In the marketing for every VR headset and pair of XR glasses released you'll almost definitely see someone using the device on an airplane, because when you're crammed into a metal box thousands of feet above the Earth it's nice to imagine you're somewhere else – exploring some far-off place or enjoying a movie on a giant virtual screen many times larger than the one built into the seat in front of you.

So tech testers like me always love to try these things out on planes. After giving Meta, Xreal, RayNeo, and a few other XR gadgets a crack while I'm in the air, I thought it only fair I give the Nintendo Virtual Boy its turn.

Turns out that the headset is awful on the ground, and even more terrible at 30,000ft.

The Virtual Boy made its debut in 1995, and it is famously terrible. Nintendo is a company of big swings in the gaming console space, resulting in major wins like the Wii, Switch, and Game Boy, but also flops like the Wii U and GameCube. While those ‘failed’ machines have plenty of silver linings, however (I adore my GameCube), the Virtual Boy stands alone as uniquely and wholeheartedly shit.

Decades ahead of its time, the Virtual Boy was bulky, expensive, lacking in software, and, to top it all off, headache-inducing.

I'm not testing the original; however, I gave the new and not at all improved version a whirl in the air — it's a Nintendo Switch 2 accessory for Switch Online members to enjoy the new Virtual Boy virtual console collection.

Before I rag on the hardware too much, let's start with my first (and singular) kind word on the Switch 2's Virtual Boy: it works offline. With the app installed, I could play the complete VR collection without a WiFi connection, which is ideal given how expensive and slow the signal can be on a flight. Game streaming over the internet would be a non-starter.

Not cleared to fly

Now for the negatives. Strap in.

Or, ironically, don't. That's because my first gripe is how you wear the headset, or more accurately, how you don’t wear it. Far too bulky to be comfortably strapped to a head, the original Virtual Boy perched on a stand so you could peer into its lenses, and while the new model is much lighter, it still relies on a stand.

Resting it on my tray table, the headset's height is quite low, forcing me to hunch over in my seat to see what's going on. It's uncomfortable, and I look even more like a weirdo than VR headset users usually do.

Then there's the game selection. Much like the original, there aren't many (at launch, there are seven), and to make matters worse, they're not all that fun either. Galactic Pinball and Warioland are okay, and there's a charm to Red Alarm, but generally, I wasn't enthused to be spending my time in VR.

The airplane became the escape.

The games also gave me a headache, which didn't help the titles in the entertainment department — quite the opposite. And I say that as someone who regularly uses VR and XR tech who is generally fine with motion sickness and not feeling ill in XR, especially for more mild experiences like these.

Maybe it's all the red, which is generated by a colored filter placed over the games by the Virtual Boy add-on. Imagine if everything were a vivid primary red all the time, you'd probably get cranky too.

That's to say nothing of the space it took up in my carry-on, which could have been spared for something more useful. Oh, and to top it off, I got stopped at security and had to fully unpack my bag because of the stand.

While testing it, I also had one inescapable realisation: I could just be playing on my Nintendo Switch 2. I have to bring the console with me to use the Virtual Boy, and instead of this terrible experience, I could instead enjoy the likes of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Pokémon Legends Z-A, or Super Mario Wonder, among others.

All that's to say: leave the Virtual Boy at home. Heck, leave it on the store shelf unless you're a major VR fanatic or have an affinity for weird 90s tech. This Switch 2 Virtual Boy is a novelty, peaking at shelf decoration, not a flight-ready gadget.

Meta is turning its back on VR gaming. That’s the feeling many, myself included, are feeling after the reports that Meta has shuttered Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru, and Armature, the game studios behind Marvel's Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath, and Resident Evil 4 VR, respectively (among other VR projects).

In addition, Supernatural – the excellent VR fitness app that was the linchpin of my VR exercise routine – will no longer be receiving updates or new content (via the Supernatural Facebook group and emails sent to users). It will, however, “remain active”, though questions remain about certain specifics – for example, will Supernatural’s licensed music catalog eventually dwindle to almost nothing, or will partnerships still be renewed?

This also all comes in the wake of the news from late last year that Meta had “paused” its Horizon OS partnerships with Asus and Lenovo.

In a statement to Engadget, a Meta spokesperson said, “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year."

When I followed up with Meta to address claims it was turning its back on VR, I was told by a representative that “Meta doesn’t have anything to share on this.”

While Meta might not have much more to share on this matter, I do: it’s pretty clear Meta isn’t keen to push VR in quite the same way it once was.

The Oculus Quest 2 felt like the moment VR was waiting for. Aided, in part, by people being trapped at home due to COVID-19-era lockdowns, and its truly affordable price for a solid VR machine, the Quest 2 sold phenomenally well.

In less than half a year, it had sold more units than all previous total sales of all other Oculus headsets, and while it's hard to track precise figures for every machine, it seems that for a while the Quest 2 was seemingly even selling better than the Xbox Series consoles (via Android Central).

However, Meta’s golden goose didn’t last forever, and the Meta Quest 3 didn’t land with anything like the same splash, despite being such an awesome device in its own right.

And now Meta has a new favorite child: AI and its AI wearables like the (also hugely popular) Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and as it has said, it is shifting some of its investment and priorities towards this new venture.

Is VR gaming dead?

VR gaming isn’t dead yet, if not least because Valve has its Steam Frame headset due to land later in 2026, and while it won’t be as affordable as a Quest 3 (most likely) the fact it’s a Steam Deck for your face – so it kind of doubles as a Steam Deck and a pair of XR glasses to enjoy your games on a large virtual screen – as well as having all of its VR gaming potential makes me at least a little confident it will have a strong landing.

Plus, if Valve or Google are looking to bolster their XR gaming efforts – Google has its Android XR platform – I’ve heard a lot of talented folks are currently free agents.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a fantastic game for capturing the true promise of what it would be like to be Deadpool, and Asgard’s Wrath 2 is a superb, more open-world action adventure that VR doesn’t have enough of. Seeing the teams behind those games work on something for a VR headset with some PC power behind it could be incredible.

Or if Android XR wants a dedicated XR fitness platform, the Supernatural team knows what it’s doing, and I think there’s so much more to explore with fitness in XR – especially in AR. Plus, from a music licensing side of things, Google might have an even easier time, as it already has services like YouTube Music, which could open up an even broader suite of workout options.

We’ll have to wait and see how 2026 unfolds, but while this announcement is frustrating for Quest fans, I believe there’s still some potential for VR to have a stronger year than it did in 2025 – even if it is elsewhere.

The second coming of Marvel Jesus is upon us, thanks to the arrival of Marvel’s Deadpool VR on the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S exclusively.

While it doesn't live up to the lofty highs of Batman: Arkham Shadow, there’s a delightful action-packed story – complete with Deadpool’s zany humor – to experience here. One that’s sure to delight major fans of the Merc with a Mouth.

From the get-go, Deadpool VR showcases that it’s at its best when you’re moving at a million miles per hour – kicking things off with one of the most exhilarating action spectacles I've experienced in VR games and of my entire VR career.

At the same time, interspacing incredible set pieces and enjoyable sandbox slaughterfests – which reward you for vanquishing foes in creative ways that abuse Deadpool's varied weapons arsenal – are moments that drag the experience to a halt.

A different lead would use these moments to provide depth to his motivations, and introduce story beats that emotionally connect the player to the character – Deadpool, however, takes the chance to vomit quips.

In fact, much like the comic book and movie adaptations of Deadpool, Neil Patrick Harris’ rendition never stops joking.

To that end, if you thought the Deadpool movies were the comedy equivalent of word salad, you will hate Deadpool VR. Meanwhile, those of you who love Deadpool’s referential, weird, and/or self-deprecating humor will find a laugh a minute – though I can’t promise every gag will be a comedy gem. With a script jam-packed with jokes, plenty are stinkers.

Now in Mojo-vision

While on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. Deadpool is hired (read: kidnapped) by Mojo – the ruler of the content-obsessed Mojoworld. He’s after his next streaming hit and wants the merc to help him recruit (again, read: kidnap) stars for his show.

This sends everyone’s favorite anti-hero on a world-hopping quest across the Marvel universe in order to track down and capture iconic foes.

Aiding him are Major Domo and Spiral, who offer Deadpool new weapons and ‘guy in the chair’ assistance as he carries out his missions.

As Deadpool completes missions, he’ll earn mojobucks, a currency he can trade for new looks and weapons, and as I’ve mentioned previously, you earn more bucks based on how well you perform in Deadpool VR’s combat segments.

In this sandbox-lite experience, you’re armed with swords, firearms, a grapple gun, grenades, and, at times, your own arms, as well as a slew of other weapons that drop from enemies in order to deliver a beatdown to your enemies.

Not only can creatively combining weapons lead to a better score, but I’ve also found it really makes you feel like you’re in the shoes of the hyperactive superhero – especially when you simply huck a katana across the battlefield to skewer an enemy to the wall.

Just don’t expect this to feel like a hyper-realistic sandbox like some other titles out there. Deadpool VR leans into chaotic violence that appeals to my sense of fun, but not everyone’s – a sentiment that I feel captures the spirit of Deadpool VR perfectly.

Weirdly, the main time the action feels at its most anticlimactic is during boss battles. Simply because being a level’s toughest foe translates to being a bullet sponge, with the drawn-out fights being interspaced with quick-time events, which, while a flashy flurry of blows, can make levels feel like they end with a whimper rather than a bang.

Though if you are convinced to replay a level, you’ll be rewarded with not only the chance to test out new devastating weapons on your enemies, Deadpool VR also lets you explore secret bonus rooms – provided you wear the correct costume for the occasion. That said, even the mainline Deadpool can uncover a few surprises if he chooses.

Quintessentially Deadpool

Much like how Batman: Arkham Shadow is the quintessential way for fans of the caped crusader to experience a Batman story, Marvel’s Deadpool VR is the new best way to become the Merc with a Mouth.

If you love Deadpool, this is the game you’ve been waiting to play, and it’s well worth grabbing a Meta Quest 3 or Quest 3S so you can experience this title for yourself.

However, this game won’t turn haters into True Believers. The non-stop gags, which are the only source of amusement when the game’s exposition drags on, is quintessentially Deadpool, but if you found it grating when it was Ryan Reynolds was delivering the lines on the big screen you won’t find it any funnier when it’s Neil Patrick Harris talking in your head – take it from my fiancée who can’t stand the Merc with a Mouth.

If, like me, you adore Marvel’s stories, especially Deadpool's brand of quirky, then Marvel’s Deadpool VR is the game you’ve been waiting for.

Should you play Marvel's Deadpool VR

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Acessibility features

Marvel's Deadpool VR can be played seated or standing up, but requires you to have a full range of upper body movement so you can swing your katana, throw grenades, and fire guns at your foes.

It also boasts a solid suite of comfort controls. I'm playing on medium levels (smooth motion, snap turning) and have yet to experience motion sickness, but there are options to turn on tools like teleportation movement if you're prone to feeling ill in VR.

How I tested Marvel's Deadpool VR

I played Marvel's Deadpool VR on my Meta Quest 3, which I've upgraded using a battery strap. I made sure to try the game from both a seated and standing position, and also to try its different accessibility comfort features to experience how effective they are.

First reviewed November 2025

Star Wars: Beyond Victory has the makings of a perfect Star Wars buffet and a contender for one of the best VR games of recent times.

The promise of a VR story delving into the previously one-inch deep lore of podracing is enticing – especially to someone for whom the prequel trilogy was a hallmark of their childhood.

Podracing not only provides the opportunity for exhilarating VR gameplay, but gives storytellers the chance to expand on characters like Sebulba – a key antagonist of the Phantom Menace, who we only spend about 5 minutes with before he's benched in favor of a dual-blade-wielding Sith – and explore the seedy underworld that would facilitate this dangerous and deadly sport.

After plating up, however, you realise Beyond Victory's buffet has gone stale, and there’s not nearly enough of it to satiate your hunger.

Beyond Boring

Like a growing number of titles this generation, Star Wars: Beyond Victory blends virtual and mixed reality elements in its gameplay and storytelling. Unfortunately, every segment you'd want to be in VR is instead relegated to MR, and the remaining first-person segments left me wishing there wouldn't be more.

Effectively cutscenes, the VR sections have you mostly standing around in one of a few tiny locations that you can hardly explore, with the occasional ‘puzzle’ to solve – tedious minigames where you use tools to fix up vehicles, but which require next to no thought to work out.

Everything else plays out in MR via a virtual table you can place in your room. This includes exploration of more expansive spaces (though the exploration wasn't super enjoyable, so I always just made a beeline for the objective) and podracing.

Yes, that's right. In this VR podracing game, you never sit in a podracing cockpit; instead, you look down at the virtual table as you race through a track using your controllers to accelerate, steer, and boost your podracer from a bird's-eye view.

While somewhat enjoyable, the simplistic podracing gameplay feels like it was lifted from a mediocre mobile game – right down to the table offering only a limited view of what's ahead, like a smaller phone screen restricting your vision.

Oh, and there’s only three podraces – and one car chase. You can replay them in arcade mode with unlockable characters, but there's only so much enjoyable replayability to be extracted from repeating the same few tracks over and over.

A Star Wars Short Story

A common theme for Star Wars: Beyond Victory is that its ingredients sound an awful lot more delicious than the final concoction.

Story-wise, things start well. You have a podracer desperate to become a champion to honor his friend, allies who support him but who believe podracing is a vile sport and are willing to face arrest (or worse) to stand up for their beliefs, and Sebulba's criminal crew – led by the former podracing champion looking to raise a champion of his own, and also pull him down into his villainous activities.

The issue here is that the game is far too short – I finished it in about an hour. You don't spend long enough with any of these factions to do anything more than rush through cliché story beats and conflicts that start and resolve in mere minutes.

I would love to have seen our protagonist Volo evolve more gradually over a longer story. Perhaps seeing his racing style adapt to be more aggressive across a series of races to reflect him turning into a true member of Sebulba's crew before eventually standing up for his friends.

Or heck, give us some kind of basic choice-based story for different endings and race abilities based on who we side with.

That way, at least the short experience could be replayable a few times to get different outcomes, and make this game feel more worthwhile.

Unfortunately, lackluster gameplay and story left me frustrated at the time I'd spent reviewing this game – with one of my favorite moments being when the credits rolled and I could finally go back to Hades 2 on my Nintendo Switch 2.

A single star in the night

There was nowhere else in my review to work this in, but I also want to talk about the playset feature. So I'm tacking it on the end here.

This alternative to the campaign and arcade modes is a full MR experience that allows you to move, scale, and place 3D models of Star Wars characters and vehicles in your home to construct static dioramas. You can even add explosive effects to bring your models to life.

I did think the models were well-crafted – with a good level of detail that works with the sculptures at tiny all the way up to human scale – however, while it would be a neat add-on to an already good game, it doesn’t do enough to save Beyond Victory in my books.

If you’re a Star Wars mega fan and see Beyond Victory on sale for a heavily discounted price, then I think playset does just enough to be worth playing around with – it helped me feel like a kid again playing with action figures.

Otherwise, this is still a Star Wars game worth skipping over.

Should you play Star Wars: Beyond Victory

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Accessibility

For everything negative I’ve had to say about Star Wars: Beyond Victory, the game is quite accessible by VR’s standards.

You can enjoy the experience entirely seated, you can turn on settings like teleportation movement and screen shake to make the few VR segments less motion sickness-inducing if you’re still new to the medium, and the mostly mixed reality gameplay is even better for managing your motion sickness.

You could even play the game with only one controller if you need to. I used both, but all of the controls are doubled up across each handset, so you could put one down and still have every button you’d need.

How I reviewed Star Wars: Beyond Victory

I played this game on my Meta Quest 3, using a Kiwi design battery strap and controller grips. I played through the entire story from start to finish in two sessions (as I hadn’t charged my Quest 3 up before diving in for the first time) after completing the tutorial. Afterwards, I went straight into arcade mode and then spent a bit of time in playset mode.

I completed a few achievements to unlock some bonus racers for the arcade, and models for my playset, but decided to call it quits after no more than two and a half hours with this title, as I had sampled everything it had to offer.

First reviewed October 2025

After teasing the collaboration over a year ago, Meta and Microsoft have finally delivered their Xbox VR headset: and it’s a beautiful Meta Quest 3S. Because one new piece of Xbox hardware wasn’t enough for 2025.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this wasn’t entirely what I had in mind for the Xbox VR headset – I hoped we might get something a little more bespoke – but, after spending my weekend with the device, I've fallen in love.

The Meta Quest 3S was already an excellent headset, and this device’s upgrades and unique Xbox flairs have only elevated the experience it offers.

Best of all you'll get three months of Game Pass Ultimate with your bundle so you can stream the Xbox subscription's software catalogue directly to your headset.

If you have a great internet connection then I can tell you first hand that using this headset to play titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Oblivion Remastered on the giant virtual screen (up to 312 inches according to Meta’s math) this headset affords is awesome – and that’s before you even begin to explore the excellent VR games and apps Meta has up its sleeve.

Available now at $399.99 / £379.99 from Meta.com, Best Buy. Argos, or EE, this limited-edition Xbox headset is also something of a steal (I’ll explain why in a second). So whether you’re an avid Xbox gamer looking to try VR, or a VR fan looking to finally upgrade that aging Oculus Quest 2 this is what you’ve been waiting for.

Just note, Meta warns you’ll want to act fast to snag this special Quest 3S to avoid disappointment because once “it’s gone, it’s gone,” though when we asked it wasn’t able to give us a precise number of units that would be available.

Xbox through and through

Specs-wise the Meta Quest 3S has received no changes for this Xbox edition.

In many ways this is no bad thing, as the headset had plenty of performance power for the latest VR gaming experiences, but the Meta Quest 3 proper’s improved displays and optical setup (which lead to better visuals) wouldn’t have gone unappreciated.

That’s not to say this headset is identical to other Meta Quest 3S devices, however.

Instead of the white plastic-clad headset we’re used to seeing, this Meta Quest 3S makeover has turned it black with an Xbox green highlight around its front face panel – as well as introducing a subtle Xbox logo into its right arm where the 3.5mm aux port would be if this was a Meta Quest 3 proper.

The handsets have also been Xbox-ified. Again, they’re mostly black but with some green highlights – this time on the lettering of the ABXY buttons, the control sticks, and the tightening mechanism on their straps.

This Meta Quest 3S also comes with two upgrades in the box. Firstly you’ll get a matching black-with-green-highlights limited-edition Xbox controller, and the Quest 3S has been upgraded with a unique black Elite strap to boot – usually this would be a paid add-on, and only available in white.

This isn’t the battery strap, mind, so it simply makes the headset sit more securely on your face rather than increasing the battery life of your VR headset. Nevertheless it’s a solid add-on.

Rounding out the package is a three-month Xbox Ultimate subscription, which will be automatically applied to your account as part of the setup process of this special-edition Quest 3S.

A blockbuster deal

If you’ve been doing the math as I list the inclusions you’ll have noticed that the $399.99 / £379.99 asking price of this bundle makes it something of a steal.

A standard 128GB Meta Quest 3s would set you back $299.99 / £289.99, a standard Xbox wireless controller costs $64.99 / £59.99, an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for three months would cost you $59.97 / £44.97 (at $19.99 / £14.99 per month), and an official Elite strap is $69.99 / £69.99.

Assuming you paid full price for all of these you’d spend $494.85 / £464.94 – and you’d only get a standard Meta Quest 3S, not this special Xbox one. Though, as with all bundles, it’s only a good deal if you actually intended to buy all the separate parts already.

That said, nothing in this package feels like unessential fluff.

So if you like the sound of this deal, the look of this limited-edition VR machine, or both, as both an Xbox and a VR gaming fan I’m certain you won’t be disappointed.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have a lot more Game Pass to be playing – which is definitely, totally for work purposes.

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• I test Meta Quest 3 games for a living – here are my 6 favorite deals from Meta's Mega Summer Sale

Meta has kicked off its Mega Summer Sale, and it truly lives up to its name, with an incredible number of Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S games and apps receiving serious discounts.

There’s an excellent mix of VR and MR titles across every genre imaginable – puzzle, action, fitness, big-screen entertainment, and even a game that lets you play as a cat.

The deals will end on June 29 at 11:59pm PT / June 30 at 7:59am BST, so you have plenty of time left to browse the full list yourself, but as an avid Meta Quest 3 user I've picked out six deals that have caught my eye.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR

• Was $39.99 / £34.99
• Now $19.99 / £15.99 in Meta’s sale

Assassin’s Creed Nexus gives Meta Quest 3 users the opportunity to explore iconic series locations across Renaissance Italy, Ancient Greece, and Colonial America in a title that actually lets you embody the franchise’s master assassins.

Our Assassin’s Creed Nexus review commended the large maps that feel full of detail, the first-person stealth and parkour mechanics, and the ability to reacquaint ourselves with series favorites like Ezio; though the, at times “wonky” combat and the game's over-reliance on familiar faces rather than forging its own unique story did let Nexus down.

Regardless, we thought this title was a great pick-up for Assassin’s Creed fans at full-price, so at this heavily discounted price this is a Meta Quest 3 game you’ll definitely want to try.

Maestro

• Was $24.99 / £19.99
• Now $16.99 / £12.99 in Meta’s sale

If you like the rhythmic core of Beat Saber but would prefer a more sophisticated setting then Maestro could be right up your alley. It was one of my favorite VR games of 2024, and it’s only getting better.

Just like a real conductor you must wave your hands to keep your orchestra in time – as well as choreograph crescendos, and remember to bring sections in or or fade them out as the music requires. Plus, you can switch to hand tracking to boost your immersion.

The base game has a fantastic score, but bonus DLC packs have done an excellent job of expanding the game’s repertoire with both new classical tunes and well-known movie classics – such as the Secret Sorcery music pack which adds tracks including The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, In The Hall Of The Mountain King, or the most recent addition, Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: Episode I.

They will cost extra, but at this discounted price you can afford to splash out on a couple of DLC packs.

Stylish Shooters

• Bundle includes: Superhot, and Vendetta Forever
• Was $44.98 / £33.98
• Now $29.99 / £23.99 in Meta’s sale

These sale events don’t just include single-game offers – there are also bundles you can take advantage of to fill your library on a budget. All of this sale’s bundles look great, but I want to highlight this one, which includes Superhot, and Vendetta Forever.

Superhot is a beloved VR shooter that mixes in puzzle-lite elements. Time only moves when you do, so this game is as much about taking out your enemies as it is about planning your actions to pull off a perfect slow-mo action scene – there’s a reason why this game is considered one of the best FPS games ever, VR or otherwise

Vendetta Forever shares some of Superhot’s essence but is very much its own game – and one of the best games of 2024. Time moves normally, but you don’t; instead you teleport around each level by taking out an enemy and reaching out to grab (and teleport to) their weapon. Each level is so inventive, and the whole experience is highly replayable.

Both games are great buys when not on sale, and they're must-buys with this discount.

Lovesick

• Was $14.99 / £11.99
• Now $0.99 / £0.99 in Meta’s sale

Lovesick caught my eye when I first saw its trailer, though for a myriad of reasons I’ve yet to try it out. That’s about to change, however, as this game is now just $0.99 / £0.99 – which makes it one of the best deals of this Summer sale.

The art style is striking from what I’ve seen, and reviews describe the puzzles as well thought out. The overall experience is only a few hours long, but generally people have come away with a positive experience of Lovesick.

So at less than a buck, this game looks like it’ll be more than worth the cost of entry – and I know I’ll be picking it up when I clock off for the day.

I Am Cat

• Was $19.99 / £15.99
• Now $13.99 / £10.99 in Meta’s sale

The 4.9-star rating on the Meta Quest store speaks for itself, this sandbox adventure which puts you in the paws of a cat protagonist is a delightful VR experience, and it’s currently 30%-off, what more could you want?

It’s a game that’s as delightfully chaotic as it looks, as you must complete quests and challenges around your home as you either become Granny’s favorite pet, or her biggest enemy.

And if you somehow get tired of the single-player sandbox you can join a multi-player lobby – which should soon include the much-requested private lobbies where you can play just with people you know, and be kitty menaces together.

