Jason Rubin has left Meta after 12 years, having been VP of Content at Oculus, Facebook, and then Meta, with various official titles.

Rubin was the second longest standing executive from the 2014 era of Oculus still at Meta, with Michael Abrash (still at Meta) being the first.

In a statement, Rubin described the decision to leave as "difficult", saying that he has "nothing but deep appreciation" for Meta leadership, and stating that he's "incredibly proud" of his work and excited for the future of VR and Horizon.

"This was a difficult decision and I have nothing but deep appreciation for Mark and Boz’s leadership, gratitude to the company, love for my coworkers, and excitement for our Horizon and VR roadmap.

I’m incredibly proud of multiple eras of my work at Meta. I helped to build the Oculus Content team, Meta’s first content production and dev rel organization, and producing a lot of highly reviewed and industry applauded titles. I’m also proud of building the Metaverse Creative Team, empowering Design and Art, and raising our quality bar.

Why now? And the answer is relatively boring: This seems like a good time. I am going to chase animals with a camera. You can follow the results on my Instagram."

In 1984 Rubin co-founded Naughty Dog, the game studio behind Rings of Power, Way of the Warrior, Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter, as well as (after Rubin left) Uncharted and The Last Of Us.

He left Naughty Dog in 2004, and became the president of publisher THQ in 2012. However, by this time THQ was already almost dead, and Rubin was unable to save it, with the company going bankrupt less than a year later.

In 2014, Rubin joined Oculus VR, a few months after Facebook announced it was acquiring the startup.

E3 2019: Q&A With Oculus’ Jason Rubin On Quest, Rift, Go And Valve Index

At E3 this week in Los Angeles I played an early demo version of official 360-degree songs from Beat Saber and learned to steer a kayak in VR. Afterward, I went to get lunch with Senior Editor David Jagneaux and we found Jason Rubin “VP of Special Gaming Strategies” at

UploadVRIan Hamilton

Initially Head of Worldwide Studios, by 2016 Rubin's title had shifted to VP of Content. He managed the first and second party content initiatives for the Oculus Rift, delivering a strong launch content lineup for both the Xbox gamepad the Rift was originally shipped with and the Oculus Touch controllers that shipped eight months later.

His official title changed multiple times over the years as Oculus was absorbed into Facebook and then as the company rebranded to Meta, and his role expanded to cover more of the company's gaming and content initiatives.

In 2018 he became Facebook's VP of AR/VR Content & Partnerships, in 2019 the VP of Special Gaming Initiatives, in 2020 the VP of Play, and in 2021 the VP of Metaverse Content / Creative.

In these expanded roles, as well as Quest, he became responsible for gaming on Facebook Portal, Messenger, and Facebook Cloud Gaming. Essentially, Rubin was Mark Zuckerberg's gaming chief.

Meta Closes Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath & Resident Evil 4 VR Studios

Meta has shut down Twisted Pixel Games (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR), UploadVR can confirm.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Of course, while Rubin's stated reason for leaving is to pursue wildlife photography, the timing is notable. The departure comes just two months after Meta shut down three of its acquired VR game studios, conducted significant layoffs at a fourth, and canceled the Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel. Rubin had worked closely with these studios for the better part of a decade, and while we won't put words in his mouth, it seems unlikely that his departure after so long is entirely unrelated to Meta's strategy shift.

One month and a major update later, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade has gone from a shaky VR debut to a fun and frantic melee brawler.

When Orcs Must Die! By the Blade launched in mid-February, combat felt unsatisfying, the user interface could be annoying, and limited movement options disrupted the game's flow. With a recent patch that addresses most (if not all) of those early issues, the game deserves a second look.

Developed by Teravision Games, the VR-exclusive entry in the long-running Orcs Must Die! franchise attempts to translate the series’ chaotic trap-based strategizing into a more tactile, immersive experience.

It does this by placing greater emphasis on first-person melee combat than on the series’ more traditional tower defense mechanics. While I find the result to be fun and engaging, players looking for the more strategic elements of previous Orcs Must Die! games may feel a bit underserved.

