For nearly a century, filmmakers have been questioning what happens when technology becomes so advanced and self-aware that the machines we invent turn against the humans who created them. Artificial intelligence is no longer just a science fiction concept set in the distant future. Here in 2025, it’s everywhere, and…
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are among the handful of Switch games that got a technical upgrade on the Switch 2, and anyone who’s paid attention knows they are infamous for being absolutely busted on the original system. These games run like shit, are full of bugs, and that undeniable truth overshadowed what is…
Here we are at the end of another week and, hopefully, you’re staring at a healthy 48-hours of mostly free time to invest in some games. But if you’ve found yourself at a loss for what to play, you’re in luck.
Disney’s next animated film, Elio, is going to bring back the silly and charming bloopers that used to appear at the end of Pixar’s big features. Movies like Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. would feature animated faux-outtakes over the credits, and we’ve really missed them! But now, after being absent for two decades,…
It was just four years ago that Sony promised to launch 12 live service games by early 2026. Since then, many of those have been delayed, canceled, or taken offline. But that doesn’t seem to be deterring the console maker. PlayStation Studios CEO Hermen Hulst said in a new business update that live service games…
When a game is in the works as long as Dragon Age: The Veilguard was, it’s bound to have a ton of unused assets and concept art. Developers like BioWare go through so many artistic iterations of a game within normal development cycles, so you can imagine how many more a game like The Veilguard had when it was rebooted…
Omega Pilot Evolution is a high-speed VR futuristic racing game heading to Quest, Pico and PlayStation VR2.
Developed by XOCUS (EXOcars), Omega Pilot Evolution is a sequel to 2022’s Omega Pilot. A first-person VR racing game with anti-gravity vehicles, the studio states these tracks are designed for “extreme speed and skill-based maneuvering.” Solo modes are supported alongside asynchronous and real-time multiplayer modes, with global and friends-only leaderboards also included.
We live for speed.
A new high-velocity experience is on the way! Stay tuned! �️�#PSVR2 #MetaQuest #PicoVR #VRRacing #OmegaPilotEvolution #ComingSoon pic.twitter.com/5SHI6Rg7A1— XOCUS 一 EXOcars is LIVE � (@XocusVR) June 12, 2025
Each race offers various weapons ranging from energy blasters to electromagnetic pulse (EMPs), also providing shields to defend yourself from such attacks. Finishing races and earning victories awards in-game currency, which can then be used to upgrade ship aspects like speed, handling, durability and visual customizations.
Not much else is currently known, as we’ve yet to see gameplay footage or an announcement trailer from XOCUS. While the initial social media announcement confirms plans for Quest, Pico and PlayStation VR2 launches, PC VR and Steam are notably absent from that list.
As for a release window, Omega Pilot Evolution lists a November 2025 release on PlayStation VR2. It’s unclear if this also applies to Quest and Pico, since the store pages aren’t currently live.
Frostpunk developer 11 Bit Studios has just released its newest game, a sci-fi adventure called The Alters. This game mixes base building with sim management and has a really engrossing story about self-discovery and existentialism. It follows Jan Dolski as he crashlands and gets stranded on a planet as the only…
Elden Ring Nightreign has two unlockable character classes, with one of them being the Revenant. This one is a back line magic user with the ability to summon friends.
In a streaming world where new series are decreasingly unlikely to get a second season (let alone a third) even if they appear to perform incredibly well, it’s something of a treat that Paramount keeps giving its various incarnations of Star Trek five season runs. The company has recently announced, ahead of the start…
Dreams of Another, the next entry in the PixelJunk series, has an exclusive VR only first person mode on PlayStation VR2.
Revealed back in February’s State of Play presentation, Dreams of Another promises an upcoming philosophical adventure focused on a key theme; “no creation without destruction.” While the initial reveal only showcased flatscreen third-person gameplay, developer Q-Games informed UploadVR in an upcoming interview that PS VR2 players can swap to a VR-only first-person mode.
