Kacey Musgraves had just finished a cover of George Strait's "All My Ex's Live in Texas," and for a split second my brain apparently forgot that I was sitting alone wearing a Quest 3. I was immersed enough in the performance that clapping felt like the natural thing to do.

I had no idea who Kacey Musgraves was before putting on the headset.

Kacey Musgraves Middle of Nowhere: An Immersive Experience is a made-for-VR concert filmed at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth. Meta says the production was built from the ground up for stereoscopic 3D VR180, with the staging, choreography, lighting and camera placement all designed around someone watching in a headset.

The 49-minute experience moves through several areas of Billy Bob's rather than just filming a conventional concert from a few different seats. It was produced and creatively directed by Untold Studios, with MediaMonks and 7 Cinematics co-producing. Meta says it was shot using Blackmagic URSA cameras.

Inside Billy Bob’s

The experience opens with Musgraves arriving at Billy Bob's on horseback before moving inside the famous Texas honky-tonk. Billy Bob's itself is enormous, but the way this concert is set up feels much more intimate than the theater used for the Goo Goo Dolls immersive concert I previously watched on Quest.

From the first song, "Dry Spell," the cameras put you very close to Musgraves and her band. At times you're standing on the floor looking slightly up toward the stage with members of the audience around you. Another camera sits farther back behind the crowd. There's also a camera placed onstage between the keyboard player and drummer, looking back out toward the audience.

There aren't a huge number of camera positions, but with a venue like this, there really don't need to be.

Musgraves also spends a good amount of time performing toward the camera. During parts of "Dry Spell," she's only a few feet away and appears to be singing almost directly to you.

Then the view cuts back into the crowd. One moment you feel like another person inside Billy Bob's watching the show. The next, it almost feels like Musgraves is giving you a private concert.

The stereoscopic presentation on Quest 3 is excellent. Depth feels natural, people look like they're the right size, and I didn't experience any noticeable eye strain. I watched using the "4K" quality setting over hotel Wi-Fi, and the image still looked impressively clear.

The audio mix sounded terrific too. I can't say the spatial presentation itself stood out to me, but the music came through loud, clear and very well mixed.

VR180 feels like a great fit for a concert like this. The immersion is terrific, and with almost all of the action happening in front of you, there really isn't much reason to turn completely around.

Inside The Performance

Later, the camera sits farther back while people fill the dance floor in front of the stage. Musgraves and an accordion player then walk out among them while the camera moves backward.

Suddenly you're right in the middle of it. People are dancing all around you while Musgraves and the accordion player move through the crowd only a few feet away. That was one of the first moments where I stopped thinking about the camera placement and just enjoyed being there.

Her cover of Brooks & Dunn's "Neon Moon" was another highlight for me. During the guitar solo, the close camera placement lets you watch the band interacting in a way you probably wouldn't get from almost any normal concert seat. Musgraves is once again close enough that it can feel like she's singing directly to you.

The concert also breaks things up with a few short Texas-themed scenes. Musgraves rides a mechanical bull. A cowboy performs lasso tricks. At one point enormous Texas Longhorn cattle walk directly toward the camera.

Seeing a Longhorn walking toward you in stereoscopic 3D really gives you a sense of just how big those animals are. If you're fully immersed, having one coming straight at you can be a little startling.

About halfway through, the experience moves into the dirt-floored rodeo inside Billy Bob's. The building dates back to 1910, when it was used as an open-air barn for prize cattle at the Fort Worth Stock Show. A former livestock auction ring inside the building is now used for bull riding.

Musgraves sits on the bleachers between two guitarists with no crowd around them. You're positioned directly in front of the trio.

During the next song, Musgraves picks up her own guitar, talks with the other musicians a little and explains some of what the song means to her before the three start playing together.

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole experience. The 3D and close camera position make it feel like you're sitting right there with them while they talk and play. There is no crowd, no spectacle and nothing interactive going on. You're just sitting a few feet away from three musicians playing together, and the simplicity of it works incredibly well.

The rest of the band eventually joins Musgraves on the dirt floor of the rodeo, with the audience surrounding them.

"Cardinal” is a particularly fun change of pace. After all the country atmosphere, the song takes on a more mystical feel, with a driving beat, darker chords and a strong guitar solo. The dirt-floored rodeo is a great setting for it. The band is playing in the middle of the space with people gathered around them, and the whole scene feels loose and alive.

From there, the set moves through "Justified" before Musgraves heads back toward classic country with "All My Ex's Live in Texas."

That's the performance that got me.

I knew the George Strait song, and I was enjoying it enough that when it ended, my first impulse was to applaud.

For a moment, I wasn't thinking about watching immersive video. I was just reacting to the performance.

The show closes by bringing things back around to the way it started. Musgraves leaves Billy Bob's in the back of a pickup truck, except this time you're riding away with her from a camera positioned in the truck bed.

It's a simple ending, but it works really well.

A Fan Is Born

Again, I had no idea who Kacey Musgraves was when I started watching. By the end, I'd already added a few of her songs to my Apple Music library.

Spending nearly an hour this close to an artist, hearing her talk about her music and watching the musicians interact is a very different way to discover someone than watching a music video or streaming a few songs on your phone.

It immediately made me wonder what this would be like with artists I already love. Middle of Nowhere turned me into a fan of someone I knew nothing about going in, and I'd really like to see more artists get this kind of immersive treatment.

Experiences like this also feel like one of the clearest use cases for VR. Quest 3 is already very good at delivering this kind of immersive video, and the lighter headsets with higher-resolution displays now starting to emerge should make experiences like this even more comfortable to watch and easier for more people to embrace. If that audience grows, hopefully more artists will meet them there.

Kacey Musgraves Middle of Nowhere: An Immersive Experience is available now on Meta Quest through the Meta Quest TV app.

While Redux adds some minor gameplay improvements for its Meta headset release, the overall experience is bland, visually downgraded, and disappointingly unpolished.

Beyond Reality Redux is a fairly straightforward on-rails shooter. For those who may not be familiar with the term, think of games like Virtua Cop, Time Crisis, and The House of the Dead. As in those venerable arcade classics, Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux has you moving automatically through a series of environments while enemies appear in front of and around you. Your job is to shoot them until they explode. At the end of each of the game’s six stages, there’s a boss battle.

In games like these, the only action you can really take is to shoot stuff. In House of the Dead, shooting stuff makes zombie heads explode, which is satisfying. In Time Crisis’ arcade cabinet, shooting stuff makes a real-life gun recoil, which is exciting. In Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux, shooting stuff does almost nothing.

Sure, enemies explode, bosses flop, and you eventually beat the game. But nothing about shooting stuff in Transformers is very engrossing. You hold down the trigger and your weapon fires continually with all the speed and power of a little, green inchworm. There’s almost no sense of destructive force or feedback when your shots connect. It’s deeply humdrum.

There are too few enemy types, and the differences between them aren't significant enough to make encounters feel varied or interesting. All-too-similar, if not identical, enemies appear stage after stage to absorb a handful of shots and disappear in a small explosion. Occasionally they'll fire back at you, requiring you to dodge their attacks, block them with a shield, or deflect them with a sword. But none of these mechanics are particularly fun, either!

Rather than feeling like an action hero caught in the middle of a Transformers battle, I often felt like I was giving the worst PowerPoint presentation of all time. I simply pointed my laser gun at whatever Decepticon had floated into my periphery while holding my shield up to deflect any lasers that happened to be shot my way.

There's almost no challenge, no strategy, and no satisfying aural, visual, or haptic feedback to make any of it feel worthwhile. There's no sense of weight or force behind the game’s action, which is especially disappointing in a game set in a world where giant robots habitually punch each other in the face.

This disappointment extends to the visuals, too, with this Quest port looking substantially worse than the earlier PSVR2 release. Textures appear to be missing entirely, and character models and environments are noticeably lacking in detail. Lighting is bland, environments are generic, and visual effects are weak. Given the relatively simple nature of the gameplay, the visual downgrade is particularly difficult to overlook.

There are moments when the Transformers license provides a little magic. When one of the giant Transformers appears in front of you, there's something undeniably exciting about seeing these big burly ‘bots rendered at such an enormous scale. Unfortunately, the novelty wears off almost immediately because the Transformers themselves don't get to do very much.

A typical encounter goes like this: A recognizable bad-guy Transformer appears and says something snarky. A recognizable good-guy Transformer appears and says “Oh, no you don’t!” The two Transformers have a six-second wrestling match, and then they fall off a cliff, or fly away, or run off down a corridor, shouting “Human, save the day!”

It's a fun premise in theory; you’re humanity’s last hope because Optimus Prime has a concussion. But despite the game ostensibly trying its darnedest to make you feel important, nothing in the gameplay reinforces that.

It doesn't help that the story is similarly uninspiring. The narrative exists largely to move you from one shooting gallery to the next, and the dialogue and exposition aren't compelling enough to get or keep me invested in what happens. By the time the third or fourth Transformer shows up, I wasn't thinking about how I could help save the planet. I was thinking about taking off my headset.

Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux Review - Final Verdict

There's nothing inherently wrong with a simple arcade shooter. Especially in VR, on-rail shooters can be great. But arcade shooters live or die on the quality of their moment-to-moment action. The weapons need to feel fun to use, enemies need to be satisfying to destroy, and encounters need to provide some combination of tension, spectacle, challenge, or surprise. Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux doesn't deliver any of that.

Instead, there‘s one main weapon, a couple of super weapons (which are equally unsatisfying to use), six all-too-similar campaign stages and a seemingly endless arcade mode, none of which really compels you to play or to keep playing.

Fans of the 'bots may find some appeal in being able to see their favorite characters up close, to hear the iconic voice actors, and watch Optimus Prime and Megatron duke it out for a few moments at full scale. But fans who have access to PSVR2 are better served to buy the original game rather than this subpar Quest port. And for Quest-only players, there are many other more satisfying ways to spend twenty bucks and a couple of hours in a Quest headset.

Halfway through my complete playthrough of Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux’s campaign, I wasn't really having any fun. Instead, I found myself wondering what exactly was stopping me from shaking off the headset, firing up my PlayStation 2, and playing Time Crisis.

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 game is the second release, after FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR, from the Flat2VR Spark program. Spark is an initiative pairing developers (Strange Scaffold in this case) with experienced VR modders to do an official VR port. Based on what I have played of I Am Your Beast thus far, the Spark program is batting a thousand.

You play as Alphonse Harding, a retired secret agent asked by your former employer, the Covert Operations Initiative (COI), to return for the proverbial "one last job," a notion that Harding rejects while hilariously pointing out that there have already been several "one last jobs" in the past. Your handler drops the "you're not being a team player" guilt-trip of a line anyone who has worked in the service industry has heard before sending a death squad of COI agents to take you out.

What follows is a series of over twenty missions comprised of contained, objective-focused sandbox combat scenarios. Objectives are typically fairly straightforward (kill all the enemies, destroy satellites, find the escape point) and each mission has a time limit. Speed and efficiency are at the core of I Am Your Beast's gameplay, very similar to Innerspace's Spymaster, but with more brutal combat. Every mission is graded from D to S-rank based on your time, with time being shaved off for things like head shots and completing optional objectives.

The action here is absolutely stellar and after understanding and scheming the ideal path, it feels fast and fluid as you tear through enemies on the way to your mission-ending escape hatch. For example, there is no reloading in this game. When a weapon runs out of ammo, simply chuck it at an enemy so it still has some use, pick up their dropped weapon, and keep it moving.

Between missions, you listen to recorded conversations in what is presumably Harding's bunker, with subtitles displayed over a video of the wilderness the game is set in. This brings up the conundrum of playing a VR game that was ported from flatscreen. After playing, I watched a YouTube video to see how these interludes were delivered in the original game and the only difference in VR was the bunker. If I were playing a native VR game, this is something I would bristle at, as I did in Discovery: Rogue Planet, because it is a poor use of the VR medium. Being a port of a flatscreen game, it is adapted well enough by putting the player in an actual virtual space instead of a black void, but if anything bears a reimagining for VR rather than a one-to-one adaption, it is these moments. Something as simple as picking up a walkie-talkie to have the conversation could have helped.

Extend that conundrum to the interactions. I Am Your Beast is not a very tactile game, which may turn away players who champion a heavy dose of VR interactions and physics-based systems. To climb, even though clear grab points are on trees and rock walls, you simply press up on your analog stick. The only things you truly touch are weapons whereas things like health refills and laptops are activated by hitting grab when your hand brushes over them. All of that works though because you are constantly racing against the clock. Physics inevitably introduces jank and jank would absolutely slow this game down and hurt your mission times. I did not mind this one bit, but it should be noted for players who deeply care about such things.

You can fail a mission if you take too long. There is an option to turn this off and make each run a no-fail mission, but you get points counted off for the assist and likely end up with a D rank. That rank is important because later missions are unlocked based on your performance in previous missions. For instance, one mission only unlocks when you get a ranking of B in a previous one. It's not a mechanic I care for as it artificially extends a presumably short game (and I stink at speedruns), but again, this is a faithful carryover from the source material. So that's a personal issue with the game itself and not necessarily the porting work done by Spark. Without the ranking system and missions being locked by rank and performance, this game would be done in less than an hour. None of the individual missions I have completed thus far have been challenging, but completing them quickly and efficiently is.

Visually, I Am Your Beast has a heavily cel-shaded art style that I think looks great in the headset. This comes at the cost of detailed environments, but I did not really care how intricate the foliage and weapons looked once the clock started ticking and the excellent in-your-face pulse-pounding musical score kicks in. It could benefit from some stronger work with haptic feedback in the controller to pair with the musical score, but the overall presentation still works.

I Am Your Beast VR - Current Verdict

I Am Your Beast VR is gleefully entertaining with a specific action thriller vibe that everything in terms of visuals, music, level design and interactions plays into. That said, it feels more like a very strong VR mod than a native VR game and its general lack of some VR-specific mechanics will likely turn some players away. I will apply a final score when I complete the game, but from where I am now, I would happily recommend it to action junkie VR gamers, particularly those who enjoy a short-form, roguelike-style gameplay loop.

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 a review-in-progress, this is currently unscored, and we'll revisit this review at full release.

Gaming and skateboarding have a rich history together thanks to landmark franchises like Tony Hawk and Skate. There have even been a few VR skating games, like the aptly titled VR Skater and Virtual Skate. Now Georgia-based VR studio Pokodzima is throwing its own board onto the track with Bomb the Hill, which looks to capture the rebellious spirit of 70s skater culture through immersive gameplay and a history-based narrative.

It began life as a prototype funded by the Oculus Publishing Ignition program, and was even featured during the UploadVR Showcase earlier this summer. An open beta test was offered on Meta Quest a few months ahead of Bomb the Hill’s September 10 Early Access release on that platform. Bomb the Hill will also launch for PC VR sometime later this year.

Bomb the Hill features a narrative campaign inspired by the stories of real-life skaters of the 70s. This story is told in 15 chapters (or Episodes), with the main character receiving messages from an old tape recording he found. Along the way, he will explore the hills and canyons of the Midwest United States, dodge the police, and share insights about his family and why he wants to reconnect with skateboarding as he enters the titular Bomb the Hill competition.

Overall, Bomb the Hill's story takes a nostalgic tone, both in recalling the good times people have while sharing their love of skateboarding and the regret in how life's challenges can drive people apart. At the end of the game, you see actual photos and captions explaining some of the first skating competitions, which is pretty fascinating and touching in itself.

Bomb the Hill can be played either standing up or sitting down. While standing, controlling your skateboard requires you to stand sideways with one foot in front of the other, just like a real skater. You build speed by swiping your arms forward, brake by holding your arms out to catch the wind, and steer by leaning from one side to the other.

You can slide by pressing down on the grip triggers and steering your controller like a driving wheel (though I honestly rarely used this after the introductory tutorial level), and crouch down for extra speed by either ducking your head or pressing the A button (you will be using this a lot in the more timed/speed-focused tracks). It can be tricky at first, and if you aren’t careful, you can find yourself tripping and spinning in your play area.

If you find the standing motions too difficult to pull off, or you can’t stand up for whatever reason, you can also play the game while sitting. Bomb the Hill automatically adjusts for this whenever you load an Episode, and the controls are more or less the same. I played this way most of the time, as I found it easier to steer. Either way you choose, the controls are fairly intuitive and it isn’t long before you are gliding down the slopes like a pro.

As you shred your way downhill, you build up points by bumping through smaller obstacles, pulling off impressive jumps, and going long distances at top speed. Keep in mind that if you go too far off the road or bump into a larger obstacle like a car, you’ll wipe out and have to restart from a checkpoint – or, depending on which Episode you’re on, the beginning of the course.

Episodes vary between timed runs where you have to reach the end of the course without wiping out too much, races with CPU-controlled skaters, and even a few speed runs that require you to hit a certain target speed before you reach the finish line. Oddly enough, many of the earlier, tutorial-like levels feel more difficult than the later races – though there are a few tense runs toward the end.

Many of the courses give you branching options in the form of ramps and shortcuts. You can choose to play it safe and stick to the main road, or take the risk of a wipeout in exchange for an impressive jump and some extra points. Flying through the air after a jump is quite a rush, though landing without spinning out of control takes a lot of trial and error.

Bomb the Hill looks pretty good. While most of the scenery is the same canyon landscape, there are plenty of different buildings and landmarks littering each course to keep things fresh. Some Episodes take place at night, making it even more challenging to navigate, and these are also more visually striking due to lit street signs and glowing trails behind the rival racers.

The music is a fun mix of high-energy punk rock and relaxing jazz that matches the overall skate-culture feel. The sound effects also do a great job of making you feel like you’re rolling along a blacktop road, especially when paired with the rumble feedback in your controllers.

Aside from the volume controls for the music, voices, and sound effects, there is a field-narrowing comfort setting that reduces your field of vision into a single oval looking straight ahead. This is for people with motion sickness and difficulty with the wider display, but I personally found it too distracting.

Bomb the Hill Review - The Final Verdict

Overall, Bomb the Hill is a fun experience that captures the speed of racing down the highway in virtual reality, and its story paints a surprisingly touching picture of nostalgia, community, and the ups and downs of an ever-changing world. Skateboarding fans will definitely want to check it out, and it might make for a fun workout if you wish to play it standing up. Just be careful not to wipe out for real.

You can check it out on Meta Quest now, or wait until it comes to PC VR sometime later this year.

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 an early access release, this review is unscored.

Publisher Impact Inked and developer Play XD have announced a beta for their comedic card battle game Primal Rumble.

During the beta, players will be able to get an early look at Primal Rumble's slapstick comedy card battling gameplay, collect and compete with the game's Primals, try new moves, experiment with card decks, and help the developers shape the game prior to launch.

Primal Rumble is a card battler that can be played in VR and mixed reality, with the latter mode transforming your real world space into a living playground full of vinyl-statue-esque "Primals." Players collect cute, funny creatures called 'Primals' and compete against up to three other collectors in a mixed reality arena. Each card represents a move for a Primal, played one by one in a familiar turn-based game loop.

A trailer embedded below shares a bit of what to expect from Primal Rumble.

Beta spots are limited. You can find out how to join via the game's Discord server.

Primal Rumble can be wishlisted on Quest now.

If you missed it: Valve announced the price of Steam Frame and opened registrations, as well as confirming that it comes with Half-Life: Alyx, which is now standalone-capable.

Out of the box, Steam Frame has monochrome passthrough, grayscale with a configurable tint, that in terms of angular resolution feels sharper than Quest 2 but significantly blurrier than Quest 3, as well as lacking color.

To solve this, Valve has closely partnered with Arcturus Vision (formerly Arcturus Industries), a startup making a $149 addon that attaches to Steam Frame's PCI-E expansion port.

Arcturus, you may remember, was also one of the companies that worked with Valve to add a depth-correct 3D passthrough mode to the Index headset in 2020. Six years later, it's now providing an even bigger upgrade for Frame.

Arcturus Vision Camera connects to Steam Frame's PCI-E expansion slot, affixing to the headset, and automatically upgrades the headset's passthrough in both the home environment and all mixed reality games, including Cubism, Puzzling Places, and Table Space.

Arcturus Vision Camera features two 32 megapixel Sony RGB sensors spaced 64mm apart (around the average IPD), though for passthrough it uses only around a quarter of this resolution. There are two modes you can choose from:

• Full Resolution: 2464×2464 (6MP) per eye at up to 72Hz (60Hz default)
• Half Resolution: 1232×1232 (1.5MP) per eye at up to 144Hz (experimental)

Passthrough runs at 60fps by default. Arcturus warns that higher refresh rates can exhibit flickering or banding under artificial lighting, so are best used with natural lighting.

Arcturus Vision Camera doesn't just upgrade Steam Frame's passthrough, though. It also turns Frame into a spatial recording device, capable of capturing tracked stereoscopic videos.

Tracked 3D Video Capture

Capturing stereoscopic video has been a core feature of every new standalone headset since Apple Vision Pro, and Arcturus Vision Camera adds this capability to Steam Frame, plus a unique twist.

The Arcturus Vision Camera app on Steam captures 2464×2464 per eye (6MP) 10-bit HLG HDR video at 60fps or 1232×1232 (1.5MP) at 120fps. But unlike with other headsets, Arcturus also saves the tracked position of the headset throughout the recording.

Saving the tracked position of each frame enables a novel playback mode only possible in VR: Stabilized Immersive Playback.