Walkabout Mini Golf: Adventures with friends

• Bundle includes: base game, Myst DLC, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth DLC, Meow Wolf DLC, Wallace & Gromit DLC, and Viva Las Elvis DLC
• Was $44.94 / £34.94
• Now $28.99 / £22.99 in Meta’s sale

Walkabout Mini Golf is a delightful golfing sim on the Meta Quest 3, and if you don’t yet own it this bundle is a superb deal to take advantage of. The mechanics, while simple (it’s just mini golf), feel perfectly tuned, and this is the ultimate VR party game whether that’s via pass and play or enjoying a round with friends hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.

What I’ve always loved about this game is its inventive level design – its levels aren’t just some boring decorations but fully realized worlds based in pirate coves, space stations, and geometrically confusing recreations of New York, among so many more. Each stage features 18 holes, plus an additional 18 with the reimagined hard-mode version. Plus there are 18 hidden golf balls to find and collect, as well as a series of puzzles that will unlock a unique golf club in each level.

This bundle includes not only the base game, but also five DLC packs featuring collaborations with Myst, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Wallace & Gromit , Elvis, and Meow Wolf (which along with the Wallace and Gromit mission are two of my favorites in the whole game).

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I finally got my hands on the Nintendo Switch 2, and the first thing I wanted to try was playing Mario Kart: World on my Xreal One Pro glasses.

Rather than the 7.9-inch display of the portable console, I’d be able to race around the new open-world map on a massive 171-inch virtual screen (thanks to the Xreal One Pro’s 57-degree field-of-view). All at a full-HD resolution with crisp Bose-tuned audio.

What more could a gamer want?

But a blank screen ripped this AR-fuelled dream from me, and a quick visit to the Xreal subreddit confirmed my biggest fear: the Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t compatible with AR glasses.

At least, not yet.

I also tested my RayNeo Air 3S and Rokid Max 2 glasses with similarly blank results. Others have tried docking the Switch 2 and using an HDMI-to-USB-C cable, or one of the third-party portable Switch docks AR glasses makers have produced for on-the-go handheld console gaming.

Nothing.

Thankfully, a member of the Xreal team has stepped in to explain the issues and tease the arrival of a fix.

As to why the Switch 2 doesn’t yet work with AR glasses, they explained, “Nintendo has made some underlying changes to the video signal's ‘timing sequence’ in the new Switch 2.

“This technical adjustment means your Xreal One glasses, even with the Xreal Hub, temporarily can't correctly recognize and process the video signal from the console.”

This sort of incompatibility issue isn’t new to AR glasses. In their infancy, it wasn’t uncommon to find that plenty of your USB-C devices were smart glasses incompatible because they don’t use DisplayPort technology.

Thankfully, it sounds like a solution may be on the way sooner rather than later, with Xreal’s team adding, “Our dev team already got their hands on Switch 2 and is actively working on a solution.”

Xreal says it hopes to develop a seamless solution, and that an update “won’t be long.”

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Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s the Merc with a Mouth flying face-first into his next game: Marvel’s Deadpool VR – and it’s coming exclusively to the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.

We just got our first trailer for the title at Summer Game Fest, and it’s jam-packed with violence against a host of Marvel villains and Deadpool’s signature humor.

While the gameplay focus doesn’t tell us too much about the story, the trailer’s description reveals that Deadpool has been given the chance to make big bucks after being transported to Mojoworld, which X-Men animated fans will recognise as the home of the TV-obsessed Mojo.

He signs a contract (which he obviously doesn’t read properly) and that sends him across the Marvel universe to face off against Hydra goons, the Hand, and iconic villains including Omega Red and Mephisto.

In a press release sent out to us ahead of the announcement, the combat style was described as “if you can imagine it, you can probably do it.” Based on what we’ve seen, this appears to be the case.

Deadpool blocks incoming fire with his katanas before wall running while shooting at his foes and finishing them off by chucking his pistol at the robot trying to gun him down. Later in the trailer, we see him throwing appendages (his own and others) at his foes, pressing a goon’s face into a spinning plane propeller, and using the Hand’s kunai against them.

If you like action-packed VR sandboxes, this looks like it could be right up your street, as the footage seems to stress the importance of creative killing rather than simply flailing your katanas around.

All the while, Neil Patrick Harris is delivering humorous quips as the voice actor for Deadpool in this title. And while we only get a small taste of his performance, he already sounds like a great pick for the role with his characteristically dry, sarcastic humor.

Meta and developer Twisted Pixel haven’t yet given this title an exact release date, but have said it’s coming “Late 2025,” and it can’t come soon enough.

Deadpool and his fans have been crying out for a new video game.

Since his 2013 title’s release, the character’s popularity has skyrocketed thanks to a trilogy of much-loved movies starring him. However, Activision also lost the Marvel license it had in 2014, so the game is impossible to get digitally and can’t be rereleased physically.

That’s why copies of the 2013 Deadpool game have seen prices over $100 / £100 at times, and can still fetch prices in the $50 / £40 range from resellers.

If this Meta Quest 3 title can live up to the superhero-fantasy that was Batman: Arkham Shadow – one of the best Batman games ever made, and the perfect title for anyone who has dreamt of wearing the cowl – I exp[ect it could be the sought of 2025 system seller the Quest 3 and Quest 3s have been looking for (especially given rumors that a Meta Quest 4 refresh has been delayed until at least 2027).

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While I was thoroughly impressed with Sony's PlayStation VR 2 virtual reality headset, after putting it through its paces I’m sad to admit I’ve not used it in more than a year. The hardware is very slick and Horizon: Call of the Mountain is one immersive experience, but there’s been a lack of games to really pull me back into Sony’s VR world.

However, the recent PlayStation State of Play might just have me dusting off my PSVR 2. That’s because the game showcase featured Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow.

This is a VR game all about sneaking around infiltrating buildings and complexes in a pseudo medieval/Renaissance city to steal persons items.

The big hook is this is a Thief game, a series that gamers of a certain vintage will remember as the progenitor of salary games and immersive sims way back in 1998 with Thief: The Dark Project on PC. I am one such gamer, and absolutely love the quiet, smart exploring and pilfering the games offered; I think they even hold up today, mechanically speaking.

Thief was a smart game about knowing your environment and using tools to navigate it, such as noise arrows to distract guards, moss arrows to put a layer of soft flora on creaky wooden floors and, somewhat against traditional game logic, making areas darker rather than lighter as you creep through them.

While player character Garrett has a sword and a ‘blackjack’ club, he wasn’t designed for combat, with guards easily able to kill the thief. So the game was equally about running away as it was sneaking; if a guard caught you, Garrett’s nimble speed meant scarpering from the authorities was a totally legit tactic.

And I reckon this will translate really well into VR. While I’ve enjoyed faster paced games like Superhot in VR, I feel slower paced, more tactile experiences work better in virtual reality.

Having more time to scope out an area, delicately shifting ornaments and peeking behind walls, and shifting paintings to uncover hidden alcoves, as shown in the Thief VR trailer, looks to be a more immersive experience that lends itself to the PSVR 2 and its tech, such as foveated rendering and eye tracking.

I can also see the dynamic mechanics of Thief working equally well in VR; the feel of carefully drawing back a bowstring to unleash a rope arrow or reaching out with one’s real and virtual hand to pinch out a candle, all supported by the haptics and smart tracking of the PSVR 2’s controllers.

While I’d not say Thief was known for the most captivating storytelling, the series had some interesting plotlines. This time you’ll be put in the padded boots of Magpie, who looks like she’ll stumble across some more intriguing things than just some valuables to snatch. And I think seeing The City and its characters in VR will definitely help suck one into the story.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt excited by a VR game, but Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow has both caught my next-gen gaming attention and also tickled my nostalgia. We could seen a new dawn for PlayStation VR games grow out of the shadows some time this year.

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Hitman World of Assassination on the PSVR 2 is, simply put, a must-play game for anyone with the latest PlayStation VR headset.

Being so intrinsically tied to the flat game – this title exists solely as a DLC expansion for the PS5 version of Hitman – there was a risk this game would feel overwhelmingly familiar. Stale, even.

Moreover, given the series’ rocky relationship with virtual reality up until this point, Hitman on the PSVR 2 could have quite easily blown past ‘boring’ and landed itself squarely in ‘bad game’ territory.

Much like a well-executed assassination, however, Hitman on the PSVR 2 finds its mark with the perfect balance of faithful recreation and fresh mechanics courtesy of its enhanced VR perspective.

In doing so, Hitman proves itself as not only one of the best PSVR 2 games but one of the best VR games in general, with this (currently) PlayStation exclusive taking a chunk out of the Meta Quest 3’s seemingly impenetrable armor.

It also serves as a blueprint for other PS5 titles to follow should they wish to port themselves to PSVR 2 – a guide I seriously hope they follow, as with more experiences like this in its repertoire, PlayStation's second attempt at VR would struggle not to be a smash hit.

Ready for more, 47?

Anyone who has dipped their toes into the World of Assassination since its 2016 debut knows the drill. Across 22 bespoke sandboxes bursting with creative killing methods – a puzzle game disguised as a shooter – the player, as Agent 47, must find and execute his targets (ideally without being noticed).

It’s much the same in this VR reimagining of the series, but with renewed player agency that comes with VR’s inherently more interactive nature.

An immediately noticeable change is the game’s first-person perspective. It’s one thing to watch Agent 47 push through the crowded streets of Marrakesh, it’s another to be weaving your way through the packed market for yourself.

Everything is more involved. You have to physically swing, throw, or pull the trigger of your weapon of choice to take out non-player characters (NPCs) – both targets and potential foils to your murderous schemes alike – and you even have to physically swipe keycards or pick locks to explore restricted areas of the map.

True to Hitman's creative nature, VR doesn’t just serve as a way to embody the Agent 47 you see in the flat game. It also opens up new options for your strategies.

My favorite is the ability to dual-wield. This mechanic opens the door to more violent dual-firearm approaches which see you go on a bloodthirsty rampage as you gun down everyone in your way, but also as the simple (yet effective) dual-soda can approach that allows you to incapacitate two guards by throwing your both cans (or your preferred blunt object) in different directions at the same time.

Speaking of throwing, I appreciate that the game gives you two options. The basic chuck where you simply hurl the item, or a more targeted throw which you can activate using the controllers, which helps ensure you hit your intended target rather than an unintended bystander.

Perfectly executed

To this end, Hitman isn’t afraid to adopt VR in its own way.

There’s realistic weapon reloading and other object interactions, which are staples of the genre, but also reticle targeting for your throws and the use of the third-person perspective during climbing and when 47 is blending in to lend the player a hand when needed.

While some may find leaving first-person a little immersion-breaking breaking I always found it useful. When blending in, or clambering up drain pipes or across ledges, you need to be able to take in your surroundings to know when to emerge – otherwise you could get rumbled immediately.

I felt the more informative third-person perspective matched how Agent 47 would be paying closer attention to the world around him in these moments, working as both a narrative and mechanical tool.

One area I wish more assistance had been given to the player, however, was when attempting to use the sniper rifle.

In my hours of playing, I never once felt I mastered this weapon. In fact, I felt I got worse over time.

During my final mission before writing this review, I missed a dozen or so shots from the top of Sapienza’s church’s bell tower, resulting in zero kills, two panicked targets, and a small army of angry guards storming my position.

There are ways to slow time while using the sniper rifle, which help a little, but I found my scope simply swayed too much to be effective, even when I tried my darndest to stay still. I’ll endeavor to improve what is very possibly a skill issue, but some assistive mechanics would have certainly helped me with sniping, and I imagine several over players would appreciate them too.

A view to a kill

Beyond its gameplay successes, Hitman also looks pretty and runs very well on the PS5 system.

Even locations packed with NPCs like Miami and Paris ran smoothly while still looking just as crisp as the flat version. At times, the visuals were such a delight that it was easy to forget about my mission as I just got lost in the environments.

The tradeoff is that, unlike some VR titles, the objects littering the various maps are mostly set dressing. If an item is one you could pick up in the base game, it’s the same in VR, but other objects like kitchen frying pans, radios, and other decorations are cemented in place.

While this can initially be disappointing, IO Interactive's approach is understandable considering the technical nightmare this would cause for both the development team and the PS5 hardware. And frankly, Hitman’s sandboxes are full enough already.

Strangely, Hitman’s final success is that it isn’t exclusively a VR game.

Even VR veterans need to take a break to handle motion sickness or general fatigue from waving their arms around for a couple of hours, and with many titles, that means putting the game you’re enraptured by down until you’re ready to put the headset back on.

With Hitman on the PSVR 2, because it exists as an expansion of the base flat game, you can simply swap to the non-VR version and boot up a new mission while relaxing on your couch.

All of your unlocks and the knowledge you’ve gained about a target carry over between versions, and I generally appreciated the freedom I had to experience this game how I wanted across different sessions. I could play it in VR, I could play it on my TV, or I could swap between the two on a whim.

IO Interactive has done a superb job translating the Hitman experience to VR with this PSVR 2 port. It simultaneously feels fresh yet familiar with a resulting package that I’m sure will be enjoyed by complete newcomers and Hitman aficionados alike.

If you’re looking for an excuse to replay the Hitman World of Assassination trilogy, this is it, and if you own a PSVR 2 headset and haven’t yet picked up this game, what are you doing still reading this review?

Should you play Hitman on PSVR 2?

Play it if…

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

Hitman has a handful of accessibility settings to make the game more approachable. Chiefly, it has three optional difficulties you can swap between to make the gameplay experience more or less forgiving.

When it comes to VR-specific settings, the whole game can be played sitting down or standing, though you will need some range of upper body movement to use weapons and reload.

There are also comfort controls like vignetting, snap/smooth turning, and other adjustments, which can make the game more comfortable for newcomers. Overall, I found the experience not too nauseating (I could easily play for an hour or two at a time without trouble), though it does seem like a VR game best suited to people with a little VR experience who will be used to smooth control stick movement while wearing a headset.

How I reviewed Hitman on PSVR 2

I reviewed Hitman World of Assassination using a standard PlayStation 5 console and PlayStation VR 2 headset. My only upgrade is that I swapped the wired earbuds for a pair of Marshall Monitor III ANC headphones.

I played the game for around 30 hours, splitting my time fairly equally between the VR and non-VR versions of the title (which I would sometimes play in cinematic mode while using the headset if I wanted to continue a save state I had created in the flat game).

During the VR playthrough, I made sure to visit each location to explore, try a range of mission story assassinations, and see how the game runs, as well as testing a wide range of weapons to understand how intuitive item interactions felt. I never once noticed any hiccups, and never wanted to put my headset down as I enjoyed being immersed in this title immensely.

First reviewed April 2025

Some days you want a VR game for your Meta Quest 3 that’s bursting with high-octane action, with epic fight scenes and a pumping soundtrack that makes you feel like you’ve been dumped headset-first into a John Wick movie.

Other days, though, you just want to kick back with your headset; and when you do, Train Sim World VR: New York could be just what you’re looking for.

This charming simulator drops you into the shoes of a fledgling engineer on New York’s Harlem Line, where it’s your job to transport people using one of the two vehicles you’re trained to drive – the MTA M3A and M7A (though, as the game points out, this doesn’t replace professional instruction, so you'll want to leave real-world train driving to the experts).

As you travel you’ll take in the sights and sounds of the New York rail network, and you can even hop out of your carriage at times and explore stations to search for collectibles.

You’ll want to focus on your job too, mind: as you travel the tracks you’ll need to blow your horn to alert workers on the line or honk hello to rail fans looking on from bridges and platforms, as well as watch your speed, walking the tightrope between ensuring you get to your destinations on time and complete every speed gate challenge, without breaking any speed limits.

This balancing act – which is probably better described as a meter-wide plank walk than a tightrope walk given its more relaxed nature – serves as the core gameplay loop of Train Sim World VR, and you’ll either love it or hate it.

In the hate it camp, you’ll become frustrated with the repetitiveness. While each mission in the game’s career mode had its nuances, they did admittedly blend into one as I played.

Beyond control layout changes as you swap between train types, and a handful of route alterations, there’s not a lot of difference between levels, but as I mentioned in the intro this isn’t the virtual reality experience you’re looking for if you’re after exhilaration.

What you’re coming to Train Sim World VR: New York for is chill train vibes.

That’s what I came to adore about this title: being able to just sit back and relax as I drove trains up and down the Harlem line, tooting my train’s horn when needed – and when I just felt like it, frankly.

If you’re in the love it camp you’ll be someone who's looking to find joy in this game’s mundanity, or someone who's keen to dip their toes into the world of VR simulators with an exceptionally beginner-friendly title.

There’s a large panel, so you can easily see how fast you’re going and how intense your acceleration or deceleration is, and whenever you approach workers or a station there's an obvious reticle reminding you to blow your horn ASAP.

The minimalist control scheme for each vehicle and literally on-rails movement means there are only so many factors you have to consider at once. As a result, passing any mission isn’t a challenge, which creates an even more zen-like state as you traverse the tracks.

That isn’t to say people looking for a relaxing time will find this game perfect in every facet.

The graphics can leave something to be desired at times – if you stare out of your window you’ll likely see a fair amount of features popping in and out as you pass by – though given the game’s dedication to creating a 1:1 scale with the real-world Harlem Line (which you can explore without loading screens on the Meta Quest 3) some graphical drops are more than forgivable here.

Train Sim World VR: New York isn’t for everyone, but that's true of plenty of VR sims. They exist to cater to a very specific audience, and this game’s purpose is to be a delightful, beginner-friendly train simulator – a goal it smashes.

If you want to pick up Train Sim World VR: New York it’s available to buy from the digital store on your Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro or Meta Quest 2 today for $31.99 / £24.99 / AU$47.99.

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While the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy has been a stand-out success across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC its transition from flat gaming to VR has been a tough ride. Exploring IO Interactive’s sandbox levels in virtual reality has its charm, graphics woes, lacking motion controls, and general bugginess have negatively impacted prior releases across PSVR, Steam, and recently the Meta Quest 3.

But fourth time’s the charm, so to speak, as with the latest Hitman: World of Assassination release on PSVR 2, IOI has seemingly cracked the VR formula – at least based on my experience in a roughly hour-and-a-half-long demo.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to get back into Hitman, this is it - it really could be the next best PSVR 2 game.

Getting to grips

My day started off smoothly. I was whisked away to Sapienza – a fictional Italian coastal town introduced in Hitman (2016) – with the goal of eliminating Silvio Caruso, Francesca De Santis, and the biological weapon they’ve created, with me taking out the human targets with an exploding golf ball and sniper rifle respectively.

Here I got to grips with developer IO Interactive’s ultimate take on what a VR Hitman should be. As expected you’re thrust into a first-person view, with this PSVR 2 interpretation featuring a suite of motion controls to replace the usual button prompts. Reloading a firearm is an involved process – you have to manually eject the empty cartridge, grab and insert a new one, then cock the pistol to be able to fire again – and to break into areas you aren’t allowed to enter you’ll need to pull out your lockpick, the stolen key card you swiped, or your trusty crowbar to physically crack open the barrier in your way.

The only time you don't have to manually do Agent 47’s job for him is when you’re blending in or climbing.

IO Interactive told me that while some players say they want to stay in first-person the whole time and perform 47’s blending-in techniques for themselves, that doesn’t work for the gameplay as a whole.

Blending in is a time for players to catch their breath, take stock of their situation, and watch out for people hunting them or those who could rumble their disguise – a third-person view facilitates this in a way a first-person one can’t, and from playing the game I can see what they mean. Climbing in third-person also has the added benefit that it’s less nauseating for many than the first-person alternative.

However the team has found ways to use VR in other ways to make this PSVR 2 version more than a simple port, such as with dual-wielding. Obvious applications are that you can go into a mission with dual-wielded guns blazing and forgo Agent 47’s ‘Silent Assassin’ reputation, but others include new takedown techniques.

With a blunt object in each hand, you can knock out two guards simultaneously, making it easier to sneak around undetected and complete a mission with that important Silent Assassin, Suit Only rating.

A whole world to explore

Speaking of Hitman: World of Assassination as 'just' a PSVR 2 port, this is the (almost) full-on World of Assination package but in VR.

Some missions have been cut (at least for now) such as the bonus Patient Zero campaign (I say for now, as the IOI team gave me the impression it wanted to bring these levels to VR eventually), Hitman 2’s sniper missions, and some of the more elaborate Elusive Targets – like the recent The Splitter mission featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Otherwise, everything’s there. In Sapienza, I was delighted to see the Kraken easter egg was still present – even if I didn’t quite have the time or aim to solve it – and in Berlin, I took on The Drop Elusive Target mission starring real-world DJ Dimitri Vegas.

I also noticed that everything ran fairly smoothly. Even on Berlin’s crowded dance floor and at Miami’s packed car race event I didn’t experience any noticeable stuttering. Graphics-wise it's a step down from what you’ll be used to on the PS5’s flat game, however, it didn’t look bad by any stretch – though I’ll want to test the game out further before passing a final judgment on the performance.

And returning to the Hitman PSVR 2 experience is something I can’t wait for. I love the Hitman trilogy and this PSVR 2 version has truly done it justice in a way I’m sure many players feel the other VR attempts haven’t quite managed to.

The full VR game releases on March 27 as a $9.99 / £8.99 add-on to the original PS5 game (which you’ll also need to own), and I’ll be one of the first in line.

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Ahead of its launch I had the chance to demo Hitman: World of Assassination on PSVR 2 – you can read all about why I think it’s excellent here – and while in Copenhagen I was also able to chat with IO Interactive’s Eskil Mohl (the title’s senior game designer) about the team’s approach to virtual reality, the Hitman series, and IO Interactive’s future with Project 007 and Project Fantasy.

Going into this new PSVR 2 port, Mohl explained there were several updates the team knew it had to make compared to the original PSVR and Steam VR versions of Hitman based on all of the fan feedback.

“Of course we knew we had to include ambidexterity so the left hand can do everything the right hand can do, manual reloading was also a must – it’s expected in VR. It’s maybe not going to be the biggest wow factor for players but with 200+ weapons in the game we knew it was going to be a huge task that we had to include.

“We wanted as much as possible to include touch and movement controls – so you have to manually use a key or breach a door with the crowbar – and we wanted you to change disguises in a way that wasn’t a button prompt – where you could manually rip-off the clothes and slam them on to you.”

These are only small interactions but they’re key to selling the immersive experience to players, and that’s why they’re common in other VR titles.

Though Hitman: World of Assassination on the PSVR 2 isn’t just an exercise in following the crowd. Eskil added that he also knew many players wanted Agent 47’s blend-in moments – where he pretends to be a chef, scientist, tourist, or one of so many other disguised personas – to be interactive, but the team went a different route.

“We took players back to a third-person view for a few reasons. When you blend in it’s usually because it’s very hectic. You’re hiding and you want to be able to look around and see where that threat is coming from. Also with all these disguises it’s fun for the player to actually see what their character looks like.

"Lastly it helps stabilize players, giving them a little break from the continuous first-person movement – which is great, but it can be intense, especially in a long session.”

Glitch, or a happy accident?

If you’ve ever taken a peek at Hitman’s speedrunning scene you’ll be aware of how many surprising exploits the trilogy is packed with. Pause buffering with a pistol can allow you to open otherwise inaccessible doors, shooting near guards in the right way can have them completely ignore you, and if you can find the right combination of a breakable violin and breaching charge you’ll be sent hundreds of feet into the air allowing you to make otherwise impossible sniper shots.

I asked Eskil if the team thought about trying to patch some of these unintended glitches in this port, but he explained that they could spend a lifetime patching exploits and still miss some in a game as big as theirs. Your most dedicated players will always find a way to break things, and when they do it’s actually really cool.

“So I think in Marrakesh there’s a key that you can’t reach unless you go to the other side of a table and start trespassing, but in VR you can just reach over and grab it. Is that an exploit? Yeah, but it felt good so we just left it in.”

But IOI didn’t want everything to feel easier in VR.

“When adding dual-wielding we were worried it would mess up the balance of the game. We didn’t want every mission to be solved by having a player run in guns blazing with two of the heavier machine guns. Because of manual reloading the game actually self balances, which we were glad about.

"But it can still be fun to try. In missions like Colorado I’ve tried going in, alerting guards by firing into the air, and see how long I can hold out.”

So, what's next?

As for IO Interactive’s future, as expected Eskil played things close to the chest.

He couldn’t go deep into the team’s upcoming Hitman: World of Assassination plans – in or out of VR with respect to future seasonal content – but Eskil noted that there are some bonus campaigns like Patient Zero and the The Sarajevo Six which aren’t yet in this VR port, though perhaps they’ll be added one day.

