Quest 3S is on sale starting at $250 for Amazon’s October ‘Big Deals’ Prime sale, which ends October 8th.
The News
Released in late 2024, Quest 3S is Meta’s most affordable current-gen VR headset, which includes color mixed reality capabilities in addition to all of the games on the Horizon Store. As the name implies, it also runs the same games as the more expensive Quest 3, but lowers the price by using the same lenses and displays as the older Quest 2, released in 2020.
Notably, the 128GB variant is an Amazon-exclusive ‘Cardboard Hero Bundle’ for Gorilla Tag, which includes 1,000 Shiny Rocks (in-game currency, $45 value) and two digital items: the Handiwork Helmet and Handiwork Armor.
Image courtesy Amazon
Gorilla Tag is a free social game that, as the name suggests, is all about playing a game of tag with your fellow primates. If your kid has ever heard of Quest, they’ve definitely heard of Gorilla Tag.
Both headsets also include a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow (2024) [normally $50] and a three-month subscription to Meta Horizon+, which unlocks a library of solid VR games, with two new games added every month. Yes, there are also controllers in the box.
My Take
If you’re looking to shop for the Holidays early this year, it’s hard to imagine Meta going any lower than this current deal on Black Friday.
Still, if Gorilla Tag isn’t you (or your kid’s) jam, it’s possible we’ll see other bundles from Amazon and direct from Meta around that time.
Last year, Amazon had a bundle that priced Quest 3S (128GB) at its regular retail price of $300, but included a $75 gift card—which came along with the obligatory Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three month trial of Horizon+.
In any case, we’ll keep you informed of all relevant deals here, so make sure to check back with Road to VR.
Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset feels like a pretty clear directive to make a high quality MR game that showcases Quest 3’s passthrough capabilities. In that respect, it’s a partial success, as the MR/VR hybrid serves up some neat diorama-style racing action blended with a surprisingly heartfelt narrative, all the while packing in a healthy dose of the same high production value and visual wonder that made Vader Immortal such a success. Still, it was difficult to shirk the feeling halfway through that I’d much rather be playing this in VR.
Star Wars: Beyond Victory Details:
Developer: Industrial Light & Magic Publisher: Disney Electronic Content Available On:Quest 3 & 3S Reviewed On: Quest 3 Release Date: October 7th, 2025 Price: $20
Gameplay
Star Wars: Beyond Victory offers up three single-player gameplay modes: a story-driven campaign, an arcade racing mode with four available tracks, and an extra little MR mode that lets you choose, resize and articulate game models and place them around your room.
While it does serve up a two-hour campaign, I can see why the “playset” naming was added here. Beyond Victory is more of an MR mini-game grafted to a much more engaging VR narrative, short as it may be.
It does this by periodically dropping you in and out of MR and VR modes when the game decides it’s time, like entering a building to fix your podracer (VR), actually podracing (MR), fetching a part for your friend (MR), or having one of those important narrative beats that really gives ILM a chance to flex its animation skills—which are absolutely second to none. Those narrative chunks happen both in MR and VR, with MR narratives playing out like multi-shot 3D cutscenes.
Putting you in the boots of the up-and-coming podracer Volo Bolus, you find yourself mixed up with the crafty and vicious podracing legend Sebulba, who has plans to help you get back on your feet after a nasty crash. Under Sebulba’s tutelage, you begin racing again—but at a price. No spoilers here, but let’s just say it involves crime.
Long after the credits rolled, I was still thinking about Volo’s struggles to balance his love for racing while trying to be true to his friends. It’s not about the grander rebellion against the Empire, or a Luke Skywalker analogue who is ‘The Chosen One’ with all of the requisite plot armor. You’re just a podracer who doesn’t want to get into trouble. But trouble finds you.
Across the campaign’s eight chapters, which feature some of the medium’s best animation, you’re treated to a handful of Mario Kart-style races. And the mixed reality 3D game board definitely taps into the LEGO portion of my brain, letting you resize it to fit your room. You can get it as small as a chess board, or as big as I got it here.
In the game’s four races (or race-adjacent getaway scenes), you’ll pick up health, boosters, and secondary ability recharges, which for Volo is a boosted jump to help you get ahead of nasty obstacles like jutting rocks and sticky orb-things. Each racer has their own loadout, which you can explore in the Arcade section of the game. There, you’ll find other racers and all four tracks. In campaign mode though, you’re locked into Volo’s racer, which isn’t upgradable.
