and open up more extraction options, you have to complete Dungeon Raids (the red dungeons) and locate four runic blocks to insert into a special chest. Unlocking this chest gives a new rune type and a gem that must be inserted to activate the extraction run. These gems can be purchased in the outpost shop, but new runes can only be acquired from red dungeons. It's a smart, well-designed loop that gives new and old players a reason to run two dungeon types more often.

Dungeons of Eternity Tomb Extraction - The Final Verdict

A new dungeon type has felt long overdue for Dungeons of Eternity and the added wrinkles of player-driven tomb generation, naked runs, and lighting requirements make Tomb Extraction a fun change-up to the rest of the game. Tying Tomb Extraction to Dungeon Raid was a savvy decision to extend the longevity of the new content in the three-year-old roguelite overall. If you have not been back in Dungeons of Eternity for some time, Tomb Extraction is worth diving back in for.

Made by the developers of Human Fall Flat, Tiny Flock's cuteness is balanced by a fair challenge, and its clever, open-ended physics-based puzzles make the solution to each stage a joy to discover. It's the sort of game that's easy to jump into, difficult to stop playing, and almost impossible not to enjoy. By the time I reached the end, I was disappointed by just one thing: I wanted more.

Tiny Flock is a cute and cozy physics-based puzzle game that puts you in charge of a wayward flock of sheep. Across 21 gorgeous, themed diorama stages, your job is to guide your flock from its starting position to a small, lush pasture at the endpoint of the stage.

Between your flock and the delicious, grass-rich pasture that they so desperately crave is a veritable wilderness of obstacles to overcome. In the silly world of Tiny Flock, these obstacles might be as simple as a collapsed bridge or as outlandish as a broken-down sci-fi cargo train stationed to make deliveries to a lunar hydroponic garden.

These sheep get around.

Across the game's 21 stages, your sheep clomp their floppy hooves in the watery canals of Venice, the campgrounds of the California wilderness, across farmlands and shipping ports, in the sands of the Egyptian pyramids and the rocky shores of a lightkeeper's island, and many more themed locales. This variety is a big part of the fun, with each diorama unlocking after you've solved the previous puzzle, and each acting as its own little toy set packed with things to poke, prod, and explore.

Each stage is lovingly crafted, rich in detail, and alive with subtle touches. Most of them also contain optional collectables or hidden Easter eggs which completionists will enjoy discovering. For example, the back side of one stage revealed a hidden door, locked behind an unusual mechanism. A hidden coin discovered elsewhere in the stage could be dropped into a hidden slot, unlocking the door and revealing a cute, little good fortune cat.

There's no reason for these types of inclusions, except that the game designer(s) wanted to reward players' curiosity with delightful interactions. I appreciate it.

What's most remarkable about Tiny Flock, from a higher perspective, is that there's no right way to play it. The game's many mobility puzzles can be solved in several different ways, though some solutions will be easier or more obvious than others. But on the whole, you're simply given a goal and a collection of manipulatable objects and environments, and then left to sort out how to get your woolly friends from one place to another.

As a result of this open-endedness, and on account of the game's simply exceptional design, the total difficulty level is well-balanced. Some stages are breezy, while others make you stop and think. Importantly, no individual stage hassled me unfairly, and each was solvable by both me, a seasoned veteran of other mobility puzzlers like Echochrome and Crush (nobody remembers this one, right?), and my young daughters (who adore this game).

And this is a really important point. Tiny Flock is the sort of puzzle game that works for experienced players without making less experienced players feel like they're constantly being punished for not understanding how video games work, or how a game designer intended their game to be played. Sometimes the obvious answer comes immediately. Other times, you'll discover a solution that feels as though it shouldn't work, but somehow does. And because you're working with a tiny flock of unbearably cute fluffballs, watching the would-be solutions play out in real time is as fun and rewarding as completing a stage.

Presentation is wonderful, with each stage being a colorful little 3D diorama that you can reach out and touch. The scale works particularly well in headset, where leaning close to examine a stage (or simply pet your cute sheep), looking around or inside a building, and spotting details tucked away in its environment make each level feel like a physical toy come to life.

