As series go, Thief boasts quite the checkered history. Originally born of Looking Glass Studios, the first two entries are celebrated as helping pioneer the Immersive Sim genre. The latter was also Looking Glass' swansong. Then the next two entries were the fairly divisive Thief: Deadly Shadows (also Ion Storm's swansong) and Eidos Montreal's THIEF (2014), which left things uncertain if we'd ever see a return to Garrett's gloomy, snarkily charming world of steampunk thievery. Yet here we are with Maze Theory's Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow.

And incredibly – they pulled it off! Mostly. It wouldn't be a Thief game without some jank, and we'll get to that shortly. Regardless, I'm truly astonished at how well Legacy of Shadow weaves the old world with the new. Whether this is your first time with the series or you've been following along since the Y2K days, there's reason to strap your headset on for this one.

Now a little additional context is in order. You see, it was always hinted that THIEF (2014) wasn't actually a hard reboot. There are nods to the world of the first three games as ancient history. If anything, there are some hints to suggest that Garrett's hometown possibly operates on Legend of Zelda reincarnation rules. And without getting into spoilers... I like the way Maze Theory finally addresses this. Set in the centuries between the third and fourth games, there's just enough connective tissue to make things work.

I believe Maze Theory knew they were dealing with a fanbase that pays attention to these details. The nods made here aren't simply for show, but elaborate on the early years of the Northcrest family's dogmatic, tyrannical reign over The City. In turn, the dialogue between new protagonist Magpie and Garrett (voiced perfectly as always by Stephen Russell from the original trilogy), is sharply written. There's no profound takeaways here, but what's delivered is satisfying.

That's well and good, but all the loving appreciation for a setting wouldn't be worth a guard's coin purse if the game played poorly. Fortunately, Legacy of Shadow is superb – when it's working properly. The goal is simple: grab everything not nailed down worth any coin, accomplish whatever primary objectives are set before you, and maybe tackle a few secondary goals if you're up for more of a challenge. It feels far more like free-form puzzle solving than an archery game, which is a relief because that's how Thief should feel.

Seeing as Magpie is still a rather young thief, she stumbles more often and has far fewer resources. She has to skulk around in the shadows carefully. Direct confrontations are best avoided entirely, as even in a best-case scenario, you'll take more hits than it's worth. Instead, to ensure they stay hidden, you can whip out a bow with a limited arsenal of arrows, a nightstick for knocking out most (but not all types of) enemies, activate a special vision mode that highlights tactically advantageous things, and surprisingly... you can wield your voice.

I was dubious at first of that final option, remembering how ill-fated other attempts in gaming's past have failed at incorporating voice input. And yet, Legacy of Shadow makes great use of it. You can limit it to just being able to blow, which lets you summon a friendly bird for some extra coin or lure guards, and blow out candles. With the fully immersive setting on, any talking is translated into a noise in-game that can tip enemies off to your presence. Cursing under your breath can actually lead to you jumping when someone suddenly and audibly responds to it – a welcome inclusion. That said, it's probably best to turn it off if you've got family talking in the background.

The special vision mode is a returning feature from THIEF (2014), though in a very different form. In the prior game, it's essentially a super-thief mode moderated by a limited use meter that has to be refilled manually. It could also be upgraded. That's not how it works in Legacy of Shadow. Here it's infinitely usable, but overheats if used for too long, and is demonstrably less powerful. It's most effective at identifying lootable items you may have missed and tracing electrical circuits to disable some security tech. No super speed pick-pocketing. Sometimes it can reveal hints left by a mysterious new organization reminiscent of the Keepers of the original Thief trilogy.

Magpie's bow is a bit more of a mixed bag. The biggest issue is it starts off so limited that you'll barely use it. Unlike in most Thief games, you can't use your coin from prior missions to buy what you need – instead, you have to complete Reward Objectives, which grant you a choice of one of three perks. Some of these perks are absolutely useless, like having slightly more health in a game where combat is the last thing you should engage in. Others are darn near necessities, like starting every mission with three rope arrows in your quiver, minimized fall damage, and moving unconscious bodies faster. As such, the bow is something you're likely to only use for key objectives and replaying missions.

What doesn't help matters while playing is how the two perks relating to health would always appear first. It's like they were impatiently waiting for me to pick them, so I'm being drip-fed one worthwhile upgrade each time I earn a reward. It'd be better if the perks offered each time were randomized. At least it gives you something to work for when replaying missions, since you can vary your approach with every perk. Still, for most players, the nightstick and ghosting about should be their go-to. Swipe a guard's legs, then conk them on the head to be dragged off out of sight. Easy, relatively reliable, and it guarantees you'll get the pacifist stat every single mission.

The real highlights are the thrill of grabbing everything in sight without getting caught. At one point, I'm weaving between writing desks, plucking items from out of view while a guard was looming overhead. It's not even a setpiece, and completely optional, but it has me engaged like it's some key moment in a heist movie. A little white dot appears when there's loot to grab, an effective stand-in for a sense of touch, though there's also some nice kinetic feedback from your controllers. Even patting your other palm with your nightstick elicits a slight sensation. Thief VR's attention to detail is quite welcome.

That same tactile approach is taken when keying hidden compartments behind bookshelves and paintings, as well as rotating your controllers to pick locks. It's all well integrated and flows smoothly. There's a few key moments that require environmental observation as well, with the potential to either alarm guards or feel like the smartest person in the world if you pull off a heist properly.

On a personal note, I love how versatile guards' helmets are. You can find them strewn about levels, and they're actually quite useful. You can wear them, toss them as a distraction, or even knock some guards out with them! Is the game at Immersive Sim levels of depth? No, but it is marvelously fun sneaking around, using every tool in your arsenal.

The only aspect that makes things less exciting is how your opponents are not clever. Most guards are easily fooled, and checkpoint resets are generously well placed for when the guards are actually a threat, particularly the nightstick-invulnerable heavy guards. From what I can discern, it's only possible to eliminate them by going lethal, which costs precious fire arrows.

