The second of two glorious episodes published this week! Bask in my mistake. (Brett isn't here this week, something about a power failure)
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Not sure how this got missed last week! Making up for time, now you get TWO episodes packed into 1 week!
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The Apple Immersive series Elevated reaches the Alps in its new Switzerland episode, with its narrative, visual, and audio choices giving these vantage points meaning.
Perspective in the Apple Immersive Video series Elevated is not just about altitude. It is rooted in how narrative, visual and audio choices work together to give those vantage points meaning.
The Apple Immersive Video format is 180° stereoscopic 3D video with 4K×4K per-eye resolution, 90FPS, high dynamic range (HDR), and spatial audio. It's typically served with higher bitrate than many other immersive video platforms.
We highly praised Apple Immersive Video in our Vision Pro review. It's not possible to cast or record Apple Immersive Video though, so you'll have to take our word for it unless you have access to a Vision Pro.
Switzerland is the newest episode of Elevated available, following sweeping journeys over islands of Hawai’i (Episode 1) and Maine (Episode 2).
Across all three episodes of the series so far, a consistent creative approach gives each immersive episode the feeling of an authentic, elevated experience that grounds sweeping landscapes in context and perspective.
Majestic landscapes are never presented as simply beautiful and often unreachable views. Each episode carries visitors over dramatic terrain with local narrators framing these destinations as living, ever-changing environments. From landscapes shaped by powerful forces of nature in Hawai‘i to the breathtaking beauty of autumn in Maine, the episodes reinforce that our earth is alive and constantly evolving. This storytelling makes each journey over the real, visually stunning ultra-high-resolution moments captured in 180-degree stereoscopic video feel that much more precious.
Consistent Scale and Changing Perspectives
Another important creative choice of Elevated is not just the heights it reaches, but the scale it preserves. Visitors’ sense of scale in relation to these environments remains consistent and true to life, creating the sense of presence as oneself within each destination. From a small number of moments where you begin seemingly standing on the ground in Maine and Switzerland, to rising above snowcapped mountains, rugged coastlines, or dense forest - the visitor's proportion to the landscapes holds. This has not always been the case with Apple Immersive content.
Also, while these moments on the ground are limited in the series so far, beginning at ground level before lifting into the grandeur of elevated views makes a meaningful difference. The moment in Switzerland when I'm standing at the base of mountains is now a visceral memory for me, just as much as flying over The Alps. Seeing the detail of fall leaves up close at the beginning of Maine deepened my appreciation for the vast canopy revealed moments later from above. Establishing proportion on the ground reinforces the scale that follows. The contrast is what gives the ascent weight. Elevation feels more powerful when I understand the texture, distance, and human scale of what exists below.
Movement in immersive experiences is critical to get right when it's not the visitor controlling it. The speed and steadiness of the camera movement in this series offers a consistent almost ethereal quality to the pace of the flights giving visitors time to look around and absorb detail before the perspective shifts. Transitions between views also feel fluid, and not rushed or abrupt. Instead, the change in scene often feels as if perfectly timed to when visitors may have simply chosen to turn their head to look out another window into new scenery. Like previous episodes, Switzerland maintains that discipline, guiding visitors through an expansive journey across the country’s hard-to-reach terrain.
In the opening scene of Switzerland, the episode begins at ground level, allowing me to register the scale of the surrounding mountains and the quiet beauty of the ice skating path in front of me before ascent. For the first time in the series, it also experiments with introducing people into the opening scene before ascent. Two skaters enter from my right on the ice path and glide ahead in the direction I had already taken in. Instinctively, I turn to see where they came from and meet the edge of the frame of the 180-degree immersive video. In earlier episodes, I was engaged with the details of the evolving landscapes in my field of view and never felt compelled to look beyond them. Here, the entry point pulled my attention outside the designed field of view. Had the skaters entered and locked eyes with me, or stopped to playfully pick up some snow, for example, the moment could have anchored focus forward instead of prompting curiosity toward uncaptured space.
