Pavel’s Gulag Getout: Climb Penguin! promises to mix dark humor with physics-based precision platforming, and it’s out today on Quest.
Announced last August, Pavel’s Gulag Getout is a narrative-driven climbing game co-developed by VR content creator Brandon ‘ChubbierSnail‘ Smith and Mindway. Inspired by Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, you play as Pavel Pinguinovich, a penguin kidnapped and imprisoned in a “bleakly comedic Soviet story” as he tries to return to his family. Here’s the new trailer.
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Described as an “open-ended” strategic climber, Pavel must climb his way to freedom, though each tool he uses for his escape has its own physics to contend with. The game involves overcoming slippery ice, environmental disasters and “treacherous cliffs” during your ascent, using a hammer and sickle to climb this icy wall.
Pavel’s Gulag Getout: Climb Penguin! arrives today on the Meta Quest platform.
It’s hard to play Symphoni without immediately drawing comparisons with Maestro, another VR rhythm game that involves conducting classical music with just your hands as an option, and executed with more panache. Because while the latter immerses you as a conductor in the orchestra pit with other musicians, techToy Studio’s game opts for a more stripped down and abstract approach.
That vision is intentional, given that studio founder Ingram Mao wanted to recreate the synesthesia he experienced at a symphony concert a couple of years ago. The minimalist, abstract style works very well in the genre, going from Rez Infinite to Beat Saber. After all, when you’re tasked with hitting flying notes from different directions at the right time, readability is key.
The Facts
What is it?: An ethereal VR rhythm game focused on classical music Platforms: Quest (played on Quest 3) Release Date: Out now Developer: techToy Studio Price: $19.99
Symphoni’s UI is essentially a giant ring in front of your vision. Colored notes in the shape of arcs come from the edges, and you have to hit these notes with your hands or controllers just as they reach the ring’s circumference. These notes are also color-coded, initially blue on the left, orange on the right, but will also throw you off by occasionally switching them around. Some ethereal-looking notes mean that you’re supposed to hit it with both hands.
There’s also a variation of holding notes that involves aiming at a colored circle, sometimes holding your position or following it along a path, sometimes overlapping with another circle while other notes continue approaching for your free hand. But that pulsing sensation of holding a note is also what makes it feel like you’re a magician casting a spell and not merely conducting Tchaikovsky.
Another difference from Maestro is that Symphoni, at least from its 16 tracks available at launch, is focused purely on classical music, so you might be disappointed if you were expecting a wider variety of orchestral music. They’re nonetheless recognizable, even if you might not necessarily know the tracks by name. That includes Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights, used as the theme for the UK version of The Apprentice, to Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, also famously used in Kingdom Hearts.
There’s an attempt to give the game a sense of progression by grouping the tracks into specific themes and moods, such as ‘Dark Magic’ or ‘Radiant Charm’, rather than letting you pick and choose from the lot immediately. The better you score in a track, the quicker you can unlock the next set.
Otherwise, there’s less incentive to keep playing besides mastery, or ticking off its achievements. The minimalist presentation doesn’t make it that appealing, while the ability to unlock new wands isn’t that enticing. If anything, playing with hand-tracking is off-putting as you’re not holding the wand but just having it float in front of your dominant hand, making it more of a distraction.
Comfort
Symphoni can be played seated or standing, and the height of the display is adjusted just by holding the Quest home button. That can be done with just your right hand by pinching your thumb with your index finger.
It can also be played in either mixed reality or VR, and the latter is recommended if you want to feel more immersed in the colors of Synesthesia. You’ll only be facing the ring in front of you when playing, but the ring size, height, and depth can be adjusted.
Playing with hand-tracking fortunately does work very well as intended, at least when playing through easy and normal difficulty, which are also rated on a ten-point scale. Conscious that even the Quest’s hand-tracking tech has its limitations, Symphoni recommends using controllers for any track with a rating of 7 and above.
While failing a track is always deflating, I feel that Symphoni’s audiovisual feedback could be better, where the music dims like it’s being submerged underwater when you’re doing badly. Perhaps it’s that ethereal effect it’s going for that means notes don’t have the same tactility as they do in, say, Beat Saber. It took me a while to realize my absurdly small health bar is displayed just under the top rim of the ring.
With more content promised soon after launch, Symphoni is a welcome addition to the VR rhythm library for those with more classical taste than contemporary, even if Maestro has already long beaten it to the punch in hand-tracking. Yet in its abstract barebones presentation, it could do with making the experience feel just a touch more magical.
Meta’s Unity and Unreal “OpenXR” integrations block other PC VR headsets, and developers aren’t happy about it.
OpenXR is the open standard API for AR/VR/MR supported by the vast majority of the industry. The ideal of OpenXR is that developers can build apps that run on any headset, without needing to use vendor-specific APIs for different hardware. But the reality, today at least, is more complicated.
Pretty much every headset and runtime (except Apple Vision Pro and PlayStation VR2 on PS5) supports OpenXR, sure. But companies like Meta and Pico still also offer their own integrations for Unity and Unreal.
These vendor-specific engine integrations promise the best of both worlds: support for both OpenXR and for unique features not yet present in OpenXR. But in Meta’s case, on PC, this promise isn’t kept. Despite being described as “OpenXR”, on PC Meta’s Unity and Unreal engines currently only work for Quest Link and Rift headsets, not any other PC VR headset. UploadVR has tested and confirmed this to be the case.
