Meta is upgrading the frame timing algorithm of Horizon OS with an overhaul called FrameSync, and it should result in more consistently visually smooth VR with noticeably fewer hitches.

What Is FrameSync?

FrameSync is replacing Phase Sync, the current frame timing algorithm of Quest headsets.

Phase Sync was introduced shortly after the launch of Quest 2 as an optional feature developers could enable in their apps, and in the years since has become an always-on feature. Its fundamental purpose is to minimize motion-to-photon latency.

Facebook ‘Phase Sync’ Tech Can Dramatically Reduce Quest App Latency

A new Oculus For Developers blog post details the addition of Phase Sync, a frame-timing management technology, to the Oculus Mobile SDK. Implementation can result in dramatic latency reduction for some Quest 2 apps. The Phase Sync technology was originally introduced for the Oculus PC SDK, but is now available

UploadVRHarry Baker

Without either Phase Sync or FrameSync, VR apps rendered with fixed latency. Rendering began as early as possible, which maximized the chance of the frame being ready for each display refresh, but meant the tracking data used for the frame was more outdated than it needed to be.

With Phase Sync or the new FrameSync, the operating system predicts how long the frame should take to render and intentionally delays the start time to ensure the sampled tracking data is as fresh as possible. What makes the two technologies different is how exactly they perform that prediction.

Phase Sync looked at the past few frames, making a crude assumption that the next frame will follow. But if the rendering load changed, such as turning your head from an empty area of the scene to a dense one, this could lead to a dropped frame. And if this repeatedly happened, the system would fall back to fixed latency.

The new FrameSync instead uses a "robust statistical system" that takes into account more than just the past few frames, which Meta says results in a far more accurate prediction – so much so that it doesn't need to fall back to a fixed latency mode:

1) More consistent smoothness (and often higher FPS)

FrameSync helps stabilize frame pacing, which typically shows up as less judder and fewer visible hitches during motion.

2) Fewer stale frames, especially long streaks

Consecutive stale frames can be especially noticeable (and uncomfortable). FrameSync reduces both the frequency of stale frames and the longer runs that can disrupt an experience.

3) Lower motion-to-photon latency

Better prediction can reduce the delay between a person’s movement and the corresponding visual update to help interactions feel even more immediate and responsive.

According to Meta, FrameSync's more accurate prediction should deliver more stable frame pacing, fewer stale frames, and lower motion-to-photon latency. In simpler terms, that means visually smoother VR on Quest.

When & How Is FrameSync Arriving?

In Horizon OS v201, the current stable version of the operating system, FrameSync is available for developers to enable in their apps, through adding the com.oculus.enable_frame_sync metadata to their AndroidManifest.xml:

<meta-data android:name="com.oculus.enable_frame_sync" android:value="true" />

From Horizon OS v203, Meta says the feature will become the default for all Horizon Store apps, with an opt-out available for apps that need to.

The reason an app might want to opt out, and the reason Meta wants developers to test the feature ASAP, is that the throughput improvement FrameSync delivers compared to Phase Sync might increase CPU and GPU usage. This, in turn, could in some circumstances increase thermals to the point of thermal throttling, leading to a net reduction in performance. This however should be rare, Meta suggests, with the majority of apps seeing a net improvement.

Final Fury's Sands of Ouroboros update adds a tactical zoner to the gesture-based VR fighting game alongside a new mechanic for downed fighters to defend themselves.

Final Fury previously added uppercuts, dive kicks, and jumps in its Tides of Vygor update for more dynamic combat. Ouroboros brings a 'wake up' system for players who have been knocked down by an attack. The game already momentarily pulls away to a third person view for grapples, throws, and cinematic finishers, presumably to avoid motion sickness. Now a new 'knockdown window' begins where downed fighters can choose to stay down or execute a move to get up faster, deterring aggressive opponents from pressing their advantage.

Final Fury Hands-On: Solid Starting Fundamentals For A VR Arcade Fighting Game

Final Fury sets up a strong foundation that’s newcomer-friendly while appealing to traditional fighting game players, and it’s out today in early access on Quest and Steam.

UploadVRAlan Wen

Final Fury's latest fighter is Lida, described as "a tactical zoner who controls the battlefield with calculated pressure and perfectly timed strikes." Each fighter in Final Fury has two primary special maneuvers in addition to universal combos and throwing attacks. Lida can send a wave of mechanical scarabs towards her enemy, forcing them to either dodge left or right or jump (potentially into another attack). Her second ability, the Scorpion Sting, drives her stinger tipped ponytail into the ground to stab opponents from underground at distance.

