Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a mostly natural crossover and a fitting evolution for the VR tabletop RPG. Read on for our full review.

Resolution Games created something special with the original Demeo, offering a compelling social VR experience with the turn-based dungeon crawler. Though it gradually evolved through post-launch updates, the initial release was rather bare and it's a testament to the concept's replayability that I'd keep coming back for more. Four years later, Demeo x D&D takes its potential even further.

Demeo x D&D delivers that same moreish strategy with a more refined package, boasting two sizable campaigns that took my party roughly six hours each to beat. There's considerably more here than what the original Demeo offered at launch, so you'll be busy for a fair while. Using Wizards of the Coast's famous Forgotten Realms setting across Neverwinter and Icewind Dale is an undeniably great fit.

For the unfamiliar, Demeo emulates the tabletop experience by giving you figurines for each character that you can physically move across tile-based maps; hand-tracking controls remain supported on Quest, though controllers offer better precision. Co-location is also pleasingly available on Meta's headset too, letting your whole party sit around the same digital board together.

This time, Resolution's swapped the basement setting for a more modern second-floor room. You've got that same freedom to change your board positioning with minimal fuss, while artwork for the first game's campaigns gives your background environment some nostalgic decoration. Getting up close with each map shows crisp visuals on Quest 3, bringing the digital tabletop fantasy to life well.

Like before, movement and skills work well with this turn-based strategy card battler. You have two action points per turn and some ability cards, like healing potions and poison antidotes, can be freely used if you've got points left, since turns automatically end when you run out. Movement, attacks, and more powerful abilities require one point, forcing you to consider each move carefully. Watching your carefully planned strategies pay off feels quite rewarding, though you still need to roll the dice to land a hit. Crits and fails haven't gone anywhere.

Six character classes are currently available with unique moves, offering familiar choices between a fighter, paladin, sorcerer, rogue, ranger, and bard. It's well balanced, as each class comes with its own strengths and drawbacks; setting off fireballs as the sorcerer never gets old with crowd control, nor does the paladin smiting his foes into oblivion in delightfully over-the-top fashion.

They could benefit from a greater range of voice lines, though; there are only so many times a bard can use the same vicious mockery insults before they get stale, even with decent voice acting. I'd like to see some wider options for character creation, too. Much of the joy in D&D comes from creating your own heroes, but right now, you're stuck with limited cosmetic adjustments using the existing base character for each class.

Battles remain challenging, though usually not overwhelmingly so like it could sometimes feel before. Enemies don't spawn nearly as often in Demeo x D&D. You often need to find the way out or defeat the boss, collecting gold to buy new cards along the way from the local bazaar or after individual stages in longer dungeons. My co-op partner and our two hirelings - we each controlled one of these extra characters - only really struggled as we reached the first campaign's end.

It's worth clearing out all the enemies and clearing side quests, as you'll gradually earn more XP that unlocks new abilities, and you pick one of three options from three separate categories each time. That's based on your chosen class and primary/secondary abilities you hold proficiency in, such as strength or constitution. This delivers useful upgrades like extra hit points, less damage from specific attacks, healing if you kill enemies, and more.

You can also reuse previous characters too, giving some nice continuity for these otherwise standalone campaigns. What's slightly annoying is that hirelings don't level up with you, which leaves you disadvantaged in a campaign's later stages if you're playing solo or without a full team of four. This leaves some of your party stuck at level one and that gradually feels more unbalanced as you progress, so I'd love to see Resolution address this in a future update. Days after launch, I'm also encountering connection issues that keep interrupting games even after the hotfix. Infrequent enough that it's not a major issue, though no less annoying when it does happen. At least you can jump back into a session easily enough.

This is roughly the extent of D&D's gameplay influence here, since ability checks are mostly limited to one-off actions that only have a marginal impact. Battles often limit this to avoiding obstacles or traps, while outside of combat throws in a few choices with NPCs - usually with side quests - on how best to deal with enemies. You can't choose a specific character to handle checks either, meaning you're stuck using the party leader or whoever activated an event. Perfectly fine with traps but for story situations, continuously failing rolls can get frustrating when another party member is proficient with the required checks.

Battlemarked largely sticks to the original Demeo's established mechanics with the appropriate Dungeons & Dragons set dressing, which feels fitting enough and evolves upon the original game well. But it's these moments where I believe Resolution could take slightly better advantage of what such a crossover can provide.

I'm not expecting Baldur's Gate 3 levels of branching narrative, but Dungeons & Dragons is all about theater of the mind. A good DM won't just let anything fly; an even better one will give you choices while subtly guiding you on a certain path. Choosing a DM-less system is understandable given the base game it's working from, though I'd love to see more meaningful story choices beyond some side quests. What's here is a deliberately simplified take on Wizards of the Coast's tabletop hit, though I'm still having a great time with friends.

Demeo x D&D is a great way to introduce newcomers to the Forgotten Realms that's highly enjoyable for more veteran players of both. Returning to these iconic locations in a new way continues to intrigue me, scratching an itch I've had since leaving my regular Dungeons & Dragons campaign two years ago. Progress saves as you advance, and reaching each chapter's end ultimately feels worth it for that sense of accomplishment.

I can only hope it'll be a similar story when Resolution Games begins releasing additional campaigns via future DLC. Given the lengthier nature of Embers of Chaos and Crown of Frost, I'm hopeful for what comes next. As an added touch, unlocking lengthier missions as one-shot dungeons upon completing them is a welcome touch for those of us after something a little more brief.

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked - Final Verdict

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is a fitting evolution that's both newcomer-friendly and expands upon the original Demeo well. This crossover packs more expansive campaigns, better difficulty balancing with enemy spawns, lovely visuals, and a greater story focus that better complements these gameplay systems.

I do wish this offered a little more gameplay freedom to better fit D&D. Further narrative freedom would leave your decisions feeling more impactful, leveling up hirelings would help solo players, and I'd love a more expansive custom character creator. Still, Demeo x D&D gets a strong recommendation from me and if you enjoyed Resolution's older hit, you'll feel right at home here.

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

Fitness experience Les Mills XR Dance gets a PC VR release next month.

Developed by Odders Lab, Les Mills XR Dance is a fitness program that features over 40 dance routines, one that partners with EDM record label Monstercat for the soundtrack. Featuring five different presenters and four difficulty levels, it's choreographed for different music styles like pop, club, and more. First released on Quest two years ago, a new Steam page confirms it's heading to PC VR soon.

Since that initial release in 2023, Les Mills XR Dance has received numerous post-launch content updates that appear to be included straight away on Steam. New updates have slowed down across the last year, though previous patches added new workouts, a playlist feature, more beginner-focused sessions, further difficulty levels, and more.

This also follows April's PC VR release for Les Mills XR Bodycombat, and Odders Lab recently released the Focus Mode DLC for its older title on both Steam and PlayStation VR2. Already available on Quest, it introduced a Space Station environment, eight new workouts, and premium futuristic cosmetics.

Les Mills XR Dance is out now on the Meta Quest platform and Pico, while the Steam release will follow this December.

Marvel's Deadpool VR is currently the top-earning game in the Quest weekly revenue charts.

Marking Meta's latest first-party title exclusive to Quest 3 and 3S, Marvel's Deadpool VR secured the top spot following last week's launch for $50. Developed by Twisted Pixel Games, this arcade-style action game sees you playing as the titular merc with a mouth after he's kidnapped by the supervillain Mojo. It currently sits at a 4.5-star rating on the Meta Horizon Store with 546 reviews.

This week's other big debut is Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, an official crossover between Resolution Games' tabletop adventure from 2021 and Wizards of the Coast's fantasy hit. Featuring two campaigns with more to come, it's taken #4 in the weekly revenue charts following last week's multiplatform launch for $30, sitting at a 4.2-star rating after 224 reviews.

Otherwise, it's familiar names with UG sitting at #2 and Beat Saber close behind at #3. Animal Company at #5, respectively followed by Gorilla Tag, VRChat, Blade & Sorcery: Nomad, Yeeps, and PokerStars - Vegas Infinite to round out the top 10. Despite reaching #6 two weeks ago, Triangle Factory's 16v16 shooter Forefront has moved out of the top 10 but still charts at #13.

This list may evolve as the week goes on, and you can find the full charts here for more details on the top 50 weekly earners. We'll continue monitoring these standings as we approach the end of this year.

Roboquest VR takes an already exhilarating FPS roguelite to deliver a near-flawless adaptation, becoming one of my new favorite games to experience in a VR headset.