Of course, I took the chance to try and probe about the studio’s two upcoming projects Project 007, and the new Project Fantasy IP.

I had spotted a few black and white photos on the wall in a side office from the classic James Bond movies – featuring the iconic Aston Martin DB 5, and a headshot of Sean Connery (I think, it may have been a different Bond actor but I only got a quick look) – so I secretly hoped I might be able to pry something from the interview.

Alas, Eskil was on form and deflected my questions, but when I made my final gambit to jokingly ask about the possibility of Project 007 VR he chuckled and replied “Never say never.”

I’m not taking that as anything close to a confirmation, but with this latest attempt at VR IO Interactive has proven it knows what makes the medium work – so I for one would love to see them make more XR titles.

Hitman’s also an excellent showcase for other PlayStation game developers on how to adapt a flat game to PSVR 2, and I’d like to believe that other studios will try to copy IOI’s lead and maybe revitalize an otherwise floundering PSVR 2 market. Again, I won’t be holding my breath, but a VR enthusiast can dream can’t he?

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• Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked's first trailer just dropped
• It shows us the Demeo-meets-D&D experience we were expecting
• There's no release date, but we were promised post-launch DLC support

Just over a year ago it was announced that Demeo developer Resolution Games would be creating a VR Dungeons & Dragons title, a collaboration akin to combining peanut butter and jelly – it just made perfect sense. Now we’ve got the first trailer for the upcoming project: Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked (try saying that five times fast), and we’ve got our first look at the gameplay.

Demeo is the essential tabletop experience in VR with elements that fans of IRL games will recognize instantly – including dice rolling, miniatures, and fantastical settings. It was already approaching D&D in VR, so an official partnership between the two games wasn’t surprising. And the end result is exactly what people expected.

As seen in the trailer (we’ve dropped it below for you) various players come together as their diverse set of characters – a Dragonborn warrior, Halfling mage, Elf bard, and Tiefling rogue – to take on a band of Kobolds in a tabletop setting made to look like woodlands.

It ends with a quick flash of recognizable Demeo gameplay – a player rolling a die to make an attack, while the other members of their party scan their hand of cards to decide what actions they’ll take on their turn.

So far, the only distinctly D&D change is that the usual 12-sided die used in Demeo has been swapped for the iconic 20-sided die (D20) which all D&D campaigns rely on. However, other D&D elements have been stripped away to make the game more like Demeo; Battlemarked will be a Dungeon Master-less experience (a person who runs the game for the players) with the game deciding how NPCs and monsters engage with the players, and the title will focus on “social strategy rather than social roleplay” according to the developers – so expect combat galore.

Beyond what the trailer had to show us, Resolution Games and Wizards of the Coast have promised us two story-based campaigns at Battlemarked’s launch, with additional campaigns planned as DLC for future updates.

We’re not sure which settings will make an appearance, but we expect a few iconic locations and campaigns from the Forgotten Realms – Icewind Dale, the Tomb of Annihilation, Waterdeep, and Ravenloft to name a few – will be adapted for this upcoming title.

We unfortunately don’t know when that launch will happen however, nor which platforms Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked will launch on, though we’re expecting it’ll match the core Demeo’s release – Meta Quest 3, PCVR, PlayStation VR 2 and Apple Vision Pro systems.

Give me customization, or give me death

There’s a lot we still don’t know about Battlemarked but one aspect of D&D I hope we do see is customization – the ability for players to create their own characters, and potentially even their own campaigns.

I’m not expecting something to the same degree of Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creation, but the ability to mix and match classes with different D&D species to create my choice of hero rather than having to select a pre-made champion – which is what you do in Demeo – would make this feel more like a D&D adventure.

I also know a lot of players – myself included – were hoping this Demeo collab might materialize as some kind of virtual tabletop experience that gives us control over the action for our own custom games. I certainly don’t mind the inclusion of a DM-less campaign mode, but a DM-led custom mode would be awesome – especially as a stepping stone for new groups to transition from playing Battlemarked to playing D&D-proper. Demeo isn’t new to PvP – with its Demeo: Battles variant – so pulling in elements into a 3v1 players vs DM environment would be a lot of fun.

Admittedly, I’m not holding my breath for either of these customization suggestions, but as a D&D and VR fan I’m excited to see what Resolution games and Wizards of the Coast have in store for us.

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Alien: Rogue Incursion is a prime example of horror done well in a VR game. It doesn’t simply bung you in a pitch-black space and spook you with jumpscare after jumpscare, no, the whole title exudes an inescapable tension that’s an amalgam horror of its setting, sound design, and game mechanics.

The specific nature of the chaotic, labyrinthine Gemini Exoplanet Solutions facility your two-person party – Zula Hendricks and her synth companion Davis – is stranded in doesn't overly matter, but its design and decoration certainly do.

It boasts a jumbled network of crawlspaces that are perfect for Xenomorphs to exploit to sneak up on you, and even with the motion detector it can be a challenge to track them down before they break cover and launch an attack at you – with the sound of their clambering serving as a constant reminder that the monsters are close, even if you can’t see them.

Sneaking around the facility yourself is advised then to avoid unnecessary combat, but what makes that a challenge is commonplace workplace debris. On any other day a few boxes, a creaky locker door, or a trash can would be mundane items you hardly consider, but they’re transformed into your enemy by Rogue Incursion as any noise has a chance to summon your alien foes.

This ties in perfectly with the intrinsic risk-reward structure which should be at the core of a survival horror campaign like this one. Yes, you can explore a few additional rooms to try to restock your dwindling supplies, but the noise you’ll create could mean you’ll spend more resources than you’ll regain if you aren't careful.

I also appreciated that, as someone who is relatively unfamiliar with the Alien universe – I know what a Xenomorph is, how their parasitic nature relies on facehuggers and chestbusters to violently reproduce, and I could pick one out in a lineup of sci-fi heels, but I’ve never seen an Alien movie, and the closest I’ve come to playing an Alien game before is eliminating Xenomoprophs and Ripley in Fortnite – I never felt locked-out of the story.

This was aided by the admittedly trope-heavy plot, but while there were clear references to characters and events who meant very little to me the well-crafted dialogue contained enough context clues that I could follow along without feeling lost. So don’t feel this isn’t a game for you if you’re new to the Alien franchise like I was.

Bark worse than their bite

Ironically, however, the least scary aspect of this whole scenario was the eponymous Aliens. As you’re well stocked with military-grade rifles, shotguns, and revolvers Xenomorphs can be dispatched by Zula and Davis with enough shots to the chest or head.

And there are no variants to keep you on your toes mechanically speaking. Once you’ve fought one Xenomorph, you’ve fought them all making otherwise tense fights feel a little repetitive.

As a result, the fear of combat comes not from its challenges but from resource management and unforgiving save points.

You can kill any alien, sure, provided you have ammo – the supply of which is far from endless. And if a group of Aliens does catch you off guard while you’re low on healing items you’ll be sent back to the last time you saved at a panic room – and from experience, I can say it’s not unlike having your college essay reset by a computer crash after not saving for over an hour.

Xenomprophs are frightening in a way, then, but it’s a little immersion-breaking as the in-universe monster isn’t what’s scary, instead it’s the metacontext of the monster as a video game foe that is terrifying.

At the same time, while I feel Rogue Incursion would have done well to start you on a weaker footing to let you truly experience the threat Xenonorphs pose, or throw in a few variants (which the facility's Xenomorph experiments would have played into from a story perspective) I never once felt at ease in this world.

And at the end of the day, that's what you really want from a survival horror excursion. To that extent this title reminds me greatly of Resident Evil 7 which similarly suffers with enemy variety outside of boss fights, but that doesn’t ever mean you want to run into the Molded or feel safe on the Baker estate. So if that was a game you enjoyed like I did, I can see you also finding a lot to love about Rogue Incursion.

Alien's own Kobayashi Maru

Story-wise, Rogue Incursion doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but its plot serves as an excellent driving force for your adventure with the ideal balance of hope and despair to keep you pushing on without ever feeling too happy about your situation.

Additionally, I appreciated that the nuggets of world-building you can glean from email logs and audio recordings bring not only additional context to the facility’s SNAFU for lore fans to chew on, but directly tie into the ending which has left me desperately excited to dive into a sequel.

I will keep this review spoiler-lite, as we always do, but I want to quickly air my grievances at the only frustrating moment I faced: the story’s mid-game no-win scenario.

It’s certainly an interesting way to play on the world’s general sense of hopelessness as you’re outgunned in an epic fight against wave after wave of Xenomorph, but not knowing I couldn’t win I had actually manually reset a few times thinking a different strategy would serve me better – the first-person death animations are a bit much for me so I preferred to use the pause menu to return to a save point than let the death play out.

Eventually, after several failed attempts I did quickly loosen the headset to check the reviewer’s guide on my phone to see if there was a walkthrough that could tell me what I was missing, and while there wasn’t a walkthrough it did mean I had finally not reset manually, and instead of returning to a panic room save point, I discovered I had progressed the story as I was always meant to lose.

It then leads into a pivtol "oh damn" moment of the game which I was not expecting at all, but the impact was unfortunately a little lost in my irrattation.

Should you play Alien: Rogue Incursion?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility

Alien: Rogue Incursion, like other VR games, requires a full range of upper body motion to be playable as you’ll need to be able to interact with door handles, wire puzzles, and weapon controls.

It also uses smooth motion which can be a challenge for VR newcomers, however, its strong suite of vignette options meant I was able to play for hours at a time without feeling like I was about to lose my lunch.

How I tested Alien: Rogue Incursion

I played through the whole Alien: Rogue Incursion campaign on a standard PSVR 2 setup using a regular PS5. I tried a few different difficulty settings to get a sense of the level of challenge they provided, and tried the game from both standing and seated positions to see if there were any major benefits of challenge to one style over another – there weren’t, so choose whichever you prefer.

If you haven’t yet tried Batman: Arkham Shadow… well, why haven’t you? If your excuse is that you don’t have a VR headset then you should know that the game is currently free with new purchases of the Meta Quest 3 and super-affordable Meta Quest 3S – and this exclusive title is one of the best (perhaps even the best) games on either of these systems.

For those of you who have played through Batman: Arkham Shadow and who have any lingering questions about the story’s twists and turns, or if a sequel is in the works, I’ve had the chance to chat with Ryan Payton, the studio head of Camouflaj (the team behind the game), to find answers to all of these questions.

You can catch our full interview on the TechRadar YouTube channel (or by watching the embedded video below), or you can read on to catch five takeaways I particularly wanted to highlight. The first couple of entries on this list will be spoiler-light but know that some massive plot points are discussed lower down. There will be another warning as we enter spoiler territory – but take this as your early warning to not scroll too far if you haven’t finished the game’s main story.

1. More content incoming

More Arkham Shadow content will be dropping in the coming months, so get ready to return to the Batman VR title even if you have wrapped everything up.

Some patches – like the one dropping this month – will focus on bug fixes based on community feedback, but as we enter 2025 Payton says Arkham Shadow will get “more challenge maps” and also “some additional story content.”

The challenge maps are fantastic ways for players to test out and demonstrate their mastery of Batman’s gadgets, so I’m definitely excited for more of those to play, and I can’t wait to delve a little deeper into the Arkham Shadow story.

Payton does add that it’s not going to be some big free DLC (downloadable content) like players got from Arkham Knight; instead, it’s a mixture of content that was planned but didn’t quite make it in time for the title’s launch date, and additions based on what players are responding to. Payton explains that these story extras will clear up a few dangling threads, but also introduce some new questions, the answers to which we could get in the future. And speaking of those unanswered questions…

2. Camouflaj wants to make a sequel

For now, the entire Camouflaj team is dedicated to finishing Arkham Shadow – working on that extra content we just talked about – but Payton admitted that he and the team had a blast making the game, and would jump at the chance to come back for a sequel. “I think we've been pretty open about how the team had just the best time with the partnership… and it’s been just a fun roller-coaster ride all the way.

“With this whole experience we’ve just been thinking, look, if the game does well and people respond positively to it, we hope that we can make it a very easy decision for leaders across Meta and Warner Brothers and DC to ask us to do more.”

He says the positive fan reactions hopefully will make that dream a reality – and I’m one of those fans hoping for a sequel, as I’d love to return to Gotham for another VR Arkham adventure.

*SPOILERS*

This is your final spoiler warning. After the image below we’ll be talking about the final scenes of the game so if you don’t want the mystery ruined stop here, and come back when you’re done playing Arkham Shadow.

3. Harvey Dent / Rat King, two sides of the same coin

The reveal of Harvey Dent / Two Face as the Rat King was a twist I and a lot of players didn’t see coming, but when talking to Payton about the ending I was almost as surprised that the Rat King wasn’t originally envisioned as a way to obscure Dent’s villainous side.

Instead, Payton revealed that the team decided early on that Rat King would be an entirely new antagonist so that the team could create a scary, mysterious villain without the baggage that would come with adapting anyone else in Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery. It was only after agreeing on the Rat King that the team started to think about who might be under the mask, ultimately settling on Dent.

This then helped to inform the entire story of two brothers facing their shadows: Bruce, who conquers his and chooses to spare Joe Chill (a twist Payton said he was surprised caught so many players off guard), and Harvey, who falls to his shadow and is shaped into Two Face.

An interesting detail Payton added here was his perspective on Two Face. Rather than seeing the villainous half of Harvey Dent as Two Face, he instead envisions Two Face as the whole, with Harvey Dent and Rat King as the character’s opposing personalities.

4. Keeping things Chill

That Joe Chill twist was another one that surprised me, even though looking back it was so darn obvious. The moment Bruce realizes that one of his closest prison allies was the man who killed his parents was one Camouflaj wanted to get right, as it occurs at the climax of their story, and for a time they were going to obscure this connection to try to keep players from guessing it early.

“We were going to call him Frost,” Payton revealed, “We debated this for a year and then I think we just said, ‘Hey, let’s respect the player.’ Some people are going to pick up on it, and that’s okay.”

Despite the team choosing to keep Joe’s name as Joe, and even using an aged-up version of Chill’s Arkham Origins character model, a lot of players didn’t spot the twist. I for one am so glad they kept him as Joe, however, as this impactful moment just wouldn’t have hit as hard if it had been obscured behind the Frost moniker.

5. Joker, I hardly know ‘er

When you think of Batman you think of Joker – the pair are the most iconic hero/villain duo in all of comic book media – but I agree with a comment Payton made in our chat that the Joker’s status as a fan-favorite baddie means he “takes up all the oxygen in a room.” To that end you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place: keeping Arkham Shadow Joker-free could mean the game lacks a key aspect of what a Batman game is, but including him could completely overshadow the wider story Camouflaj wanted to tell.

At the same time, Payon explained that the team was working on the solitary confinement segment of the game. As an exploration of the prison setting in media in VR, there were several aspects of the genre the team wanted to portray, and one key element was that Matches (Batman’s prison persona) should go to solitary confinement.

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Metro Awakening is not quite for me. There’s definitely something here for the right kind of VR game fan; namely someone with a better connection to the Metro franchise (this is my first entry), who enjoys slow-burn stories with splashes of horror, and who can stand spiders. That’s just not me, unfortunately.

I do enjoy some good ol’ survival horror, mind. Resident Evil 2, 4, 7, and 8 – including the Meta Quest Resident Evil 4 port – are among my favorite games of all time. The gameplay loop of facing your fears and exploring spooky environs to better face the dangers wandering those spaces is one I can’t get enough of, and in this regard, I think Metro Awakening does so much right.

Even the smaller beasts of the Moscow Metro feel intimidating, and there’s an inescapable tenseness to wandering the claustrophobic tunnels. Resources seem reasonably sparse to make management and stealthier approaches essential, but not so sparse that you feel like survival’s an impossible task – as long as you make every bullet count.

I also adore the game’s realistic weapons handling as it adds to the title’s overall terror; there’s nothing worse than hearing *bang* *bang* *click* as you realize you’re out of ammo as a monster charges you, and the only way to reload is to properly eject a cartridge, insert a new one and cock your firearm – simple enough except when you’re terrified. These moments wouldn't feel the same if your gun simply refilled its ammo at the push of a button.

That’s true for a lot of Metro Awakening’s interactive elements. There’s a realness to everything, including miscellaneous props you can find lying around, that makes this world feel fairly alive – which is fantastic for immersion.

Though these high-quality VR aspects are to be expected from Vertigo Games, the team behind Arizona Sunshine and its sequel – shining examples of the post-apocalyptic VR shooter.

Wandering through the dark

Set five years before Metro 2033 we play as Serdar, a doctor who is on a mission to rescue his wife Yana from the haunting voices of her traumatic past. On the quest, Serdar will discover the man he is destined to become: Khan, the mystic ally of the main series’ protagonist Artyom.

While the story is well written – creating an intriguing blend of sci-fi and folklore – things take too long to get going. The intro made me feel like I was stuck in an over-extended cutscene broken up by unnecessary exploration between exposition.

There were some moments of action – a big fight scene with a mounted machine gun – near the start but I didn’t feel like I was being immersed in the survival horror setting I was promised. When I finally was, the inciting jump scare gave me whiplash as things went from zero to 100 in an instant.

Fans of a slower burning story will likely enjoy this more gentle pace – perhaps even how it juxtaposes with the titles’ more action and terror-filled segments – but I unfortunately found the intro a slog and from this bad start, I failed to feel compelled by the story. The plot felt like a roadblock to the game I wanted to be playing rather than an integral part of it.

I also had issues with accessibility. We have a whole segment of our reviews dedicated to this aspect so I’ll save some for that but I found the smooth locomotion vignette entirely ineffective – so where I was able to play Arkham Shadow until my headset ran out of charge just fine I kept having to pause Metro Awakening every 20 to 30 minutes, or make do with teleportation movement.

A difficult journey

The last of my gripes is I did notice a few performance hiccups, particularly just after passing through a loading zone. I was playing on a Meta Quest 3 and suspect more powerful systems – PSVR 2 and PCVR headsets – would struggle less on this side of things though I can’t confirm that for myself.

Though nothing I experienced was game breaking and it was always only a few seconds of noticeable framerate drops before Metro Awakening returned to

Overall then I think Metro’s VR entry has a lot to offer, especially to fans of the series who want to immerse themselves in the franchise’s iconic setting. The story isn’t for me, but for someone who feels more invested in the plot, I can see how its more gradual pace creates this unignorable tension as even in safer areas you’re agonizing about when the next monster will crawl its way out of the shadows.

Being dropped into this world through VR there’s some proper terror that feels so much more impactful than with a flat game. Horror fans will love what Metro Awakening has to offer, but if you prefer more light-hearted adventures this is one to skip.

Should you play Metro Awakening?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

As with many VR games, Metro Awakening requires you to have a full range of upper body movements – though it can be played standing or seated. It also boasts teleportation movement which is ideal for players who can’t yet stomach smooth motion.

Unfortunately, while smooth motion does have a vignette option it’s very weak – so much so that in the game’s darker environments I didn’t notice it at all. The upshot is while I’m generally fine with smooth movement with vignetting on I had to swap to the less enjoyable teleportation style because I was struggling to stay immersed for longer stretches.

Another issue is Metro Awakening has a fair few spiders, and while an arachnophobia mode is coming it isn’t out yet. I found the spiders in the more comedic VR title Kill It With Fire too much to handle so you can bet the spiders of Metro VR were beyond what I wanted to deal with. Horror is meant to be scary, yes, but there’s a distinctly unfun kind of terror that spiders instill in me so I’ll gladly wait for that update.

How I tested Metro Awakening

For this review I played through Metro Awakening using my Meta Quest 3 with the Razer head strap and facial interface, otherwise, it was the standard modeI. While I explored the Moscow Metro I tried a range of approaches to the game's various encounters to test different strategies, and I explored the game's settings to get a good grasp of its accessibility features.

Batman: Arkham Shadow is a masterclass in what a VR game should be. It thrusts you into an immersive experience with gameplay that encourages realistic fighting movement and interacting with your environment in ways a flat console title could never offer, and the narrative-driven mystery is packed with emotionally powerful scenes that’ll have you forgetting you aren’t really Bruce Wayne for a moment.

These elements culminate in an experience that I never wanted to put down. Every one of my Arkham Shadow play sessions would begin with me unplugging my fully charged Meta Quest 3, and end with me taking it off because my battery had hit zero.

The only letdown from this otherwise flawless VR game is Arkham Shadow is chocked full of glitches.

The vast majority are minor – visual defects here and there – and anything actually game-breaking is easily solved by resetting to the last generously doled-out checkpoint (meaning I lost at most 10s of progress any time I had to reload). However, a few bugs near the finale caused my game to crash partway through what felt like a significant flashback (when I rebooted the title I had skipped it, with no way to rewatch it) and the final challenging puzzle of the adventure became an utter frustration as I was forced to replay it half a dozen times because interactable items wouldn’t behave properly causing me to fail (with it only being solved by another hard reset).

Batman: Arkham Shadow is easily up there with the best VR games ever, there are even arguments to be made that it’s the best VR game of all time. It's such a delightful experience I’d count it among the top games of 2024, period. Everyone with a Meta Quest 3 or Meta Quest 3S should play it whether they got it free with a recent headset purchase or not, and those of you who have previously dismissed VR should seriously consider getting a Quest 3 to try this game (and then explore everything else the platform has to offer like Vendetta Forever, Asgard’s Wrath 2, and Walkabout Mini Golf).

Unfortunately, the glitches have to knock it down a peg right now – which is why it’s not getting a five-star score despite my praise. I’m sure in a month or two when the holes have been patched it’ll be perfect, but as it stands today it’s not quite there.

Ready for a brawl

Now that I’ve frontloaded my only issue with Arkham Shadow, let’s get into everything that makes it special starting with combat.

Arkhamverse titles are defined by their fighting, a flowing dance of blows interspersed with combo finishers and gadget trickery. Beyond moving the camera from third to first person, Arkham Shadow is a perfect recreation of this system with fights feeling utterly thrilling.

To build up your combo you must do more than merely fling your arms wildly, instead like a boxer you must mix up your straight punches with hooks or a quick flurry of blows as the game instructs you. You’ll also want to dodge out of the way of attacks or punch to counter them and keep building your combo. And just like any other Batman game, you can rely on a well-timed Batarang or small explosive to disorientate your enemies to earn a few extra points in your combat scorecard and level up faster.

Leveling up allows you to upgrade your skills, armor, and gadgets – with my favorite being a quick takedown option for knife enemies that have you pull off a brutal finishing blow after dodging their swipes.

There’s also the iconic predator mode stealth sections in which Batman is encouraged to take a more discrete approach – silently taking enemies down by choking them out while they’re not looking or suspending them from perches.

These more puzzle-like combats require a mixture of patience and out-of-the-box thinking to solve them silently, though you can always rely on a quick smokescreen if stealth isn’t your forte.

Once you have mastered your predator and combat skills you can put them to the test in three bonus challenge scenarios respectively. They’re short and sweet but give you a chance to truly flex once you’ve unlocked every upgrade and finished the campaign.

Who is the Rat King?

Speaking of, while I’ll keep things spoiler-lite, know that the Arkham Shadow narrative is a treat – even Batman super fans will get caught up in the Cult of the Rat King mystery that will keep you guessing until the credits roll.

One big deviation Arkham Shadow takes from the rest of the series is a decent chunk of your time (I’d say about 15 to 20% of the game) is spent out of the suit. This gives you the chance to interact with members of Gotham City on a more human level, even RP as Bruce Wayne a bit with dialogue choices. This isn’t the Batman Telltale game, your actions won’t impact the story’s outcome at all, though it will change a few interactions and make it feel like you’re able to put your stamp on Batman.

Through its Batman, and non-Batman, encounters, Arkham Shadow does well to carve out its take on the series’ allies and Rogues Gallery too. Given the title's placement between Origins and Asylum developer Camouflaj is somewhat restricted in what it can and can’t do. Jim Gordon, for example, can’t be killed off because we know he survives into future entries.

You wouldn’t notice these constraints while playing, however. The compelling narrative has a believable flow, and Arkham Shadow finds time and space to show us a different side to the likes of Jim Gordon, Harleen Quinzel, Harvey Dent, and others while still making them feel like the characters we love (or love to hate).

While you can get more up close and personal with the Arkhamverse lore in this entry, fans of the series’ collectibles which reward you with bonus side-stories and background info will appreciate the litany of secrets hidden in Shadow.