During Stabilized Immersive Playback, the tracked 3D video itself will move around you to match the tracked position of each frame. Having briefly tried it out, it's the best way I've seen yet to watch first-person 3D video.

The startup also offers an Arcturus Vision Sync tool that lets you easily convert the captured file to play on Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, and other VR headsets, though this of course lacks the Stabilized Immersive Playback feature.

Arcturus Gaussian Splat Viewer

Having the tracked pose for each recorded frame is also incredibly useful for using the footage to generate a Gaussian splat.

Arcturus doesn't today offer a simple, streamlined GUI pipeline for generating Gaussian splats. If you're expecting a Steam Frame version of Meta's Horizon Hyperscape, that's not what this is.

What the company does offer is a Gaussian splat viewer highly optimized to run on-device on Steam Frame, called Arcturus Vision Gaussian XR. It automatically discovers and lists PLY and SOG files on your Steam Frame and lets you explore them in VR.

To actually generate a new splat using footage captured by Arcturus Vision Camera, the startup provides a recommended workflow involving open-source tools on a Linux workstation PC with an Nvidia GPU.

An Essential Accessory?

UploadVR has an Arcturus Vision Camera for evaluation and, while we'll be fully assessing it in our coming Steam Frame review, we can already declare it an essential addition to Steam Frame.

Even if you have no interest in mixed reality, being able to clearly see your surroundings while in the home interface or playing a flatscreen game is sorely missing from Steam Frame, and Arcturus Vision Camera seamlessly solves it.

It does, however, have a battery life tradeoff while active. And as we'll cover in our review, the battery life will already leave you wanting.

The Great On Frame page, similar to the Steam Deck's Great On Deck label, is a quick way for Steam Frame owners to quickly browse Frame-compatible games and a visibility boost for developers who choose to support the new hardware.

This list is ever-growing and subject to change. We are aware of multiple other developers planning Steam Frame builds for their games and will either update this article or do separate coverage as those games get the official Great On Frame label.

Steam Frame Is $1059 & Comes With Standalone Half-Life: Alyx, Reservations Open Now

BREAKING: Steam Frame starts at $1059 for the 256GB model and comes with standalone-capable Half-Life: Alyx. Reservations are open right now.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Here is our current list:

• Action Hero
• Ancient Dungeon
• Aperture Hand Lab
• Arizona Sunshine Remake
• Arizona Sunshine 2
• Beat Saber
• Boxing Underdog
• Budget Cuts Ultimate
• Climbey
• Crystal Rift
• Cubism
• Deadly Delivery
• Deisim
• Dungeons of Eternity
• Eleven Table Tennis
• Enigmo
• Escape Simulator
• Floor Plan 2
• Forefront
• Fruit Golf
• Gorilla Tag
• Growrilla
• Gun Club VR
• Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone
• Hard Bullet
• I Expect You To Die
• I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar
• I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine
• Into Black
• Iron Rebellion
• Job Simulator
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes
• Mini Motor Racing X
• Moss VR
• Moss II VR
• Pavlov Shack
• Pistol Whip
• Puzzling Places
• Quest for Runia
• Racket Fury: Table Tennis VR
• Real VR Fishing
• Red Matter
• Red Matter 2
• Resist
• Rumble
• Shave & Stuff
• SimplePlanes VR
• Space Control
• Space Pirate Trainer
• Star Drone: Sling Star
• Stellar Cafe
• Superhot VR
• Sushi Ben
• Sweet Surrender
• Synth Riders
• Table Space
• The Last Clockwinder
• The Light Brigade
• The Room VR: A Dark Matter
• The Thrill of the Fight 2
• Thrasher
• Thumper
• Titan Isles
• Underdogs
• Underworld Overseer
• Vacation Simulator
• Vail
• Vendetta Forever
• Virtual Fighter Maneuvers
• VR Giants
• Walkabout Mini Golf
• Waltz of the Wizard
• Windlands

First revealed 10 months ago, Steam Frame is a "streaming-first" standalone VR headset with a USB dongle in the box that creates a point-to-point wireless connection between your PC and the headset.

Like Steam Deck and Steam Machine, the headset runs Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS, adapted here for VR. It can run compatible Linux and Windows games locally, including SteamVR titles, using Proton for Windows compatibility and FEX to translate x86 code for its ARM processor. Android games run through a separate compatibility layer called Lepton, with developers able to distribute their mobile-optimized Android builds directly through Steam.

The headset does not require or support base stations. It tracks itself and its included controllers using four onboard grayscale tracking cameras, two of which can be used for monochrome passthrough, and it also has eye tracking for foveated streaming.

Steam Frame Hands-On: UploadVR’s Impressions Of Valve’s New Headset

UploadVR’s David Heaney and Ian Hamilton went hands-on with Steam Frame at Valve HQ, trying both standalone use and PC VR.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

UploadVR has a Steam Frame review unit, and we're currently working on a review. In the meantime, you can read our Steam Frame specs rundown from its announcement and our hands-on impressions from the reveal event.

Price & Ergonomic Kit

Steam Frame comes in two storage variants, a 256GB model for $1059 or a 1TB model for $1299.

Both storage SKUs come with the headset, tracked controllers, and USB dongle.

To be clear, though, the headset has a microSD card slot, so you aren't limited to the onboard storage.

For improved comfort, Valve is selling an Ergonomic Accessories Kit at $59.

The Ergonomic Accessories Kit includes a headset top strap as well as Index-like controller hand grip straps, and an extended light blocker that attaches to the nose to reduce light leak.

Valve also sells two other more minor accessories:

• PSU: Steam Frame charges via USB-C, but, as with many USB-C powered tech today, does not come with a charger. Valve will sell you one for $29, if you want a Valve-branded one for some reason.
• Accessory Replacement Kit: if you damage or lose the included accessories, Valve will sell you a kit for $49 that includes a face gasket, head cushion, and light blocker.

Half-Life: Alyx Standalone

Other than the price, Valve's bombshell announcement today is that it has a native ARM build of Half-Life: Alyx optimized to run standalone on the headset. That means you can play Alyx on Steam Frame without a PC.

The company says fully integrating eye-tracked foveated rendering was the key breakthrough that made standalone Alyx viable, combined with over a year of Vulkan graphics driver, SteamVR tweaks, and optimizations to Alyx that will also carry over to the Windows PC build, including depth reprojection.

Crucially, Valve says it didn't make any content changes to the game, and thus Workshop items automatically work. Steam Cloud support for saves mean you can even switch between standalone and PC VR streaming at will.

Half-Life: Alyx is included with every Steam Frame for those who don't already own it.

70 Other 'Steam Frame Verified' VR Titles

Additionally, Valve has already tested and confirmed 70 other VR titles that run and perform well standalone on Steam Frame, earning them the 'Steam Frame Verified' tag:

• Action Hero
• Ancient Dungeon
• Arizona Sunshine VR 2
• Arizona Sunshine VR Remake
• Beat Saber
• Boxing Underdog
• Climbey
• Crystal Rift
• Cubism
• Deadly Delivery
• Deisim
• Dungeons of Eternity
• Eleven Table Tennis
• Enigmo
• Escape Simulator
• Floor Plan 2 VR
• Forefront
• Fruit Golf
• GrowRilla VR
• Gun Club VR
• Half-Life 2: VR Mod
• HARD BULLET
• I Expect You To Die
• I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar
• I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine
• Into Black
• IRON REBELLION
• Job Simulator
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes
• Mini Motor Racing X
• Moss II VR
• Moss VR
• Noun Town: VR Language Learning
• Pavlov Shack
• Pistol Whip
• Puzzling Places – 3D Jigsaw Sim
• Quest for Runia
• Racket Fury: Table Tennis VR
• Real VR Fishing
• Red Matter
• Red Matter 2
• Resist
• RUMBLE
• Shave & Stuff
• SimplePlanes VR
• Space Control
• Space Pirate Trainer
• StarDrone: Sling Star (with VR mode)
• Stellar Cafe
• SUPERHOT VR
• Sushi Ben
• Sweet Surrender VR
• Synth Riders
• Table Space: Board and Card Game Sandbox
• The Last Clockwinder
• The Light Brigade: Definitive Edition
• The Room VR: A Dark Matter
• THRASHER
• Thumper
• Titan Isles
• UNDERDOGS
• Underworld Overseer
• Vacation Simulator
• VAIL
• Vendetta Forever
• Virtual Fighter Maneuvers
• Walkabout Mini Golf VR
• Waltz of the Wizard
• Windlands

Of course, you can also play any and all PC VR content via streaming from your PC, provided your PC is powerful enough.

Arcturus Vision Color Passthrough Addon

Out of the box, Steam Frame has monochrome passthrough, grayscale with a configurable tint, that in terms of angular resolution feels sharper than Quest 2 but significantly blurrier than Quest 3, as well as lacking color.

Arcturus Vision: $150 Accessory Adds Color Passthrough To Steam Frame

The $149 Arcturus Vision Camera, weighing just 10 grams, adds 6 megapixel per eye color passthrough to Steam Frame and captures tracked 3D HDR video.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

To solve this, Valve has closely partnered with Arcturus Vision (formerly Arcturus Industries), a startup making a $149 addon that attaches to Steam Frame's PCI-E expansion port.

The Arcturus Vision Camera weighs just 10 grams, and features dual 32-megapixel Sony RGB sensors, adding high-quality color passthrough to Steam Frame. It automatically works across all apps that use passthrough.

Arcturus also has two apps on Steam, one that lets you capture 5K HDR stereo footage using the camera, and another that lets you capture and explore photorealistic Gaussian splats of your physical surroundings.

Arcturus Vision Camera will go on sale when Steam Frame starts to ship, priced at $149 or equivalent in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea.

PC VR Streaming Improvements

Since we last tried Steam Frame back in November, Valve has made some key improvements to the wireless PC VR streaming tech, which we already found to be excellent at the time.

As you will know by now, Steam Frame creates a direct 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E connection between itself and the included USB dongle connected to your PC. It also uses foveated streaming

Since the reveal, Valve has added two other technologies to improve the stability and quality of wireless PC VR:

• Multi-Link Streaming: this uses the adapter and your local Wi-Fi network simultaneously, choosing the lowest latency connection per packet so that neither USB nor local network issues can interrupt your VR gaming.
• PC-Side Contrast Adaptive Sharpening: uses AMD's open-source image sharpening algorithm to improve the quality of the visuals.

Reservation: How To Get A Steam Frame

Unfortunately, you can't just place a conventional preorder for Steam Frame. Due to some combination of the production scale and expected demand, as well as the company's desire to limit reselling scalpers, Valve is using a similar reservation system to what it had for Steam Machine's launch.

You can register right now, choosing which storage SKU you want.

Then, on Thursday at 10am Pacific Time, exactly 72 hours from now, Valve will randomize the order of existing reservations to assign each a position in a virtual queue. This means as long as you reserve within 72 hours, you have the same chance as anyone else.

Later on Thursday, Valve will send out the first purchase offer emails to those whose position in the queue is less than or equal to the number of units the company has produced so far. Everyone else will be on an automatic waitlist until units become available, and new registrations will go to the back of this queue.

Valve isn't disclosing how many units it has made so far, nor how many it's producing on an ongoing basis.

Aces of Thunder has just received a major update. Titled "One Sky For All," the update introduces crossplay between PC and PlayStation 5 players, as well as new aircraft, missions, and a broad range of improvements to gameplay, presentation, UI, and VR-specific adjustments.

The update's major addition, crossplay, allows PC and PS5 players to share the same multiplayer matchmaking queues by default (though it should be noted that PlayStation 5 players have the ability to opt out of crossplay in the game's settings).

Three new aircraft join the squadron as separate DLC packs: these are the Ju 87 D-5, I-16 Type 27, and Bf 109 Z-1 Zwilling. Multiplayer and custom battles get new operations and locations, while additional single-player missions have been added, too. There are also new control options, gameplay fixes, and VR adjustments designed to provide better and more realistic and comfortable head positions across several aircraft.

The full patch notes can be seen on Aces of Thunder's game page.

We reviewed Aces of Thunder when it released earlier this year, and found it to be "one of the most thrilling venues for combat that VR gaming has to offer and a fitting callback to the classic flight sims of yesteryear."

Aces of Thunder is out now on PlayStation VR2 and Steam.

I’ve spent a few years using VR and writing about it, so I have a pretty good sense of what feels natural inside a headset. Building those experiences was something I had always left to people who actually knew how to code.

I don’t know C#. My Unity experience was minimal. I had never built an APK for Quest or submitted an app to the Meta Quest Store.

After watching how quickly AI coding tools were improving, I started wondering how much of that gap I could cross without becoming a programmer first.

So I decided to try.

I intentionally chose a very simple idea. Punchable Face is about as straightforward as the name suggests. You stand in front of an obnoxious carnival barker and punch him. Your punches are scored based on velocity, his head reacts when you hit him, his face gets redder as he takes more punishment, and the whole thing happens inside a small carnival environment.

Punchable Face was deliberately small enough that I could keep the problem bounded.

I wasn’t trying to prove I could suddenly become a game developer. I wanted to see whether I could take a simple VR idea all the way from an empty Unity project to something people could actually download from the Quest Store.

That meant getting through the entire process, including development, testing on a real headset, creating the store assets, submitting the app to Meta and getting it approved.

Starting With Almost No Development Experience

I started Punchable Face on the morning of Saturday, September 5.

My hardware was an M2 MacBook Air and a Quest 3. The project was built in Unity 6.3 LTS using Unity’s OpenXR plugin with Meta XR SDK components for Quest-specific functionality. I also tested the finished app on Quest 2.

I used ChatGPT throughout the project to help plan what I wanted to build, work through problems and make design decisions. Codex handled most of the code changes and Unity project modifications.

I mostly used GPT-5.6 Sol at Medium reasoning for day-to-day work, and switched to GPT-6 Astra Medium when I hit harder problems, including a persistent XR positioning issue.

That created a development process I had never experienced before.

I would describe what I wanted Codex to build. It would modify the project. I would run a new build, put on the Quest and try it.

Then I would take the headset off and tell it what was wrong.

There was usually something.

The character was too low. The gloves were pointing in the wrong direction. Punches didn’t feel strong enough. A sound effect didn’t have enough impact. A UI element needed to move.

Then I would prompt it again.

Most of the project followed the same basic loop:

Prompt. Wait. Build. Test in the headset. Give feedback. Repeat.

I wasn’t writing the code. Codex was doing a huge amount of work that I simply didn’t know how to do.

But I was spending a lot of time deciding whether what it built was actually any good.

Building It Piece By Piece

The first version of Punchable Face was barely anything.

There were placeholder hands, a target and basic punch detection. If I swung a controller fast enough and made contact, the app recognized it as a punch.

That was enough to tell me the basic idea worked.

From there, I kept adding one thing at a time.

The first target became the carnival barker. His head started reacting to punches with a spring-like motion. I added blinking, stronger haptics and visible damage feedback. Repeated punches caused his face to become increasingly red before slowly returning to normal.

I also used Meshy during character development, generating 3D mockups for both the Barker and the second target character, the Flexer, while I worked through their visual direction before settling on the versions used in the app.

The punch sound went through several versions. At one point I asked Codex to create something more elaborate and ended up liking the earlier, simpler sound better. I had it revert the change.

That happened more than once.

Codex could implement an idea very quickly. Sometimes I would put on the headset, try it and immediately decide the previous version was better.

The placeholder hands eventually became simple boxing gloves generated during the development process. I could have bought a more polished 3D asset, but for this first experiment I wanted to see how far I could get without adding paid art assets. The generated gloves worked well enough for what I was trying to learn, so I kept them and moved on.

I added an Impact Score ranging from 100 to 999 based on punch velocity, along with a Session Best score and an About panel explaining how the system worked.

Eventually I had a functioning punching mechanic and a character floating in space.

He needed somewhere to live, so I built out a carnival environment around him with a boardwalk, booths, lights, a Ferris wheel, coaster elements and a marquee. The Flexer got his own unique car meet environment. I kept both intentionally low-poly and simple, with the focus on the character. The environment just sets the right tone.

That expansion brought another set of problems.

You Still Have To Put The Headset On

This was probably the biggest lesson from the entire project.

Something can work exactly as implemented and still feel wrong in VR.

Character height became a surprisingly annoying example. The barker kept appearing too low when I put on the headset. Codex tried compensating for headset height before eventually tracing part of the problem to the XR Origin camera offset.

That was one of the points where I switched over to GPT-6 Astra Medium because the problem involved several pieces of the XR setup interacting with each other.

A sound could trigger correctly every time and still sound bad.

A boxing glove could be positioned correctly and still look wrong attached to my hand.

Those were things I could only really judge by putting on the Quest.

That was also where my own experience with VR became useful. I didn’t know how to write the systems underneath the experience, but I knew what I wanted those systems to feel like.

I could tell when a punch felt weak. I could tell when something was positioned awkwardly in three-dimensional space. I could tell when an effect was distracting or when an interaction felt natural.

My role in the development process was telling Codex what I wanted the experience to do, then repeatedly judging the result and translating what I experienced in VR into human terms I could feed back to Codex for refinements or changes.

From Saturday To Tuesday Night

By Tuesday night, September 8, I had a version of Punchable Face that I considered ready to submit.

That was essentially four days after I started.

I hesitate to say I “built a game in four days” because that makes it sound like I spent four full days sitting in front of Unity.

I didn’t.

It was Labor Day weekend. I was doing family things and living my normal life. Most of the development happened in blocks of several hours, often in the evening.

I also didn’t keep a time sheet, so I’m not going to guess at an exact number of development hours afterward.

A surprising amount of the process involved waiting.

I would wait for Codex to finish. Then I would run another Unity build. Then I would put on the headset, test it, take the headset off and explain what I wanted changed.

Then the cycle started again.

By Tuesday night, though, I had gone from almost no software development experience to an app I was willing to submit to Meta.

Then I Had To Actually Publish It

Finishing the app was only part of what I wanted to learn.

I still had to figure out how to release it.

That meant creating the store listing, making the app icon, thumbnail and key art, preparing the Android release build and working through Meta’s submission process.

Then I waited for Meta to review it.

Punchable Face was approved.

On September 13, eight days after I started the project, it went live on the Meta Quest Store for $1.99.

For the first time, something I had started building the previous weekend was publicly available on the Quest Store.

Anyone could buy it. Seeing it live on the Quest Store was genuinely exciting, and a little nerve-racking.

What This Actually Showed Me

I still can’t sit down and write Punchable Face from scratch in C#.

I didn’t become a programmer in eight days.

There are pieces of the Unity project that I understand far better now than I did when I started, but there are also plenty of things Codex handled that I would struggle to reproduce on my own.

What changed was what I could attempt.

Before this, having an idea for a VR experience and actually turning it into software felt like two very different things. The technical barrier between them was high enough that I would have stopped at the idea.

Using ChatGPT and Codex lowered that barrier enough for me to get through it.

I still had to decide what to build.

I still had to decide what looked good.

I still had to decide whether an interaction felt right.

I still had to recognize when something Codex produced wasn’t working and explain what I wanted instead.

And I still had to eventually stop tweaking things and decide the app was finished.

What I didn’t have to do was spend months learning enough C# and Unity programming to get to the point where I could start testing the idea.

The experiment also made the gap between “working” and “well built” much more obvious to me.

I could get a simple idea running surprisingly quickly, but I was still relying on a tool to make technical decisions I didn’t fully understand. On a larger project, questions around architecture, performance, maintainability, interaction design and production would become much harder to navigate without deeper development experience.

With Punchable Face, I could keep the scope small, lean on my experience as a VR user and tester, and make judgment calls about what felt good enough to ship. That does not mean the same workflow would scale cleanly to a much more ambitious game.

Eight days after I opened the project, Punchable Face was on the Quest Store.

And by then I had learned something else.

I had built the entire app without using several newer tools that can give AI coding agents more direct access to Unity and a running XR application.

So for my next VR project, I decided to try a very different workflow.

Stay tuned.

Gurman reported the layoffs in a series of two reports near the end of August. In the second report, he said the layoffs also affected some people working on headset security, spatial audio engineering, spatial Siri integration, and visionOS itself.

Apple provided an official statement to Bloomberg when asked about the layoffs:

“While we will create new roles as part of this change, it will also impact a limited number of existing roles”

“We are grateful to these team members for their contributions, and we are committed to supporting them throughout their transition, including opportunities to apply for other roles at Apple.”

No, Apple Didn’t Cancel The Vision Headset Line Forever - Here’s What’s Happening

Multiple reports this year claimed that Apple, and particularly its incoming CEO John Ternus, has canceled the Vision headset line altogether. But that just isn’t true.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

However, this does not mean that Apple is exiting the VR/MR space.

According to Gurman, Apple executives told staff that Vision Pro headsets and the visionOS operating system are not going away.

The shutdown of Apple's spatial gaming unit, Gurman explains, is due to the fact that the device is rarely used for gaming. Vision Pro does have support for PlayStation VR2 controllers, but the $250 addon hasn't seen much uptake among owners, and only a tiny fraction of VR games are available natively on visionOS. It's just not what people use Vision Pro for in practice.