VR is no stranger to flatscreen conversions, and Flat2VR Studios quickly made a name for itself doing exactly that. Roboquest VR is the latest example, taking RyseUp Studios' 2023 roguelite FPS and thoroughly overhauling it. You control a Guardian robot taking down waves of hostile enemy machines, blazing a path for your human companion Max towards Haven 8 - an oasis in the desert that makes up most of this post-apocalyptic Earth.

During a run, players can find any number of weapons with Borderlands-esque modifiers from chests, dropped from enemies, found as rewards from challenge rooms, and offered for sale at rest points. The variety on display here is impressive, and that's not even accounting for the different variables weapons can be rolled with. They range from standard rifles and shotguns to energy weapons, joined by handheld fare such as tomahawks, kunai, boomerangs, bows, and more.

This is where Roboquest VR first differentiates itself from the original release. With a keyboard and mouse, range, rate of fire, and such were different - actually controlling each weapon feels much the same. In VR, that's not quite the case.

Bows need you to manually notch an arrow much like other VR experiences; for throwable weapons, instead of merely aiming and holding down the trigger, you instead hold down the trigger, aim a swing, and then let go once you've achieved your desired arc. You can reload weapons with a button click, though Flat2VR has pleasingly added a manual reload function where you actively eject and load magazines. It feels incredible in action, especially with the optional laser sight enabled.

Other retooled elements relate to the user interface; while by default there's a floating health bar for your convenience, you can check your left wrist for more granular information on your status, including HP and how close you are to leveling up. The right wrist can showcase a minimap when raised and can be expanded by holding down the right grip button. Upon level-up, the perks you're offered are portrayed as physical cards that you must grab and then confirm your choice by holding down the trigger while the perk card is in your hand. All very welcome changes, and these go a long way towards grounding the VR experience.

Many of your various Guardian classes' unique abilities have also been retooled to better suit VR gameplay. The default class has a recharging shield tied to pushing in the right analog stick, while holding down the right grip and trigger lets you use a melee attack with the thrust of your arm. That can even be upgraded into a sledgehammer through the selection of random level-up perks, and of course a slightly different focus on swings rather than thrusts. Other classes provide functions like summonable drones that distract and attack enemies, an explosive laser charge, and more. If you didn't know any better, you'd struggle to tell that Roboquest wasn't a VR native release to begin with.

Still, Roboquest was already a fairly brutal experience, and its VR conversion makes it even more difficult. Once you get to grips with the controls, however, it's an exhilarating experience unlike anything else - Roboquest isn't just a fast-paced game, but verticality is a core element of its gameplay loop. Jumping onto grind rails and rocketing yourself across the map with a double jump while peppering bullets on the enemies below isn't just a possibility; it's basically expected when you near a run's end game. Some bosses even outright depend on it! It's one thing when all that aiming only requires a mouse, but when you get your whole body in the equation, what was already a taxing experience feels like it asks even more from you. Even if in return is a far more memorable experience.

There are, of course, additional difficulty options (four in total) for players looking for them. Easy mode offers a slightly less oppressive difficulty curve while still maintaining most of the friction that makes the game shine; a sensible choice as you accustom yourself to Roboquest VR and its controls. Levels are randomly generated, though it's best to think of it like Risk of Rain's procedural generation; the bulk of each level's layout remains the same, so you can quickly learn the best way to beeline from point A to point B.

Considering that some of the game's branching paths are locked behind fairly strict time requirements - many of which eventually lead to crystals that, once activated, make the final level less difficult - it's all well and good that's the case. It's a good enough hook to keep playing, even though the story is by no means the game's focus. There's worldbuilding for players to look out for if that's their fancy, however - and some of that does tie into some of the game's optional objectives.

Sometimes one path provides a quest item to hand over to an NPC found on an entirely different route from the one you took; maybe you'll be rewarded the passcode or ticket to access an area you couldn't reach the first time. Individual locations don't change much beyond the enemies you find there, yet there's still plenty of strategy to be had with each run and deciding what your ultimate goal is. These feel like the perfect length for VR; not accounting for moments where the timer is paused while in camps, a successful run typically lasts between 30-45 minutes.

Upon ending your run, you can spend resources accrued within to upgrade your base. These include upgrading the amount of HP you gain from a level-up or increasing the rarity of weapons you might find in chests, alongside spawning NPCs that can reroll or add new abilities to your weapons. You can even increase their rarity when using Powercells gained during a run.

Completing NPC quests rewards you with gadgets, permanent toggleable modifiers that apply from the outset of a run. Some quests, beyond simply requiring items from other branching paths, might require specific actions. You may need to bring a specific weapon to show an NPC, save up on Powercells to open a door, or use a specific Guardian class to get past a wall of lasers. Some of these are pure upgrades - one will net you a free Powercell upon level-up, for example - while others offer trade-offs, like the Shades which increase your base damage but limit your starting health. They're still well worth seeking out regardless, as toggling them on and off back at your basecamp can radically change how runs play out in some cases.

Like any good roguelite, Roboquest VR delivers a satisfying loop that both complements the moment-to-moment gameplay and actively pushes you outside of your comfort zone. Exploring these zones and figuring out where to find these hidden areas or logs detailing some of the game's lore also benefits from the transition to VR. Looking out for level geometry you can use as a makeshift parkour track to reach somewhere out of reach feels all the more engaging when it feels like you're the one making those jumps, and finding these hidden areas.

Roboquest VR - Final Verdict

Roboquest VR takes what was already a great flatscreen roguelite experience and transforms it into a new VR classic. Moment-to-moment gameplay feels fantastic, and the game is right at home on the platform. Flat2VR Studios should take pride in the work they've accomplished, as it feels like an essential experience for hardcore VR players without being revolutionary. I just wish that co-op was available at launch; I'd like any reason to hop back in for another round.

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

You check into a hotel, but no one’s there. Not even at the reception desk. You sign your name, but then the paper disappears. Things only make less sense from there.

The entire structure of the hotel makes no sense. Turn a corner, and suddenly you can see where you were before at the other side of the room, or an impossible corridor that turns in on itself. And what’s that oozing red substance that seems to be everywhere?

Hotel Infinity is a geometrically impossible labyrinth of an escape room, and that’s precisely what makes it one of the best VR experiences I’ve ever had in the medium.

The brainchild of Manifold Garden developer William Chyr and his team at Studio Chyr, Hotel Infinity takes the abstract puzzle exploration of his previous work and implants it into a roomscale VR experience like few others. Indeed, it builds on many of those ideas of impossible spaces and portals to new areas that the game deployed to allow that unique puzzle title to thrive, naturally translating the idea to this very different medium.

Basic techniques that Hotel Infinity employs to make its physically 2×2 meter space feel much larger are not itself new, and you may have experienced the idea before in Tea For God. But how it combines the approach with interesting puzzles makes for a unique experience.

Your reasons for arriving at the hotel are unexplained, but the point once inside is to reach your room, then find a way out. Which, when no corner or object in this space obeys the laws of physics and order you’re used to, is more difficult than it sounds. It’s also incredibly unnerving to never know where you’re going next, witnessing everything from dense corridors to sights of massive hedge mazes and the ever-present glowing neon sign of Hotel Infinity. There’s no dialogue, and there’s barely any music bar the occasional riff and subtle audio cues during puzzles to guide your way. But that doesn’t mean that the game doesn’t raise your heartbeat for its unique atmosphere and the uncertainty over what’s to come.

It's split into five chapters, each taking you through a set route through the hotel before warping you back to your hotel room and venturing deeper. There are puzzles that must be cleared along the way but beyond some basic math and spatial awareness, these are hardly challenging for anyone with even a base intelligence for these sorts of titles. That’s not the point when taking in this space and discovering (or interpreting in your own terms) the secrets are more important.

For those who lack a 2×2 meter physical space, there is a stationary mode, but I strongly recommend finding the space to play Hotel Infinity how it's designed to be played. Trust me, as someone living in a Japanese apartment that, while not small, did require a bit of reorganization to make work, I know how challenging this can be if you don’t live in a large place. But it's worth it. Hotel Infinity is so clearly designed around having the space to make it work that without it, it feels lacking in the spark necessary to get into its many joys under the surface.

If you can find the space, the experience that Hotel Infinity delivers is magical. It's like a bridge between home VR and the location-based spaces that take advantage of huge, expansive locations to offer a free-roaming experience enhanced by VR. Having experienced many of these in Japan, it’s hard not to see the wonders of being fully transported into a haunted house or location using the tech as you physically, carefully wander the eerie corridors one step at a time. There are many great at-home VR horror experiences or titles in other genres that can transport you to new worlds with more depth. Still, I won’t lie about occasionally wishing I could take that next step myself, and not with a thumbstick.

