Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is the latest VR adaptation of the iconic detective, delivering uneven investigations in Early Access.

No stranger to video game adaptations, Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective has seen his fair share of reimaginings, from a young amateur grappling with the supernatural in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened to the immersive theater online co-op seen in Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Hung Parliament. Each iteration hones in on a different aspect of the character that, done well, is interesting in its own right. Out now on Early Access, Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is an uneven portrayal of the character, even if there is an entertaining core gameplay at the heart of it.

Starting in the famous 221B Baker Street apartment, a woman bursts through the door clamoring for help: a man has died in mysterious circumstances. Before leaving, you are allowed to rummage through the place. Sherlockians will find his previous exploits scattered around the furniture. Picking up files from his old cases like The Hound of the Baskervilles makes the seasoned investigator mutter a few words about how it ended in such a tragic way. An out-of-place Meta Quest 3 box earns the description of being “a lens into countless realities,” signaling that the story is developing in the current era.

A modern-day Sherlock Holmes has been done before, most notably in the famous 2010 BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch. This time around, he is brought up to speed with innovative tools to help with his sleuthing. This version of the character is armed with a magnifying glass, a chemical analyzer, and a fingerprint scanner. After finding and packing them in a slick toolbox, one last tutorial reveals itself as the focus. Much like classic point-and-click adventures, Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective asks you to find hidden objects in a specific area.

Leaving the apartment only to find the crime scene is just down the street, it is relatively surprising that you are allowed to explore the short but shady alleyways of London. Graphically, it is your usual Quest 3 slightly cartoony look, but the music and attention to detail are appreciated. Walking by a record store, for instance, lets you listen to the sound of a vinyl emanating from a record player. A souvenir shop showing Holmes’ own escapades shudders amusingly when grabbed. Lastly, a red telephone box ringing close to the mansion where the crime happened whispers to Sherlock that there is more than meets the eye in this case.

There are currently only two cases available to play. One in a lavish residence, the other in some shadowy docks, the way they unfold is rather straightforward: question the suspects, find the correct items in determined areas, and accuse the guilty party of the murder. As mentioned, finding objects is the main course, such as keys, torn documents, or pieces to grander puzzles in a sea of everyday items.

Other than object finding, light puzzles like reconstructing torn photographs and moving pieces to fit a painting are a welcome change of pace. My personal favorite was using the modern tools at hand: carefully inspecting a corpse's markings and accessories worn with the magnifying glass or analyzing a cup with the fingerprint scanner felt more akin to detective work.

Of course, like any other respectable whodunit, there is an overarching plot of a secret society with paranormal overtones. Because there are only two episodes so far, it ends on a cliffhanger that still has no answer. At the time of writing, the developer has not given a concrete timeline of when new updates will drop, so I would recommend entering this mystery with caution. I would personally be devastated if they did not follow through with the enticing setup.

As an Early Access release, it is understandable when only certain options are offered or shortcuts are taken, but in this case they felt like they detracted from the experience. The only way to move is by teleporting and snap turning, with no smooth turning or walking to speak of. What stood out like a sore thumb, though, was the use of generative AI. The voice acting is wooden, and the sound quality is blown out. Sherlock’s accent itself, jumping from American to British as the chapters changed, was jarring to say the least. Using AI-generated images can be considered harmless, as the clue-finding is where it's at, but it is still there.

Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is a promising title with considerable drawbacks. The atmosphere is so well recreated that even in its modern setting, it feels attuned to the iconic tales from which it originated. Emphasizing object searching, it is a relaxing experience that fans of point-and-click mysteries will enjoy. While the lack of constant communication regarding future support from the developers is alarming, the current offering is a middling pastime.

Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is out now in Early Access for Meta Quest 3/3S.

Quest 3 mixed reality game Laser Dance adds two new challenge modes this week in its first major content update.

Launching February 26th, the update introduces two new challenge modes designed to intensify the game's Mixed Reality laser obstacle courses.

Thomas Van Bouwel, the creator of Laser Dance and the critically acclaimed puzzle game Cubism, has announced the "Challenge Update" for Laser Dance is coming this week.

The update adds two optional unlockable game modifiers to increase the game's difficulty and to add to replayability. The first, called Grid Overlay, layers a dense mesh of lasers over existing levels, which demands heightened precision from players. The second, called Invisible Lasers, causes laser beams in the play area to fade as players approach, demanding more player spatial awareness. Audio cues and controller haptics become more critical in this mode.

Laser Dance turns your living space into a challenging maze full of lasers, where the goal of the game is to navigate the maze and reach certain places throughout the room. We reviewed the game when it debuted late last year, calling it "one of the easiest games to play ever made. [...] it belongs in most libraries and should be a go-to party game."

Laser Dance is available now on Quest 3 and 3S. 

Drawing from its comic book origins, Empire City offers a promising glimpse into one of 2026's most anticipated VR titles.

After an early look into the sewer lair of the eponymous turtles, Cortopia Studios, recently known for Gorn 2 and Escaping Wonderland, have released a limited-time PC VR demo as part of Steam Next Fest. The new demo is roughly 15-20 minutes long and functions as an extended tutorial that introduces the combat and parkour mechanics.

The demo goes through each turtle in turn, starting with Leonardo, then Michelangelo, Donatello, and ending with Raphael before a final section where you can choose your preferred character. The four brothers are infiltrating a building while encountering numerous Foot clan soldiers. Each turtle has their signature weapon and most of the enemies can be put down without too much difficulty. Each successive hit or parry of an enemy's attack builds up a focus meter that, when maxed, activates a signature trait. Depending on which turtle is selected, this can be anything from increased focus gain to more damage landed per attack.

It should be noted that the combat is not physics based, more akin to something like Deadpool VR than Blade and Sorcery. Weapons do not have any weight and can be swung with the lightest flick of the wrist. This is not a complaint and it absolutely fits with the IP, but those who prefer more 'realistic' combat may bump into what's on offer here.