Speaking of disappointments, let's rip off the band-aid: In my time with the game, there have been some peculiar issues. Sometimes objects fail to load in properly, like a treasure chest going transparent whenever I face it from the front – or an entire basement visually deloading momentarily if I walk too close to an adjoining wall. Nothing that breaks gameplay, but obviously has a negative impact on immersion. You can pick the lock of an invisible chest as easily as a visible one, but it's less than ideal for maintaining atmosphere.

That said, the ragdoll physics for unconscious enemies can be peculiar as well. The most astonishing instance of this was when, while dragging a guard who curled over himself unconscious, his ragdoll somehow sent me up through the floor to the second story of Northcrest Manor. If you're reading this after a few more patches - we've seen two already - you might be getting something a little more stable and immersive.

While I'm also not one to be too flummoxed by graphical limitations, there certainly are clear compromises on Quest 3. It's nothing horrendous and still looks good, though Thief VR's resolution and texture quality take an understandable hit on Quest systems. PC VR offers a notable visual upgrade, though I can't personally speak for how the PlayStation VR2 edition compares.

I cleared Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow in roughly five and a half hours and that's with thorough exploration. A few levels are repeated, though with updated layouts and objectives in each that help them stand out enough to feel distinct. There's novelty to be found in the remixed locations. Your prior knowledge is an asset, rather than a frustration. I can absolutely see someone blazing through Legacy of Shadow in a weekend. Replaying levels to either ghost or blitz through can be enjoyable, though some additional difficulty modifiers or a challenge mode map like in THIEF (2014) would be welcome.

Thief VR Review - Final Verdict

Crucially, Legacy of Shadow is all about encouraging the player to try for a little bit more. Between secondary objectives, bonus markers like completing a mission without alerts or finding every bit of gold lying around, and reward objectives that grant new perks? There's some meat on the bone, even if it's still lean meat. I'll always take good but short instead of longer but worse. These levels are wonderfully detailed despite their small scope, yet a more exploration-inclined player such as myself is likely to see most of each in their first run.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow may be a bit modest and rough around the edges, but it's also impressive in the right ways. It melds modern sensibilities with a retro mindset, welcoming new players to the series. Magpie is a charmingly impish lead aided greatly by Garrett's ghostly reprisal. The foundations set here can deliver a proper fresh start for this classic series. I can see Magpie's story continuing, though time will tell if that's the case. Either way, Maze Theory pleasantly surprises with the next generation of Thief.

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

Free-to-play multiplayer racer Boom Karts VR is out now on Quest, supporting crossplay with the mobile edition.

Originally launched on iOS and Android, free-to-play racing game Boom Karts has now received a VR edition from Finnish developer Zaibatsu Interactive. This arcade racer sees you try to secure the race wins using power-ups while avoiding obstacles and traps, racing friends and sabotaging rivals along the way. Now, it's come to Quest 2, Pro, 3, and 3S.

Featuring ranked leagues and ranked matches, Boom Karts VR also comes with an adventure mode and quests. Cars and characters can be customized alike through both cosmetic items and unlocking additional upgrades. Compared to the mobile edition, the VR edition of Boom Karts contains various new features like playing in a theater mode.

Game-specific friend lists are also available, as is a 'Teams' option that sees your group unlocking rewards, upgrades, and new items to upgrade your kart. One and two-handed control schemes are supported for the Meta Quest's Touch controllers, as are USB controllers.

Boom Karts is out now on Quest, Android, and iOS.

Transmission: Shortwave, a casual VR delivery driving sim set in a retro-futuristic Great Britain, is now available on Quest.

Marking the debut VR game from British indie studio Cardboard Sword, you may recall Transmission: Shortwave recently appeared in the UploadVR Winter Showcase. Taking place in an alternative 1990s Great Britain, you're tasked with delivering parcels across these UK-inspired landscapes at your own pace as a member of ParcelPal.

Detailing this further, Cardboard Sword calls Transmission: Shortwave a reflection of the team's “tongue-in-cheek humour and nostalgia.” Leaning into the retro aesthetic, Transmission: Shortwave comes with an original soundtrack that's inspired by early electronic dance music.

The developer states you can simulate driving “as much or as little” as you'd like, letting you use optional shifters, handbrakes, and turn signals. As you progress across the game, you can customize your courier by gradually unlocking different car models and colors.

Transmission: Shortwave is out now as a Meta Quest exclusive for $4.99.

Pocket Lands, a mixed reality sandbox game where you can create miniature worlds, is out now in early access on Quest.

Originally announced at last month's VR Games Showcase, Pocket Lands is a tabletop voxel sandbox game from Thomas van den Berge (Vermillion) through Mountainborn Studios. You can create diorama-like worlds across different biomes in mixed reality with support for both Touch controllers and hand tracking, then explore them in first person with fully immersive VR.

In its current early access release, Pocket Lands features various biomes and the ability to create worlds of different sizes. The game also supports a day and night cycle, empty dioramas for building without distractions, quick construction tools, and a virtual camera to record and share your different builds.

For the full release, Thomas van den Berge previously advised Pocket Lands will launch in “the second half of 2026”. The store page's “coming soon” section lists planned features such as multiplayer, cave systems, underground biomes, new surface biomes, creatures that roam these lands, and more. However, it's unclear if each feature will arrive at full release or across incremental updates.

Pocket Lands is out now in early access on the Meta Quest platform.

Dimensional Double Shift is out now on Samsung Galaxy XR, coinciding with the game's “largest update ever.”

Previously released on Quest in early access, Dimensional Double Shift is a hand tracking party game where you serve food orders and fix motor vehicles for the locals of each dimension you visit. Following October's New Joysey DLC, it's now available on Samsung Galaxy XR headsets and offers cross-platform multiplayer support with Meta Quest headsets.

Today's Samsung Galaxy XR launch is also joined by Dimensional Double Shift's free Winter Update. Developer Owlchemy Labs confirmed that this includes Solo Practice Experiment, its first single-player mode for the former co-op only experience, which teaches you the game's core systems.

Other new features include rotating weekend Boosters, starting with a limited-time 'Midas Touch' modifier where everything you touch turns to gold. Other Boosters include turning your mouth into a flamethrower, stretching your arms further, and more. Finally, the game's celebrating 'Snow-vertime Fest' from December 18 until January 5, adding a festive hub alongside winter-themed avatar cosmetics and new interactions.