Meanwhile, the reduction in the immersive video team is related to the extreme cost of producing each video relative to the number of Vision Pro owners. Each episode can cost millions of dollars to make, and third-party creators are now leveraging Blackmagic's immersive camera and DaVinci Resolve's support for the format to build out a content ecosystem without Apple.

visionOS 27 Is A Much Bigger Update Than Apple’s Keynote Suggested

There’s a whole lot more coming in visionOS 27 than what Apple announced in its keynote. Read our extensive rundown of all the biggest features & improvements.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Gurman also reiterated his claim from his May report that the company is still working on a "slimmer and lighter" headset to succeed Vision Pro that could launch in late 2028. But if the wider headset market, such as Meta's next headset, hasn't gained traction by then, the new CEO John Ternus is "open" to canceling the device. Executives below Ternus have been trying to convince him to continue investing in visionOS, Gurman writes, with a view to the longer-term potential of the platform.

Apple's primary wearable focus remains its upcoming screenless smart glasses, intended to take on Meta Glasses and Ray-Ban Meta next year.

I'm back writing on UploadVR again (for real this time), and this article is part of a series rounding up what happened in XR over the summer.

Lynx founder and CEO Stan Larroque confirmed in July that EssilorLuxottica acquired the company, including its intellectual property, assets and most of its team.

The acquisition comes after Lynx entered compulsory liquidation in March.

Lynx Has Entered Liquidation, Meaning Its R2 Headset Won’t Launch

French XR startup Lynx has entered compulsory liquidation, meaning it must shut down and its R2 headset will not be launching.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The French-Italian giant EssilorLuxottica is the largest eyewear company in the world by far. It owns iconic brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, and Persol, and has exclusive licenses with major fashion companies like Prada, Armani, Burberry, and Chanel. It also owns Sunglass Hut, and has more than 18,000 retail stores in total worldwide.

Meta owns a 3% stake in EssilorLuxottica, which it has partnered with for all of its smart glasses so far.

Larroque is not joining EssilorLuxottica, instead moving to a leadership role at French drone manufacturer Parrot. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Lynx-R2 Has 126° Field Of View Via Aspheric Pancake Lenses

Lynx-R2, coming “this summer”, is set to have the widest field of view of any standalone headset to date.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Announced early this year, Lynx-R2 was set to be powered by the same XR2 Gen 2 chipset as Quest 3 and Pico 4 Ultra, have similar displays and sensors, but feature aspheric pancake lenses, developed in partnership with Israeli startup Hypervision, that would have offered a field of view of 126° horizontal and 103° vertical. That would have made it one of the widest field of view VR headsets to ship as a product anyone can buy, and by far the widest standalone of any kind.

Larroque's email to backers stated that "it might take a few months for the operations to be smooth again, pending all legal approvals."

Whether EssilorLuxottica will revive the headset, or simply leverage the IP and expertise of the Lynx team, remains to be seen. It seems quite unlikely.

I'm back writing on UploadVR again (for real this time), and this article is part of a series rounding up what happened in XR over the summer.

Threads

Launched three years ago, Threads is Meta's X competitor, launched in the aftermath of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. Threads now has almost as many active users as X, though still lacks much of the political and intellectual user base.

In early August, Meta launched a Threads client on the Meta Horizon Store for Quest, and set it as a preinstalled app, force-downloading it to most Quest headsets.

While it was already possible to use Threads in the browser, the app offers a slightly more refined design. However, many Quest owners were unhappy to see it forcibly downloaded onto their headset, including while they were in the middle of playing VR games.

Where Threads is potentially more wanted is on the Meta Ray-Ban Display monocular HUD glasses, where the social network arrived in late July.

The glasses already had an Instagram app, and the Threads app functions relatively similarly, letting you scroll the feed by swiping your thumb against the side of your index finger (the regular Meta Neural Band scroll gesture), as well as like or share posts and even watch the videos.

It's a greatly simplified interface compared to other platforms, but it works.

Other Meta Smart Glasses Updates

Meta Ray-Ban Display, and the screenless Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses Meta powers, received a number of other updates over the summer.

• Meta AI was upgraded to be powered by Muse Spark, Meta's new series of AI models shipped this year to replace the old Llama 4. After being massively outperformed by competitors, Meta laid off much of the Llama team and spent billions of dollars hiring some of the top talent from across the AI industry.
• Photo Ultra HDR "brings your photos to life with deeper, realistic and more true-to-life colors"
• “Hey Meta, take a dynamic photo” takes a burst of photos over the course of a few seconds, and in the smartphone companion app you can choose the best shot.
• Instagram Instants lets you put up what is essentially a story that can only be viewed once, via "Hey Meta, share an Instant", which Meta claims lets you 'share spontaneous, unfiltered photos with friends".
• You can have a WhatsApp group voice chat on the glasses, started from your phone, and continue to listen to music, capture photos and videos, and get notifications while the call runs in the background.
• A new Battery Saver Mode "limits high-drain features and dramatically extend your runtime"
• For people in Meta's Early Access program (US & Canada only), a new feature called Wi-Fi Aware makes auto-importing media from the glasses to an iPhone more seamless, removing the "Meta AI wants to Join Wi-Fi network…" prompt.

We expect to see more significant new features announced for Meta's smart glasses, as well as new hardware, at Meta Connect 2026 later this month.

I'm back writing on UploadVR again (for real this time), and this article is part of a series rounding up what happened in XR over the summer.

A post on Polyarc's LinkedIn account confirmed the news with the following statement:

Today is the end of an era for Polyarc.

After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end. As we wind down active development, we are saying our farewells to each other.

Working together over all of these years has been an honor. Bringing surprise and delight to those who played our games has been a privilege. Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished.

Polyarc has been home to exceptional developers across all disciplines. If you are hiring, please see the link below.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey.

The post also links to a spreadsheet listing the affected employees and their positions for any companies who are hiring.

Polyarc saw a round of layoffs in March of this year resulting in two-thirds of the team being let go.

The two mainline Moss games were beloved by players and critics alike, proving that a primarily third-person experience can translate well to VR with smart game design and mechanics. The franchise has over 160 awards and nominations.

Moss (now titled Moss VR) originally launched on the first PlayStation VR in February 2018, followed by PC VR in June of the same year. It was a launch day title for the first Oculus Quest in May 2019 and has over seven thousand five-star reviews across its platforms.

Moss Review: Quill is The Little Mouse That Could

Moss remains excellent on Rift and Vive, with sharper visuals and better tracking enhancing Quill’s charming puzzle adventure.

UploadVRDavid Jagneaux

The sequel, originally titled Moss: Book II, followed a few years later, again starting on the original PlayStation VR in March 2022 followed by Quest 2 that July and PC VR in October. That game won VR/AR Game of the Year at The Game Awards, Game of the Year at the VR Awards, and multiple other nominations and wins at the D.I.C.E. Awards, NYX Game Awards, and New York Video Game Critics Circle, among others.

Moss: Book 2 Review - A Satisfying Sequel That Leaves More Room To Grow

Moss: Book 2 takes the logical steps to improve upon the first game, resulting in a stronger sequel.

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Both games were renamed earlier to Moss VR and Moss 2 VR to avoid confusion with this year's flatscreen port, Moss: The Forgotten Relic, that combined both games into a single fantasy adventure.

Before The Forgotten Relic, Polyarc expanded the Moss universe with the Hero Academy-inspired PvP strategy game Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss. That game had an extended early beta period in 2023 before going back into development and officially launching in November 2025. Glassbreakers failed to capture the same audience as its predecessors, currently sitting with a 'Mixed' rating from just 22 reviews on Steam and a 4.7 score from 229 ratings on the Meta Horizon Store. It was also released on Apple Arcade.

Glassbreakers Review: Nuanced PvP Strategy With Adorable Whiskers

Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss is a brilliantly designed PvP strategy game that’s worth your time.

UploadVRPete Austin

Moss: The Forgotten Relic released in July after Polyarc noted it had racked up over two hundred thousand wishlists prior to release. Presumably, given today's news, those wishlists did not convert into enough sales to keep the studio afloat.

Apple first introduced spatial video capture on iPhone 15 Pro in 2023, ahead of the launch of Vision Pro. The feature records simultaneously from the Main and Ultra Wide cameras, with Apple combining the two views into a single spatial video file. Apple added native spatial photo capture to the iPhone lineup the following year with the iPhone 16 lineup, including both base and Pro models.

Apple's technical specifications for iPhone Duo list a 48MP Fusion Main camera and a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera. Spatial photos and spatial video recording are both absent from the list of supported camera features.

That's different from iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, which explicitly list spatial photos and spatial video recording at 1080p 30fps.

The omission doesn't appear to be down to processing power. iPhone Duo uses the same A20 Pro chip as the iPhone 18 Pro models, including Apple's Dual 16-core Neural Engine. Apple also says the iPhone Duo's 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera is the same one used in the iPhone 18 Pro models.

Apple hasn't explained why spatial capture isn't listed for iPhone Duo, and we haven't been able to test the device ourselves yet. Apple's existing iPhone implementation uses the Main and Ultra Wide cameras together to capture separate views of a scene.

Software-based 2D-to-3D conversion has also improved since Apple first introduced spatial video capture.

Apple Vision Pro can use machine learning to turn ordinary 2D photos, including photos captured on an iPhone, into spatial photos after they've been taken. That means photos taken on iPhone Duo can still be converted into spatial photos on Vision Pro, even without native spatial capture.

Meta has also expanded 2D-to-3D conversion on Quest. Earlier this year, Quest 3 gained the ability to turn ordinary images in the web browser into stereoscopic 3D. Meta's Instagram app on Quest goes further, using AI view synthesis to convert both regular photos and videos into 3D when viewed in the headset.

Meta's conversion also works with videos originally shot as ordinary 2D footage on a phone. Apple does not currently offer the same built-in conversion for ordinary 2D video on Vision Pro.

AI conversion uses a different process from native spatial capture. Spatial video recorded on an iPhone uses two cameras to capture separate views of the scene, while AI conversion estimates depth and creates the second view in software.

In practice, the difference isn't always obvious. When UploadVR tested Meta's 3D conversion for Instagram videos last year, David Heaney found that it looked very similar to spatial video recorded on an iPhone, with only occasional artifacts.

Software conversion gives iPhone Duo owners another way to view regular photos as spatial photos on Vision Pro, while Quest can also add 3D depth to regular video.

It's still a curious omission from Apple's most expensive new iPhone. Apple continues to support spatial photo and video capture on the iPhone 18 Pro models, while its new $1,999 foldable seemingly leaves both behind.

Apparently megalodons were not enough. Every now and then, the usually cozy realistic fishing simulator Real VR Fishing will veer off into some peculiar ideas for events. This year alone, there was a collaboration with popular deep-sea adventure game Dave the Diver in June and April's Spring Shark Frenzy Event had you catching multiple 'Dark Hero Sharks' for a chance at wrangling the Dark Megalodon.

So after seven years on the market with over one million copies sold, developer Devs United Games cooked up another interesting premise. The Prehistoric Sharks Event tasks you with researching prehistoric predators of the seas by fishing for fossils in real-world locations with ties to the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. One era will unlock each week over a three-week span.

Here's the schedule:

• Week 1 — September 15, 2026: Paleozoic
• Week 2 — September 22, 2026: Mesozoic
• Week 3 — September 29, 2026: Cenozoic

To participate when the event goes live, you have to check the hints on the event map screen to determine the specific locations where fossils can be caught. Catch the required number of fossils and the event map for that week unlocks. Each map, once unlocked, stays unlocked until the end of the event in early October. All Prehistoric Sharks participants get a new fishing rod, hat, boat, and title only available during the event.

Additionally, a personalized Angler's Logbook will be available to all players. The Logbook chronicles your journey in Real VR Fishing, every milestone, fish caught, and location visited, and compiles them into a shareable record. Longtime players of the game will appreciate seeing their history on the water in one place. Finally, three new fish species, aside from the prehistoric sharks, have been added to the game.

The Prehistoric Sharks event starts September 15 on Quest and Steam. Real VR Fishing is available on both platforms for $19.99.

It has been widely reported by multiple reputable sources that Meta is working on a premium, ultralight, open-periphery headset with a tethered compute puck, intended to occupy a similar high-end position to Meta Quest Pro, but in a much sleeker form factor. The project and its underlying layers have appeared under the codenames Phoenix, Stanley, and Loma.

UploadVR published an extensive report on the device last month, and I highly recommend that you read it if you wish to know more.

Everything We Know (So Far) About Meta’s Next Headset

Here’s everything we know (so far) about Project Phoenix, Meta’s next headset.

UploadVRLuna

In August 2026, Meta released a free app called HorizonOS Prescription Lens. Many users noticed it via the new section of the Horizon Store and found it strange, as it seemed to be a system-reliant package and did not appear in the App Library after being downloaded.

Upon inspection, this app was served to devices as a ZIP file rather than a standard APK, so opening it and viewing the assets inside required no additional tools beyond a standard file manager. At the time, the app mostly appeared to be a placeholder package that allowed testers to pair prescription lens inserts with the Phoenix headset, with few actual assets inside.

Now, in September, Meta has updated the package, and it contains clear visuals of the device, showing how prescription lens inserts are attached and detached, as well as how their QR code is scanned.

The visuals clearly depict a slim headset with glasses-style nose pads instead of a face interface, with sensors visible on the sides and undersides of the temples.

A separate visual showcases a user holding a prescription lens QR code up for the device to scan. It also shows the device from behind, with the compute puck's cable attached to the end of the left temple.

Meta Connect 2026 draws near, and the company's agenda shows a session titled "A practical guide to controller-free interaction." Given Phoenix's focus on eye and hand interaction, this suggests Meta's next-generation headset plans could be revealed in more detail.

Exoshock will launch an open beta beginning on September 17. The beta will serve as the final free playtest ahead of the game's planned Early Access release later this fall.

The open beta will support both single-player and multiplayer co-op runs for up to four players, and you'll be able to play the game through SteamVR and on Quest 3 and 3S headsets. Flat screen gamers can also play, and cross-play will be available between VR and standard PC players.

Ahead of the open beta, you can download the free "Playtest App," which includes access to the shooting range, weapons, loadout options, a tutorial, and character customization so that you're ready to go the minute the beta launches on September 17.

We went hands-on with Exoshock when it launched its "Founder's Edition," and discovered a game that's "shaping up to be one of the most exciting shooters VR has seen in a long time."

You can find everything Exoshock on its SteamVR and Quest store pages.

Immersive Putting lets Golf+ players use their own real-world golf club and ball, not a controller, to practice putting.

Using the headset's passthrough cameras, room-mapping, and mixed reality, the game maps a virtual green directly onto your physical surroundings, and then instantly calculates your swing and the speed and trajectory of your shot. The game then carries your real-world shot onto the virtual green, complete with its simulated contours, breaks, grain, and speed.

The feature provides feedback on each stroke, including start line, speed and pace, results, and proximity to the hole, as well as trends which can help players identify patterns in their putting and improve their form over time.

Importantly, there are several requirements that must be met to use this new feature, and it won't be available to every Golf+ player automatically.

To start, Immersive Putting is only available to Golf+ Pass subscribers. The service costs $49.99 for the first year, $99.99 every year after, and unlocks full access to Golf+'s extensive course library, plus tournaments and events.

Immersive Putting is also currently only available on Meta Quest 3 and 3S, as the experience relies on the headset's passthrough cameras and depth-sensing capabilities. The older Quest 2 does not support the feature.

You'll also need (of course) your own real-world putter and ball, plus a few feet of clean and clear space in a reasonably well-lit room.

GOLF+ is available 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.

Dance 'N Dream paired a unique Barbie-themed environment with FIFTY FIFTY’s “Barbie Dreams (feat. Kaliii)" from Barbie: The Album, the soundtrack to the 2023 hit film. The song itself will remain available to purchase, but the companion environment will go away at the end of this month. Anyone who already owns the full experience will retain access to it.

The Dance 'N Dream experience was built by the same team that delivered similar experiences for tracks by Muse, The Offspring, and Lindsey Stirling. It also incorporated mixed reality support into its presentation for supported headsets with a giant Barbie box serving as the portal from the pink-laden immersive world into your living room.

Dance 'N Dream is available now through September 30 on Meta Quest, Steam, PlayStation VR2, and Apple Vision Pro.

The revenge thriller FPS first released in September 2024 and currently has an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam from 4.5K reviews. You play as Alphonse Harding, a retired secret agent exacting revenge on your former employer. It plays out as a series of micro-sandbox 'scenarios' that you can replay to improve the efficiency in taking out the bad guys.

Flat2VR Studios is having a busy 2026 with the releases of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR and FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR, the Quest port and co-op update for Roboquest VR, and this week's launch of Drop Dead: The Cabin on PlayStation VR2. It also recently announced that ports of System Shock and High On Life are in development along with its various other projects.

The Spark program is an initiative spearheaded by Flat2VR Studios pairing experienced VR modders with studios interested in porting their titles to virtual reality. I Am Your Beast VR is the second release from the program after the excellent FlatOut 4: Total Insanity VR earlier this year. If you want to learn more about it, check out our interview with Flat2VR's Elliott Tate where he goes in-depth about how Spark works.

Interview: Flat2VR’s Elliott Tate On Kicking Off The Spark Initiative With FlatOut 4 VR

We sat down with Flat2VR Studios’ Elliott Tate about the Spark initiative, pairing VR modders with game developers for ports, and its first release, FlatOut 4.

UploadVRMike Johnson

I Am Your Beast VR can be wishlisted now on Steam.

Hand tracking support is a rarity for a PS VR2 title and, having played the game myself, I found that the investigatory gameplay works well without controllers. In Detective VR, you search crime scenes for clues and photograph them with a pinch-and-pull gesture, interview witnesses, and use an interactive murder board to put your case together and find the culprit. There's also a meta-level mechanic where you "put on a pair of VR glasses" to reconstruct the crime scene.

Here is the official PlayStation trailer:

We reviewed the game on Quest last year, saying "while there's room for improvement with the gameplay, it's an impressive effort from Studio Chipo y Juan that's a delight to play, with so much room for more to come."

Detective VR Review: Unraveling The Mixed Reality Mystery

Now available on Quest 3, does Detective VR’s alibi stand up to scrutiny? We put the clues together in our latest investigation.

UploadVRJosh Petersel

With the new platforms not having a mixed reality focus like Meta's Quest 3, developer Chipo y Juan wisely added immersive environments for more traditional VR gameplay, though the core mechanics remain unchanged. A patch has already been issued to address some early reports of issues with locomotion and hand tracking.

Detective VR is available now on PlayStation VR2, Steam, and Quest. There is a free demo available on Steam.

Outbreak was announced at June's VR Games Showcase, actually opening the main show as the first big reveal. Triangle Factory broke the disappointing news in an announcement on its Discord:

After a lot of internal discussion, we've made the difficult decision to put development of Breachers: Outbreak on hold.

The truth is that it's a hard time to build and ship a high-quality VR game like this, and the interest we've seen so far doesn't support a project of this scale. We'd rather be upfront about that now than keep going and release something we're not proud of. We want to put our efforts into a project that VR players everywhere will be extremely excited about.

We're sorry to let down everyone who was excited about Outbreak. But not everything is going to waste. Some of what we built for Outbreak will find its way into the main Breachers game itself. More on that when the time is right.

The end of the statement offers hope of the PvE gameplay Outbreak promised coming to the original Breachers, but that very idea implies the standalone game is effectively dead. "On hold" and "on the shelf" are common phrases studios will use to avoid saying the word 'canceled' outright. This is the second project this year Triangle Factory has put out to pasture after announcing its long-running shooter Hyper Dash will shut down in November.

Futuristic VR FPS Hyper Dash Shutting Down This November

Triangle Factory shutting down its aging futuristic FPS Hyper Dash this November.

UploadVRMike Johnson

It is also not the first in-development 'shelving' of a VR game this year, with The Binary Mill announcing the same for Survive The Night a short time after its public reveal.

Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone is violent and disgusting.

But its violence is justified by the world of its fiction, by its protagonist's brutal morality, and by its villains' despicable cruelty. It's a game about doing violence to criminals who do horrible things to innocent people.

Yes, Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone is violent and disgusting. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Beginning life in 2021 as a Half-Life: Alyx mod, Gunman Contracts (the mod) expanded through two chapters and has now evolved into a new, bespoke game. Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone is a solo-developed single-player shooter in which you play as a hitman working outside the legal system to bring punitive consequences to those who harm society.

The just-released Early Access version contains three distinct and connected Story Contracts. It's also packing a fully immersive home base known as “The Hive,” where you can unlock and customize 18 unique weapons and attachments, practice at the range, play skill games, and train at several combat stations. There are Challenge Modes like Takedown, in which you face off against 30 opponents, and Last Stand, in which you fight waves of enemies and disarm bombs for as long as you’re able.

The game’s developer says that those who pony up for the EA release will get the game at the lowest price possible, and that they'll receive three new Story Contracts as free updates in the future.

As it stands, what’s here will take about six or seven hours to get through. But the challenges are infinitely replayable and highly customizable. There’s also enough variation in the weaponry and enough baked-in variety in the missions that you’ll want to run through them a few times each. All told, the Early Access release of Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone has about ten hours of shootin’, rootin’, and tootin.’

Do I wish there was more game here? Of course. But is there enough in the EA release to justify the purchase? Absolutely.

Beautiful Violence

Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone is one of the best shooters I've played in years. Not just because the mechanics feel good and the weapons are fun and engaging, but because using them on these villainous enemies is so righteously satisfying.

Early in our second contract, we learn that our enemies aren't simply bad guys. They're the worst guys. They're doing things to people that are unforgivable. Nor do any of them, from the lowliest henchman to the CEO of Evil Incorporated himself, ever repent. Their remorselessness is convenient for our protagonist (and the player) in that it allows him (and us) to be unflinchingly brutal in our retribution. This happy fact turns a game about shootin’ dudes into something like a feel-good vacation. Thumbs up!