Hotel Infinity manages to find that happy medium by using impossible space to create the immersive exploratory feel of these commercial VR attractions with a longer adventure, puzzles, and greater possibilities than ever. It’s precisely what makes the roomscale mode of this game such a wonder. Within this 2×2 meter space, corridors are designed in such a way that you can fully walk and duck your way through every area in the game without needing the controllers for anything other than gripping, holding, and interacting with objects or levers in the environment. Walking through this hotel and turning each corridor not knowing what you’ll see next brings an added layer of fear and excitement, and before long you forget where you are. Sure, you don’t need to step over that gap or duck to get through the door; it doesn’t exist, but I bet you will anyhow.

It makes Hotel Infinity one of the most immersive VR games on the market, and a showcase of the technology that should become the standard for showing newcomers what’s possible in VR moving forward. This can also have the opposite effect, though, where every exciting and mind-blowing effect is coupled with moments of genuine terror that feel so much more real when you have to take a step towards them. For that reason, I can’t recommend the later moments of this game to anyone with a major fear of heights. I have a partial and circumstantial fear that manifests when I feel directly in control of whether I can fall from such a height, leaving me genuinely worried traversing some of these later areas.

But isn’t that a testament to just how well this game can transport you by virtue of its free-standing 360-degree movement? The core design of moving within this contained and transforming space is its biggest asset, making this idea possible and bringing the immersive free-roaming VR into the home in a way often impossible for setpiece-driven narrative works.

Sure, some of its puzzles can feel overly simplistic, and it's a very short adventure that can be cleared in about 2 hours in a single sitting before the battery notification of your headset even buzzes. But when it’s this much of a wonder to explore, that hardly matters.

Hotel Infinity - Final Verdict

Hotel Infinity is a standout example of true room-scale VR, and a must-own for anyone interested in understanding the potential of this medium. Notably, the potential is not merely to be a new way to experience familiar ideas, but to offer experiences only possible in VR. What a revelation of a game this 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.

Tracked: Shoot to Survive released its first patch with visual upgrades and new features.

Recently launched on Quest 3 and 3S, we had mixed feelings in our Tracked: Shoot to Survive review. Though we considered it to be an engaging survival adventure with great VR-focused crafting mechanics, we had notable criticisms at launch for its presentation, enemy AI, and performance. Now, developer Incuvo has released its first big patch just over a week later.

Most notable here is a series of visual upgrades, with Incuvo promising better resolution and improvements to lighting, tree shadows, and the skybox. Stealth grass is also visually thicker, and contaminated meat has been adjusted to be “visually more repulsive.”

Other new changes include a new sleeping feature, which allows you to rest at your Father's Cabin to recover HP and skip some time. UI adjustments have been made to the fast travel board “for easier identification,” new cooking icons have been introduced, and your notepad's interactivity has also been adjusted. You can find the full patch notes here.

Our reviewer, Luis Aviles, went hands-on directly with this update following its release. He informed me that loading times are noticeably reduced and textures appear more detailed, though he's still noticing performance stuttering and advised the sound effects are still “hit or miss.” However, he considers this a “step in the right direction” compared to the launch version.

Tracked: Shoot to Survive is out now on Quest 3 and 3S.

Little Planet allows you to become a city planner and socialite on a world of your own making, and it recently went free-to-play on Quest.

In Little Planet, you become the architect of a world in almost every sense. You can shape it on a macro level, shifting rivers and cliffs to your liking. Then, roam around your curated space, chopping trees and crafting furniture, all while living among adorable anthropomorphic villagers. It's a comforting setup that's easy to get lost in, and after exploring and fine-tuning my digital home away from home, I'm impressed by how deep these systems can go.

Alas, an adorable utopia isn't built in a day, and your time with Little Planet begins with the basics. Taught through a series of approachable tutorials, you'll quickly learn how to collect materials, earn recipes to craft with, and interact with the all-important inventory system at the center of it all. Each aspect is introduced quickly, though given their practical nature, it doesn't take long to feel at home with these systems.

Similar to other sandbox experiences like Minecraft and Animal Crossing, much of Little Planet's world is engaged with through the moreish process of experimentation and exploration. What happens if I chop down this tree? Or if you're like me, how much random junk can I fit in my inventory before it's full? These questions create a sense of intrigue that's easy to invest in, further bolstered by Little Planet's Pedia, which serves as an enticing scavenger hunt list.

For our hands-on experience, the developers at VRWood provided UploadVR with a late-game account for Little Planet, which also allowed me to experience the simulator with all its systems unlocked. This gave me a brief taste of the expanded building types, such as the furniture shop and fashion house, as well as a full range of equipment, including the peashooter, fishing rod, gardening tools, axe, and a watering can.

When compared to the sparse planet you began with, it's impressive how much you can accomplish if you invest your time in its sizable open world. As someone who puts a lot of stock into customization, I'm particularly impressed by the range of dress-up and accessory options available to jazz up your avatar. That includes everything from glitzy star glasses to bucket hats and adorable coquette-collared tops. 

Perhaps my favourite aspect of Little Planet was the fishing minigame, and I'm embarrassed to admit how much time I've spent happily staring at a bobber. Similar to real-world fishing, here you equip a rod and fling your arm back before casting your line out as if you're Indiana Jones cracking your whip. Then, once a fish has nibbled your bobber, you can use your free hand to grip the reel and hastily crank it backward. It's a simple yet surprisingly meditative process, made even better by the sloshing of the waves and the clicky reel sounds of the rod.

I would be remiss not to mention the residents of the world, dubbed Planet Pals, whose playful banter garnered a few giggles from me across my hands-on. It can be lonely working away on the planet by yourself, especially if you aren't keen on the game's social features, and I appreciated having someone to chat to besides myself. While their dialogue isn't overly complex or moving, at least in my experience, they do well to imbue the world with a sense of much-needed personality. Of the bunch, fishing fanatic Rusty is a particular standout, thanks to their pirate quips and comical seafaring attire.

One thing has become clear across my time with Little Planet so far, and it's that I'm only scratching the surface. Beyond the plethora of day-to-day activities to tackle, I didn't get a chance to test out the social features or travel to other worlds. Even so, Little Planet leaves a confident first impression, providing life sim players an opportunity to curate custom worlds in VR.

Little Planet is available now on Quest.

Puzzling Places adds a 'Replay Tool' in its latest free Quest update, launching alongside the game's newest premium puzzle, “A Painter's Dream.”

The new experimental Replay Tool automatically records the many individual moments in which a new piece is added to your puzzle. At the moment the puzzle is completed, it automatically generates a full timelapse video of the entire puzzling session. This allows players to share their builds with the Puzzling Places community without the need for manual recording or editing.

Releasing alongside the Replay Tool is a new premium puzzle, “A Painter's Dream.” This peaceful riverside escape is inspired by impressionist paintings, so think water lilies, sun-dappled ponds, delicate swans, and quiet cafés. Unlike the Replay Tool, that's receiving a wider release that covers Quest, PS VR2, and Pico.

You can see that in action below.

Developed by realities.io, Puzzling Places is a relaxing 3D jigsaw puzzle game in which players can build all sorts of 3D puzzles in VR and MR modes across solo and multiplayer modes. The game continues introducing new puzzles you can tackle with different-sized piece sets, with more added monthly.

Puzzling Places is out now on Quest, Apple Vision Pro, Pico, and PS VR2, while it's also coming to Steam at a later date.

An Apple Immersive Video documentary about Real Madrid is coming next year, "with a level of access that fans have never experienced before".

If you're an American reading this who doesn't know much about what you call "soccer", here's some context: Real Madrid is one of the most successful football clubs of all time, and has signed some of the best players of all time, including both Ronaldos, Zinedine Zidane, and David Beckham. In the year 2000, FIFA even officially declared Real Madrid "Club of the Century".

Today, Real Madrid and Apple confirmed work on an Apple Immersive Video documentary about the club, captured during last month's Champions League match against Juventus.

Apple says the documentary was filmed using over 30 Blackmagic immersive cameras, and "brings viewers inside the world’s most decorated club, capturing moments from practice to the pitch with a level of access that fans have never experienced before."

In an interview with GQ Spain, Real Madrid's president Florentino Pérez described the documentary as just the beginning of a long-term plan to connect the club's "billion" strong global fanbase to the stadium using technology. He references the "Infinite Bernabéu", an idea he has floated in previous interviews, a goal of one day letting fans all over the world virtually attend Real Madrid home matches using VR.