Dimensional Double Shift is out now in early access on the Meta Quest platform and Samsung Galaxy XR.

Among Giants is an open world VR adventure from a solo developer that's heading to Quest 3 and 3S next year.

Created by K Monkey Games, Among Giants takes direct inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Playing as Erya across a world filled with ancient giants, you're tasked with exploring the remnants of this lost civilization as you decode its mysterious alien language. Hunting down these giants lets you extract their final memories, as you discover what happened to humanity.

Featuring a 25 km² environment, you're accompanied on this journey by a tiny robot companion called R-011, and a rideable horse you can summon from anywhere using a horn. Over 10 types of enemies are promised, ranging from droids to the “colossal death worm.” Erya comes armed with a bow and arrow, and other non-reloadable weapons can also be found.

Other forms of traversal include gliding through the air, using grappling hooks to navigate cliffs, and swimming underwater. Among Giants also features a dynamic weather system alongside a day and night cycle, where you'll need to carefully navigate heavy rain, blizzards, and scorching deserts alike across this journey.

K Monkey Games informed UploadVR that Among Giants targets a Q1 2026 launch on Quest 3 and 3S. Other platforms are currently unconfirmed, though the Meta Horizon Store presently lists Quest Pro support too.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 with career mode is available now on Quest headsets, so I put on my boxing gloves to throw some punches.

As a fan of the original The Thrill of the Fight, I had high hopes for the sequel coming into this, buying The Thrill of the Fight 2 in early access to try its multiplayer mode. I encountered arm-flailing multiplayer matches that saw spam fighters rack up damage, so I put it down and decided to wait for the more fleshed-out full release, which arrived several weeks ago.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 welcomes you with a main menu presented on a small tablet held in your gloved hands. After it calibrates your height and arm length, you hold a stylus to choose multiplayer, career, or training mode. Training mode practices with a dummy or spars with a bot fighter. There are also settings for customizing your fighter to make them look reasonably unique.

I chose Career mode first and find myself inside a ring for my first fight. Coming from the first Thrill of the Fight, the updated difficulty is an immediate shock. Following on from the previous game, I wasn't expecting the AI to be this intense.

I throw out jabs it sees coming and deftly dodges, infuriating me. I lean in and get called for a foul. Occasionally the bot will clip directly into me while throwing punches and a foul gets called on my behalf instead. The game repeatedly fails to detect how much space I have around me to fight in “roomscale” mode, forcing me to smaller confines for standing mode during fights. This contributed to the problem of stepping outside of bounds while the AI fighter is still sending punches my way. Whenever the fighting gets intense, I can see flashes of my room boundary as the fists fly.

Coach yells directions at you during the fight, and the jeers of the crowd can be heard too. Outside the ring, they realistically move in their seats, craning their necks for a better view. I saw solid performance across each stage with strong immersion throughout.

I backed on up to training mode and tried sparring. Sparring mode provided a better onboarding experience with practice for proper fighting form. Training with a dummy gives instruction via tutorial videos on how to punch with drill exercises to perfect different moves. Still, I can't land punches as well as I want to because of my scores.

The numbers next to the training dummy show how much force is applied to each move you make, including how much “body effort” is included. Body effort is a way for The Thrill of the Fight 2 to grade punches with the aim of stopping players from cheating during matches. The problem is it doesn't record the effort in my punches properly most of the time.

You can see how the camera moves as I swing; I'm not sitting there and flailing my arms. I'm not being sufficiently graded for my efforts, and it cuts into the fun. Difficulty is never a dealbreaker for me, but the system needs a few fixes. Is head movement calculated as part of the attack? How does it impact the sensitivity of the movement detection? Currently, the fighting system feels like pillows – not gloves – have been put on my hands.

At the end of each training session, there are points for attack and defense added to my profile. The numbers for these didn't make much sense; they change depending on the training session type you choose.

Career mode provides a certain amount of fights to win in order to qualify for a tournament. If you miss out, you can skip to the next year to continue training and fighting. Although I'm happy to win after training so much, my desire to keep fighting in career mode eventually evaporated. I opted to switch to multiplayer mode to experience facing off against other players instead.

Multiplayer is greatly improved in the full release for The Thrill of the Fight 2. You can either fight players to rank on a global list, or you can pick a round of casual sparring. I matched up in a casual round with a player who paused and evaluated where I was throwing punches before he moved in. Within a few swings, I'm knocked out.

Despite the swift loss, I laughed because I'm still having a good time. The other player was sportsmanlike, and we made sure to touch gloves as a sign of respect. While I can't guarantee everyone you face in multiplayer will be as polite, I'm impressed by the game mode improvements. I hope to never meet another flailing toddler in the ring again.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 - Final Verdict

The Thrill of the Fight 2 is a bit of a departure from the first game and might surprise anyone expecting more of the same. You should instead look forward to improving your boxing form and working more seriously toward beating the challenges in this installment. The damage system needs further work to detect when you put your body into a punch, and the bot should not clip into you during fighting.

What's working for this title are beautiful graphics and a great choice in how you choose to play the game. You can spend time in multiplayer exclusively, try to conquer career mode, or enjoy both. My muscles may be sore from playing this sequel, but I'm not complaining there. This game can eventually be an all-timer with some improvements, just like the first installment is.

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

When UploadVR visited Valve headquarters to try Steam Frame, we heard comments echoing the strategies at Google and Apple.

There's an APK for that in Galaxy XR and thousands of iPad apps available day one on Apple Vision Pro. Meanwhile, the verified program for Steam Frame is poised to bring the value of Steam to your face wherever it is. Today, the only constant companion for most VR headsets is a Windows PC, but the time is coming when a Steam Deck, iPhone, iPad or Nintendo Switch may become an even more useful companion in VR.

Valve's trade-offs in Steam Frame's modular design have many prospective buyers fretting over the details. Developers are still reeling from the shift from Quest to Horizon – as Meta shifts strategies yet again – releasing games like Civilization VII and Vampire Survivors in VR along the way. Developers exploring Android XR and visionOS are figuring out what they can build in the space between fully immersive VR apps and traditional flatscreen content.