“In the PS VR2 version, players can switch between the third-person perspective used in the PS5 version and a special VR-only first-person mode,” advised Q-Games lead programmer Ryuji Nishikawa in a written Q&A. Because of this, Nishikawa recommends using the DualSense controller during third-person gameplay and the PS VR2 Sense controllers for first-person mode.
“The third-person view emphasizes the game’s concept and storytelling, allowing players to “watch” the narrative unfold while seeing their character. In contrast, the first-person mode offers heightened immersion, placing the world of point clouds directly in front of your eyes and allowing for close-up inspection of every detail.”
Directed by multimedia artist Baiyon, Dreams of Another is the second time we’ve seen the PixelJunk series come to VR, following on from 2016’s Dead Hungry. Following the stories of characters like “the Man in Pajamas” and “the Wandering Soldier,” this upcoming game sees you explore a surrealist dreamlike world where you create objects by shooting guns into clouds.
Dreams of Another launches on PlayStation VR2 this year, and we’ll bring you our full interview with Q-Games next week.
While Microsoft is publishing more games than ever before, fewer and fewer of them are getting physical editions on its home turf. Microsoft-owned Oblivion’sThe Outer Worlds 2 will get a standard disc option on PlayStation 5 but only a code in a box for Xbox Series X owners. It’s the latest example of a growing…
After such a disastrous end to the previous era of superhero movies with the terrible Batman & Robin, the Caped Crusader and the DC universe entered a state of dormancy. Marvel was ascending into superhero supremacy, but Warner Bros. had a goal to bring Batman back onto the big screen. After two good films, the…
HP announced last year it was going to be the first to offer hardware based on Google Beam (formerly ‘Project Starline’), the light field-based 3D videoconferencing platform. Now, HP unveiled ‘Dimension’, which is being pitched to enterprise at $25,000 a pop.
HP Dimension with Google Beam is said to use six cameras and “state of the art AI” to create a realistic 3D video of each participant, displayed on a special 65-inch light field display with realistic size, depth, color, and eye contact.
HP says the device, which will be sold to select partners starting in late 2025, will be priced at $25,000. This notably doesn’t come with the Google Beam license, which is sold separately.
As an enterprise-first device, HP Dimension is slated to support Zoom Rooms and Google Meet, so it can do 3D immersive chats, but also 2D traditional group meetings, integrating cloud-based video services such as Teams and Webex.
“We believe that meaningful collaboration thrives on authentic human connections, which is why we partnered with Google to bring HP Dimension with Google Beam out of the lab and into the enterprise,” said Helen Sheirbon, SVP and President of Hybrid Systems, HP Inc. “HP Dimension with Google Beam bridges the gap between the virtual and physical worlds to create lifelike virtual communication experiences that brings us closer together.”
First introduced in 2021, Google Beam (ex ‘Project Starlight’) combines a light-field display to show natural 3D depth without the need for an XR headset or glasses of any sort—essentially simulating a face-to-face chat between two people.
In its testing, HP says Beam this makes for 39% more non-verbal behaviors noticed, as well as 37% more users noting better turn taking, and 28% noticing an increase in memory recall over traditional videoconferencing platforms.
The post Google’s First ‘Beam’ Videoconferencing Device is ‘HP Dimension’, Coming Late 2025 at $25,000 appeared first on Road to VR.
Though it’s absent from today’s flatscreen launch, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic will receive VR support post-release.
There’s been some confusion these last few months about the state of VR support in Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic. Initially demoed at PAX West last year on PlayStation VR2, doubts emerged following February’s State of Play presentation. Steel Wool Studios scrubbed all mention of PS VR2 from the game’s store page soon after the presentation offered a first look at gameplay, also removing the headset’s mention from PlayStation Blog and social media.
While the developer didn’t offer an official statement at the time, we’ve now learned that VR support is still planned as a post-launch update. In an interview with YouTuber Dawko, which we initially missed last month, game director Evan Lampi confirmed that Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic will reach VR “soon after” after the flatscreen launch.