There are Rat King Idols and Broadcasts to destroy, patient tapes to recover, memories of Arkham Origins to recollect, and carvings to decipher. Each is hidden just out of sight, behind a tricky puzzle, or requiring you to come back later once you’ve picked up a gadget in Asylum’s Metroidvania style.

Collectathons can feel tedious, but gathering up every item was a lot of fun with a really solid mix of puzzles relying on uniquely VR gameplay or simple brain teasers – or in some cases, not so simple.

Gathering them all as I did should mean Arkham Shadow will last you between 10 and 15 hours, which is about as long as the campaign of Arkham Asylum with a side quest or two thrown in.

Should you play Batman: Arkham Shadow?

Play it if...

Don't play it if

Accessibility

Like other VR games, Arkham Shadow requires a fair amount of movement. You can play it seated using the height calibration setting (though standing is more immersive), but you will need a full range of arm movement to engage with the combat and its mobility puzzles.

Additionally, this game can only be played with smooth control stick movement giving it a ‘Moderate’ score on Meta’s comfort scale. Even though I’m a VR veteran at this point I still get motion sickness very easily so this did worry me, however, I found that with the vignette turned to medium I was able to play for hours – literally the whole battery life of my Meta Quest 3 – without feeling sick. Absolute newcomers may want to get a little more used to VR before diving in quite so deeply, but from my experience, the lack of teleportation movement shouldn’t be a major accessibility issue.

How I tested Batman: Arkham Shadow

For this review of Batman: Arkham Shadow I achieved a 100% completion rate – that means I found every collectible and finished the story. I had intended to simply complete the main quest, but I found the experience so gripping I wanted to squeeze every last drop of Batman I could out of this title. I also played on Hard difficulty which provided a decent challenge. If you’ve played Arkham games or a few VR action titles before this is the level I’d recommend.

To review it I did try the game on my Meta Quest 3S, but the vast majority of the time I used my Meta Quest 3. It’s the standard headset outfitted with the Razer head strap and facial interface for added comfort – something I greatly appreciated during my hours-long play sessions.

For many it didn’t sound possible, but having played through about half of Batman: Arkham Shadow I can confidently say that developer Camouflaj has smashed even the lofty expectations they set for themselves out of the park. This title isn’t just on track to be the best Meta Quest or best VR game of 2024, it could simply be the best game of 2024.

Camouflaj could have made things easy for themselves. Instead, they lit up the Bat Signal, stared down the barrel of the internet, and boldly claimed they – in partnership with Meta – would be bringing a full-on, all-new, AAA-worthy entry in the wildly popular Arkhamverse series to VR, and it would run on the standalone Meta Quest 3. No PC or console is required.

The gameplay is superb, the story is engaging (I’ll stay light on spoilers in this piece), and every time I slip on my Meta Quest 3 I’m left with this giddy excitement that leaves me unable to stop saying “I’m Batman.” Because more so than with any other game before it, with Arkham Shadow I am Batman.

I am vengeance

But no matter how often you utter that three-word phrase, even in the gravelliest voice you can muster, being Batman doesn’t make you the Arkhamverse edition of the Caped Crusader. For many, he’s defined by the series’ iconic combat, which in the flat games is almost a dance.

It’s not just about beating your foes to a pulp but executing perfectly timed dodges, and spicing things up – or getting out of a bind – with a gadget from the utility belt. Without this element, the transition to VR would feel like a shell of Arkham.

In Arkham Shadow you’re throwing the punches yourself – even rewarded with additional damage if you swing your fist a little faster – and true to the Arkham series, Shadow won’t reward you for flailing your arms about. You must honor the fight’s flow.

Straight punches alone won’t break down your foe’s guard, so the game will instruct you to mix in a left or right hook, or a series of strikes to disorientate your opponent. And don’t get greedy when trying to finish a downed foe lest you get hit by an enemy taking advantage of your distraction – instead raise your arm to block and counter their strike. Save for counters, cape stuns, and gadget attacks, your different punches have no mechanical advantage, but they do make the fight feel much more realistic, and encourage you to take a slower more rhythmic approach as you’re rewarded for striking your foes correctly, not simply striking them.

Taking a stealthier approach in predator mode can also be a good idea, with Arkham Shadow bringing those encounters to VR too. The stealth takedowns are so much fun, popping out of a grate to choke out a goon, or doing an aerial kick before disappearing in a cloud of smoke never gets old.

Playing through the game on Hard, I did initially feel the combats were a little easier than I had hoped but as the game progresses, and enemies gather progressively more aggressive weapons like firearms and stun batons, they will put up much more of a fight. Which makes defeating them all the more exhilarating.

Is Batman the suit, or the man inside?

It’s not just the Arkham games that Shadow takes inspiration from. It also takes cues from the Telltale iteration of the character with a heavier reliance on narrative and character interactions than other Arkhamverse entries.

Picking up a few years after the events of Arkham Origins, Batman has come into his own as the protector of Gotham but as a new Cult of the Rat King threatens to send the city into chaos with their ‘Day of Wrath’ the Dark Knight is on a race against the clock to thwart their scheme or risk losing his city.

On this mission you won’t always be wearing the intimidating cowl, and when you’re out of it you have a chance to interact with other characters and roleplay a little with short dialogue trees.

Don’t expect your RP to suddenly alter the course of the story, but it does provide you with a chance to play into Batman’s detective side a little more – beyond the detective scenes the game establishes – and explore the world of the Arkham characters in a more direct way than simply finding a collectible with an attached bio or side story.

That said, there are still collectibles to search for. Rat idols and radios replace the classic Riddler Trophies; some are looked for with optional puzzles of varying difficulty, while others are simply tucked out of the way and reward you for exploring off the beaten path a little. If you miss any of these – or the other collectibles like carvings, memories, and my personal favourite: phone numbers – maps hidden in each area will highlight where they’re located so you return to pick them up later in your playthrough, though some won’t be accessible until you have the correct gadget.

On the topic of puzzles, I love that Arkham Shadow – true to its interactive VR nature – finally gives you solutions like monkey baring across pipes. In the main Arkham series there are puzzles which definitely felt they could have been solved if Batman simply put in the effort to climb a surface or two. It turns out he can climb, he just gets lazier in the years after the events of Shadow.

The great VR game we deserve, and the one we need

There are a quick couple of gripes I want to highlight.

I did experience a few minor bugs in my playthrough. Some interactable items and climbable surfaces aren’t correctly highlighted in detective mode, I was soft-locked at a few points which required me to reboot the game to a previous checkpoint, and some of the collectible phone numbers I found didn’t register or seem to work (even though I took screenshots to remember them for later). Nothing was game-breaking, and Arkham Shadow otherwise ran smoothly – even reloading a checkpoint wasn’t punishing given how frequently they are handed out – though I expect there will be a patch that’ll clean up a few of these elements.

It also relies entirely on smooth control stick-based motion rather than offering teleportation as an option. Gameplay-wise this is the better choice, and Arkham Shadow does provide some motion sickness-reducing tools like customizable vignette intensity – which makes a black ring appear around your vision while you move – however, it can be a little disorienting to VR newcomers.

Thankfully, none of these issues could come close to spoiling the fun of being Batman.

I still need to play more of Arkham Shadow to decide my full verdict – I want to see if the story can stick the landing, and if it continues to keep scenarios fresh or if things eventually get stale – but based on my experience so far Batman: Arkham Shadow is an incredible title, maybe even the best VR game ever made. I don’t throw that praise around lightly, Arkham Shadow deserves this because it’s everything you would want from a VR Arkhamverse game, while also adding enough of its own unique gameplay and story elements to not simply feel like a port of Asylum or Origins.

If you don’t have a Meta Quest 3 – either as a VR newcomer or as someone with a Quest 2 on the fence about upgrading – this title is worth getting one to play, especially as it’s currently being given away for free with new Quest 3 headset purchases. You could also get a Meta Quest 3S if you’re on more of a budget as Arkham Shadow is playable and free with that headset too.

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It’s 2020, the height of COVID-19 lockdowns, and the Oculus Quest 2 – an affordable yet capable VR headset – has exploded in popularity because everyone wants to feel like they aren’t trapped inside. Had the virtual reality dancing game Just Dance VR launched in this era of VR gaming I’m confident it would be considered one of the best VR games of the day.

The immersive 360-degree dance sessions are bursting with color and good vibes. And if you have someone to play with – especially local co-op via pass-and-play – it’s hilarious to watch as you each flail about or fire up your competitive spirit as you aim to demolish the high score they just set.

And if you live alone, you can hop into the multiplayer hub world to Just Dance with players from anywhere in the world.

But in 2024, the year we’re actually getting this Just Dance VR port, the game already feels out of date thanks to a setlist of years-old tracks that don’t compete with the 2024 chart toppers found on Just Dance 2025 which was also just released. Factor in that Just Dance VR doesn’t take full advantage of its 360-VR stages, as well as lacks a mixed reality mode like some other recent VR rhythm games – which makes modern XR titles feel more approachable to newcomers – and I can’t help but feel this title will struggle to find an audience even amongst Just Dance fans.

A Little Just Dance Never Killed Nobody

If you were expecting anything other than Just Dance but in VR then you’ll be disappointed. Everyone else can groove along with the series’ signature dancing gameplay.

For the uninitiated, unlike Beat Saber, Samba de Amigo, or other rhythm games, Just Dance VR isn’t simply about striking poses or smashing blocks to a beat, it’s about following the on-screen coach as best as you can while they take you step by step through an actual dance routine. There’s a track that clues you into what move you’re about to perform, but otherwise, it’s basically a gamified dance lesson.

And the coach isn’t simply in a comfy tracksuit and hoodie like an 'IRL' coach, they’re dressed to the nines in thematic outfits that perfectly match the immersive stage they’re performing in or the vibe of the artist they’re performing to – like the rebellious band captain who leads the charge as Hollaback Girl blasts through their high schools’ speaker system. Seeing the vibrant splashes of color and slight absurdity of it all, you can’t help but crack a smile while you play through Just Dance VR’s best levels.

As you progress you’re judged based on the movements of your hands as an estimate for how well you’ve performed the dance as a whole. Though estimate is the keyword here.

My biggest gripe with the dance scoring system is that it feels entirely arbitrary. No matter how poorly I know I’ve performed, I still manage to get at least five stars on pretty much every track because I vaguely wave a hand in the right place. I don’t say this as a flex, I say that because it feels like I’ve been handed a participation trophy.

I know, I know, as a family-friendly game, there’s nothing wrong with Just Dance’s kinder approach to judging dance skill, however for me the inflated scoring system doesn’t encourage me to push for that five-star Superstar rating over several playthroughs. Because my achievements feel undeserved, I instead feel like any further success would feel equally unrewarding.

But these disappointments could be brushed aside if the tracklist featured some amazing music that I could have a blast dancing to.

Wake Me Up when the tracklist’s better

Unfortunately, Just Dance VR’s track selection feels lackluster, and especially dated next to the modern chart-topper-packed setlist of Just Dance 2025 which was also released on October 15.

Where the flat edition offers dances to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, Exes by Tate McRae. Lovin’ On Me by Jack Harlow, and Yes, and? By Ariana Grande (via DLC) – to name just a selection of its best tracks – the VR version instead boasts Beauty and a Beat by Justin Bieber (Ft. Nicki Minaj), Dark Horse by Katy Perry, and Lights by Ellie Goulding.

That’s not to say some of the VR picks aren’t fantastic – I love Hollaback Girl, Don't Stop Me Now, and Thank u, next as much as anyone, even in 2024 – and Just Dance games have pretty much always featured a mix of older or newer songs.

This VR game doesn’t feature that mix, just a lot of older stuff – it’s like opening a pack of Jelly Babies and mostly seeing the colors you aren’t a fan of.

So for people looking to pick up a new Just Dance game in 2024 this VR entry doesn’t feel like the one they should go for – doubly so when you factor in that many of the best tracks (at least the ones I liked the most) are also playable in Just Dance 2025 via the Just Dance Plus subscriptions service.

There is something to enjoy in Just Dance VR. The vibrant forgiving gameplay will definitely appeal to a younger audience – as the series always has – and in terms of VR rhythm games it is somewhat unique in that it’s actively teaching you a full-body dance rather than having you simply smash targets, which could appeal from a VR perspective. It's just not the best Just Dance game to release in 2024; so if you have access to a Nintendo Switch, PS5, or Xbox Series X or Series S you’ll probably be better served by Just Dance 2025 which delivers basically identical gameplay with a much wider range of excellent music choices.

Should you play Just Dance VR?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility

As VR games go, Just Dance VR is fairly accessible. You do need to be able to stand and have a full range of movement to perform the game’s routines, but it does offer comfort controls like teleportation-style movement for navigating its hub world which should vastly reduce motion sickness compared to smooth analog stick movement.

Dancing in levels can be a tad disorienting so make sure you have a large, clear play space (so you don’t accidentally kick or trip over something). I was a little surprised that this title doesn’t offer a mixed reality mode – like we saw for Samba de Amigo VR – as these blended reality games are typically easier for VR newcomers to get accustomed to, and would reduce the potential of you bumping into a hazard as you dance.

How I reviewed Just Dance VR

My first few play sessions were on my Meta Quest 3, however, when I received the Meta Quest 3S to test for my Meta Quest 3S review I swapped to playing Just Dance VR exclusively on that headset. I played through most tracks at least once and explored the hub worlds – Dancity and the Apartment – to try the different mini-games they offered and test the teleportation movement.

I wasn’t able to test the online multiplayer functionality, but my partner and I did a couple of pass-and-play sessions to experience couch co-op (and laugh at how silly we both looked). This almost meant I could get her thoughts on the title as she has a lot more experience with the Just Dance series than I do.

My Quest 3 was outfitted with the Razer head strap and silicone facial interface, but the Meta Quets 3S I used was exactly as it comes out of the box.

First reviewed October 2024

This year's UplaodVR Summer Showcase was an hour-long event that introduced us to many titles heading to the best VR headsets that might soon be worthy of being called the very best VR games out there.

You can check out the full showcase too to see everything that was announced, but to keep things simple, I've picked out my seven favorites that are coming to the Meta Quest 3 and am highlighting them here.

Some are out now in early access, while others will launch in 2025. There are also a lot of genres, so let's explore them.

Coaster Mania

Coaster Mania, which was showcased at last year’s UploadVR Showcase, returned with a new trailer this year – and Roller Coaster Tycoon fans need to take notice.

You can design your own virtual roller coasters in mixed reality – either creating completely custom tracks within your own unique environment or tackling the campaign’s over 50 coaster-building challenges – which you can then ride in VR. Plus, you can try community-made levels to find inspiration and see what’s possible in this game.

The fall launch is coming in “Fall” this year (September, October, November), but it’s already available for early access via App Lab on Quest.

Lovesick

Lovesick is a story-driven VR escape room game about a post-punk band on the verge of breaking up. As bassist Sam, you must explore a surreal mindscape in order to rescue your friends and maybe bring the band back together.

I adore VR puzzle games, and Lovesick’s vibe is ticking a lot of boxes for me – especially the surreal yet grounded art style it has.

It’s launching in 2025.

Pencil!

This mixed reality drawing app could be the perfect place for artistic beginners. Armed with a real pad and pencil, Pencil! teaches you how to draw with a mixture of step-by-step tutorials and assistive tools.

What’s especially cool is you can create a custom scene of virtual objects, and the app can project virtual outlines and shading hints onto your page for you to follow. I’ve had fun trying a few VR art apps, but Pencil!’s focus on beginners could be what finally helps me get good at drawing.

Best of all, it’s out now on the Quest 3 in App Lab.

Hide the Corpse

Following a Kickstarter announcement a couple of months ago, Hide The Corpse came to the UploadVR showcase to announce a Summer Update and an early access version of the game for the Quest store – plus, 20% off if you use promo code HTCSUM20-0835F9 in the game’s first week of early access release.

As you’d guess from the name, this game is all about finding odd yet intelligent places to stash a corpse in various unique levels before time runs out, and it looks hilarious. 

I’ve already downloaded this title to play on my Quest 3, and the title’s full launch in “Fall 2024” (September, October, November) can’t come soon enough.

Cold VR

Cold VR isn’t a sequel to Superhot – though the crystalline enemies, time manipulation via motion mechanics, and VR action setting might have made you think that – it’s an all-new game that I’m super excited to play when it hits Quest (though a demo is available right now on Steam).

Rather than pausing time when you stand still like Superhot, time unfreezes when you stop moving – so you'll need to act fast for the best chance of survival against the AI enemies and environmental challenges in your way.

Billed as an adrenaline rush for gamers who crave a challenge, Cold VR looks like a contender for VR’s next-best action game.

Laser dance

We got another teaser for Laser Dance, a mixed-reality game that projects a complex laser maze into your living room – or whatever space you’re playing in.

We’ve not seen much of this game yet, but I think the premise is awesome, so I’m excited to test my laser-dodging skills when it eventually launches. If you agree, it’s available to wish list on the Meta Quest Store now.

Walkabout Mini Golf: Wallace and Gromit

Last but not least, Walkabout Mini Golf teased a Wallace and Gromit inspired course that’s coming this Summer (that should be sometime in the next couple of months).

The final shot at the end hints at the sorts of wild contraptions we’ll have to face while putting for glory, and I’m so ready to take on whatever wild antics await us in 62 West Wallaby Street.

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The original Exploding Kittens card game launched back in 2015 and was a massive success, spawning all kinds of expansions, spinoffs, and even an animated Netflix show that releases next month. Now, the franchise is making the leap into virtual reality (VR) with a new video game, Exploding Kittens VR, that is set to arrive later this year.

Developed and published by Saber Interactive under license from board game giant Asmodee Entertainment, Exploding Kittens VR will allow up to five players to compete in a simulated game of Exploding Kittens in a dynamic virtual environment. In addition to online multiplayer, it will also feature the ability to play against computer controlled opponents in an offline capacity.

If you’re not familiar with the rules of the card game, the general gist is that players all take turns drawing cards from a face down deck. Each card has a number of possible effects which are mainly geared towards avoiding the exploding kitten cards. If drawn, the exploding kitten cards cause you to instantly lose the game. The game continues in rounds until there is only a single player remaining, who is the winner.

There will be three unique game modes to discover in this VR adaptation, classic mode, blitz mode, and duel mode, which each offer their own spin on the game’s mechanics. You will also be able to create an in-game avatar, with a variety of customization options, and explore a social hub. This hub includes a range of mini-games to try out alone or with your friends.

All of this sounds like a pretty good combination, as VR is a great match for these kinds of online social experiences. The game is set to launch for Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 in fall this year and is currently available to pre-order on the Meta Store at a special discounted price of $17.99 / £13.49.

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The long-running Just Dance series is finally making the leap into virtual reality (VR) with Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity. The upcoming VR spinoff was announced as part of the recent Ubisoft Forward event and is set to launch on October 15 exclusively for Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, and Meta Quest 3.

The game will feature 25 songs at launch, including a mix of popular hits and entirely original creations. A small handful of these have already been revealed and they are as follows:

• "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen 
• "Bad Liar" by Selena Gomez
• "Starships" by Nicki Minaj
• "Lights" by Ellie Goulding
• "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
• "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)" by Fergie Ft. Q-tip, GoonRock 
• "Volar" by Lele Pons ft. Susan Diaz and Victor Cardenas 

All things considered, it's not a bad selection so far and these seven songs demonstrate a pretty good mix of the classics and more recent hits to appeal to a younger age demographic. Still, I'm going to be reserving my full judgment until more details are revealed.

A recent trailer gave us a good insights into some of the mechanics that we can expect from this installment. This includes the addition of a 360-degree view, allowing you to look around the environment for the first time, and online multiplayer for groups of up to six players. Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity will also feature two-handed scoring, potentially allowing for more accurate reading of your movements.

You can watch the full trailer for yourself below.

Outside of the dancing, you'll be able to relax in your own virtual apartment, complete with interactable props and minigames, or explore a social hub known as the Dancity with other players from around the world. During your time in the game, you will be represented by a fully customizable avatar and the trailer showed off a good breadth of outfits to choose from.

I can't deny that I'm a little skeptical about my ability to boogie being affected by the wearing of a heavy VR headset, but I'm still quite excited by this reveal. Just Dance and VR seems like a potentially great match and the idea of a more social focused Just Dance title is seriously promising. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for any further announcements.

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The Batman: Arkham franchise is returning with an all-new entry exclusively available on the Meta Quest 3 VR headset called Batman: Arkham Shadow. And aside from the Quest 3 exclusivity, we couldn't be more excited. 

In the 49-second cinematic trailer that just came out we watch as a rat scurries through the alleys of Gotham City; it looks terrified as it tears down drain pipes and leaps through debris while trying to escape something that’s hunting it down from the skies – a pursuer we eventually learn is Batman.

Just as the rat appears to have been cornered the tables turn on the Caped Crusader as hundreds of blood-red eyes illuminate the foggy street. They all rush towards Batman right before he detonates a smoke bomb and escapes the horde of vermin.

Beyond this short showcase which reveals the platform exclusivity and title, we also learn Arkham Shadow is due in “Late 2024” – and that it's being developed by Camouflaj and Oculus Studios. Oculus Studios has been behind some massive hits like Asgard’s Wrath 2 and other titles worthy of being called the best Oculus Quest 2 game and even some of the best VR games in general.

Meanwhile, Camouflaj is the award-winning team behind the stealth VR game République VR and Iron Man VR – which allows you to live out your superhero fantasies as Tony Stark. We're expecting stealth, action, and a dash of horror gameplay – ingredients for a fantastic VR game.

The trailer ends by revealing that we’ll find out more during Summer Game Fest on June 7. But we don’t think we need to wait that long to know what's going on in Arkham Shadow; this short teaser has already revealed a lot about the upcoming Batman VR game including who we might be up against, and when it’s set.

Batman: Arkham Shadow: Unmasked 

The trailer’s focus on one particular pest has us convinced that the central villain of Batman: Arkham Shadow is none other than The Ratcatcher. In the comics, he’s able to control rats, which is what appears to be happening here when the horde turns to attack Bats.

Supporting this theory further is that during one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it segment while the rat is being pursued by Batman it crawls through a gas mask - a common part of Ratcatcher's costume given his other affinity for toxic gasses.

Ratctacher has previously appeared in the Arkham game series via Easter eggs – his gear is found in Asylum’s ventilation system, and posters advertise his pest control business in Arkham City – and he’s made appearances in the Arkhamverse comics so we know he’s a part of this Batman’s rogue’s gallery.

He’s also not yet had a chance to feature properly in a game, which gives Camouflaj and Oculus Studios a lot of room to provide their own spin on the character without any major constraints of wider in-universe lore.

If The Ratcatcher is indeed a key villain in the game then we also have a good idea when Arkham Shadow is set in the universe's timeline (spoiler alert for the games and comics up to the beginning of Arkham Knight). 

The Ratcatcher City Story from Arkham City tells us that the villain ended up on The Penguin’s bad side and he “was dragged screaming through the streets of Arkham City, followed by a trail of rats, into the museum and never to be seen again” (via Arkham Wiki).

We later learn he survived this encounter (minus his left arm and an eye) and was hiding in Gotham’s sewers. That is until the Batman: Arkham Knight - Genesis comic series – which serves as a prequel to the Arkham Knight game – when Ratcatcher is killed by the Arkham Knight.

These details suggest that Arkham Shadow is set before City – before Ratcatcher disappeared and was later murdered. Though we'll have to wait until more concrete details are announced to know for sure,

With June 7 coming up quickly we won't be left in the dark for too much longer. We just wish it was coming to other of the best VR headsets like PSVR 2, which has had an unfortunately disappointing run so far.

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Ever since it launched, people have been wondering what sort of gaming platform the Apple Vision Pro will end up being. Apple has said that the headset’s spatial computing platform “makes new types of games possible,” but that’s so far been limited to Apple’s own strict interpretation of virtual reality (VR) gaming.

Now, though, it looks like some intrepid developers are working to port SteamVR to the Vision Pro. If successful, this could open up an entirely new library of games to Vision Pro users, allowing for a much wider range of titles to be played on Apple’s device and potentially turning it into a serious gaming platform.

According to AppleInsider, a set of developers have begun porting the open-source tool ALVR. This allows you to stream VR games to VR headsets over Wi-Fi. Right now, the Vision Pro isn’t compatible with SteamVR and its large library of games, so getting ALVR to work on Apple’s headset could be big news for VR gamers.

