Retrocade on Apple Vision Pro is the nostalgic virtual 1980s arcade experience VR gamers have been waiting for, and arguably the best visionOS title yet, though multiplayer is sorely missing.

One of the first ideas anyone with any interest in retro gaming has when they first try VR is a faithful recreation of a 1980s video game arcade. Earlier this month, Resolution Games released the best version of this idea we’ve seen yet, exclusively on Apple Vision Pro’s $7/month aptly-named Apple Arcade game subscription service.

Retrocade was developed by Resolution Games, the veteran XR game studio behind dozens of top titles across all major headsets. Chances are, if you’re a VR gamer, you’ve seen their logo pop up before a game you love. Apple contracted Resolution to build Game Room for Vision Pro’s launch and the Gears & Goo tower defense game that released last year, both also on Apple Arcade. Resolution also ported its flagship cross-platform title Demeo to visionOS.

Retrocade is also available as a flatscreen game on iPhone and iPad, and if you’re a mobile gamer I’m sure you’d have fun with it. But where it really shines is in its native visionOS version, with realistic true-scale cabinets placed in either your physical space or a nostalgic depiction of a typical 1989 American arcade.

In this virtual arcade you’ll find the following 10 licensed games cabinets:

• Breakout (1976 – Atari)
• Space Invaders (1978 – Taito)
• Asteroids (1979 – Atari)
• Pac-Man (1980 – Namco)
• Centipede (1981 – Atari)
• Frogger (1981 – Konami)
• Track & Field (1983 – Konami)
• Galaga (1981 – Namco)
• Bubble Bobble (1986 – Taito)
• Haunted Castle (1988 – Konami)

While the virtual cabinets are impressively realistic, and the control elements like joysticks and buttons are animated, I should note that you don’t actually directly interact with them using your hands. Instead, the game requires a Bluetooth gamepad, such as a PlayStation DualShock controller, the controls of which map to those of the cabinets.

Pressing the Select button on your controller inserts a virtual coin into the cabinet, and Start remotely presses its 1 Player mode button. From here, the action buttons (eg, AB/XY) map to the cabinet’s action buttons and you can use either of the sticks, or the D-Pad, to move the joystick.

The virtual coins inserted into the cabinets are unlimited, by the way. There are no microtransactions in Retrocade, though that might be an interesting monetization option for people unwilling to pay the subscription fee for Apple Arcade.

When playing any of the games, you can switch between being inside the virtual arcade, with all the other cabinets visible around you, or to have only the cabinet you’re playing in your physical space. Retrocade can be a VR or mixed reality game, whichever you prefer.

Oculus launches Arcade along with several new VR games

The launch today of pre-orders for the redesigned $100 Gear VR is accompanied by the availability of Arcade, offering “more than 20 classic games like Pac-Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Gauntlet” all playable in a virtual arcade. The app is available as a beta release from the Oculus Store. Prices

UploadVRIan Hamilton

There have been other official attempts in the past to bring a retro arcade to VR, such as the discontinued Oculus Arcade for the Samsung Gear VR phone-holder headset and Oculus Go. But both headsets were 3DoF, rotation tracking only, meaning you couldn’t lean around and appreciate the cabinet as an object in space.

A decade later, Retrocade on Apple Vision Pro is the same idea but done right – mostly. The combination of the powerful M-series chipset, high-resolution micro-OLED displays, rock-solid positional tracking and hard work of Resolution Games delivers a feeling that the cabinet is truly there in front of you, and the virtual arcade environment induces a deep feeling of immersive nostalgia.

The smallest details of each cabinet are faithfully recreated in real-time, and the on-by-default CRT filter, to my eyes at least, looks identical to what you’d get from a real display of the era. Retrocade would be a delight to look at if it were just a non-interactive passive environment. And yet what you get here is 10 fully-playable, true-to-original games too – some of the most iconic of all time.

All this is not to say that Retrocade is perfect.

I understand why Resolution chose to require a controller, as it’s far more precise and reliable than hand tracking input would have been. Though I do wish hand tracking input was an experimental option, or at least supported for pressing buttons. There’s something a little jarring about having such a realistic cabinet not respond to poking at the buttons.

Another issue is that the mixed reality mode operates as a Full Space, so it doesn’t support visionOS Shared Space multitasking. You can’t put on a movie or YouTube video in the background, if that’s your thing, and nor could you have an instant messaging or security camera app open. If you absolutely need multitasking, you can play Retrocade in a 2D window, where it essentially acts like the iPad app. But this entirely removes the magic of having a virtual cabinet.

The more pressing problem with Retrocade, though, is that you might feel lonely. The magic of the real arcade was not just the cabinets, but the people there beside you. The real Bubble Bobble and Track & Field supported simultaneous multiplayer, while the other games supported alternating turns. What I really want here is SharePlay – to see friends as Personas standing beside me, able to interact with the cabinet too. The only social layer in Retrocade is that the game sends your stats to Apple Game Center, so you can asynchronously compete with friends, but this just isn’t the same thing as feeling together.

Retrocade – The Final Verdict

If you accept it as a singleplayer experience, Retrocade is a beautifully polished rendition of the virtual 1980s arcade VR gamers have dreamed of. It’s a shame that it’s exclusive to a $3500 headset, but it seems Apple paid for the development of the game. Hopefully other VR platforms get something similar, perhaps from another arcade game company like Sega, in the near future.