Presentation

My first thought when Orcs Must Die! By the Blade came to life in the lenses of my Quest 3S was, “Wow! That’s beautiful!” And it is. The environments are gorgeous and carefully crafted cartoon fantasy zones. The visuals lean heavily into the series’ signature exaggerated style, in which everything is slightly oversized and a bit ridiculous. You’ll move through a land of worn and weathered stone, hefty, aged wood, chunky tankards of mead and even chunkier weaponry.

Enemies, too, are delightfully stylized; muscly orcs brimming with spiky armor and gruesome, snarling scowls, who become truly menacing in VR. When a towering ogre charges from the depths of a shadowed portcullis, or a fresh wave of speedy little orcs comes rushing over your traps, there’s a physical presence that’s far stronger than in the series’ flat-screen games.

Sound design is wonderful, too, with atmospheric tunes backing a soundscape of medieval foley. The stone halls echo with your bootsteps. Lava bubbles and pops in the dungeons. Rusty hinges creak achingly. Your sword rings against steel, or squelches horribly as it slices through meaty goblins. Over all this, our heroes do their best to provide quippy commentary. While these voice-acted lines can get repetitive, I don’t find it egregious.

In short, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade looks great, sounds great, and presents as a highly polished experience.

Gameplay

The gameplay loop will be familiar to fans of the series, even if its priorities have shifted. Across three chapters of four levels each, played single-player or co-operatively with one other player, you’ll explore an environment in a way reminiscent of dungeon-crawlers.

You’ll move through corridors and castles, at various points encountering areas where you must defend yourself or other objectives (such as treasure chests) against waves of attacking orcs. To do this, you’ll place traps in the environment and supplement this destructive power with your own formidable melee skills.

Each of these instances has a set-up period during which you’ll choose your traps and place them where you think they’ll be most effective. There’s a wide variety of traps, such as floor spikes, springboards, and wall-mounted arrow launchers, and more continually unlock as you work through the game.

Once a wave starts, you’ll use your handheld melee weapons, or weapons scavenged from the environment, to slice and dice your way through the onrushing orcs. While combat felt bland and janky when the game launched, the most recent patch has set things right. In its current form, combat feels great. Attacks are weighty and responsive, with color-coded prompts for enemy attacks that may be parried or ones which are unblockable, and additional prompts for the most effective counterattacks.

Swinging your weapons harder creates more damage, and with just a few minutes of practice, body parts are flying in all directions. While these dismemberments are a bit violent, they retain an exaggerated, cartoony unrealism that keeps the visuals from descending into true gore.

Movement has also been improved in the latest patch. An optional smooth-turn control scheme has been added which makes the game feel far more fluid than before, though users prone to VR motion sickness may struggle with the constant movement demanded by levels which can take up to 40 minutes to clear.

Strategy and Progression

By clearing a level, smashing boxes, and dispatching enemy orcs and bosses, you're awarded treasure and coins which can be spent in the game’s armory. Here you can upgrade your weapons and traps, or buy entirely new weapons, traps, and equippable items.

This gradual progression keeps things moving in the right direction. There’s always a new weapon to unlock, or an interesting upgrade for your existing arsenal. By the end, there’s almost no limit to the many ways you can kill orcs.

But to say that there’s much strategy would be a lie. While there’s great variety of weapons and traps, the core of the gameplay really comes down to flailing away with your melee weapons. Traps soften enemies up, and can even dispatch them entirely, but most of your time in Orcs Must Die! By the Blade will be spent hacking and slashing by hand.

Orcs Must Die! By the Blade - Final Verdict

At launch, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade felt like a missed opportunity. There was a sense that there was a good game in there, but it was weighed down by some strange design decisions. Though the core idea was strong, reimagining a compelling franchise as a VR combat game, technical issues kept it from reaching its full potential.

The recent patch changes this considerably. The improved combat responsiveness, expanded movement options, and general polish have made the game much more enjoyable.

That said, the shift toward melee-heavy gameplay means the strategic depth of earlier Orcs titles isn’t as prevalent in the made-for-VR game. While By the Blade’s melee action is certainly fun and engaging, it presents an experience that’s far from strategic. Players who loved creating elaborate trap corridors and carefully implementing a torture chamber for onrushing orcs may feel unfulfilled by the melee focus of By the Blade.

Still, for VR players looking for an energetic blend of action and light strategic elements, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade will deliver plenty of hack and slash fun.