“We pivoted a little bit. We’re launching [on flatscreen] Steam and PS5, and VR is coming after launch sometime,” stated Lampi.
A specific release date wasn’t confirmed, and the interview doesn’t outright confirm if the upcoming game is also coming to SteamVR. However, it’s worth noting that both Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted and Help Wanted 2 also received multiplatform VR support, so the chances seem likely.
Set in the abandoned workshop of Murray’s Costume Manor, Secret of the Mimic is the next mainline entry that sees you tasked with unraveling a mystery left behind by its reclusive inventor. The Mimic can adapt to any costume it chooses, and you’re tasked with retrieving Fazbear’s prototype technology while escaping this relentless foe.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic arrives today on PC and PS5, while a PlayStation VR2 release date remains unconfirmed.
As I jumped over buildings and quickly flinged to rooftops, Reach made me glad to have accrued VR legs in the past few years. The debut title by nDreams Elevation takes cues from existing mechanics and the studio’s own institutional knowledge of the space, and turns them up to eleven.
Reach has been in development since 2022 by nDreams Elevation. During a hands-on demo at Summer Game Fest, senior technical designer Robert Harper said the team is made up of both VR veterans who’ve worked on games like Synapse, as well as developers acquainted with flatscreen projects.
The result is an action-adventure game featuring a reluctant hero tasked with traversing through an underground civilization. The demo, which entailed the game’s tutorial, was more of a grounded glance of the seemingly grandiose scope that the studio is aiming for. I traversed through city streets while a helicopter made chase, defeating dozens of human grunts along the way. I didn’t get to set foot in the mysterious civilization or confront the massive robotic foes shown in the trailer. Yet, Reach has stayed rent free in my mind for days after.
Shuhei Yoshida, a game industry veteran who worked at PlayStation since 1993, first played Reach in a very early stage around three years ago. NDreams wanted feedback, asking people to get their hands on it and test the mechanics. Funnily enough, Yoshida kept trying and failing to get used to the game’s acrobatics.
After around 10 years of experience with VR, he’s able to tell when the developers behind a project are doing a good job. Normally, if he starts to sweat, that’s a sign that he’s getting nauseated. Yet, as he continued to see Reach’s evolution over the years, he can now play for long sessions without issues. After leaving Sony in January of this year, nDreams asked him to help launch the game as an ambassador.
Getting to this point, especially for a high-intensity VR game, has not been easy. “It’s really hard because people don’t read things, right?”, Yoshida said jokingly regarding tutorialization.
As Harper explained, there were quite a few obstacles around some of Reach’s most involved mechanics. Mantling, for example, was originally entirely gesture based, in a similar way to the likes of Horizon Call of the Mountain. During tests, nDreams found that newer VR adopters would constantly fail to do the right mental input, and so they ended up falling to their deaths.
“You give everybody the same instruction, but everybody feels differently, everybody moves slightly differently,” Harper said.
The solution was to make it so mantling requires the player to keep pushing the left analog stick forward. This way, even if someone isn’t doing the input correctly, as long as they’re still grabbing from a ledge, they can simply move the stick and the game will automatically complete the movement without a risk of falling. Harper said that this is especially useful for playing in seated mode, as you can’t actually push your arms down through, say, your couch.
Flinging was also hard to figure out. In essence, some platforming sequences in Reach ask you to hold onto a ledge, push your “body” back, and then quickly fling toward the other ledge or grappling point by throwing your hands in a quick motion. It took a ton of fine-tuning to make it easy to pick up.
During the demo, I had no issues performing all of these actions. In fact, once I found my bearings, I was able to enter a flow state, and most movements became second nature, even when having close calls after long jumps. Yet, it’s worth mentioning that I’ve been playing and covering VR games for a few years now, so I’m familiar with the locomotion demanded from players.