The demo breaks down into each character introducing a part of the gameplay. Leonardo gives movement and combat basics, Donatello has to hack locked doors by solving a couple of simple puzzles, Michelangelo parkours across the rooftops, and Raphael is forced to work on his parrying technique by the turtles' sensei, Master Splinter. Each section plays out in just a few minutes, long enough to get familiar with how to play the game, then this section of the demo ends with a boss fight I won't spoil, except to say I promptly lost.

Everything here just works. The combat and parkour is fluid and intuitive, the voice acting is spot on for each turtle, and though weapons have no weight, they still feel distinct from one another and coupled with the focus meter traits, offer a reason to try different turtles depending on playstyle. I could've stood on that roof twirling Michelangelo's nunchucks for hours.

After this, the demo moves to the aforementioned sewer lair. From what I can tell, this is the same as the earlier hands-on demo from months back. Seeing it for the first time, there's a clear attention to detail, with each room instantly recognizable as to its inhabitant. This is also the first time Master Splinter and April O'Neil are shown.

Aesthetically, Empire City utilizes a cel-shaded art style similar to Deadpool VR that fits the turtles' comic book origins. Everything is sharp and detailed with no visible performance issues to speak of.

Overall, this demo does exactly what a great demo is supposed to: make me want to play the full game. There's very little in the way of story to pick up on here other than the involvement of the Foot clan. It is simply an introduction to the world and masterfully serves its purpose.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City can be wishlisted on Steam, Meta Quest, and Pico now and is listed as coming in Spring 2026. The demo is playable as part of Steam Next Fest until March 2 at 10am PST.

Inspired by animated series like Rick & Morty and Futurama, Space Control is an absurd and comic VR game with a Steam Next Fest demo available now.

MoonMonster Studios has just announced a playable demo of Space Control, a ridiculous and hilarious VR adventure inspired by animated comedies like Futurama and Rick & Morty.

In Space Control, you've been abducted by an intergalactic megacorporation, which has unceremoniously thrust upon you a massive debt. Over three unique episodes, you must take on a variety of unpleasant jobs set in the corporate space station.

Work off your debt with your alien crew, abduct new recruits, take care of alien babies, and cook up some highly questionable snacks. The game's key features include physics-based VR gameplay, an episodic narrative, a cast of outrageous companions, and a delightfully dystopian universe in which to toil away.

MoonMonster Studios plans to bring Space Control to Meta Quest and Steam VR this April. You can wishlist the game at those storefronts, and sample the demo now as part of Steam Next Fest.

Stay tuned for our full impressions piece on Space Control in the coming days.

A demo of the immersive XR game will be playable this year at special public events.

Pixelity Inc., developers of Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections, announced that a demo of the game will be playable throughout the year at live events all around the world.

The game has thus far only been playable to an extremely small segment of the public. In December, it was playable at a limited event spanning three days in Tokyo, then at a one-day event in California. In order to try the game, applicants needed to apply through Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections' X account and be selected to participate. More recently, the demo was playable for lucky lottery winners who attended the Evangelion 30th Anniversary Event, which just wrapped up.

Supporting both VR and mixed reality gameplay, Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections is the first installment in a planned trilogy that aims to cover all 26 episodes of the TV series. The game will tell a new story from the perspective of an original protagonist who dreams of becoming a pilot, making connections between the anime's “key episodes” and the game's new characters.

“Players will enjoy the story set in the locations from the anime from their own perspective. Battles between Evangelions and Angels, various interactive elements, and engaging captivating storylines with original characters are also planned,” Pixelity noted in a press release.

Originally created by the filmmaker Hideaki Anno, and first airing in 1995, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a critically-acclaimed post-apocalyptic anime mech series focusing on the fight between NERV, a paramilitary group, and the Angels, otherworldly antagonists seemingly bent on humanity's destruction.

The anime series has been massively influential within and outside of its native Japan, expanding to manga, merchandise, anime retellings, video games and more. While the franchise has dabbled in VR before with Bandai Namco's 2017 release, Evangelion VR: The Throne of Souls, that arcade VR experience was only playable on-site at VR Zone locations in Japan. Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections is the first Evangelion VR/XR game designed for home use via consumer headsets.

News broke this week that a new Evangelion animated series is in production. The new series is being written by Yoko Taro, the unconventional video game creator most-known for Nier and Nier: Automata, in collaboration with Hideaki Anno's Studio Khara.

An Evangelion: Δ Cross Reflections public demo is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2026. Specific platforms and release dates remain unconfirmed, and while no dates or details have yet been revealed regarding the aforementioned live events, Pixelity encourages anyone interested in trying the game to watch their official X account for announcements.

The first of Steam's triannual showcases of upcoming games is now live and features dozens of PC VR demos.

This is the first chance for many players to try popular upcoming titles for the first time like Beyond Frames' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City.

Some of the participating games released demos prior to the start of Next Fest, like Echoes of Mora, Alliance Tales: Battle For The Frontier, Birdseed VR, and How To God.

Please note that this list was provided two weeks ago by Valve and is subject to change. Developers can (and previously have) drop out of Next Fest if their demo is not ready or release a demo on short notice.

For now, here are the games we're aware of:

• Birdseed VR

• Alliance Tales: Battle For The Frontier

• Wingsuit: Romsdalen

• King Crab

• How To God

• Axiomatik

• Proton VR

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City

• Project Louisiana - The BOUNDS VR Demo

• Detective VR

• Echoes of Mora

• Artemis VR

• Scared By Squares

• Just One Man

• Confined: Leaving OKB-134

• Combat Pilot: Carrier Qualification

• La Royale: Below Deck

• That's My Tofu

• Tammuz: Blood and Sand

• Annulus

• Get Out

• The Amusement

• Orbital Overdrive

• Marrow Marrow

• Diorama Maker

• Gun X

• Subliminal

• Dream Corps

• Quantum Eye

• Isle of Food

• Full Steam Undead

• Ironforged

• Versus One

• DJ Lusty Beats

• The Gallery: VR Secrets

• Plug Priority

• Space Control

• Road To Yvhalon

• Enigmo

Steam Next Fest runs until 10am Pacific Standard Time on March 2nd.

In response to fan feedback, the new 'Survival Mode' allows players to play the game without the restrictions of the main campaign.