The sheep are a huge part of the appeal. They're expressive, floppy, and just a little bit stupid. Watching them stumble and bumble as they mindlessly chase your carrot-on-a-stick, as they bunch up around an impassable obstacle, or bleat in sprawling freefall off a cliff (how could you!) is endlessly fun. They're also, happily, invincible. Lead them into peril and they simply evaporate into a puffball, reappearing at their nearest last-occupied location, ready to try again.

Between the charming characters and the wonderful worlds they walk through, there's a constant signal broadcasting from Tiny Flock that the developers made these worlds and characters because they loved to make them. Everything feels handcrafted and made with care. The soundtrack, too, is special. A heartfelt cello weaves a blanket of sound, richly accompanying the game's cozy feel.

A couple hours into my playthrough, I had the revelation that Tiny Flock is simply a nice place to be.

The ability to switch between mixed reality and virtual reality modes simply by flicking a toggle switch in the pause menu is not unique in today’s VR landscape, but it’s as welcome here as anywhere.

When playing the game with my daughters (with one of the three of us playing and the rest watching via Meta’s phone app), we played in mixed reality mode. It’s a great way to make this single-player game a more communal experience. When playing by myself, I switched to the virtual environments, which are essentially skyboxes in which you and the diorama worlds float. Good stuff.

Tiny Flock Review - Final Verdict

There's a simplicity to Tiny Flock that's deceptive on multiple levels. To start, I am sure this game was not simple to make. Designing the diorama stages so that they're fundamentally functional, designing the sheep intelligence so that they do what they're supposed to, and imbuing the characters and environments with so much charm and whimsy as the developers have done must have been incredibly difficult.

But they did it.

Tiny Flock is a wonderful game, a fun and funny game full of perfectly balanced puzzles that make you want to keep playing just one more stage until you've finished the whole lot. Once that's done, you'll want to run through your favorites again and again.

It's an easy game to recommend to households with more than one generation of game enjoyers, too. And I challenge anyone not to fall in love with these cute, little sheep. Tiny Flock, we love ewe.

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

This article was previously posted on our site and was not produced in partnership with the companies responsible for publishing or developing the game. It is now being pinned as part of an ongoing sponsorship, but the content has not been altered in any way.

On the same day that Walkabout Mini Golf's next DLC course was announced, Lucas Martell released a statement on LinkedIn about Mighty Coconut's latest downsizing.

Here is the statement in full:

This is an incredibly hard message to write, but I want to continue to be transparent with the Walkabout community. Due to the current state of the games industry and especially VR, Mighty Coconut will need to downsize, and over the next several months we will be saying goodbye to 10 talented people who have helped make Walkabout what it is.

For anyone who has been following the games industry, VR in particular is going through a very rough time. I am confident that VR will continue to be an amazing medium, but it is going through a massive and rapid shift as funding, hardware and press attention have largely been diverted elsewhere. While we already downsized last January, I failed to anticipate just how rapidly and deeply this trajectory would continue. The amazing courses and worlds created by our talented team have allowed us to fare better than many studios who have had to close completely, but without a steady stream of new players coming into VR and Walkabout, the scale at which we've been operating is no longer sustainable.

For our fans, I just want to continue to reassure you that Walkabout isn’t going anywhere. We will continue to release courses, although these might be a little less often due to the reduced team size that returns us to the small and scrappy way we started. We also plan to continue work on Walkabout Dungeon Golfer and Grass as new games are the best way to diversify our revenue stream and stabilize things. While incredibly painful, this is the only course of action that allows us to keep the game alive, the servers active, and hold on to as much of our team as possible.

For anyone in the game industry looking to hire some of the best people around, we are putting together a reverse-recruiting list with several talented individuals who are looking for an opportunity. You won’t be disappointed.

https://lnkd.in/gsiyX228

The company cut twenty-five percent of its staff at the beginning of this year and raised the price of its paid DLC courses one dollar from $3.99 to $4.99. The standout tidbit in Martell's statement for me is "without a steady stream of new players coming into VR and Walkabout, the scale at which we've been operating is no longer sustainable." Mighty Coconut already reduced its number of DLC course releases to six this year, though we did get the Homestar Runner Pack this summer as a bonus add-on out of said course schedule.

