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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thief VR Review - Final Verdict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pocket Lands is out now in early access on the Meta Quest platform. We'll bring you our full impressions soon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Thrill of the Fight 2 - Final Verdict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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