Neolithic Dawn, a survival game set in the neolithic era, started out in Early Access on Quest in June 2025 followed by PC VR in September. Both versions went to full release in December 2025.

The latest update from developer Neolithic LLC adds a fan-requested quick play 'Survival Mode' option. This new mode has every map unlocked and is free of any objectives and story-based missions to complete, designed for players looking for a more open, sandbox survival experience.

The update also expands the Saugeen Bluffs area, adds support for bHaptics vests, and improves the main menu interface and inventory system.

We went hands-on during the Early Access period and had a mostly positive experience despite the bugs and jank to be expected in Early Access titles. In our hands-on piece, we said "Exploring the world is wonderful. Environments are vast and varied. There are moments of pure wonder and true terror."

Neolithic Dawn Hands-On: Survival Of The Fittest

VR survival game Neolithic Dawn recently entered early access on Quest.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

Neolithic Dawn is available now on Steam and Meta Quest for $19.99.

Iron Guard: Salvation, a VR sci-fi tower defense game, is launching on PlayStation VR2 in March.

Iron Guard: Salvation is a tower defense strategy game in which players must build and upgrade bases and weapons while managing resources and fending off waves of enemies in VR. A story-driven campaign mode offers a cinematic experience across 30 hand-crafted missions.

Iron Guard: Salvation is a direct sequel to Xlab Digital's Iron Guard, which first debuted in 2021 and was ported to PS VR2 last year.

We previously reviewed Iron Guard: Salvation when it released on Quest, where our reviewer found it to be a strong tower defense game that might have benefitted from heavier implementation of RTS mechanics and inclusion of a multiplayer mode.

Iron Guard: Salvation launches March 5th on PlayStation VR2. It's out now on Quest and PC VR.

Underwater PC VR narrative puzzle game Echoes of Mora will launch in April on Steam.

Selkies Interactive announced at the recent Convergence Games Showcase that their debut title, Echoes of Mora, will launch April 29 on Steam. The announcement comes alongside a haunting story trailer and a 30-minute playable demo during Steam Next Fest, which begins today.

Echoes of Mora is described by its makers as an exploration-driven mystery with high emotional stakes, a fusion of Subnautica's atmospheric aquatic exploration and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture's melancholic storytelling. You follow and guide Mora. After her brother disappears near a cursed lake, Mora sets out to find him. As the lake's water rises, threatening the village, your help is crucial. You'll share clues you find in the underwater world, guide Mora in the past, and accompany her on a time-bending journey that could decide the fate of her family and village.

When we previously covered Echoes of Mora, our writer felt that "While [Echoes of Mora] is by no means a seamless swimming simulator, its compelling narrative beats and dreamy world design provide more than enough intrigue to earn it a place on my wishlist."

You can wishlist Echoes of Mora on Steam today in advance of its full release in April.

MacGyver-esque narrative VR puzzler Fixer Undercover hits Quest on February 26, with PlayStation VR2 and PC VR to come later.

Fixer Undercover was first revealed as a demo on the now defunct Meta Quest App Lab in 2024 and officially announced at the UploadVR Summer Showcase last year, promising a return to the VR escape room style puzzles popularized by games like the I Expect You To Die series and The Room VR: A Dark Matter.

As a special agent codenamed 'The Fixer', players will infiltrate a prison under the guise of a maintenance worker. Alongside a witty drone named Winston, a set of basic handyman tools like a hammer, grinder, pliers, and pipe wrench are used to solve a series of environmental puzzles.

Per a post on developer Creativity AR's Discord, it expects a full playthrough to take roughly six to eight hours.

Fixer Undercover was originally planned as an Early Access release in late January, but Creativity changed course in a social media post, saying "To be completely honest: we looked at the project and realized it wasn't ready to open its doors yet... We want to release a complete game, not a broken one. We apologize for the delay."

Fixer Undercover releases this Thursday on Meta Quest 3, 3S, and Pro for $14.99. The game's official website states that versions for Steam and PlayStation VR2 are planned for "a later date." The game can be wishlisted on Steam now.

Apple Immersive documentary Top Dogs brings you up close with spectacular champion breeds, but traditional filmmaking choices keep the immersion from taking Best in Show.

Apple Immersive Video is particularly well suited for narrative documentary content. It can give visitors virtual access to real, visually stunning moments in behind-the-scenes experiences and destinations that most of us will not be able to physically visit in our lifetime. The forced perspective of the 180-degree format also offers a familiar entry point for acclaimed directors accustomed to crafting video content for traditional flat screens.

Paired with Apple TV’s reputation for visually polished and compelling storytelling, I went into the two Top Dogs Apple Immersive episodes with high expectations. But narrative and compelling visuals were not enough to create quality immersion. My role in the world of Top Dogs remained undefined, and certain creative choices gave me reason to…paws. It did not fully consider how experiencing the benefits of immersion inside a headset should feel different from simply watching a story unfold on a screen.

Spectacular dogs and clear storytelling.

The behind-the-scenes access that gets you up close to some incredible dogs makes this worth stepping into. I found myself face to face with breeds I have only ever seen on screens or in photos, and others I had never encountered before, each impeccably groomed and styled for the spotlight. The sheer range of dogs and their personalities is striking. They are the undeniable stars, and the stereoscopic depth brought me closer to these dogs than a traditional screen ever could.

The narrative also worked well. In just a combined thirty three minutes, I walked away with a clear understanding of how this renowned competition works. I learned what judges evaluate and gained insight into different aspects of the events. Participants are introduced cleanly. Stakes are easy to follow. Despite the short runtime, nothing feels rushed.

In many ways, I felt closer to this world than I would through a traditional screen. But getting close is not the same as feeling fully present within it.

Proximity is not the same as presence

Across both episodes, I kept returning to one question: who am I supposed to be here? Given Apple TV’s storytelling pedigree and the immersive potential of Apple Vision Pro, I expected Top Dogs to place me unmistakably inside its world rather than remind me at times that I was still watching from constantly shifting camera positions that were often stationary and sometimes moving speedily. My sense of embodiment wavered as scale and perspective changed without explanation or logic. Quick cuts shifted me from floating down an aisle of Dalmatians at eye level with their handlers, to sitting close-up at eye level with dogs, to looking up at handlers.