Frictionless Control Expands Moments
Epic content like this benefits from how naturally Apple Vision Pro features can be controlled. The visuals of Switzerland are so expansive and pausing to take them in with a simple gaze and pinch feels instinctive, not disruptive to the sense of immersion. My time in Switzerland felt longer than eight minutes because of that. I paused when up-close with an old castle overlooking a village. I easily found the beginning of the scene to fly right next to the Matterhorn mountain multiple times.
More of This Please
Switzerland reinforces what Elevated consistently demonstrates. Beautifully detailed visuals, compelling narrative, thoughtful pacing and preserved scale work together to create a true sense of journey. In a medium where spectacle is easy, creating the illusion of immersion is harder, especially with a limited field of view. Elevated proves that the most compelling immersive travel experiences are not only defined by where you go, but by how thoughtfully you are taken there with the best technologies available to the storytellers.
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Darts VR2: Bullseye, an arcade-flavored darts game, is coming soon to all major VR platforms.
Gamitronics and Evolution Publishing have announced that Darts VR2: Bullseye is coming soon to Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, and PC VR via Steam. The sequel to Darts VR combines classic darts games with "high-octane" modes and arcade-style gameplay, perhaps best exemplified by the game's "Zombies" mode, described by the developers as a mode that "will test your aim under pressure as hordes of the undead come for a bite!"
A teaser trailer shows a highly stylized arcade look, with a green zombie's hand shattering the earth, rising up to grip a flaming dartboard. It's pretty intense.
The arcade flavor of Darts VR2: Bullseye is joined by more realistic game modes, such as 501, Around the World, and more. Online leaderboards, achievements, in-game pundit analysis, and customizable cosmetics round out the feature set.
A release date has not yet been announced, but you can wishlist Darts VR2: Bullseye now on the Meta Horizon Store, Steam, and PlayStation.
Launching in Early Access today on Quest, Peak Rhythm seeks to refresh the rhythm genre with pulse-pounding music set against a unique climbing mechanic.
To say I like Rhythm games is a cosmic understatement.
I've poured thousands of hours into the genre. I helped localize the English release of the Dreamcast cult classic Cool Cool Toon, and spent nine months hounding Masaya Matsuura, creator of PaRappa the Rapper, for an interview. When I had the opportunity to speak with Shawn Layden, former President of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, all we talked about was Vib Ribbon.
There's no other way to say it. I am obsessed with rhythm games.
So when I say that Peak Rhythm is a very good musical rhythm game, you've simply got to trust me.
As is typical of many rhythm games, the gameplay hook behind Peak Rhythm is somewhat hard to describe. Despite the developers' somewhat obtuse explanation that Peak Rhythm is "a VR rhythm-climbing game where music drives momentum," I wasn't really sure what to expect. Once I'd spent a few minutes in the game, however, it all began to make sense.
The simplest way to describe Peak Rhythm is to say it's a game in which you climb in time with the music. You begin each stage standing face to face with a bare climbing wall, upon which handholds appear at various times and in various places. These handholds are color-coded, and surrounded by a ring which closes in time with elements of the game's music. The goal of Peak Rhythm is to grab the various handholds with the appropriate hand at exactly the right time (when the ring finishes closing).
Pink handholds are meant to be grabbed with your pink (left) hand, while green handholds are meant to be grabbed with your green (right) hand. Handholds may appear above, below, or to your sides, and on more advanced stages, reaching them may require complicated crossovers, leaps, or drops. Blue handholds can be grabbed with either hand, and it's important to be mindful of what handhold is coming next, after the blue one, so that you have the appropriate hand available when needed.
Grabbing a handhold with the wrong hand or with criminally poor timing will cause you to fall off the climbing wall onto a platform that follows closely beneath (think of it as a rope that doesn't allow you to fall too far). When this happens, you have to scramble your way back up the wall and grab the next available handhold. The music never stops, so getting back into the groove as quickly as possible is important.