The update also adds a guided first-time fighter tutorial for new players and a new hand calibration system that automatically aligns controller position at the start of the game for better gesture recognition.

Final Fury is out now in Early Access on Steam and Quest.

The number of people using a VR headset on Steam ostensibly significantly decreased in February, according to Valve's data, but the figure isn't what it seems.

As listed in Valve's Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for February, just 1.05% of Steam users used a VR headset, an almost halving compared to January. So did PC VR just suddenly become significantly less popular, or is there another reason?

That reason, as another figure in the survey reveals, is Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is a national holiday that lasts nine days, this year running from Feb 15 to Feb 23, with celebrations lasting upwards of fifteen days. That is a sizable chunk of time for the world's second largest population to be off work.

Every February, Steam sees a massive spike in Chinese users that returns to normal in March. In February 2026, the predominant language of Steam users was Simplified Chinese, jumping a whopping 30.74% points up to 54.60% of overall Steam users. English, comparatively, dropped 14.74% to second place at 22.27% of users overall. This is a yearly anomaly, not a trend.

China has a massive gaming market, estimated at half a billion players. However, it has a far lower rate of PC VR usage, and gaming internet cafes (without the option for VR) remain very popular in the country. Put the two together and the drop in percentage of SteamVR users makes sense.

Expect this statistic to return to normal in March and April's surveys - as it does every year. And adjusting for Chinese users, as seen in the graph above, the drop disappears even in February.

Valve To “Revisit” Steam Frame Shipping Schedule & Pricing

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

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The real SteamVR usage trend we'll be tracking this year is the impact of Valve's Steam Frame. For a long time now, the top 4 VR headsets used on Steam – Quest 3, Quest 2, Quest 3S, and Valve Index – haven't changed, and combined they account for around 80% of PC VR's users. Will Steam Frame finally change the mix, and if so how long will it take?

We suspect much of that will depend on its price.

Splatsplasm is a frantic VR rhythm game that puts you in the role of an astronaut fending off flying aliens.

It's the first VR game developed by PRPVFX, a renowned New Zealand-based special effects company known for its work on shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, Power Rangers, and Spartacus - on top of numerous movies such as 30 Days of Night and Bridge To Terabithia.

Splatsplasm was initially released for Meta Quest headsets back in 2024, and has recently launched for Steam VR. The game puts you in the role of an astronaut who discovers an abandoned space ship that has been overrun by flying aliens. To fend them off, you have to knock them away with color-coded bats, paddles, and other blunt instruments in time to music, like Beat Saber if it was set in the far reaches of space.

When you hit the aliens with the right weapon, they are sent flying toward the walls of the space station and leave a large, green splatter behind. The object is to cover the walls with alien viscera and fill a gauge in the center of the screen up to a certain percentage. Be careful though, as there are also yellow sponges that can set your progress back if you hit them. Once you complete a level, the game gives you a tally of how many points you gained and lost, then the wall in front of you dissolves and the process begins again.

Each weapon gives the round a different feel, like hockey sticks and tennis rackets requiring you to aim lower or higher in order to strike the speeding aliens. My personal favorite is the boxing gloves, which allow you to punch the aliens like you would in Creed: Rise To Glory or Knockout League. Meanwhile, my least favorite is the hockey sticks, which require you to invert the usual gameplay approach.

The controls are mostly 1-to-1, but I did encounter some framerate and collision detection issues. This can make it hard to land hits, especially given how many aliens can be flying at the screen at one time. Due to this and the large hit requirements to advance, some campaign levels can last surprisingly long and overstay their welcome at higher difficulty settings. Prepare for sore arms if you plan on playing this for longer stretches of time.

After you're finished with Splatsplasm's short campaign, there is Fun Mode, which lets you pick your own stage and weapons to play through songs from the game. There is also a wide selection of layouts featuring real-life music, ensuring that you'll never run out of tunes to smack space creatures to.

Splatsplasm's in-game tracks cover a wide range of genres, from techno, soft rock, and even country. Many of these tracks are surprisingly subdued for the game's frantic action, but there are a few of them that will have you on the ropes should you pick them at one of the higher difficulty settings.