“Generally when playing the game, the systems work best if you’re just nice, slow, and graceful, but you can’t just tell people to do that, right, because it’s, you know, action movie, explosions everywhere, you’re going to die in five minutes,” Harper said. “You’re going to panic a bit, right? There’s a few cracks that we saw in the demos, but I’m pretty pleased with the current state of traversal.”
Harper attributes this fine-tuning to being fortunate of having a long pre-production time where the team could “just throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks.” If it didn’t, the developers were happy to discard the idea. More often than not, however, they found that people were adapting just fine.
“Our approach to motion sickness was, we’ll deal with it if it’s a widespread problem,” Harper said. “Admittedly a lot of our developers have VR legs, but we do have a lot of people coming from outside the space. After the first week or so they’re fine, despite all the crazy stuff we’re doing.”
Looking back, Yoshida reflected on the early days of VR, in which studios were concerned about making people sick, sometimes favoring movement options like warping rather than allowing players to just walk in virtual environments, which got in the way of immersion. Games like Reach showcase how far technology has come, thanks to better performance, tracking, and framerate, as well as having experienced developers who’ve been working on VR for years.
Yoshida would like to see a wider adoption of VR in the future, as well as headsets becoming thinner, lighter, and less awkward to wear. He believes that the progress is there, and while it may not be as quickly as people hope for, he remains optimistic about it.
“I always admire these, you know, survivors of VR developers,” Yoshida said. “After stupid money left the industry, now you know only good companies left still keep making games.”
Reach is releasing on PS VR2, SteamVR, and Quest headsets this year.
Le Mans Ultimate, an official game for the FIA World Endurance Championship, enters full release next month on SteamVR.
Previously released last year on Steam Early Access, Le Mans Ultimate by Studio 397 will reach version 1.0 on July 22. Announced before this year’s famous 24-hour race kicks off, this landmark update also introduces two free 2025 cars, the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH and Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, alongside promised improvements to polish and performance. All 2025 official liveries will be included for free too.
While this won’t be available at Version 1.0’s release, Studio 397 also confirmed that Le Mans Ultimate will add the European Le Mans Series. This category also sees the introduction of both the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and LMP3 class vehicles, and three famous circuits: Silverstone, Paul Ricard (Le Castellet) and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Pricing and a release window will be shared “in the coming months.”
As for what’s next, the developer confirmed it’s planning further updates following Version 1.0. That includes a single-player career mode that’s “currently in early production,” letting you take on roles within set teams and progress through the ranks while making “career-impacting choices based on race results.” Driver swaps are also mentioned, and a Q1 2026 release is targeted.
Version 1.0 arrives on July 22 on Steam with PC VR support, and it’s out now in early access.
Stealing is bad, but the impish glee at pretending to steal can be very addictive.
Whether it’s in Skyrim with a bow and arrow, or the aptly named THIEF series, we love to skulk through the shadows, finding hidden trinkets. Little Thief promises to take a whimsical, robotic spin on the formula, with players stealing everything in sight as an adorable robot! With multiple gadgets and hundreds of unique items to find, it sounds like a whimsical stealthy immersive sim where you can approach from any angle.
So basically, Deus Ex by way of Ratchet & Clank? That would so be my jam. If only the game I experienced matched these lofty goals, this review would’ve been a joy to produce. Instead, it’s simultaneously so boring and befuddling that I’m not even upset. I’m just disappointed.
What is it?: A single player first person stealth VR game about stealing items as a tiny robot.
Platforms: Quest (reviewed on Quest 3)
Release Date: Out now
Developer: Bazooka Studio
Price: $6.99
The first sign that things weren’t quite right was how starting the game immediately plopped me down in front of a house. Now, a tutorial is good, but the only real tutorial here is a piece of paper you can pick up. I guessed that this small level was for me to get to grips with everything. Then I’d move on to bigger and more exciting things!