Apple Vision Pro Is Getting Live Apple Immersive LA Lakers NBA Games

Select LA Lakers NBA games will be streamed in Apple Immersive to Apple Vision Pro owners next year, the first-ever live content for the format.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

That strongly suggests that the next step of Real Madrid's plan is to stream live games in Apple Immersive.

The first known live Apple Immersive Video offering will be select LA Lakers NBA games, set to be streamed next year via Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive Live, a special variant of the immersive camera creators are using for prerecorded Apple Immersive Video content.

The announcement came almost nine years after NextVR started streaming weekly NBA games to the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR headset in 180-degree. In 2020 Apple acquired NextVR, and leveraged its expertise and IP to develop Apple Immersive Video.

Interactive VR movie Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom is out now on PlayStation VR2.

Created by Bandai Namco Filmworks and Atlas V, Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom first released last year on Quest. Offering a VR interactive anime film with an original story, it's set three years after Char's Counterattack in the Universal Century 0096, delivering a more narrative-focused tale with light gameplay elements. After appearing last month on the PlayStation Store, that's now available on PlayStation VR2.

Silver Phantom focuses on a mercenary group called Argent Keil, presenting a neutral insight into the war between the Earth Federation and Zeon. With a group of Neo Zeon's remnants called The Sleeves causing issues, these scenes unfold across 6DoF, 360° environments and use a cel-shaded presentation to match the anime's visuals.

We went hands-on during Venice Immersive 2024 and considered publisher Astrea describing this as an interactive movie to be a smart decision. While we found the actual interactivity to be disappointingly limited, though you can still participate in mech battles, we believed Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom is an experience that's ultimately “carried by its narrative.”

Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom is out now on PlayStation VR2 and the Meta Quest platform.

You can now turn new Horizon Hyperscape captures into unlisted Horizon Worlds, letting you invite friends to join you in them as Meta Avatars.

Launched at Connect 2025, Meta's Horizon Hyperscape Capture app for Quest 3 and Quest 3S lets you use your headset to scan a real-world environment, such as a room, to create a photorealistic VR replica.

The Hyperscape scanning process requires between 5 and 10 minutes of walking around the scene while wearing the headset, and it's followed by between 1 and 8 hours of processing on Meta's servers, depending on the complexity of the capture.

Hands-On: Meta Horizon Hyperscape Captures Photorealistic VR Scenes On Quest 3

Meta Horizon Hyperscape, rolling out now in the US, lets you capture a real-world scene with your Quest 3 or Quest 3S and visit it in VR with photorealistic graphics.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

At launch, Hyperscape was a solo experience, and you couldn't share your captures with others. It was also cloud rendered, requiring a very strong and stable internet connection at all times.

Now, just over two months later, Meta is "rolling out" an overhaul of the technology.

Instead of creating cloud-rendered captures only accessible within the app, Hyperscape now creates a special kind of Horizon Worlds destination, a Hyperscape world. While the initial processing is still done on Meta's servers, Hyperscape worlds are rendered on-device in VR, via the Horizon Engine that also powers Quest's new Immersive Home and Horizon Central.

Once a new Hyperscape world finishes processing, you'll see Invite and Share buttons, with the latter generating a URL that you can send to friends.

People with the link can join the Hyperscape world in VR from a Quest 3 or Quest 3S, or in flatscreen on a smartphone in the Meta Horizon app, and you can reset access to the link at any time, according to Meta.

For example, here are links to Gordon Ramsay’s home kitchen, Chance the Rapper’s live room, Happy Kelli's Crocs room, and UFC Apex as joinable Hyperscape worlds.

Hyperscape worlds currently support up to 8 people per instance, and Meta says it "hopes" to increase that number in future.

As with all Horizon Worlds, for people joining on smartphones the experience will continue to be cloud-rendered. The on-device rendering is for VR only.

Note that Hyperscapes scanned before the new update cannot be shared, and are only accessible solo in the Horizon Hyperscape Preview app.

UploadVR plans to test the new social Hyperscape experience as soon as we can, and we'll bring you footage and impressions once we do.

A couple weeks ago, fully reclined horizontally on a couch at Valve HQ, I watched a video streaming from the web via a virtual browser window floating in the open air of Linux.

When I slipped the Steam Frame off my head, I congratulated a Valve industrial designer who worked on it. I had just spent four days in Galaxy XR with a thick rigid strap and a knob on the back of my head preventing me from even thinking about what I had just done so comfortably in Steam Frame.

"I don't think I've experienced that in a hard shell before," I told the Valve representative.

"I don't think it's been done before," he replied, holding Steam Frame's cushioned battery in one hand. "Starting from this and going along the strap, that's why we eliminated all sorts of knobs or mechanism in the back that could protrude and prevent the user from laying back."

A great many people consuming the news of Valve's announcement find themselves curious but unconvinced the private company will land at a compelling price for the LCD-based standalone VR system. Many wanted a Quest killer and some wanted a high-end successor for their wired PC VR system. Half-Life 3 hasn't been announced and Valve isn't working on VR games right now. So without trying Steam Frame themselves, or knowing the price, we're seeing people reporting potent withdrawal symptoms from extended use of copium.

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UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton and David Heaney went hands-on with Steam Frame at Valve HQ, trying both standalone use and PC VR.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

Over the course of our recent discussion about Steam Frame, David and I found ourselves in a circular loop with our audience, essentially trying to sort out whether people could be both disappointed in Valve's choices and sequestering funds anyway for hardware purchases sometime next year.

While we won't have a review of Steam Frame for you until sometime next year, meanwhile, Bigscreen claimed high sales numbers on Valve's announcement day, likely from buyers who were waiting to see what Valve decided before committing to the Beyond 2 for their wired PC VR setup.

Steam Frame's Value

VR headsets really didn't go into bed before the Vision Pro, and there's no hard-backed strap design sold by Apple.

I've probably worn Apple's headset as many hours in bed as I have seated, with standing active use representing a very small fraction of my time in Vision Pro. Yes, I miss Beat Saber and Walkabout Mini Golf and Half-Life: Alyx, but I recently got access to those with ALVR streaming and PlayStation VR2 controllers.

What keeps me in Vision Pro for so many hours is that the headset multitasks iPad apps in a way no iPad can while going places no iPad goes. Because I had so many surfaces around me I could use, I spent hundreds of hours in an Apple VR headset and only the tiniest sliver of that time found me interacting with fully immersive VR games.

When calculating the value of Steam Frame, your equation is deeply flawed if it assumes VR use solely in standing or seated scenarios. If you can't imagine the headset's grayscale passthrough as a tunnel through reality taking you from sitting on the couch to reclined in bed, so you can continue playing your favorite Steam game for another two hours, then you have no frame of reference to calculate whether Valve's upcoming headset will add value to your life.

Valve sent out the first developer kits for Steam Frame in ski goggle cases. Its rear battery pack and cushion can travel inside the facial interface.

Any VR headset made 2014 to 2025 that used your Steam library required external equipment making it difficult to even imagine why you might want to fall asleep in the falling snow on the helipad from the opening level of Metal Gear Solid.

I had that environment on Quest set as my home from SideQuest before Meta replaced it with its new immersive home space. I've found that when trying to relax in a place like that with the front-heavy Quest, the battery strains the soft strap's ability to hold the headset to your eyes. Even without the battery on the front of the face in Vision Pro, using Apple's Dual Loop Band, I found the headset too loose to be held comfortably by its soft strap when turning on my side in bed. I've already shared my impressions of Apple’s new Dual Knit Band, but if there are any Vision Pro M2 and M5 owners with the strap in our audience I'd invite them to share more widely their experience with whether that balanced soft strap allows them to wear it in more places.

When I was at the San Francisco airport earlier this year returning to New York from my demo of Bigscreen Beyond 2, I spotted another Vision Pro owner in the terminal. He was carrying the large white bag strapped to his rolling luggage that Apple sold when the headset first launched. Meanwhile, I had the much more portable grey Belkin bag Apple started selling some time after, with my headset stored vertically and a flip out cover built in to protect the lenses.

Instead of strapped around my luggage, my bag goes over the shoulder with a pocket for a folding keyboard or, in recent weeks, you could find the Muse pen a useful companion ready to pop out and move windows or sketch something.