The game’s art style is quite basic, though there is plenty of variety in the level environments that can be easy to miss at first due to how fast everything moves. Such environments include ship halls, tennis courts, and hockey rinks, with the campaign levels matching up with the weapon used. The aliens and sponge creatures also have some character to them, and as I noted before a lot of them can fill the screen at one time.

Splatsplasm might be a little uneven at times, but I did find its rhythm gameplay enjoyable in the long run. It also makes for a decent workout for your arms at higher difficulty levels, making this an interesting option for fans of Beat Saber and other music-based VR titles.

The PlayStation VR2 and Quest ports of Virtual Hunter have been pushed back two months.

The PS VR2 version will utilize adaptive triggers and headset haptics, according to the publisher.

PS VR2 and Quest players will need to wait an additional two months to get their five point bucks. We previously reported in our upcoming VR games for March that Virtual Hunter, an animal hunting simulator, would release on March 25.

Publisher VRKiwi announced in a post on X.com that the PS VR2 and Quest versions of the game have been delayed to May 27. VRKiwi says the delay will "allow us to finalize performance consistency and overall polish so the day-one experience feels as smooth and immersive as possible across the full open world."

In replies to comments left on the post, VRKiwi did clarify that at least part of the delay was to polish up the integration of PS VR2's additional features.

For an authentic hunting simulation we’ve paid special attention to the PSVR2 haptics and adaptive triggers.

The bow doesn’t use adaptive triggers since it’s a draw-and-release mechanic, but for the firearms we’ve tried to simulate their behavior as closely as possible. We spent a lot of time iterating on trigger distance and resistance curves so each weapon feels distinct and closer to its real-life counterpart.

We’re also using headset haptics in subtle ways for example when branches or leaves brush past your head while moving through bushes.

Virtual Hunter originally released in Early Access on Steam in December 2021 and moved to a full release in January 2025. VRKiwi confirmed the game will feature co-op gameplay for up to six players.

Virtual Hunter can be wishlisted right now on Quest and PS VR2. It is out now on Steam for $24.99.

The early-access survival game gets its biggest update yet, adding new biomes, new game systems, and a price drop on Quest and Steam.

"New Frontiers" is the latest (and one of the largest) updates to hit Strayed, a Rust-inspired multiplayer VR survival game. The update introduces a full overhaul of Strayed's terrain systems, with rebuilt shaders, vegetation, rock formations, and biome assets for the game's procedurally generated island environments.

Additionally, the update brings two totally new biomes: Snow, a harsh frozen tundra, and Desert, a stark and unforgiving zone. The Snow biome also brings a new gameplay mechanic through the "Temperature System." Without proper clothing or heat source, the cold will gradually damage you over time and can eventually become fatal.

The game also gets a new price point of $14.99 (down from $19.99) on Quest and Steam.

Alongside these major changes, the New Frontiers update brings dozens more updates, fixes, and user-experience improvements. The entire patch notes can be seen here.

Developed by Crustacean Interactive, Strayed tasks players with surviving on a procedurally-generated island, where you begin with just a rock and a torch. From there you'll craft, loot, gather, and build a base along with up to 100 concurrent users on the game's dedicated servers. Weekly wipes keep things fresh and balanced, and PvP combat with guns and melee weapons allows you to defend against raids and take the fight to others.

Strayed is available now in Early Access on Meta Quest and Steam today for the new price of $14.99.

The tower defense action slasher gets patched with combat, user-experience, balancing and performance improvements.

Teravision Games has announced a patch for their VR hybrid tower defense/melee combat game Orcs Must Die! By the Blade, which addresses numerous issues in the just-launched title. Among these are improvements to combat, weapons, and traps balancing, overall performance enhancements, and (most notably) the addition of an optional smooth turning control scheme.

Further adjustments have been made to the game's audio and narrative, multiplayer and connectivity improvements, and UI tweaks. The extensive patch notes can be seen in their entirety here.

Developed by Teravision Games, makers of the tower-defense shooter Captain Toonhead vs. The Punks from Outer Space, Orcs Must Die! By The Blade is the first VR release in the Orcs Must Die series. By the Blade builds on the long-running franchise's core gameplay loop for VR. Beyond setting up traps and auto-battling as you try to survive waves of orcs, as in traditional tower-defense, the VR version of Orcs Must Die! will have you physically wielding weapons to defend your base in first person.

Orcs Must Die! By The Blade is available now on Quest 3 and Quest 3S.

A new global licensing deal will bring toys based on the world's most popular multiplayer VR game to stores soon.