Combat feels immediate and chaotic. As is normal in VR, gunplay is incredibly physical. You’ll reload, chamber rounds, aim down sights, and holster weapons using physical movements, and in Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone, these actions are, for the most part, well designed and well executed.

Very few gaming experiences are as satisfying as deploying dual pistols to dispatch as many enemies as you’ve got bullets in the magazines, before stuffing the depleted guns into your hip holsters, pulling a shotgun from over your shoulder, and pumping a final jerk full of birdshot. And if that’s not quite satisfying enough, you can do it all in slow motion.

Stages are designed to funnel you into close-quarters combat, where you’ll check corners barrel-first and clear a room, only to suddenly have a new wave of evildoers burst through a door or rush you from an adjacent hallway. The action seldom stops, pausing just long enough for some exposition, usually delivered through dialogue between the protagonist and his wonderfully voice-acted Controller.

Enemies don’t stand around waiting to get shot. They’re aggressive, mobile, and frequently positioned in ways that force you to consider the space you’re in, where best to find cover, and when and where to move and fire. Gunfights can quickly spiral into desperate brawls where, with no time to reload, you’re forced to clobber someone with the butt of your pistol, pull a knife from a nearby kitchen cabinet, and finish the job à la Ginsu.

For some players, all this violence will be too much. And that’s fair. For those who can’t stomach it, there’s a toggle to turn off most (but not all) of the blood and splatter.

Sights and Sounds

The world of Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone turns our VR headset into a bloody projector flinging violent imagery against the backs of our eyeballs. And what we see by the flickering fluorescence and the blinding lights of flashing muzzles is gorgeous. Its urban environments are drenched in shadow. Its grimy streets are awash in moonlit rain. Its dank basements are full of dread.

Not only does it technically look amazing, but it’s artfully designed, too. The world is convincing and polished. Weather effects add atmosphere, while granular details make the places feel real, rather than simply a collection of corridors and rooms in which to shoot folk.

The game’s sound design is strong as well. Gunshots echo and boom, powerful and dangerous. Environmental audio sells the illusion of place. The voice acting is superb. While the character roster is, by the nature of the story, rather limited, each character’s personality is played to perfection.

Early Access Misfires

But not everything is perfect. While I’ve mentioned the excellent gunplay, wonderful visuals, and satisfying narrative, there are a few termites gnawing on these tentpoles.

Guns can get hung up on environmental obstacles, pulling away or disappearing as you walk, taking your disembodied hands with them. It’s a janky, weird problem that can mean death in certain gunfights. There’s also a tendency for some weapons to react poorly to being holstered, or for reloads to glitch certain automatic weaponry. When these problems happen, they are really annoying.

There are also a lot of repeating enemy models, and without giving away spoilers, there’s a moment in one mission where many characters are identical. It totally breaks the immersion.

Lastly, the Story Contracts are good, but there are only three of them, as mentioned. I want more. The promise of additional missions sounds great but promises aren't the same thing as finished content.

These qualms that I have with Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone can be explained with two words: Early Access.

In the future, I suspect none of these gripes will stand. I’m sure new contracts will be added, weapons will be balanced, and bugs and jank will be fixed. But even if they’re not, the version of Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone that you’ll play today feels substantial enough to stand on its own, because the foundational act of picking up a gun and shooting an irredeemably scummy dude is, in this particular video game, extremely satisfying. 

Gunman Contracts: Stand Alone is one of the best VR shooters I've ever played.

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 an early access release, this review is unscored.

The game launched earlier this year on Quest. Arcade takes the original game's unique maze-navigation mechanic and turns it into a faster-paced, free-to-play competitive spatial experience. You guide glowing orbs through an amorphous gel-like structure while collecting color pods, defeating enemies, and avoiding hazards to reach the goal. All this is presented in a rapid gameplay loop, letting you dive back in to chase high scores on the requisite leaderboards.

Here's the Steam trailer:

Squingle Arcade comes with over sixty different levels of varying difficulty and developer Dr. Benjamin Outram promised a free DLC pack with over twenty additional levels that is in development and expected to launch very soon. The game also has asynchronous multiplayer and ghost racing, allowing you to chase your friend's time or chase the best players in the world even while playing solo.

Upon completion of a maze, you get Star Orbs, an in-game currency that can be cashed in for extended time or extra energy during a run and new skins.

One feature we do not see too often is that the maze is scalable, meaning you can grab the corners and make the puzzle extremely large to fill out your play space and literally 'walk' the orb to the finish, physically twisting, turning, and dipping it through the maze. Alternatively, make it small enough to hover over your desk for a more relaxed run.

Squingle Arcade is available now for free on Steam and Quest.

The Lightkeepers comes from developer Spectral Games (Medieval Dynasty: New Settlement) and combines strategic tower defense with scavenging and crafting in a familiar roguelite-adjacent style. By day, you and your friends scavenge the island around the lighthouse you are tasked to defend, with the option to take a boat to a nearby island for more resources. At night, you return to the lighthouse to prepare and defend it against waves of grotesque Lovecraft-inspired creatures. A watch on your left wrist lets you know how much time is left in the day and a foreboding tone with a few minutes left before nightfall is your final warning to get ready.

The loop feels similar to Bootstrap Island's explore-by-day/survive-by-night and Drop Dead: The Cabin's zombie-wave gameplay. The combination of elements here mostly works if you are able to get up to speed quickly. I played with James Tocchio and in our first run, we fumbled around trying to get our bearings. Between learning the basics of crafting, exploring the base island, and figuring out the hand-to-shoulder inventory, we did not even get to the separate island until our second run.

The inventory takes some getting used to, specifically on your shoulders. What you grab depends on which shoulder you reach for and which hand you reach with. Your right hand grabs your gun from your left shoulder and melee weapon from your right shoulder. The left hand pulls the backpack from the left shoulder and a lamp from the right. It is intuitive enough once you get it down, but you will likely fumble to start.

The gameplay loop overall is very satisfying. You scavenge for items of various types (fuel, scrap metal, cloth, wood) on the base island or hop a boat and ride to a remote island. The remote island, even during daytime, is overrun with monsters that have to be cleared out before looting. The boat is controlled by the driver from an overhead viewpoint which was jarring at first, but ultimately did not matter enough to detract from the experience.

The same can be said for the game as a whole. Everything works together in harmony just well enough to be satisfying, even if individually, nothing truly stands out as exceptional. Visually, it is not great, a far cry from the jaw-dropping Bootstrap Island. The weapons are serviceable, but very basic. I have played multiple shooters with better feeling guns. The item-category-style looting is lifted straight from The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, but that had a wider variety of individual items. The combat feels floaty and could benefit from stronger haptics and sound design on impact. No single element of the game stands out as a wow factor, but the time limit does not afford you the luxury to stop and notice because you have work to do. Everything is good enough to keep you going, unless you have a specific preference. For instance, if you only play high-fidelity games, prefer physics-based combat, or highly realistic weapons, The Lightkeepers may rub you the wrong way. It is basic in its total execution, almost to a fault, by virtue of the number of moving parts in play at once.

Lastly, plan on a grindy long-term experience. Runs have multiple difficulty levels and lengths, so you will need time invested and better gear to take on the more challenging runs. The single-shot pistol you start with is rough, most likely by design, and you will want a new gun quickly. The game has a wealth of unlockable weapons, gear, and cosmetics that unlock through a combination of in-game stat compiling (kill one hundred of one enemy type with a pistol), in-game currency accrued from runs, and paid microtransactions. Similar to the recently released Knights of Fiona and After the Fall, you will spend a lot of time in The Lightkeepers if you enjoy it out of the gates because there is plenty to play for.

The Lightkeepers releases September 10 for Quest 3 headsets.

UPDATE - September 11, 2026

XR influencer Brad Lynch posted on X that eye-tracked foveated rendering was not added in the Cosmos update. According to Lynch, it is planned for a later patch, but the notes were accidentally added to the Cosmos patch notes.

We have updated the title to this article and will leave it up for the analysis included, since the feature is still planned to come.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Hidden deep in the patch notes for the Cosmos update, about a third of the way down the 'Rendering' section, were these two notes:

• Added support for foveated rendering on PCVR.
• Utilizing eye-tracking technology, foveated rendering concentrates rendering resources at the center of your vision, sharpening and beautifying the details you focus on.

No Man’s Sky Now Uses Foveated Rendering On PSVR 2

The Echoes update overhauls space combat and adds foveated rendering on PSVR 2 to dramatically improve visual quality.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Hello Games previously added the same feature to the PlayStation VR2 version of the game in August 2023. Prior to that update, players complained of blurry visuals on Sony's then-recently-launched headset. Post update, players who have played No Man's Sky on both SteamVR and PS VR2 said the PlayStation version provided the best visual experience.

We cannot help but note the curious timing of this update. PC VR has had multiple headsets with eye tracking as a feature for years, including the Meta Quest Pro, Pimax Crystal Super and Vive Focus Vision. That said, looking at the most recent Steam hardware survey for August 2026, the eye-tracking supported headset with the highest percentage of users on SteamVR is the PlayStation VR2 at a mere 2.24% followed by the Quest Pro at 1.51%. SteamVR averages 1.8M-3M users in a given month, so the high end of those two combined is just over 110,000 users per month and there is no chance all of them are playing No Man's Sky.

However, with the imminent launch of Valve's highly-anticipated Steam Frame, there will presumably be a wave of users with an eye-tracking supported headset on the platform.

Speaking from experience, No Man's Sky is a tough game to get running well in VR on PC. The procedural generation baked into the game taxes CPUs and adding the GPU overhead required for high resolution rendering in VR creates a tall task for anything below a top tier PC. I personally had to lower the resolution scale to around fifty percent and drop the in-game graphics to just above the lowest settings to get an acceptable framerate, sacrificing visual fidelity in the process. This was on a Quest 3 using an RTX 3070 and a Ryzen 5 5600X. I upgraded my PC earlier this year, moving to a Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU and an RTX 5070 Ti and I still have to reduce the graphics from the max settings I normally play the game at when I play flatscreen. While the experience is great in VR, I am still nerfing the graphics to make it playable.

Going off my experience, the chances of a performant standalone Steam Frame version of No Man's Sky running on a mobile chipset are slim to none. So it makes business sense to capitalize on a high-profile, hotly anticipated headset with eye-tracking with this update, enticing users to add No Man's Sky to the list of PC VR games to test when they get their Steam Frames. We do not know if the performance boost with eye-tracked dynamic foveated rendering will bring the same night-and-day difference PlayStation VR2 users experienced, but it can only help.

No Man’s Sky’s Cosmos Update Overhauls The Outer Space Experience

The free Cosmos update for No Man’s Sky is out now, completely overhauling outer space with orbital bases, space station ownership, and massive hulks to salvage.

UploadVRMike Johnson

No Man's Sky Cosmos is available now on all supported platforms, including SteamVR and PlayStation VR2.

Over the course of four weeks this month, a different Walkabout course will be featured as a three-dimensional voxel coloring map in Color-A-Cube. The scheduled courses are as follows:

• Week 1 - Tiki à Coco
• Week 2 - Sweetopia
• Week 3 - Raptor Cliffs
• Week 4 - 8-Bit Lair

This event started a few days ago, so Tiki à Coco is already live. The collab is part of Color-A-Cube's weekly drops series, which has included seasonal puzzles and content from other games. We played Color-A-Cube when it left Early Access earlier this year, with James Tocchio saying "Ultimately, Color-A-Cube succeeds by embracing simplicity. Rather than burying players beneath complicated systems, it builds around one central idea and executes it with confidence."

Color-A-Cube Impressions: A Deeply Satisfying Color-By-Number Game

Color-A-Cube is a cozy color-by-number game built around charming voxel models and simple, satisfying game mechanics.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Color-A-Cube is available now on Pico and Meta Quest.

It should be noted that Superbright is only responsible for In Death Unchained, the Quest version of the game. The original In Death on SteamVR was developed by Sólfar Studios and has not been updated in several years.

Wojtek, the CEO of developer Superbright posted an update on the fantasy game's Discord detailing the company's troubled history in recent years and plans for the future:

The last two years have not been easy. We were working on something new alongside our work on In Death: Unchained, and we had some difficulties of our own to deal with. The war in Ukraine affecting our guys and what's been happening across the games industry added to that too.

We're a smaller team now trying to juggle multiple responsibilities. We weren't sure when we'd have something concrete to share. We didn't want to get your hopes up before we knew we could follow through.

Through all of this, your messages and emails have meant so much to us. Hearing that this is people's favorite game, that you're still playing, people asking us for a way to pay for the game again just to support us... wow, that meant a lot to us on a personal level. It really did help keep us going.

So I'm really happy to tell you: a new season is on the way, and we've made sure season changes are going to come every six months or so from now on. There's more, but right now I just wanted to give you this heads up ahead of sharing the details on our socials soon.

By now, it should not be necessary to detail the plethora of layoffs and closures that struck the gaming industry in the last few years and from Wojtek's message, the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war was an additional complicating factor for Superbright. Companies have been forced to pivot direction or cancel projects outright as the ecosystem's struggles continue.

For anyone unfamiliar with how Unchained handles its season changes, the leaderboards award you 'Legend Points' based on your overall performance to rank up and unlock rewards. The boards then reset, but you retain your achievements.

Acknowledging how long the current season has lasted, Superbright is also giving bonus Legend Points to anyone who participated in the season, including from now until it ends later this month. The bonus will reportedly be "large enough for even a player starting from zero Legend Points to unlock a reward."

In Death Unchained is available now on Meta Quest.

In our ongoing effort to pass along any playtests we are notified of, Spellbound Studio, the team behind Vaelorys, kicked off an open playtest on September 7 that runs for two weeks, ending on September 21.

Vaelorys is an upcoming Diablo-inspired dark fantasy hack-and-slash role-playing game featuring physical, gesture-based spellcasting you use to wipe out waves of enemies standing between you and your loot.

Here's the trailer:

You fight your way through replayable dungeon and wilderness environments to acquire artifacts, money, and new gear, the latter of which can be used to enhance your abilities and take on great challenges. There are thirty spells to unlock and upgrade and a full skill tree progression system.

The game is slated for an Early Access release on Meta Quest this winter, with community feedback helping to shape the game as it moves towards a full release. You can sign up via Meta Quest's channel access invitation system here.

Despite being termed a "space game" by many of its players, comparatively little of No Man's Sky's gameplay actually takes place in space aside from the odd freighter or pirate battle. The vast expanses of systems and galaxies mostly served as transitions from one planet or space station or freighter to another. With Cosmos, that significantly changes as space now feels more "alive."

Cosmos will be available as an automatic free update starting today with an optional expedition titled 'Our Journey Continues.' This expedition features milestones pertaining to each of the forty major updates since No Man's Sky launched in 2016.

Here's the trailer:

After warping to a system, initiating a scan will reveal a multitude of points of interest in space similar to what you typically experience when on a planet. Players who preferred the building and scavenging aspects of No Man's Sky will be especially interested in the new features.

Here's a quick list:

• Space Hulks are massive structures that can be stripped and salvaged using the Gravitino Coil, a gravity gun introduced in the Remnant update earlier this year. The chunks of metal pulled from hulks can be thrown to a new ship tractor beam, but stripping too much may cause the hulk to melt down and explode!
• Space outposts are new features similar to the random outposts encountered on planets where you can trade with other alien lifeforms, buy maps, and take on new missions. Some of the outposts can be infected with biological hazards and have to be cleaned out and reclaimed.
• Asteroid belts can provide resources beyond the standard gold, silver, and tritium and some are large enough to land and build a star base on.
• Orbital bases are new, free-floating modular bases that can be built anywhere in space.
• Space station ownership has been the most requested feature according to Hello Games. Now you can buy your own space station and decorate it inside and out.
• Alliances are community-formed networks of players and stations, with a separate leaderboard to compete for the largest, richest, or most prominent alliance.
• Finally, you can take on the task of reaching the star center of your own star system.

Speaking as someone with hundreds of hours in No Man's Sky, this feels like the biggest overhaul of an update for the game since the two-part Worlds update. That said, Worlds was more exploration focused with a new system type, biomes, and fauna to discover.

Cosmos, by contrast, feels more hands-on with an emphasis on scavenging, building, and personalization. Spend any amount of time in a No Man's Sky community and you are bound to see pictures of amazing freighter interiors, bases, and Corvette ships players have constructed over the years. Cosmos opens up space to that same creativity.

With Steam Frame Looming, No Man’s Sky Adds PC VR Eye-Tracked Foveated Rendering

The new Cosmos update for No Man’s Sky also adds eye-tracked foveated rendering on PC VR, boosting performance ahead of Valve’s upcoming Steam Frame headset.

UploadVRMike Johnson

No Man's Sky is available on Steam and PS VR2. The Cosmos update is free to all players.

The project, headed by a small non-profit theatre company, won over Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema from Blumhouse and NBC and The World of Fallout from Amazon and Bethesda.

Uncanny Alley held its premiere at Venice Immersive, the XR/VR-focused section of the Venice International Film Festival and has since been featured at SXSW (South by Southwest), Raindance Immersive, NewImages Festival, and AWE (Augmented World Expo). The VRChat world's creators Ferryman Collective and Virtual Worlds Company have had almost 750,000 visitors across their VRC projects.

The cyberpunk world-based Uncanny Alley: A New Day transports you into a dystopian dark-ride shared with the performers and other audience members. You start in prison after protesting an upcoming New Day update at a local rally. Ghost, a hacker, recruits her friend Puck to assist in a thrilling jailbreak that plays out in real time, with audience members speaking directly with the characters and interacting with the world around them as characters inserted into the story. The audience participation results in a journey that never repeats itself, even with the ending being the same.

You can visit the world in VRChat here.

No Brakes Games, best known as the creators of Human: Fall Flat, have revealed that Tiny Flock is launching on Meta Quest and SteamVR on September 29.

Tiny Flock is a made-for-VR physics-based puzzle game in which you shepherd a group of adorable sheep through 21 gorgeous 3D diorama levels with fully interactive environments and puzzles. Using physics, creativity, and objects in the game space, you'll find your own way of leading your tiny flock safely through each level.

You'll create paths and bridges, stack and throw objects, pull ropes and levers to create safe passage for your adorable sheep. As in the best puzzle games, there are no pre-determined solutions. Instead, the game encourages the use of physics, creativity, and the environment around you to save your wayward sheep.

A new trailer has been released as well, showcasing the game's gorgeous, cozy art style and lovely string-based soundtrack.

Tiny Flock is coming to SteamVR and Meta Quest. The game will cost $18.99. You can wishlist it today on Steam and pre-order on Quest.

While using my MacBook with Quest, I recently noticed a connection prompt I had previously only seen with Windows. Looking directly at the physical Mac now brings up a floating “Connect to view in headset” button, letting me start a Virtual Display session without first opening the app and selecting the computer manually.

UploadVR previously covered this connection method when Meta introduced it for Windows 11 in late 2024. The headset recognizes the computer you are looking at and places the connection prompt directly over it in passthrough.

That same interaction is now working with my Mac.

Once connected, Virtual Display on macOS also offers the same core display formats Meta previously brought to Windows: Portrait, Compact, Wide, and Ultrawide. There are also Larger text, Default, and More space settings for adjusting how much of the desktop fits inside the virtual display.

Some of these display options had already begun appearing on Mac earlier this year, but Meta has rolled out several Virtual Display improvements with little fanfare and without detailed release notes for every change.

I primarily tested the new features on an M2 MacBook Air, but I also tried Virtual Display on a 2017 27-inch 5K iMac with Intel Core i7 processor, running macOS Ventura. Meta's previous Remote Desktop app had failed to work properly for me on that iMac for more than a year, but the current Virtual Display app now connects successfully, including the same quick-connect prompt.

I also tested a 2017 MacBook Pro (Intel Core i5) running Ventura. Virtual Display itself worked, but I could not get the quick-connect prompt to appear on that machine. The current app clearly still supports older Intel Macs, though some features may vary by model.

The macOS client I tested is running Meta Quest Virtual Display version 104.0.0.1.109.

Input Forwarding Is Now Available On Windows And Mac

Virtual Display has also gained input forwarding on both Windows and Mac.

Earlier versions of Meta’s remote display system were mainly a way to view your computer inside Quest. Meta support previously described Remote Display as a one-way connection, with Quest controller input unable to control the computer.

That has changed. On both Windows and Mac, Quest input can now control the connected computer. Windows users have had Quest-side keyboard and mouse forwarding for some time, and the same core behavior is now available on Mac.

On my Mac, I can use the Touch controllers to move the cursor and click around macOS inside Virtual Display. Windows users now have the same kind of input forwarding to control their PC.

Keyboard and mouse support depends on where those peripherals are connected. If I pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse directly to Quest, I can use them to control both the remote Mac inside Virtual Display and Horizon OS itself.

If the keyboard, mouse, or trackpad is connected only to the computer, those inputs remain limited to the remote desktop. For example, my MacBook’s built-in trackpad controls macOS inside Virtual Display, but I cannot move that cursor beyond the virtual Mac screen and use it to control Quest menus or other Horizon OS panels.

In practice, pairing a keyboard and mouse directly to Quest gives you the more flexible setup because the same peripherals can control both the computer and the headset interface.

Meta’s Mac client also requests Accessibility permission with the description that it allows you to “use your keyboard and track your cursor in your headset,” which lines up with using those inputs inside the remote Mac session.