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

Mighty Coconut's Don Carson and Shane Rhodes take us on a tour of Walkabout's ode to the golden age of filmmaking.

Walkabout Mini Golf Will Visit Tinseltown With Passport Hollywood DLC Course

Walkabout Mini Golf’s next DLC course, Passport: Hollywood, will take a trip back to the golden age of filmmaking.

UploadVRMike Johnson

We previously reported that Walkabout Mini Golf's new Hollywood DLC, the third in its Passport series, was inspired by Mighty Coconut's origins working in effects and animation for Hollywood productions. We had a chance to tour the course with Mighty Coconut Senior Art Director Don Carson and 3D modeler Shane Rhodes. That video from our Youtube channel is linked here:

After the tour, I sat down with Don to get more in depth about Passport Hollywood and Walkabout's overall process for building courses. The following is a full transcription of that discussion:

UploadVR: So, multiple people, yourself included, talked about Mighty Coconut's background in the film industry, including some people who are still currently on the team have backgrounds working in animations and special effects on Hollywood films. So, given the personal connection that some of the team has, did that make this course easier or harder [to build] because of their personal connections and their backgrounds?

Don Carson: I think easier. I think initially the idea of doing the Hollywood course was it seemed like a kind of an obvious one that was sort of a wish fulfillment location to hang out in. But I think as soon as we started scratching the surface, we realized that we all had sort of deep connections to that business and those places, especially Lucas Martell and Laura Krauss, both of them have had offices on backlots at Hollywood studios in their careers. So everything from the lot cats that wander around and keep the rodents down to the commissary and being able to sort of sneak around and look inside of soundstages. All of that sort of created this long wish list of things we wanted to make sure that we included when we were designing out all the places you visit.

UploadVR: Have you ever had to, in this course or any other, scale back some of the production design specifically because the hole had to be reconfigured?

Don Carson: Yeah, the place often happens before the hole. We usually start in Gravity Sketch as all the design team will meet up in VR and start scribbling to scale. And we have sort of placeholders for all 18 holes. And so we know there'll be a hole here, but the placeness will start to sort of come together. And then we'll have to move the furniture around a bit to make sure that the hole fits as opposed to the other way around.

UploadVR: Okay. So, that happens pretty often after you get the okay?

Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. There's no room or there's an opportunity we hadn't thought of. Like especially on the Hollywood one, we wanted the holes to sort of represent the departments that are part of the film making process. So there's the model shop and there's the props department and there's the the Foley sound department. So, uh, the the places were designed first and then the holes came to sort of support the theme of the places.

UploadVR: Was there an element in the overall design, like music design, art, or whatever, that was easy that came together fairly quickly? And conversely, was there one that was like a pain to get right?

Don Carson: I think the coming up with the style of the we call it a shape language. You know, what's different not only about the gameplay, but what's the what what do the borders look like? And I know we wanted to do sort of an art deco look for the the the edges of the holes. So, there was a lot of back and forth trying to get that right. I think we did a good job, but I think it it went through a lot of iterations before we we hit on the style that we have in that course now.

UploadVR: Timeline wise, was this in line with your usual 15 to 18 month turnaround?

Don Carson: I think we came up with this January of last year, so it's a little over a year to do it.

UploadVR: Wow.

Don Carson: Yeah.

UploadVR: Is there anything that you can say there was an idea that just hit the cutting room floor? Like you really wanted it in or there was like an idea for a hole that just didn't make it in.

Don Carson: I think we crammed it all in really. I don't think we missed a thing, which it tends to be true of all the courses that we inevitably have a list that we are constantly pushing the limits as to how many polygons we can get squeezed into an environment and so we rationalize, especially with a course like the Hollywood course, is that luckily a lot of those props exist in a building, so that when you leave the building, we don't have to render those anymore. So, like the props department is just full of objects that are great when you're in there, but you don't want to have to be rendering them all the time.

UploadVR: One of the things that came up when we were taking our tour was we were in the film projector room that's over the screening room and you said that someone on the team chimed in and said when they saw it, "This looks kind of dull." And then someone else came back and said, "No, that's pretty much how this room looks."

Don Carson: That's right.