Bonkers Toys has announced a licensing agreement with Another Axiom, the makers of Gorilla Tag. Under the new agreement, Bonkers Toys will release Gorilla Tag-themed plushies, figures, collectibles and other toys to major retailers across the United States in 2027.

Gorilla Tag launched in 2021, and has since become a viral VR sensation amongst younger players. In 2025, the game topped over 1 million daily users and over 3.7 million monthly users on its way to a total of over 15 million unique players. The made-for-VR experience allows players to customize and embody virtual "Monke" avatars and to play games with friends and strangers in a social VR environment.

Gorilla Tag's wacky physics-based gameplay prioritizes social interaction and maximum silliness, and it's undeniably a good game that provides an inherently fun experience. But parents should be aware of what their kids are doing in VR. Despite being ostensibly made for kids, there is no shortage of terrible behavior happening in Gorilla Tag and in similar social games aimed at kids.

Gorilla Tag is free-to-play on Quest and on PlayStation VR2, alongside a paid version on Steam.

The terrific escape-room puzzler Fixer Undercover is now even better, and playable on Quest 2.

Creativity AR has announced a major update for their VR escape-room game, Fixer Undercover, which notably brings the game to Meta Quest 2. Previously Fixer Undercover had only been available on Quest 3, Quest 3S, and Quest Pro.

The patch also incorporates several bug fixes, visual enhancements, caching fixes to limit how much storage is required by the game, and performance increases across the board.

In addition to these significant updates, Creativity AR has gone through the game chapter by chapter, fixing bugs and generally improving things. The full details on these adjustments can be seen in a recent social media post.

We reviewed Fixer Undercover just last month, noting that, "VR has always had a penchant for great puzzle games and Fixer Undercover is no exception. The heavy emphasis on VR interactions and encouragement to think outside the box on solutions makes for a highly entertaining spy caper."

Fixer Undercover is available now on Quest 2, 3, 3S, and Pro for $14.99. PC VR and PlayStation VR2 releases are planned for "a later date," and the game can be wishlisted on Steam now.

The multiplayer VR motocross racing game MotoX is now free-to-play on Quest

Enver Studio has announced that its popular multiplayer VR motocross racing game MotoX is now free-to-play on Quest. Since launching in 2023, MotoX has built a strong reputation and collected over 23,000 reviews and a 4.9-star rating on Meta's platform.

The decision to move to a free-to-play model comes alongside a wider industry trend: multiplayer-focused VR titles that prioritize social interaction are increasingly outperforming traditional paid releases.

Free-to-play games often incorporate in-game purchases, and MotoX is no different. Additional tracks, content packs, and cosmetic items are offered as optional purchases.

According to Enver Studio, players who previously paid to play MotoX will receive "in-game recognition," plus an "OG" rider tag, a limited-edition golden bike, and 6,000 in-game coins (which holds an equivalent value to the game's original purchase price).

MotoX is free-to-play exclusively on Meta Quest now.

Wreckin’ Raccoon is the latest entry in the VR genre of chaotic sims that put you in the feral paws of a mammal.

It is fitting that nDreams studio Compass chose a raccoon as the animal to respond to the enduring popularity of Gorilla Tag. Chaotic trash lovers, these distant bear relatives are well known to anyone who scrolls through social media. Videos of these mischievous mammals breaking into houses, leaving a mess, or simply getting caught in the act are a dime a dozen. Not too far from the truth, Wreckin' Raccoon has players swinging their arms around in hopes of finding their next meal, even if it means annoying the humans in their vicinity to no end. While the current offering can be made short work of, it surprises with a few more activities than meet the eye.

Out of Early Access earlier this year, the premise of Wreckin’ Raccoon shoots straight: eat every snack in sight in a pitstop diner. Billed as “Be The Chaos,” embodying the titular raccoon means an uncompromising type of gameplay that is committed to childish fun. Only able to move with a primal arm-swinging locomotion, you can also climb and jump by holding the grip button and doing a vigorous forward gesture. On your left shoulder you can grab a smartphone with your options and tasks, and on the right one store all sorts of wacky tools.

There is one level at the time of writing, and that is the aforementioned restaurant. The only thing standing in your way is an unfortunate cook, who, if you annoy too much, will call pest control. Your real enemy, if he catches you, it is game over. If your primary goal is to cause unfettered destruction, this unwanted exterminator can be turned off from the game's options. In the background, an oblivious beach blonde can be interacted with as well.