Remote Desktop Became Virtual Display

Virtual Display has changed quite a bit over the past year.

Meta officially documented its latest name change with Horizon OS 2.7, which began rolling out the week of August 17. Remote Desktop is now called Virtual Display.

Meta says Virtual Display is automatically installed on Quest headsets and supports Windows and Mac computers with up to three large virtual screens.

The new name also fits the feature better now that computers are no longer the only devices it can display.

Horizon OS 2.7 also folded the functionality of Meta Quest HDMI Link into Virtual Display. With a compatible HDMI-to-USB-C capture solution, devices such as gaming consoles, handhelds, and phones can be displayed on a large virtual screen inside Quest.

Meta says support for the standalone HDMI Link app will eventually wind down, while HDMI functionality will continue through Virtual Display.

UploadVR covered HDMI Link when Meta originally launched it as a separate app in 2024, and more recently covered its move into Virtual Display as part of Horizon OS 2.7.

Meta now has one first-party app for displaying Windows PCs, Macs, and external HDMI devices inside Quest.

Mac Now Has The Core Windows Features

Windows has generally received Meta’s newest remote desktop features first.

UploadVR covered the Windows connection experience in 2024, followed by expanded display formats in 2025. Compact uses a standard 16:9 layout, Wide expands that to 21:9, Portrait turns the display vertically, and Ultrawide creates a large curved workspace.

The macOS version has gradually picked up those same core capabilities.

The new quick-connect prompt removes one of the remaining differences I noticed between Mac and Windows versions. Instead of launching Virtual Display and finding the Mac in a device list, I can now simply look at my MacBook and connect from the prompt floating directly over it.

Windows 11 and macOS still use different connection software, with Windows relying on Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Link while macOS uses Meta Quest Virtual Display. But for the main Virtual Display experience, macOS now has the same display formats, multi-monitor support, and seamless connection flow that Meta previously introduced on Windows.

Virtual Display does a lot more than it did when UploadVR last looked closely at the feature. It can now display Windows PCs, Macs, and external HDMI devices, with multiple screen formats and more capable input support all handled through the same Quest app.

With the same quick-connect prompt now working on macOS, there are fewer practical differences between the Mac and Windows versions than before.

A previous version of this article incorrectly suggested that keyboard and mouse forwarding was Windows-only. This has been corrected.

Racine later supported Apple’s development of Apple Immersive Video, helping to advance its stereoscopic 180-degree format, which is now core to the content curated for his new platform, along with the on-demand and live-streamed experiences on Apple TV and other immersive video apps.

As a U.S. ambassador for Blackmagic’s immersive camera technology working with a range of immersive filmmakers, and a creator himself, Racine saw the opportunity to create a destination to showcase both more immersive content being created and the talent behind it. He created the Fovii platform in collaboration with Krishna Jagadish of Chaarana Labs. 

Fovii is home to more than primarily live action captured immersive story content. I appreciate the app’s additional sections that let visitors learn a little more about the studios and team members for each project, and also access additional content like behind-the-scenes videos and spatial photos. While this is nice exposure for the creators, peeling the curtain back on each production can also inspire users to think about what they may want to create themselves, especially as the technology needed to create incredible immersive videos becomes more accessible. And Apple Vision Pro owners need more quality immersive experiences.

The UI is simple and elements like rotating home screen feature spots, recently added and most-watched content signal the Fovii team’s intent to find ways to give new and great content exposure, as more is added. At the time of launch, there are a couple new and exclusive titles for Apple Vision Pro users to see which are both from Rogue Labs, where Racine is Creative & Technical Director. There are several projects available which have previously launched, such as The Longest Day which can also be experienced on both the Amplium and Theater apps. 

The app is free to download with subscriptions priced at $9.99 USD monthly or $99.99 USD annually. Individual film rentals are also available. When comparing pricing to a popular video streaming platform, the amount and length of content that can be accessed make the price feel steep. Details of the business model and how creators are compensated were not provided but if the pricing helps support immersive studios, and more content is added, it does not feel as steep.

Fovii is currently targeting to release two new immersive videos a month and the team is actively looking to house new content on the app. Interested studios can reach out to them on Fovii.com. 

I’ve been testing the new app and heart rate integration in beta using my Apple Watch. During workouts, my live heart rate appears inside the headset alongside a circular indicator showing how much of the current song remains and another indicator showing which song I’m on in the workout.

I enjoyed having that additional information available while exercising. Together, the heart rate reading and progress indicators gave me a better sense of both my effort and where I was in the workout without having to interrupt it.

Afterward, the mobile app provides a more detailed record, including average and maximum heart rate, a graph of the session and time spent across five heart rate zones.

The app also lets users browse FunFitLand’s workout library, save favorites, review previous sessions, track goals and streaks, set workout reminders and, on Quest, exchange kudos with friends. Social features aren't included in the Vision Pro version at launch, though FunFitLand says that's temporary.

Bringing Heart Rate Into The Workout

At launch, FunFitLand will directly support standard Bluetooth Low Energy heart rate straps, Apple Watch and supported Samsung watches. Other watches and fitness bands may also work, with the mobile app providing a compatibility test. Headset support includes Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro.

Getting that heart rate reading from a wearable into VR requires several steps.

FunFitLand founder Meng Zhang explained that a compatible watch or heart rate strap sends its reading to the FunFitLand mobile app. The phone passes that data to FunFitLand's servers, which send it to the headset.

“The number you see while you train came off your wrist a moment earlier,” Zhang told me.

Zhang says the harder problem was dealing with all the ways that chain can break. Phone permissions, operating system power management, individual wearable requirements and even a watch shifting enough to lose contact with someone's wrist can interrupt the reading.

“Making this feel seamless means getting Meta Quest, Apple, Google and watch/strap manufacturers to cooperate in an order none of them designed for,” Zhang said.

I encountered one of those complications during beta testing when FunFitLand incorrectly warned me that my heart rate monitor wasn't connected even though it was. Zhang says my report helped the team address a problem with how the app communicated connection failures.

The in-headset display is also still being refined. I found that the information initially appeared too close to my field of view, requiring a moment of refocusing to read it comfortably. I shared that feedback during the beta, though Zhang says other testers have asked for different behavior, including keeping the information stationary rather than having it follow their head.

“The lazy version of listening to users is a settings page with a hundred options, which just moves the design problem onto the person using the thing,” Zhang told me.

Zhang says the team plans to gather more feedback before settling on the one or two options users actually need.

At launch, FunFitLand doesn't use heart rate to affect scoring, workout pace or calorie estimates. During a workout, the benefit is simply being able to see how your body is responding without checking a watch.

Zhang describes his approach as “measure, then monitor, then motivate.”

“Everything else on screen is the app's measure of you: combo, accuracy, targets hit,” Zhang said. “Your heart rate is your body's measure of YOU, and it doesn't care how well you're playing.”

Afterward, that data becomes part of the workout record, allowing users to compare how their bodies responded across different sessions.

A Different Approach To Mobile VR Fitness

FunFitLand's expansion comes as VR fitness companies are expanding onto smartphones.

FitXR recently launched mobile workouts that can be completed directly on a smartphone, allowing subscribers to exercise without putting on a VR headset. FitXR does not currently include heart rate tracking or health monitoring.

FunFitLand is taking a different approach. Its workouts remain in the headset, while the phone handles workout browsing, history, goals and social features. It also carries heart rate data from a wearable into VR.

The FunFitLand mobile app bears some similarities to Supernatural's companion app, which similarly extends a headset-based fitness service onto a smartphone with workout discovery, history, goals, social features and heart rate tracking. FunFitLand differs by keeping the live reading visible during the active VR workout itself rather than requiring the user to pause to see it.

On Apple Vision Pro, Zhang believes FunFitLand is the first native app to show live heart rate from a wearable inside the headset during a workout and attach the resulting heart rate record to that workout. He qualifies that claim, noting that Vision Pro can also run compatible iPhone and iPad apps and that he hasn't checked every one.

Zhang makes no similar claim that displaying heart rate inside VR is new to Quest, which already supports Bluetooth heart rate monitors. FunFitLand instead integrates the reading directly into its workout interface and connects it with the detailed post-workout record.

Beyond The Headset

The mobile app also gives users access to FunFitLand between workouts.

“Before this, FunFitLand was somewhere you visited,” Zhang told me. “You put a headset on, you were with us for half an hour, and then you were gone until the next time.”

“Now there's a thread that stays open in between.”

Zhang describes what the team has built as a foundation rather than a finished feature set. The app currently lets users browse workouts, save favorites, review sessions and heart rate data, follow goals and streaks, receive reminders and use some social features.

“The headset is where the effort happens. The wearable is where the truth is, because your body knows how hard that was better than your score does. The phone is where the routine lives: deciding, reviewing, remembering, being reminded.”

FunFitLand isn't yet using heart rate to dynamically adjust workouts or make recommendations. Zhang says the team is talking with people working in rehabilitation and exercise physiology, but he doesn't want to promise features without a timeline.

In a follow-up after answering my questions, Zhang told me the immediate goal is to “help people understand their own body first.” He also emphasized the realities of developing FunFitLand with a small team, saying he'd rather spend its resources on “real problems” than “whatever is hot right now.”

“We're not looking for the next feature,” Zhang said. “We're looking for the next thing that makes it easier to keep going.”

FunFitLand is available on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. The new mobile companion app is available at the iOS App Store and Google Play store.

The Museas and Astronoma apps for Apple Vision Pro are gold standard examples of this approach. Developed entirely by Miguel Garcia Gonzalez, founder of Augmenos, Museas brings centuries of art history into users’ homes, while Astronoma offers a unique form of space exploration. Both use real-world source material and factual information to create experiences that encourage exploration and repeat visits, especially as new content is added.

Here are some of the themes I took away from my interview with Gonzalez on creating captivating immersive edutainment experiences.

Make Curiosity the Starting Point

“Learning a new subject can be difficult, but that experience is much more engaging when done with immersive technologies. It shouldn’t have to feel like a tedious lesson, but rather a curious journey that you happen to learn from in the end” shares Gonzalez. As he designs experiences, he starts with the “wow” moments to capture a sense of awe and then layers in different design elements that “let the user freely explore at the depth and scale they are naturally interested in reaching.” 

So as to not overwhelm users with the many options they have to explore in his apps, Gonzalez “compartmentalize[s] more specific content through exhibitions” to allow them to proceed down a path should they choose to keep engaging with a particular subject.

Not Everything Needs to Be Spatial

 “There is a lot of content in art and science that is better presented in 3D, which no phone or tablet can produce as well as a mixed reality device” explains Gonzalez. “It feels more ‘hands-on’, even if virtual, helping users literally grasp concepts better.” But not everything needs to be spatial in an immersive app. The integrity of the content must be preserved above all else. “With newer Apple APIs like Spatial Scenes, I can convert select artworks and space images into 3D.” He is, however, selective about which content gets this treatment so that only the images that present well in Spatial Scenes are integrated. 

Choosing to present some content in 2D also focuses more attention on the 3D elements. For example, in Astronoma, when “learning about Sputnik 1, the spacecraft is presented in 3D while the content complimentary to it (archival images, diagrams), appears planar in spatial coordinates. This centers the attention on the 3D content without distracting elements on the peripheral."

Immersion Should Support the Content, Not Compete With It

“The educational content is the star” shares Gonzalez, “ and a flawless design needs to support that.” 

I feel like his design celebrates the subject by giving users such close, seamless access to it in their living rooms. The proximity to the planets and priceless art goes beyond the virtual physical closeness you can get to discovering the items and their stories. The facts, intuitive navigation through to the audio guides support the immersive journey.

Immersive experiences unlock new ways to create emotional connections to the star content. And, just like a good magic trick, emotions can help to make a mixed reality experience feel real. Design choices “such as the atmospheric background music tied to thematic scenes like the drums for the “Artifact Room” in Museas or the ethereal notes for the “Nebula” environment in Astronoma, add layers of connection to the content.”

Use Authentic Content to Create Credible Experiences

“The purpose of my apps is to learn, and being factual is paramount,” shares Gonzalez.  While Augmenos apps integrate real-world scans of artifacts and photos, he pushes the quality of the experiences further by integrating real data into additional details, from the audio guides and written copy, to user interactions. 

As an example, “the recent ‘Space Station’ environment … was made from real ISS orbital data and space imagery from NASA. It was designed natively using Reality Composer Pro and its shader graph editor, wired up with RealityKit in the backend.” Gonzalez has optimized performance “to the point that users can change the position of the sun in real-time, while keeping the underlying experience grounded on real science.”

Build around what people want to discover, and give them the tools and freedom to explore.

The Secret of the Pyramid Builders is self-explanatory, using the medium of free-roaming immersive VR to take people on a journey through history to learn more about the construction process of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. This is the latest project to debut at Japan’s Immersive Journey, a VR experience location dedicated to allowing visitors to try out a range of experiences that seek to shine a light on history using VR. We actually reviewed two of these experiences a few months ago, with this latest project having launched at the location earlier this summer (it’s also accessible in other locations around the world as stated here).

One of those experiences was one called Horizon of Khufu, which sought to teach about the purpose of the pyramids by taking us inside, exploring areas closed to the public while going back in time to learn the journey taken by the pharaoh to his final resting place. It was all wrapped in a rather endearing narrative where you and your guide, a young Egyptologist named Mona, are led by a talking cat who may or may not be the god Bastet through time and space to Ancient Egypt and back to witness it first hand.

This time, The Secret of the Pyramid Builders goes further into their construction using the latest scientific discoveries. For many thousands of years, people have speculated how these pyramids were built, such as through the use of external ramps that would allow the heavy stones to be lifted, but few have proven concrete and supported by fact as the record has been lost. This particular method, however, appeared unlikely due to the scale of these pyramids requiring a ramp larger and more ambitious than the constructions themselves to work.

More recently, modern technology has allowed scientists to scan the inside of the pyramids and learn even more about how they were made, discovering massive unexplained open spaces known as ‘voids’ by ScanPyramids, the group who led this technological breakthrough. Considering their shape, many have begun to speculate new methods such as an internal ramp to explain them, nonetheless opening new scientific breakthroughs thanks to the science.

This scientific push for technological understanding of the pyramids is worth knowing not just because it’s interesting - going beyond the scope of this experience, the ScanPyramids project seeks to create 3D understandings of the pyramids beyond any understood since the time of their construction, but has faced government and local roadblocks in their mission that have led to a drawn-out process in new discoveries - but because it also underpins this experience.

Using the ScanPyramids discoveries as a basis, this experience seeks to use the same characters as Horizon of Khufu to try and teach people about the science, debates and underpinnings of our modern understandings of the pyramids in the most engaging way.

Actually beginning the experience is a relatively identical experience to that of prior Excurio experiences: after signing in for your slot, you will receive an HTC Vive headset with which to enter the virtual world, hand tracking being used not to necessarily interact with the world but provide bearings for your sense of self in the space you will inhabit. A basic tutorial explains how to move around the space - the location uses a large open room with tracking markers to help the headset understand its location in 3D space, and you follow the direction of the story by physically walking from place to place to progress the narrative. If you step outside of the bounds you will be directed back, with other players in other memories appearing as particles to prevent bumping into others also inhabiting the space.

Secret of the Pyramid Builders treats you, the tour guest, as simply a new visitor, but the experience makes a surprisingly large number of references to Horizon of Khufu. Mona will reminisce of her past group, lament that the supernatural journey is happening ‘again’ before getting excited to go back in time and experience her research first hand. Of course, some locations are familiar. It’s notable enough to be something you pick up on and even feel a narrative connection in how Mona has grown between the experiences, but it won’t be lost if you don’t experience one before the other.

If anything, it’s easier to recommend this over Horizon of Khufu as, though the topics are different, enough of the knowledge is repeated while teaching a wealth of new information in a more engaging manner that it makes this the superior Ancient Egyptian journey. Not only are certain facts updated thanks to the ScanPyramids initiative, teaching updated information about the role of the Queen’s Chamber and burial tombs inside these pyramids, but the knowledge the development team has accumulated from years of creating these experiences makes actually traversing through Secret of the Pyramid Builders far smoother. Fewer cramped corridors and more open spaces with NPCs and plenty to see in all directions.

I found myself immediately engrossed by how, as opposed to a virtual lecture on Egyptian history, I felt a part of discovering the creation of the pyramids. As we journeyed back in time to Ancient Egypt, we got to see large piers where Egyptian ships would return with limestone for the outer casing of the pyramids, and even read real hieroglyphs that later research proved to be actual discovered remnants from those involved in their creation that scientists have discovered. Rather than being told how the pyramids were built, we experienced it, reading these texts and mixing these discoveries between conversations and first-hand witnessing the events for ourselves in the context of the experience.

I also found myself genuinely learning something new with this experience. Objective facts like the casing stones of limestone are shown through historical grounding we can be a part of, while the topic of scientific debate is seamlessly woven in by Mona talking us through each side’s debate with visual reference in 3D space enhanced by VR. As we debate internal versus external ramp theory, these are visualized and imposed onto the pyramids. Similar visualizations of what is inside the voids are conducted similarly, ensuring we don’t mix fact with theory in learning about this history.

Indeed, my only complaint comes in pronunciation, not the experience itself - the pronunciation used for Giza was at times distracting in its consistent departure from established pronunciations for the city in English and even Arabic. While you can’t interact physically with this world, by walking through it and engaging, you learn in a way only immersive VR in such a large, open space with this much ambition can provide. Secret of the Pyramid Builders is, like the pyramids themselves, a wonder to behold, and worth seeking out if you visit Tokyo.

The FCC is the US regulatory agency with responsibility over wireless frequency use. Its approval is necessary to sell a device with wireless capabilities in the US market.

Pico and TikTok owner ByteDance publicly teased its next headset 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 show 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 show 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.

Machine translation into English:

Lightweight in form, immersed in everything

PICO Space Pro Product Launch Event

September 2, 2026 - 2:30 PM Beijing Time

However, just days later, the company abruptly announced the cancelation of the event, and noted that the device would be delayed to Q4 2026.

Machine translation into English:

PICO Space Pro
Release Schedule Adjustment

Hello everyone,

To bring you PICO Space Pro in a more complete form, we have decided to move its release to the fourth quarter of this year.

Over the past few months, PICO Space Pro’s hardware and software have reached an advanced stage of development. However, during the final phase of user-experience testing, we discovered an exciting new opportunity, and we hope to include it in the initial release.

We have therefore decided to spend more time making a major upgrade to the software experience. We hope this effort will ultimately deliver a better product experience and bring you some new surprises.

We sincerely apologize for this change to the release schedule and the additional wait, and thank you for your continued interest and patience.

Over the coming months, we will expand our early-access program, inviting more users to try PICO Space Pro ahead of release and work with us to refine the product.

Now, in September, Pico Space Pro appears to have received FCC certification one day before its originally planned launch event. 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.

Some documents in the FCC filings are withheld under short- and long-term confidentiality requests, but the labels are publicly available. The headset's label appears in a PDF named "HMD铭牌_镭雕20060520", while the puck's appears in "BOX铭牌_A_20060520".

More interestingly, these labels describe the two components as a "Mixed Reality Headset" and a "Mixed Reality Main Unit", respectively, with both listing the model number B3110.

There is no Wi-Fi authorization shown under the headset's FCC ID, but the test documentation describes a radio operating between 2.402 and 2.480 GHz, and an nRF link with a controller. Meanwhile, the main unit's label explicitly lists a 7,000 mAh battery rated at 54.32 Wh, and the documentation lists support for Wi-Fi 7.

This strongly suggests that the external puck houses both the battery and at least some computing hardware, similar to XREAL's Aura and Meta's long-reported mixed reality device codenamed Phoenix.

In July, Pico also received FCC certification for a new "Wireless Keyboard", FCC ID 2A5NV-C6110, which may be intended as an accessory for Space Pro.

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

Here's a rundown of the new features:

• The weekly free puzzle is a rotating selection from its extensive catalog of paid add-on puzzles. It starts with the twenty-five-piece version as the only option. If you complete that challenge, you unlock the fifty-piece option for the following week. Completing each weekly puzzle for five consecutive weeks unlocks the four-hundred-piece variant and an additional bonus puzzle. Players who miss a week get a mulligan and can continue the streak the following week. This feature will be Quest only for now as the developer Realities.io currently cannot unlock DLC content for free on Steam. Puzzles will update every Friday night at midnight UTC.
• The guest pass is similar to Walkabout Mini Golf's, where players completing puzzles together in multiplayer now only require the host player to own it. Guests can join the room, download, and play for free. This feature is also restricted to Quest for now.
• The passthrough portal is a slider option for players to blend the game's virtual environment with their physical surroundings to their preference. This feature is for Quest, Pico, and Steam Frame headsets.
• The Quest version has also been updated to start in mixed reality instead of the black loading screens.
• A news carousel has been added to keep players up to date on announcements, new pack releases, and special offers.

Puzzling Places is available now on Quest, Steam, PlayStation VR2, Pico and Apple Vision Pro.

Blackout Crew is the latest title from Salmi Games (Sweet Surrender). You and up to three other players are a crew stranded in deep space with a ship in need of supplies and repairs. Your crew raids temples filled with hostile machines guarding ancient power systems you need to keep your ship running. After a successful raid, you turn your loot into new parts for your modular, customized weapons, tools, and suit upgrades.