You can find Retrocade on the visionOS App Store via the Apple Arcade subscription.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.

The PlayStation VR2 port of Titan Isles has blasted its way onto Sony’s headset.

Today, Psytec Games has released their high-mobility action-adventure shooter Titan Isles on Sony’s PlayStation VR2. The game lands just twelve days after Psytec announced its PS VR2 release date.

Designed to make the most of PS5’s hardware, the PS VR2 port runs at a native 90fps on base PS5, boosted to 120fps on PS5 Pro. The devs also confirmed that both the base and Pro versions utilize native resolution and eye-tracked foveated rendering for maximum visual clarity. Psytec Games has also made the most of the PS5 controller’s adaptive triggers, giving each weapon its own resistance, plus headset haptics and full bHaptics support.

We previously reviewed Titan Isles when it debuted on Meta Quest, and found it to be “a compelling action adventure that’s equally enjoyable in co-op and single-player.” Our reviewer went on enthusiastically, writing that Titan Isles was “the most fun I’ve personally had with a VR co-op experience since Dungeons of Eternity.”

Titan Isles is available starting today on the PS VR2 store at a cost of $24.99. The game is also available on Steam and Quest.

Asha Sharma offered only vague responses when asked about what to expect from Xbox’s next era

Rothman said “yes” when Matt Belloni asked if Sony’s Spider-Man Universe would be getting a fresh reboot

Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is the latest VR adaptation of the iconic detective, delivering uneven investigations in Early Access.

No stranger to video game adaptations, Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective has seen his fair share of reimaginings, from a young amateur grappling with the supernatural in Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened to the immersive theater online co-op seen in Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Hung Parliament. Each iteration hones in on a different aspect of the character that, done well, is interesting in its own right. Out now on Early Access, Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is an uneven portrayal of the character, even if there is an entertaining core gameplay at the heart of it.

Starting in the famous 221B Baker Street apartment, a woman bursts through the door clamoring for help: a man has died in mysterious circumstances. Before leaving, you are allowed to rummage through the place. Sherlockians will find his previous exploits scattered around the furniture. Picking up files from his old cases like The Hound of the Baskervilles makes the seasoned investigator mutter a few words about how it ended in such a tragic way. An out-of-place Meta Quest 3 box earns the description of being “a lens into countless realities,” signaling that the story is developing in the current era.

A modern-day Sherlock Holmes has been done before, most notably in the famous 2010 BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch. This time around, he is brought up to speed with innovative tools to help with his sleuthing. This version of the character is armed with a magnifying glass, a chemical analyzer, and a fingerprint scanner. After finding and packing them in a slick toolbox, one last tutorial reveals itself as the focus. Much like classic point-and-click adventures, Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective asks you to find hidden objects in a specific area.

Leaving the apartment only to find the crime scene is just down the street, it is relatively surprising that you are allowed to explore the short but shady alleyways of London. Graphically, it is your usual Quest 3 slightly cartoony look, but the music and attention to detail are appreciated. Walking by a record store, for instance, lets you listen to the sound of a vinyl emanating from a record player. A souvenir shop showing Holmes’ own escapades shudders amusingly when grabbed. Lastly, a red telephone box ringing close to the mansion where the crime happened whispers to Sherlock that there is more than meets the eye in this case.

There are currently only two cases available to play. One in a lavish residence, the other in some shadowy docks, the way they unfold is rather straightforward: question the suspects, find the correct items in determined areas, and accuse the guilty party of the murder. As mentioned, finding objects is the main course, such as keys, torn documents, or pieces to grander puzzles in a sea of everyday items.

Other than object finding, light puzzles like reconstructing torn photographs and moving pieces to fit a painting are a welcome change of pace. My personal favorite was using the modern tools at hand: carefully inspecting a corpse’s markings and accessories worn with the magnifying glass or analyzing a cup with the fingerprint scanner felt more akin to detective work.

Of course, like any other respectable whodunit, there is an overarching plot of a secret society with paranormal overtones. Because there are only two episodes so far, it ends on a cliffhanger that still has no answer. At the time of writing, the developer has not given a concrete timeline of when new updates will drop, so I would recommend entering this mystery with caution. I would personally be devastated if they did not follow through with the enticing setup.

As an Early Access release, it is understandable when only certain options are offered or shortcuts are taken, but in this case they felt like they detracted from the experience. The only way to move is by teleporting and snap turning, with no smooth turning or walking to speak of. What stood out like a sore thumb, though, was the use of generative AI. The voice acting is wooden, and the sound quality is blown out. Sherlock’s accent itself, jumping from American to British as the chapters changed, was jarring to say the least. Using AI-generated images can be considered harmless, as the clue-finding is where it’s at, but it is still there.

Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is a promising title with considerable drawbacks. The atmosphere is so well recreated that even in its modern setting, it feels attuned to the iconic tales from which it originated. Emphasizing object searching, it is a relaxing experience that fans of point-and-click mysteries will enjoy. While the lack of constant communication regarding future support from the developers is alarming, the current offering is a middling pastime.

Sherlock Holmes: The Master Detective is out now in Early Access for Meta Quest 3/3S.