To clarify, said interactions consist of finding increasingly over-the-top ways to knock out or irritate the NPCs. As cartoony graphics go, Wreckin’ Raccoon looks pretty. It, too, allows for unhinged situations such as using a chainsaw, a flamethrower, and kitchen utensils to use against your would-be captors. Thankfully, no blood depiction to speak of exists in-game.

Although it seems basic at first, new mechanics other than antagonizing the public in tow are revealed the more you play. For example, you can actually cook in the kitchen. Deep-frying french fries and onion rings and turning on the stove to roast eggs, meat patties, and sausages to stack the ultimate burger can be done. Shaking soda cans to screw with electronics like the cash register is another way to cause a nightmare for the staff. These activities turn out to have a bigger purpose.

The ultimate goal is to complete tasks like tasering the pest control operator with his own weapon or placing bananas so the unlucky employee falls to customize the color of your paws and tail. Moreover, hidden gold-plated food around the eatery can be found to unlock a golden skin. Codes from triangle, square, and circle shapes can be inputted into a jukebox to change the tune of your wreck. So, a concerted effort to do things beyond toying with the employees and customers entices players to explore other possibilities than causing a mess.

Let's not beat around the bush: this is a game intended for kids. With the press of the A button, your raccoon can release flatulence, and loud burps can be heard every time it eats something. The toilet humor is abundant. This nasty critter’s movement feels imprecise, but considering the mindless chaos it wants you to cause, it seems by design. It helps that the NPCs would sometimes stumble into each other while pursuing me and glitch out in place. What is on offer is fun, but it runs out quickly, and several more levels and multiplayer could at least entertain for a longer period.

You have to meet games in the middle. Wreckin’ Raccoon is clearly a response to the ongoing trends going on in virtual reality. Or at least, in the Meta Quest’s ecosystem. Looking at it from that lens, there is certainly fun to be had. Explore a roadside diner while completing silly tasks and finding shiny objects; cause endless chaos with caricature depictions of people, Saturday morning cartoon-style; be the rowdy trash panda you have always wanted to be; just do not think about it too much.

Wreckin’ Raccoon is out now on Meta Quest.

Customization is the name of the game in Tinker Pilot, where everything in the cockpit is literally up for grabs - even if there’s not a whole lot beyond it.

Tinker Pilot is a curious thing. It starts with the name, of course, which, just so we’re clear, refers to the fact that you can move and tweak everything around you in your virtual cockpit so that you have your controls just so. Ideally that means having them represented in game just how they exist in physical space, whether they are on a desk, duct taped to the arms of your dining room chair, or you happen to own a fully tricked out motion rig that marks you out as a valid target for online jealousy. ‘Tinker’ absolutely does not refer to you being an itinerant mender of housewares, which is the definition of the word that first comes to my 16th Century-attuned mind.

The piloting part of the name needs less of an explanation. Unfortunately, while the gameplay is smooth, the controls tight and the sense of being a bad-ass space jock is initially palpable, there isn’t much of a game to actually talk about. There are a handful of scenarios that between them offer some semblance of progression, but it feels like it was put together to showcase the extent of the customization you can perform, and thus the degree of control you have over your nimble ship. As such, the missions prioritise speed and maneuverability above all things, and drama and narrative barely at all.

After a tutorial, during which you’ll take out a couple of crates in an asteroid field, you’ll jump to the surface of a desert world to blow up some drones, then the final scenario, which is a classic time trial through some hoops. Truth be told there’s less than an hour of content here and it’s not a particularly thrilling way to pass the time either. There is an online leaderboard, so if “getting gud” appeals, you might be able to squeeze more enjoyment from it than I was able to.

The only area where Tinker Pilot feels substantial enough to justify its early access price is back where we began, making the cockpit your very own. You can move button panels around, choose from a wide range of controllers to replace the virtual sticks - essentially allowing you to copy your current physical set-up so that it exists in-game, or create one anew that is perfectly attuned to the way you like to play or any accessibility needs you might have. As is often the case when such levels of fine tuning is offered, it can be a fiddly and time-consuming process, but on the intersection between space combat and interior design, Tinker Pilot is unrivalled. A recent patch even allows telemetry data to be exported, although I’m not sure how useful such a feature is for most VR users.