One developer has revealed that they are working on hand-tracking support for the project. Seeing as the Vision Pro does not use physical hand controllers, this could be an essential component for getting ALVR to work with Apple’s headset.

It’s not all smooth sailing

Before you get too excited, there are some major caveats for a project like this. For one thing, many SteamVR games require a specific type of controller that can be tracked by itself rather than by the headset’s cameras. 

Bluetooth controllers therefore will not work, and while Valve’s Index controller is compatible, it requires a separate “lighthouse” station for tracking – and that means more compatibility and set-up work.

Speaking of setting things up, ALVR itself is complex to run. First, it must be downloaded from GitHub (it’s unlikely to ever land on the Vision Pro App Store). Getting ALVR onto a Vision Pro requires a separate Mac running Xcode, while streaming SteamVR games necessitates a high-end gaming PC that can beam the games to the headset.

That’s a lot of additional work, and it suggests that getting SteamVR games to run on the Vision Pro is going to be no easy task (both building out the compatibility and running the games once that’s done). We therefore don’t expect this to end up being much more than a hobbyist pursuit, especially considering how niche the Vision Pro already is.

Still, it would be very interesting to see whether this project is successful in the end. While it won’t change Vision Pro gaming on its own, it might help open up the device to gamers just a little more.

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The best Zombie VR games are ideal for anyone looking to put themselves in the middle of some post-apocalyptic action. As much as we love the best zombie games, especially given just how many gory yet glorious titles there are to get to grips with now, zombie VR games offer an immersive experience like never before. 

Zombies in VR are an even more exciting proposition than they were in 2D, as is the way with most of the best VR games. In the past, you had to rely on shifting camera angles to get a good view of the rotting hordes. Now, it's up to you: fail to move your head to see where they're coming from and you'll end up the next victim of the undead. 

Plus, with the scale of VR headsets we now have on offer, such as the PSVR 2, the Meta Quest 3, and the HTC Vive, you've got more opportunities than ever to sink yourself into the best zombie VR games on offer. We've distilled the choices available down to a few games well worth playing if you're looking for a hair-raising, death-defying adventure in VR. 

Best zombie VR games

• Available on: Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Oculus Quest 2

The Walking Dead: Saints And Sinners puts you directly into the shoes of someone desperately trying to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic world. Between scavenging through the flooded ruins of New Orleans, you'll have to go toe to toe with the undead, all while making decisions that drastically affect both yourself and any remaining survivors. 

To keep combat exciting, you'll have access to a huge range of melee, ranged, and makeshift weapons, alongside any objects you find and can realistically wield in an attempt to protect yourself. But, although you may find yourself with an arsenal at your disposal, that doesn't mean you'll be an equal match to the undead. Combat will still be tense regardless of how handy you are with a weapon, which makes for an unforgettable experience and one that has to be on any best zombie VR games list. 

• Available on: Meta Quest, HTC Vive

Death Horizon: Reloaded puts you into a scientific research lab that initially seems like a deceptively quiet place, but before long you'll find yourself furiously fighting against hoards of oncoming enemies. As you defend yourself against the onslaught, you'll also have to navigate the lab for ladders to scale, and anything to throw to delay your inevitable fate. 

Not only are the undead your biggest threat in this game, but so is the environment. You're told to never really stop moving, darting in and out of rooms looking for an escape, because if you do the result is pretty unsavory. Use the lab to find tools and objects to hurl at the zombies, because it could be the only thing between life and death. This makes for an incredibly tense experience, but an entertaining one nonetheless, and well worth its place in the best zombie VR games discussion.

• Available on: PSVR 2

Arizona Sunshine 2 is easily one of the best zombie VR games from recent years. It's got fluid combat, and a huge variety of weapons at your disposal to keep things exciting, alongside dark but witty humor to help connect you to its protagonist. Gorgeous visuals and environments are yours to spill blood onto, and you won't be short of possibilities to do so with just how gory this game gets. 

For anyone who enjoyed the first Arizona Sunshine game, this is a game well worth picking up. In addition, you'll be able to share the experience since AS2 supports 2-player co-op, which may be the difference between life and death in this apocalyptic setting. Or, you can join up to three other players in 4-player co-op Horde mode. 

• Available on: Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro

Resident Evil 4 VR is an absolute classic in the survival horror genre, so if you're looking for something with a little more substance than a shoot-em-up, then this one is well worth checking out. Although a lot of the best zombie VR games do boast a storyline, the narrative of RE4 feels a lot more in-depth. In VR, you're taken even closer to the characters of the game, which makes the tension almost palpable as you explore. 

For those who have already played Resident Evil 4 outside of VR, you'll be able to pick up on some unique VR interactions exclusive to the experience, too. Plus, with an update offering a wave-based game mode, you'll be able to engross yourself in the action more than ever. 

The Brookhaven Experiment is a must-play for frantic survival shooter enthusiasts. You have to rely on the weapons and tools around you as your only defense against frightening waves of monsters, not necessarily just zombies. Because of the variety of monsters coming your way, The Brookhaven Experiment keeps you on your toes at every possible opportunity and is sure to terrify you along the way.

Realistic pistol aiming and firing, alongside a lot of player interaction with the monsters, make this game all the more immersive, which is exactly what you want from one of the best zombie VR games. With situational horror too, you won't have to constantly worry about being jumped and scared, but when it does happen it only adds to the experience. 

Best zombie VR games - Frequently Asked Questions

How we made our list of the best zombie VR games

Here at TechRadar Gaming (TRG) we've spent a lot of time testing different VR headsets and games. We're also well-versed in what makes a great zombie or horror game, so we know which titles are worth playing. As a result, we are incredibly confident in our ability to offer fantastic recommendations to you, guaranteeing a zombie-slaying experience you will love. 

We've got a guide to the best FPS games if you're looking for another slice of high-stakes action. 

It’s been confirmed that Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice is going to be released on November 2, meaning it'll narrowly miss a fitting Halloween launch.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice is an upcoming first-person VR game set in the World of Darkness story universe, which also includes the Hunter: The Reckoning series, as well as Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest and Earthblood, not to mention the other Vampire: The Masquerade games. The RPG will launch exclusively on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3, as well as PSVR2.

“You are a vampire. You strike from the shadows and drink the blood of both mortal and vampire prey,” the game’s synopsis reads. “In a gritty main narrative that includes several side missions and dialogue options, explore a dark and mysterious Venice to improve your abilities and become the most powerful vampire.”

Players will step into the shoes of a vampire called Justice, who hails from the Banu Haqim clan. As for the “gritty main narrative”, this will follow the mystery behind the murder of Justice's Sire - the vampire who turned them. The game will also include a quest to reclaim a stolen relic from the “dark underbelly of Venice”.

As a VR game, Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice will allow players to truly channel their inner Edward Cullen (although perhaps without their skin sparkling in sunlight). They’ll be able to use a number of ‘vampiric disciplines’, including the Cauldron of Blood ability (which allows Justice to boil the blood of foes), Cloak of Shadows (which allows players to turn almost invisible and sneak up on their enemies), and Shadow Trap, which lets you drag victims into Oblivion by leaving portals to the underworld on the floor. Brutal.

Pre-orders are open now for Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice. Those who pre-order now can get a 10% discount, as well as a Gold Arm-Mounted Crossbow to use in-game when it launches. 

If you’re looking for more VR games to play, be sure to take a look at our roundup of the best PSVR 2 games. You can also look at our recommendations for the best VR headsets available in 2023. 

Blown to bits, lasered through the chest, and electrocuted by a lemon; these are just a few of the ways I’ve died while playing through I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine – the latest entry in Schell Games’ James Bond-inspired VR puzzle game series.

Agent Phoenix – having miraculously survived their last mission facing off against Zoraxis in I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar – is back to continue their work for The Agency. Their latest mission is to find the missing Dr. Prism; she’s a former Agency scientist that left to focus on her robotics work, but her knowledge about her former employer and being the architect behind the telekinetic implant in every agent's head makes her a target. But she doesn’t need Agent Phoenix’s help – she has her robot army. Prism is ready to show once and for all that her inventions are superior to every other agent, and she’ll eliminate anyone who tries to prove her wrong. 

This adventure feels like Phoenix’s grandest yet. The story was the series’ most compelling yet. There’s a variety of engaging new locales to visit – including snowy mountain tops and underwater lairs – each one of them filled with puzzles, traps, and other interactive elements that are a delight to play with in VR. And when the game does harken back to a classic I Expect You To Die mission, it takes the concept up a gear; we’re no longer solving puzzles in a stationary car, we’re tackling Prism's traps while driving at speed down a highway.

A major success of I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine is that the series’ puzzles continue to feel like fun challenges rather than infuriating roadblocks. My failures always felt like my own, and the blow of dying is softened by the game’s humor. It helps that a number of my mishaps would inspire solutions to puzzles I faced later in the level, making it feel like I was learning and improving rather than simply stumbling my way through my adventure. 

And given the game’s spy-theming, I appreciated that the best advice for finding a solution to a puzzle I was stuck on was always to ask WWJBD? What would James Bond do?

The James Bond similarities go beyond just the game’s setting and traps with I Expect You To Die 3 featuring a stupendous opening theme and title sequence that feels like it could have been lifted straight from a classic spy flick. Every opening theme in the I Expect You To Die series has been great but Cog in the Machine’s is on another level – and I can’t help but take a break every few minutes while writing this review to listen to it one more time.

Mass-produced puzzles 

Unfortunately, I Expect You To Die 3 suffers from feeling a bit too repetitive – not only in terms of being too similar to what has come before but there not feeling like there’s enough variety within the game itself.

While Cog in the Machine does tread some new ground for the series, several of the predicaments Agent Phoenix faced gave me déjà vu. I had to deflect lasers to damage important equipment, defuse a bomb under tense conditions, and hastily brew an antidote for a toxin before it killed me, predicaments I’ve found myself in before while standing in for Bond.

I know these are spy-movie tropes – and exactly the sort of puzzles you should expect in a spy-themed puzzle series – but after a few entries, I hoped Schell Games would find more unique ways of presenting traps that we’re becoming familiar with. As once formidable predicaments are losing the stakes they once carried, and trending towards trivial.

Case in point, during one mission you’re presented with a surprise grenade. When something similarly happened in I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar I panicked, hot potatoed it a few times between my hands and blew up at least twice before discovering a clever solution. In I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine the grenade appeared and I dealt with it within five seconds – with barely a blip on my Fitbit’s heart-rate monitor.

It also doesn’t help that several of the missions feature Prism’s mass-produced robot agents as your adversary – with each one coming with an identical set of skills (read: tools of Agent Phoenix destruction) at their disposal. Again, while each engagement had unique elements there was also a lot of similarity that made the situations feel like I was going through the motions rather than solving a puzzle.

Perhaps in part because of this repetitiveness, I felt Cog in the Machine’s missions were simpler than previous entries in the series. The game’s side missions do help to provide some of the challenge I was craving when the main game came up short, but I wish I struggled a little more – I adored the trial-and-error gameplay that was delivered by previous entries and was disappointed by its absence here.

Your bonus mission, should you choose to accept it

If you want to hurl your way through the game’s story – which consists of six main missions – you can wrap everything up in a few hours or maybe even less (it entirely depends on how quickly you can solve the puzzles laid out before you). But there’s plenty of replayability for those of you that want to become a bonafide super-spy.

Every mission comes with six bonus objectives to keep you coming back for more. Firstly, there are three side missions that give you special tasks to complete that are unique to each level; they include finding alternative (typically unintuitive) ways to solve one of the main mission puzzles, serving your accomplices the correct food or drink, or taking a less destructive approach when facing off against Prism and Zoraxis.

Then there are the hidden robot statues and phantom coins in each level. The statues are usually hidden in plain sight; simply explore the level while keeping your eyes peeled (paying particular attention to obscure nooks and crannies) and you should stumble across all six eventually. The phantom coins are a little trickier to find and usually require you to solve a hidden puzzle or two to earn them. If you’re having trouble just look out for the Phantom’s mark – that’s the best place to start your search.

Finally, every mission has a target time that you’re tasked with beating. Some of these time limits are no joke, and you’ll need to know the stage inside out and backward if you want to finish quickly enough. 

Speaking of finishing to tick off any of these extra-special assignments you’ll need to finish the level successfully. Leave the mission early or die before you get to the end and it won’t register that you completed a challenge – forcing you to try the whole thing over again.

Accessibility

I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine is one of the most accessible VR games around.

For a start, just like the other titles in the series you play the entire game while sat down – you never need to get up and walk around to solve any of the problems Agent Phoenix faces. Plus, as Agent Phoenix you can interact with the world using your telekinetic powers which helps to further reduce the amount of mobility that’s required to complete your missions. 

There’s also a solid suite of audio accessibility settings that includes subtitles and audio visualization, as well as a chat log so you can read through what was said at your own pace. Plus, while there are no colorblind settings, you don’t need to identify any colors to solve the game’s missions.

As for VR comfort settings, this game helpfully features vignetting to reduce motion sickness when yore moving in vehicles like the car and gondola. As someone who can get easily motion sick I found this do more than enough to keep my queasiness at bay – I could play for hours at a time and only needed to stop when my Quest 2 ran out of charge.

How we reviewed I Expect You To Die 3

I played I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine on my Oculus Quest 2 with my playthrough taking me about eight hours. This included finishing the entire main story and attempting to complete as many of the bonus challenges as I could. I played with the comfort controls on their default settings. I found that performance wise the game ran well with no noticeable hiccups, and the loading times weren't super long, though they were noticeable.

Assassin's Creed Nexus VR has been announced at the Ubisoft Forward event for Meta Quest. No release date has been revealed yet. 

The new CGI trailer showcases the footage of what to expect with Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, which brings back fan favorites such as Ezio Auditore, Kassandra, and Connor. Unlike other titles in the Assassin's Creed franchise, however, this new one is entirely in first-person which is a new frontier for the series. 

The trailer shows off what it would be like to leap onto an enemy from scaffolding and to sneak around in Ancient Greece. It certainly looks like an ambitious VR title, and the Assassin's Creed franchise certainly has a lot of potential for the medium as one of the best VR games, so it's one upcoming game to keep a firm eye on if you're a fan of the long-running series. 

What's exciting is that you'll be able to play the title on the more affordable Meta Quest 2 and the upcoming Meta Quest 3 standalone VR headsets, such are some of the best VR headsets available. Provided Ubisoft can pull this off, it could be a killer app for the platform. 

It's an exciting mix of eras that the development team has chosen to focus on. The pre-rendered footage highlights Connor, the protagonist from Assassin's Creed 3 which was released in 2012, as well as Kassandra, from 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey, as well as fan-favorite Ezio Auditore, who had his own trilogy between 2009 and 2011. A brief snippet shows a first-person look at Connor's tomahawk in action, and sword fighting in ancient Greece before cutting back to reality. 

We can't really get ahead of ourselves, though. That's because everything shown was CGI with no in-game footage to speak of yet. As we get closer to release, likely to be later in 2024, hopefully, the title will look and play as well as some of the best Oculus Quest 2 games. 

We're keeping you up to date on all things E3 2023, so be sure to have a thorough look through our curated schedule so you don't miss a thing. 

The Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023 has wrapped, and we were treated to a bevy of massive VR reveals including Assassin’s Creed, Stranger Things, and Asgard’s Wrath 2. 

All of the new games are coming to the Quest platform and will be playable on your trusty Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, the Meta Quest Pro, and the newly unveiled Meta Quest 3.

As there were so many reveals we’ve highlighted just eight Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023 games that we thought were the ones you most need to know about; further down this page you’ll find details for all the other announcements and trailers that’ll show you what the VR experiences have in store for you.

Asgard’s Wrath 2

The big announcement of the event is that Asgard’s Wrath 2 is coming to Meta’s standalone headsets – and this AAA VR experience promises to set a new bar for what’s possible on Quest hardware. Despite being a follow-up to a PC VR game, this sequel promises to be bigger and better in every way, with a whole new massive map to explore, and new playable champions with a range of unique combat abilities. 

Ahead of the reveal we had a chance to speak with Grace Lingad, the game’s Creative Director, and she told us that Asgard’s Wrath 2 can deliver over 60 hours of gameplay. There’s the main story, a world full of side tasks (like VR fishing) to keep you distracted from your quest, and the brand-new Uncharted Rifts. These endless, procedurally generated explorations will put your skills to the test; when you fail you can choose to leave behind a helpful ally to aid other adventurers, or (if your death left you particularly enraged) you can leave behind a vicious foe that will attempt to defeat other challengers.

We’re excited to give this game a go, and it’s scheduled to come out in Winter 2023.

Assassin’s Creed: Nexus VR

That’s right, an Assassin’s Creed game is coming to your Oculus Quest 2 later this year. We’ve known that some kind of VR entry in the franchise was in development since 2020 but after Ubisoft canceled the Splinter Cell VR game last year the AC game's fate was uncertain – now we know for definite that it’s coming, and it should be landing soon. 

The Quest Gaming Showcase teaser was pretty short – we just got its title, Assassin’s Creed: Nexus VR, and a “this year” release date – but more details will be revealed at Ubisoft Connect on June 12. So if you have dreams of becoming a master assassin like Ezio Auditore you’ll want to tune into that event to find out more. 

Stranger Things VR

Fans of the hit Netflix series already knew that we’d soon be able to swap our TV screen for a VR headset to step into Hawkins with Stranger Things VR when it launches in Fall 2023. But at Meta’s Showcase, we found out we won’t be one of the heroes like Hopper or Eleven, instead, we’ll become the embodiment of evil as the franchise’s big bad: Vecna. 

Banished to the Upside Down, as Vecna we’ll slowly gain control of the monsters in this corrupted hellscape and use our powers to haunt the people of Hawkins, invading their minds and getting our revenge on Eleven and her friends. 

Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable

Announced late last year, we finally got our first look at Attack on Titan VR at the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase. Pre-rendered footage rather than actual gameplay, but it shows us UNIVRS’ plans for the game; as members of the Scout Regiment, we’ll strap on our ODM gear and head out to slay monstrous titans many times our size.

According to the devs, when Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable launches in Winter 2023 it will have single-player and co-op modes that’ll feature “dynamic combat” – the more Titans you defeat the harder the battles will become. It’ll also be subbed and dubbed in both English and Japanese, so whichever side of the anime language debate you sit you’ll be able to enjoy this title.

I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine

The hilarious James Bond-inspired VR escape room series I Expect You To Die is getting a third instalment, and we couldn’t be more excited. Using your super-spy deduction skills – or some trial and error if you’re more accident-prone – your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to thwart the plans of both Dr. Zor and a new threat, Dr. Roxana Prism. She’s a former Agency inventor who believes she can create a robot agent that’s better than you in every way.

As with previous entries in the series, you’ll face a series of hectic puzzle-filled levels that you’ll need to solve; fail and you’ll be diced up, blown up, or meet a whole manner of other untimely ends. We adored I Expect You To Die 2 – awarding it a four-star review – and with Schell Games promising this new entry is “bigger and better” in every way we can’t wait to play it when it lands this Summer.

Walkabout Mini Golf

At the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase pre-show, Mighty Coconut gave us a first look at two new courses headed to its amazing VR game Walkabout Mini Golf. The first is Journey to the Center of the Earth, the second installment in its Jules Verne-inspired level series, which will have us putting our way through courses deep below the planet’s surface. The second is Laser Lair, the first in its Evil Lairs series, and it’ll have a special fox hunt puzzle featuring Exploding Kittens – an “unhinged Uno alternative” that features on our picks for the best board games for two players.

We also got a look at Walkabout Mini Golf Pocket Edition, an iOS port that’ll support crossplay between VR and mobile. Journey to the Center of the Earth launches on June 8, Laser Lair is coming in July, and Pocket Edition is set to drop sometime this Summer.

No More Rainbows

This tongue-in-cheek VR platformer unveiled at the Quest Gaming Showcase looks like a blast. In No More Rainbows, you’re the Warden of the Underworld and your realm has been invaded but a terrifying horde of adorable critters – who have brought fun, cuteness, and rainbows with them. It’s disgusting.

It’s your duty to rampage through these terrors and destroy the beauty they’ve left in their wake. The visceral combat combined with the VR parkour makes No More Rainbows look like a cross between a melee-focused Doom with Gorilla Tag and we’re all for it.

PowerWash Simulator VR

The popular cleaning simulator is officially making its way to VR, and it’ll be launching later this year. We absolutely love PowerWash Simulator, its simple gameplay has you take your power washer and make dirty things clean again creating the perfect relaxing and stress-free environment.

Is PowerWash Simulator going to be the best VR game to launch this year? Probably not. But it does look set to deliver a more immersive version of the original’s cathartic cleaning fun – and sometimes that’s all you need.

Everything else

Meta’s jam-packed stream had more than just eight announcements, and you’ll find details and trailers for everything else it showed off at the Quest Gaming Showcase here. 

Little Cities 

Our favorite VR city sim is getting the update we’ve been waiting for. Sometime in June 2023, Little Cities players will finally be free to create their own bespoke islands in whatever shape they want. If you haven’t tried Little Cities already, the Snadbox Update looks like the perfect time to finally give it a go.

Racket Club

This built-for-VR racket sport by developer Resolution Games looks set to scratch that same itch as Tennis from Wii Sports. We don’t have a release date for it yet, but we’re already desperate to play it. 

Samba de Amigo 

Get your maracas at the ready, as Sega’s reimaging the iconic Samba de Amigo rhythm game for its first-ever VR title. This silly, energetic title is due to launch in Fall 2023, and when it does it could give the iconic Beat Saber a run for its money. 

Arizona Sunshine 2 

We got another look at Arizona Sunshine 2, the sequel to the popular zombie apocalypse shooter Arizona Sunshine. We still haven’t been shown actual gameplay but the trailer revealed that your new canine companion Buddy will be assisting you with taking down the undead that are in your way.

Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord 

We got another look at the VR Ghostbusters game that’s set to launch in Fall this year. In a solo adventure or team of up to four players, you’ll wield iconic Ghostbuster gear to take down an all-new threat: the Ghost Lord.

We Are One 

Out right now on the Quest 2 and Quest Pro, has you team up with looping clones of yourself to solve various shooter-based puzzles – if you’re a fan of The Last Clockwinder this looks like a VR title you’ll also enjoy.

Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire 

Schell Games also unveiled Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire, a single-player VR vampire hunting horror game where “Silence is golden. Sound is death.” 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice 

Instead of hunting vampires you’ll become one in this VR adventure RPG set in the same world as Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife. Prowl the streets of Venice at night to sniff out the guilty and drink their blood. 

UNDERDOGS 

UNDERDOGS from Racket: Nx is a futuristic physics-based brawler that has you take on challengers in the New Brakka fighting pits using your five-ton Gorilla Mech. This action-packed brawler looks to feature a fair amount of depth with mech upgrades, and ways to influence matches outside of the ring by hiring hackers and dealing with gangsters. 

Demeo Battles 

Inspired by the popular VR fantasy tabletop game Demeo, Demeo Battles shifts the PVE adventures to turn-based PVP battles between opposing minions.  

Dungeons of Eternity 

This procedurally generated dungeon-crawling VR adventure will have you exploring an endless labyrinth filled with traps, enemies, and puzzles. Take it on the challenges on your own, or form a party with up to three players in multiplayer when this game launches later this year.

Death Game Hotel  

This odd-looking VR title offers an intense story and an online mode in which you play a poker variant where you gamble with body parts as well as typical chips. We’re not sure what to make of it, but it’s sure to be up someone’s street. 

The 7th Guest 

Vertigo Games has lovingly recreated the iconic CD-ROM Era game The 7th Guest in VR for VR. Later this year players will be able to return to Henry Stauf’s haunted mansion for an immersive escape-room-style experience.

Bulletstorm

People Can Fly and Incuvo have teamed up to bring 2011’s Bulletstorm to VR, a game that encourages you to take down hordes of monsters in the most creative ways you can find. 

Onward 

Tactical Shooter Onward is getting its 1.11 update this summer, which will bring two new weapons, more realistic movement, and a revamped killhouse and shooting range to help you hone your skills.

Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game  

Ghost Signal is getting a free Fleet Expansion which includes two new ships for players to utilize in their space battles, as well as some smaller changes like multiple save files, and a Relaxed Mode for calmer space exploration. Best of all, it’s out right now.

