Category Archives: Games

Iron Rebellion Prepares For The Future With Foundations Update

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Iron Rebellion prepares for the future with today’s update, giving the multiplayer VR mech game overhauled AI units, new modes, and more.

Now available on Quest and Steam, developer Black Beach Studio describes today’s ‘Foundations Update’ as a “meaningful step toward the next phase of the game’s development.” This introduces Abandoned Sector 9, an official new map originally created by a community Discord member, Kforce, that’s since been revamped by the studio’s lead artist.

Stating Abandoned Sector 9 represents the team’s updated visual direction, Black Beach Studio calls it the “highest-fidelity environment ever produced” for Iron Rebellion. This map features flooded alleyways, fractured overpasses, and broken megastructures across a dense battleground, which the studio advised offers a preview of this universe’s future.

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This update also introduces a complete AI systems overhaul to help Iron Rebellion’s expanding PvE direction. “With new behavior profiles, adaptive threat response, and moment-to-moment context awareness, AI units now support more reactive, varied, and engaging encounters across every existing mode and all future cooperative experiences,” states the team.

Two new gameplay modes are live: Death Match is a timed free-for-all mode, while Gun Game sees you advance your loadout by killing enemies using a randomly selected mech class.

Finally, Iron Rebellion also received a full networking rewrite that the developer states separates the backend from its previous team-dependent structure, allowing them to introduce new game types in upcoming updates.

“This update moves us one step closer to the types of experiences we want to build,” said Justin Spice, Founder of Black Beach Studio in a prepared statement. “The new AI opens up design space we didn’t have before, and Sector 9 shows where we’re taking the world visually. There’s a lot ahead, and this update is an important part of getting there.”

Iron Rebellion is out now on the Meta Quest platform and Steam.

Titanic: Echoes From The Past Review: A Memorable Free-Roam VR Experience In New York

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A free-roam immersive VR installation in New York City explores the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Titanic: Echoes From The Past is from Eclipso, a company focused on large-scale location-based experiences. The experience lasts over half an hour as it places guests in walk-around virtual reality aboard a modern ocean research vessel investigating what remains of the infamous sinking in the North Atlantic in April 1912.

The Titanic Experience

After a brief narrative setup establishing guests as explorers aboard a research vessel, the experience begins with a 3,800 meter descent to the Titanic wreck site alongside a deep-sea submersible. The mangled remains of the ship are scattered across the ocean floor, immediately setting a somber tone. From there, the experience transitions into a dramatized retelling of the ship’s ill-fated maiden voyage, following the fictionalized perspective of an actual passenger.

VR’s ability to convey scale is on full display inside the engine room. The ship’s massive steam-powered machinery towers overhead, with enormous rotating components working in unison to propel the vessel forward. Standing beneath them, it becomes easy to grasp the raw industrial power required to move a ship of this size across the Atlantic.

After leaving the engine room, guests step out onto the boat deck, with the ocean stretching out in every direction. This is one of the first moments where the size of the ship really lands. There is room to walk, pause, and look around, and the openness of the deck contrasts sharply with the enclosed spaces below.

Captain Edward Smith is introduced shortly thereafter, and guests are free to walk the deck alongside him. Nothing feels rushed. The experience allows time to explore at your own pace, as well as interact with certain items in each scene. A brief stop at the ship’s gymnasium offers a quieter moment, providing a glimpse into daily life aboard Titanic before everything changed.

The experience then moves to the Grand Staircase, one of the most recognizable locations on the ship. Standing beneath the glass and wrought iron dome, the scale is striking. Characters move through the space at full human scale, carrying on conversations you can listen in on as you pass. The scene lets the environment and its occupants do the storytelling.

The penultimate sequence takes place on the bridge during the moments leading up to the collision. Guests are close enough to watch the iceberg slide past the ship, its size hard to ignore as it looms nearby. After that, you’re given one last look at the ship as it looked before setting to sea.

Eclipso’s location on West 57th Street in Manhattan. Photo: Craig Storm

The Technology of the Experience

Eclipso’s New York City location occupies a 10,000 square foot space on the west side of Manhattan. Guests arrive and are staged in a hallway that provides background information on Titanic before entering the experience. When ready, they are fitted with a headset by an Eclipso staff member.

The facility uses HTC Vive Focus 3 standalone VR headsets. Each headset is paired with plastic ear coverings that help direct audio toward the ears while also reducing ambient noise from other guests. The result is a more focused audio experience without fully isolating participants from their surroundings.

