Liam Rosenior takes charge of his first match at Stamford Bridge but will be without several key players for the visit of the Premier League leaders
© Arsenal FC via Getty Images
© BackpagePix / Icon Sport
Moreno wants majority of GOP caucus on board with plan Trump says he may veto
© Getty Images
Your enjoyment of Stellar Cafe comes down to two things: how you feel about AI in video games and how good of a conversationalist you are.
I've had some experience with AI-driven NPCs in games before, specifically in Skyrim (with mods) and former-social-VR-turned-MMORPG Riff XR. The difference with these two examples is that those games have much more to offer than said AI NPCs whereas Stellar Cafe lives and dies on the characters and your interactions with them. It makes for a unique experience that rolls credits before the fairly simple premise wears thin.
Developer AstroBeam's claim to fame is being helmed by Devin Reimer, one of the co-creators of Job Simulator, and Stellar Cafe feels very much inspired by that VR classic while taking the concept of sentient robot interactions to the next level. You play as, well, yourself, with James, your robot barista, asking your name and using it for the rest of the game. Having played dozens of games where the player can name the main character, only to watch voice-acted NPCs never actually say it, this was surprisingly an immersive touch.
After talking shop with James, you learn that James is throwing a party for Patch Day, an upcoming holiday, but the nine other RSVPs have only replied 'maybe.' James requests your help to find out why each robot is on the fence and convince them to turn that 'maybe' into a 'yes.' The rest of the game plays out like a linear sandbox. You progress through the robots in groups of three across three cycles (days), but how you solve their problems is entirely down to your creativity.
For example, one bot can't attend the party because they have to work at a job they hate and would rather quit. Through a series of prompted responses, you assist this bot in writing a resignation email. After that email is done, it gets sent to the supervisor who replies in short order. I played the first three scenarios in the game twice (including this one), using wildly different approaches each time, and the responses were indeed different. Another example is Captain (one of the few names I remember as I write this review) who needs your help to come up with a story pitch. The sky is the limit since your dialog choices and the responses are not pre-determined. I can see this game being played multiple times to see just how wacky of a response you can get from the robots.
Frankly, these characters felt more realized with better personality traits and voices than I've encountered in most VR games. I enjoy puzzle games in general and it was a trip to have the puzzle actually talk back to you. Having said that, a little goes a long way here. Each encounter can be completed inside 10 minutes and some of them landed better than others. I won't give any more specifics to avoid spoilers, but there were two in particular I could not wait to move on from. Also, there are one or two phrases that every robot says that got old pretty quickly.
Stellar Cafe Screenshots captured by UploadVR
Another unique part of the game is that it is entirely driven by your voice, including the movement. Utilizing your Quest's microphone, you instruct your AI assistant, Visor, to move you from location to location (the counter, the booths, and the tables) and of course you spend the entire time talking. There are physical interactions as well, with some bots having tablets to pick up and view, and of course, plenty of custom drinks from James.
All of the voice interactions work perfectly fine, but the tablets were a bit jittery at times. Stellar Cafe can be played with controllers or hand-tracking and the game suggests using the latter. Unfortunately, my Quest kept detecting my controllers, to the point where I had to turn on hand-tracking. That's not a shortcoming of the game itself but Meta's operating system, though I still wanted to point it out in case other players bump into it. There were also instances where I looked around the cafe during a conversation and the bot registered it as me shaking my head no, forcing me to redo a prompt or response.
Stellar Cafe uses a node-based teleportation system triggered by voice commands. 'Take me to the counter' as an example. The game can be comfortably played sitting down either with controllers or hand-tracking. There is no stick-based turning in the game and no motion vignettes since your movement is basically rooted to each node and matches 1:1 with your actual head movements. A great, accessible option for new VR users.
Stellar Cafe's full runtime is about 2 hours, including the ending. However, I can see players who enjoy the live AI interaction toying with the bots for hours on end. There were a few hiccups in the interactions, like sometimes James would make me a drink and deliver it to me, then tell me the drink would be ready soon. To the game's credit, I called James out on this every time it happened and he responded appropriately, apologizing and something about his timing circuits misfiring. Nicely done.
Visually, Stellar Cafe isn't exactly pushing the boundaries of standalone VR. If you've played any Owlchemy Labs game (Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator, etc.), it's about that level of visual fidelity. However, take your time and look around the cafe. There are a ton of little touches that shows a level of care and sense of humor in the single level game design. The television above James plays a rotation of news broadcasts, weather reports, a humorous riff on the Home Shopping Network, and more. I got a kick out of the employee of the month plaques too.
Finally, to address the elephant in the room: yes, this is ostensibly an artificial intelligence game. If you are uneasy or outright opposed to the use of AI in video games, Stellar Cafe is not going to change your mind. It's not a revolutionary step forward for the medium, but it is an interesting thought experiment into how this technology can be applied.
Stellar Cafe is a lighthearted, relatively short AI experience that wraps up its simple story before outstaying its welcome. I do wish it were longer, but what's here is quite enjoyable and worth a pickup as a glimpse into what feels like an inevitable future for gaming, especially social sim settings like this.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
Authorities say the suspect targeted female clerks during late-night robberies
© FBI
From front-page news to powerful moments you may have missed, this gallery showcases today’s top photos chosen by Associated Press photo editors.
© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
© Le HuffPost
Whether you’re looking for a small something or a showstopping gift, I’ve found the best options
© iStock/The Independent
© Amr Abdallah Dalsh / REUTERS
© Eddy Lemaistre / Icon Sport
Connexion