NFL Pro Era 

NFL Pro Era, the first-ever NFL and NFLPA-licensed VR football sim is getting a major update this year that promises to be more than just a roster change. Developer Status Pro promises we’ll see the game get an “expanded focus on multiplayer, new modes, features, and more.” We’ll have to wait for the updates to arrive to know exactly what they entail.

Sony’s hour-long PlayStation Showcase was packed with announcements big and small, but its flagship console wasn’t the sole focus of the event.

Sony made sure to give PSVR 2 some much-needed love in a solid block of announcements dedicated to the PS5’s VR headset. Admittedly, there wasn’t much revealed that’ll likely move the sales needle in any particular direction, but what was shown will be a decent injection of titles while we wait on more meaningful exclusives.

If you missed the PlayStation Showcase when it was streamed live, or if you’re looking for a neat and tidy compilation of all its PSVR 2 announcements, read on to learn more about what’s coming to the peripheral throughout 2023 and beyond.

Resident Evil 4: VR Mode

• Release date: TBC

We’ve known about Resident Evil 4's VR mode since the remake was initially announced, and it looks to be following in the footsteps of Resident Evil Village and the excellent Resident Evil 4 VR for Oculus Quest 2. It looks like the full campaign will be present here, and feature VR-specific mechanics such as a first-person view and active reloading. 

Arizona Sunshine 2

• Release date: TBC 2023

Arizona Sunshine 2 is a sequel to the beloved zombie shooter that made a splash on the original PlayStation VR. Little gameplay was shown, but went big on explosions, gore and tongue-in-cheek dialogue. It’ll be available on PSVR 2 sometime this year. 

Crossfire: Sierra Squad

• Release date: TBC 2023

Crossfire: Sierra Squad looks to bring high-octane tactical shooting to PSVR 2. A good amount of gameplay was shown, showing fast-paced shootouts taking place in tight corridors with plenty of blind spots. The trailer reveals a “Summer 2023” launch window, so expect the game to launch sometime between June and September. 

Synapse

• Release date: July 4, 2023

Synapse was initially revealed at a prior State of Play presentation. But we got a better look at the mind-bending shooter at the PlayStation Showcase. Its abstract visuals and narrative are certainly its most intriguing parts, and might appeal to anyone looking for a shooter that strays from realistic norms. 

Beat Saber

• Release date: Available now!

Lastly, the PlayStation Showcase shadow dropped Beat Saber’s PSVR 2 launch. The popular rhythm game is available to buy right now on PS5. The reveal trailer was accompanied by the announcement of a Queen music pack, too. 

One step forward, two steps back

If you weren’t planning on buying PSVR 2 anytime soon, then the PlayStation Showcase likely wouldn’t have changed your mind. On one hand, it’s obviously great that more games are coming, but it’s still seriously lacking in any hard-hitting exclusives.

PSVR 2 doesn’t necessarily need its own Half-Life: Alyx, but if Sony is committed to seeing its headset to success, then I’d really like to see PlayStation Studios leverage its excellent suite of IPs on PSVR 2. Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7’s VR mode are good starts, but we really need to start seeing more of that. 

Sony’s big PlayStation Showcase was the perfect time to make a case for PSVR 2, but once again, the peripheral, despite being one of the best VR headsets, was treated like an afterthought. I hope we’ll get a more PSVR 2-centric State of Play sometime soon, and potentially a price drop.

• MGS3 is being remade as Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

PSVR 2 is on track to outsell its PS4 predecessor. At least, it is according to Sony itself.

PSVR 2 has been on the market for just over three months now, and we finally have  accurate sales figures. During a business webcast, Sony was able to share sales figures for the PS5-based VR headset, specifically for its first six weeks on the market.

The webcast presentation claims that Sony was able to shift 600,000 PSVR 2 units in its first six weeks. That would be from its February 22 launch to around April 5, 2023. According to Sony, that's 8% more than the original PlayStation VR managed across the same period of time (via VGC).

Sony's numbers here reflect CFO Hiroki Totoki's earlier statement regarding PSVR 2's sales. Totoki stated back in March that PSVR 2 has a "good chance" of outselling the original hardware. PlayStation VR managed a lifetime sales figure of around 5 million units.

Sony's report is certainly much more positive than that of some analysts. After reportedly poor pre-order performance, an unnamed supply partner claimed that Sony had shifted PSVR 2's financial year target to 1.5 million units, down from 2 million.

Additionally, notable VR analyst Francisco Jeronimo posited that due to circumstances like the rising cost of living, "VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate." Jeronimo added that PSVR 2 could use a price cut if Sony wished to "avoid a complete disaster."

As to who's really correct here between Sony and analysts, the answer's likely somewhere in the middle. Sony will need to present good sales numbers to appease investors, but the company's positivity and commitment to PSVR 2 suggests the headset could be faring better than analysts are hypothesizing.

SIE president Jim Ryan recently stated that it's too early to judge PSVR 2's market performance, suggesting Sony is committed to the growth and demand of its VR headset.

This, and the fact that PSVR 2 games will have a notable presence at the upcoming PlayStation Showcase, does at least signal that we probably haven't seen PSVR 2 in its final form. It could certainly do with a few more exclusives, though.

• Best PSVR 2 games: the games to buy for the PS5 VR headset

It’s the big day. Sony’s annual PlayStation Showcase is taking place imminently, and fans are expecting it to be a big one.

Of course, PS5 will be the major focus, and there’s a high likelihood that we’ll see a gameplay reveal for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, due to launch later this year. However, Sony has confirmed that the hour-long event will play host to a number of PSVR 2 game announcements, too.

Potentially, this is great news for early adopters, and hopefully it’ll mean we’ll need to shake up our best PSVR 2 games list after the fact. And to be honest, I sincerely hope this will be the case, as PSVR 2, by most accounts, needs all the help it can get.

Sony’s second attempt at VR hardware, reportedly, hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts. The Japanese manufacturer remains confident that it’ll outsell its first-gen headset, but supposedly poor sales performance means it’s likely missing its sales targets at present. Still, with SIE president Jim Ryan claiming it’s “a little early to judge” PSVR 2’s performance, I’m hoping today’s PlayStation Showcase can put his words into action.

Ports in the storm

PSVR 2 is an excellent piece of hardware, and certainly one of the best VR headsets on the market. But it’s hard to disagree that the peripheral has gotten off to a slow start. Over 40 games graced PSVR 2 over its launch period, but the vast majority of these were existing ports of titles we’ve seen on other popular headsets.

Among PSVR 2’s exclusives are Horizon: Call of the Mountain, and Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village’s VR modes. Throw in Enhance’s quirky Humanity and the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake’s VR mode, and you have pretty much the full measure of it. In short, PSVR 2 is in serious need of exclusive games to win more consumers over. And a price drop, but as this is Sony we’re dealing with, the chances of that are slim.

Many of you will be hoping that PSVR 2 announcements won’t take up much real estate over the course of the PlayStation Showcase. And I’m mostly in agreement there. We’re likely on the cusp of the next chapter of Sony IP releases. And with tantalizing rumors of Bloodborne and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remakes, PS5 should naturally have the lion’s share of announcements tonight.

But PSVR 2 needs a strong showing tonight, too. It’s good that the VR headset has a large volume of games already, but it’s not a catalog that PSVR 2 can truly call its own. However, that can all change tonight if Sony presents a string of never-before-seen PSVR 2 exclusives for us to look forward to.

Reversal of fortune

Of course, calling for more exclusives is one thing, but what exactly should those exclusives be? And which first-party IPs could theoretically make best use of the hardware? If we’re talking properties handled by PlayStation Studios’ in-house teams, there’s certainly a few I can think of that’ll really light a fire under PSVR 2’s belly. And potentially bring back some long-dormant IPs we haven’t seen in yonks.

As mentioned, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is on the horizon. But that’s going to be a good few months away still. Why not whet fans’ appetites with a PSVR 2 exclusive Spider-Man game in the meantime? Web slinging across New York, weaving between its highrises in VR sounds exhilarating. If polished up by developer Insomniac, that’s an experience you won’t be able to get on any other VR headset.

Gran Turismo 7’s VR suite has shown that sim racing is a blast on PSVR 2. So how about something a little more fantastical? We haven’t had a Motorstorm or WipeOut game in a good old while. And sure, that’s partly because their respective developers have since shuttered (thanks for that, Sony), but a grand return as VR titles would certainly generate much online buzz.

Lastly, I have to imagine that Team Asobi has another Astro Bot game in the works. The PS5 pack-in title, Astro’s Playroom, is a phenomenal platformer, mixing decades of PlayStation nostalgia with Nintendo levels of polish. I still think it’s one of the best PS5 games, though 2018’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission proved that the series is right at home in VR. It would almost be criminal for the little robot to miss out on PSVR 2.

Those are just some examples of what kinds of exclusives I’d like to see on PSVR 2. And really I could go on all day (I wouldn’t shoot down a VR-based Vib-Ribbon or PaRappa the Rapper). But there’s not much use in listing off pipe dreams when the reality is we’ll likely see only one or two new PSVR 2 exclusives revealed tonight.

But ultimately, I want those exclusives to not only be real, but also to matter. PSVR 2’s a great bit of kit that should not only be accessible to a wider audience, but also feature a compelling library of exclusives that’ll get people on board with the tech to begin with. And the best way to do that, in my view, is to start bringing in IPs old and new that PlayStation fans love to see.

• How to watch the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase

The best VR headsets can be your introduction to a very different and immersive gaming experience, especially if you're just getting in at the ground floor. As a result, we've gone ahead and selected our top picks - all expertly tested and reviewed on-site - to help you make an informed purchasing decision. VR can be an expensive hobby, after all, so being able to buy with confidence is paramount.

While VR is predominantly PC-oriented, PSVR 2 and by extension the best PSVR 2 accessories have made virtual reality accessible for console players, doubly so given compatibility with the best PS5 controllers.

We have tested and reviewed every product on our list, and we've highlighted only the best of the best to give you the confidence that you'll be getting your money's worth no matter which headset you decide to go for.

During the review process, we analyze everything from graphical prowess and visual clarity to features like motion tracking, camera passthrough and the quality of each headset's game library. Above all, though, value for money is incredibly important to us, and we wouldn't recommend a VR headset in this guide if we didn't think it was worth your hard-earned cash.

Best VR headsets in 2026

The best VR headset overall

The Meta Quest 3 is the new king among the best VR headsets you can buy today. A significant improvement over the Meta Quest 2 and coming in at a relatively affordable price point among other headsets in this list, it's easy to recommend as our top choice whether you're upgrading from prior hardware or diving into VR for the first time.

The Meta Quest 3 is impressively compact, requiring no extra cameras or wires during play. It can be played as an entirely standalone experience, free from cables or extra bits that could run the risk of tripping you up. All the headset's features can be accessed while wearing it, too, including its home and store front, providing a seamless experience that doesn't require you to take the headset off.

It helps, then, that the Quest 3 is compatible with the existing Quest game library. If you're upgrading, you won't need to purchase all those games all over again, which we feel takes some of the sting out of the chunkier price tag. Other improvements include support for a wider 110-degree field-of-view and an increase to 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye for a richer, sharper image quality.

We did find that the Quest 3's battery life is a bit of a stinger at just 2-3 hours when using it as a wireless, standalone device. And while we obviously wouldn't recommend VR gaming sessions that last this long, you might find that you're charging the device up quite frequently. Still, we love the option to use it as a standalone device as it means there's no complex setup in order to play.

• Read more: Meta Quest 3 review

The best headset for PC gaming

The Valve Index is one of the best VR headsets because it represents a next-gen system compared to its predecessors. We found it has a crisp display that runs well even with older GPUs, a wider field of view, a higher refresh rate, and Valve’s 'knuckle' controllers, which can track the movement of every finger.

The Valve Index certainly looks the part of a high-end headset, but that means it also requires a complex setup (and a powerful PC) to match. In fact, our least favorite thing about Valve's headset is the setup process, which requires several wires and a dual camera setup to work properly. Make sure you have enough desk and room space (not to mention a few free power outlets) to ensure a seamless experience. The process is worth it, however, as you'll be treated to impressive wide field-of-view and full Steam integration, making browsing your existing library in VR a cakewalk.

The Valve Index is a significant upgrade over both the HTC Vive, and the HTC Vive Pro. The Index also offers a much higher-resolution screen and a better refresh rate which in turn lowers the risk of discomfort or motion sickness. We're also huge fans of the Index controllers, their knuckle-shaped design proving to be a fantastic layout for VR play.

• Read more: Valve Index review

The best budget VR headset for PC

The HP Reverb G2 is an excellent headset for anyone looking for something slightly cheaper than the Valve Index or HTC Vive Pro 2 and something easy to set up. Although it’s not as accurate as the somewhat pricier options, it’s a fantastic alternative that still maintains the visual enchantment of VR gaming. If anything, the HP Reverb G2 exceeds visual expectations and presents an entirely new experience while undercutting the cost of its peers.

The HP Reverb G2 is an incredible bang-for-your-buck headset that's very smartly designed. It avoids the 'screen door' effect that plagues many a VR headset, and out of the box, it's extremely easy to set up. The only really irksome thing here is a multitude of wires, ad the Reverb G2 does require a PC unlike Meta's offerings. You'll also need a decently powerful PC thanks to the headset's high-resolution output. Additionally, since it’s compatible with Steam VR, you'll have no shortage of games to play when buying this headset.

The HP Reverb G2 features an impressively high resolution of 2160 x 2160 (4K) per lens. That's pretty exceptional for a headset that's relatively low-priced, and that image clarity means you won't be dealing with image ghosting or smeary visuals throughout your playtime. The headset is slightly let down by its motion tracking precision, which isn't quite as accurate as other, pricier options. Still, it's surprising to see just how much the Reverb G2 gets right at its lower price of entry.

• Read more: HP Reverb G2 review

The best premium VR headset

There's never been a mixed reality or VR headset quite like Apple’s Vision Pro. It’s the most expensive consumer VR headset in recent memory and makes even the Valve Index look like an absolute bargain, but after spending considerable time with the headset and inside Apple’s new visionOS platform, we can say it’s worth every bleeding edge dollar.

It’s built out of exquisite materials like aluminum and carbon fiber. It’s sleek and looks more like expensive snowboarding goggles than it does an AR/VR headset. Every other headset, including our current overall top pic, the Meta Quest 3, look clunky by comparison. It’s still over a pound and that’s with leaving the battery outside the device and connected through a long cable. Even though it can be a struggle to find the right fit, once we switched to the included Dual Loop Band, it became easy to wear Vision Pro for hours.

It’s not just the look that set Vision Pro apart. The stereoscopic visuals beat all comers in this buying guide. Dual micro-OLED, 4K displays deliver 23 million pixels of ultra-sharp imagery whether you’re looking at a fully immersive experience or with apps and other experiences blended into your real world. And it’s a wickedly responsive platform thanks to the M2 and R1 chip combo. Vision Pro is one of the smartest mixed reality headsets when it comes to spatial computing (yes, we said it). It understands your world and when you leave an app in another room in your house, it stays there, and you can visit it later.

• Read more: Apple Vision Pro review

The best VR headset for console

The original PSVR had its share of shortcomings back in 2016, most of which have been brilliantly addressed last year with PSVR 2. Sony has set a phenomenally high bar for any future console-based VR headsets, and comes highly recommended from us if you own a PS5.

PSVR 2 has a pleasing, rounded silhouette that matches the aesthetic of the PS5 console. Compared to its PS4 counterpart, it's phenomenally easy to set up, with just a single wire needed to connect it to your PS5. The setup phase doubles as a tutorial, walking you through features like eye-tracking, room space visualization and the new passthrough feature that lets you view your surroundings at any time at the press of a button.

PSVR 2 exclusive games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain seriously impress with stellar image quality. Meanwhile, solid ports of PSVR favorites like Tetris Effect, Rez Infinite and Moss: Book II return looking better and playing more responsively than ever. The device is massively helped by its 2,000 x 2,040 panel resolution, allowing for much clearer image quality. You may struggle to find and maintain the headset's 'sweet spot' though, meaning you might find yourself readjusting the headset during sessions.

• Read more: PSVR 2 review

The best high-resolution VR headset

It doesn't come cheaply, but if you're after the very best in PC VR visual fidelity, the HTC Vive Pro 2 should sit near the top of your list thanks to its borderline absurd '5K' resolution. Just make sure you've got a seriously powerful PC to make the most of this admittedly experimental headset.

It's admittedly difficult to recommend the Vive Pro 2 as a commercial headset. The wired headset requires several cables for it to function properly, meaning managing it as part of your PC gaming setup can be stressful. Plus, all that power means it can start to run hot after just a short session, so we'd say it's best enjoyed in shorter bursts.

We've been harsh on the Vive Pro 2 so far, but we can't ignore the strengths it boasts over other headsets in this list. The Vive Pro 2 is capable of outputting a '5K' resolution (that's an astronomical 2448 x 2448 pixels per eye), a 120-degree field of view and a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, you will need an ultra-powerful PC to make the most of it, but the Vive Pro 2 is capable of providing some of the most accurate and immersive visuals of any headset on the market right now.

• Read more: HTC Vive Pro 2 review

The best headset for comfort

The Meta Quest Pro, the company's latest and arguably greatest headset, is certainly one of the more expensive VR options currently on the market, but it's not like you won't get your money's worth. The headset's comfortable design and sleek controllers are easy to use from the get-go, and you don't need any external equipment to get set up.

The Meta Quest Pro, in essence, is a souped-up version of the Meta Quest 2. The improved controllers are a particular highlight here, featuring a sleek, comfortable design that feels more premium than similar motion-based gamepads. And comfort really is the key word here, as the Quest Pro is well-suited for longer gaming sessions thanks to a cushioned headband.

The Meta Quest Pro's hand-tracking shows an improvement over the Quest 2. While not quite as accurate as the Valve Index or even PSVR 2, it's a welcome upgrade that helps most VR games play even smoother than before. One slight drawback, however, is the headset's relatively short battery life when used standalone.

• Read more: Meta Quest Pro review

The best Meta Quest alternative

If you live in an area where the Pico 4 Ultra is readily available, then it's well worth considering as a Meta Quest 3 alternative. This all-in-one VR headset boasts better specs than the Meta Quest 3, with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM compared to the 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM found in the Quest. Both headsets use the same chips, but this is a very decent spec boost given the fact that the Pico 4 Ultra is only marginally more expensive.

It's also very simple and intuitive to use, performing well in a wide range of games including Arizona Sunshine 2 and Angry Birds VR. Just bear in mind that some Meta Quest 3 titles, like the exclusive Batman: Arkham Shadow, will not be accessible at all via the platform.

In terms of comfort and design, there are really very few ways to fault the Pico 4 Ultra. Its lightweight and well-balanced and even features an in-built fan to try and help prevent the lenses from fogging up while you play. If you want to free yourself from the Meta ecosystem, then you really can't get many close alternatives that are much better than the Pico 4 Ultra right now.

• Read more: Pico 4 Ultra review

Best VR headset - FAQs

How to choose a VR headset

VR headsets fall across the entire budget spectrum, and each can come with its own set of features and game libraries. As a result, it can be difficult to make a choice if you're a first-time buyer.

If you're new to VR, then your safest bet will be to focus on getting yourself a Meta Quest 3. We consider it to be the jack-of-all-trades VR headset, boasting a massive library of games, impressive features and standalone support, meaning you can use it entirely wirelessly.

More premium setups, like we see with the Valve Index, require a more complex setup process, but the experience is ultimately worth it with crystal clear visuals and pinpoint accuracy.

For console players, PSVR 2 is your best bet, and not simply because it's really the only game in town when it comes to console VR. PSVR 2 has recently received a permanent price drop, and with a library of games that's still growing, it's an ideal first-time headset and makes for a fantastic social experience with friends at home.

How we test VR headsets

Every VR headset that we include in our best VR headsets buying guide has been reviewed in the environment and on a machine that meets the recommended specifications of the manufacturer.

Each device is tested extensively across a range of software available in the headsets' associated store. Many of our reviewers have experience using different ranges of virtual reality hardware, enabling them to make informed comparisons between products. No device in our buying list above has been included without first being tested and reviewed.

Meta Quest 2 deals are more common now that the Meta Quest 3 is available, making the previous generation headset more affordable and appealing to casual buyers. Plus, there's been a permanent price cut on the Meta Quest 2 so it's a great opportunity to find discounts on the older but capable VR headset.

Even better news: in March, the Meta Quest 2 dropped to a record-low price of $199.99 in the US and £199.99 in the UK. That offer has become the standard retail price in most stores – and there have even been further discounts of £20 in the UK. It's the best time to try the VR headset yourself if it's been on your shopping list.

You can also check out the latest Meta Quest promo codes for ways to save even more money on the popular VR headset. And if it's still out of your price range, we've got all the latest cheap VR headset deals if you'd prefer a budget-friendly option. 

The best Meta Quest 2 deals

The standard price of the Meta Quest 2 is now down to $249.99 / £249.99 / AU$439.99 for the 128GB version. You can also choose to increase the available storage in the VR headset up to 256GB and this model will set you back $349.99 / £349.99 / AU$499.99.

In our view, the cheaper one is the sensible choice for most as that's enough space for between 30-40 games at a time. No matter which one you want, we monitor the price for both Meta Quest 2 headsets to ensure you always get the best deal. Here's where it's available for the cheapest price today.

Meta Quest 2 accessory deals

There's a decent selection of Meta Quest 2 accessories are available to buy. Some of the official options include a Carrying Case to store and transport the headset, an Elite Strap that provides a more comfortable and secure experience, and Meta Headset Link Cable that allows you to play older Rift VR games on the Quest 2 through your gaming PC.

We've also included some popular Meta Quest 2 accessories that have been made in collaboration with other manufacturers.

Why did the Meta Quest 2 price decrease?

At the start of 2024, Meta announced that the price of the Meta Quest 2 would go down by $50 / £50. Why? Well, this is because the Meta Quest 3 is now the lead product in the range so it makes sense that the manufacturer would start to sunset the older model.

It's not going away and losing all support, though, which still makes it a solid buy if you want to try some VR tech for yourself. Just be aware that its expiration date is definitely approaching and it'll probably be discontinued for good in 2025 while the Meta Quest 3 remains the focus for new software and updates.

Are the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S discontinued?

In April 2021, Facebook announced it would no longer manufacture the Oculus Rift S and instead focus on the wireless Quest experience. Six months before that, the company also discontinued the production of the original Oculus Quest. That means the only VR headset in the range available to buy today is the Meta Quest 2.

In the time since production ceased on the Rift S and original Quest, a number of retailers reduced the price of these older devices to clear any remaining inventory. Checking today, neither are in stock brand new so you're only option is to go second-hand for these devices.

However, given that the Meta Quest 2 is the only one with current support - and that the price is around the same as the discontinued devices - we'd strongly encourage you to go with the latest VR headset instead. It'll be kinder on your wallet and give you a better overall VR experience.

What about the 64GB Oculus Quest 2?

When it was originally known as the Oculus Quest 2 there was an option to buy it with 64GB of storage. This version of the VR headset has since been discontinued and now the basic model comes with 128GB of storage as standard. Better still, this larger capacity Meta Quest 2 is exactly the same price as the smaller one. If you see a 64GB Oculus Quest 2 for sale, then, ignore it and make sure you get the 128GB Meta Quest 2 as you get more room for games, applications and files for the money.

PSVR 2 may not have lit the world on fire as Sony hoped, but the Japanese manufacturer remains optimistic about its long-term success.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has shared his own thoughts on PSVR 2's first few months on sale. In an interview with Famitsu, Ryan stated that "PSVR 2 has just been launched, so it may be a little early to judge its popularity, but we are happy to see many positive reactions from users and the media." (via VGC).

Ryan's comment follows a slew of bad news for the PS5 headset's opening months. Its reportedly poor pre-order performance prior to launch hinted a lukewarm consumer reaction to its eye-watering price point. Additionally, month one sales appeared to fall below Sony's targets, despite Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki expressing confidence that PSVR 2 could outsell its predecessor.

Despite a slow start off the blocks, I do agree with Jim Ryan that it's far too early to judge PSVR 2's sales performance. Some of the best PSVR 2 games have already seriously impressed me, particularly its exclusives in Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7's excellent VR support.