This means that any developer using these integrations, which Meta recommends and promotes, needs to implement a separate subsystem to support other PC VR headsets, the problem that OpenXR was supposed to solve. This is why many PC VR games still use SteamVR’s legacy OpenVR API, rather than any OpenXR implementation.
Software developer Matthieu Bucchianeri has been raising this issue in public for months now. Bucchianeri has worked on the PS4 and original PlayStation VR at Sony, Falcon 9 and Dragon at SpaceX, and HoloLens and Windows MR at Microsoft, where he currently works on Xbox. At Microsoft he contributed to OpenXR, and in his spare time he developed OpenXR Toolkit and VDXR, Virtual Desktop’s OpenXR runtime.
OpenXR Toolkit was discontinued in 2024, as Bucchianeri encourages developers to integrate its features inside their apps. Now, he has added a notice to the top of the OpenXR Toolkit website railing against Meta’s Unity and Unreal integrations, as well as a longer dedicated page further explaining the issue.
“Since 2024, the OpenXR ecosystem on PC is in bad health,” he writes:
“This is not an accident: this concern was reported to Meta early in 2024 via official means in the Khronos group. Meta acknowledged purposedly blocking other platforms from running OpenXR content at that time.
This is not a technical limitation: some runtimes (VDXR) have made great efforts to implement “compatibility” modes. There are counter-measures to unblock the content on any platform, but they are very expensive to investigate and implement.
This is not a short-coming of OpenXR: as proven with many applications using OVRPlugin with counter-measures enabled, these applications can run on a conformant OpenXR implementation.”
Frustrated by Khronos, the industry consortium behind OpenXR (as well as other APIs like Vulkan and OpenGL), not taking action against Meta, Bucchianeri has now had his name removed from the OpenXR specification and public documents, after making a public request on the OpenXR GitHub.
After Bucchianeri’s request to have his name removed, Khronos released a public statement about the issue. In the statement, the group says that it “recognizes the challenges developers have faced with legacy APIs and platform-specific behaviors that limit XR application portability”, and is “dedicated to evolving OpenXR by incorporating vendor extensions into the core specification”.
It links to documentation for the built-in cross-platform OpenXR support of Unity, Unreal, and Godot, and recommends developers use those. Notably, the only mention of Meta in the statement is in reference to the “community discourse”.
This statement wasn’t enough for Bucchianeri though, who feels that Meta’s integrations, and Khronos’ lack of action against Meta, have made the OpenXR logo and trademark “no longer carry the same significance as before”:
“Unfortunately, since 2024, Khronos has refused to take actions to stop Meta’s OVRPlugin destructive initiative towards the PCVR ecosystem. By not taking any actions to resolve the issues created by Meta’s OVRPlugin, Khronos is sending the message that OpenXR is no longer a universal solution for cross-vendor and cross-platform support, that passing the CTS and being conformant mean nothing (conformant runtimes are precluded from running OpenXR apps), and that the OpenXR logo and trademark no longer carry the same significance as before in the PCVR ecosystem.
Meta has in the past signalled its intention to eventually move away from its own Unity integration towards supporting Unity’s built-in OpenXR subsystem. This wouldn’t preclude the company from adding new features. It already implements them as OpenXR extensions for apps using their own engine, and could deliver them on Unity as OpenXR extensions too. However, despite this, the company has recently continued to add some new features exclusively to its own integration package. And if developers only use that, their apps simply won’t work on other PC VR headsets.
We’ve reached out to Meta for any statement or context they can provide about this, and will update our article if we get a response.
VR fantasy RPG Sword Reverie launches today on Quest in early access.
Developed by Isekai Entertainment, Sword Reverie is an anime-inspired adventure that sees you exploring a fantasy world. With a war between humans and elementals imminent, you play as a Hero summoned by the Guardian Magnus to end this hostile army’s threat. Accompanying you across this solo campaign is Stella, the daughter of the deceased last Guardian.
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Sword Reverie’s combat sees you wield a magic sword that can attune to five different elements, activating skills like a close range area of effect attack at the cost of mana. New abilities can be unlocked as you advance, while more powerful weapons can be crafted.
It’s worth noting that while Sword Reverie remains in early access on both Quest and Steam, the PC VR version is also receiving an update today. We’ll update this article once we learn more. When the full release becomes available, Isekai Entertainment previously informed UploadVR the game will feature a 3-4 hour single-player campaign and redesigned enemies.
It’s been a long journey for Sword Reverie, which had a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2020. Eventually entering early access on PC VR back in January 2022, development soon went quiet for two years after the initial launch and in February last year, the developers confirmed it wasn’t the financial success they hoped for.
Since then, the game appeared at PAX West 2024 last September, where the studio confirmed it was working on a Quest port in hopes of finding a new audience. Two weeks later, Isekai Entertainment released a major update on Steam that revamped player and enemy skills, introduced visual upgrades, and addressed various performance issues.
Sword Reverie is available today on Quest and Steam.
Animal Company, the free-to-play early access game on Quest, nabbed the top spot for Quest’s highest-earning game this week, overtaking long-time viral hit Gorilla Tag in the weekly charts. Now, developer Wooster Games tells Road to VR it’s not only already profitable, but Animal Company has surpassed one million monthly active users (MAU), cementing its status as VR’s next big F2P game.