Why am I spending so much time telling you about the places a $3,500 headset goes? Because we all know Valve’s standalone makes trade-offs to come under the price of the $1,000 Index, but until you wear one you can't believe that all of these choices result in a headset you might be interested in wearing on a 6 hour flight. When that happens, whatever the price, it will literally be measured as a fraction of what Apple charges to take Vision Pro into those same places.

The relevant comparison for calculating value here isn't the OLED of Vision Pro vs. the LCD of Steam Frame. The comparison to think about is whether you're sitting back comfortably or craning your neck downward at a physical display. Are you looking at the back of a seat rest for six hours or playing your favorite Steam game?

I was only half kidding about those copium withdrawals. If Valve pulls the trigger on Half-Life 3, there's a good chance it will run flat on Steam Frame just like Portal 2 does.

SteamVR supports all PC VR headsets but Valve has really only directly supported three devices in a decade of VR – Vive, Index, Frame. And their developers are not making a VR game right now. But if Valve makes the third game in any of their trilogies? Imagine how the variables in the value equation change if Steam Frame is the most comfortable way to enjoy Half-Life 3 on a flight, train, or in bed on the ceiling.

Wake up, Mr. Freeman.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 is now out of Early Access with a launch update that adds a singleplayer campaign.

The original The Thrill of the Fight arrived on Steam for the original HTC Vive all the way back in 2016, and is still considered to be one of the best VR games of all time, as well as one of the first to get you breaking a sweat. It was ported to Quest soon after the original Oculus Quest launched, and last saw a major update in 2023.

Compared to the original, the biggest addition in The Thrill of the Fight 2 is multiplayer, which was the only mode available when it entered Early Access on Quest headsets back in November.

The Thrill of the Fight 2 also adds a visible and customizable player body model, as well as a thumbstick locomotion option in addition to the default room-scale movement. It's also a little more game-like, with visible scoring, a departure from the simulation feel of the original.

While the multiplayer-only Early Access release was $10, the full game with a singleplayer campaign too is now $20 for new buyers (existing buyers get the update for free).

You can find Thrill of the Fight 2 on the Meta Horizon Store, with support for Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and Quest 3S.

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The Thrill of the Fight 2 entered early access last year on Quest, and we sparred with creator Ian Fitz to learn more.

UploadVRAamir Mehar

There's no timeline yet for a PC VR release, though there is a flatscreen PC viewer app launching on Steam soon for spectating fights between Quest players.

TCL is showing off a compact 2.5K RGB OLED panel for XR headsets that could be the perfect midpoint between cheap LCD and expensive micro-OLED.

Today, almost every affordable headset uses LCD panels, while premium options use micro-OLED, technically known as OLED-on-silicon (OLEDoS).

LCD is cheap, but has poor contrast, forming a relatively washed-out image that compresses the darkest details into a gray haze in place of deep blacks. Meanwhile micro-OLED offers vibrant colors with rich contrast, and can achieve extremely high resolution without increasing the bulk of headsets, but is incredibly difficult to manufacture and thus very expensive.

Some headsets like Meta Quest Pro, the Pimax Crystal series, and Somnium VR1 use advanced LCD panels with an array of mini backlights to improve contrast compared to regular LCD, and a quantum dot layer to enhance colors, but the result is still a far cry from the self-emissive nature of OLED, where every pixel provides its own light. Further, the extra layers increase thickness, weight, heat, and power draw.

Of course, there is another display technology for headsets between LCD and micro-OLED, one that also offers many of the latter's benefits: regular OLED, also known as OLED on glass.

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OLED on glass is what's used in your smartphone, your smartwatch, and perhaps your TV too, if you paid a lot for it. For VR, it was seen as the only game in town between 2014 and 2016, used in the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

HTC continued to use OLED in Vive Pro, as did Oculus for the original Quest. But LCD soon offered higher density at lower cost, a killer combination for a market looking to scale up while increasing resolution, and so investment in new custom OLED panels to keep up with the density demands of VR mostly dried up within just a few years.

The only regular OLED VR headset still on the market today is PlayStation VR2. And one key reason that it's the only headset from a major company with new fresnel lenses is that, when it released, there was simply no OLED with high enough density to be compact enough to be suitable for pancake lenses (among other issues, which we'll get to later in the article).

That brings us to TCL's new OLED panel, which its China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) division is showing at the Display Tech-Ecosystem Conference (DTC 2025) this week in China.

The company says it's the highest density RGB OLED-on-glass display in the world, and has the 120Hz refresh rate ideal for VR.

It's almost twice as dense as the OLED in PlayStation VR2, while using a full RGB subpixel arrangement, letting it offer 73% more pixels and 160% more subpixels despite being just over half the size.

Its size makes it ideal for use with pancake lenses, its RGB subpixels mean it shouldn't need a softening diffusion layer, and its resolution is notably higher than the LCDs in Meta Quest 3 and Valve's Steam Frame.

Putting it all together, this means TCL's new OLED panel could power clear and sharp headsets with rich colors, deep contrast, and true blacks, but without the sky-high prices you get with micro-OLED. And this could be key to delivering compelling products that sit somewhere between Meta Quest 3 and Samsung Galaxy XR in the market.

Cheaper Apple Vision Headsets Could Use Regular OLED

A major display supplier reportedly sent Apple samples of regular OLED panels meant for use in future much cheaper Vision headsets.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

This isn't the first time we've heard about the idea of high-density regular OLED as a way to deliver some of the advantages of micro-OLED but in far more affordable headsets.

Over a year ago, South Korean news outlet The Elec reported that Japan's JDI was pitching Apple a 1500 PPI regular OLED for the rumored "Vision Air" headset, and that Samsung was working on a similar display too.

That's notable because it's almost exactly the same density as TCL's new OLED, and may suggest that TCL too is (or was) pitching the panel to Apple.

For now, TCL isn't saying whether it has any customers for the new OLED panel, but does confirm that it's designed for "XR devices".

There are, however, a few major unanswered questions.

The first is whether the panel is bright enough to overcome the inefficiency of pancake lenses, and the fact that they work best with polarized light, which OLED doesn't provide. There are workarounds for this, if the panel layers and lenses are specifically designed to work together. And the brightness of OLED panels has significantly improved in recent years, with the latest iPhones and Apple Watches for example reaching 3000 nits.

The other question is whether the new panel exhibits the same non-uniform fixed-pattern noise we've seen in many regular OLED headsets like PlayStation VR2, the mura, an issue not present in any micro-OLED we've viewed to date. Overcoming this may be the key to reviving regular OLED as a great option for midrange headsets, so we're incredibly curious to find out whether TCL has done so.

Marvel's Deadpool VR, the latest Quest 3 and Quest 3S exclusive blockbuster, is out now for $50.

Developed by Meta-owned Twisted Pixel Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, Deadpool VR has a cel-shaded graphics style, and unlike in the movies, Deadpool in VR is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, not Ryan Reynolds.

The arcade-style action game sees you, as Deadpool, kidnapped by the supervillain Mojo (voiced by John Leguizamo) and forced to hunt down talent for his galaxy-wide reality TV show. The talent you'll kidnap are iconic villains from across the Marvel universe, including Mephisto, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, and Ultimo.

In UploadVR's review of Deadpool VR, Pete Austin described the visuals as paying off "beautifully", with the best implementation of cel-shading that he's seen yet in VR. He also found Neil Patrick Harris' performance to be "easily on par" with Ryan Reynolds in the films, and the "gloriously over-the-top" soundtrack to feel like it was straight out of one too.

However, his feelings on the combat system were more mixed. While it impressed in the early phases of the game, he criticized the fact that it's "disappointingly weightless", with weapons clipping through each other, hands clipping through the environment, and two-handed weapons feeling like they’re made of paper.

"Deadpool VR is a paradox. It captures the antihero's essence perfectly but wraps it around mechanics that just never feel like they completely deliver - great presentation carrying combat that never quite lives up to its potential."

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Marvel’s Deadpool VR captures the antihero’s essence well, but doesn’t fully deliver on the potential of its combat.

UploadVRPete Austin

You should go read Pete's full review, and if it leaves you wanting to, you can buy Deadpool VR on the Meta Horizon Store for Quest 3 and Quest 3S, priced at $50.

Healer is a mixed reality roguelite where you save the universe one encounter at a time, and it's coming to Quest 3 and 3S next month.