As a visitor to the documentary, I also did not feel like my presence was intended to be acknowledged. Those being interviewed spoke to an off-camera interviewer and avoided glancing into the lens, a choice typical of traditional flat-screen content. The only characters that seemed to recognize my presence on occasion were some of the dogs who took momentary interest in the camera. Locking eyes with Australian Shepherd Viking, 2024 Best in Show winner, was memorable. I impulsively shifted back when another dog jumped to the camera for a kiss. More moments like this would have helped with the sense of presence.

Traditional film language can limit immersion.

Directed and narrated by BAFTA and Peabody winner John Dower in his first immersive documentary, Top Dogs reflects a filmmaker clearly comfortable with traditional documentary language. But immersive storytelling demands intention around experience, not just storytelling.

The flyball competition segment showed what worked. The camera remained steady and well positioned as if I was watching from the sidelines. It gave me enough time to take in the space and choose where to look. The more time I had to notice details within the scene, the more immersed I felt. As the dogs sprinted back and forth, I turned my head naturally to follow them. The action defined my movement in the world. In contrast to many other moments in Top Dogs, this moment allowed me to feel confident in my spectator perspective, and present.

Framing and editing choices, however, often reflected traditional documentary grammar in ways that weakened immersion. Action and even faces were occasionally partially cropped within the 180 degree frame. Extreme close ups that might feel intimate on a flat screen felt odd and uncomfortable in headset. Photos appeared floating in black backgrounds rather than integrated into the environment. On screen text reinforced the sense of watching a framed production rather than being there. The quick cuts also shifted me between locations and perspectives without spatial grounding or transition of any sort. I would have liked to see more movement from the dogs and less movement from the camera.

When traditional documentary grammar dominates, the headset begins to feel optional. At several points, I found myself toggling from full Immersive Video to the windowed view to avoid some creative choices that felt jarring when fully immersed. I also found myself wondering why this was not simultaneously released as Apple TV content for more people to see it outside headset, given how closely its film language already aligns with traditional screens.

Google Glimmer is the company's design language for the interfaces in coming Gemini smart glasses with transparent heads-up displays, and eventually true AR glasses too.

Small Screens Without The Struggle

On a traditional screen, designers fill a rectangle, and a VR headset stretches the canvas to a full sphere. On display glasses, the usable area is much smaller and always competes with real life. That alone calls for apps with glanceable layouts and a simple menu system. We saw a demo of Google’s prototype smart glasses at last year’s I/O.

Google describes the display as a space you opt into with focus, not something you passively absorb. These glasses are essentially heads-up displays (HUDs), not screens you stare at for hours. For daily use, display smart glasses should use a small area that allows you to shift attention briefly, then return to the real world at a moment’s notice.

Since screen colors blend with the background, Google recommends maintaining intensity instead of maximizing saturation since darker colors fade away on transparent screens.

Resolution, Aspect Ratio, And Font Limits

Google also covered legibility, noting designers should base font size on what the eye can see clearly at arm’s length. Smart glasses displays often have tighter resolution limits and less forgiving optics, especially near edges. The predictable aspect ratios of mobile design no longer apply.

Apps shouldn’t display dense lists in tiny type, and even content should shift toward fewer words. Readability requires stronger contrast, heavier fonts, and clearer spacing. Google suggests its Sans Flex typeface as a good choice.

Power Is Part Of The Design

Battery life is another hard constraint for smart glasses, since weight is held to a minimum. Google calls for outlines instead of filled blocks to avoid halation (light bleed) and reduce power drain. Fewer lit pixels, transient messages, and optimizing motion are less taxing on the tiny thermal and battery envelope of smart glasses.

Google’s Glimmer is more than a style preference. It’s a plan to make the most of the limited display area, real-world backgrounds, legibility limits, and the challenges of daily use. To learn more, check Google’s guide on Jetpack Compose Glimmer.

Pirates VR arrived to standalone VR a full year after its original PC VR release. As expected, there have been some graphical compromises to bring the game to Quest, but the overall experience remains intact.

UploadVR originally reviewed Jolly Roger on PC VR in 2025, so if you are curious about the actual game itself, you should read our review. Note, however, that the game has received significant updates since then that address some things pointed out in the review. For this article, I replayed the entire game on PC VR, followed by the Quest port, so I experienced the improvements firsthand.

Pirates VR: Jolly Roger Review - Colorful Adventure With Shallow Combat

Pirates VR: Jolly Roger presents an enjoyable lighthearted VR adventure, though it’s hampered by shallow combat.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

The sardonic, oftentimes annoying parrot companion's dialogue can be toggled on or off. Frankly, this option alone is worth half a star back on the rating (I'm only half kidding). A new intro and notes scattered throughout the campaign flesh out the story a bit more by filling in the backstory of Davy Jones and a reason why the player character embarks on the quest to begin with. Motion controls have been implemented to the swimming sections, a welcome addition for immersion. Lastly, the enemy AI is stated to be improved.

The Quest version uses two common standalone VR optimization methods. The first is Application Spacewarp (ASW), an optimization technique where the game renders at 36 frames per second, then the system synthesizes the missing frames to output 72 frames per second to the display. This is most noticeable in the form of micro stutters when grabbing objects. The second is fixed foveated rendering, where pixels on the periphery of the field of view are rendered at a lower resolution than the center of the view. This is noticeable if you keep your head still and move your eyes in any direction.

The aforementioned new intro is a good place to start when comparing the graphics. This scene has a pirate, the brother of Davy Jones, sending you on a quest to find the infamous pirate and his treasure. On both versions, the lone candle on the table provides some dynamic lighting. Doing something as simple as picking up a wine bottle and watching the light of the candle dance around it would've been unheard of for standalone a few years ago. The lamp you acquire early in the game also behaves the same way. Most of this game takes place in dark caves and dungeons and the lamp lets the developers keep dark corners dark, instead of that sort-of-dark-but-really-just-gray darkness seen in previous standalone efforts. Having said that, there is a significant difference in the lighting. The lamp on PC illuminates and casts shadows against everything while the Quest lamp is more selective.