May 24's PlayStation Showcase could also bring the goods, with new PSVR 2 announcements confirmed to feature at the presentation. However, I firmly believe these will need to be all-new exclusive games to impress, not just existing games we've seen already on some of the best VR headsets out there. That said, I wouldn't mind a cheeky Half-Life: Alyx port.

Ultimately, I still believe that PSVR 2 needs a substantial price cut in order to pick up sales and remain competitive in the VR space. It doesn't help that unlike Oculus Quest 2, Sony's headset isn't standalone, and requires a PS5. While the technical specs of the PSVR2 are much higher than the Quest 2, it's a bitter pill to swallow when you're currently looking at a $1,000 / £1,000 plus investment, and that's before you've even bought any games.

Sure, PSVR 2 isn't Valve Index levels of expensive. But there are larger libraries on cheaper, more accessible headsets like Quest 2 and Pico 4. Upcoming releases like Resident Evil 4's VR suite will likely impress, but at PSVR 2's current price point that experience will remain inaccessible for the vast majority of consumers.

• PSVR 2 got my mum into gaming for the first time

Meta’s Reality Labs and BMW have teamed up to bring car passengers exclusive mixed reality experiences – and the idea is already making me feel nauseous. 

Using Meta headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro, the pair produced a range of prototype VR experiences – from music-based meditation apps to interactive games, to mobile VR office spaces. 

Unsurprisingly, making a VR experience work in a car isn’t as easy as making the experience work in a regular room. That’s because – at least for Quest headsets that rely on the Oculus Insight technology – the headset’s two main sensors will be picking up conflicting signals. 

In a moving vehicle, the cameras rely on reference points inside the vehicle while the inertial motion sensors (IMUs) will determine your movement and acceleration relative to the outside world. That means the cameras might think you’re stationary while the IMUs believe you’re moving. (For you science nerds this wouldn’t be a problem if the car moved at an exactly constant speed, but that’s not feasible for a real-world vehicle).

To get around this hurdle, the research team used an additional information source: the BMW car’s sensor array. This additional IMU data set allows the VR system to accurately determine the Meta Quest Pro’s position relative to the vehicle. The team has said the next step is accurately to determine the car’s location compare to the rest of the world to enable world-locked rendering rather than simply car-locked. This would enable experiences such as virtual tour guides which could highlight landmarks and other points of interest.

What’s more, it looks like the goal is to develop mixed-reality experiences for not just passengers but drivers too. The mixed-reality system would potentially serve as an alternative to a traditional satnav and dashboard – it could provide in-depth directions, warn you of upcoming hazards and traffic, and tell you important information about the vehicle's health.

Thanks, I hate it 

Despite being a huge fan of VR, I get motion sick surprisingly easily, so this idea of using VR while in a car sounds like a recipe for disaster. At the same time, I can see how the productivity and entertainment use cases of the tech could be a massive blessing.

I don’t like traveling. I love going to new places, but the act of getting there in a train/plane/automobile isn’t that enjoyable – I dislike it so much that I’ll sometimes sleep to skip through even 10-minute journeys if I’m a passenger. If I could have a virtual hangout with my friends, take a guided tour of the surrounding area, or enjoy a cinema-like movie experience I might find the journey much less boring.

Unfortunately, I expect my nausea might get in the way – looking at my phone in a moving car for too long can have me feeling worse for wear – but I can see others falling in love with what Reality Labs and BMW have developed.

It’ll be a while before any of us can take advantage of these car experiences, however. In the press release Claus Dorrer – the Head of BMW’s Technology Office in Mountain View – said it’s “too early to tell exactly how or when this technology will make it into customers’ hands” (read: it’s likely a long way off from public release).

We can’t help you find VR experiences to play in a moving vehicle, but we can suggest some of the best Oculus Quest 2 games for you to play at home right now.

PSVR 2's exclusive availability via PlayStation Direct is ending, and you'll soon find stock in big box retailers worldwide.

Participating retailers selling PSVR 2 units will include GameStop in the US and Game in the UK, and there'll most certainly be more big online presences to follow. It means you'll no longer need to go through Sony's online store to grab the PS5 headset for yourself. That'll potentially lead to an increase in bundles and offers, too.

PlayStation Direct exclusivity was always likely to end eventually, but there's a likelihood that Sony expedited its availability to retailers at large. PSVR 2 has reportedly underperformed since its February 2023 launch, shifting less than 300,000 units in its first month.

Virtually impossible

If Sony wants PSVR 2 to outsell its predecessor, then heading to retail early is a good first step. But will it be enough to really get the ball rolling? I'm having a hard time thinking it will be.

That's not to say retail availability won't sell more PSVR 2 headsets. Just by nature of it being available on more shelves, with more eyes on it, Sony's internal graphs will most likely tick upwards. Throw in the fact that PSVR 2 is genuinely one of the best VR headsets, and how word of mouth improves the tech's chances of success; then I think the ailing headset will start showing signs of improvement. At least in the short term.

PSVR 2's biggest obstacle remains its price point, and even at retail, it's going to be tough to convince PS5 owners that they should spend even more on a headset with a relatively small library of games. If you're new to the VR space, then a standalone headset like Meta Quest 2 will likely be more appealing with its larger library, not to mention that it doesn't require an expensive console to function.

I still think a price drop is necessary for PSVR 2 to be competitive. Sony cannot rest on its laurels here, with strong competition on the way in the form of Meta Quest 3 and Apple's own mixed-reality headset in the works. If the former beats PSVR 2 on price, and is backward compatible with existing Quest games, then Sony's headset will only further struggle to find a sizable audience.

Sony could afford to give its excellent VR headset all the help it needs, then. Bleak sales forecasts aside, PSVR 2 has yet to really offer a unique selling point of its own. Its exclusives library is pitifully small, and though Horizon: Call of the Mountain is a great VR experience, it's not quite the killer app something like Beat Saber or Half-Life: Alyx is, really.

• PSVR 2 got my mum into gaming for the first time

It’s easy to see VR as a years-long gimmick, perhaps overstaying its welcome due to its abundance of smaller, tech demo-like titles. Few and far between are full-fledged releases like Half-Life: Alyx, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners and Horizon: Call of the Mountain.

The scope of VR is really quite limited, too. Many of the best VR games share that same first-person viewpoint. On one hand, it’s the space’s biggest weakness; you’ll always have a decent idea of what you’re getting yourself into. On the other, though, it’s VR’s greatest strength, offering astonishing immersion that has the potential to ground you in some truly fascinating locales.

Nothing did more to remind me of that than when my mum tried out PSVR 2 for the first time. Playing Kayak VR, she had that same level of awe and speechlessness I had when I first strapped an Oculus Rift to my head nearly a decade ago. Wholesome family moment aside, it reminded me that VR is a remarkably valuable innovation in gaming that has the power to draw people in much the same way the Nintendo Wii did all those years ago. 

Another world

We all remember the first time we bowled a strike in Wii Sports, or capped zombies with light guns in House of the Dead. Little moments of gaming history that introduced millions to new, innovative forms of play. They resonate with hardcore and casual players alike, but none more so than with folks who rarely – if ever – play games at all.

There’s a very good reason for that. Peripherals like the aforementioned, and even the best VR headsets, are largely self-explanatory and easier to get to grips with than a more traditional gamepad – at least to strictly casual audiences. It’s no different with VR, which is why I think the experience resonated so strongly with my mum. Simple motion-based inputs like paddling a kayak are far more intuitive – and more engaging – than learning a separate control scheme.

If you play games on the regular, it’s easy to start taking tech like VR headsets for granted. Like any novelty, that euphoric feeling of trying something new can wear off in a short time. That’s unfortunately the case with any kind of peculiar gaming peripheral no matter how outlandish or ambitious. Once you’ve settled into the motions of what the most notable VR games tend to offer, the experiences can begin to blend together.

But for players less familiar with the space, VR can provide a genuinely memorable experience. For my mum, it wasn’t just the process of paddling her kayak with PSVR 2’s Sense controllers, it was the way she was transported to the picturesque fjords of Norway. It may sound a bit cliche to those more familiar with VR, but she told me she genuinely felt like she was really there. There’s clearly something very special going on here, especially for those who’re new to VR, or even games in general.

The cost of novelty

The biggest issue with VR, though, has nothing to do with the tech itself. It’s more that it remains largely inaccessible to casual players. The very best headsets can retail at hundreds or even thousands of dollars/pounds. And unless you’re buying a standalone headset, like the Meta Quest 2, you’ll need dedicated hardware like a PC or PS5 to even run the thing in the first place.

This wasn’t an issue shared by the Wii, which retailed at a relatively affordable $249 / £179 at launch. Price drops and sales were common, too. Plus, the free copy of Wii Sports that came with the console provided players with hundreds of hours of motion-controlled fun at no extra cost.

My hope is that the VR space can one day reach this level of affordability. But, between the Quest 2 price hike and the shockingly high cost of PSVR 2 ($549 / £529), it seems like that won’t be the case for a while. And that’s a shame as there’s clearly a huge casual appeal to VR, not unlike the Wii and even the Xbox Kinect’s motion-based play. 

I hope this changes for the better over the next decade. More seasoned gamers may have outgrown VR’s novelty, but your nan probably hasn’t. And I reckon she’d love to bez it around Watkins Glen in a Mazda Atenza in Gran Turismo 7. 

• The Sony Inzone H9 headset is so good I was sent to prison

There’s finally a way to play the entire Half-Life Alyx campaign without a VR headset from start to finish, but it has little to do with Valve.

A mod for Half-Life Alyx entitled Half-Life Alyx NoVR has just released its latest, largest update. In a Twitter post, the mod’s developers announced: “The campaign can now be completed from start to finish! Gravity Gloves are working, Combine fabricators can be used to upgrade your weapons and much more!”

Developed by a small handful of people led by GB_2, the mod “allows you to play Half-Life Alyx without VR, not needing specialized drivers or anything like that. Allowing for it to be played anyway and anywhere you like”, according to its Moddb page. Fans have well received Half-Life Alyx NoVR, and is currently the most popular mod on Moddb and boasts a user score of 9/10.

The mod's warm reception and high demand comes as little surprise since even the best VR headsets are often prohibitively expensive. Half-Life Alyx is only available on Steam VR, compatible with the Valve Index and the Oculus Quest 2. Though this powerful new technology undoubtedly helps titles like Half-Life Alyx provide a more immersive time for players, it’s clear that the steep price tag on VR technology has priced a lot of fans out of the experience.

Half-Life fans have notoriously been long-starved for content. Before the release of Half-Life Alyx in 2020, there hadn’t been a mainline Half-Life release since Half-Life 2 Episode 2 in 2007. In this context, it makes sense that players would want an accessible Half-Life experience, which, despite its critical acclaim, Half-Life Alyx sought to provide. 

Though Half-Life Alyx NoVR is still in early access, Half-Life fans can finally enjoy Alyx without needing expensive peripherals. The mod is also easy to install, requiring only that you copy and paste its folders into the right location. 

 Full-Life consequences 

However, the fact that this mod has to exist is a sad indictment of the state of VR gaming. Incredible experiences are available, but only to those willing to pay. For instance, the PSVR 2 boasts some gorgeous games in the form of Horizon Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7. However, the PSVR2’s price is its biggest obstacle, setting you back even more than the PS5 itself. 

Though not every VR headset is quite as costly, it’s a big ask demand of prospective gamers that they fork out several hundred more pounds on top of the price of a console or gaming PC. 

It also seems odd that Valve didn’t bake a VR-free mode into Half-Life Alyx. Despite looking gorgeous in VR, I was extremely glad when I discovered that Star Wars: Squadrons would not require VR hardware since I have never owned a headset myself. 

Still, I do, at times, find myself envying the headset-havers. Beat Saber, Elite: Dangerous, and even Half-Life Alyx itself demonstrate plenty of great experiences to enjoy through these impressive pieces of hardware. However, the very existence of Half-Life Alyx NoVR speaks to the prohibitive nature of the investment and the need for affordable forms of VR hardware. 

• How Half-life: Alyx cannibalized the myth of Half-life 3

PSVR 2, Sony’s current-generation virtual reality headset, has been off to a rocky start. It’s been on store shelves for little over a month, but already the writing’s on the wall: Sony needs to do its headset some favors if it wants to shift more units.

As great as PSVR 2 is, it’s not really living up to its fullest potential yet. The game library appears largely uninspiring, packed with ports of VR games you can get on other, cheaper headsets like Meta Quest 2. And what few exclusive games there are, like Horizon: Call of the Mountain, come in at full price.

Given the astronomical cost of one, getting the headset for your PS5 and two, actually purchasing games for the thing, it can leave one’s bank account feeling gut-punched and winded. Sony would do well to offset some of that cost with its excellent PS Plus subscription service. So why doesn’t it?

The benefits of PS Plus

In recent months, I think the PS Plus service has really come into its own. We’ve seen massive games like Horizon: Forbidden West and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection come to Sony’s digital library recently. So it’s clear that the hardware manufacturer is growing more comfortable with hosting some of the best PS5 games in its Game Catalog. And with anticipated upcoming games like Tchia arriving on launch day, PS Plus is starting to shape into a confident Xbox Game Pass rival.

If I was Sony, I’d be very interested in continuing to host games on the service that you cannot get anywhere else. At least for the cost of a monthly subscription. The best PSVR 2 games are ripe for this, I feel. Much like its Xbox Series X|S rival, PS Plus is an excellent tool for game discovery. If I’m a fresh PSVR 2 owner, I’d be extremely keen to download and play entirely new experiences at no extra cost.

VR typically lends itself well to smaller, more novel experiences. Be it Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge authentic blaster-based immersion, Superhot VR’s frantic dipping and diving or Tetris Effect’s immaculate vibes, the VR gaming space is nothing if not full of surprises.

That feeling of discoverability would play so well into PS Plus’ Game Catalog. You could even have a separate VR Catalog, tailor-made to showcase a variety of fun and innovative games playable only on a VR headset. And it works both ways: you ship more PSVR 2 units, getting more and more people comfortable with the VR space, and boost PS Plus subscription numbers in turn.

Cold feet?

So that begs the question: why is Sony passing on something that it could greatly benefit from? There’s the argument that VR is still a niche space. And by including PSVR 2 games on PS Plus, you may only be appealing to a subset of a subset, when there’s always bigger fish to fry, more heads to turn with the marquee Game Catalog selection.

But I’m not quite on board with this. As it stands, PSVR 2 is the only game in town when it comes to console-based VR. And Sony clearly wants its headset to be more than a niche product enjoyed by a fortunate few. Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, has expressed optimism at PSVR 2 outselling its predecessor, the PlayStation VR.

Right now, that’s not looking particularly achievable, with the report that PSVR 2 is underperforming. If true, I’d say there’s no better time than now for Sony to better incentivize its player base to opt into VR. A price cut would help, obviously, but even if PSVR 2 has its retail price slashed significantly, that only solves half the problem. You still want players to be able to experience most of what the headset has to offer.

And I think that’s why PS Plus is crucial to PSVR 2’s long-term success. The majority of its games, at present, are available on competing headsets. So what if we could try some of these relatively bite-sized experiences, like Puzzling Places, Kayak VR and Townsmen VR, without paying a penny extra? This feeds into PS Plus’s discoverability factor, and wouldn’t require players to spend hundreds more on a handful of titles.

Sony will likely stick to its guns on the high price of PSVR 2, which is all the more reason it could stand to offer at least some of the headset’s library on PS Plus. Perhaps it’s an ace the company has up its sleeve, waiting for the opportune moment to boost PS Plus’s Game Catalog with a swathe of new games. If we’re not getting a price cut, I think this is the least Sony can do to make PSVR 2 all the more appealing to a wider audience.

• I played Gran Turismo 7 in PSVR 2, and now I can't go back

It seems that PSVR 2 isn't exactly on track to meet its sales targets, at least according to one notable VR analyst.

PSVR 2 looks like it'll sell just shy of 300,000 units by the end of March 2023, according to IDC VR analyst Francisco Jeronimo. In a quote to Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki, Jeronimo gave an explaination as to why the PS5 headset might be underperforming.

"Consumers around the world are facing rising costs of living, rising interest rates and rising layoffs," says Jeronimo, "VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate."

Jeronimo also states that a PSVR 2 price cut may be in order if Sony wants to "avoid a complete disaster."

The report comes not long after Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki expressed confidence in PSVR 2 exceeding the five million units the company achieved with the original PlayStation VR headset.

Now, it may be premature to cast doom and gloom on PSVR 2 when it's been on store shelves for a little over a month. However, PS4's PlayStation VR managed to sell close to a million units in its first four months on sale. Granted, the original headset was at a much lower price point and thus easier to obtain esppecially when compared to the eye-watering $549 / £529 / AU$879 it costs to net Sony's latest VR headset.

Does PSVR 2 have a future?

I'm a big fan of PSVR 2, but I can't help but be concerned for its future if the above sales forecast is accurate. When the PS Vita similarly underperformed a decade ago, Sony was quick to pull the plug on a genuinely fantastic handheld device. I hope the PSVR 2 will not meet the same fate. 

But it's so easy to see why PSVR 2 wouldn't meet Sony's sales expectations. I've said it before, to the point of sounding like a broken record, but it's always going to be a tough sell when your VR headset costs even more than the console you're buying it for. At the retail level, many consumers are going to see that and simply turn away.

I agree that PSVR 2 could use a price cut. It is a fantastic headset, but one that needs a better chance to grow. Currently, outside of a few exclusive experiences like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7's VR component, PSVR 2's library is lacking. At least compared to cheaper, standalone headsets like Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4.

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“A toast,” the head of the Peaky Blinders Tommy Shelby says, holding up a glass of whisky. I reach for the bottle in front of me, but my disembodied virtual hand slaps uselessly against the table, knocking the whisky to the floor. I try to style it out by picking up my empty glass to clink it against his, but the tumbler hangs in midair, spinning in place before launching across the room.

“To old friends,” Tommy says.

Clumsiness in early virtual reality games was charming – an opportunity for unintended slapstick. However, now we’re multiple generations into the technology, with headsets costing more than the consoles that run them, we should be beyond it.

In 2012, virtual reality headsets became the next hot ticket item in gaming. Id Software’s John Carmack demoed a taped-together version of the Oculus Rift at a closed-door event, showing journalists a version of Doom 3. “The level of immersion was unlike any other gaming experience I've ever had, and that bodes well for the future if Carmack or someone else can take the tech to the next level,” PC Gamer said at the time. 

Now, more than a decade on, the tech has moved to the next level. That old Oculus developer kit’s screen presented 640x800 resolution images to each eye, Sony’s PSVR 2 offers 2000x2040, with twice the refresh rate. The newly released headset tracks your eye movements and has four cameras built into the device that trace your head motion and your controllers.

Immersion is still the capital that VR games trade in, too. When I tried the PS5 headset for the first time, the eerie humanity I felt when a character in Horizon: Call of the Mountain looked into my eyes grounded me in its strange prehistoric, sci-fi world. I could move around, picking up musical instruments to play with, brushes to paint with, and plates to… smash. I don’t know if there was something more creative to do; smashing all of the crockery was good enough for me...

But Horizon: Call of the Mountain is at the top of the VR ladder, a first-party game built to show off what the hardware can do. Unfortunately, too many games below it still have a taped-together quality.

Don't look too closely

An early mission in Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom saw gang matriarch Aunt Polly and me fending off an attack from communists. The red-sympathizing workers had broken into our betting shop and wired the palace to explode. As Polly kept them busy with her revolver, I moved from cover to cover, ducking low and defusing the communists’ bombs. I knew the betting shop well from years of watching the show, which only made the experience of being up close to the tills and chalkboards all the more exciting.

However, the moment was ruined when the AI Aunt Polly sprinted into a closed sliding door.  It looked like the door would win, with Polly running uselessly on the spot, but after a few seconds, it popped off its runners, letting her move into the room. A second later, the door flew back into place. While we may see a bug like this in a non-VR game, the technology’s immersion ups the impact of glitches, putting you face to face with a game’s stumbles.

VR’s immersive worlds also foster a higher expectation of interactivity. If I can pick up objects like glasses and whisky bottles, then I assume I can pick up any loose item. So, when the communists firebombed The Garrison pub, I ran behind the bar and tried to grab wine to douse the flames. But every one of the bottles turned out to be a static, unmovable object baked into the wall. 

I turned to the pumps and tried to pour a pint, thinking maybe I can put the fire out with beer. But that too was an object that did nothing. In desperation, I threw in one of the makeshift bombs I’d been building before the brick and molotov cocktail came through the window. The bomb landed in the fire and sat there like a potato, not even catching fire. Eventually, after searching the storeroom behind the bar, I found a bucket of water to pour over the fire. The whole scene was a frustrating sequence of discovering that more and more of this world is a facade, and, worse, I felt foolish for having been taken in by the illusion of interactivity.

There are moments in Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom where the power of VR pays off. Where locations from the series, like the long factory alley that leads up to The Garrison felt awe-inspiring. The proximity to the hell-like soot-blackened walls and belching flames had my heart racing. But all of those gains are undermined by clumsiness and flaws that VR games shouldn’t feature anymore. 

It’s been over a decade since John Carmack demoed a taped-together Oculus at E3; when will premium games stop feeling like experiments?

• Not all VR games are clumsy, there are many we'd recommend.

The development of a Valve Index 2 may not have any verified confirmation, but the success Valve has seen in the VR space since 2019 would suggest a follow-up device may be in their best interest. 

The lack of verified information means a lot of speculation is circulating, such as things like it might be a wireless, standalone VR headset, and there's mounting evidence that Valve is iterating on its next VR product. 

Right now, finding the best VR headset is hard. This isn’t like choosing a new phone or headphones – there aren’t many options available. But the Valve Index virtual reality headset is one of the top VR headsets you can buy – and one of the best VR experiences at home.

According to official Steam Hardware Survey figures in October 2022, more than 17% of all Steam VR players use a Valve Index. With that success, we’d expect Valve will want more with a follow-up that improves on the brilliant original. But given the original Valve Index is only two years old, we might have to wait a while.

Valve Index 2: Cut to the chase

• What is it? A rumored follow-up VR headset from Valve
• When can I play it? TBC
• What can I play it on? TBC, but almost certainly on PC

Valve Index 2 release date

There is currently no official information as to when the Valve Index 2 could be released, so guesses are just stabs in the dark right now. 

We do know the original Valve Index came out in 2019, so given that other headset iterations have taken at least two years we could expect an announcement later this year. However, thanks to disruptions caused by Covid-19 in 2020, it’s more likely that an announcement would come in 2023. A release date next year also feels like the best we could hope for.

Valve Index 2 price

Once again there isn’t anything solid about how much a Valve Index 2 would cost but we can make some educated guesses. Given that the Valve Index was priced at $999 / £919 (about AU$1,425), we’d expect an improved headset to cost at least as much - though we wouldn’t say no to a price drop if possible.

We also know that the Oculus Quest 2 - a much cheaper VR options - is the most popular headset on Steam. It's current 41% share of the SteamVR market is one Valve likely wants to eat into, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it release a budget competitor.

This could mean that Valve will release two separate headsets – one targeting the high-end, one a more accessible all-in-one mobile device. But while rumors suggest that isn’t out of the question, we won’t know what it is planning until an official announcement.

Valve Index 2 features: rumors, leaks, and official information

Here is where we start to build a picture of what the Valve Index 2 and other Valve VR products could look like, based on patents and some SteamVR files that appear to reference a standalone VR headset.

Wireless capabilities

Patents filed in early 2021 show that the Valve Index 2 could be wireless, with wired capabilities becoming optional for some version of the headset. The patent shows three different headsets that explore different options between being wireless and standalone (like the Oculus Quest 2), or wirelessly connecting to a PC.

The patent also details new comfort options, such as new methods for distributing heat and weight more effectively for each design of VR headset.

With all patents we have to take the information with a pinch of salt – there’s no guarantee that it means Valve will produce a headset with these features – but it shows that the company is continuing to develop VR tech.

Evidence of an in-development model

The latest rumors come from VR reporter and YouTuber Brad Lynch, who was tipped off as to 'Deckard' codename in some public SteamVR files, which seems to refer to an in-development VR headset at Valve.

Lynch points VR fans towards "a Lighthouse driver file" that cites a "Deckard POC-A" device in a file released back in January, with POC likely referring to 'proof of concept' – and a "POC-C" model cited in June documentation instead, suggesting Valve has been working on refined iterations of its device over the past six months, and ensuring SteamVR stays up to date with supporting it.