UploadVR: How do you straddle that line between authenticity and still like making it aesthetically pleasing and entertaining?

Don Carson: Well especially with the passport courses, our first one was Venice, is we desperately wanted to make sure that it fulfilled people's sort of bucket list idea of what it would be like to go to these places in the world. So for people who haven't been, it needs to represent what they think it's going to be like. And for the people who have been and love it, we wanted to make sure we hit all the high points. So they felt like they had "oh you caught everything that I love about Tokyo or or or Venice." So we did the same thing with Hollywood. We wanted to make sure that we didn't leave anybody out. And then I think because of our own personal experience and this is true of Venice, Tokyo, and Hollywood. There's enough people on the team that have have lived in that world that they could make sure that not only were we being honest to the design, but also we were able to put little anecdotes and little personal experiences. Like I mentioned during our walkthrough, I think that Laura really wanted to make sure that the art department was really rich because that was the world she lived in. But also the fact that the art department is usually the unloved cousin who always gets shoved in some, you know, unwanted building. So those two things are represented and I think that really adds a level of sort of human touch to the courses.

UploadVR: Even in that specific room you talked about lowering the ceiling. It was too high. Like no, no art department has had a ceiling this tall. They feel like they're in a closet basically.

Don Carson: Exactly right. Exactly.

UploadVR: Do you have a specific section that you specifically are proud of? Like you really pushed for an idea and they made it?

Don Carson: Probably my absolute favorite part of the process is the research part and I tend to research by drawing it and so I got to do a lot of research on the sort of vintage equipment that was used. So the editing machinery, the Foley and sound props. That was my favorite bit is the you know what are we going to fill this with? Always with this sort of keeping in mind what the audience is going to experience. You want to give them something that's going to be interesting. Kind of make them want to go find out more about it, but also you don't want to to be wrong. You don't want to foolishly recreate a Venice that doesn't exist. You want it to be something that people go, "Yeah, that's how I felt when I was there."

UploadVR: Did that play into your decision to make it more of an older studio feel as opposed to the more modern digital lots?

Don Carson: We talked about doing sort of silent era. Then we talked about sort of musical era and then we talked about the 70s and the 60s and then we decided we were just going to sort of do our greatest hits of what we remember was wonderful about the uh the Hollywood system and a lot of that's going away. I mean certainly with the digital content and also the idea that Hollywood is the place where is the only place where movies are made is kind of out the window. They're being made everywhere.

UploadVR: I've got to ask this. Who has the best score on the course right now on the team?

Don Carson: I pretty much would guess it's Lucas. Lucas and Henning are the are the top players. I'm sort of neck and neck with Emma as the worst players, I think. But I think that the thing is that we're not doing it for the high score. We're just doing it for the good conversation.

UploadVR: Do test sessions ever get competitive?

Don Carson: No, no. We're often willing to sacrifice good shots for just to see what happens if we knock it against that wall and see if it bounces off the ceiling.

UploadVR: What was your first course with the company? You joined in I think it was 2021?

Don Carson: Yes. Yes. About four and a half years now. My first assignment was the nautilus for the first Jules Verne course was working on that. But we simultaneously work like on at seven at the same all at the same time. We're constantly working on stuff at various stages. So I think I was doing Around The World right next to doing the drawings for the nautilus. I personally love, you know, pile it on just give me more diversity and then I love to draw, but sometimes I love to stop drawing and build stuff and sometimes I want to stop building stuff and go back to drawing. So I get to jump back and forth between those tasks.

UploadVR: Is there a course that kind of precedes your time with Mighty Coconut that you personally looked at and went, "Man, it'd have been really cool to work on that one.

Don Carson: Yeah, it was when Bogeys Bonanza came out and mutual friends it was during Covid we're playing it and we just saw the connection between our work in the theme park industry and what Mighty Coconut was doing and so we just we had to tell them like you guys are rocking it. There's something really special happening here. And then I was lucky enough to get hired to get to play with this team. And at the time I think there were six coconuts at the time and we blossomed from there.

UploadVR: From a guest column you wrote on Upload in early 2025, you said, "First impressions matter. Establishing shots set the tone and align with what players expect when they step into a new course." How quickly did you land on that entryway in the water tower as like the gateway to the Hollywood course? And were there any other ideas that you kind of played around with?