When it comes to Valve, we asked them about ideas like "spatial computing" and "mixed reality" being pursued elsewhere. Neither concept is really present in Valve's initial Steam Frame with black and white passthrough, though there's a lot of potential for sensing add-ons through the nose port.

Here's how Valve's Jeremy Selan replied about the focus of their first headset to carry the Steam name:

"As a strong Index user, someone who worked on it and has spent major portions of my adult life working on that and the Vive, when I think about playing VR, I have to make an intentional choice. So I'll be like, you know what? I want to go do VR. So I go to the room that has my PC and has my base stations installed. And I start playing that. But then sometimes, if I'm in another room and I'm like, well, maybe I should just take out my Deck and I start playing those games. And that choice I personally think is one of the highest friction bits remaining."

"Sure you can expect that when you put it on because it's SteamOS you hit the power button and you're fast into your game without the base station setup. Yeah, you can do [that] in any environment, but the ability to put on the headset and to see your Steam catalog in front of you where you can just choose a VR game or choose a non-VR game – it makes me play VR more. And it really reduces the impediment or the friction of even having to think about that distinction."

"We see the lines between VR and non-VR content really being blurred because they should just be games and you should be able to have devices that let you enjoy them. And this is our first stab at that."

We expect to have a review of Steam Frame in 2026 and will always bring you the latest. For more, you can dive into our nearly three-hour discussion from the day of the headset's announcement.

Beat Saber gets a Coldplay Music Pack next week, and the band's hosting a free concert event on Meta Horizon later this month.

Revealed earlier today, Meta confirmed it's partnering with iHeartMedia to bring Coldplay's worldwide concert tour, Music of the Spheres, to Meta Horizon with a free immersive experience. Kicking off on December 30 at 11am PT, it's using stereoscopic 180-degree VR and that's based on the band's stint at Wembley Stadium.

While the full track list hasn't been revealed yet for Music of the Spheres: An Immersive Experience, Meta confirmed that featured songs include 'Yellow', 'Fix You', 'Viva La Vida', 'A Sky Full Of Stars', and 'feelslikeimfallinginlove'. Free Coldplay avatar merchandise has also been promised, and that's now available via the Avatar editor in VR or the concert pages on iOS and Android.

As for Beat Saber, today's blog post also revealed that the rhythm game's receiving a Coldplay Music Pack on December 18. This includes 12 new songs for $14.99 or $1.99 for individual tracks.

While this introduces a new environment “inspired by the band’s live shows,” it's unclear whether this shares the same track list from the upcoming immersive experience or uses different songs.

Finally, following its original appearance in 2022, Coldplay is also returning to fitness app Supernatural in the US and Canada with three new workouts. Starting on December 29, this includes two multi-intensity Boxing and Flow workouts, which Meta states will blend older singles like 'Fix You' and 'Viva La Vida' with more recent releases like 'feelslikeimfallinginlove' and 'WE PRAY'.

ARVORE revealed an adaptation of The Boys is coming to VR with cast members from the TV show lending their voices.

Brazil-based ARVORE is the studio behind the Pixel Ripped series and they've teamed with Sony Pictures Virtual Reality as publisher on a "stealth-action" VR game coming in 2026. The Boys is about to enter its final season on Amazon next year, though Amazon's association with the VR project appears to be simply as a producer for the show.

I'm getting a Five Nights At Freddy's meets BioShock vibe from the reveal trailer, which shows a theme park ride setting for its pre-rendered sections before meeting Homelander. Developers say the game "introduces an original character who accidentally uncovers a grotesque Vought secret that turns a family outing into carnage. Forced to become a Supe, the player joins The Boys to infiltrate Vought and take revenge in the most chaotic way possible. Blending stealth and combat with the franchise’s signature dark humor, the VR title delivers a new story rooted in the world fans love."

The full announcement trailer is embedded below and I've cut what looks like the available gameplay video above. Actors including Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), Colby Minifie (Ashley Barrett) and P.J. Byrne (Adam Bourke) reprise their roles with a "twisted interpretation" of Soldier Boy from Jensen Ackles.

We'll be curious to go hands-on with Trigger Warning as soon as we can. With Stranger Things VR out now, Deadpool VR available now and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the way, there's a wide range tonally to adapt TV and movies to VR and we'll be curious where ARVORE lands when it comes to representing The Boys.

Wishlists and pre-ordering are available on the PlayStation Store and Quest.

Google's Android XR is getting an AI feature that can turn any 2D content, including games streamed from your PC, into 3D in real-time.

Called System Autospatialization, Google formally announced the feature during The Android Show: XR Edition today, saying that it will arrive in 2026.

"Just imagine if every game was immersive, every YouTube video was immersive, if the entire web was immersive," Google teased.

Out of the box, on an OS level, other platforms like visionOS and Pico OS let you easily turn 2D photos 3D, but Google's Android XR is currently the only for headsets that does the same for video, and the jump to real-time spatialization will be an even bigger leap.

That's not to say real-time spatialization doesn't exist anywhere else, with Viture virtual monitor glasses having a similar feature, as well as some experimental PC VR apps. But it's surprising that it's possible on the XR2+ Gen 2 chipset while it's also handling a full XR operating system.

Google says it will work for "pretty much any" app, and in multiple apps at once. The company's presentation depicted it being used for playing Cities: Skylines streamed from a PC, with the AI system depicted being able to tell the difference between the foreground UI and background game world.

We'll be sure to test the feature out when it launches on Android XR for Samsung Galaxy XR next year, as Google is making enormous claims here about the feature's capability.

Samsung Galaxy XR Gets Realistic Face-Tracked ‘Likeness’ Avatars

Samsung Galaxy XR’s Android XR now has a Persona-like realistic avatar system for video calls, called Likeness, as well as a Travel Mode and a built-in remote desktop app.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The first clip of Xreal's Project Aura in use has been revealed.

A concept render was shown at Google I/O earlier this year when Project Aura was first announced as the second Android XR device, set to launch next year.

