Category Archives: Games

POOLS Makes A Splash On PlayStation VR2 Today

Posted on by

POOLS brings the eerie walking simulator to PS VR2 today with native 120Hz support, and a free VR-supported demo is now live.

Developed by Tensori, POOLS is an eerie walking simulator where you wander through these strange swimming pool environments looking for the exit. Originally released as a flatscreen PC game last year, you may recall it received PC VR support in May’s free update. Now, it’s launching on PS5 with optional PlayStation VR2 support and the Chapter 0 expansion.

Speaking to UploadVR before today’s release, Tensori informed us that it’s been “very pleased” with the reception to the PC VR release. Stating it focused heavily on performance to ensure things ran smoothly, this pushed the team to learn more about its tools and then apply these same principles to the PlayStation VR2 release.

“We applied the same principle to the PS VR2 version. We actually went so deep that we had to rebuild most of the visual aspects of the game from the ground up to get our target performance. We wanted the foveated rendering to work as best as it could, and in order to do that, we needed to create a custom solution for our water visuals. To do that, we’ve learned a ton about shader programming. It was a serious amount of work, but we feel it was worth the effort.”

Delving into specifics about the PlayStation VR2 edition, Tensori confirmed this work means POOLS runs at native 120Hz. However, the developer warns there might be a few frame rate drops in larger areas if you’re using a standard PS5 console. Performance will benefit naturally from the PS5 Pro’s improved specs, though dedicated Pro enhancements are planned as a post-launch update.

While today’s release uses eye-tracking for foveated rendering, Tensori informed us that more “advanced” use of the headset’s haptics isn’t available at launch. Though it didn’t elaborate on what they specifically are targeting for improvements, the studio confirmed that “we are planning to include improved haptics soon-ish in a future update.”

Finally, given that POOLS has made its way to iOS, can we expect to see it reach Apple Vision Pro, or other VR platforms like Quest? Tensori didn’t commit to further platforms yet, though it’s not ruling them out either.

“We are always looking to bring POOLS to as many players as we can. If it’s a platform that we feel we can create a great experience on, then we will have a look and see if it’s something we can do. We’re huge fans of Apple Vision Pro and the Quest, so we will definitely have a look and see if POOLS can make its home on these platforms.”

POOLS is out now on PC VR and PlayStation VR2. Free VR-supported demos are available on both platforms.

POOLS VR Review: A Darker Take On The Original
POOLS adds a compelling new dimension to this backrooms-inspired experience with PC VR support.
UploadVRK. Guillory

Godot Gets Big OpenXR Update Aiming to Attract XR Devs from Unity

Posted on by

Godot, the open source game engine, has included basic OpenXR support for a number of years now, allowing developers to easily publish their apps across a variety of XR headsets. Now, Godot just an update that brings even more OpenXR functionality, aiming to make the free and open source engine even more attractive to XR devs.

The News

OpenXR is an open, royalty-free standard lead by The Khronos Group which provides a single, unified interface for developing VR and AR applications. Most XR platforms support it—excluding Apple, which uses its own APIs for Vision Pro.

Now, in the recent 4.5 update, the Godot game engine officially shipped a big OpenXR feature, namely the OpenXR render models extension, which allows for the system to accurately recognize and display platform specific hardware, like controller models—important to a proper sense of immersion when in XR.

Quest 3 Touch Controllers | Image courtesy Meta

Godot’s Lead XR Maintainer Bastiaan Olij says in a blog post the next major step though is on its way, coming in Godot 4.6. In the developer preview (Godot 4.6 dev 1), the engine already now supports OpenXR Spatial Entities, including mixed reality tools like spatial anchors, plane detection, and marker tracking—essentially allowing developers to build persistent, spatially aware MR experiences.

What’s more, Godot 4.6 also adds OpenXR 1.1 support, which includes frame synthesis for improved reprojection. Ongoing work also includes better Quad View rendering, which allows for higher quality rendering at the user’s focal point. A major Android improvement now also allows developers to deploy one universal APK for all OpenXR-compatible XR devices.