What stands out immediately is how simple and friction-free the setup process is. Guests are not required to wear body trackers, attach external sensors, or strap on a PC backpack. Within roughly a minute of putting on the headset, participants are free to begin exploring. According to staff on site, the majority of guests at this location have never used a VR headset before, making ease of use a clear priority.

During a scene where guests are transported downward through an opening in the wreck, a holographic grid appears beneath them, grounding the visuals and helping reduce potential motion discomfort. It is a touch that reflects thoughtful design choices aimed at keeping the experience comfortable without breaking immersion.

The Shared Experience

The combination of simple, effective VR hardware and thoughtfully designed software creates a totally compelling experience. As I moved through the various scenes, I found myself deliberately pushing toward the edges of the physical space, trying to trigger the virtual boundary system. More often than not I was able to walk freely without interruption. I only encountered the boundary wall in a few cases and, had I not been actively testing the limits of the space, I likely would not have noticed the boundaries at all. The experience is so freeing many might try to test those limits.

Other participants appear as ghost-like outlined human forms. I was surprised by how much interaction naturally occurred between us. Because the space is so large, we were often spread out, focused on different details within the same scene. More than once, we called out to each other to come take a look at something nearby. The simple white outline made it easy to understand where others were positioned without introducing a complex avatar that might have pulled attention away from the environment itself.

Impact & Memories

There’s an open seating area with a large window to look into most of the VR space for people who might not be interested in experiencing it themselves. There are no monitors, though, showing into VR, so it’s possible some fear of missing out will set in for anybody seeing their group walk out into the space in their headsets.

After completing the experience, I spent some time watching other groups as they finished their sessions. I could tell one group had reached the staircase scene because they started dancing together. Watching that kind of immersion engaging with a historical event that occurred more than a century ago reinforced immersive VR’s use as a powerful tool for learning, even as its entertainment value remains obvious. In a shared, guided setting like this, immersive technology can make history feel more immediate and memorable in ways traditional museum exhibits often struggle to match.

An Eclipso staff member told me they’ve had success with schools booking class trips to the facility, and the response has been positive from students and educators alike. Observing reactions firsthand, it’s easy to understand why. The experience demonstrates how immersive VR can complement existing approaches to teaching history by creating moments that students can experience with a sense of scale and presence, and that they are likely to remember long after they leave.

Window covering outside the Eclipso facility. Photo: Craig Storm

Final Thoughts

Titanic: Echoes From The Past lets the environment lead. The experience is guided by narration leaving room to look around, walk around, and absorb the scale of each location. Standing beneath the engines or walking the deck works because VR used in this way gives you the time and perspective to take those moments in.

The experience is also exceedingly easy to get into and that really matters. Setup is quick, the headset never becomes a distraction, and nothing about the process feels intimidating. Watching first-time VR users move comfortably through the space makes it clear ease-of-use was a real priority here, and not an afterthought.

By the time it was over, I felt like I had actually spent time in a place rather than simply having observed a retelling. The immersion worked. Leaving the location in Manhattan, I realized I had visited a ship and taken in its scale and atmosphere without the romance of James Cameron’s direction or the historical characterizations of people like the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown. VR’s scale and the immense freedom to walk openly across the Titanic gave me a deep and lasting sense of having been aboard the ship in a place it never reached.

Eclipso operates a network of locations in other major cities with additional experiences planned for New York and elsewhere. Tickets to Titanic: Echoes From The Past start at $31 per person at writing time with quotes upon request for group outings.

On Point Gets Major Revamp With VR Arcade Shooter’s Full Release

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On Point, an arcade shooter inspired by WarioWare, gets new game modes and more with its full release on Quest and PC VR.

Launched last year in early access, On Point is a ’90s-inspired VR light-gun shooter by Australian developer Actuator Digital. It’s now entering full release with a considerable revamp, introducing two new modes: ‘One-Off’ lets you play individual mini-games of your choice, while ‘Marathon’ sees you try getting through all 115 mini-games in a row.

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Several existing modes have been reworked, and you now earn arcade tickets as you play to unlock more options. There are also new environments and 60 more mini-games to choose from, some of which are variants of the existing options. Other changes include remade menus for an improved UI, additional accessibility options, new leaderboards and balancing tweaks.

We previously interviewed Actuator Digital around the early access launch, discussing the risks of making indie VR games with CEO Sebastiaan Fehr. This also touched upon On Point’s inspirations, why the studio picked a more cartoonish approach, and more. You can find that in full here.

On Point is out now on the Meta Quest platform and SteamVR.

On Point Studio Discuss Inspirations & Indie VR’s Perils
On Point is out now on Quest & Steam, and we interviewed Actuator Digital about its 90s-inspired arcade shooter and the risks of making VR indie games.
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