Don Carson: No, that was it. That was we knew that you had to end. You had to There's always sort of a where am I question as soon as you touch down like okay, where am I? How do I relate to this? And is it fulfilling my expectation? And so someone getting to go to a studio is going to do have any experience that actually anybody's been to a studio, you've got to go through security and security is inevitably beyond a gate. And sort of that that Paramount arch although it's been replicated in at other studios is the perfect establishing shot for "I get to go into this sort of magical place that not everybody gets to go to."

UploadVR: You said building the course start to finish takes anywhere from 15 to 18 months. Recently, unfortunately Mighty Coconut went through a staff reduction. We, of course, wish everyone affected well in their future endeavors. One of the notes in that announcement was that there was going to be a reduction in courses from seven down to six. Is that just to give each course a little bit more breathing room because of the tightly compacted schedule?

Don Carson: Well, yes, that's one of them. I mean, unlike a game company where you're in crunch mode until the the game ships, ours, we ship seven times a year. So, we're constantly crunching. So we are good about our own personal time, but when we're working, we're it's nose to the grindstone all year long. I think the other thing too is that we wanted to make sure that people weren't going crazy, but at the same time, we wanted to make sure that we had the luxury to be able to to go through what we call the icing phase, which is for all intents and purposes, everything is done except wouldn't it be great if we could add this one extra detail or this one extra effect. And I think that sometimes those little extra bits uh get left behind if you're completely slammed to get something done. And when when they are added often those are the things that the players notice as being the kind of magical like "I can't believe you went so far as to add this detail because it just makes it for me."

UploadVR: Have you ever worked on your part of a course and thought "I don't know if this going to work." And then when you see the finished product with the sound design and everything coming together, you're like, oh, okay, now now it's magical?

Don Carson: Yeah. I think every every single course is like that because I tend to work on the front end. So I'm doing the drawings and building the first versions of things. Then it's handed to the art team and I think we mentioned is as part of the conversation um after our walkthrough that it's always better than you expected it because it's gone through so many hands and each of them have been sort of anointed with the permission to make it as good as they want to make it and so everybody brings their own perspective and so I'd say that the final bake where the shadows are all baked in and everything's come together happens at the 11th hour, so even a couple of weeks before we launch, wandering through it, I'll go this is nice, you know, this is good. I think it's a good example of what we can do. And then we release it and it's like, oh boy, like, oh, this is way better. And it's all those pieces coming together. The tech art team is especially good at making sure that we cross all the Ts and dot all the Is to make sure that we're producing the best possible finished product.

UploadVR: That's got to be a great feeling though, because you put this thing to bed, you're working on, like you said, six or seven other courses, then you come back to this thing you worked on months ago and you're like, "Oh, wow."

Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. This really came together. Also there's another thing and I'm sure this is true of all of us at the on the team is that you'll go well this one little thing isn't isn't working for me, but do I make a fuss about it or do I trust that it will get it will get seen to sort of magically as that quote from Shakespeare In Love is that you know it's a mystery. I don't know how it all comes together, but you go in and sure enough someone came in and not only did they do the thing you hope would happen. They did it better than you thought it could have been done. Then when you walk around when it releases, you just go, I am just so proud of the collective choices that were made that made this as nice as it is.

UploadVR: Last one. We'll end on a lighter note. Are there any Easter eggs or hints you want to give to the players to look out for while they're playing through the course?

Don Carson: So whenever we work on a new course, we understand there's going to be a specific heavy lift for that course. Like when we knew we were going to do Tiki Coco, we knew it was going to be populated with lots of animated characters. We knew that animation job was going to be a hefty job, but it was worth it because we felt that the whole the success of the level was going to be based upon how charming those characters are. And so when it came to doing the Hollywood course, we thought this will be a piece of cake because we'll just use all the stuff we already have to populate, you know, like the prop room is all stuff from our other courses. We ended up, of course, building a whole bunch of stuff. Shane, who was part of the walkthrough, built a lot of the vehicles and a lot of the hero props. It is packed full of things from um, past courses, but there are a couple things from future courses in there, too. Things we haven't announced yet.

UploadVR: That's a nice little hint for the future. All right. Anything you want to say to the audience as we wrap up?