Walkabout Mini Golf Studio Course Corrects With Layoffs, $1 More For Future DLC

Walkabout Mini Golf laid off some workers and announced a price increase for future DLC.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

That said, every game studio can see metrics like new user counts, concurrent players, purchasing trends, and so on. If these are on the decline, even for games like Walkabout that have recurring revenue in the form of regular DLC, decisions like this are sadly inevitable. Walkabout has already seen an expansion of its paid content with avatar packs, hole celebrations, and ball trails in conjunction with the new courses to increase the potential revenue per player. This is a savvy, shrewd business move in the face of declining numbers, but based on today's news, it is not enough to offset the decline we are seeing in VR and gaming as a whole. A decline that has seen other layoffs and studio closures dating back several years now.

Martell also says that the staff reduction may lead to a slower cadence of DLC course releases. Martell and other Mighty Coconut staff have told us that the course schedule was already set through 2027 prior to today's layoffs. Work will also continue on the spinoff Walkabout Dungeon Golfer and the team's work to help ship flatscreen lawn mowing simulator Grass.

If you're unfamiliar with the idea of an AI agent, it differs from a simple chatbot in that it can take actions, not just provide a response.

Meta launched Muse, its AI agent, earlier this month on smartphones and the web in the US, and it quickly rose up to the top of iPhone App Store downloads, with strong reviews from both journalists and regular users.

Powered by its Muse Spark AI model, Meta says the agent runs on a private persistent Linux virtual machine in the cloud, with its own web browser, filesystem, and terminal that continue to run regardless of whether your app is open. To achieve your goals, Muse can decide to write and run code, delegate work to multiple subagents, and create scheduled jobs. Muse can also produce documents, PDFs, websites and interactive tools such as spending trackers or dashboards.

Compared to other AI agents that primarily target developers and professionals, Muse is highly consumer-oriented, with a simplified instant messaging style interface and a friendly avatar character, alongside marketing focused on solving tasks related to daily life.

Meta says Muse can book travel, send emails, fill out forms and purchase products through websites. Meta also describes more involved tasks, such as negotiating a bill or helping sell a car, and it can even make phone calls.

To make payments, Muse uses Stripe’s Link, which provides virtual single-use per-payment cards so that the AI never sees your personal card or bank details. Meta says Shop Pay and 1Password support are coming.

For smart glasses specifically, Meta gives examples including booking appointments, checking flight prices, finding replacement parts, logging meals, providing workout guidance and helping buy products the wearer sees. You'll activate Muse by saying "Hey Muse", or the name of your Muse, and then making a request. It will then work in the background and check back when the task is finished.

Meta says it doesn't use Muse data for advertising, though will use it to train future models unless you opt out. Muse's current cloud Linux VM is isolated, but Meta can still access it if it wants. The company says it will launch a Confidential VM option later this year, which even it won't be able to access.

As for when Muse will arrive on smart glasses, Meta officially states "in the coming months", though on-stage at Connect 2026, Mark Zuckerberg said "in the coming weeks", while CTO Andrew Bosworth separately said "soon".

Mighty Coconut announced the new course on its social media channels with the following description:

Respond to a distress beacon on Planet Xylodon, a world lush with some of the most beautiful (and strange) plant life ever seen by humankind.

Given the time of year, the alien world setting may lend itself to some darker elements like in October 2025's Forgotten Fairyland and 2023's Widow's Walkabout.

The developer has not released a trailer for the course yet. We will update this article when that happens. We are currently getting a course walkthrough and interview scheduled with some of the Mighty Coconut team, as we do for all of Walkabout's new DLC. Look for that next week when the course releases. You can check out our interview covering August's Gloop Lair DLC course here.

Behind The Scenes Of Gloop Lair, Walkabout Mini Golf’s Love Letter to the 90s

Mighty Coconut took us behind the scenes of Gloop Lair, its newest Walkabout Mini Golf course that is an homage to the 90s.

UploadVRMike Johnson

Walkabout Mini Golf is available on Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, and Samsung Galaxy XR. The game is also available as part of Meta's Horizon+ subscription service. Escape from Planet Xylodon releases on October 8 for all VR platforms.