You can sign up via Discord for the Quest playtests. Salmi says it will also be opening up SteamVR playtesting soon. The playtest ends Sunday morning, so don't miss out.

For more info on Blackout Crew, check out our recent interview with Salmi Games founder Yacine Salmi on the UploadVR Gamescast.

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.

The game features 29 handcrafted tracks designed around chaos and laughs, rather than realism. These tracks feature loops, jumps, magnetic objects, branching paths, mobile machinery and ridiculous hazards. The cars are designed to look like detailed die-cast toys, and are customizable with paint, wheels, and materials.

A recently-released trailer shows off the game's many wacky races, and it's looking like a well-polished machine!

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

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

Loony Laps is currently scheduled for a Q1 release in 2027. A price has not been announced, though the game's Meta Horizon Store page is up and open for wishlisting.

Loop One: Done's VR update has left beta on Quest. The factory management game's VR mode lets players build beautiful automated factories in one of three new virtual reality environments. Prior to the VR Update, which launched in beta earlier this year, the game was playable in mixed reality only.

A recent update further includes a newly designed UI that moves with you, plus several locomotion settings for the game's VR mode.

A trailer has been released alongside the new update, which you can see below:

In addition to the full VR mode release and improvements to the UI and controls, new updates also bring new recipes, improved hand-tracking, added micro-gestures for selecting and switching tools, plus streamlined methodologies for moving around in VR.

Loop One: Done is described by its solo dev creator, Jonas Sandstedt, as “an automation game where you record loops with drones and robots, complete orders to gain research tokens to unlock new advanced facilities and recipes, and build a large multi-floored server tower." Jonas also describes the game as "a toy about building and solving problems in a very tactile way."

Loop One: Done is out now in Early Access on Meta Quest, and costs $12.99. As of September 1, it's available for free to those who subscribe to Meta's Horizon+ subscription service. A Steam release is coming in Q3 2026.

A miniature Art Nouveau villa appears in front of you before expanding to full scale. Inside, photographs, objects and woven artwork become portals into the life of Norwegian textile artist Frida Hansen.

That's the premise of Finding Frida, a 41-minute VR documentary experience from director Hilde K. Kjøs that's now being shown in competition at Venice Immersive.

UploadVR can exclusively reveal a new trailer for Finding Frida below.

Stepping Into Frida Hansen's Art

Finding Frida is guided by Hansen's great-great-granddaughter Cecilie Levy, who also wrote the experience's original story and script. Hansen was an internationally recognized textile artist during her lifetime, but her work later largely faded from public awareness.

Rather than presenting that history as a conventional VR documentary, Finding Frida builds its environments around Hansen's life and artwork. Archival photographs, a gramophone and her woven works become portals into different parts of her story. A lush garden, for example, withers as the experience explores Hansen's bankruptcy and personal loss before moving toward her artistic reawakening.

The production combines photorealistic 3D scans, animated artwork and dreamlike projections with an original score and reworked foley. Voice-over material is drawn from interviews with Hansen and contemporary historical sources.

Finding Frida is Kjøs's first VR project, though she has been exploring the medium since 2019 alongside her documentary and photography work. Producer Bjørn-Morten Nerland has more than 15 years of experience creating immersive projects and founded RippleX Studios, a production company focused on VR, spatial storytelling and interactive experiences.

Finding An Audience After Venice

For now, seeing Finding Frida isn't as simple as downloading it onto a headset.

The experience is premiering at Venice as an XR installation, though its press notes also list PCVR and standalone formats. There is currently no announced home release.

A representative for the project tells UploadVR that Venice is the starting point for Finding Frida's international launch. A festival and exhibition run is planned in Norway and elsewhere, while the team is also exploring distribution partnerships.

Finding Frida is being shown in competition at Venice Immersive, which runs through September 12 as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

I have been playing JRPGs my entire life, starting with the first Final Fantasy in the '80s through Persona, Xenoblade Chronicles, and the Trails series today, just to name a few. I offer this qualifier to start this review of Character Bank's Knights of Fiona so you understand that my words come from a love and appreciation for both mediums. I want this to work, which is all the more disappointing when Knights of Fiona doesn't.

The game starts with stylized opening cinematics detailing the war-torn history of the land of Gallia. This is presented with a striking red-on-black presentation, followed by the introduction of the lead protagonist who is not the player character. The titular Fiona is a seventeen-year-old girl serving as the typical "chosen one" fantasy stories have built around for years and you play as one of her knights, a passive background character in this fantasy story. The paid Story Pass add-on has five chapters, with a sixth due out before the end of 2026.

The central town square itself is lovely, but I cannot say the same for the bland battle environments. They are not bad. There is just nothing to them. The town, as nice as it looks, is sadly not fully open to explore. There are a half dozen designated areas to shop, trade (only for paid players), collect achievements, and select your next quest. You get to these areas via signposts in the town square with a fade out and in on a button press to enter. The music, however, is very good. RuinsMagus, a previous Character Bank title, has an excellent musical score and while Knights is not on that level, I will still be picking up the soundtrack.

Trying To Please Two Different Player Types

After RuinsMagus had you traversing dungeons in ten-to-twenty-minute runs, Knights of Fiona cuts this combat time to a few minutes, excluding boss fights. You load into an arena-like environment to dispatch several waves of enemies, usually in less than three minutes, and the mission is over. That's it. Rewards are distributed on the victory screen, then off to the next mission. It plays more like Thirdverse's Soul Covenant, which had similar arena battle-style missions, than RuinsMagus. Given the combat itself is mostly a pedestrian affair with weightless weapons and standard block/dodge and attack mechanics, this shift to quick arena battles feels like a step back. Also, because you have to keep selecting new missions every few minutes, expect a lot of loading screens.

Knights of Fiona feels like it badly wants to be a free-to-play title. The short missions, constant rewards, in-game shop, and quantity-based achievements all feel very free-to-play coded. Even the cinematics count as a mission completion, victory screen and all, but uninterested players will simply button-mash to speed through the dialogue and get the completion check.

On the other hand, the spliced missions and cutscenes as a whole form an interesting story with different personalities, interpersonal relationships, and world-building that fantasy gamers would likely enjoy over twelve hours of main story. Combined with weapon customization and progression systems, there's a good, lengthy (by VR standards) JRPG experience here. However, the start-and-stop combat loop may grate on that crowd.

It feels like Knights of Fiona wants to have two target audiences, but the preferences of one may hurt the attractiveness of the end product for the other.

Hitting All The JRPG Tropes

The overall vibe of Knights is not going to be for everyone. The time from the first cinematic and mandatory tutorials to the first official mission in the game is nearly twenty minutes. To be fair, this is very typical of a JRPG. As a genre, these games are usually slow starters. The scenery-chewing voice acting is often over the top. Cinematics can veer into a silly direction. There are a lot of names, races, and lore to keep up with right from the start. Your health and stamina persist as a UI element on the screen and hitting an enemy pops up a damage number. As a lifelong fan of the genre, I expected all of this and enjoyed every bit, but it is an acquired taste. If you are not into JRPG-like fantasy games, Knights of Fiona is not changing your mind.

Gripes about the combat aside, the weapon loadout and party building are terrifically executed. Weapons have different stats, charged attacks, and secondary functions. A shop in the town allows you to reassign functions from one weapon to another, in essence making custom weapons. You collect glyphs from books discovered throughout the game that offer buffs to your character. Each has a point value with limited points to spend that increase as you level up. A restaurant in town has dishes that grant temporary buffs. The progression and loadout systems are genuinely well designed.

Then there are the bugs. Thankfully, nothing that prevents progression or soft locks the campaign. Just sloppy little inconsistencies that weighed on me the longer I played.

• The game is voice-acted and subtitled in Japanese and English. However, some of the English subtitles do not match the spoken dialogue.
• Some of the Japanese, like the names of at least two bosses, is not translated into English when they flash on screen.
• There are multiple typos in the subtitles, including the name of a fairly important character when they are introduced.
• The English dialogue sometimes cuts off, missing the last few words and advancing to the next character's line instead.
• Sometimes the voice lines for AI party members stack on top of each other, doubling up the same line. In one mission, I had an ally go down and still keep speaking as if they were attacking.
• There would randomly be a slight delay using the bow and arrow. You aim, fire, and a full second or two later, the arrow actually shoots off, usually missing the target that has already moved.
• The skip cutscene button selectively works. If I was defeated and had to replay a mission, none of its cinematics were skippable. The 'skip' countdown would get to zero and the scene would continue on, ignoring my controller input.
• After customizing my character, including changing the skin color, the original default hand models show up in some cutscenes, but not in others.

Knights of Fiona Review - The Final Verdict

Knights of Fiona feels like it wants to serve two masters: the free-to-play crowd and those seeking a layered fantasy campaign. These two play tug-of-war, resulting in a final product that is constantly at odds with itself and thus not truly great for either group. Ultimately, it lands right in the middle, with some satisfactory elements offset by bland combat on the battlefield.

Since it is free-to-start, I recommend at least giving Knights of Fiona a try if you are into fantasy action games to see if there is enough there to keep you interested.

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

Halo. System Shock. Metroid Prime. Turok. GoldenEye. BioShock. Any gamer thirty or older is at least familiar with story-based first-person shooters of yesteryear like these titles. Linear campaigns with a plethora of weapons and limited, highly predictable enemy behavior. That is Discovery: Rogue Planet in a nutshell with a liberal dose of generative AI thrown in.

You play as a stereotypically gruff bounty hunter on the planet Rogax, a frontier planet packed with hostile mercenaries and creatures. The story kicks off with taking a job cleaning vermin out of a farm. This mission doubles as a tutorial on basic weapon handling and customization, the inventory sling over your left shoulder, and a multitool akin to the one in Star Wars: Tales From the Galaxy's Edge.

This mission also establishes the gameplay loop for the rest of the game. Cutscenes are presented as a series of comic-book-style 2D images on a black screen with some truly bad voice acting. Then off to a mostly contained map to explore, loot, and face loads of enemies with cringeworthily bad AI. Run straight ahead and attack is their single directive.

Each mission requires you to complete a series of tasks (find an item, repair broken equipment, eliminate enemies). Then you are back to a black screen for another few minutes of static image storytelling.

Bad VR Storytelling Powered By Generative AI

These interludes and the voice acting within them are bad. Dialogue is full of stilted delivery, unnatural pauses and word inflections no human actor would ever perform. Ironically, the best realized character in the game is your silver-tongued robot companion Fifi, who sounds more human than the actual humans and humanoid races! The spoken dialogue has mismatches with the written text on screen. All of the images look like they were prompt-generated, including a baffling end credit image sequence that I won't spoil here.

It's frustrating, not because this content is AI-generated, as that is a larger discussion than I care to have in this review, but because it's just bad storytelling in a VR setting. We did not like it in Soul Covenant or System Critical 3 and we do not like it here. Physically removing you from the world and telling you to stand still and listen to mundane, badly delivered exposition while staring at grainy images for several minutes is very boring and the game suffers for it. The story being told is fine, but the delivery lets it down.

Variety Keeps Things Interesting

That said, Rogue Planet wins on variety. The game has well over twenty weapons, a good mix of knives, pistols, shotguns, and rifles that let you make the combat your own. Guns also come with different attachments to choose from. You can also color your weapons with spray cans found in stashes.

The campaign takes you through a mishmash of biomes like deserts, swamps and caves with creatures unique to each area. The level design is pretty good too, with a fair amount of verticality via ladders, loot chests, ammo, and new weapons to find. None of the combat is truly challenging due to the weak enemy AI, but the number of different weapons and environments was enough to keep me engaged and it was still satisfying to clear out a mob.

Occasionally, you drive to your next destination in a massive land rover controlled with two handles. Entire conversations occur during these sequences and it was such a refreshing change from the still images that I wish it happened more often.

Dated Design

Gunplay is functional and responsive aside from grab jank when reloading, but I wish the tablet you use for a map and switching your weapons out wasn't placed directly behind your ammo pouch and the knife wasn't above said pouch. Games like Alien: Rogue Incursion, Metro Awakening, and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners series avoid this level of grab jank by never putting two different items in the same general area on your virtual body. It is not unplayable, just a nuisance when it counts. Using the tablet to switch weapons had me begging for a button-press-activated weapon wheel too, even if it would break immersion. I appreciate a virtual body inventory system, but the execution here is clunky.

I complimented the level design, but the graphical fidelity feels like it belongs in the era of those early 2000s shooters. Discovery: Rogue Planet is not a great-looking game, even by Quest standards. A lot gets crammed into these environments and maybe developer Immersmind ran into some overhead issues due to the sheer amount of things on screen, but unfortunately, a lot of the game is an eyesore. Sound design is similarly weak. Weapons don't sound impactful and would benefit from stronger controller haptics. None of this really hurts the game while playing it, but a coat of polish in all areas would certainly help.

On the upside, I did not have a single performance issue. The only bugs I encountered were the critters in the game and I had guns for those.

Discovery: Rogue Planet - The Final Verdict

Rogue Planet doesn't outstay its welcome in its four to five hour runtime. At $14.99 with collectibles, in-game achievements, and an optional arena mode, it is priced appropriately for what it offers. It doesn't stack up with the very best VR has to offer in the genre, falling well short in story and visuals, but the retro-level story FPS formula still holds up, flaws and all.

I will not say whether or not you should buy and play this game solely due to the presence of generative AI, nor am I going to dock the final score simply for its inclusion. That is a personal choice for every gamer and a divisive topic these days. I will just say that the end result hurts the experience.

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

Meta Horizon OS 2.5 and later includes Android USB networking (NCM) support, meaning that apps can request a direct network link to a connected host computer over USB after the user approves the system-wide permission required to enable the feature.

In the case of Steam Link, this works by simply plugging a data-capable USB-C cable into the headset after launching the app. An active USB connection is currently indicated by a cycling Wi-Fi signal on the SteamVR dock.

You can join the Steam Link for Meta Quest Public Beta channel using Valve's official invite link while signed in to your Meta account, and you can join the SteamVR Beta on PC by following these instructions.

You should also opt into the Steam Client Beta on PC by following these instructions, as this is a prerequisite for wired USB streaming without Wi-Fi. However, in my testing, Steam Link would still fail to find the host PC without an active Wi-Fi connection. It instead seemed to require the PC to be discovered over Wi-Fi before switching to USB streaming, so the feature may not yet be fully implemented in the current release.

Out on Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest, Starclash is an animated film that places you front and center as the star of the show. You will play the role of the film's main character, an aspiring singer and performer named Jack, as he reaches for fame, suffers sabotage at the hands of a rival, and pushes forward to regain his lost voice.

A trailer has been released, which you can see below:

Starclash comes from Tack Entertainment, a creative studio based in Hollywood and Tokyo, and was directed by Jack Yoshida. You experience Starclash seated, using no controllers on both Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest.

Here are some additional key details as outlined in Starclash's press release:

• First-person embodiment: You don't just watch the story unfold; you enter the animated world as the protagonist to experience your own on-stage performances and red-carpet moments directly.
• Supported platforms: The experience is confirmed for both Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest.
• The inciting incident: Jack makes it to the "Star Clash finals" but is poisoned by a toxin from a rival named Adrian. He loses five years of his life, while Adrian becomes a top star in his place.
• The main quest: Jack wakes up to discover he has lost his voice. With a "Star Clash remake" reunion show only a month away, he must travel to a place called Star Valley to heal and get his voice back.
• Thematic focus: The narrative builds up to a triumphant return to the stage, driven by his father's advice to "be the star the world needs."

Starclash is available as a free preview, with a $14.99 in-app purchase to unlock the entire experience. You can check it out on Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest.

Galápagos: The Last Eden will let visitors explore the wildlife, oceans and volcanic history of the Galápagos Islands through an interactive experience running on Xreal Aura at Venice Immersive this week.

The 60-minute experience was produced by documentary filmmaker and Atlantic Studios founder and CEO Anthony Geffen, directed by Lina Zilinskaite and Marcus Moresby, and narrated by Margot Robbie. It's made in collaboration with Google using Android XR and is competing at this year's Venice Immersive.

A representative for the project confirmed to UploadVR that the Venice presentation will run on Xreal Aura.

But Galápagos isn't simply an immersive nature film viewed through a headset. Visitors can interact with the environment as the experience explores the volcanic activity that formed the islands, their surrounding oceans, and the evolution and behavior of their wildlife.

Capturing The Galápagos For XR

Geffen says the team used several specialized camera systems to capture the Galápagos in stereoscopic 180-degree video. The primary system was Blackmagic's URSA Cine Immersive, which uses dual 8K sensors, alongside a RED camera fitted with a specialized dual-lens VR rig for underwater footage and a custom-adapted drone for stereoscopic 180-degree aerial capture.

The experience also lets visitors have a personalized conversation with Charles Darwin using Google's Gemini Live API. The creators say Darwin's responses are grounded in research and material from the production, with a system prompt used to define his personality and speaking style. His animated appearance is driven using OpenXR blendshapes in Unity.

Geffen has a long history of using emerging technology for immersive documentary storytelling. His company, Atlantic Productions, and its former immersive arm, Alchemy Immersive, produced several VR experiences with Sir David Attenborough, including Micro Monsters and Kingdom of Plants. Atlantic Productions was also involved in the 2022 expedition with deep-sea mapping specialist Magellan that captured more than 700,000 images of Titanic to create a highly detailed digital twin of the wreck. That scan later formed the basis of the National Geographic documentary Titanic: The Digital Resurrection.

Robbie has a personal connection to the islands. She says she visited the Galápagos when she was 18 and was "completely captivated by them," and sees immersive technology as a way for audiences to develop a more personal connection with the islands and their wildlife.

A Wider Android XR Release Is Planned

Galápagos won't be limited to its Venice presentation. A representative for the project tells UploadVR that the experience will be released on Google Play for Android XR devices, though no release date has been announced.

That means Xreal Aura won't be the only way to experience Galápagos. We've asked for more details on release timing and which Android XR devices will be supported.

Galápagos: The Last Eden is being shown in competition at Venice Immersive, which runs September 2-12 as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

Maze Theory has released a new trailer showing the first extended look at gameplay from their upcoming immersive mixed reality game Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars.

Coming to "major MR and VR platforms" this fall, the game is developed in collaboration with Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, and is a completely new chapter in the Project Hail Mary story.

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

You'll build a relationship with Rocky, bond over the course of the experience, and use your scientific and engineering skills to keep the Hail Mary intact and bring your world-saving cargo to Rocky's home planet.

Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars will launch on Meta Quest, Pico, and Android XR in fall, 2026.

I am not going to bury the lead here. Amelia's Escape is too short. I have played a number of environmental puzzle games in VR and can only recall a few that were less than two hours long: The Curious Tale of Stolen Pets, the first A Fisherman's Tale, Rogue Escape (if you figure out the controls quickly), and this game.

After finishing in just over one hour, I was not even upset at the runtime, though I think for the price, there is nowhere near enough game here. I was frustrated because the story being set up was legitimately fascinating and felt incomplete. You play as the titular Amelia, a young British girl on a train to an unknown location when blue lights and streaks flash all around you. Then, after a few 'stops' you end up in the room that comprises the full game, a bunker-like science lab where a seemingly mad scientist obsessed with time travel has brought you. It is impossible to go any deeper into the story here without major spoilers, so I will just say that it feels like the start of a larger story without a proper payoff.

That all said, if you are just there for the puzzles, this is still a good time. Amelia's Escape is the type of game where you just sit there until you figure it out. The 'escape' is through a door locked by multiple keycards scattered throughout the room. To locate them all, you have to pay attention to everything in the room, more specifically any object you can interact with. Most escape room games like this in VR only allow you to interact with things you need to interact with.

That does not mean the game is too easy. Instead, you'll hold an object and think, 'What do I do with this?' There are context clues and Amelia occasionally says a bit too much, but this is still a game that requires you to think logically. Okay, this says the number 1, but what does that mean? There were three keycards I figured out in the first few minutes in the room, with the remaining batch taking the rest of the hour, walking back and forth, holding some random object unsure of its purpose. If you have played Myst or the I Expect You To Die series, this will feel very familiar to you.

Visually, Amelia's Escape is on the bland side. After a few minutes exploring the room and realizing very little in the room could be interacted with, I started working out keycards with the things I could touch. The grab interactions were mostly jank free, but the hand/grab animations (or lack thereof) stick out. I also had to reset the room when one of the keycards I found fell through the floor and could not be retrieved. Thankfully, I remembered the solutions and caught up quickly even with some objects and lock boxes randomized to new locations.

Amelia's Escape VR - The Final Verdict

Amelia's Escape offers a satisfying bit of puzzle gameplay, but it is let down by an abrupt ending and a story that left me unfulfilled. Puzzle game lovers will get something out of this, but even then the short length makes it hard to justify its current $14.99 price tag. There are other similar games in the same price range with more to offer. Hardcore puzzle gamers only.

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

It's the first of the month, and that means a whole new batch of games have been added to the Meta Horizon+ subscription service. September's Monthly Games are Warplanes: Air Corp and Prison Boss VR.

The rotating Games Catalog and Indie Catalog are also bolstered this month by a combined seven new titles:

• Cave Crave
• Loop One: Done (which also gets a new VR-mode update)
• I Am Cat
• StarWave
• BattleGlide
• Cave Digger 2
• Toy Monsters

Loop One: Done Is A Roomscale Mixed Reality Sandbox About Automation

Loop One: Done is a roomscale mixed reality sandbox game about automation that’s heading to Quest Early Access next week.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Let's take a closer look at the Monthly Games!