Launched in early access on Quest last July, Animal Company takes inspiration from Gorilla Tag by including its arm-powered locomotion mechanic and low-poly animal avatars, but it switches things up by essentially replicating the game loop of Lethal Company—which is where the name comes from.
Like Lethal Company, it’s full of weird places to explore and loot to collect, which can be brought back to base for profit. Monsters and traps are everywhere though, with each creature presenting unique challenges, requiring teams to employ stealth, strategy, and cooperation to avoid or overcome them.
“We took inspiration from viral multiplayer hits like Gorilla Tag, Yeeps, and Among Us VR, and during a hackathon, we prototyped VR experiences influenced by the trends we saw in games like Lethal Company and Content Warning,” Wooster Games tells Road to VR.
And it appears to be resonating with Quest owners, as the game took the number one spot as Quest’s top-earning title this week, passing Another Axiom’s Gorilla Tag. As VR’s most successful game to day, Gorilla Tag has been powerhouse ever since it launched on the main Quest store in late 2022, posting over $100 million in gross revenue last summer.
Image captured by Road to VR
Granted, Meta only calculates the chart on a week-by-week basis, so while Animal Company clearly hasn’t generated more lifetime revenue than Gorilla Tag—that would be a tall order for any game—it’s a sign of things to come.
Like many F2P games, Animal Company’s revenue comes entirely from in-app purchases, which not only includes specific cosmetic items, but also the game’s in-world currency, Company Coins, which can be used to buy a host of seasonal cosmetics.
While the studio isn’t sharing specific revenue numbers right now, Wooster says Animal Company’s recent success has left the studio in “a strong and healthy position,” highlighting its recent updates—Tech Tree, Mining, and the Planetarium—which have all driven “significant growth in engagement and activity.”
“Since launching monetization in September, our revenue has grown consistently month-over-month, more than doubling since December,” the studio tells Road to VR. “The real standout stat, though, is our player base—Animal Company now has over 1 million MAU, a 4x increase since December.”
Wooster says the game’s rapid success came down to a few key factors, including the holiday season bringing more players online, new Quest 3 owners, and a Winter update, which brought new content, such as a new map, items, and exclusive holiday cosmetics. And even coming off the holiday boost, things still seem to be humming over at Animal Company. Wooster says that February, typically a quieter month, saw both a rise in usage and revenue.
Those technical factors would help any game succeed, surely, although one of the biggest boons undoubtedly comes down to how Animal Company co-opts Gorilla Tag’s movement mechanics—something players already implicitly understand, albeit with a fresh and interesting gameplay loop that centers around social, community-driven gameplay.
And like Gorilla Tag—you really can’t talk about Animal Company without mentioning Gorilla Tag—social media influence has been a big part of the game’s rise in popularity, with the studio citing TikTok and YouTube as “a huge driver of Animal Company’s reach.”
“On TikTok alone, the #AnimalCompany hashtags have racked up over 410 million views, with some videos hitting 24M+ views. The game was designed to create ‘viral moments’ that players naturally want to share, and its sandbox-style gameplay—packed with unique items, weapons, and cosmetics—gives creators endless ways to make engaging content.”
To boot, besides a series of small ad tests, which were under $1,000, Wooster says it’s spent substantially nothing on paid marketing, focusing instead on strong relationships with creators, from up-and-coming talent to established names like Jmancurly.
“We’ve found that a game offering content that translates into views is far more valuable to creators than direct sponsorships. Paid promotions often feel inauthentic and don’t drive the same sustained engagement as organic success.”
So far, it’s been less about paid adverts, and more about actively courting its community and the cadre of influencers creating Animal Company content. The studio recently released an invite-only program, called ‘The Drip Department’, which that gives members early access to updates, exclusive content, and more to help them grow their channels alongside the game.
“To validate our ideas, we launched our own TikTok and YouTube channels to test whether we could generate viral moments ourselves. The response was immediate—before launch, we gathered our first 100 community members through social media. A week after launch, that number hit 1,000. Six months later, we had over 100,000 members, and today, Animal Company has organically amassed nearly 500 million views.”
More importantly though, Animal Company is doing all of this at the best possible time, it seems. Last month, Meta confirmed a growing demographic shift amid last year’s release of Quest 3S, which has not only seen a rise in F2P content on the Quest platform, but also revenue generated from in-app purchases.
“With more players engaging in F2P experiences and in-game economies, Animal Company’s growth aligns with this shift,” the studio says. “The success of viral, player-driven games like ours shows that the Quest platform is entering a new era—where social engagement and creator-driven content are just as crucial as traditional game marketing. We expect this trend to continue shaping the future of VR.”
Whether Animal Company will ever surpass Gorilla Tag in long-term popularity remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that its explosive growth signals a new era for VR multiplayer games—one where social-driven, F2P experiences dominate the landscape. With over a million active players and a fast-growing community, Animal Company has already proven it’s more than a passing trend. The question now isn’t if it will last, but just how far it can go.
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Some more data for context: Gorilla Tag launched on Quest’s main store in late 2022 after driving hype on SideQuest and the now-defunct App Lab for nearly a year. The game exploded in growth in late 2023 when the studio announced it had topped 2.3 million MAU, attracting over 700,000 users on Christmas Day that year.