Developed by ROTU Entertainment (Eolia), Healer sees players become planetary defenders, wielding their wits and helpful hand cannons against a joy-devouring evil called the Entropic Virus. From a gameplay perspective, this means shooting at undulating orbs, solving 3D puzzles, and fighting off alien creatures to earn high scores. You can check out gameplay below:

Among the bubble popping, you can also find crystalline creatures called Cosmic Critters that apply upgrades to your runs. The trailer shows a blue critter called 'Reanu Keeves' that affects enemy movement speed, a purple critter called 'Enna Jortega' that increases the fire rate on dark weapons, and more. As you seek them out, you'll also unlock Set Bonuses to further bolster your arsenal.

Beyond Healer's main story, competitive players can seek additional glory by competing on the game's global leaderboard. When you complete an 'encounter,' your successes will add up to a high score that you can post. Hand tracking and controllers are both supported too.

Healer is launching on December 11 exclusively on Quest 3/3S.

EA Sports will release a paid 2026 season expansion to F1 25 instead of a new title, with a “reimagined” game to follow in 2027.

Since F1 22, EA Sports and Codemasters have continued supporting PC VR in its officially licensed series of Formula 1 racing games. While each real-life season is normally reflected through a new game, it's now skipping the usual annual release cycle by instead releasing a paid expansion to F1 25, one that reflects the upcoming 2026 season.

“The premium content update will bring players closer to the sport’s major changes for 2026 that include new cars, sporting regulations, teams, and drivers,” states EA Sports in a new blog.

While the 2026 season officially kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on March 8, there's no indication this will also be the expansion's release date. New entries since 2021 have arrived between May and July, and pricing is also unconfirmed.

With the next entry, EA Sports confirmed that F1 27 is a new game “that looks, feels, and plays differently, delivering more gameplay choices.” Little else is currently known, and in a prepared statement, Codemasters' Senior Creative Director Lee Mather states this “reimagines the F1 experience” for 2027.

Considering this is being touted as a larger overhaul, it's unclear whether PC VR support will continue beyond F1 25 and next year's expansion with future entries. We'll keep an eye out for further updates as they come through.

PlayStation VR2 is on sale for $300, its lowest price ever, and this includes the Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle.

Originally priced at $550, Sony officially cut the price of the headset to $400 earlier this year, just over two years after it launched.

Now, for the 2025 holiday season PlayStation VR2 is temporarily being sold for just $300, its lowest price ever. This price applies to both the regular SKU and the bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain, so you should always grab the latter if it's in stock.

The new $300 sale ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time on December 18, just in time for Christmas.

The lowest price we'd seen before this was $350, which the headset has gone on sale for three times: in summer 2024, the 2024 holiday period, and for the Days Of Play 2025 event. During that summer 2024 discount, sales reportedly skyrocketed, with one retailer selling more units in one day than had been previously sold all year so far.

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An open-source tool for Windows PCs with modern Nvidia GPUs adds eye-tracked foveated rendering to a huge number of SteamVR games.

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If you're a PC gamer, you can now pick up the headset, Sony's PC adapter, and (if required) a DisplayPort cable and Bluetooth adapter for less than $400 all-in.

And with PSVR2Toolkit and PimaxMagic4All, if you have a GTX 16 series or RTX graphics card, you can even leverage eye-tracked foveated rendering in a wide range of SteamVR titles.

With its 2K OLED displays, PlayStation VR2 offers a more vibrant image with far greater contrast than any other affordable PC VR headset, though with the tradeoff that the image is softer and has a non-uniform fixed-pattern noise over it, called mura.

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From tomorrow, the Digital Edition will be $500, the version with a disc drive $550, and the PS5 Pro $750.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The PS5 and PS5 Pro are also on sale, with the same $100 discount. The holiday deals come three months after Sony increased the price of the consoles.

The digital edition PS5 is on sale for $400, while the PS5 Pro is at $650.

That means you can grab a PS5 and PlayStation VR2 together for $700, or a PS5 Pro and the headset for $950, delivering a full consolized high-end VR experience for less than $1000.

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Of course, next year Valve too will offer a consolized high-end VR experience with Steam Frame and Steam Machine. That combination will have the significant benefit of being wireless, but will also likely cost at least twice as much, making Sony's holiday proposition still a good deal.

This article, originally published when the sale was announced, has been updated to reflect it going live.

A free tool for Windows PCs with modern Nvidia GPUs adds eye-tracked foveated rendering to a huge number of SteamVR games.

Called PimaxMagic4All, the tool re-implements a feature Pimax ships in its Pimax Play software used to set up and adjust its headsets. As such, if you already own a Pimax headset, you don't need it.

PimaxMagic4All should work with any SteamVR-compatible headset that exposes a low-level public API to retrieve eye tracking data, or which has third-party software that does so, including:

• Meta Quest Pro (via Steam Link or Virtual Desktop)
• PlayStation VR2 (via PSVR2Toolkit)
• Samsung Galaxy XR (via Virtual Desktop)
• Play For Dream MR (via Virtual Desktop)
• Varjo Aero

The developer says that it should "likely" work with Valve's Steam Frame too, when streaming from a Windows PC with an Nvidia GPU, and in theory could work with HTC Vive Pro Eye and Vive Focus Vision with additional development time.

The developer, by the way, is Matthieu Bucchianeri, a name you may recognize if you're a regular UploadVR reader.

Bucchianeri is a very experienced developer, having worked on the PS4 and original PlayStation VR at Sony, Falcon 9 and Dragon at SpaceX, and HoloLens and Windows MR at Microsoft, where he currently works on Xbox. At Microsoft he contributed to OpenXR, and in his spare time he developed OpenXR Toolkit, VDXR (Virtual Desktop's OpenXR runtime), and most recently Oasis, the native SteamVR driver that revived Windows MR headsets.

PimaxMagic4All has a simple graphical interface with three levels of foveated rendering: Maximum, Balanced, and Minimum. You can choose between prioritizing increasing performance, achieving a result where you shouldn't notice the difference, or a balance of the two.

The tool can inject foveated rendering into any title that uses the DirectX 11 graphics API and OpenVR, Valve's deprecated API for SteamVR. The game also needs to not have an anti-cheat system, since those will prevent code injection. And remember, you need to have an Nvidia graphics card, specifically a GTX 16 series or RTX card.

You can find a small list of supported titles on the GitHub project's wiki page, and it includes Half-Life: Alyx, Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR, Elite Dangerous, Assetto Corsa, and Boneworks. But this is only a fraction of the total number of games that should be supported in theory.

How well it will work will vary wildly between titles, with some seeing performance improvements and others exhibiting significant visual artifacts and other issues.

Note that three titles you won't need this for are Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, DCS, and iRacing, since all three now support OpenXR eye-tracked foveated rendering natively.

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PimaxMagic4All is available on GitHub, where you'll find both the source for the code added around Pimax's core as well as compiled releases.

Chess is now playable in Walkabout Mini Golf.

The playable activity is initially available in the VR version of the game in Upside Town and Venice, as well as in the Welcome Island.

Chess joins a steadily growing list of activities inside Walkabout that can be played whether or not you engage with the core game of mini golf. In recent months the developers added slingshots, leaf blowers and bug nets to various areas, joining the existing hidden ball and "fox" hunts. Die-hard fans may have also noticed the stairs inside the shack on Welcome Island leading to an underground area styled as if it is for employees, with new areas opening up down there connecting to secret rooms all over the game.

With chess, Walkabout opens up its universe to tabletop board games. There's no comment yet from Mighty Coconut on whether they've got other tabletop games queued up yet, but you can use the menu on a course like Venice to quickly teleport to the chess board where you replace your club for a hand. Just pull the trigger to grab a piece and place it somewhere else on the board. There appears to be no enforced turn order or rulesets, so you can play with custom rules if you wanted.

Developers say the game board and pieces will retain their state in a multiplayer room as long as there's a player in it. In other words, the board will reset when the room isn't occupied. For players who use standalone headsets with streaming PCs to play a game like Walkabout, one could hypothetically leave a private room open on their PC and just put on the headset when they hear their friend enter the virtual room already open on there. It'd be a lot of work and wasted electricity to dedicate a PC for just this purpose, but a universe sounds nice that exists just for a friendly game of chess in Venice.

Which tabletop game do you want to see Walkabout add support for next? Let us know in the comments below.

Article originally published November 17 and updated with release.

Reality TV show Ninja Warrior is getting a VR game next month on Meta Quest headsets.

Initially debuted on Japanese TV as Sasuke in 1997, Ninja Warrior has since been remade in over 20 countries. The show is a test of skill and endurance for those who participate, tasking competitors with the need to overcome increasingly intense obstacle courses with the promise of a cash prize for the winner. It’s a concept with universal appeal that challenges people to overcome extraordinary feats of strength and attain victory.