Warplanes: Air Corp

Warplanes: Air Corp is an action-focused flight combat game that drops you into the cockpit of modern fighter jets and other aircraft to battle it out against enemy planes, drones, convoys, tanks, and military bases. The third release in the Warplanes series, which had previously focused on

WW1 Fighters and Battles Over Pacific, Air Corp makes for a more modern aviation combat experience.

Warplanes: Air Corp Returns To VR Battlefields On Quest

Warplanes: Air Corp takes VR aerial combat to the modern battlefield on Quest App Lab.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Prison Boss VR

Prison Boss VR is a classic "job simulator" that tosses you into a prison cell and throws away the key. You'll spend your nights secretly building and running a small contraband business, crafting items to sell to your fellow inmates. Our review called Prison Boss VR "a breath of fresh air [...] with a [...] light-hearted and whimsical tone."

Prison Boss VR Review (PC VR): Job Simulator Meets The Life Of A Criminal

Prison Boss VR is out on Quest today. Below is our original PC VR review published in September 2017. Job Simulator is still, even a year and a half after its release, one of the very first VR apps I put a new user inside. It just does so much

UploadVRDavid Jagneaux

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
• Alvo
• Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
• Arcade Paradise VR
• Asgard’s Wrath II
• Audio Trip
• Banners & Bastions
• Barbaria
• Barbershop Simulator
• BattleGlide
• Beauty Salon Simulator VR
• Blacktop Hoops
• Breachers
• Cactus Cowboy: Desert Warfare
• Cave Crave
• Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder
• Chess Club
• Coffee Quest VR
• Cooking Clash
• Crime Shop Simulator
• Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded
• Darksword: Battle Eternity
• Demeo
• Dig VR
• Discovery 2
• Dragon Fist: VR Kung Fu
• Dungeons of Eternity
• Elements Divided
• Escaping Wonderland
• Espire 1: VR Operative
• First Person Tennis - The Real Tennis Simulator
• Fruit Ninja VR
• Galaxy Kart
• Genotype
• Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game
• Golf+
• Green Hell VR
• Grill on Wheels
• Hide The Corpse
• I Am Cat
• I Am Hamster: Simulator
• I Expect You to Die 2
• iB Cricket
• In Death Unchained
• Innkeeper VR
• Into the Radius
• Iron Guard
• Iron Guard: Salvation
• Ironlights
• Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives
• Killer Frequency
• Laser Thief
• Last Stand
• Les Mills XR Bodycombat
• 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
• Prison Boss VR
• Project Demigod
• Puzzling Places
• Racket Club
• Real VR Fishing
• Red Matter 2
• Retropolis 2: Never Say Goodbye
• Runner
• Shave & Stuff
• Shooty Fruity
• Slot Car VR
• StarWave
• Stilt
• Survival Nation
• Surviving Mars: Pioneer
• Synth Riders
• Table Troopers
• The 7th Guest VR
• The Climb 2
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• The Secret of Retropolis
• The Thrill of the Fight
• The Wizards
• Thief Simulator VR: Greenview Street
• Tiny Archers: Adam’s Tale
• Titans Clinic VR
• Toy Monsters
• Ultimate Swing Golf
• Vacation Simulator
• Vibe Punch
• Viral Descent
• Walkabout Mini Golf
• War of Wizards
• Warplanes: Air Corp
• We Are One
• Zero Caliber: Reloaded

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.

In addition to gameplay of the in-development game, the hands-on preview will showcase an AR experience with an as-yet-unannounced "major" Evangelion character and a VR experience in which players will explore a recreation of NERV headquarters.

To attend the free preview event in San Francisco, interested parties must apply to attend via an online form, which can be found here. Approximately 80 participants will be selected and notified by email on September 22.

Supporting both VR and mixed reality gameplay, 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.

Pixelity has not yet revealed specifics on platform or release date, listing "2027" and "various VR devices" in press documents.

FitXR is expanding its fitness platform beyond VR with personalized mobile workouts that can be completed without a headset.

The new Mobile Workouts beta is launching through FitXR's redesigned app for iOS and Android, with short video workouts across strength, cardio and mobility based on a member's goals and fitness ability.

The mobile workouts are integrated into FitXR's Your Journey training plans. Once enabled, FitXR says they can begin appearing from a member's next Journey checkpoint. Members can also manually switch an existing Journey workout between VR and mobile from the phone.

I tried the new mobile workout system at launch. During setup, FitXR asked what equipment I had available, offering options including dumbbells, resistance bands, loop bands and a chair, as well as bodyweight-only workouts. I could then select either Casey or Dane as my coach.

FitXR's Atlas assistant says it will build sessions around a member's goals, while the selected coach demonstrates each movement. Workouts can also be adjusted for length, difficulty, style and available equipment.

In my testing, FitXR generated a mobile workout based on the preferences I selected during setup. The workout used short exercise videos, with my selected coach demonstrating each movement and Atlas guiding me through the session. I was also able to adjust the workout's length, difficulty, style and available equipment.

Your Journey Comes To Mobile

Speaking with UploadVR ahead of the update, FitXR CEO and co-founder Sam Cole said the company has historically given its mobile app less attention than its VR app.

"The headset is still the best place to work out we've ever built. What it can't do is be in your pocket," Cole said. "The phone is where people decide, plan, and adjust."

Cole said FitXR remains heavily invested in VR while looking for ways to support members outside the time they spend in a headset.

The redesigned mobile app now lets members view their Journey progress, see upcoming workouts and make changes to their training plan from their phone. Those decisions carry back to VR, allowing members to plan a workout before putting on their headset. FitXR says it has also rebuilt the app's navigation, class details, plan management and onboarding.

The mobile update builds on FitXR's introduction of Your Journey earlier this year. Journey shifted the app toward providing members with an ongoing training plan, recommending workouts based on their goals and preferences rather than leaving them to choose every class themselves.

FitXR has continued iterating on Journey since launch, and Cole told UploadVR that community feedback has already influenced its roadmap.

A new Smart Intensity feature now asks members to rate how difficult a workout felt after each class. At each checkpoint, Journey uses those ratings to recommend increasing the intensity, holding steady or easing off.

The feedback prompt can be disabled, in which case FitXR says Journey will continue making recommendations based on recent workout results.

"We want our customers to feel like, 'Oh wow, the system really knows and understands me and my goals,'" Cole said.

How FitXR Builds A Mobile Workout

FitXR describes its new mobile sessions as "made-to-order" classes. Instead of matching a member with an existing prerecorded class, the company says each session is assembled on demand around their goals, stated preferences and readiness to train that day.

Movement selection, sequencing, intervals and intensity can vary, meaning two members pursuing the same goal can receive different sessions.

The mobile onboarding process adds several other inputs. Members tell FitXR what equipment they have available and choose a coach before their first workout.

The workouts themselves are presented as short exercise videos. Atlas guides the session, while the selected coach demonstrates the movements. FitXR currently offers Casey, described in the app as "High energy, no BS," and Dane, described as a "Daily mood booster."

Members aren't locked into the workout FitXR initially creates. An Edit Workout menu lets them change its length, difficulty, style and equipment, causing the workout to be adjusted around those selections.

The connection between mobile and VR also works in both directions. FitXR lets members change a scheduled VR workout to a mobile workout, while a mobile workout can be switched back to VR.

FitXR VP of Product Rob Mayes says the company is launching Mobile Workouts as a beta so it can gather feedback from members before expanding the feature.

"Our best feature releases have all started as betas because our community is the most reliable source of truth we have," Mayes said.

The Mobile Workouts beta is available as an opt-in for existing FitXR members at no additional cost, while some new users will receive access through an A/B test. The redesigned FitXR mobile app is available on iOS and Android. FitXR membership currently costs $12.99 per month, or $107.99 annually.

A group of ten people wearing Apple Vision Pro gathers around a table. Through passthrough mixed reality, volumetrically captured actors appear within the scene in front of them, while viewers can move around the table, change their perspective and take part in a branching story.

That's the setup for Empire At Sea, a new 22-minute immersive drama from director Peter Flaherty premiering in competition at Venice Immersive this week. The creators describe it as a "solarpunk AR drama", drawing on a science-fiction genre that imagines more sustainable futures.

Venice Immersive runs September 2-12 as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, with Empire At Sea among the projects competing in this year's immersive program.

UploadVR can exclusively reveal a new trailer for Empire At Sea below.

Empire At Sea follows a group of climate scientists who move to a remote oil rig to try to build a sustainable community at sea. Their experiment takes on a very different purpose after a catastrophic event devastates the mainland and leaves them cut off from the outside world.

The story picks up five years later, when a young woman named Lani spots a boat on the horizon. It's the first sign of civilization the community has seen since the disaster, forcing them to decide whether to welcome the strangers or keep them away by force.

A Shared Story Around The Table

The story plays out around a custom-built LED table, with Vision Pro blending the volumetrically captured performers into the physical scene. Ten participants can move around the table simultaneously and follow the action from different positions, while participatory elements influence the branching narrative.

The cast includes Orlando Jones (American Gods), Ayelet Zurer (Munich), Geoffrey Arend (Goliath), Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men), Imani Jade Powers and Mary Chieffo. The actors were volumetrically captured for the production, which uses technology from 4DV.ai. Flaherty previously created the AR and projection-mapping experience The Dial, shown at Sundance in 2019, and served as creative director for Marvel Studios and Disney's Eternals AR project in 2021, among other immersive media projects.

Beyond Venice

Empire At Sea was commissioned by Lincoln Center and ASU Gammage, and Venice won't be the only place to experience it. The production is scheduled to appear at Lincoln Center in January 2027, and its press notes say versions are also planned for VR headsets and mobile phones for at-home audiences.

Specific platforms and release timing haven't yet been announced.

We normally do not traffic in copium, but this is a curious bit of news. At the August VR Games Showcase, developer ANB_Seth's mod-turned-standalone title Gunman Contracts announced it would launch on Steam as a hybrid title (supporting VR and non-VR gameplay) "alongside Steam Frame" in 2026.

Gunman Contracts Stand Alone Will Launch Alongside Steam Frame

Gunman Contracts Stand Alone, the action-movie inspired shooter, will launch in Early Access alongside Steam Frame’s eventual release.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Due to that promise, the game has since been closely monitored by a segment of the gaming community tracking any possible Steam Frame news. Earlier today, the Steam listing was updated with a release date of September 10. Valve itself has not, at the time of this article, officially confirmed a release date for its new headset. The developer made a brief statement with the release date announcement on Reddit:

Note: While the initial plan was to launch the same day as Steam Frame, we ultimately decided to choose our own launch timing. But we still have full trust that Steam Frame will be coming this Summer, as this is Valve's last standing statement. So we wanted to pick a date that will make sure that Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone will be available close to any possible Steam Frame Summer-release.

In Gunman Contracts, you play as a professional hitman working for a mysterious order that has vowed to dispense justice to the criminal underworld. The Early Access launch will include three contracts, with three more reportedly already in development.

Gunman Contracts can be wishlisted now on Steam.

BRINK Traveler brings real-world destinations into VR as explorable 3D environments captured on location by developer BRINK XR. Unlike 360-degree photos and videos that limit users to a fixed viewpoint, BRINK's locations let you move around a small area with six degrees of freedom, giving a better sense of their scale and depth.

Virtual Desktop lets VR headset owners access their computers from inside a headset, stream PC VR games, watch media, and use virtual screens within a choice of immersive environments. Its latest update adds BRINK's Iceland Riverbed to those surroundings.

I spent some time in the new environment before speaking with BRINK XR co-founder Akin Bilgic, who told me the collaboration grew out of something the three-person studio has wanted to do for years.

From BRINK Traveler To Your Virtual Home

When BRINK Traveler launched on Quest in 2021, it came with a bonus Quest home environment based on one of its locations. Bilgic says the response convinced the team there was an opportunity to do more.

"We've wanted to do more," Bilgic told me. "These locations are all perfect. It's like the desktop wallpaper of VR."

BRINK continued talking with Meta about bringing more of its locations to Quest home environments, but Bilgic says those efforts eventually stalled as Meta's priorities shifted.

The team explored other possibilities before Bilgic eventually approached Godin about bringing one of BRINK's locations to Virtual Desktop.

"There's a lot of Virtual Desktop users," Bilgic said, noting his respect for an app that has remained popular despite years of competing alternatives. "That app has stood the test of time."

There was one problem. Getting a BRINK environment running inside Virtual Desktop wasn't as simple as moving it from one app to another.

Making Room For Virtual Desktop

BRINK's environments already push standalone hardware hard. Bilgic says roughly 90% of the team's work involves optimizing the experience to run on VR headsets, something BRINK has been wrestling with since shifting its original PC-focused project to the first Quest.

"When you're in our locations in our app, the Quest is redlined," Bilgic said. "It's using all the resources."

Virtual Desktop can't give an environment that luxury.

Virtual Desktop still needs resources to handle PC streaming, virtual displays and PC VR gaming while rendering the environment around the user. Bilgic pointed to a demonstration of the new environment showing three PC monitors at once, with Netflix, Steam and Discord running across them.

"There's a lot going on," Bilgic said. "If you had shown that to somebody like 10 years ago at Oculus, they would just be like, 'What are you talking about?'"

BRINK therefore had to create a more heavily optimized version of its Iceland capture.

Iceland Riverbed was particularly well suited to that process. Bilgic said its relatively flat topography made it a good fit for a Virtual Desktop environment, where users aren't expected to explore the same five-meter radius available in BRINK Traveler.

"It was definitely a process of pushing what we could do visually, but also giving as much headroom as possible for Virtual Desktop to do its thing," Bilgic said.

The differences aren't necessarily obvious when you first put on the headset.

BRINK Traveler gives users roughly a five-meter radius to move around each location, which means the captured terrain around you has to remain detailed as you explore it. A Virtual Desktop environment is designed around a much more stationary experience.

That gave BRINK somewhere to save resources.

Bilgic says that standing in the center of the Iceland environment, the Virtual Desktop and BRINK Traveler versions should ideally look the same. Walk several meters away from that position, however, and the differences become more apparent. Ground that remains sharp in BRINK Traveler can become blurry or distorted in the Virtual Desktop version.

BRINK could therefore reduce detail in areas a Virtual Desktop user isn't expected to explore while preserving the view around their workspace.

Having tried the environment myself, that compromise isn't apparent from where you're intended to use it. The mountains still have the depth and scale I associate with BRINK Traveler, except now they're surrounding my virtual workspace instead of being the destination itself.

An Idea That Goes Back To Oculus Story Studio

Bilgic's interest in capturing real-world places for VR goes back to his time at Oculus Story Studio, the experimental VR filmmaking team behind Lost, Henry and Dear Angelica. Story Studio explored how placing viewers inside an experience could change the way stories were told.

While working there around a decade ago, Bilgic began experimenting with photogrammetry and 3D reconstruction in his spare time.

"What is the VR equivalent of photography?" Bilgic recalled asking himself.

His early experiments involved scanning places he visited, reconstructing them in 3D and viewing them through a headset. Photographs of the same places couldn't give him the sense of scale he experienced while standing there.

"It was kind of this like, 'Whoa, holy crap, it's like a teleporter device,'" Bilgic recalled.

After Oculus closed Story Studio in 2017, Bilgic chose to pursue the idea that eventually became BRINK Traveler.

Nearly a decade later, the Virtual Desktop collaboration puts one of those real-world captures to a different use, turning a destination into an immersive space for working, gaming, browsing or watching media on virtual screens.

More Environments Could Follow

Virtual Desktop developer Guy Godin told UploadVR that BRINK approached him about bringing its environments to Virtual Desktop after receiving numerous requests from users.

"We've had to do some back and forth testing the limits of what was possible with today's headsets (in terms of texture resolutions) and also where to focus more details in the environment," Godin wrote.

That testing ultimately produced the more heavily optimized version Bilgic described, concentrating detail where Virtual Desktop users are most likely to see it while leaving resources available for the app itself.

Iceland Riverbed may not be the last BRINK location to make the jump.

"We'd be happy to bring more environments from BRINK in the future or from other apps who reach out to us," Godin said. "Always open to collaborations like this one."

With two-thirds of 2026 behind us, we start looking ahead to one of the busiest seasons in the gaming industry. After a summer full of anticipation-building showcases and speculation on new hardware, September sees the releases of games we've seen in multiple VR showcases this year like Sol Protocol, The Lightkeepers, and Knights of Fiona. On the hardware side, Meta hosts its annual Meta Connect summit and we're expecting Valve's Steam Frame any day now. The new headset already has over fifty VR games certified at the time of this article.

We will update this article all month long with any new dates or delays. Some games have 'September 2026' as the release window without a specific date, so we are keeping an eye on those. If we missed any new titles with confirmed dates, let us know down in the comments. For a list of all the upcoming VR games we are aware of, check out that article here.

Upcoming VR Games 2026: New Releases On Quest, PC, PS VR2 & More

Need a refresher on all upcoming VR games? Here’s every major game coming to Quest, PS VR2, PC VR, Pico, Apple Vision Pro, Galaxy XR, and more.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Games marked with an asterisk (*) are slated to release in Early Access.

Knights of Fiona - September 3 (PC VR, Quest 3)

Knights of Fiona is a co-op JRPG-inspired adventure from Character Bank (RuinsMagus). The developer announced that Knights will launch on September 3 under a free-to-start model. The base game will be free with access to co-op gameplay and the game's introduction. The full story campaign and other features like community trading will require the purchase of a Story Pass add-on, currently priced at $18.99.

• Store Link(s) - Steam, Quest

Paleo Dive - September 4 (PC VR)

Paleo Dive is a deep-sea exploration adventure that sees you documenting over forty species in five prehistoric oceans. Creatures are photographed from multiple angles to add to your personal gallery. You also collect DNA samples to map each creature's genome, allowing you to keep them in an aquarium. Moon rocks, fossils, coins, and other valuables can be traded in for upgrades to your equipment.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Battle Beyond The Wall - September 7 (Quest)

Battle Beyond The Wall is a multiplayer sandbox real-time strategy game from Globiss Interactive (Titanic: A Space Between). You will deploy your troops from an overhead perspective before taking to the battlefield yourself in first-person shooter action.

• Store Link(s) - Quest

Tales of Glory 4* - September 9 (PC VR)

Tales of Glory 4 is a physics-based story-driven medieval combat game with multiple game modes and battlefields, and support for fan-made mods. Developer BlackTale Games says the game is a return to the medieval design of the first game in the series as opposed to the modern tactical shooter second game and the 80s kung fu gameplay of the third.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Squingle Arcade - September 9 (PC VR)

In Squingle Arcade, players manipulate glowing spheres and attempt to make them travel through complicated tubular obstacle courses. The object of the game is to keep the orbs from touching the sides of the courses, to avoid obstacles, collect other orbs scattered along the route, and to do all of this in the shortest time possible. Squingle Arcade follows on from the previously released Squingle, an award-winning 3D puzzle game that first debuted in 2021.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Detective VR - September 9 (PC VR, PS VR2)

Detective VR is coming to PlayStation VR2 and SteamVR on September 9. The narrative-driven mixed reality and VR investigation game allows you to control time, collect clues and interview witnesses, hear their unreliable testimonies, and confront suspects to find out what happened. The game has been available on Meta Quest since early 2025.

• Store Link(s) - Steam, PS VR2

Gunman Contracts - Stand Alone - September 10 (Steam)

Originally a Half-Life: Alyx mod, Gunman Contracts Stand Alone is an action-movie-inspired first-person shooter (playable in both VR and flat). You play as a professional hitman taking on the city's ruthless criminal element, bringing justice to a seedy underworld beyond the reach of the law.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

The Lightkeepers - September 10 (Quest)

Developed by Spectral Games, likely best known for its work on Medieval Dynasty New Settlement, The Lightkeepers takes place in the 1920s in a world “where daylight unveils discoveries and nightfall demands survival.” You and your friends travel by boat to various uncharted islands during the day in search of weapons, gear, and treasure to prepare to defend your lighthouse base. This will include some puzzle solving to unlock certain doors and secrets. At night, the lighthouse must be defended against an onslaught of various monsters.

• Store Link(s) - Quest

Bomb The Hill - September 10 (Quest)

In Bomb the Hill, you'll race down dangerous mountain roads, weave through traffic at insane speeds, battle desperate rivals, perform tricks, and survive brutal crashes. The game blends realistic downhill skating mechanics with atmospheric storytelling and a road-trip vibe.

• Store Link(s) - Quest

Fresh Tracks VR - September 10 (PC VR)

Fresh Tracks VR is an action-rhythm game where players ride hectic slopes all while navigating obstacles, upgrading skills, and swiping away at aggressive enemies. Initially released in August 2025 as a flatscreen experience, Fresh Tracks is officially coming to VR as a separate release.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux - September 10 (Quest)

META4 Interactive's VR retro arcade rail shooter Transformers: Beyond Reality Redux is coming to Meta Quest on September 10. Previously released on PlayStation VR1 and then ported to PlayStation VR2, the upcoming Quest version will have "new features" (though what those features are exactly has yet to be revealed).

• Store Link(s) - Quest

CleanSheet Soccer 2 - September 17 (Quest)

Incisiv, the developer of CleanSheet Soccer 2, has announced that their goaltending arcade game is coming to Meta Quest on September 17. The game had previously been available on PlayStation VR2 only. Rather than chase the fantasy of scoring spectacular goals, in CleanSheet Soccer 2 you're trying to stop them. You play as a goalkeeper, using your hands to punch, block, catch, and deflect shots in training missions, mock games, and arcade-style minigames.