Special handholds also exist to spice things up. There's a twist mechanic, in which certain handholds require rotation in time with the music. It's an interesting wrinkle that feels much better in practice than I expected.
The goal of each stage is to grab the handholds at the right time with the correct hand, to scramble yourself along the wall in time with the music. The better you do, the higher you climb in both the game world and on the game's leaderboards.
With music and rhythm games, especially in VR, it's all about feeling. How does the game make you feel? Does the action match with the rhythm? Do you feel like you're experiencing the music in a meaningful way, and does the gameplay support this?
When I saw Peak Rhythm's first gameplay trailer, I had doubts. I couldn't imagine how effectively what I was seeing would translate to a gameplay experience. To be honest, I thought it looked tiresome. By the end of my first climb, I realized I had been wrong.
Peak Rhythm's gameplay is tight and refined, distilled down to an essential core that feels perfect. The act of lifting and placing your hands to the beat of a song is intuitive and instantly rewarding. The songs are well-designed to complement the gameplay, which is intelligently balanced and consistently interesting. There's an intangible element here which exists in all of the best rhythm games, which allows you to ebb into and out of a sort of flow state, where the music and gameplay becomes so well-linked that playing the game feels the same as listening to a great album.
The built-in soundtrack features original tracks spanning several genres, including drum & bass, dubstep, and house, with tracks from FEISTLING, Killin' Void, Ion Diary, and funiel, and while I admittedly hadn't heard of these artists prior to my time with Peak Rhythm, their tunes are consistently great and the entire set list suits the game perfectly.
On top of all that, Peak Rhythm will get you moving. We're not talking about Beat Saber levels of activity, but you will burn a few calories, and that's at least a happy side-effect of playing a fun game.
In addition to the game's native tracks, Zeitlos Interactive has also developed a beatmap editor with which users can create their own custom stages using their own music files.
This feature immediately puts me in mind of Sony's Vib Ribbon, which I previously mentioned, a PlayStation game released in 1999 that invented and patented a method for creating custom levels based on the audio files from any CD that the player might insert into the system. While that now-ancient PlayStation game could automatically generate levels from any music file on its own, Peak Rhythm's custom song system relies on human users to do the work of creating a beatmap and custom stage.
Still, user-generated content hypothetically gives the game near-infinite replayability, plus a sort of custom soundtrack perfectly suited to each player's unique taste.
The developers have let me know that "the custom song feature works through a standalone desktop app." And while this hasn't been published during my pre-release play period, I'm told it should be available at launch, and that a "work-in-progress version is currently circulating within Impact Labs (QA and playtesting)."
Peak Rhythm is playable in sitting, standing, and room scale configuration. In addition, there are numerous options for audio levels, comfort, and accessibility, including input adjustments, and selectable offset for player height.
All that said, no game is perfect and Peak Rhythm is no exception. The visuals are uninspired. While this graphical simplicity makes the rhythm gameplay more legible, I can't help but be disappointed by the general lack of visual interest present in the immediate environment, in the backgrounds, in the central starting hub and menus... essentially, everywhere.
We're supposed to be climbing a skyscraper at night. This should be the coolest looking thing I've ever seen. But as it exists today, it's bland.
And while the soundtrack is great, as mentioned, it's still quite limited. This can be forgiven, perhaps, on account of the game's Early Access status and its allowance for custom songs. But I'm reaching. There simply needs to be more music in this musical rhythm game.
Lastly, there's no multiplayer. While a multiplayer mode is planned for an upcoming update "shortly after launch," I can't review features that don't yet exist, nor do I know what shape the game's multiplayer will take. For now, the omission is a notable strike.
On balance, Peak Rhythm is a very good game, and with further development beyond its Early Access period, it could easily become a great one. The team's planned roadmap is ambitious. We'll just have to see how closely and quickly they stick to it.