It's a prism-lens see-through device in a form factor that tries to imitate the basic appearance of sunglasses, as with Xreal's existing products. But while Xreal's current products primarily act as a virtual monitor for your existing devices, via the included cable, Project Aura will come with a tethered compute puck running Google's Android XR on a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset, the same inside Samsung Galaxy XR.

Xreal says Project Aura will have a field of view of 70 degrees diagonal, its widest yet, and have built-in head and hand tracking.

Most features and apps available on Galaxy XR will also run on Project Aura's puck, with some notable exceptions such as the face-tracked Likeness realistic avatars, as Aura doesn't have face tracking.

Today, during The Android Show: XR Edition, Google and Xreal showed off the device in a short clip. They also confirmed that it's still on track to launch in 2026 – just days after internal Meta memos leaked revealing that its headset with a tethered puck is delayed to 2027.

Note that while Xreal devices are designed to look like sunglasses, they sit much further out from your eyes than real glasses, and thus are a markedly different device category than the AR glasses in development at Meta and Apple. Those future AR glasses use a display technology called waveguides to sit as close to your eyes as regular glasses, while Xreal uses a far cheaper but also far bulkier optical approach. They also block out most light, so can't be used as regular indoor prescription glasses.

Essentially, you can think of Project Aura as a lightweight alternative to Samsung Galaxy XR that trades off field of view and opacity for sleekness, rather than competition for future outdoor AR glasses.

The confirmation that Project Aura is still set to ship in 2026 comes one month after Lynx revealed that Google terminated its Android XR deal. After Samsung, Lynx, Xreal, and Sony were the three companies Google had earlier confirmed were working on Android XR products. While declining to comment on the Lynx situation, Google confirmed that it's still working with Sony, though we've yet to see even a tease of a Sony Android XR device, and its SRH-S1 headset runs Sony's own fork of Android.

Lynx’s New Headset Won’t Run Android XR, But Will Have Widest Standalone FOV

Lynx says its new headset won’t run Android XR, as Google “terminated” its agreement, but will have by far the widest field of view of any standalone.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The first major update for Google's Android XR on Samsung Galaxy XR is rolling out now.

The update brings a beta release of Google's Persona-like realistic avatar system for video calls, called Likeness, a Travel Mode, and a beta for a built-in PC remote desktop feature for Windows called PC Connect.

Samsung Galaxy XR First Impressions: What You Need To Know

I briefly tried Samsung Galaxy XR at its launch event in New York last week, and I have mixed initial thoughts about the first Android XR headset.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Likeness (Beta)

Likeness is Google's realistic avatar system for video calls in Android XR, an equivalent to the original non-spatial mode of Apple Vision Pro's Personas.

Your Likeness replaces the video feed that apps would normally get from a phone's selfie camera, providing a virtual equivalent, and should thus work for any video calling platform without developer implementation.

Unlike with Vision Pro, you scan your face for Likeness by holding up your phone, not the headset itself. From here, the data is transferred to and securely stored on the headset. The Likeness app is currently only available on "select Android device models".

In video calls on Android XR, your Likeness is driven by Galaxy XR's eye tracking and face tracking capabilities in real-time, and the feed shows a virtual representation of your hands when you hold them up too.

Travel Mode

Android XR now has a Travel Mode, which when enabled, makes the positional tracking work properly on moving vehicles, such as planes and trains.

Apple was the first to launch this feature, alongside Vision Pro, and since then Meta, Pico, and Snap have followed.

Without a Travel Mode, the accelerometer and gyroscope in the headset's IMU will interpret the acceleration, orientation changes, and vibrations of the vehicle as your head movement, causing virtual objects and windows to drift off in the opposite direction.

Travel Mode works by having the headset rely more on computer vision from the cameras, typically incurring a small loss in tracking quality.

PC Connect (Beta)

PC Connect (beta) is a feature that lets you connect to and control your Windows PC as a virtual screen in Android XR.

After installing the streamer app on your PC, you can mirror your entire desktop or one window.

There are already many third-party apps on the Google Play Store that can do this, including Guy Godin's Virtual Desktop, but PC Connect offers a built-in option.

Quest 3’s Windows 11 Remote Desktop Gets Aspect Ratio Setting & Ultrawide Mode

The official Windows 11 Remote Desktop of Horizon OS now has 21:9 and 3:4 aspect ratio options, as well as an enveloping visionOS-like Ultrawide Mode.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Meta has a partnership with Microsoft for an officially supported Windows 11 remote desktop system, leveraging the operating system's RDP system, with support for virtual extra monitors and multiple aspect ratios. Android XR's PC Connect doesn't seem to have Microsoft's involvement, and seems more basic for now, at least in beta, lacking these more advanced options.

We'll keep a close eye on Google through 2026 for further Android XR updates, such as whether a spatial version of Likeness arrives or advanced virtual monitor options for PC Connect.

Android XR Getting AI System Feature To Turn Any 2D Window 3D

Google’s Android XR is getting an AI feature that can turn any 2D content, including games streamed from your PC, into 3D.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Meta is delaying its ultralight headset with a tethered puck to the first half of 2027, and, separately, starting work on a gaming-focused Quest 4, leaked memos reveal.

The two internal memos were sent earlier this week. They were first reported by Business Insider a few hours ago, and UploadVR can independently confirm their authenticity.

One was sent by VP of Reality Labs Maher Saba to staff, and mentions delaying the ultralight open-periphery headset with a tethered compute puck running Horizon OS that multiple reports, including our own, have suggested that Meta recently hoped to release next year. Various codenames have leaked for candidates for the product, including Puffin, Phoenix, and Loma.

Saba tells staff that the new goal is to release the ultralight device in the first half of 2027.

The headset will be focused on virtual screens and other seated use cases. Names that Meta has internally floated for the product have included "Quest Air", but it's far from certain what it will decide.

His memo also mentions the release of a new "limited edition" wearable device codenamed Malibu 2 in 2026. It's unclear what this will be, but it might be the rumored Prada Meta Glasses.

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The other memo comes from the heads of the Metaverse and Horizon OS groups within Reality Labs, Gabriel Aul and Ryan Cairns.

They suggest that the ultralight headset delay will give staff "a lot more breathing room to get the details right".