• Store Link(s) - Quest

CleanSheet Soccer 2 Hands On: Breaking A Sweat With PlayStation VR2’s New Goalkeeping Game

CleanSheet Soccer 2 is a seriously engaging sports and fitness game for PlayStation VR2.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

CONVRGENCE 1.0 Release - September 17 (PC VR)

Created by solo developer Monkey-With-a-Bomb, CONVRGENCE is a STALKER-esque shooter with horror elements similar to Into the Radius. You play as a mystical artifact hunter scavenging for loot, and each expedition across the Chernokamensk exclusion zone takes place in a procedurally generated location.

CONVRGENCE has been in Early Access for over two years, first releasing in April 2024. In that time, it has seen a steady stream of content updates adding new enemies, missions, guns, and features. According to the roadmap, the 1.0 update will see a rework of the main missions (including a proper ending) with added story context and voice acting. Other features expected are advanced graphics and difficulty settings, cloud saves, and a new tutorial.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Sol Protocol* - September 17 (Quest)

Developed by Singular Perception (Epyka), Sol Protocol draws inspiration from the now delisted Star Trek: Bridge Crew, 2012's FTL: Faster Than Light, & 2024's Void Crew. You and two friends assume three interchangeable roles on a fully interactive spaceship: pilot, gunner, and engineer. Your team travels through hostile star systems and works together to survive a variety of procedurally generated encounters in deep space, including battles with enemy ships and exploration of abandoned outposts, stations, and other structures.

• Steam Link(s) - Quest

Demeo x DnD: Battlemarked - Twilight's End DLC

September 22 (PC VR, Quest, PS VR2, Pico)

Twilight's End, Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons Battlemarked's next story campaign, will release on September 22 as a paid DLC. Battlemarked launched with two full campaigns, Embers of Chaos and Crown of Frost, and without spoiling those stories for anyone who has not played them yet, there is a pervasive thread that runs through both. Twilight's End will complete that running arc.

• Store Link(s) - Steam, Quest, PS VR2, Pico

Scared by Squares - September 24 (PC VR)

The entire world of Scared by Squares is made of cubes, playing out as a series of rooms players have to navigate from one side to the other. The rooms can shift and transform while moving through them, presenting unpredictable challenges in an eerie, unnerving atmosphere. Scared by Squares is available for Meta Quest and the Steam listing has a free demo available.

• Store Link(s) - Steam

Into the Radius 2 - September 24 (PS VR2)

Dystopian survival shooter Into the Radius 2 launches on PlayStation VR2 on September 24. Developer CM Immersive says the port will run at a native 90fps 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.

• Store Link(s) - PS VR2

Tiny Flock - September 29 (Quest)

Tiny Flock is a cozy, physics-based puzzle game from Human Fall Flat developer No Brakes Games. You herd your flock of sheep through diorama levels to get them to safety. The game will support hand-tracking and passthrough. A PC VR version is also in development.

• Store Link(s) - Quest

Gamepad Mode

Gamepad Mode is a new feature rolling out in Horizon OS 2.7, allowing Quest 3 and 3S users to emulate Xbox gamepad inputs on their Touch Plus controllers after setting up the feature in Settings > Devices > Controllers.

This is similar to the controller-mapping features offered by apps such as Virtual Desktop and various emulators. The Grip button or Thumbrest can be used as an input modifier, like the Shift key on a keyboard, and holding it changes specific controls into buttons not physically present on the Touch Plus controllers.

Meta describes this feature as being compatible with Xbox and Steam Link. In my testing, the feature seems to work best with games that rely on mostly unidirectional inputs, so casual and medium-paced action games will likely be the most suitable. In-headset documentation still recommends physical Xbox controllers for the "best" experience.

Meta has historically prioritized native VR/MR content over flat-screen gaming, and in April CTO Andrew Bosworth suggested that major controller hardware revisions are not currently planned.

While that makes split-gamepad designs like Valve's Steam Frame unlikely for Meta's future VR/MR hardware, this emulation feature gives users a functional software-based alternative when a physical gamepad is unavailable.

Up To 207 Hz Refresh Rate On Quest 3, And Up To 240 Hz With ADB Commands

Since launch, Quest 3 has supported a range of display refresh rates up to 120 Hz, with the explicit options being 72 Hz, 80 Hz, 90 Hz, and 120 Hz. Earlier this year, 96 Hz and 100 Hz options were also added for developers.

Now, Meta has added support for significantly higher display refresh rates on Quest 3, with a feature the company calls extended refresh rates.

In Horizon OS 2.7, apps can now request refresh rates far above 120 Hz, reaching 207 Hz via the standard APIs.

Meta notes that this functionality is "exclusive to Meta Quest 3. It is not available on Meta Quest 3S, and it is not available on any other headset."

For devices in Developer Mode, the refresh rate can even be set above 207 Hz, reaching as high as 240 Hz. This is done with ADB commands and first requires display scaling to be enabled, which renders frames at a lower resolution and then they are upscaled to the panel's native resolution by the display hardware.

Meta says that display scaling trades image quality for bandwidth and that the upscaled image is not identical to a natively rendered full-resolution image, which is visible in details such as small text and thin geometry. The company also cautions that "Perceived motion blur changes at extended refresh rates" and in my testing, this is most noticeable at refresh rates above 144 Hz.

Multiple apps have already been updated to take advantage of extended refresh rates, including both the sideloadable Quest Games Optimizer and Virtual Desktop on the Meta Horizon Store now offering 144 Hz modes, with the latter being available in the app's beta channel.

Display Size

Horizon OS 2.7 adds a new Size section in Settings > Display & brightness. This builds on the existing text size adjustment settings by allowing users to adjust the relative size of all UI elements and windows.

In my testing, at Extra Large, a maximum-size standard window is about the same size as, if not larger than, a Medium (Default) Focus/Theater Window.

Remote Desktop Is Now Virtual Display & Adds HDMI Link Functionality

In July 2026, Meta rebranded the Remote Desktop app as Virtual Display, while Horizon OS 2.7 merged Meta Quest HDMI Link's functionality into it, creating a single app for multiple screen-mirroring use cases.

Meta notes that "Support for the HDMI Link app will be winding down soon, but support will continue in Virtual Display" and in my testing the functionality is identical, as connecting an HDMI-to-USB-C capture card will automatically open Virtual Display.

HyperVR Games, the publisher and studio behind Shave & Stuff and Titans Clinic, has announced that their made-for-VR physics-driven prison escape simulator, Bad Inmate, will release on Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2 on October 15.

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.

Here's a trailer:

HyperVR Games lists Bad Inmate's gameplay features on the game's store page, and we've pasted these below:

• Turn everyday objects into weapons and fight with a full ragdoll physics combat system.
• Befriend, betray, or brawl with your fellow inmates, each with an agenda of their own.
• Craft your way to freedom by combining objects into new tools with unexpected solutions.
• Every escape plan is a gamble, so dig with a spoon, steal a key, or ally with the toughest inmate in the block.
• Hit the yard to enjoy basketball, pull-ups, and weightlifting built for immersive VR interaction.

HyperVR Games has previously released some extremely popular sandbox simulators. Titans Clinic, in which you play as a dentist, currently enjoys a Meta Store rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars based on over 16,000 user reviews. Shave & Stuff, a silly barbershop sim, is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars based on over 14,000 reviews.

Bad Inmate releases on October 15. You can wishlist the game now on Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2. Bad Inmate will also be released for SteamVR, though a release date has not yet been announced.

In March, following far-reaching layoffs and reorganization of the VR and Horizon teams within Reality Labs, and a declaration to begin "Explicitly Separating" Horizon Worlds From Quest, Meta made the decision to drop Horizon Worlds from its series of VR devices, going mobile-only. The company then partially reversed this decision just days later, clarifying that only the Horizon Engine-based Worlds would be deprecated on VR devices.

Now, Meta appears to be preparing to spin off Horizon Worlds from the Horizon mobile app into a new one, internally codenamed Eclipse, with Horizon Create appearing to be its current pre-release name.

In early August, dataminer and programmer Nori discovered in-development pages in the Meta Horizon mobile app referencing the new Meta Horizon Create app, which is described as an app for playing, remixing, and building mobile game Worlds with integrated AI tools.

In the August 25th update to the Meta Horizon mobile app, numerous strings were added describing the transition to Horizon Create and informing users that they’ll need to migrate there to access mobile games.

This would represent the clearest separation yet between Worlds and VR, further establishing them as increasingly distinct platforms.

Since March 2026, most of Meta’s public comments about Horizon have focused on VR. The company even seemingly canceled planned GDC 2026 talks related to Horizon Worlds, while the Horizon Studio creation tools announced at Meta Connect 2025 have received few new announcements.

At GDC 2026, Meta detailed changes to the Horizon Store, including the removal of World listings and a more modern page design intended to encourage users to engage with VR apps and games. In one session, the company showcased some of this new design work.

But notably, the design shown for the Meta Horizon mobile app was dramatically simplified, with the Store as the primary landing page and the navigation bar only containing additional headset, messages, and search buttons.

As of late August 2026, that design does not match the Meta Horizon mobile app, which still mixes numerous World recommendations with VR experiences and other platform features.

This suggests the design showcased at GDC 2026 may instead represent how the app is intended to look after the removal of Worlds, leaving it focused on VR app and game discovery, headset management, and off-headset socialization.

Meta promises updates at its Meta Connect 2026 conference on “expert-led VR developer sessions covering SDK updates, AI development workflows, controller-free interactions and new ways to grow revenue.” The company has meanwhile offered few hints about Horizon Worlds or Horizon Studio, so it remains to be seen whether either will feature at the event, and whether any such announcements form part of a broader reboot of Worlds.

Here's the full tracklist:

• Kendrick Lamar – tv off (Feat. Lefty Gunplay)
• Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow – INDUSTRY BABY
• Doja Cat – Kiss Me More (Feat. SZA)
• JID – Surround Sound (Feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate)
• Lil Wayne – 6 Foot 7 Foot (Feat. Cory Gunz)
• Cardi B – I Like It (with Bad Bunny and J Balvin)
• Doechii – NISSAN ALTIMA
• Tommy Richman – MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Mixtape 2 features more contemporary artists than its 2024 predecessor, which had songs from Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Dr. Dre, and 2Pac as a tribute to the fifty-year celebration of hip hop.

Like the first Mixtape, this collection features the uncensored versions of each song and makes use of the explicit lyric toggle, so users over 13 years of age can choose to show and hide songs with explicit language. This toggle is only available for users over 13 years old. Younger users will not see the pack at all.

Hip Hop Mixtape 2 can be purchased for Quest and Steam as a full collection for $10.99 or each track separately for $1.99 each. Beat Saber was also recently Steam Frame certified, so users of Valve's new headset, whenever it releases, will be able to play it standalone.

Vertigo Rush takes a novel approach to the racing genre. Doing away with the traditional schtick of ‘cool people in even cooler vehicles’, SumaLab has instead asked the question: “What if we mounted small, bobble-headed children on dieselpunk-inspired parkour robots and combined that with dizzying verticality and arm-swinging movement?”

An important question indeed. And while the result is initially a charming idea, it doesn't quite stick the landing… at least, not yet.

Off To The Races

Vertigo Rush sees you (initially) take on the role of a brash young street urchin named Jack who is intent on piloting a rust-bucket robot to victory in a series of races known as 'The Derby'. Supported by a pit crew that consists of your precociously adept engineer/sister Sarah and a completely superfluous bearded man, you set off to claim glory across a series of challenging urban courses.

You propel your little mechanoid racer forward using an arm-swinging locomotion system similar to that popularized by Gorilla Tag. Additionally, you can vault, jump, climb and rocket boost yourself around the course. There are also sections where you grab onto rails that zoom you around sections of the track.

Vertigo Rush even includes a classic arcade racer-style weapon system, with a range of power-ups that can be collected and fired at opponents to slow them down or knock them off the track. As a premise, everything lands very well and in some ways the game puts me in mind of one of my favorite VR racers ever: Sprint Vector.

Testing Your Metal

Unfortunately, I found the core locomotion mechanic just a little too finicky. I've played a great many games that focus on arm-swinging locomotion, so I’m no stranger to the technique, but there is something about this game's implementation of that system that I found just a little too fussy. Your arm movements need to be much more precise than feels necessary and even a small misstep will cost you your momentum.

There is definitely a skill curve to learning the correct technique, so with some practice you can find the required rhythm, but even after a couple of hours I would often find myself frustratingly stalling. Games like Orion Drift make a similar movement system feel fluid, and in that game, moving over varied terrain feels both challenging and intuitive. By comparison, Vertigo Rush ends up feeling a little clunky. However, this is something that could no doubt be smoothed out during Early Access.

That said, the climbing and boosting mechanics work well and once you do get a decent flow going, the game becomes quite enjoyable. The level design complements this nicely with tracks that mix verticality, twists, turns and platforming elements, ensuring that players have to make use of the full range of movement mechanics at their disposal.

In Need Of A Tune Up

As Vertigo Rush is just entering Early Access, it's difficult to be too critical, but there are several areas that clearly need further development.

The current version contains a time trial mode and three cups in the campaign, each consisting of only three tracks. Unfortunately, the AI opponents you face when playing solo don't provide much of a challenge and I was able to place first in every cup on my second attempt. By the end, I was winning some races by a minute or more, which meant there wasn't much incentive to replay the tracks once I'd finished them.

I was excited when I saw the range of playable characters, including both the riders and the robots themselves, thinking that much like Mario Kart we would see some interesting specialization that would give the game some depth and nuance. Unfortunately, these are purely cosmetic and none of the different bots appear to have any stats that influence how they handle on the course, which feels like a real missed opportunity.

Where My Bots At?

Vertigo Rush does not seem to currently offer open online matches, with multiplayer only available via room codes. One can only hope that open lobbies will find their way into the game soon, as it is a sorely needed feature.

Thankfully, family sharing is available for Vertigo Rush which feels particularly important for the game's intended audience. I was able to play online using both my account and my daughter's, allowing us to enjoy some games together. For a game that appears reasonably focused on families or younger audiences, that feels essential.

Final Stretch

Vertigo Rush is charming, well-presented and built around a novel idea. Its level design is very strong, mixing verticality, branching pathways and a range of movement mechanics to create courses that encourage you to find your own rhythm.

Unfortunately, finding that rhythm is currently easier said than done. The limited number of tracks combined with weak AI opponents and limited multiplayer options means there isn't currently enough challenge to keep players coming back after completing the cups.

For now, Vertigo Rush is a pleasant experience that I think is worth keeping an eye on, particularly for families or a younger VR audience. Those who are less patient with Early Access limitations, however, may want to wait a little longer before diving into the world of Vertigo Rush.

How do you celebrate that history? You could go moment by moment, carving out knowledge and archival pieces for every minute portion of the franchise, but when you have a series this large, how do you make such an exhibit truly exhaustive of every nook and cranny of the series? Which is why Dragon Quest: The Dive took a different approach, and it used VR to achieve that.

This celebration of four decades of this massive franchise is split into three distinct sections. The third and final area is the most traditional aspect of the exhibition for those wanting a pure look at franchise history. Encased in glass with a strict no-photography policy, were original design documents unearthed from vaults now on rare display. Handwritten, the original proposal lists almost all of the initial game’s very small team, which even at this early stage includes Akira Toriyama’s name as a designer of characters and monsters. Many of his initial sketches for the Slime and every monster were on display, as were entire dungeon maps and large tables that showed the specific stat increases of every level as the team sought to find balance.

Even musical notation for the main theme has been preserved and displayed. It’s a small space only focused on the first game - there are no documents for any other title in the series, but it’s such a fascinating look into the often-logical, nerdy necessities of programming and design in these early days of gaming.

The second area focuses primarily on the mainline titles for the series, starting with statues that offer life-size recreations of recognizable creatures and scenes that you can enter and take photos as the hero. Inflatable slimes can be squished and hugged, while stone golems and a knight aberrant stand menacingly. If you ever wondered what a creature in these games might feel like to the touch, there was an experience where you could touch a slime, or place your hand on the surprisingly warm surface of a rock bomb. Other areas scanned you to find out your kin monster or sprite - I was one of the many bunny girls from Dragon Quest’s history.

While certainly colorful with enough to engage audiences of all ages, it’s not something that will educate you if you’re already up to speed on the series. Aside from a neat visual of the original designs of Dragon Quest XII’s protagonist, likely the last to be designed by Toriyama before his sudden passing in 2024, much of this was designed to evoke memories or emotions more than educate. There are screenshots and quotes from every mainline title to point to and reminisce about, and displays to bring scenes to life.

What it does achieve by taking this approach is capturing the experience of being a Dragon Quest fan and bringing that to the space, rather than dryly recapping history that those fans already know. It’s a space that demands that you feel what 40 years of this series were like to live through, using this concept as the design philosophy driving this exhibit, rather than a more typical recap of documents and dates. Celebrate the fans, in that sense.

Which is where the VR aspect of Dragon Quest: The Dive comes into play. Rather than an introductory movie or series recap, this is a 5-minute VR attraction that speeds through locales while placing you in the role of the hero assisting a healslime named Homita with naive hopes of saving the world and a killer panther.

We climb aboard the killer panther and, at first, the adventure is pretty run-of-the-mill. Alongside Homita and his wooden sword, we wander through the woods until Treefaces, stone golems and more attack. That’s when things go far off plan, as we run and bound away till we have to jump from cliffs and ride upon a giant Hades Condor as recognizable creatures rush past and attack and we simply do everything we can to survive. Even that doesn’t go as we had hoped, however, as we are tossed into fast-paced river rapids and continue to be tossed and turned till we even find ourselves in an underground dungeon, where the most threatening creatures appear.

Here we are pitted face to face with an Estark, a lord of the Underworld against pits of fire and smoke. All seems lost, until the wooden sword begins to resonate inside you. That resonance transforms it into a mighty hero’s sword that slices down the creature and saves you all.

The entire attraction is on-rails and non-interactive, essentially an immersive video pre-rendered and displayed on Quest 3 headsets provided to all audiences. Immersion for the experience comes not just from the fact this video places you directly inside the world of Dragon Quest, but also from how the exhibition itself leads you into feeling a direct part of this world even as you are prevented from playing an active role.

By stepping into the exhibition, you get an introduction video from your new Slime friend that leaves you acquainted. Following that, you step into the exhibition room and not only are you required to put on your headset, but you must also securely strap yourself into a 4DX-like chair that jolts you around with every duck and weave of your brief journey. Far from a minor jolt, this is intense in ways more reminiscent of an immersive rollercoaster from a theme park than a temporary attraction, and certainly not for the faint of heart when drops into ravines can feel near-blind and incredibly steep in this setup.

Not that this isn’t entertaining, but it could prove too much for audiences less familiar with the medium.

It’s certainly the highlight of the exhibition, but also a very different approach to what has become a growing trend in Japanese showcases as they seek new ways to integrate modern technologies into the traditional retrospective. During an exhibition for the beloved manga and anime franchise Ghost in the Shell, centered on its many made-for-TV and theatrical adaptations, the exhibition used AR glasses not to transport people into the world of the series, but to enhance what already exists in the show to provide context through audio and video that simply can’t be printed on a piece of paper alongside static displays. Between the two exhibitions, whether by creating a virtual overlay to the real-world show or whisking audiences away into the world itself, the purpose of this is to provide a new dimension that can’t be offered without the use of additional technology.

In Dragon Quest: The Dive, the approach has flaws. While the VR ride itself is truly a full-body excursion that does integrate well into the exhibition - the following room with statues is placed in a manner that maintains the illusion of stepping into the world from the VR ride and translates it to a slow transition back to reality. Only, once the transition has ended, there is very little left of the exhibition, which can feel disappointing considering the high cost of entry. Tickets start at 4,400 yen per person when standard exhibitions of this caliber for other franchises typically cost half this price. It begins to feel like the VR ride is the point of the experience, not merely an enhancement, and at that point the question of whether such a high price for a 5-minute experience is justified begins to arise.

Especially when, if we were to compare it to VR attractions of similar length, the price similarly can feel steep. Just a few minutes away on the train from the exhibition’s location in Tokyo’s Harajuku area is Shinjuku, where the Kabukicho Tower plays host to numerous VR attractions based on IP like Evangelion for just a quarter of the price (and with more interactivity). Places like Immersive Journey and Tyffonium exist. Monster Hunter Bridge, which was a fully interactive AR experience at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka before that event's closure, will move to Nijigen no Mori theme park in 2027. Also present at the theme park? Dragon Quest Island, a full themed area complete with interactive attractions, accessible starting from a similar price to this exhibition.

For the brief runtime of the VR attraction part of Dragon Quest: The Dive, I truly felt immersed in the world of Dragon Quest in a way that the series has genuinely never achieved virtually before. Offered in other formats, this attraction is a must-try experience for anyone interested. While in theory this could complement a more voluminous exhibition, the lackluster offerings elsewhere in this showcase feel lacking for what should be an anniversary celebration for one of the biggest gaming franchises in Japan. Rather than enhancing the exhibit, like AR did for Ghost in the Shell, it exposes how lacking the rest of the showcase is, making this feel like an (expensive) paid test run for this ride’s possible installation elsewhere at a later date.

Which I hope can be done! But compared to how immersive technology has been able to enhance exhibitions in Japan in recent months, this is a case where, for all its individual merits, it can’t justify the price of admission.