Don Carson: Well, thank you for continuing to play it. Each DLC purchase allows us to build the next DLC. So we are really really dependent upon delivering the best we possibly can, but in the end it's people voting with their with their dollars. We're really lucky because people love the courses, not just for the courses, but also our main intent is to create a place for people to be together in. And I think that people acknowledge that that some of the quality time they have with friends and family have been happening inside the courses we produce. And that's just makes getting up in the morning and doing more of them all the better.

Walkabout Mini Golf is available on Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR, and Apple App Store. The game is also available as part of Meta's Horizon+ subscription service. The Passport Hollywood course is available now for $4.99.

When most people think of esports, they picture players sitting behind monitors tapping keyboards and controllers. At a recent Global Gaming League event, the competitors were throwing real punches instead, while immersed in VR.

Misfits Boxing champion Chase DeMoor stepped into a VR ring to fight podcast host Gillie da Kid live in The Thrill of the Fight 2, turning a virtual boxing game into a physical match played in front of an audience.

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UploadVRK. Guillory

The crowd jeered and cheered much like fans at a live boxing event, reacting to every punch thrown in the virtual ring. Both competitors, wearing Meta Quest 3 headsets, traded blows for several rounds before DeMoor finally landed a knockout. By the end, both fighters were breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. The crowd roared its approval.

“When the punches started flying you could feel the crowd react to every hit,” said Global Gaming League founder Clinton Sparks.

In that moment, VR boxing worked as a live spectacle.

The match was part of an event hosted by the Global Gaming League, an organization trying to rethink what competitive gaming can look like for live audiences. Sparks prefers the term “gaming entertainment” rather than esports to describe the league’s format. While the lineup also included traditional titles like Call of Duty, Tekken, and Tetris, the VR boxing match closed out the evening as the main event. Instead of watching players hunched over controllers, the audience saw live competitors ducking, weaving, and throwing real punches as their avatars fought inside the virtual ring.

“We wanted something that felt physical and exciting for people watching in the room,” Sparks said. “VR boxing gave us that.”

“Most esports are fun if you’re playing them, but they can be harder for a live crowd to connect with,” Sparks said. “With VR boxing, people immediately understand what they’re watching.”

The game used in the match, The Thrill of the Fight 2, is a VR boxing game designed to track real punches, head movement, and defensive actions from players inside the headset. Unlike arcade-style fighting games controlled with buttons, competitors must physically move, throw punches, and pace themselves throughout the match. That physical element is a big reason the game works in a live event setting, where audiences can see the action.

Edward Vasquez, creative director on The Thrill of the Fight 2, said seeing the game used in a live competitive setting was a different experience from watching players compete online or at home.

“From the beginning we thought this could work as an esport because it’s so tactile and easy for people to understand when they watch it,” Vasquez said.

For professional boxer Chase DeMoor, it stopped feeling like a novelty pretty quickly. Inside the headset, the fight turned into a physically demanding contest.

“I was sweating way more than I expected,” DeMoor said. “You think it’s just a game until you’re in there throwing punches.”

“It’s actually a workout,” DeMoor told me. “You’re moving, you’re throwing punches, you’re ducking. After a few rounds you’re breathing hard.”

“After a couple rounds you forget it’s a game,” he added. “You’re just trying not to gas out.”

Unlike traditional fighting games where players rely on controllers, The Thrill of the Fight 2 requires competitors to throw real punches and move their bodies throughout the match. By the final rounds, both fighters were breathing heavily after trading punches in the virtual ring.

For DeMoor, that physical effort made the experience feel closer to a real competition than a typical video game. As a professional boxer, he said the game captures more of boxing’s movement and rhythm than he expected, even if it can’t replicate the physical contact of a real fight.

“It’s probably the closest thing you can get to boxing without taking a punch,” DeMoor said.

VR has struggled as a spectator esport, largely because it’s hard for an audience to follow what’s happening inside a headset. Boxing may be one of the few exceptions. When players are ducking, weaving, and throwing punches in real space, the action is easy to read even for people who have never used VR.

Whether VR boxing becomes a regular feature of competitive gaming remains to be seen. But for one night, two fighters throwing real punches inside a virtual ring showed what immersive esports might actually look like.

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.