Looking ahead, Godot plans to tackle body tracking standardization, more spatial entities, multi-app support, and improved generic controller workflows, Olij says, noting that by funding and supporting Godot, Khronos ensures that its open standards, such as OpenXR, evolve with direct input from the developers who rely on them.

My Take

When it comes to XR, most apps are developed with the Unity game engine, since its barrier to entry is so low: it’s cheap (or free), has excellent documentation for learning and troubleshooting, and offers cross-platform support.

This is all well and good, provided the company behind it doesn’t alter its fee structure like it did back in 2023, which was poised to charge developers based on game installs after crossing certain revenue thresholds. In short, this would have squashed indie devs and free-to-play devs from the get-go. The structure was also designed to be applied retroactively, meaning anyone who published a game using Unity in the past could actually owe the company money, or be forced to take down their project.

Understandably, the fee structure was met with swift backlash from the developer community, forcing Unity to reverse course. The whole fiasco though reportedly doubled Godot’s user base at the time. Great for Godot, and I hope they can keep up the momentum so competition can always force publicly traded companies to think twice before putting shareholder value ahead of its userbase.

The post Godot Gets Big OpenXR Update Aiming to Attract XR Devs from Unity appeared first on Road to VR.

Inu Atsume VR Is A Dog Lover’s Best Friend

Posted on by

Considering the success Hit-Point has had with Neko Atsume on both mobile and VR, it’s been a surprising wait for the company to make a dog-themed follow-up to the pet care simulator that won the hearts of millions. Rather than making its way to the platform after finding success elsewhere, Inu Atsume VR is debuting in mixed and virtual reality. As more of a dog person myself, I’m delighted.

Inu Atsume VR will be instantly familiar to anyone who enjoyed their time with Neko Atsume Purrfect. There isn’t an adventure to beat, just pets to meet, photograph, play with, adopt, befriend, train, and love for as long as you like. It’s an immersive Nintendogs offering everything you need to pretend you have a dog without the cleaning or vet bills that come with one.

0:00

/1:30

Official trailer

Dogs are very different animals from cats, so there are certainly aspects of the game loop that differ compared to Neko Atsume VR. You pick your first dog by playing fetch with a frisbee in the park and giving them a collar, though you can also play with and befriend any dogs you encounter without the commitment of bringing them home when you visit in the future. After that, they live with you, and you need to give them enough to keep them entertained.

They’ll need a bed and food and water, naturally, but you can also get more toys and presents for them. You can teach them tricks and, if incentivized by enough treats, they’ll learn them permanently. You can have them sit or lie down on command at any time.

If they’re done digging holes in the garden to find currency for new toys, gizmos, and other surprises, you can simply call them over and pet and stroke them. Endlessly. Having lived with dogs for much of my life while living in the UK, I’ve only been able to see the family dog through a screen since moving abroad. Even spotting a dog while on a walk and sometimes getting to greet them can be a highlight. Getting to do that at any time in Inu Atsume VR, especially with how adorable they are, is worth the price of admission. I could watch them run and stroke these virtual dogs in my pets-not-allowed apartment for hours.

Actually, I think I spent close to an hour doing this before I even realized it during my first session.

With dogs being more active creatures than the aloof and independent feline, Inu Atsume VR offers a few features not found in its predecessor for interacting with your dog. You can take them to events – simplistic minigames such as maze navigation offer a break from the more passive experience found elsewhere. In this maze game, for example, you can navigate your dog through simplistic labyrinths using either a navigation panel in front of you or voice commands. Unfortunately, voice recognition is very poor and rarely works. Attempting to call and respond to my dog is neat, yet I found myself going to menus and buttons both in and out of minigames. It’s only worked for me around 10% of the time during my experience with the title.

That said, it’s the returning Mixed Reality mode from Neko Atsume Purrfect that remains a highlight. Using your room as a space for this dog to roam, playing with them or simply watching them walk around, is one of the platform’s best uses. I say that as someone who misses the joy a dog’s mere presence can bring to any room. I watch George scratch at my shoes with joy, not anger, and find myself doing odd tasks with my Quest headset in this mode in a way I haven’t in other mixed reality modes, just so I can occasionally spot them having fun as I clean my room.