There are other tidbits to dive into in Lynch's video, including a mysterious 'Prism' function and a VR Link file that points to a Wi-Fi 6 connection for a wireless headset – alongside VR headset patents we reported on back in March.

Valve Index 2: what we want to see

While the Valve Index is a fantastic VR headset, it’s by no means perfect. Here are a few areas we’d like to see improved in a Valve Index 2.

Better game selection – straight from Valve’s teams

While this isn’t a direct issue with the last Valve Index headset, games are nonetheless an important factor for all gaming hardware. There are some fantastic VR games out there like Valve’s own Half-Life: Alyx, but a platform can’t be built on just a couple of titles.

If Valve wants to commit to VR we don’t just want to see a brilliant device, but we want them to make more games to play on it. Be that a Half-Life: Alyx sequel, a VR adaptation of another IP like Portal, or a completely new IP from the studio. The quality of the games will also be important, but a bit more quantity wouldn’t go amiss.

In an interview with TechRadar, the Half-life Alyx director Robin Walker mentioned wanting to make an XCOM VR game - so maybe we could have something like that to look forward to?

Hand tracking

Facebook recently unveiled its plans for a controller-less AR experience using hand tracking, and we’d like to see similar tech come to VR too. The hand tracking looks like it was ripped straight out of a sci-fi world and we’d love to see something like it be introduced in every VR headset going forward.

While it’s more likely that we’d see it in future Oculus devices - such as the rumored Oculus Quest 3 - Valve could be developing their own version of the tech for a future headset.

No more base stations

Base stations are devices that help the Valve Index, and other headsets like the HTC Vive, track users, their headset and their controller in a room-scale virtual environment. While they made the headset perform well in our review, we hope that a Valve Index 2 would drop them. 

Base stations aren’t the worst things in the world, but if you ever want to change up your room - or just dust it and you nudge one of the sensors - you have to go through the whole recalibration process again. It’s tedious and we could do without having to put up with them, especially as other headsets like the Oculus Rift S do fine without base stations thanks to inside-out tracking.

Higher-resolution screen

The Valve Index used two screens that have 1440 x 1600 pixels - one for each eye. While the image is ultra-crisp, better screens wouldn’t be unexpected, especially given that the Apple VR headset is rumored to be using dual-8K screens - that’s 7680 x 4320 pixels.

We feel like 8K is a bit overkill, but there’s a nice sweet spot between that and what we currently have which would be nice to see on a Valve Index 2.

Customizable headset size

All people are made differently, so a one size fits all headset is difficult to pull off and make comfortable. With that in mind, we’d like Valve to go deeper into the ergonomics of a Valve Index 2, adding new straps and features to make it more customizable. This would let everyone tweak the headset to their needs, and make sure more VR experiences can be enjoyed.

More Haptics

The Valve Index’s controllers included some haptic feedback and clever designs to make the virtual world feel more realistic. Though while it’s good we’d like to see it go further in the future. 

Apple has patented haptic socks that could be compatible with its VR and AR devices so we know that some companies are already thinking about this stuff. A few extra haptic peripherals for the Valve Index 2 could be an awesome way to dial the realism of VR up to 11.

• How do these VR headsets compare? Valve Index vs HTC Vive Pro vs Oculus Rift S

PSVR 2 has set the bar high for console-based VR. The headset boasts superb image quality, a blissfully simple setup, and, since launch, a respectable (if modest) lineup of games and ports.

I had glowing praise for PSVR 2 in my review. And I maintain that it’s an excellent companion for your PS5. But despite everything Sony’s got right with its second headset, some crucial business decisions, I feel, will prevent it from reaching its fullest potential.

The sad fact is that PSVR 2, and the very best PSVR 2 games, remain largely out of reach for the average buyer. There are a few reasons for that: a lack of exclusives and a frankly baffling omission of PS Plus content. But chiefly, the headset itself is simply too expensive, even compared to its PC and standalone peers.

PriceStation VR

If you want to buy a PSVR 2 headset, you’re looking at shelling out $549 / £529 / AU$879, and that’s just for the headset on its own. The special Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle will run you even more. But it’s perhaps the bundle you’ll want to opt for as PSVR 2, unlike the original PlayStation VR, doesn’t include a game.

That eye-watering price makes the PSVR 2 more expensive than the PS5. While the PSVR 2 is full of high-end tech, it’s never a good look when your peripheral is pricier than the only machine it works with.

Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, said the PSVR 2 has a “good chance” of outselling its predecessor. That’ll mean shipping over 5 million PSVR 2 units. With over 30 million PS5s in people’s homes, it’s not impossible.

However, with reportedly poor pre-order performance, and an observed lack of interest on social media, it does seem that at this early stage, PSVR 2 isn’t lighting the world on fire the same way its predecessor, or its competitors, has.

Feeling tethered

That’s a huge shame because the PSVR 2 could potentially become one of the best VR headsets. And, when it comes to console-based VR, it’s the only game in town – though, that comes with its positives and drawbacks.

PSVR 2 is uniquely positioned to set the standard for future console-based VR attempts. And in terms of providing a quality product, Sony has achieved exactly that. Both Horizon: Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7 provide uniquely brilliant VR experiences, a cut above the often ‘tech demo’ feel of the VR space.

On the flip side, those are the only PSVR 2 exclusives we currently have. And I hope in the years to come, PSVR 2’s library will bloom into one that rivals the Oculus Quest 2’s.

PSVR 2’s console dependence is as much of a hindrance as a boon. Its closest competitors, the Quest 2 and Pico 4, are standalone and compatible with PC. In both cases, you have more options for how and what you want to play. That, and you’re paying considerably less for both headsets.

The iron price

And so we circle back to PSVR 2’s price. While I think a price drop for PSVR 2 would be in Sony’s best interests if it wants to sell more units in the long run, I don’t see it happening. At least not for a couple of years. Especially when you see how firm Sony has been holding off on PS5 discounts.

But if the manufacturer is adamant about maintaining PSVR 2’s current retail price, it must start offering more than what we’re getting out of the box. Offering PSVR 2 games through PS Plus’s Game Catalog would be an excellent start.

Xbox Game Pass has been a huge success for Microsoft, offering a vast library of games playable from start to finish at the cost of a monthly subscription. It’s less focused on the concept of ‘try before you buy’, and more ‘try instead of buy’. The purpose of Game Pass doesn’t appear to sell more games, but rather to create a catalog to hold you on the console, subscribing each month to have access to more titles to dive into for a few hours at a time.

PS Plus’s 2022 revamp is achieving the same, and is only getting better as its library grows. A fantastic way to bolster that growth would be to add PSVR 2 games to the Game Catalog, or at least as part of the service’s monthly free games program. If I knew I was getting one or two PSVR 2 games a month at no extra cost, I’d be inclined to engage with the headset more.

I’m confident that more exclusives and services will come to PSVR 2 in time. And seeing the state of PSVR 2 a year or two from now will be interesting. But to be genuinely competitive, it’ll either need a price drop or a seriously enticing value proposition to coerce the player base. As it stands, both scenarios seem unlikely.

• The Resident Evil 4 remake makes me love the DualSense Edge

It looks like Sony is confident that PSVR 2 could outsell its predecessor, but things will need to change in order to make that happen.

Sony's chief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, was optimistic on the topic of PSVR 2 outselling the first PlayStation VR headset when speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference just last week (thanks, VGC).

"We are very happy to launch VR2 on PS5," Totoki said at the event. "VR1, we sold over five million units, and I think we have a good chance to exceed that amount with PlayStation VR2."

And while the PS5 headset is undoubtedly excellent, boasting superb image quality and welcome features like eye-tracking support, it doesn't seem to be a hit with console owners out of the gate.

PSVR 2's pre-order performance was reportedly quite poor, and the high cost of $549 / £529 / AU$879 certainly won't do it any favors in the immediate future. It's an impressively high-end headset, for sure, but the fact it's more expensive than the PS5 itself is simply bad optics for the average consumer.

Does PSVR 2 stand a chance?

I personally want nothing but success for PSVR 2. I've loved my time with the headset so far, and playing some of the best PSVR 2 games has been joyous. Between Horizon: Call of the Mountain's immersive climbing and Gran Turismo 7's breathtaking driving experience, the act of playing games in PSVR 2 is simply fantastic.

And I know it's early days; the headset isn't even a month old at the time of writing. But at present, PSVR 2 is not well-positioned to even scratch the surface of its predecessor's impressive sales record.

Sony is going to need more exclusives than just Horizon if it really wants to start shifting PSVR 2 units. But beyond that, the VR headset is kneecapped in a number of ways. It's not backwards compatible with original PSVR games, for a start, meaning you'll still have to dig out your old headset if you fancy dipping back into Resident Evil 7 or Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. As it stands, we're relying on developers to port their PSVR games to the new headset, and that's not a guarantee.

I'd also love to see Sony bring PSVR 2 games to its PS Plus game catalog. If players are able to download some VR exclusive games at the cost of a monthly subscription, that'll ease the burden on their wallets, especially after dropping a mountain of cash on an expensive headset.

Again, I want to stress that at such an early stage, we simply don't know how PSVR 2 will perform in the long run. But there are things Sony can do now, such as the above suggestions, to make PSVR 2 that much more palatable. A price drop would help, too, but I can't see that happening for at least a couple more years.

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PSVR 2 controllers, officially known as the Sense controllers, are the next generation of input devices for Sony's successor VR headset. These redesigned bespoke remotes are much different from the recycled PlayStation Move wands which shipped with the first edition of the tech. 

We've now gone hands-on with the PSVR 2 controllers in our full PSVR 2 review and can tell you from experience that the Sense controllers are the real deal. They're certainly a step up in terms of how they feel and perform, but much like with the DualSense Wireless controller, don't have quite the greatest battery life we've seen to date.

It's worth stating that PSVR 2 and the Sense controllers will effectively replace everything from the original PlayStation VR as there's no backward compatibility here. If you're an existing PS5 owner and you want to experience one of the best VR headsets then you're in the right place. Here's everything we know about the controllers from price to specs and more. 

PSVR 2 controllers: cut to the chase

• What is it? The next version of PlayStation VR's controllers 
• When is it out? February 22, 2023
• How much will it cost? $49 / £39 (around AU$70) - but a set is provided 

PSVR 2 controllers price and release date

After much speculation, Sony has finally confirmed PSVR 2's price. According to PlayStation Blog, it'll cost $549.99 / €599.99 / £529.99 for a standard bundle, which comes with PS VR2 Sense controllers and stereo headphones. We now also know that an additional pair of Sense controllers will cost you $49 / £39 (around AU$70). Both the headset itself and the controllers (which are included in the overall package) will launch on February 22. If you're looking to pick the headset or accessories up, we've put together a guide on where to buy the PSVR 2.

PSVR 2 controllers design

The PSVR 2 Sense controllers look considerably different to the PlayStation Move controllers. Sense controllers are black and have an orb-like shape, which Sony claims makes them feel more natural to hold, offering a "high degree of freedom". Sony also claims that this design means there's no constraints with how players move their hands, allowing developers to create "unique gameplay experiences".

Furthermore, Sony said that the controllers are built with ergonomics in mind, taking into account varying hand sizes and insights from previous PlayStation controllers. This means that the sense controllers should feel well-balanced and comfortable to hold.

From the images we've seen, each PSVR 2 controller has two buttons (the left has Triangle and Square and the right has Circle and X), an analog stick, a 'grip' button (L1 or R1, can be used to pick up in-game objects) and either an Options button (right controller) or Share button (left controller). Each controller has an adaptive trigger, finger-touch detector (more on that below) and what appears to be a charging port on the bottom. A wrist strap is also visible in some images.

PSVR 2 controllers features

The PSVR 2 sense controllers look to improve immersion with significant new features, similar to what we've seen in the DualSense, which were absent from the PS Move controllers.  Thanks to the adaptive triggers, we can expect Sense to add palatable tension when pressed. So, for example, when drawing a bow in a game, you should feel the string's tension in the trigger, feeling more realistic. 

Another feature the PSVR 2 sense controllers take from the DualSense is haptic feedback. Haptic feedback uses touch to communicate with players, allowing you to feel sensations from a game through the controller itself. So, for example, in Astro's Playroom for PS5, when you're walking through sand, you can feel the texture difference reverberating through the DualSense controller.

The PSVR 2 controllers also have finger touch detection, allowing the controllers to detect where your fingers are without having to press a button. “This enables you to make more natural gestures with your hands during gameplay,” says Hideaki Nishino, head of platform planning and management at PlayStation. 

These controllers will be tracked by the new PSVR 2 headset, achieved through a tracking ring across the bottom of the controller.

PSVR 2 controller specs

At CES 2022, Sony revealed the official specs of the PlayStation VR 2 Sense controller. We'll have to wait until we go hands on determine things like battery life, but here's what you can expect. 

• PSVR 2 games: what we expect to play on PlayStation VR 2

I’m hurtling full-speed down the long Trial Mountain Circuit straight in the driver’s seat of my souped-up Honda S660. The dazzling motion-blurred lights of the iconic tunnel seared into my vision, I nearly forget to brake before the banked incline. I come harrowingly close to smashing into the barrier, embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of AI drivers.

I’ve driven this turn for what feels like hundreds of times in Gran Turismo 7 – Trial Mountain is a top-tier track, and one I race whenever new events populate the World Circuit mode. But this week, I raced it for the first time in PSVR 2, and it was as thrilling as it was utterly terrifying.

With well over a hundred hours in the PS5 racing sim, I thought I’d seen pretty much everything Gran Turismo 7 had to offer. But the new (and entirely free) PSVR 2 update has breathed new life into the game for me. And now that I’ve been sitting, almost literally, behind the driver’s seat, I’m plenty eager to strap back in for one of the best VR experiences I’ve ever had. 

Start your engines

When Sony announced PSVR 2 support for Gran Turismo 7, I was relieved to learn that the full game would be playable with Sony’s new VR headset. The previous entry, Gran Turismo Sport, only offered a handful of tracks and scenarios for play on the original PlayStation VR.

With Gran Turismo 7, developer Polyphony Digital has vastly improved the experience. All racing modes are available in VR, including all World Circuit content, License Center tests, and Time Trials. That alone makes GT7 one of the best PSVR 2 games. You can even play online if you can handle the embarrassment of barreling off the track on Monza’s brutal first corner in front of real players.

Don’t worry about GT7’s menus displaying in Cinematic Mode, though. That’s by design. Once you’re in a race, you’re placed behind the steering wheel. Car interiors are already expertly crafted, but I was still astonished at the sheer detail on offer viewing the inside of these cars with a PSVR 2. Dashboards, displays, even the seats themselves look realistic, and I imagine it’s especially effective if you’ve got a proper racing wheel setup.

That same high image quality is consistent with Gran Turismo 7’s tracks, too. It feels like there’s very little hit to overall resolution; the game almost completely avoids the dreary, soupy look that plagues many VR games. And that’s a massive relief, as the game’s pin-sharp image quality helps to reduce motion sickness. 

In the showroom

After the adrenaline rush of a few races in VR, I needed to take a quick break. Happily, Gran Turismo 7 has the perfect breather. If the VR races are the white-knuckle rollercoaster rides, then the VR Showroom is the cool, iced beverage to help you regain your bearings.

The VR Showroom, accessible from the menu’s Garage, lets you get up close and personal with the game’s vehicles. Again, Polyphony has managed to capture the photorealism of its cars in VR. That’s especially apparent as VR Showroom practically lets you press your nose up against them, absorbing the finer details that you can’t quite make out when sat a distance away from even the best gaming TVs.

You can even jump into your cars in the Showroom, and take a more relaxed view around the interior – a lovely feature, as your eyes will be glued to the road when racing.

The road ahead

VR or no, the show's stars are Gran Turismo 7’s tracks, and PSVR 2 can offer a daunting sense of scale here. Roads feel much wider when you’re sitting behind the wheel. It helps every circuit feel not only fresh but, in some instances, unrecognizable.

These are the same circuits, though; no compromises have been made here. But suddenly, that large climb you’ve mastered on Alsace Village now feels like a mountain. The infamous Laguna Seca corkscrew is more frightening than ever; the rise and sudden drop followed by a swift corner resembling a storm-stricken sea.

PSVR 2 also highlights Gran Turismo 7’s lighting. Rainy night time races are a real treat, particularly the numerous tunnels of Tokyo Expressway. Thanks to PSVR 2’s wide 110-degree field of view, you’ll actually witness these lights accurately whip past your peripheral vision, just as they would in real life.

My one complaint with Gran Turismo 7’s VR suite, is that it’s best appreciated in short bursts. After just a couple of races, all the twists and turns make me feel a little queasy. Like reading a book in the backseat on a long car journey, definitely take a break if you’re starting to feel the motion sickness getting to you. 

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When PSVR 2’s price was initially revealed, I couldn’t help but double-take. Not only is this headset more expensive than a PS5, there’s very little in the way of PSVR 2 exclusive games. Instead, we’ve got a launch lineup of PSVR and Quest 2 ports, along with the odd VR update for games like Gran Turismo 7 and No Man’s Sky.

If you’ve been big into VR in the past, then most of PSVR 2’s library, as it stands, is games you’ve played before. Many of which are indeed some of the best VR games, and benefit from the headset’s higher resolution and better performance, but where’s the showstopper that’ll help make that sky-high price just a little easier to stomach?

Thankfully it’s already here on PSVR 2, the headset’s one major launch exclusive is Horizon: Call of the Mountain. It’s the game Sony’s clearly placed the most faith in, offering a bundle of the headset and the game together. And that faith was well founded, as it’s hard to think of a more fun, immersive VR launch experience than this on PS5.

Running up that hill

Horizon: Call of the Mountain is a relatively simple title. A first-person, linear adventure game, you’re placed in the shoes of new protagonist Ryas. You might balk at the idea of not playing as Aloy in a Horizon game, but I quickly warmed to the hero.

Ultimately, the protagonist and supporting characters in Horizon: Call of the Mountain matter little. The razor-thin story is the game’s weakest part. Developers Guerrilla Games and Firesprite seem more concerned with providing an immersive VR experience first and foremost.

And this is where Call of the Mountain had me instantly hooked. As I step onto a ruined dock after narrowly surviving a (admittedly terrifying) Snapmaw attack, I have to climb to a higher point to get my bearings and escape the merciless machines below.

It’s this climb where Horizon: Call of the Mountain shows you what PSVR 2’s Sense controllers can do. Moving your arms in real time, squeezing the triggers to dig Ryas’s fingers into the side of a cliff face, it all feels natural, accurate, and immensely gratifying. 

I’d say it’s effortless, but you’re also giving your arms a real workout; particularly with Call of the Mountain's  longer, trickier climbs. And as someone deathly afraid of heights, too often did I make the mistake of looking down and being met with a mortifying 300-meter drop. 

Drink it all in

I appreciate, too, just how well-paced Horizon: Call of the Mountain is. After a major climbing or combat segment, you’ll often have time to rest in a more open area where you can explore and take part in fun activities and distractions. You can look around for hidden targets to shoot, but I stumbled across even more interesting examples. 

One was a selection of working musical instruments like drums, maracas, and even a set of pan pipes. In another instance, I found a blank wall with a conveniently placed assortment of paintbrushes. I always love little pace breakers like this in VR; they allowed me to relax for a few minutes while showing how creative devs can be with the tech.

This level of interactivity ties into Call of the Mountain’s brilliant difficulty curve, too. As you progress further into the game, the time you can spend smelling the roses decreases. Climbing and combat segments start appearing closer together; the more I play, the more thrilling the game becomes.

While climbing in Call of the Mountain becomes a chill endeavor, combat is anything but. While encounters can feel scripted – you’ll rarely square off against more than two or three enemies at a time – most feel memorable because of it. Largely, it’s just you, a machine or two, and how well you can aim.

Reaching behind my back to pull an arrow from my quiver, then hurriedly knocking it and aiming for that sweet weak spot constantly felt intense and quite challenging. Keeping the flowchart of readying an arrow, aiming, dodging, firing, looking for resources, rinse and repeat, all becomes much tougher when facing some of Call of the Mountain’s more intimidating boss encounters. And being right there in VR perspective helps ground you in the world, which is often quite terrifying. 

A bright future?

Horizon: Call of the Mountain doesn’t quite dethrone Half-Life: Alyx as the definitive VR experience. But as the flagship title for PSVR 2, it sells the headset.

VR, at its best, should be a deeply thrilling and immersive experience. And Call of the Mountain checks all the right boxes here. A straightforward yet involving gameplay loop helps keep the game feeling fresh throughout its runtime, and I can only hope Sony has similar plans for its other series in VR. All I’m saying here is that I’d love a Sly Cooper VR stealth game.

Ultimately, Horizon: Call of the Mountain is a brilliant start for PSVR 2. And it managed to show me just how powerful this headset is, far better than any PSVR or Quest 2 port did. If this is just the beginning of Sony’s ambitions for its new headset, then the future of PSVR 2 could be very promising indeed. 

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time with PSVR 2, thanks to new games such as Horizon: Call of the Mountain and some stellar ports, such as Kayak VR and Tetris Effect. Free VR updates for existing titles on launch day for Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village add a delicious layer of icing on the cake, too.

Having great games is one thing, but even many of the best VR headsets fail to make them user-friendly or foolproof, either through design or necessity. Excellent headsets like Valve Index require the setup of additional cameras to work properly, which can strictly define your play space; a problem if you don’t have much room to begin with. Similarly, the original PlayStation VR was a pain to set up, with several wires and an adapter box needed to function.

My favorite thing about PSVR 2 is that it sidesteps these frustrations entirely. And while an expensive piece of kit, its simple setup helps it to feel like a convenient peripheral for your PS5, rather than a burden that requires a heavy helping of real estate.

No fuss

Unlike its cumbersome predecessor, PSVR 2’s setup is blissfully simple. It’s one USB-C cable into your PS5 and you’re golden. No extra boxes or adapters, no delicately placing cameras just right like they’re the safety flags in a tight game of Minesweeper. 

Some VR headsets have gone a step better by being entirely wireless, and that kind of convenience can’t be beaten. Headsets like Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4 don’t require connection to another PC or console. The PSVR 2 does require you to hook it up to your PS5, but the single wire setup is a damn sight better than what we had to deal with on PS4 with Sony’s first foray into VR.

Sony has done a great job with the initial PSVR 2 setup process, too, as it keeps first-time VR users in mind. The setup walks you through concepts like defining a play area and how to properly affix the headset to your head for maximum comfort and immersion.

On top of that, PSVR 2’s setup phase introduces users to the passthrough camera function, which enables a view of your surroundings without needing to take the headset off. This is brilliant for locating the device’s bespoke Sense controllers and making final checks to your play space without having to go through the trouble of removing the headset and risk upsetting your sweet spot.

Lastly comes a feature that you don’t see on many contemporary VR headsets:eye tracking. The PSVR 2 setup does an excellent job of introducing the concept, and walking you through a simple calibration process where you direct a pointer with your eyes, training the headset to your movements. It works amazingly well, and enhances games like Rez Infinite where you can target and lock onto enemies with your eyes.

Simplicity creates longevity

The PSVR 2’s simplicity might not seem like a big deal, but it’s the headset’s ease that will keep me coming back to it time and again. I think about how the convenience of the Nintendo Switch’s portability makes it very easy just to pick up and play for a bite-sized session. You take it out of the dock and you’re good to go. There’s an incentive to play there, knowing I’ll be loading into one of the best Nintendo Switch games in a matter of seconds.

That same ease of access is there with PSVR 2, albeit in a slightly different form. Knowing I can plug the thing in as easily as I would a wired controller encourages me to hop in for a quick VR session without worrying about extra wires and the like.

The PSVR 2 quick menu feeds into this, too, and is accessible via the PS5 dashboard. With this, you can very quickly adjust your play area if you fancy something a bit more active like Horizon’s frantic rock clambering. Or, adjust headset calibration if you feel something is slightly out of alignment.

It’s nice to have a console-based VR headset that puts convenience first. As PSVR 2’s really the only headset in town on that front at present, it sets a high standard for others wanting to bring similar hardware beyond the realm of PC. Now, as VR tech improves and we start seeing more frequent and affordable headsets, I hope creators of these devices will take a leaf from Sony’s book on PSVR 2.

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