It’s worth noting that if you lack the high-end controls requisite to space combatry - namely a joystick - the virtual controls here work really well. Normally I find them terrible. In fact, until playing Tinker Pilot I was of the opinion that they could only be terrible, but this game nails its default controls very well. Partly for two reasons, I think. One is that sticks aren’t given a physical representation, they are displayed as holographic, which means your brain isn’t being tricked and thus you subconsciously don’t expect or indeed miss the lack of any haptic feedback when wiggling them about. The other aspect is that the degree of travel needed to affect any movement in 3D space is very small. Small twitches of the wrist are all that’s required, which means you don’t get nearly as tired as you might in other games pretending they are doing things they’re not.

Sadly, despite nailing the control side of things, Tinker Pilot is almost entirely lacking in entertainment. It’s all well and good to be able to move button panels about and have your shiny new VKB Gladiator rendered before you, but there are fans of the genre - myself among them - who are happy to operate within whatever cockpit the designer has created. Just as I don’t need to move the climate controls in my car, or have the steering column set six inches lower, I’m usually fine with how things are. I’ll either get used to them or play something else, which has been my experience with every first-person spaceship game I’ve played. Sure, some cockpits are more conveniently arranged than others, which is especially true in VR, but it’s never bothered me that only one game to my knowledge, 1986’s Academy, has given me the option to move things around. (If you can think of any others, put them in the comments below.)

It’s a cliche to say it, but Tinker Pilot feels like a tech demo looking for someone to turn it into a game. What missions exist are designed first and foremost around promoting the degree of control and maneuverability the game systems allow. There’s no attempt at world-building, there’s no storyline, no meaningful sense of progression, it’s essentially a showcase; the kind of vertical slice that a developer would take to publishers or patreon to show the kind of thing that could be done with either a team, a budget, or both. There’s a framework to greatness here, no doubt, but I would urge interested parties to seek more evidence of there being a greater emphasis on in-game piloting and less perhaps on future tinkering before parting with their disposable income.

Northern Ireland's Valley Links joins the ever-growing roster of real-life courses recreated to play in VR in Golf+.

Golf+ features over forty paid DLC courses, including dozens of real golf courses from all over the world. Valley Links is part of the Royal Portrush Golf Club alongside sister course Dunluce. The course is described in the developer's blog post as "defined by rolling fairways, rumpled terrain, and ever-changing coastal winds." Dunluce was previously added to Golf+ in March 2025.

The Golf+ multiplayer user interface was also updated with new quality of life features to help players find a game to their liking faster. Public lobbies now have filters for settings and play style, hosts can set minimum and maximum handicap requirements when setting up public games, and the create-and-join UI has been streamlined for better usability.

The Valley Links course can be purchased as an add-on for $11.99. Alternatively, all courses can be accessed as part of the Golf+ Pass for a $9.99 monthly fee.

Golf+ is out now on Quest for $29.99. At the time of this article, the base game is also available as part of the Horizon+ subscription service's games catalog. A PC VR port is in development.

The xenomorph-filled story-based shooter Alien: Rogue Incursion rode an aggressive discount during Sony's recent sale to the number one spot in downloads for February 2026.

Every month, Sony publishes a blog detailing the top ten downloads of the month on all of its platforms, with separate lists for US/Canada and the EU. On PS VR2, there are some games that appear every month: Beat Saber, Job Simulator, and Pavlov are mainstays on this list, with others like Horizon Call of the Mountain, Metro Awakening, and Creed: Rise To Glory drifting in and out of the top ten month to month.

Alien: Rogue Incursion Review - A Promising Yet Imperfect Entry

Alien: Rogue Incursion delivers tense, atmospheric narrative-focused VR action horror that falters in its repetition. Here’s our full review.

UploadVRDon Hopper

Alien: Rogue Incursion, from developer Survios (Creed, Puzzle Bobble, The Walking Dead: Onslaught), has also been a steady presence in the top 10 since its release in December 2024. It ranked fourth in the US/Canada and fifth in the EU in January 2026, and fifth on both lists for December 2025.

From January to February, Zero Caliber VR, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Vampire: The Masquerade Justice, and Creed made their way into the top 10, replacing Arizona Sunshine: Remake, Metro Awakening, Swordsman VR, and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.

In February, as part of a PlayStation sale, Rogue Incursion (the deluxe edition) was discounted seventy-five percent off to $12.49, one of the biggest VR game discounts by percent in the sale.