I expected the draw distance looking out to the ocean to be reduced by a heavy use of fog, but that's not the case. The entire area is intact with a surprising amount of detail preserved. Little things, like the dust particles when grabbing a vine add to the overall experience. However, looking out to the horizon caused a major frame drop I experienced in the game, going from 72 to the low 50s. There is quite a bit of texture pop-in, but that was there with the PC version as well (especially underwater) unless the PC graphics were highest setting and even then, the odd rock or bush would still pop into view as you approached it. The level of detail and texture quality on the environment items (rocks, ground, walls, plants) have clearly been reduced, but not to the point of breaking immersion. The skeletons you spend the entire game fighting are more detailed on PC than Quest, but this didn't really stand out until encountering the enemies wearing clothes later in the game.

Even the water (mostly) holds up. Water in general is a struggle for standalone headsets and Jolly Roger doesn't buck that trend, but it holds up better than most Quest games. There's an extensive stretch spent underwater about a third of the way through the game and Split Light Studio (in partnership with Incuvo) translate that well to standalone, albeit with an odd blue sheen in the distance I did not notice on PC.

Overall, this is a strong PC to standalone port. It feels more like playing a PC game on the lowest settings with reduced texture quality as opposed to past Quest ports where entire assets, like grass, benches, and trees are removed and draw distance is drastically reduced.

Pirates VR: Jolly Roger is available on Steam and PlayStation VR2 for $19.99, and Meta Quest 3/3S for $14.99.

You can play the 4v1 zero-gravity survival horror game Blackgate as the paywalled alien for free right now until Monday.

Blackgate, heavily inspired by Dead By Daylight and Echo Arena, pits four engineers against one alien for survival. Engineers fly around the space station repairing systems and unlocking an armory full of weapons to incapacitate the alien before it gets to them all. The game is free to play for engineers with an additional $19.99 purchase required to play as the alien.

We played the game in Early Access, noting "it's a game attuned to and takes advantage of VR... Fully immersed in that world, the sense of dread you feel even when other people are nearby is wonderfully achieved." However, the limitations of its host-driven online play made it difficult to finish matches.

BlackGate Is A Tense VR Multiplayer Survival Horror With One Major Flaw

BlackGate has potential with its tense survival horror multiplayer, though its early access launch is difficult to currently recommend.

UploadVRAlicia Haddick

For the free to play weekend, starting right now and ending at 10am EST on Monday, the paywalled alien character is free for all players. Developer Megaverse, an original IP division of Fun Train, says it is running this event as a thank you for a recent influx of new players.

In a developer post about its other horror title, The Exorcist Legion VR, undergoing a name change, Fun Train noted a monthly active player base of seventy-five thousand players as of January.

Blackgate is available on Quest headsets. A PC VR version has been announced with no release date as of yet.

If you've been craving a visit to a cluster of islands that feels like a mix of Animal Crossing and Webfishing, Fish! in VRChat is worth a look.

The new social fishing world from TrickForge Studios features four scenic islands full of unique inhabitants as well as upgradable rods, an array of purchasable boats, and over 20,000 fish to possibly catch.

Loading the map will welcome players to a main lobby where they can choose to go through a short tutorial to understand how fishing mechanics work. Pulling the trigger on a VR controller while holding a fishing rod will cast the line.

Once a fish bites, an exclamation point will appear above the bobber. Press the trigger button while the exclamation point is active and a fishing minigame will begin. Repeatedly pulling the trigger while keeping the fish icon within the goal area of your line will help to reel the fish in. If the fish falls outside of the goal area for too long, the minigame will fail and the fish will escape.

Once the fish is caught, it will remain in the player's inventory until it can be sold at the village's shop. Each island has a store for selling goods as well as offering new fishing rods and different types of boats (surfing board, rowboat, dinghy, racing boat, and yacht). Captured fish can contain various appearance and size traits that can affect sale value.

Along with catching fish among the islands is the possibility of obtaining special relic pieces that can be used to enchant fishing rods. Hidden along the nooks and crannies of each island are also scraps of metal that can be used to play a special prize machine for perks, experience, and game currency.

Although Fish! contains cozy design, it's also hiding plenty of secrets. On one island I found a villager inhabiting a dirt-laden shack who remarked that something terrible occurred to the house's previous inhabitant but wouldn't say what. A small distance away I spotted a headless ghost wandering along a path next to the swamp. A walk up that same path leads to a church where an ungodly eye shines atop the steeple.

Fish! is a standout experience both as a playable game and as an online "destination" to visit. Weather and day cycles affect the islands to provide different vistas throughout play. A sunny day can be overtaken by fog and moody rain, giving way to serene evenings. It truly feels like a fun-filled vacation.

Godfall, head of TrickForge Studios, spent almost 8 months with his team to bring the experience to life. The soundtrack and environmental modeling were handled by Godfall and Svenssko while coding and programming were completed by Kittehkun and Gamerexde.

"I think developing for immersive platforms might be in a really good state right now," Godfall explained in an interview with UploadVR. "The goal at TrickForge Studios currently is to keep making great VRChat games, and then expand into Steam and console games in the future."

Fish! is currently in beta with expectations to wipe player progress upon the release of 1.0 at the end of the month. Visitors can enjoy the preview with their friends as long as they understand progress must be reset due to the map needing a fresh upload to debut the full game. TrickForge Studios has announced new areas upon the 1.0 release along with secrets and additional content.

"We want to offer everyone a full game experience, with simple optional transactions," said Godfall. "We are very passionate about FISH! and we want to keep the integrity of it."

You can find Fish! on VRChat, available in VR on standalone and PC VR headsets.

Birdseed is a cozy, free-to-play game about photographing silly birds. And trying the Early Access release, I simply love it.