Then my head glitched through a tree, temporarily making the most of when reality stops rendering until I pulled it back out. Knowing Bazooka Studio is a label for Japanese publisher MyDearest, the English translation is also rough at points. I never thought I’d play a game where a child proudly declares in text “It’s time to get off!” but here we are. Nevertheless, I pressed on.
Then things… things got weirder.
I discovered that moving too close to cabinets, desks, the floor, and drawers made reality move in the opposite direction, forcing me back. This is deeply unpleasant, and will induce temporary motion sickness in pretty much anyone. As I played, the owner of the house realized I was there and immediately called the local law enforcement, so I latched onto my escape drone pal and fled. With my ill-gotten goods, I was dropped off at a hideout, and able to buy a grabber tool.
The hideout lets you see all your ill-gotten goods, read up on flavor text about each object, and has a none too subtle “book” shelf advertising the publisher’s other games. Grabbing a book and pressing the trigger instantly takes you to the Quest store page for these games. But I digress.
The grabber tool is so necessary to being able to play without disorientation that I don’t understand why it’s an optional tool. Making one of the player’s arms be the grabber would simplify so many interactions. There’s only four other gadgets and four slots on your utility belt, so it’s all the more peculiar. The music-playing artificial flower gadget leads you right to wherever the bonus objective item is, making it also a necessity.
Then there’s the taser, which you also will always need. This means there’s really only one slot that’s optional, which will either hold a shark-shaped water gun that can knock items out of trees or a toy mallet for smashing glass and weak walls. At least they all function well – whatever I might say about the rest of the game, the gadgets themselves are well implemented.
Determined to see whatever came next, I proceeded over to the “start mission” door. Then I loaded right back to the first house, surprisingly. Perhaps I’d missed something. So I put together the mystery coin that you can find in two halves in the office. Nothing. Then I considered that every time I’d load in, I received a pop-up notice about a special bonus item, so I assumed maybe a bonus item is what’s necessary to progress. Or perhaps a certain threshold of earnings. Or perhaps some elusive, secret item to be found.
Well, I’ve gotten several bonus items. I solved the blacklight puzzle for the garage keypad. I learned how to not only steal the homeowner’s phone to keep him from dialing the cops, but how to steal his ring and tooth. Yes, that’s not a typo. I explored his house fully – which has a weird amount of bathrooms. I put in the grind to get the necessary payout to buy every gadget. I broke open the crack in the one wall, only to be greeted by a birthday cake and a creepily drawn smiley face.
I never could find the final puzzle piece to unlock the daughter’s treasure chest (like every puzzle, it randomizes each run) or locate anything worthy of the four jewel pillows in the player’s hideout, but otherwise, I did everything I could think of. I have collected almost half of the total possible items littering the house. That’s counting a wide array of useless ones, though some useless ones seem to have larger collision volumes, so removing them from your backpack can require rather intense thrusting.
I felt like I was slowly losing my mind because the advertising on Little Thief’s store page is specifically phrased like there are multiple houses. Except, far as I can tell, there aren’t? There solely seems to be the one. Modest scope isn’t a bad thing – but Little Thief’s humble abode doesn’t evolve as you play. Your knowledge of it will not make it more interesting to play around with. Rarely does the NPC homeowner even sit in a different chair.
Why not have him be in different rooms? Or randomize where items can be found? Something to add variety. A game like this either needs depth of quality or wealth of quantity. Little Thief offers neither. You just stun your pursuer, turning the experience into little more than the tedium of grocery shopping. Except when buying groceries, you get to eat things at the end. After you’ve unlocked the first five gadgets… there is no functional reason to keep playing except to build out your virtual hoard more. No upgrades, no new difficulty variables, no new modes – nothing.
Little Thief is baseline acceptable to play either sitting or standing. Moving around roomscale is possible, but it doesn’t feel built for it. If you have the option, play Little Thief standing. Unfortunately, while doing so, you will quickly realize the absence of a crouch function in a game about sneaking around as a thief. However, reaching certain cabinets, drawers, and doors proves difficult from a seated position.