Last June, the Gorilla Tag team updated that figure, saying the game had then topped 10 million lifetime users, one million daily active users (DAU), and three million MAU. At the time of this writing, Animal Company has garnered over 60,000 user reviews on the Horizon Store, while Gorilla Tag sits above 140,000.
EXOcars takes the off-road racing game to PlayStation VR2 today.
Developed by Xocus, EXOcars is a physics-based racing simulator that puts players behind the wheel of a buggy, racing on tarmac tracks and navigating across off-roading expeditions. The experience previously launched on Steam and Quest, though the studio encountered repeat delays over certification issues before reaching PlayStation VR2.
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The PS VR2 launch will arrive with post-launch updates previously released on Steam and Quest. That includes a Training Mode that allows players to test their builds before attempting competitive races. For those wanting to try out their curated cars under pressure, EXOcars now includes enemy bots to race against in both standard races and in combat mode.
However, the game won’t launch with a multiplayer mode on PS VR2 due to requested fixes by Sony’s QA, though Xocus confirmed this feature will arrive by the end of March. In a press release for the launch, the studio also reaffirmed that EXOcars will be cross-platform, so anyone on Quest and Steam can play with PS VR2 players when multiplayer goes live.
We enjoyed EXOcars in our review last year, saying, “[EXOcars] provides a visceral, arcade-y, physics-based experience full of the thrilling moments we’re all looking for when we step behind the virtual wheel of a race car.”
Toast Interactive announced their VR games Max Mustard (2024) and Richie’s Plank Experience (2017) have been removed from the Horizon Store for Quest. For now, it’s unclear precisely why, however the veteran indie studio says the move has left them feeling “betrayed and powerless.”
“Unfortunately, Meta has unilaterally chosen to remove Toast and its two games, Max Mustard and Richies Plank Experience from their store,” the studio says in a post on X. “We feel betrayed and powerless on many levels.”
While temporary delisting can happen by mistake, this doesn’t appear to be the case. There is a reason, however Toast Interactive says it can’t talk about it yet, separately noting the studio “look[s] forward to sharing our story with you all in the near future.”
In a Reddit post, Toast Interactive says the reason will “blow everyone’s minds. But I’ve been firmly advised not to.”
On both the Max Mustard and Richie’s Plank Experience Horizon Store pages, the reason listed is the apps are “out of compliance with Meta’s Platform Abuse Policy,” although there’s no information on specifically how it fell out of compliance.
Image captured by Road to VR
The company’s platform abuse policy covers a wide range of offenses, such as pirated content, security exploits, or deception of any kind, however it also covers more nebulous areas that are likely left up to interpretation.
Not following developer documentation, or “any other provisions of the Meta Platforms Technologies Terms of Service or Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences, or any other Meta Platforms Technologies terms, policies or guidelines” can also get an app removed with or without warning, Meta says in its Platform Abuse Policy.
Notably, both games are still available across their other supported platforms, with Max Mustard supporting PC VR, PSVR 2 and Pico headsets, and Richie’s Plank Experience supporting PC VR, the original PSVR and Pico headsets.
This follows a first layoff round in November 2024, which affected 10 employees. At the time, the studio maintained that while Max Mustard was “one of the highest-rated games on both PSVR 2 and Meta Quest, it sadly can’t sustain a large indie team.”
This story is breaking: we’ve reached out to Meta for more clarity on the situation and will report back when/if we receive a response, or as more information arises.
Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard have been delisted on Quest under the “Platform Abuse Policy”, with the developer calling this a “unilateral” decision from Meta.
Yesterday we noticed that both of Toast Interactive’s games were no longer available to buy on Quest’s Horizon Store. The store pages still exist, but the games cannot be purchased, and a ‘This app is out of compliance with Meta’s Platform Abuse Policy” notice is visible at the top.
At first, we thought this might be a technical or administrative issue, perhaps the studio forgetting the Data Use Checkup, an oversight that has seen a good few games temporarily delisted in the past.
But now, Toast Interactive has made a public statement on its social media pages, saying that Meta “unilaterally” took the decision, and that it feels “betrayed and powerless on many levels”.
Here’s the full statement:
“Unfortunately, Meta has unilaterally chosen to remove Toast and its two games, Max Mustard and Richies Plank Experience from their store. We feel betrayed and powerless on many levels. We are sorry to all customers who missed out buying Richies Plank and Max Mustard on Meta Quest. We invite you to continue buying our games on Steam, Pico and PlayStation VR in the future. Please express your grievances about Meta’s removal of Toast’s games directly to Meta to help give a voice to the small game developers like us. That’s all we can say at this time, but look forward to sharing our story with you all in the near future. Thank you for your support.”
Meta’s Platform Abuse Policy covers infractions like employing malicious code, using copyrighted content, impersonation, fraud, platform restrictions manipulation, and general illegal activity.
In a reply on X to a comment suggesting the developer has “done something shady”, Toast Interactive stated it “can assure you we did not.”
Don’t blame you for thinking that given the link to the abuse page from our store page. But can assure you we did not.