Mixed reality often falls short, not from poor execution but from how unnatural it feels to have these events taking place in the real world. Yet despite the stylized appearance of these dogs, it simply feels right. I actually felt a little sad when the headset was put away and George wasn’t around, which I didn’t expect.

Mostly, though, this isn’t a game to pick up and play for long sessions. Your coins needed to play minigames and get toys are only drip-fed, and once you’ve fed and played with your pets, it’s perfectly acceptable to go about your life until returning the following day. The daily login system encourages this further, offering goodies for every day you log in.

A dog lover like myself would inevitably prefer Inu Atsume VR compared to Neko Atsume Purrfect, but Hit-Point has done more than a species swap with this new game. It’s taken advantage of VR to bring new features and ideas that feel natural to the medium and make this an engaging and adorable pet simulator that can stick with you for months. Now, if you don’t mind, George needs some food, and then we’re off to play frisbee.

Inu Atsume VR is out now on the Meta Quest platform.

VR Goalkeeping Sim CleanSheet Pro Is Out Now On Quest

Posted on by

CleanSheet Pro, a subscription-based VR soccer sim for goalkeepers, is now available on Quest.

Developed by Belfast studio INCISIV, we first learned about this CleanSheet Soccer successor back in May. Described as a simulator built for serious athletes, CleanSheet Pro sees you moving between five divisions in a progression-based career mode as you hit promotion targets to move up the ranks. Similarly, poor performance gives you relegation targets to avoid dropping.

0:00

/1:11

Progressing through this career mode gradually unlocks more stadiums, new cosmetics for the footballs and gloves, and the ability to transfer to new clubs. This comes with three fictional teams: Forgehill Rovers, Waveport City, and Stanton United, each with its own identity and environment. Different clubs offer different coaches, stadiums, and more.

Further CleanSheet Pro features include scenarios designed to emulate real-life soccer moments, seeing you face corner kicks and penalty shootouts alike. INCISIV states these are based off motion-captured data from professional footballers.

Other options include a custom shot creator, mixed reality support, and a monthly standardized test through a ‘Profiler Mode’ to recalibrate the game’s difficulty. A companion app for tracking progress and scheduling sessions is also available on iOS and Android.

CleanSheet Pro is now available on Quest through monthly ($29.99) and annual ($239.99) subscriptions, with a free seven-day trial and 50% off the first month. You can find out more in our previous interview below.

CleanSheet Pro Is A Subscription-Based VR Goalkeeping Sim Coming To Quest 3
CleanSheet Pro is a subscription-based VR soccer sim for training goalkeepers, and the sequel arrives this year on Quest 3.
UploadVRHenry Stockdale

Meta Black Friday Sale Gives 40% Off Hundreds Of Quest Games

Posted on by

The Meta Horizon Store’s Black Friday sale, now on, offers 40% off hundreds of Quest games via the discount code BFCM25.

There are far too many eligible titles for us to reasonably list, but you can see the full selection here.

Eligible games range from blockbusters like Assassin’s Creed Nexus, Reach, Asgard’s Wrath 2, Metro Awakening, Alien: Rogue Incursion, Resident Evil 4, and Arizona Sunshine 2 to indie gems like Ghost Town, Superhot VR, Dungeons of Eternity, Walkabout Mini Golf, Real VR Fishing, and GOLF+.

Seriously folks, we could go on all day here, but the TL;DR is: you can get 40% off almost every major title on Quest for the next week. A notable exception is Deadpool VR, which isn’t eligible since it only came out last week. You’ll still need to fork out $50 for it.

To apply the 40% discount for the eligible titles, just enter the code BFCM25 at checkout.

You can use it as many times as you want, up until 11:59 pm PT on December 2, a week from now.

Quest 3S Is $250 At Best Buy And Comes With $110 Of Black Friday Perks
Quest 3S is on sale for $250 at Best Buy, and comes with a $50 gift card, 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Sale Bundles

Separately, Meta is also offering 11 sale bundles, letting you get multiple games and/or DLC together for a lower price than buying them individually:

If you already own one of the games in a bundle, the price is lowered to reflect that.