"There's a lot coming in hot with tight bring-up schedules and big changes to our core UX, and we won't compromise on landing a fully polished and reliable experience", they say.

Aul and Cairns also mention starting work on a next-generation mainline headset, which UploadVR understands would likely carry the name Quest 4.

This headset will focus on immersive gaming, bring a "large upgrade" over Quest 3, and "significantly improve unit economics". That strongly suggests an end to the strategy of subsidizing low-cost devices. Meta wants to slowly transition Reality Labs into a profitable division, and this will be a key part of that plan.

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Meta is prioritizing shipping an ultralight Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, and might not ship a new traditional form factor Quest until 2027.

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Work on a Quest 4 comes around six months after the cancellation of the previous candidates for a 2026 Quest 4 and Quest 4S line, a decision Meta made alongside prioritizing the release of the ultralight headset.

The new plans suggest the ultralight headset should land in the first half of 2027, with a traditional Quest 4 following at a later date, perhaps in the second half or in 2028.

The leaked memos come shortly after Meta officially confirmed "shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and Wearables". And to be clear, within Meta, Wearables does not include Quest.

That doesn't seem to be stopping the company working on new headsets, but Saba's memo does mention needing to be "focused on making the business sustainable", and not subsidizing Quest 4 seems to be the result of that budget pressure.

He also mentions that teams should not use the ultralight headset delay to "add more features or take on additional work", and instead focus on polishing what they already plan.

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Keep in mind that Meta's hardware roadmap is constantly shifting, and the company frequently spins up and cancels headsets before they ship. When a specific product gets close to shipping, we'll bring you any reliable rumors of its imminent arrival. Until then, be ready for anything planned to get canceled or delayed.

This week marks the early access arrival of How to God, a deity simulator that encourages you to nurture your followers – or ruin them emotionally.

I played through the full campaign, taking me through a story of deities building alliances – or facing off against one another. Inspired by the gods of real-world civilizations, How to God is a decent, well-paced entry in the god game genre, though you may want to turn off the AI-generated voicework.

How to God feels similar to Townsmen VR due to its narrative-driven campaign, villager-care mechanics, and ability to drop right into the action – or rule from the heavens. While the two games share a similarly cute, stylized aesthetic, some surprisingly dark themes may emerge from How to God. No spoilers, but I loved the spiciness these surprises added to my playthrough.

How to God also differentiates itself from Townsmen through a couple of more mystical features, such as “miracles” (hand-tracking gestures to create balls of water, or open portals back to your God Room) and Creatures.

You’ll first meet your Creature – a semi-autonomous conduit for your godly intentions – in the Godroom (a fancy term for “main menu”). I chose a cute, fat owl, but there are two other options as well: one looks like a horned, contorted Labubu doll and an off-brand canine Pokémon.

Once you’ve conjured your preferred Creature into existence, it’s time to drop into the world. Literally. Like most other games within the genre, you’re an invisible, omniscient force in the sky, able to see everything at once and interact with anything beneath you. The tutorial is simple but comprehensive – in fact, there’s a whole archipelago dedicated to teaching you, well, how to god, and you don’t stop learning stuff even when you advance to the next location.

You’re helped throughout the tutorial by your divine advisors Good and Evil, who are basically the angel-and-demon-on-the-shoulders trope personified (er, spirit-ified). In later levels, they become drivers of the narrative, too – more on that in a bit.

Interestingly, every post-tutorial level is a real-world location such as Egypt or Paris. This affects both the physical appearance of buildings and what rival/friend gods you might encounter. Poseidon hangs out in Greece, for instance. Nearly half of the levels were clustered in Europe, which is where the “cool” gods originate, I guess, but I would like to see locations like South America or India represented too.

So who are you lording over, anyway? Your world is dotted with hamlets, and you’ll need to build them up, so citizens eventually support you as you go at loggerheads with other spiritual beings and mysterious forces. Turns out there’s truly no such thing as a selfless good deed.

Nobody wants to pray to you while they’re hungry and homeless, and without their worship you’re not going to gain any “faith energy,” which you need to power any action supporting their most basic Maslow needs. In that sense, you can never be 100% evil; you’ll at least need to ensure villagers are fed and housed if you want to get anywhere. Setting fire to their houses may be fun momentarily, but will hamstring your progress.

Crafting is the other main mechanic, and it's one of my favorite parts of How to God. You can combine two elements or materials to form new items. Fire + wood = coal is an early example, but it gets more complex – you’ll even end up combining villagers with, say, iron to create troops for your little army.

Recipes are helpfully stored in your Godbook, a convenient and well-designed compendium of information you’ll collect through your playthrough – from crafting formulas to details on your Creature’s moral alignment. There’s an impressive number of recipes to uncover; I hadn’t even unlocked them all by the time I was done with the campaign.

You’ll also need to build scaffolding for the village’s structures, from farms and lumber mills to new shrines. Think of it like an extremely simple Lego kit: snapping boxes together into vague shapes, like a tall scaffold approximating a silo. It’s nothing challenging by any means, but it’s a cute use of VR that differentiates How to God from god games on other platforms.

You can micromanage your Creature, ordering it to pick berries – or shake a hapless villager for no reason. Mostly, though, it’ll wander about like an errant child, trying to eat rocks or kick logs. There’s a handy brush and spray bottle on your wrist to discipline it in the same way that you would to train a cat; stroke your Creature with the brush to reinforce desired behaviors, or squirt to discourage. Of course, the definition of a “desired behavior” is up to you.

And as for your own behavior… The allure of any god game is being able to lean either way in the good/bad binary. I had good intentions in my first playthrough, vowing to earn my villagers’ respect through noble deeds, but as the campaign’s challenges intensified, I found that it is simply easier to be a bad guy.

For instance, in one situation I faced some aggressive neighbors; as a benevolent god, I could invest time “crafting” some disciples to go over and reason with them…. But it was honestly just easier to smite them with fireballs. Clouds aren’t just cute, by the way: rub them to create some static discharge and carpet-bomb a rival village with lightning. Or squeeze some rain out of them to blanket-water some trees, if you’re feeling more magnanimous.