The delisting of Toast Interactive’s two games from Quest follows last month’s news that the Australia-based studio had laid off the majority of its team and closed its office. Calling that a “heartbreaking decision,” Toast Interactive advised it would continue working on both games while highlighting issues with the Quest ecosystem that the studio claims affected its sales.
Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard remain available to purchase on PlayStation VR2, Pico, and Steam.
Inseye has “paused” Lumi, the Quest 2 & 3 eye tracking addon it planned to sell, to focus on bringing the technology to smart glasses instead.
Unlike camera-based eye tracking systems of the kind you’d see in headsets like Apple Vision Pro or PlayStation VR2, the $160 Lumi promised to use an array of simple and inexpensive photosensors to measure the intensity of the reflection of infrared light off your eye. Each part of your eye reflects infrared light with a slightly different intensity, and Inseye says its neural network uses the intensities reported by the photosensors to determine the exact position of your pupil at 1000Hz, while using five times less battery than cameras.
How Inseye’s technology works.
The startup announced the device back in June, and took $1 “refundable deposits” to get it for a discounted price of $100 whenever it eventually shipped.
But now, Inseye says it has “paused Inseye Lumi project for the time being”. The startup says it’s doing so because it’s shifting its focus to integrating its technology into smart glasses and AR glasses, rather than VR/MR headsets, and as a “startup with limited resources” it can’t do both – at least not at the same time.
The startup says it’s now “working closely with clients who are preparing to bring next-generation smart eyewear to the market”.
“Please know this doesn’t mean we’re giving up on VR. We remain convinced VR has massive potential, and we plan to revisit our VR projects when the time and resources are right,” Inseye told backers.
Inseye Lumi, now “paused”.
Inseye claims it will refund the $1 deposit of any backer who reaches out via email.
Meanwhile, in January a Japanese engineer said he’s making his own face & eye tracking addon for Quest 3, but significant concerns were raised about the project.
We may now know the resolution and display type of Samsung’s headset.
So far, Samsung has only officially said that its upcoming headset, which will be the debut of Google’s Android XR, will feature “state-of-the-art displays”. But the company hasn’t confirmed what kind, or what resolution.
Now, South Korean news outlet The Elec reports that Samsung will use Sony’s 1.35-inch 3552×3840 micro-OLED display, the same being used in Sony’s own SRH-S1 standalone headset.
Sony also supplied the micro-OLED displays for Apple Vision Pro, the first headset to feature high resolution micro-OLED displays. But that earlier display used by Apple is 1.4-inch, with a resolution of 3660×3200, lower resolution and slightly larger.
Sony’s new display also has a wider color gamut, at 96% DCI-P3 coverage, compared to 92% for the one in Apple Vision Pro.
And notably, the aspect ratio in the new display is taller. The display in Apple Vision Pro is unusually narrow vertically, leading to a noticeably narrow vertical field of view. The new Sony display means Samsung’s headset may not have the same issue.
Sony’s Vision Pro Micro-OLED
Sony’s New Micro-OLED
BOE’s Micro-OLED
Size
1.41″
1.35″
1.35″
Resolution
3660×3200
3552×3840
3552×3840
Raw Brightness (20% Persistence)
5000 nits (1000 nits)
5000 nits (1000 nits)
6000 nits (1200 nits)
Color Gamut (DCI-P3)
92%
96%
92%
Refresh Rate
100Hz
90Hz
90Hz
Headsets
Apple Vision Pro
Sony SRH-S1 Samsung Headset
Play For Dream MR MeganeX Superlight Immersed Visor Pimax Dream Air
Apple won’t be resting on its laurels though. The company reportedly plans to start mass production of a refreshed Vision Pro with an M5 chip late this year, and it’s possible it will upgrade to the newer Sony micro-OLED display too.
Alternatively, Apple could switch to BOE, the Chinese company supplying the 4K micro-OLED displays in Play For Dream MR, Immersed’s Visor, Shiftall’s MeganeX superlight 8K, and potentially Pimax Dream Air. It offers the same resolution as Sony’s new display, with slightly higher brightness but without the improved color gamut. Neither display advertises support for 100Hz refresh rate though, which Apple supports on Vision Pro.
LG has also shown a “next generation” 4K micro-OLED display with even wider gamut and sufficient brightness to avoid the visible motion blur in Vision Pro, but it’s unlikely that this would be production-ready for the next Vision Pro.
Farming Simulator VR embraces the escapism of owning a farm and disconnecting from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. While it accomplishes what it sets out to do in a simple way, it’s perhaps a little too simple. Read on for our full thoughts.
The Farming Simulator franchise originated in 2008, comfortably recreating the many aspects of farm life without breaking a sweat. As simulators go, it satisfies a particular desire of those intrigued by managing the minutiae of a farm. Farming Simulator VR takes one step forward and two steps back due to the great execution of its immersive activities, but it’s a modest offering compared to the flatscreen versions of the series.
The Facts
What is it?: A made-for-VR entry in the Farming Simulator franchise. Platforms: Quest (Reviewed on Quest 3) Release Date: Out now Developer: GIANTS Software Price: $24.99
As with many sim games of its type, Farming Simulator VR drops you straight into the action. You start at 9 AM sharp with five thousand dollars, a well-equipped but relatively small piece of land, and a dream. A user-friendly, straightforward tutorial in the form of a narrator thoroughly explains every stage of the game without bogging down the first few moments.