This isn't the first time a steep discount has rocketed a game up the charts. Max Mustard briefly became the best selling game on the Meta Quest after announcing a ninety percent discount, kicking off a series of games from other developers on the platform also doing ninety percent off offers. Developer Toast Interactive said in a Reddit post that the discount was a marketing move to increase visibility on the store.

Alien: Rogue Incursion is available on PS VR2, Steam, and Quest. A flatscreen port, subtitled the 'Evolved Edition' is also available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation 5, and the Epic Games store.

I Expect You To Die developer Schell Games is ending its involvement with Among Us 3D later this month.

Schell Games has announced it is "handing off" active development of Among Us 3D (formerly Among Us VR) back to original Among Us developer, Innersloth, on March 24. Per its developer post on Steam, this was always planned to happen.

Among Us VR Review: Deception & Detection In Another Dimension

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

UploadVRIan Hamilton

Among Us VR first released in November 2022 as a completely separate title from the original hit game of murder and deception. Since release, the game has seen multiple limited-time events with new gameplay modes, crewmate roles, and a new map, Polus Point.

In February 2025, the developers announced that the game would be converted into a hybrid title, renamed Among Us 3D: VR, with full crossplay support between flatscreen and VR. This change was made official in April 2025, with the VR store listing changing names and a new, separate Steam listing for the flatscreen port.

As a final send-off, March 24 will see a "definitive edition" release of the game, with previous limited-time-event features and cosmetics returning to the game permanently.

Among Us 3D: VR is available now on Steam, Quest, Pico, and PS VR2.

The comedic sandbox simulator Shop & Stuff comes to PlayStation VR2 in late March.

HyperVR Games has announced its third entry to the PS VR2 catalog, Shop & Stuff, is scheduled for release on March 27. This follows previous ports of Shave & Stuff in May 2024 and Pets & Stuff in December 2024.

Shop & Stuff continues the '& Stuff' franchise's brand of comical life simulators, challenging players to manage and grow their own supermarket. In addition to maintaining product stock levels and equipment, unruly shoplifters can be physically ejected from the store or run off with a flamethrower. Profits can be reinvested into the business to add new items like self checkout lanes and coffee machines.

The PS VR2 port will include the recent Boss update that dropped on Quest, adding a cantankerous manager who offers helpful tips to maximize profits and tasks to complete throughout the store.

At the time of this article, there is no news on a PC VR release. Shave & Stuff and Pets & Stuff were previously released on Steam in November 2024 and May 2025 respectively.

Shop & Stuff is available now on Quest in Early Access for $13.99. It can be wishlisted on PS VR2 now ahead of its release.

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.

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.

Storytelling That Creates A Sense of Journey

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.

Camera Movement and Transitions That Feel Natural

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.

Action Entering From Outside the Frame Challenges Immersion

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.

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.

It's the Climb

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.

More Than a Feeling

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)."

Trouble

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.

It's the End of the Review As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

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.

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.

nDreams Closes Two Internal VR Studios But Opens A New One Called Compass

nDreams has closed two studios as part of its ongoing restructuring program, bringing 40 staff members into its new ‘Compass’ studio.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

nDreams 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.

A new trailer and press release gives more details for the follow up to Affected: The Manor.

We first reported back in 2022 that Affected: The Asylum was expected to release on all VR platforms in 2023. Then, in late 2023, the developer announced the game was delayed into 2024. Since then, there has been radio silence – until now.

Developer Dead Boss Games and publisher Evolution Publishing have released a new short teaser trailer and details about the anticipated horror sequel.

The official press release expands on what players can expect in the story.

A sanatorium with a long, dark history, many years ago, the line between medicine and madness was intentionally erased. Controlled by a secretive cult, they used the institution not to treat patients, but to experiment upon them.

Through a series of harrowing procedures, patients were subjected to "The Preparation", a systematic process of indoctrination and physical alteration. Through this process, the cult sought to merge biology with belief, creating a collective hive mind using a parasitic entity known as the "Holy Gift".

Step into the dilapidated remnants of Blackthorne Asylum to discover the cult’s crowning achievement and greatest failure: SUBJECT 357. An employee who was forcibly selected for the "Apex Experiment" after falling foul of the leader, the process broke them. However, what remained was something more than human. They now roam the asylum as an ever-present predator, a warped manifestation of the cult’s ambitions.

Another takeaway from the new press release is a pivot away from multiplayer. The Asylum was originally announced to have a competitive four player multiplayer mode titled 'The Assessment.' There is no mention of that in the new release and the game is now described as a 'single player psychological survival horror.'