This upcoming game is being developed by MyDearest in partnership with TBS Games, giving anyone a chance to compete in this virtual recreation. In the jump to virtual reality, players will take the form of a stylized ninja-like character in a cartoonish approximation of the real thing. Many of the recognizable obstacles from each stage of the competition make a return, and you must actively overcome these hurdles using full-body motion.

The intent is to not just make this a competitive title that supports up to 3 other players; MyDearest hopes to make a challenging exercise regimen that lets you feel the burn as you undertake these courses. The TV show's format of three stages plus a final stage is also present in the game, with variations and new stages being introduced in future updates.

Ninja Warrior VR will launch on December 18 on the Meta Horizon Store for $9.99.

After being completely spoiled by Camouflaj’s Iron Man VR and Batman: Arkham Shadow, one could be forgiven for going into Marvel's Deadpool VR with a dangerous cocktail of excitement and trepidation.

VR has already proven itself to be a spectacular vehicle for superhero power fantasy, and so far, Meta’s big-budget approach to the genre has landed well. With arguably Marvel’s most marketable antihero now getting the full VR treatment from Twisted Pixel Games, the bar of expectation couldn’t be higher. But while Deadpool VR absolutely nails the look, feel, and humor of the titular character’s comic-book world, it’s also a game that plays like its own punchlines: fantastic one moment, sometimes frustrating the next.

I May Be Super, But I'm No Hero

For anyone unfamiliar with Marvel’s ‘Merc with a Mouth,’ Deadpool is the perfect antihero: a wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking mercenary with a healing factor to rival Wolverine’s and a mouth that could make a sailor blush. Deadpool VR stays true to that lineage.

Narratively, we’re not breaking any molds here; you (Deadpool) are kidnapped by an intergalactic TV producer with a flair for violence named Mojo. From here you are thrown into a carnage-clad reality show that splits your time between hunting down Marvel villains to join the show and competing in a series of Death Battle Arena mini-games. It’s all gleefully absurd and knowingly self-referential, but you can have too much of a good thing, especially if you stay in for longer sessions. I recommend breaking your playthrough into one or two-hour chunks to keep both the combat and the pithy dialogue fresh.

The story itself is little more than scaffolding for some profanity-laden chaos, letting the game bounce from one wildly stylized comic-book set piece to the next amidst an avalanche of eyebrow-raising, off-color dialogue. Thankfully, the script is funny and the performances are great, which stops Deadpool’s constant chatter from feeling intrusive, assuming you’re a fan. This is no small blessing due to the sheer volume of it that players will be listening to.  

Fourth Wall? What Fourth Wall?

At its heart, Deadpool VR is an arcade-style action game: a high-energy cocktail of hack-and-slash melee, over-the-top gunplay, and comic-book spectacle. Across its ten-to-twelve-hour campaign, you’ll carve your way through legions of thugs, demons, and cybernetically enhanced space zombies (because why not?) all the while juggling twin katanas, dual pistols, grenades, and a gravity gun that lets you toss enemies around like rag dolls.

You can also unlock new variants of these weapons, as well as new ‘special attacks’ once your 'viewer meter' charges, which will give you temporary access to some of Marvel’s most iconic weapons. From Thor’s hammer to Star-Lord’s blasters, these special weapons add even more flair to the carnage. Not to mention the fact that when you activate these specials, some ‘name brand psych-up songs’ start blaring over the top of the action.

For me, one of the game's highlights came the first time I accessed Gambit’s deck of kinetically charged cards while “You’re the Best” by Joe Esposito kicked in at full volume. It's one of the most gleefully nerdy moments in recent memory, leaving me grinning like an absolute idiot while I throw glowing purple death into waves of comic book ninjas, urged on by the soundtrack from The Karate Kid.

I Aim to Misbehave

My first impression of Deadpool VR was great. There’s something deeply satisfying about pinning an enemy to the wall with your sword, bouncing a pistol off an enemy’s face to reload it mid-air, and then slide-kicking into a group of bad guys. All while Deadpool artfully cracks wise in your ear. On paper, it’s everything you’d want from a Deadpool game: frenetic, over-the-top violence that borders on the absurd.

Unfortunately, the magic doesn’t hold. Beneath the spectacle lies a combat system that, for all its positives, feels disappointingly weightless. Weapons clip through each other, hands pass through the environments, and two-handed weapons feel like they’re made of paper. You can parry attacks, but the system feels inconsistent and finicky. Your swords pass through enemies without convincing resistance. This leaves melee encounters lacking the satisfying physicality found in titles like Asgard’s Wrath 2.

With gunplay, enemies are all varying shades of sponge. While you can finish off a bad guy with a clean shot to the head, headshots don’t seem to count for much at all until you deplete their health. This takes away any real need to try to finesse a fight. Just spray and pray, as it all ends up the same.

It’s this lack of nuance in the heat of battle that robs the world of a sense of physicality, relegating what should be a visceral dance of violence into something that after the first few hours begins to feel unfortunately shallow. The problem isn’t that the mechanics are broken; they just lack some impact. Combat looks spectacular, yet doesn't consistently feel it, and that disconnect grows more noticeable as the game goes on.

Time to Make the Chimichangas!

Twisted Pixel breaks up the action with platforming, mini-games, and tonal shifts that keep things unpredictable. Each level is themed around a different villain, bringing a fresh visual palette, though the basic loop remains consistent: kill waves of enemies, listen to (occasionally) lengthy exposition and move on. Occasionally there will be new interactive mechanics, but nothing cerebral enough that you could call a puzzle, and these parts just feel like VR busywork.

There were also a few repetitive sequences mixed in that feel like playtime padding at its most obvious. The game knows it, too. Deadpool even breaks the fourth wall to call out the “lazy game design” mid-mission. It’s funny, sure, but it doesn't stop these sequences from being a chore.

Between the main ‘acquisition missions,’ Deadpool also competes in Mojo’s “Battle Arena.” These sections are short, self-contained, mini-game style challenges that exist across a spectrum of entertainment. Some are genuinely fun (and even hint at multiplayer potential), while others feel more uninspired.

A Bad Guy Paid To F**K Up Worse Guys

The boss fights, unfortunately, are the weakest link in the action. They’re standard multi-phase bullet sponges, complete with Quick Time Event sections that drain any sense of danger or satisfaction. They’re functional but deeply forgettable (except for one), and for a game this focused on memorable action, that’s a shame.

Thankfully, Deadpool VR has a few cinematic set pieces that almost redeem this. The opening sequence, for example, is less about gameplay and more about tone-setting; it’s essentially a low-difficulty rail shooter while also being a pure burst of Deadpool energy that’s equal parts spectacle and slapstick.

Later, there’s a particular sequence featuring one of the game’s many Marvel Comics cameos that, although similar in terms of gameplay, still ranks among the coolest things I’ve done in VR this year. It’s these flashes of brilliance that remind you how much potential is buried under the game’s uneven execution.

Maximum Effort

Visually, I think it’s fair to say that I’m in love with Deadpool VR.

Twisted Pixel’s decision to go full comic-book cell-shaded pays off beautifully, delivering the best implementation of that style I’ve seen. Bold outlines, vibrant color palettes, and perfectly balanced shading make every scene feel like you’ve stepped directly into a Marvel panel.

Each environment bursts with character from its grimy back alleys to neon-soaked intergalactic arenas. While there isn’t much environmental interactivity, the sheer quality of the art direction makes up for it. The visual design alone is worth celebrating; it’s a genuine showcase of how comic-book aesthetics can thrive in virtual reality and is the perfect accompaniment to the quintessentially Deadpool tone that the game delivers so well.

Initially, Deadpool VR maintains solid frame rates, but as the set pieces grow larger and the enemy count spikes, performance begins to suffer. Late-game sequences, particularly those filled with explosions and higher enemy counts, see some serious issues. Things become pixelated and framerates drop to a point that really makes it hard to enjoy the action.

Cue the Music

If the visuals define Deadpool VR’s look, then the sound defines its character. The voice performances are universally superb, led by Neil Patrick Harris’s pitch-perfect turn as Deadpool. His comedic timing and delivery are on point, breathing a depth of personality into a game that could easily drown in its own irreverence.

Whether you love or hate the character’s relentless banter, there’s no denying that Harris absolutely gets Deadpool - to the point where it is easily on par with Ryan Reynolds in the films. That commitment is echoed from the voice cast across every supporting role, giving the entire game a premium, Hollywood-grade sheen.