From the back porch of your home you can access your yard, and adjacent to it are the greenhouse, workshop, and a farming field. These areas are your bread and butter and where you will perform your duties every day as a diligent farmhand. A dirty tractor lies in the middle of the field, next to a Karcher pressure washer. It’s evident what must be done next.
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Taking a page from PowerWash Simulator VR, pressure washing to take care of your machines is a pretty relaxing endeavor. It serves as a decompression from the hard work on the field, though it’s a bit barebones since there are no different nozzles to more effectively deep clean your precious John Deere tractor. At least refueling, once the tractor is dazzling, is as satisfying as it sounds.
With a handy tablet that also serves as a menu, the narrator guides you through each area in the farm. Arguably the most important money-making venture, harvesting your crops, unloading, and selling them after spending all day driving is worth experiencing. What is rather laborious is having to prepare the soil for sowing and seeding it. A short amount of time needs to pass to harvest it again.
Although not all buttons are available in a tractor, there are a fair number of options available from turning on the lights to the throttle power of your tractor to move faster or slower. A handy instruction manual for the interactive buttons is always sitting on the right-hand side of the window. While the graphics are downgraded to fit all Quest systems, all machinery is authentically digitized from its real-life counterparts. The upside is the fast loading times, so the tradeoff of not seeing a black screen every so often is a welcome compromise.
Farming Simulator VR screenshot taken by UploadVR on Quest 3
At the greenhouse, various seeds like pumpkins, strawberries, and tomatoes, can be planted. Watering them is only one part of the equation. Weeds will frequently appear, and pulling those out to then throw them in the compost is necessary for a healthy harvest. If all goes well, you can pick each ripe fruit and vegetable after a couple of days and sell them for a considerable amount from a weighing scale.
Lastly, the workshop is where the machinery can be easily repaired should it break down on the pastureland. Thankfully, no previous knowledge in the farming or engineering industries is required to fully enjoy Farming Simulator VR. With a wrench and a well-placed hydraulic jack, anything is possible. The game highlights exactly where to place them as well.
Charming little details like a break room in the workshop where you can pick up vinyls and listen to them on a record player aid in making this place livelier. Radio speakers to drown out the peaceful sounds of nature to a more upbeat experience are carefully placed next to every activity you do, be it power washing your truck, picking tomatoes or changing a tire. The only downside is that you cannot choose which type of music to play.
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After an honest day’s work of tilling the land and getting it ready for planting, cultivating and selling wheat for a substantial amount is fulfilling. Wrangling the tractor either with your analog stick or the motion to manually handle the wheel is no easy feat. Hiring a worker to do the job for you at a reasonable price is also available if you feel like you’ve earned a day off cultivating and want to tend to your crops or clean your tractor.
A basketball and hoop, a baseball, and cans, which are carefully placed for you to shoot at will, can be found each time you return to the yard. That’s just some of the various activities scattered across the yard. The physics are somewhat hit-or-miss, though as a side diversion, it’s nice they put the effort in to make it happen. You won’t get any reward for these activities, but at least they continue the recreational nature of it all.
While I’d like to sing the praises of this fervent recreation of manual labor and nothing more, Farming Simulator VR suffers from its share of issues. Visual glitches often occur when grabbing your hose or wrench, where the item might move in unexpected ways more often than not. Tools can be dropped even when firmly holding them with your hand.
Hands can get stuck or be unresponsive when driving or using the steering wheel on the tractor. I’ve gotten used to shaking my hands to register them back into my position as they are usually stuck in different areas of the tractor, accidentally pressing buttons that I did not want to press. Hopefully these issues get ironed out, as driving around the field is otherwise cathartic.
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The tutorial, while comprehensive, does not teach how to cultivate, and fails to mention that teleporting is necessary to get on the roof of a tractor when power washing. These actions can be self-explanatory for some, as the mechanics to lower the machinery to do the job is mostly the same for all agricultural-related operations. Still, having a more thorough explanation would go a long way.
It’s not customary to lament what is absent in a game, but as the first VR entry in this series, there are some notable differences. The flatscreen version offers robust livestock and forestry businesses alongside what is on display here. This undoubtedly makes Farming Simulator VR feel like a stripped down release. Imagine grooming your cows, or planting trees to have a change of pace from harvesting soybeans all the time.
Farming Simulator VR screenshot taken by UploadVR on Quest 3
The endgame goal of Farming Simulator VR is apparent once the tutorial is finished; to live that farm life at your leisure. For those more goal oriented that aim to obtain every single tractor, crop, and achievement available, thus becoming the king of the hill, metaphorically speaking, the reward is the process itself—to manually recreate each labor-intensive task without actually sensing the heat then becomes relaxing.
Comfort
A movement vignette is on by default, and can easily be turned off in the menu for more experienced players. You can play standing or seated from the get-go. Considering the amount of time you spend seated virtually on the tractor, it is advisable to choose that for maximum comfort.
In lieu of a dedicated running button, the game offers a movement speed to adapt to user choice, up to 200% of the normal speed. The footsteps accordingly reflect the sound from a slow walk to a brisk jog as you move around the ranch.
At this time, the lack of a Toggle instead of Hold ability when grabbing items is a missed opportunity. Needing a button pressed to keep the tools in your hand at all times in a gameplay loop that practically requires you to have items on hand at all times can be tiring.