Lastly, Dead Boss Games confirmed to me that it has taken over active development of the game 'with support from Evolution Publishing.' Affected: The Manor was developed and produced by Fallen Planet Studios.

Affected: The Asylum is coming soon to Meta Quest and PC VR in summer 2026.

RUMBLE, a competitive PvP earth-bending game that originally launched in early access on Steam back in 2022, is now on Quest. Read on for our first impressions.

Over the years, RUMBLE has cultivated an active and dedicated community as the developers have continued to evolve their game. Buckethead Entertainment have now brought the full version of RUMBLE to Quest, introducing its notoriously high skill-floor combat to standalone VR.

RUMBLE is a purely online competitive experience with no solo mode to speak of, outside of a training arena designed to help players learn the fundamentals. And trust me - you are absolutely going to need it.

 Let’s Get Ready To Rumble

At its core, RUMBLE is built entirely around gesture-based combat. Players manipulate earth-bending abilities through physical poses and movements, summoning rocks and launching attacks against opponents in one-on-one arena battles. The entire experience lives or dies on your ability to correctly perform these gestures, many of which resemble martial arts stances that can be chained together into increasingly complex combinations.

Gesture-based magic systems are among my favourite mechanics in VR, and I’ve played just about every title that experiments with them. That context is important, because when I say RUMBLE is incredibly difficult to learn, it isn’t coming from a place of inexperience. Difficulty here is intentional. The game demands precision, patience and repetition before it begins to reveal what makes it compelling.

 Between A Rock And A Hard place

My early encounters with RUMBLE were not especially positive. In fact, during the first hour I genuinely wondered if something was broken. Even when matching the on-screen ghost poses as closely as possible, abilities frequently failed to trigger. Movement also feels unusually slow and even activating the sprint gesture proved frustratingly inconsistent.

At that point, I would have been more than ready to walk away entirely. However, covering the game meant quitting that early wasn’t an option - and thankfully so. After watching several helpful tutorial videos and spending time with members of the community willing to demonstrate proper form, things eventually began to click.

Once gestures shifted from conscious effort to muscle memory, the experience transformed. Summoning rocks and launching attacks stopped feeling like a technical struggle and instead became a fluid expression of learned skill. This is the point where RUMBLE finally comes alive, and if you have the patience to get there, it’s definitely worth the time.

 Those Who Throw Stones

RUMBLE possesses an undeniably deep combat system. Moves can be chained into devastating combos and matches between equally skilled players quickly become tense, tactical duels. The game introduces mechanics gradually through a belt-based progression system which sees new moves unlocked over time.

Initially this restriction felt frustrating, but in hindsight it proves to be an effective way to prevent new players becoming overwhelmed. As experience is earned and new techniques unlock, players steadily expand their combat vocabulary and begin experimenting with more advanced strategies.

The core experience revolves around one-on-one arena battles, though social spaces such as the Park provide more relaxed environments to practice and interact. Through several play sessions at both peak and off-peak hours, matchmaking was consistently active. I was regularly paired with fellow beginners, alongside more experienced players who - encouragingly - often took time to help refine my technique.

There were occasional frustrations common to competitive online games, including players relying on spamming attacks or veterans who showed absolutely no mercy, but these moments were far from the norm.

That said, some of the game’s design choices remain divisive. The painfully unforgiving gesture detection often feels less like genuinely earning a skill and more like unnecessary gatekeeping that is likely to hurt the game's broader appeal. Combined with the slow default movement speed - particularly in the hub area - and the learning process can feel harsher than necessary and the ‘fun’ can take too long to present itself.

Mastering RUMBLE clearly requires dedication, but a slightly more lenient gesture controls would make that journey far more enjoyable without sacrificing any of the game’s depth.

Rock On!

After several hours with RUMBLE on Quest, one thing becomes abundantly clear: this is not a game interested in instant gratification. It is neither easy to learn nor casually approachable. In fact, it is hard to learn and even harder to master.

For players seeking a deep, progression-driven competitive experience - one that rewards patience, practice and genuine skill development - RUMBLE may well become an obsession. Its combat system offers depth once understood, supported by an active community and meaningful mastery curve.

However, those looking for fast-paced, immediately accessible earth-bending action may find the experience overly demanding. If your goal is simply to throw rocks around and have some fun, more arcade-style alternatives like Elements Divided may be more your speed.