It is possible to move around room scale, but sometimes the environment will move away from you when reaching towards the floor, cabinets, drawers, or doors. This can be really disorienting.
You can freely use either hand for any given task or gadget. There are three different buttons for accessing the settings menu at any given time. Accessibility options include fixed angle and smooth turning, as well as tunnel vision toggle. Opening the settings menu does not pause the game.
Character movement is slow. While there is a jump function, the jump is so minimal you are unlikely to use it regularly. You will have to hold down both triggers when using gadgets, though, and have to reach behind your back to grab your backpack if you need to toss out any stolen items to make space for something more valuable.
There are sound and music slider options, and all dialogue is purely subtitled text. There is no ability to adjust the subtitles, brightness, or anything else.
It would at least help if the experience of stealing was thrilling or layered. However, the easily unlocked taser knocks out both the homeowner and cop so easily that there’s functionally no risk. Yes, there are other ways to temporarily slow your opponents, but the taser beats all options. Even the cop’s gun, but it only mildly irritates them – yes, really.
This isn’t the full extent of the strange design decisions made, but you get my point. Little Thief is boring and lifeless. Usually a bad game has some kind of core to identify – something that at least congeals together enough that you understand what the goal was.
Little Thief is neither a kid-friendly immersive sim nor an enjoyably replayable arcade experience. It’s just being chased by a lethargic pursuer who is easily defeated with a taser as you repeat the same motions over and over. There is no tension, no pacing, no energy. It says something that I’d get excited when I find a puzzle, because that means there is a task besides swallowing up random junk.
They also never establish why exactly you’re robbing this modestly sized suburban house? You’re just taking the word of some kid (who you never meet directly) who supposedly built you. You aren’t a clever Robin Hood type, you’re a jerk trolling one guy who is functionally impotent against your pint-sized mayhem.
All you’d need is some gore, darker lighting, a little harrowing music, and this could be a reverse horror game. In fact, a lot of these design decisions would make more sense if it was. Instead, it’s a repetitious, contradictory, confused letdown. Little Thief’s premise should make for a great game, but it fumbles its execution, much like its virtual cop fumbles at keeping his trousers on.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
Could Samsung’s first standalone XR headset launch next month, but only in South Korea?
PandaFlash, a Samsung-focused leaker, seemed to strongly hint so in posts on X. The posts suggest the launch would occur during a July Samsung Unpacked event, and that the headset would “slowly slowly” expand globally.
First South Korea, than Slowly Slowly Globally.
— PandaFlash � (@PandaFlashPro) June 11, 2025
However, other rumors suggest that the July Samsung Unpacked event will take place in New York City, and it would seem rather strange to launch a product for Korea in a US city.
Samsung’s headset was first announced well over two years ago, with the company saying from the start that Google would handle the software and Qualcomm would provide the chipset.
That chipset was revealed at the start of last year to be the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the chip in Quest 3 and Quest 3S, which has already shipped in Play For Dream MR.
The actual design of Samsung’s headset was finally revealed in December, alongside Google formally naming Android XR, and Samsung said it would ship it as a product in 2025 as it gave UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton a hands-on demo.
UploadVRIan Hamilton
While Samsung hasn’t confirmed any further details since then, in March we saw multiple South Korean reports with claims about the headset’s displays, production scale, and launch window.
The Elec reported that Samsung’s headset will use Sony’s new 1.35-inch 3552×3840 micro-OLED display, with higher resolution and wider color gamut than the one in Apple Vision Pro.
Meanwhile, Business Post claimed that Samsung will launch the headset in Q3 (July, August, or September), but also that it plans to produce just 100,000 headsets per year, suggesting a very high price.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
We had expected either Google or Samsung to share more about the headset at I/O in May, but the focus there was far more on smart glasses, as well as the announcement of the second officially confirmed Android XR headset, Xreal’s Project Aura.