That incomparable feeling of getting new tools for actions that you had previously struggled doing is enticing enough to continue acquiring every bit of machinery on sale. The reward of the daily grind in purchasing useful items is tantalizing itself with items like an efficient spray hose for hydrating your plants instead of the old watering can. Or you could earn a full-on new tractor that harvests more crops than before.
Farming Simulator VR screenshot taken by UploadVR on Quest 3
Farming Simulator VR – Final Verdict
With the omission of certain VR accessibility options, a lack of activities such as raising livestock, and visual bugs, it is hard not to imagine how much more this game could be. Regardless, Farming Simulator VR is a commendable effort that warrants a playthrough for both series veterans and those curious about farm life.
When fatigued by the woes of the world, I can see myself returning to this peaceful farmstead where it’s just me and my crops, a land where there is seemingly no one to interact with for miles around. With a few tweaks and additions, it could become one of the must-plays of the current VR generation. As it currently stands, however, it’s a calming distraction.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
Animal Company is the top-earning Quest game of the week, ahead of both Gorilla Tag and Beat Saber.
Developed by Wooster Games, Animal Company takes clear inspiration from Another Axiom’s Gorilla Tag, but with horror elements reminiscent of flatscreen indie hit Lethal Company. Launched last year on Quest, the free-to-play multiplayer game has overtaken Gorilla Tag once more in the top-earning games this week, which is based on a game’s overall revenue.
Top-earning games this week on Quest as of March 5, 2025.
It’s a notable feat when you consider Gorilla Tag revealed last year that it reached one million daily players, 3 million monthly players, and over $100 million total revenue. Beat Saber also recently released a new ‘Shock Drop’ DLC for Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us last week, which likely boosted its standings. Presently, Animal Company’s add-ons are premium currency or cosmetic packs.
Animal Company sees you exploring creepy environments alone or with others via public and private lobbies. Described as being “survival meets pure chaos,” you’re tasked with collecting loot and fending off unusual creatures along the way. Since launch, it’s received weekly content updates that include the planetarium, the mining update, a new inventory management system, and various seasonalevents.
Evidently, it’s been a hit even beyond revenue stats, with a 4.8/5 rating after 58.9k user reviews. While it’s behind Gorilla Tag (142.9k), GOLF+ (69.6k), Yeeps: Hide and Seek (69.4k), Gym Class – Basketball (67.9k) and I Am Cat (60.3k) for the most reviews, this puts it firmly ahead of Blade & Sorcery: Nomad (55.8k), Beat Saber (52.3k), I Am Security (46.9k), Rec Room (33.7k), and VRChat (29.9k).
Animal Company is available now as a free-to-play game on the Meta Quest platform.
The Passengers is a new narrative VR experience with multiple art styles, and it’s out now on Quest and Steam.
Co-developed by Couzin Films and Les Produits Frais, The Passengers tells a 40-minute story of four strangers united on a train while traveling. Published by Astrea (Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom, Astra), events are influenced by “your voice, your gaze, and your gestures,” and each character is brought to life using volumetric scanning and motion capture.
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The four chapters dive into the individual worlds of each character as you hear their inner voice. Notably, each of these chapters also uses a different visual style for its presentation based on the character: oil paint, watercolor, pencil and colored pencils. It’s appeared previously at various festivals, though this marks the first time it’s come to home platforms.
The Passengers is the story of four strangers traveling together in a train. Discover the inner world of each of them: a woman questions her motherhood, a man must overcome his shyness, a lady is struggling with her memories and a kid feels guilty about his parents’ separation. Enter the thoughts of one character at a time, to hear their inner voice, see their memories and live their emotions.
The Passengers is now available on the wider Meta Quest platform and Steam for $4.99.
Virtuix announced it’s releasing an immersive tourism app for its Omni One VR treadmill system that lets you walk through some of the world’s most iconic destinations.
Coming to the company’s Omni One all-in-one system on March 6th, TREKS matches immersive video up with physical walking, bringing you to locations like the Grand Canyon, New York’s Central Park, or the ancient halls of Riyadh’s Fort Masmak.
Set to arrive from the company’s first-party studio, Virtuix Studios, Treks will be available exclusively on the Omni One Game Store, prices at $30.
When it arrives, the app’s initial release is slated to include four main locations:
Grand Canyon – Walk the trails and gaze over the majestic cliffs of this natural wonder.
Niagara Falls – Experience the power of the falls from both the American and Canadian sides.
New York City – Tour famous landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Saudi Arabia – Step into the rich history of Fort Masmak and the stunning architecture of Al Rajhi Mosque.
Virtuix Studios says it plans to release additional locations in the coming months as DLC content, which is said to include new landmarks, historical sites, and natural wonders. Additionally, the company claims that one hour of walking in Treks burns about 500 calories.
“With TREKS, you’re not just watching these destinations—you’re moving through them,” said Jan Goetgeluk, CEO of Virtuix. “It’s a great way to stay active while exploring some of the world’s most iconic places. Fitness and adventure go hand in hand, and TREKS brings that to life in a whole new way.”
The Omni One system, which is priced at $3,495, includes the titular VR treadmill, as well as a customized Pico 4 Enterprise headset, which supports both native apps via its internal chipset, or tethered to a VR-ready PC both wired or wirelessly.