Games are so often obsessed with spectacle, which is paradoxically one of the reasons I so dearly appreciate Birdseed. This gentle game about watching and photographing comically cute birds doesn't shout or overstimulate you. Instead, it invites you to relax, slow down, and simply enjoy a peaceful slice of nature filled with charming, delightfully curious birds.

After my first hands-on session with the Early Access release, I found myself returning over and over, not just to satisfy daily objectives and collect more in-game currency, but to simply exist, to listen to music or the sounds of nature, to hang out and shoot some photos of my hilarious birdbrained pals.

Serious Photography?

As someone who's been a photographer for over 20 years, and a writer covering the camera industry for more than a decade, I was especially interested in how Birdseed, a game about photographing birds, handles the art and craft of photography.

While I personally love mechanical cameras and the extreme nuance of making a picture with a dedicated camera, adjusting aperture and shutter speed, ISO, and reading all about the finer points of depth-of-field and circle of confusion and other photography nonsense that most of the humans on Earth have never heard about, I understand that highly technical simulations of making pictures don't always make for a good gaming experience. For most people, serious photography is obtuse and opaque and boring.

Birdseed sidesteps that by being incredibly simple. You can't move very far. In fact, you stand (or sit) in just a small central viewpoint from where the whole of your observation and photographing occur. You hold a camera, and that camera has just two controls: It can zoom in and out, and it can take a picture. That's it (for now). There are unlockable lenses of different focal lengths that can be interchanged, and future updates will likely bring art lenses and special effect filters and all of that good stuff. But for now, we're basically using a point-and-shoot, a type of camera that works as its name suggests. Point it at something, shoot, and a picture comes out.

The simplicity of gameplay is beautiful, and perfect for a game that's trying to do what Birdseed is trying to do. That is, put a camera in your hand, and give you something to point it at.

The environment is far from photorealistic, but it still manages to be lush and pretty, presented with artfully-crafted cartoonish simplicity. A pastel sun creeps low across a distant mountain range. Marshmallow clouds drift across the azure sky. Sparkling water dances down a falls while towering evergreens sway in the breeze. And within this beautiful nature scape flit birds of all sorts.

They dance among the branches, preen on the rocks, and soar high in the sky. And they look absolutely stupid (complimentary). They're goofy and silly, delightfully plump and bouncy. Their enormous eyes blink dumbly as they flutter and squawk and bounce. Even when diving on the wind, they look more like bowling pins than sleek products of a million years' evolution. I love these dumb birds.

The Decisive Moment

You have twelve pictures per day, as you're using a film camera, and these images are instantly ejected to be held, looked at, and then stored automatically in your photo album. Photos are rated for their content, as well as for the rarity of the bird, and the bird's poses or actions are marked as well. Capturing a rare bird or a bird in a rare action or pose will rate higher, and higher ratings or achieving certain challenges (for example, photographing a specific type of bird or making a three-star photo) will earn in-game currency which can be spent to buy new lenses and cosmetic items, such as new skins for your camera.

The scarcity of available photos per day is an interesting mechanic, and one that I appreciate. As happens in real life when we're shooting a film camera, the knowledge that we only have a limited number of shots tends to change the way we photograph. It forces me to pause for a moment, or to think deeper during the act of making an image. Do I really want to use a frame to make this photo? The result is that I either make better pictures, or sometimes I miss out. I found the same thing happening in Birdseed.

Exhausting your daily supply of film doesn't necessarily mean the play session is over. You can still hang out in the environment, watch birds, and enjoy the scenery. There's even a radio with which you can listen to some chill tunes.

If there's one major strike against Birdseed, it's that the game is not technically solid. During my play sessions, there were several instances of the game crashing. Restarting my Quest 3S smoothed things out temporarily, but a few more crashes led me to uninstall and reinstall Birdseed, which seemed to mostly solve the problem.

For now, and when it works without crashing, I'm enjoying every minute that I spend in Birdseed. Though those minutes amount to just about 30 per day, it's a nice half hour in VR. Birdseed has been a lovely experience that will surely only become more endearing, fully-fledged, and enjoyable when the game officially releases in March.

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

The musical rhythm climbing game is coming to Meta Quest Early Access on March 5th.

Developed by Zeitlos Interactive, Peak Rhythm is a VR climbing game that challenges players to climb in sync to an exciting soundtrack. Players grab handholds in time with the beat, which is visually denoted by "Timing Rings" which tighten around the various handholds.

Multiple types of grips add variety. Twist grips ask that you twist your wrist like a volume knob, and Double grips demand you grab hold with both hands. Grip and climb at the right moment and you're propelled ever higher; miss the beat and you fall. The higher you climb, the higher your name lands on the leaderboard.

The game is launching in Early Access with original tracks spanning several genres, including Drum & Bass, Dubstep, House, and Disco, with tracks from FEISTLING, Killin' Void, Ion Diary, and funiel.

Also launching in Early Access is a fully functional Beatmap Editor, supporting custom maps and players' own music files. Multiplayer is planned as an Early Access update shortly after launch.

Peak Rhythm launches in Early Access on Quest on March 5, 2026 for $12.99.

Horizon+ crossed over 1 million "active subscribers" in 2025, according to Meta.

If you're unaware, Horizon+ is Meta's $8/month game subscription service for Quest headset owners. Subscribers get access to a Games Catalog of around 50 major VR titles, as well as an Indie Catalog of around 50 smaller titles, for a total of around 100 games.

The Games Catalog has grown to include some of the biggest and best VR games of all time, including Asgard’s Wrath 2, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, Cubism, Demeo, Dungeons of Eternity, Eleven Table Tennis, Ghosts of Tabor, Into the Radius, Job Simulator, Kingspray Graffiti, Les Mills Bodycombat, Maestro, Moss, Pistol Whip, Puzzling Places, Real VR Fishing, Red Matter 1 & 2, Synth Riders, The Climb 2, and The Thrill of the Fight.

Subscribers are also offered two specific games each month, pre-selected by Meta. Redeeming them lets you play them while you remain subscribed, or when you resubscribe in future.

Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss & Clay Hunt VR Are Quest’s Horizon+ Monthly Games This February

Here are the Meta Horizon+ Monthly Games for February 2026, including one of the best strategy games on the market, Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss.