Meta’s WorldGen AI-Generates Trimesh 3D Worlds From Text Prompts

Posted on by

Meta’s WorldGen AI system generates trimesh 3D worlds from text prompts, though the company doesn’t think it’s ready for Horizon Worlds yet.

Meta first teased that its Horizon Worlds creation tools would get the ability to AI-generate entire 3D worlds back in May, when announcing the related AssetGen 2.0 model. Then, in June, the company revealed that this feature would be called Environment Generation, teased example generations, and said it would launch “very soon”.

Horizon Worlds Creators Can Now AI-Generate Islands, Add AI NPCs “Very Soon”
Meta’s Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor now lets creators AI-generate island environments, and will let them add conversational AI NPCs “very soon”.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

Environment Generation launched in August, but it was (and remains) only capable of generating a very specific kind of island, a very limited scope compared to the goal of generic world creation.

What Is Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor?

Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor is a flatscreen Windows PC application Meta released in early access in February, alongside deprecating the in-VR creation tools of Horizon Worlds.

The editor offers the ability to import 3D assets, images, and sound files, place them in a 3D landscape, and implement game logic and other functionality using TypeScript, a popular offshoot of JavaScript. These worlds are then immediately playable and multiplayer-capable in Horizon Worlds.

In the US, UK, Canada, EU, Australia, New Zealand, creators can also AI-generate 3D meshes, textures, skyboxes, sound effects, ambient audio, and TypeScript.

You can download Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor here.

At Connect 2025 in September, Meta teased an overhaul of its Horizon Worlds creation tools, called Horizon Studio, which hasn’t yet launched. The tease depicted an AI Assistant capable of generating just about anything a creator wants, including entire worlds, specific assets, custom NPCs, and specific gameplay mechanics, in a matter of seconds or minutes. But it’s unclear whether what Meta was showing was notional or representative of real technology it was waiting to deploy.

Meta Horizon Studio Will AI-Generate Just About Anything For Horizon Worlds
Meta Horizon Studio, the new name for Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor, is getting an upgraded AI Assistant that can generate or change just about anything.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

That brings us to WorldGen, the new AI system Meta published a paper for.

Meta describes it as “a state-of-the-art end-to-end system for generating interactive and navigable 3D worlds from a single text prompt”, leveraging a chain of 2D and 3D techniques, rather than being a single model.

“WorldGen is built on a combination of procedural reasoning, diffusion-based 3D generation, and object-aware scene decomposition. The result is geometrically consistent, visually rich, and render-efficient 3D worlds for gaming, simulation, and immersive social environments.”

To be clear, this is not producing a Gaussian splat like World Labs’ Marble, nor an interactive video stream like Google DeepMind’s Genie 3.

Meta’s WorldGen creates a layout of traditional trimesh 3D assets, making it fully compatible with traditional game engines and rendering pipelines. And it also includes a navmesh for collision detection and NPC traversal.

0:00

/1:28

Here’s the underlying sequence WorldGen goes through after you input a prompt, according to Meta:

(1) Planning
1. Procedural blockout generation
2. Navmesh extraction
3. Reference image generation

(2) Reconstruction
1. Image-to-3D base model
2. Navmesh-based scene generation
3. Initial scene texture generation

(3) Decomposition
1. Part extraction with accelerated AutoPartGen for scenes
2. Data curation for scene decomposition

(4) Refinement
1. Image enhancement
2. Mesh refinement model
3. Texturing model

So why isn’t WorldGen rolling out in Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor, or at least being announced as a launch feature for Horizon Studio?

0:00

/0:35

0:00

/0:35

0:00

/0:35

0:00

/0:35

Meta says it’s not satisfied with the fact that WorldGen currently only produces 50×50 meter spaces, and that it takes a long time to do so. The company says it’s working to address both limitations.

It seems like a greatly upgraded future version of WorldGen will be necessary to deliver on the promise of Horizon Studio that Meta teased at Connect, and given the rate of advancement in AI, it’s very possible that the company will be able to achieve exactly that sometime in 2026.