Racing is a fun little experience, but it’s admittedly one without a ton of depth—more of a neat sideshow to the narrative. I don’t want to call it dinky, because it is a pretty fast-paced experience, but I think the ‘wow factor’ of it being on my living room floor is really doing the heavy lifting. I would be ‘wowing’ a lot more in VR, I can tell you that.
Okay, so this isn’t the VR podracing game of my dreams. And while racing micromachines can be mildly cool, the rest of the game’s MR implementation is a definite sore spot. More on that in the Immersion section below.
Image courtesy ILM. Meta
Moments in VR are typically filled with expressive narrative beats and moments to go hands-on with contraptions and objects that really sell the whole Star Wars universe vibe. But then there’s an MR overworld to navigate (seen above), which was something so painfully boring in comparison. Piloting my little two-inch Volo back and forth around the map is a questionable design choice—maybe one born from the necessity of justifying more mixed reality where it might be better replaced with first-person VR.
Thankfully, there is a good slice of fully immersive zones, which basically signal a return to actually fun interactions and more immersive narrative beats. In short, MR racing: alright. Anything else MR: no thanks.
In VR, you’ll be treated to interesting one-off tasks to repair your ship, which include a bevy of tools and contraptions, like welders, automatic screw drivers, and ship parts galore—all of which are cleverly given to you by your second set of arms. Need a wrench? Your hand just presents it to you at the height of a holster.
In the end, I think ILM did an okay job of integrating MR into Beyond Victory given the current hardware, which isn’t really saying much.
It’s still early days, and Quest 3 can’t really understand your room, which means developers don’t have the ability to create systems that can dynamically use it to good effect—one such exception being Starship Home (2024)—making the sort of 3D gameboards you see in Beyond Victory a sort of low-hanging fruit. It is admittedly just a playset, after all, and I think setting player expectations was an unfortunate necessity.
Immersion
For all its MR dull spots, Star Wars: Beyond Victory tries its level best to make up for it with a series of expertly realized VR set pieces and character design, the latter of which shines when it comes to motion capture, animation, voice acting—the lot.
In VR, it’s just as impressive as Vader Immortal, which is one of my favorites to show off in the Venn diagram of my Star Wars nerd-friends who don’t own a VR headset.
That said, by relying on MR, the studio essentially unlocked the ability to include a ton of cutscenes, which do some of the heavy narrative lifting—making it feel like I was watching a 3D TV in my living room—okay, maybe more of a volumetric TV.
From a game mechanics perspective, I’m not against having any of that when it actually makes sense within the context of the world. As it is, Beyond Victory shifts you between MR and VR not because you need to pilot a podracer like a drone, or move a two-inch droid around the map because your real body is partially imprisoned in carbonite, or for any other reason that might suspend disbelief for the full two hours.
Image captured by Road to VR
You’re just in your living room one moment, and unceremoniously in a podracer garage with Sebulba the next. Simple narrative explanations, and maybe a bit of magic to dress my room up in MR to make it feel more like a galaxy far far away (and less like where I’m writing this review), could have bridged that inexplicable gap from being so jarring.
Okay, I do have one gripe about the game’s VR bit. Oftentimes there are invisible walls in larger areas, which force you to stay within a set zone, usually for narrative reasons. Since Beyond Victory isn’t fundamentally a large format VR game though, I found it mostly forgivable, although still less immersive than it might have been.
Comfort
For all my gripes, the MR mode is very comfortable, allowing you to reposition and resize the board to fit your playing style, whether that be on the floor or in your lap. Podracing is frenetic, so your physical room anchoring you in place should be comfortable for most everyone.
As for the VR, there aren’t any wild rides or moments of forced locomotion outside of the optional head shake, which you can turn off in the settings. Locomotion options include your standard set of comfort modes, including teleport and smooth movement, smooth and variable snap-turning, and also standing and seated modes.
‘Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset’ Comfort Settings – October 7th, 2025
Starlight Games, the studio behind House of Golf 2 (2024), announced they’re releasing a new mixed reality-supported entry into the mini golf series in October, this time using your own humble abode as a putt-putt course.
The News
Called HOUSE OF GOLF VR, the game is slated to launch on Quest on October 30th, bringing both MR and VR modes.
In MR, users can fill their physical space with custom-built mini golf courses, letting you choose from a variety of obstacles, ramps, and colorful contraptions like mini-cranes, cannons, hot air balloons, and more.
Image courtesy Starlight Games
House of Golf VR is slated to launch with “hundreds of course pieces, hazards, and whimsical items,” the studio says.