How to God is heavily narrative-driven, with your advisors Good and Evil playing off each other as they guide you through objectives. The script is promisingly humorous, but numerous characters are dragged down significantly by AI voiceovers. Whatever your thoughts are on AI content, How to God’s characters are distractingly monotonous and emotionless from the very beginning.

Good and Evil are less egregious examples of the AI voicework, but even they often awkwardly emphasize the wrong syllables, forming a very jarring experience. With so many characters shepherding your objectives, this becomes a real bummer – it often feels as though they are simply reciting chores for you to complete, rather than offering engaging challenges and objectives.

It would also be good to at least see these voices more accurately reflect the regions I heard them in. For instance, I only heard one approximation of a Scottish accent in Scotland, with nearly every other speaking character affecting a generic English accent or American drawl.

Mercy or Mayhem: Win Either Way

I didn’t get a sense of how much my choices mattered – or whether there are even alternate endings. Maybe that’s a good thing (finding out adds replayability!) but having been a more neutral deity myself, I didn’t really have much motivation to go back and try leaning more into the naughty-or-nice extremes.

Robot voices aside, How to God is a solid addition to the god game genre across any platform – and a must-buy for VR enthusiasts of the genre especially. I enjoyed my time in the campaign, and I’m especially hoping for some major post-release content updates – bring on Shiva!

UploadVR normally 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.

For the artists who make Walkabout Mini Golf, the path to virtual reality often begins with a pencil and paper to sketch out their ideas before jumping into Gravity Sketch for spatial building.

Now fans with Quest headsets can trace some of that path from home.

A collaboration between Walkabout Mini Golf and Pencil sees Quest-owning fans of the game dropping their putter onto the table to trace the drawings of Don Carson, the lead designer of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and an art director at Mighty Coconut. The step-by-step lessons available in the app for pencil and paper will teach players how to draw Walkabout's version of the characters Alice meets in Wonderland.

Effectively, Walkabout and Pencil are starting to recreate the Animation Academy attraction from California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort, where visitors learn how to draw Disney's most iconic characters from skilled artists. You just have to switch between two apps on Quest to go from the Alice in Wonderland's Walkabout theme park to Pencil, where you can learn to draw in Carson's style. The characters Alice encounters, from the Cheshire Cat to the Queen, have been re-imagined for VR by Carson and his teammates, pulling inspiration from the original illustrations of John Tenniel.

The tracing lessons are available as a free pack inside Pencil on Quest. The app is also adding a collection of authentic set pieces from Walkabout to play with for inspiration as you draw.

UploadVR is celebrating our Winter Showcase with a new Humble Bundle, featuring nine SteamVR games for $17.

Available for the next three weeks, the UploadVR Winter 2025 Showcase Bundle is now live following today's showcase. This time around, it's split between two separate tiers, with the games individually costing a combined total of $219.

The $10 tier comes with four games: After The Fall: Deluxe Edition, Guardians: Frontline, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and A Fisherman's Tale 2 (previously known as Another Fisherman's Tale). Choosing the $17 tier then adds the remaining five: Z.O.N.A: Origin, Metal: Hellsinger VR, I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine, Ghosts of Tabor, and Hellsweeper VR.

Charity proceeds will support the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and you can adjust the revenue split between publishers, Humble and its chosen charities. While the above prices are the minimum you can spend on each tier, you can select how much you pay if you're looking to donate more.

The UploadVR Winter 2025 Showcase Bundle ends on December 26 at 6pm PT.

Puzzles of the World is an immersive puzzle game launching in Early Access on Quest next month.

Reminiscent of the popular VR jigsaw game Puzzling Places, Puzzles of the World lets you piece together intricate 3D miniatures, aiming to immerse you in a variety of soothing, themed environments. Developed by Astral Shores Games, this meditative experience focuses on slowing down while you take in the sights, and you keep your hands busy with its clicky bricks. Revealing its release date during the UploadVR Winter Showcase, you can see gameplay in the trailer below:

The miniatures you snap together are based on locations from around the globe, like the Yasaka Pagoda (Hōkan-ji) in Kyoto, and the famous canals of Venice. As you carefully build, one piece at a time, you'll also learn key facts about the locations, like their history and architecture, through a handy in-world booklet. Those looking to tweak the ambiance can also take advantage of Puzzles of the World's sound controls, which resemble a portable CD player, and choose between a range of ambient soundscapes.

Puzzles of the World will launch in Early Access on Quest on January 8, 2026. If you're looking for more reveals from the UploadVR Winter Showcase, an 'Everything Announced' will be available after the show.

Underwater puzzler Echoes of Mora is launching on SteamVR next year.

Developed by Selkies Interactive, Echoes of Mora is an underwater puzzle game where you swim through dreamy sunken dioramas and unlock curious memories as you uncover its eerie story. Announced today during the UploadVR Winter Showcase, the aquatic mystery is launching on Steam in March next year. You can check out the gameplay in the trailer below:

Echoes of Mora can be played in both PC VR and flatscreen modes, with players able to switch between mediums as they see fit, and their save slot will carry over between them.

During our demo hands-on at Gamescom this year, we found that while it’s by no means a seamless swimming simulator, the worldbuilding underpinning the mystery was more than enough to keep us engaged. We went on to say, “its compelling narrative beats and dreamy world design provide more than enough intrigue to earn it a place on my wishlist.”

Echoes of Mora is launching on Steam in March 2026. All the announcements from today's showcase will be rounded up in a handy 'Everything Announced' format, so be sure to check back in after it's finished.

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Sol Protocol is a co-op roguelike coming to Quest early next year, and you can sign up for the closed alpha tests today.

Developed by Singular Perception (Epyka), Sol Protocol sees you and up to two additional players tasked with manning a spaceship as you navigate the dangers of a procedurally generated outer space. There are multiple roles to choose from when organizing and optimizing your crew, including the pilot, the gunner, and the captain. You can check out the announcement trailer below:

On your journey across the stars, you'll run into abandoned space stations and lost tech that can be searched and used to earn resources that can upgrade your ship. Space isn't all loot though, and there are also enemies to contend with, which require careful strategies and a range of high-powered weapons to best.