UploadVRJames Tocchio

One million subscribers would represent just under $100 million revenue per year, assuming they stick around that long.

All new Quest 3 and Quest 3S purchases come with 3 months of Horizon+. While these new users presumably aren't included in Meta's 1 million figure, we've reached out to the company to explicitly ask.

On a purely financial basis, assuming you're not fundamentally against the idea of a subscription, Horizon+ offers excellent value, and so reaching 1 million subscribers isn't particularly surprising.

Back in October, Meta opened enrollment in the Horizon+ Games Catalog and Indie Catalog to any interested developer, providing they meet the strict requirements.

Horizon+ Now Has An Indie Catalog, And Quest Games Can Apply To Be Included

Quest developers can now apply to have their game be part of the Horizon+ subscription, and Meta is beta testing a new Indie Catalog for smaller titles.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Horizon+ represents a gradual but significant shift in the way many VR headset owners access premium titles since the launch of the original Oculus Quest almost seven years ago. It could have significant upsides for developers enrolled in the program, while bringing reduced spending for those not.

Apple too takes a similar approach on Vision Pro with the $7/month Apple Arcade subscription, but goes further, not offering the ability to outright buy many of the platform's top games.

Hidden IO's latest update to ZIX upgrades the Unity engine to push the game forward while its new free-to-play spinoff aims to grow its player base.

Neon-themed co-op roguelite ZIX was hitting performance ceilings, according to Hidden IO, limiting its abilities to increase enemy counts and the overall pace of the game. The new Foundation update upgrades the Unity engine, bringing "meaningfully better" performance and enabling higher enemy counts and more intense encounters on each run.

ZIX Review-In-Progress: Movement-Driven Mayhem In A Surreal Setting

Surreal roguelike ZIX shines with its unique combat and fluid movement, though the early access release on Quest 3 and PC VR has some rough edges.

UploadVRPete Austin

In the dev post, Hidden IO also confirmed it is working on Gogo Dojo, a new free-to-play title designed to showcase the best of ZIX's gameplay style in an easier, more accessible setting. Pre-alpha playtesting for Gogo Dojo is said to start 'soon' in Hidden IO's Discord.

Explaining why it is developing a free game, Hidden IO stated "ZIX lives or dies by how many people play it. We can’t sustain development without players, and the current VR landscape is tough. Many studios are struggling, and we’re not immune to that reality."

The Foundation update is said to set the stage to expand ZIX in the future, including a revamped progression system and expanded build variety.

ZIX is available now in Early Access on Quest 3 and Steam for $19.99.

Meta published a blog post for developers wherein it lays out its new strategy for the Quest ecosystem and Horizon Worlds, taking the two in separate directions.

Titled 'Our Renewed Focus in 2026' and written by the VP of Content at Meta Reality Labs, Samantha Ryan, much of the post repeats what CTO Andrew Bosworth has already said in a series of public interviews and Instagram "ask me anything" sessions in recent weeks.

Meta CTO Explains Layoffs & Strategy Shift: “VR Is Growing Less Quickly Than We Hoped”

In a series of interviews at Davos, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth explained why the company is reducing its investment in VR.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The gist of Meta's new VR and metaverse strategy, according to its executives, is that Horizon Worlds will become "almost exclusively mobile", and the platform will no longer be pushed on Quest owners. Meanwhile, on the VR side, Meta will focus on funding and supporting the third-party developer ecosystem instead of putting out its own blockbuster VR games to compete with them.

Meta is removing individual Horizon Worlds destinations from the in-VR store on Quest, Ryan writes, and "separating worlds from the Store" in the smartphone app.

"We heard your feedback loud and clear, and after a year of collecting data and running experiments, we agree. We’re removing individual worlds from our store shelves in VR, and we’re separating worlds from the Store in our mobile app. This change should result in more impressions for apps on the store."

Last month, Meta also announced that Quest's new 'Navigator' UI will soon become the default and the Horizon Feed will be removed, meaning the headset will boot to a grid of your installed apps. Some Quest owners on the Public Test Channel (PTC) have also received a refreshed Navigator that lacks the 'Worlds' button.

Quest’s New ‘Navigator’ UI Becoming Default As Horizon Feed To Be Removed

“Starting” in Quest v85, the new ‘Navigator’ UI is becoming the default, and the Horizon Feed will be “gradually” removed from Horizon OS.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The post also seems to take aim at the gloom and doom discourse around the future of the Quest platform that followed Meta's shutdown of three of its acquired VR game studios, significant layoffs at a fourth, cancelation of the Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel, and deprecation of Horizon Workrooms and Quest headsets for business offering.

As well as noting that Meta has "a robust roadmap of future VR headsets", echoing comments from the CFO and CTO, Ryan claims that VR "is still growing", and that Quest had "a tremendous holiday season that was on par with our 2024 results".

"Total payment volume on the platform remained similar year-over-year in 2025", Ryan writes, also noting that Quest headset sales remain "far ahead of all competitors" while Meta remains "the single biggest investor in the VR industry".

Quest 4 Is Still On The Roadmap, Meta CTO Seemingly Confirms

In an interview with Alex Heath, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth seemed to confirm the leak that a gaming-focused Quest 4 is still on the roadmap.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

In what seems to be an attempt to reassure developers, Ryan claims Meta is "focused on supporting the third-party developer community" through "strategic partnerships and targeted investments".

Last year multiple new VR games earned millions of dollars of revenue on the platform, Ryan claims, including UG, Hard Bullet and The Thrill of the Fight 2.

"While we’re proud of the world-class work from Oculus Studios over the years, among 1P and 3P apps, 86% of the effective time people spend in their VR headsets is with third-party apps", Ryan notes.

Ryan also claims that in 2025 Meta invested "nearly $150 million in VR developer programs".

Meta CTO: We’re Still Investing More In VR Content Than Anyone Else

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth claims that even after the cuts, the company is still investing more in VR content than anyone else, and more than it was 4 years ago.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Of course, words are cheap, and since acquiring Oculus almost twelve years ago, Meta's VR strategy has constantly shifted under developers' feet. Many will be weary of this instability, and UploadVR will keep a close eye on the Quest platform in the wake of Meta's latest change of direction.