And all of that whimsy is coming in the game’s VR mode too, albeit immersing you in “vibrant VR locations filled with interactive puzzles and competitive championships,” Starlight Games says.
Initially founded in 2010 as Atomicon, the Liverpool, UK-based studio rebranded in early 2024 as Starlight Games to focus on new IP. In addition to House of Golf VR, the studio has also teased a futuristic sports game and sci-fi rogue-lite action experience currently in development—neither of which have been confirmed as XR titles at the time of this writing.
You can wishlist House of Golf VR on the Horizon Store, which supports Quest 2 and above.
My Take
On the face of it, you might be surprised that some of the bigger names in VR mini golf haven’t pursued the sort of mixed reality mode House of Golf VR is banking on, considering Meta made a big push with full-color mixed reality passthrough when it released Quest 3 in 2023.
While there are some great VR golf games ones out there—my favorite being Walkabout Mini Golf (2020) (more course DLCs to count)—not many include mixed reality modes, and I think that’s probably for good reason. Games with proper MR modes need a high degree modularity at their core to work with the wide variety of physical room spaces.
Image courtesy Starlight Games
Admittedly, Quest has gotten better at scanning rooms and automatically creating boundaries (walls, furniture, etc), but MR games that actually use that data and incorporate it into gameplay are still a rarity. Many games with MR modes rely on nifty passthrough ‘windows’ to fully-realized VR environments, or have to rely on super modular object placement so you create the fun, like Gadgeteer—and by extension, the MR mode in House of Golf VR.
As an aside, there are even fewer games, like Starship Home (amazing), that manage to split the difference, requiring users to setup their room with a few key anchor points, and then let the game figure out the fun. I want to see more of those.
Still, I would consider House of Golf VR’s MR mode a good compromise, since it essentially taps into the vestigial ‘LEGO’ section of my brain. Whatever the case, I’m just hoping they’ve managed to copy Walkabout Mini Golf’s putting mechanics, because developer Mighty Coconut has definitely hit on the gold standard there.
Resolution Games announced its upcoming Dungeons & Dragons-themed version ofDemeo (2021) is officially coming to all major VR headset and flatscreen next month.
The News
Unveiled back in January, Resolution Games and Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast have teamed up to release Demeo x DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Battlemarked.
Now, the studios announced the game is coming to Quest 2 and above, PSVR 2, and SteamVR headsets on November 20th. Priced at $30, the game also features cross-platform and cross-device compatibility with PC and PS5.
Image courtesy Resolution Games
Like Demeo, you team up with up to four online players in turn-based combat across monster-filled dungeons, this time bringing classic D&D settings and classes, including paladin, sorcerer, ranger and rogue.
Resolution Games is also releasing a playable demo during Steam Next Fest, running from October 13th – 20th. The demo is said to include two encounters and access to four playable heroes:
Tibby, the chaotic halfling sorcerer
Bolthrax, the hot-headed dragonborn paladin of Bahamut
Ash, the infernal-blooded tiefling rogue who hides her pain beneath a quip and a smirk
Jessix, the human ranger seeking retribution
My Take
Like most D&D video games, Demeo x DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Battlemarked focuses on bringing iconic D&D elements without the pen and paper roleplaying element, or long setup and planning stages to create characters, backstories, etc. The studio calls it “streamlined strategy,” emphasizing the drop-in, casual nature of the Demeo gameplay model.
While the original Demeo pretty much delivers all of those basic elements (sans D&D name), hooking more closely into the wider D&D fandom will probably give online servers a sustained bump—hopefully going far beyond the effect seen when the studio released flatscreen support of Demeoa year after launch on VR headsets.
Even if gameplay is substantively the same, keeping servers populated can only really help VR headset owners find available games for quick battles, as gameplay is essentially based on moving characters around a board, picking attacks from a series of cards, and tossing a die to randomize attack strength. Perfect for VR-flatscreen cross-play.
Whatever the case, it also means a load of new missions to take on, which could be worth plonking down the extra $30. Notably, Demeo content drops dried up proceeding the release of PvP title Demeo Battles (2023), which was originally planned as a DLC update to Demeo, but was later spun out in November 2023 as a standalone title across VR and flatscreen.
Apple seems to be releasing its next Vision Pro with M5 chip soon, but according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company may have shelved plans for a follow-up headset that’s cheaper and lighter in favor of releasing smart glasses set to compete with Meta.