Sol Protocol is launching on Quest and SteamVR in early 2026, with a flatscreen version also intended for release. Those who want to get stuck in early can sign up for the closed alpha by joining the Sol Protocol Discord. Everything announced during the UploadVR Winter Showcase will be compiled into a wider list, so check back after the show to catch up on all the announcements.

Guardians Planetfall looks like VR's answer to Helldivers 2, bringing a new squad-based shooter to Quest 3 and PC VR next year in early access.

Revealed during the UploadVR Winter Showcase, Guardians Planetfall is a follow-up to 2023's Guardians Frontline by VirtualAge. Set in an ongoing galaxy-wide war, this supports up to four players per squad as you defeat alien threats, soldiers, and war machines across different planets, battlefields, and more. You can see the reveal trailer below.

While Frontline actively mixes FPS and RTS mechanics, Guardians Planetfall takes a different approach while remaining in that same universe. The upcoming game involves team-based PvE and extraction missions as you fend off two different factions: the Void Empire, and an evolved Bugs race. You can customize your strike ship, suits and weapons, choosing where to deploy your squad for missions.

VirtualAge states mission locations will range across all extremes such as deserts, jungles, frozen outposts and “lava scarred” strongholds. Beacons can be deployed to call in orbital support for air strikes and various tools, while antigravity gloves let you climb most surfaces. Jetpacks can help reach higher ground, each mission has optional secondary objectives for earning greater rewards, while items placed into your backpack are only rescued if you successfully evacuate.

Completing these procedural missions then allows you to upgrade your ship, using blueprints and resources to upgrade its offensive, defensive, supply, and support systems. This unlocks new orbital abilities, and you'll travel between different star systems and planets across this campaign. Missions change who controls a specific planet and once you've cleared a campaign, the galaxy resets.

Much like Frontline, Guardians Planetfall also features an in-game map editor where you build missions in VR. This allows you to alter terrain, structures, enemy encounters, objectives and more, which can then be shared with the community and edited in co-op too.

We recommended Planetfall's predecessor in our 2023 review, calling Guardians Frontline an “ambitious attempt to combine the best elements of two disparate genres” and giving it our recommendation. Further post-launch updates later followed that included adding a large enemy known as 'The Queen', while 'Update 1.5' introduced a revised editor mode.

Guardians Planetfall will launch in early access on Quest 3/3S and Steam in 2026.

Birdseed VR targets a March 2026 launch for the free-to-play birdwatching sim on Quest and Steam.

Currently available in early access on Quest for solo play, Birdseed VR by Buffalo Buffalo (Fresh Tracks VR) sees you aim to get the best possible camera shots, giving your pictures a star rating. As seen in today's UploadVR Winter Showcase, the Vancouver-based studio confirmed Birdseed's full release is coming this March on both Quest and PC VR.

The game aims to mimic real-life avian behavior like movement, appearance, flight patterns and distinctive calls, equipping you with binoculars and different camera lenses to capture these moments. Daily challenges are available and online multiplayer will be supported at full release, letting you share photos with friends and hang out across the forests in online co-op.

Other changes in Version 1.0 include the launch of Scout’s Shop, which comes with premium cosmetics and tools. This will add vintage camera skins, charms for your viewfinder, and more. The developer states that premium items won't directly impact gameplay, calling this “completely optional” for players.

Following October's early access launch, Birdseed VR released a quality-of-life update two weeks ago. That introduced the Field Guide for tracking challenges, and completing these tasks awards bottle caps that “can be exchanged for future goods and tools.” More observable birds were also added, alongside a new scoring system and real-time feedback system to track your challenge progress.

Birdseed VR is out now in Early Access on Quest 3 and 3S, with the full release coming in March 2026 on Quest and Steam.

Pirates VR: Jolly Roger finds a new destination with next month's launch on Quest 3 and 3S.

Developed by Split Light Studio, Pirates VR: Jolly Roger initially reached Steam back in January before later heading to PlayStation VR2. An action adventure game set on a cursed Caribbean island where you search for Davy Jones' treasure, today's UploadVR Winter Showcase revealed that it's now getting a standalone release that's been “rebuilt and optimized for the Meta Quest platform.”

Pirates VR sees you explore strange ruins alongside your sarcastic parrot companion, solving puzzles while fending off threats ranging from wild animals to undead pirates. Armed with various weapons like a magic lantern and flintlock pistol, this campaign lasts roughly four hours.

It's worth noting that VRKiwi, Pirates VR: Jolly Roger's original publisher on other platforms, isn't publishing this upcoming Quest 3 port. That's instead being handled by Incuvo, who recently launched Tracked: Shoot to Survive and are arguably best known for Green Hell VR.

We had mixed impressions during our Pirates VR: Jolly Roger review back in January on PC VR. Though we criticized some design issues and its “shallow” combat, we still ultimately enjoyed this roughly four-hour adventure, believing these shortcomings were “balanced out by rewarding exploration and great visuals.”

Pirates VR: Jolly Roger is out now on PlayStation VR2 and Steam, while the Quest 3 edition will follow on January 29, 2026.

Skytail looks like an adorable adventure game, and it's coming to Quest soon.

Developed by Coatsink (Men in Black: Most Wanted), Skytail lets you soar across the horizon on a bird-like steed called a Skytail, using telekinesis to interact with the environment. This peaceful life doesn't last, however, when an invasion from corrupted fiends steals your Skytail's offspring. From here, your job is to use your powers and make a plan to get them back.

Across today's trailer from the UploadVR Winter Showcase, we can see the player use gestures to throw fruit into their flying companion's mouth and tear apart what appears to be an enemy creature's body. The trailer ends with the player being flung onto a floating island with a sprite house, before looking up at their winged friend.

While there isn't a great deal to go off so far, you can check out some additional screenshots not included in the trailer below:

“We are excited to reveal Skytail to the world today,” explained Coatsink CEO Richard Snowdon in a prepared statement. “This is just the first little tease of the charming world and fun powers that players will be able to experience in Skytail, and we look forward to being able to share more soon.”

Skytail is coming to Meta Quest 2 and 3. All the news from today's showcase will be rounded up in an 'Everything Announced' list, so check back in after the show.