This follows an announcement last month that Omni One now supports over 55 titles, with notable additions including Arizona Sunshine Remake, Arizona Sunshine 2, and Into The Radius.
Omni One’s all-in-one system also compatible with SteamVR games, owing to its Omni Connect PC Driver, which lets you to create custom bindings and adjusting settings to tune games not specifically designed for immersive walking.
Stratogun feels like a mix of Super Stardust Ultra and Geometry Wars, and we tried the PC VR demo before this month’s launch.
While the golden age of arcade shoot ’em ups was before my time, I’ve played considerable catch up over the years, counting Ikaruga, Gradius, Star Soldier, Sky Force Reloaded and Radiant Silvergun among my long-term favorites. In my search for modern takes on the classic genre, Numskull Games and Horsefly immediately caught my eye with Stratogun in last week’s Steam Next Fest.
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Pitched as a nostalgic flatscreen shoot ’em up, Stratogun sees you fighting enemies across spherical levels reminiscent of Super Stardust Ultra VR – sans the first person Invasion Mode, anyway. Using a wireframe neon-soaked aesthetic, I went hands-on with Stratogun’s VR supported demo for about 40 mins, using my Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop with an Xbox Series gamepad.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first; PC VR support doesn’t add a tremendous amount to the gameplay here. You’re viewing the action take place like you would on flatscreen platforms but with some added visual flair enhanced by VR’s sense of presence. It’s more of a nice bonus if you’ve already got a headset, one that complements the presentation.
For me, it’s enough that I’d prefer to use a VR headset compared to playing the flatscreen version. Watching visual effects appear around you after destroying targets is a small but welcome touch, and VR support lets me shut off the outside world to just focus on what’s in front of me. I’d argue this is the more enjoyable way to play.
Stratogun’s premise is straightforward, but that doesn’t make it any less intense. From asteroids to enemy traps, you’re tasked with shooting your way through these swarms and staying alive long enough to reach the area’s boss. The score multiplier provides a strong incentive to take defensive action as if you get hit, that multiplier immediately drops back to zero.
You’ll lose the score multiplier but this isn’t a one-hit kill scenario with extra lives. Your ship can withstand several attacks, helpfully indicating your health through color coordination by going from green to yellow to red before dying. This wouldn’t be the most visually accessible approach on its own, so I’m pleased your armor level is also highlighted on the left side through the UI.
Enemies and asteroids will often drop various power-ups, enhancing your ship’s weapons or providing bombs that helpfully destroy everything in close range. The last one is certainly useful in a pinch when you’re surrounded, though a limited supply saw me clutching onto those until the very end.
Screenshot taken by UploadVR on March 2, 2025.
It’s an engagingly fast-paced game that taps into that competitive arcade game well, one where a small mistake can cost you dearly. Reaching the first boss took several attempts and while I successfully beat it on my first go after getting there, the second area quickly defeated me before I reached another boss. Stratogun doesn’t adopt a roguelite approach where some upgrades permanently stay with you, it’s back to square one after being defeated.
As I continued playing, I could feel myself getting into the “one more try” mentality that’s only encouraged by the online leaderboards. Coming 25th on my best run left me feeling accomplished. This isn’t the most revolutionary idea but if you’re after some old-school thrills, Stratogun offers a fun time. Because PC VR support is limited, we probably won’t give this a full review at launch. Still, the shoot ’em up fan in me enjoyed what I’ve tried, and I’ll be back for the full game.
Stratogun launches this month on flatscreen platforms and PC VR. The VR supported Steam demo remains available on a separate store page.
A new Apple Immersive Video releasing in April will see Joe Buck give viewers a tour of Yankee Stadium before and during a Friday Night Baseball game.
VIP: Yankee Stadium will be hosted by veteran sportscaster Joe Buck, and the game is a June 2024 matchup between the New York Yankees and their “longtime rivals” (I’m told), the Los Angeles Dodgers.
What Is Apple Immersive Video?
The Apple Immersive Video format is 180-degree video with 8K per-eye resolution, 90FPS, stereoscopic 3D, high dynamic range (HDR), and spatial audio. It’s served in the Apple TV app with higher bitrate than many other immersive video platforms.
We highly praised Apple Immersive Video in our Vision Pro review. It’s not possible to cast or record Apple Immersive Video though, so you’ll have to take our word for it unless you have access to a Vision Pro.
“From early morning prep scenes to a tense nighttime finale, viewers will go far beyond the front row — with an all-encompassing look at how elite athletes, die-hard fans, dedicated staff, and epic moments make the Bronx ballpark legendary,” Apple says.
The announcement comes a week after Apple announced Bono: Stories Of Surrender, a documentary releasing in May which will be the first feature-length Apple Immersive Video.
While some baseball watchers (and particularly Yankees fans) with an Apple Vision Pro will likely enjoy the experience, that it will involve a match from 10 months ago will disappoint others. It’s a similar situation to the Super Bowl LVIII Highlights and 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend Apple Immersive Videos. What sports fans are really waiting for is the ability to watch games live in immersive video, as they can for NBA games on Quest but in 3D. But streaming high-bitrate immersive video is a significantly more challenging proposition than preproducing it. Can Apple deliver this any time soon?