ByteDance's Pico will detail its competitor to visionOS, which will include a shared-space for 2D and spatial apps to run together, set to debut in its next headset.

We first heard that the owner of TikTok's VR platform Pico was working on a high-end headset over two years ago, when The Information reported that Pico 5 had been canceled in favor of a short-term Pico 4 refresh and a longer-term Apple Vision Pro competitor called Project Swan.

Now, Pico has listed a GDC 2026 talk titled 'Bring Your Apps and Games to General Spatial Computing with Project Swan', set to take place on March 12.

The listing says the talk will guide developers through building or porting games to its upcoming "flagship device for general spatial computing", running "Pico OS 6".

Notably, the listing mentions that Pico OS 6 supports "a new paradigm for spatial experiences in which games and apps coexist, allowing a primary experience to run alongside companion applications in a shared environment". Currently, only Apple Vision Pro's visionOS supports this concept of an XR shared space, with both 2D windows and 3D volumes, while Meta's Horizon OS and Google's Android XR are limited to running one spatial experience at a time.

While the listing describes Pico OS 6, it doesn't say anything about the upcoming headset itself, other than calling it a "flagship device". What exactly will it be?

Pico’s 2026 Headset To Have 4K Micro-OLED Displays & R1-Style Chip

Pico’s 2026 headset will have 4K micro-OLED displays and a dedicated R1-style passthrough chip, a ByteDance executive reportedly said.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Back in July, The Information reported that Pico was working on an ultralight headset resembling a pair of goggles, with an onboard dedicated image coprocessor and a tethered compute puck, similar to Meta's next headset.

Then, in November, a Chinese news outlet reported that ByteDance's Vice President of Technology said that Pico's 2026 headset will have 4K micro-OLED displays and a dedicated R1-style passthrough chip.

UploadVR's Mike Johnson and Kyle Riesenbeck will be in attendance at GDC 2026, and we've reached out to ByteDance in hopes of going hands-on with Project Swan. We'll let you know if we get a response.

The Exorcist: Legion VR has been forced to rename to Exorcism of the Legion (Last Rites).

Fun Train announced that the license holders for The Exorcist IP chose not to renew the license for the well-regarded horror title. As a result, the game will continue to be available under its new name, Exorcism of the Legion (Last Rites), a name Fun Train fully owns.

This change will take effect when players update the game on their platform of choice. The Steam, Quest, and PlayStation VR2 store listings already show the new name, though the original PlayStation VR version is still listed for sale under the original name, both in a complete set and as individual chapters.

Fun Train's Tarzan VR was delisted from all VR storefronts at the end of January after Fun Train opted out of renewing the license. Additionally, The Twilight Zone VR has also been renamed 'Tales From the Zone' on the Quest and PS VR2 stores.

Tarzan VR Delisted: ‘Renewing The License For This IP Is Simply Not Commercially Viable’

Fun Train is pulling its Tarzan VR game from storefronts at the end of the month.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

The Exorcist: Legion VR first released episodically for Steam in 2017, Meta Quest 1 in May 2019, and PlayStation VR1 in 2018. The Quest version received multiple graphical updates, including a 90Hz update for Quest 2, and a full graphics overhaul on Quest 3. A free epilogue add-on was also released for Quest in October 2024. The original PlayStation VR edition also received a visual update.

A sequel, The Exorcist: Legion SIN (Safety In Numbers), with co-op gameplay was announced in late 2021. After an initial delay into 2023, Fun Train announced the game was shelved indefinitely due to the changing VR gaming landscape.

The Exorcist: Legion VR SIN Is ‘On Hold’ Indefinitely

The Exorcist: Legion VR SIN, a multiplayer sequel to the early episodic VR horror hit, is “on hold indefinitely.”

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Exorcism of the Legion (Last Rites) is available on Meta Quest and Steam for $24.99, and on PS VR2 and PS VR1, the latter under its original name, for $29.99.

The bizarre weaponry and battle-ready pets of comic shooter Vortex 9 are coming to VR soon on Quest headsets.

Developed by iWorlds, the VR port of Vortex 9 will launch on Meta Quest on February 26. The shooter has previously been released as a free-to-play game on iOS and Google's Play Store, where it has cumulatively amassed more than 10 million players. The VR port will be Crossplay compatible, which could help the game's transition to VR.

Vortex 9 hangs its hat on absurdity. Players customize a variety of stylish heroes and jump into colorful arenas wielding over-the-top weapons, such as battle lollipops and bubble miniguns. Players can also create and play with cute battle pets across several multiplayer modes, including Team Battle, Solo Deathmatch, and Capture Point.

Vortex 9 is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Meta Quest release drops February 26, and can be wishlisted now.

The infamous cave in which a youth football team was trapped in 2018 is coming to VR spelunking game Cave Crave.

3R Games has announced that the next real-world cave to appear in their virtual reality spelunking game Cave Crave will be Thailand's Tham Luang. The cave gained international attention in 2018 when a youth football team became trapped in the cave by rising flood waters.

To ensure accuracy and appropriate context, the studio is collaborating with diver Vern Unsworth, who directly participated in the rescue, and 3D cave-scanning expert Roo Walters. The new cave will appear in Cave Crave's Tourist Mode, a non-gamified virtual recreation of real-world locations.

This addition to the game's "real cave" experiences follows an earlier update that added Utah's Nutty Putty Cave, another real-world cave that closed in 2009 after the death of John Edward Jones. 3R Games is careful to note that their real cave recreations aim to offer a way to explore dangerous or permanently closed sites that's both respectful and authentic, and not gamified experiences.

In Cave Crave, you'll explore tight tunnels and caves, spelunk your way through the darkness, mark walls with chalk and use various other caving tools to plumb the depths and escape to the safety of the open air.

Previous updates have added an Arcade Mode, which turns the game into a competitive race against time, where you aim for the quickest run on the online leaderboards.

Cave Crave is out now on PlayStation VR2, Quest, and Steam.