For a game that will often trap you in static dialogue scenes, the entertainment value of the voice acting is what keeps you from giving the “Skip” button a workout. Had more of the main exposition been administered while you were free to play around, it wouldn't have affected the pacing so much and allowed players to better appreciate the excellent voice performances.

The soundtrack, meanwhile, is gloriously over-the-top, particularly in the special weapon sequences where pop anthems take over. Overall, the sound design heavily hints at big-time Marvel money in the production, with the overall score feeling like something straight out of one of the movies.

Marvel's Deadpool VR - Final Verdict

Deadpool VR is a paradox. It captures the antihero's essence perfectly but wraps it around mechanics that just never feel like they completely deliver - great presentation carrying combat that never quite lives up to its potential. It's also marred by performance issues that ultimately undermine the game's otherwise exceptional presentation. If Twisted Pixel can iron out these technical issues, I'd be inclined to give it a higher score.

If you love Deadpool in general or just want to step into the pages of a Marvel comic, then Deadpool VR is worth experiencing. When it works, it’s joyful, absurd, and seriously fun. When it doesn’t, it’s weightless, repetitive, and oddly empty, so temper your expectations: this isn’t the next Iron Man VR or Arkham Shadow. It’s something stranger, sillier, and rougher around the edges - much like the Merc with a Mouth himself.

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

Through December 2, Quest 3S is just $200 at Costco for members or $215 for non-members, and includes 12 months of the Meta Horizon+ games subscription.

You can find the deal on Costco's website, and the $100 discount from the regular $300 price will apply at checkout, with a $15 surcharge added if you're not a Costco member.

This is the lowest outright price we've ever seen for Quest 3S, and a year of the Horizon+ subscription normally costs $60. New Meta Quest headsets otherwise come with 3 months of the subscription.

Horizon+ includes a Games Catalog with some of Quest's best VR games, including Asgard's Wrath 2, Cubism, Demeo, Dungeons of Eternity, Eleven Table Tennis, Ghosts of Tabor, Job Simulator, Maestro, Onward, Pistol Whip, Red Matter, Synth Riders, The Climb 2, and Walkabout Mini Golf. It also lets subscribers redeem 2 monthly games pre-selected by Meta.

Quest’s Horizon+ Monthly Games For November 2025 Revealed

From a VR adventure hit to a strategic submarine sim, these are the Horizon+ monthly games for November on Quest.

UploadVRHenry Stockdale

While Quest 3S can run all the same content as Quest 3, and has the same fundamental capabilities (including the same XR2 Gen 2 chipset and 8GB RAM), if you have the funds we always recommend Quest 3 over Quest 3S. The proper Quest 3 features Meta's advanced pancake lenses which are clearer and sharper over a wider area, have a wider field of view, and have precise separation adjustment, making them suitable for essentially everyone's eyes. These pancake lenses also enable Quest 3 to be thinner, which makes the headset feel slightly less heavy.

Still, at just $200 or $215 and with a year of Horizon+ games, Costco's Quest 3S deal could be hard to say no to. The deal ends after December 2, so make sure to grab it before then if you want to affordably bring a friend or loved one into VR and mixed reality this holiday season.

UPDATE November 18: While Costco's deal was originally listed as ending after Monday, it has now returned, and is available through December 2. This article has been updated to reflect that.

UPDATE November 19: Quest 3S is now out of stock at Costco, following "overwhelming" demand.

Of the many things Steam Frame is, what it isn't is a Valve Index 2. But that's a good thing.

When Valve Index launched in 2019, it was one of the most expensive VR headsets on the consumer market. Facebook had just launched the $400 Rift S and Oculus Quest headsets, and there was nothing like Apple Vision Pro or Samsung Galaxy XR.

At $1000 for the full kit, Index was a premium product for enthusiasts, meant to push the high-end, with (relatively) wide field of view lenses, off-ear speakers, and precise laser tracking. The thick, heavy tether and wall-mounted base stations were a feature, not a bug.

Based on some of the reactions to Steam Frame over the past few days, it's clear that many Index owners, and hardcore VR enthusiasts in general, were hoping that Valve would repeat its last-decade strategy, with another high-end tethered headset.

They wanted 4K micro-OLED panels (or at least, say, 3K LCD with local dimming) fed by yet another DisplayPort cable, with ultra wide field of view lenses, face tracking, and "Lighthouse" base station tracking, backwards-compatible with existing SteamVR peripherals.

But there are good reasons why Valve didn't do this, and why Steam Frame is the better strategy.

Oculus Quest 2 Is Now The Most-Used VR Headset On Steam

Nearly 5 months after launch, Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 is the most used VR headset on Steam. That is according to the February 2021 results for the Steam Hardware Survey. Valve finally started counting Quest 2 headsets in its own category at the beginning of January. Quest 2 jumped

UploadVRJamie Feltham

Index was relatively successful for what it was trying to be, by all accounts. More than six years later it still makes up around 15% of SteamVR usage. But what it did not do is meaningfully increase the total number of people playing VR games on Steam.

Instead, it was the $300 Quest 2 that achieved that feat. Less than six months after launch it became the most used headset on Steam, and today standalone headsets make up over 2/3rds of SteamVR use.

Standalone headsets with computer vision tracking allow anyone to connect to SteamVR on their PC with a couple of clicks, completely wirelessly, with no base stations or other complex setup required. And that they are wireless matters.

Valve “Looking Into Several Methods” For Wireless Index

During the Index VR headset launch party Valve CEO Gabe Newell stated that the company is “looking into several methods” for making the headset untethered: “As I said, shipping a product is truly the beginning. There are some obvious next steps. It’s simple for us to broaden our distribution

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Among existing VR enthusiasts, there is a sentiment that wireless is a nice-to-have, but far from essential feature, while some are even actively opposed to it, adamant that they'll never cut the tether.

But there is a selection bias at play here. People who consider the cable a dealbreaker didn't buy the Index, or any other tethered PC VR headset. And they are the majority.

Since the HTC Vive Wireless Adapter, seven years ago, it has been obvious that wireless is the ideal for VR. You don't have to stow a cable and avoid running over it with your chair wheels. You can rotate freely in VR without worrying about getting tangled. And you can truly lose yourself in the virtual world because you don't have a tether reminding you where your PC is.

In fact, in 2017 Valve CEO Gabe Newell called wireless VR a “solved problem”. “My expectation is that wireless will be an add-on in 2017, and then it will be an integrated feature in 2018”, Newell was quoted as saying during a press conference that year.

Of course, the Vive Wireless Adapter relied on a 60GHz signal, unable to penetrate solid objects at all, so the transmitter had to be wall mounted and the receiver positioned on the top of your head, plus it was expensive. It was the right goal, but with the wrong technology.

Within days of the release of Oculus Quest people started using their existing home Wi-Fi network, leveraging the same H.264 codec used for video streaming to turn a $400 headset into a wireless room-scale PC VR system for no additional cost.

From here, the death of tethered PC-only VR headsets, or at least their relegation to a tiny niche, was inevitable.

Steam Frame Hands-On: UploadVR’s Impressions Of Valve’s New Headset

UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton and David Heaney went hands-on with Steam Frame at Valve HQ, trying both standalone use and PC VR.

UploadVRIan Hamilton

There are two problems with this approach, however.

Firstly, the high compression ratio means that this kind of wireless VR doesn't look as good as a DisplayPort signal. And secondly, while some enthusiasts have ideal dedicated network setups with a high-end dedicated access point, most people rely on the cheap router their ISP supplied them a decade ago, which may not be near their VR playspace and also has to handle the traffic from the rest of the household.

With Steam Frame, Valve is using a combination of both hardware and software cleverness to refine the compressed wireless streaming experience. The headset has dual wireless radios, one of which is dedicated to the PC wireless adapter included in the box. And eye-tracked foveated streaming is used at all times, optimizing the video stream quality for where you're currently looking.

Essentially, Steam Frame is trying to package the high-quality wireless VR setups that only enthusiasts experience today into a relatively mainstream PC gaming product.

It's not about delivering yet another tethered PC VR headset with higher resolution – there are Bigscreen and Pimax headsets for that. Instead, Steam Frame is focused on delivering the best possible wireless PC VR experience that can be sold for less than $1000 (Valve's current plan).

And it's exactly this that PC VR needs. A product that out of the box, for every buyer, delivers an excellent wireless PC VR experience, without modifying their home network setup. Steam Frame isn't Index 2, but it's the better move for Valve. And instead of selling to the same few hundred thousand enthusiasts, I suspect it could sell millions of units through its lifetime, bringing far more customers for developers building PC VR games.