After spending a few days scrambling up its skyscrapers, leaping, reaching, and scampering along with its eclectic (though limited) soundtrack thumping in my ears, Peak Rhythm feels like a favorite album, a game that I'll return to again and again.
Peak Rhythm is out now in Early Access on Quest for $12.99.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
The built-for-Quest puzzle game allows players to piece together full-scale fossils of iconic dinosaurs.
Le Dino Labo is a mixed reality puzzle builder in which players reconstruct fossils of dinosaur skeletons bone by bone. The game uses full hand tracking interaction, allowing fragments of iconic dinosaurs to be examined, rotated, and assembled into complete creatures all within the player's real-world environment. When a dinosaur is completed, it springs to true life size, driving home the sheer enormity of these ancient creatures.
The base game is available now and includes five dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Styracosaurus, and the airborne Pteranodon.
In addition to today's release, the game's developers have announced an upcoming DLC, "Jurassic Giants," which includes three species from the Jurassic era, and a roadmap for future updates that includes new themed packs, deeper skeletal manipulation, enhanced environmental integration, and more.
Le Dino Labo is available now on the Meta Horizon Store priced at $4.99.
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nDreams Near Light and nDreams Compass will be shut down as part of the restructuring.
Veteran developer nDreams has announced another mass restructuring that will result in two of its three studios shutting down and a staff reduction of up to seventy-eight employees at all levels, 'including senior leadership.' This is the troubled studio's third round of layoffs, following similar restructurings in 2024 and 2025. nDreams Compass and nDreams Near Light will be closed with nDreams Elevation remaining as the core business focus moving forward.
UploadVRHenry StockdalenDreams Compass was formed when two previous studios, nDreams Studio Orbital and nDreams Studio, were both shut down. Forty members from those two teams combined to form Compass, with the remaining staff being laid off. Compass's focus was the emerging market of younger VR users, powered by the success of free to play titles like Gorilla Tag. Compass's debut title, Wreckin' Raccoon, a chaotic sandbox experience in the vein of games like I Am Cat, released on Meta Quest in September 2025.
nDreams Near Light's most recent title was Frenzies, a free to play arena shooter that released in Early Access on Quest in October 2024. A planned PlayStation VR2 port was canceled in 2025. It also released Top Hat, a world in Meta's Horizon Worlds in March 2025.
nDreams Elevation, the remaining studio, was first formed in 2022 to focus on high fidelity, AAA-level VR games. Its most recent title was Reach, a cinematic action adventure game plagued by unfortunate PC VR compatibility issues and reports of players getting soft locked and unable to complete the game. The official statement says Elevation currently has around one hundred twenty staff working on various projects.
nDreams is owned by parent company Aonic, who purchased the company for $110 million in 2023.
Puzzling Places, a delightful 3D jigsaw puzzle game, will launch on Steam in April.
Realities.io has announced that their VR jigsaw game, known for turning real-world locations into hand-crafted 3D puzzles, is coming to PC VR for the very first time on April 9 via Steam.
Puzzling Places has previously been available on Quest, PlayStation VR2, Pico and Apple Vision Pro, where it has been very popular and cumulatively amassed over 3,000 user reviews. The Steam release brings the game's intricate miniature puzzle scenes to a new audience, along with two game modes (Classic Mode or the guided Journey Mode), and adjustable difficulty levels.
The Steam release has naturally been optimized for VR, but will also be playable as a flat screen experience on desktop and Steam Deck. Cross-device play will allow users to jump from VR to flat screen devices at their leisure.
When Puzzling Places debuted on Meta Quest, our reviewer called it "a resounding success," and "[...] one of the best and most unique puzzle games on the platform."
Puzzling Places will launch on Steam on April 9th. It's available now on Quest, PlayStation VR2, Pico and Apple Vision Pro.
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