The News
According to previous rumors, Apple was developing a Vision Pro follow-up more squarely aimed at consumers—often referred to as ‘Vision Air’ (codenamed ‘N100’). Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported in September that Vision Air was expected to be “over 40% lighter and more than 50% cheaper” than the current Vision Pro, putting the device at less than 400g and less than $1,750.
Notably, a hardware refresh of Vision Pro featuring Apple’s latest M5 chip is likely releasing soon, according to recent FCC filings, although its 600g weight and $3,500 price tag are likely to remain the same.
Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses & Neural Band | Image courtesy Meta
Now, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman maintains Apple is putting Vision Air on hold, citing internal sources. Instead, Apple is reportedly shifting resources to accelerate development of smart glasses, which aim to take on Ray-Ban Meta and the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses.
Gurman reports that Apple is pursuing at least two types of smart glasses: an audio-only pair codenamed ‘N50’, which are meant to pair with iPhone, and ostensibly compete with Meta’s fleet of $300+ smart glasses built in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. Apple is reportedly set to preview N50 as soon as 2026, with a release by 2027.
A second pair is said to contain a display, similar to Meta Ray-Ban Display, which launched late last month in the US for $800. In contrast, Apple’s display smart glasses were expected to release in 2028, however the company is reportedly fast-tracking the device’s development.
Both versions are said to emphasize voice interaction and AI integration, and offer multiple styles and a new custom chip to power the devices.
My Take
The shifted development timeline feels a little out of character for Apple, which typically enters segments after a technology is generally proven. Apple didn’t invent the smartphone, smart watch, laptop, or desktop, although it owns a significant slice of each in 2025 thanks to its unique brand of ‘ecosystem stickiness’ and inherent cool factor.
The entrance of Meta Ray-Ban Displays however marks an important inflection point in the race to own the next big computing paradigm. Smart glasses with displays aren’t the end destination, but they are an important stepping stone along the way to all-day augmented reality. And a strong foothold in AI is integral.
“Let’s wait and see what Apple does” has been a pretty common thought process when it comes to emergent tech—something people have been saying for years in VR. The big hope was Apple would eventually swoop in, redefine VR for the masses, and make the best version of it with their first device.
Vision Pro (M2) | Image captured by Road to VR
But Vision Pro isn’t the first-gen iPhone (2007). While a lighter, cheaper version could address pain points, it would still have a hard time not drawing direct comparisons to Meta devices 5-10 times cheaper.
But AI isn’t one of those technologies you can afford to sleep on, if only from a user data collection perspective. In contrast to its biggest competitors, Apple has notably lagged in AI development, having only released its Apple Intelligence platform in late 2024 to counter Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple needs to play catchup.
While Apple is expected to release a rebuilt Siri this year to power its hardware ecosystem, smart glasses are the tip of the AI spear. Even without displays, wearing an always-on device represents a treasure trove of data and user behavior that companies will use to improve services, figure out what works and what doesn’t, and ultimately build the next big platform that companies have been salivating over: all-day AR glasses.
That’s the real battle here. Not only does Apple need smart glasses to compete in the next computing paradigm, but they also need them to bridge a very real component price gap. Economies of scale will eventually bring fiddly components down in price, like the extremely expensive and difficult to manufacture silicon carbide waveguides seen in Meta’s Orion AR prototype revealed at last year’s Connect, which cost the company $10,000 each to build. Companies also need to create parts capable of fitting into a glasses form factor, with smart glasses representing an important first testing ground.
Ray-Ban Display, Meta’s first smart glasses with a display, are now available for sale. However, unless you’re in the US and in a handful of major metropolitan areas, it’s difficult to get your hands on a pair.
The News
Meta Ray-Ban Display is now available in the US for $800. The pricetag includes the glasses and Neural Band, an EMG wristband which allows you to control the glasses with subtle gestures. Unfortunately you can’t just order the glasses, you need to schedule a ‘demo’ (which also functions as a test-fit for the various sizes) at select stores, and then you can buy one.
How to Buy Ray-Ban Display
Ray-Ban Display is being sold in the US at select Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban Stores, and Meta’s own ‘Lab’ stores. The company says the glasses will soon be available in select Verizon stores.
The easiest way to actually find a pair is by going to the Ray-Ban Display Scheduler and search by your zip code for participating nearby stores. From there, you should be able to use the “Schedule a demo” button to make an appointment. But it seems all participating stores link into a common scheduling system which is reporting no appointments available until December 1st… but the scheduler doesn’t actually let you look for appointments that far out.
At this point it’s unclear if this means every single demo at these locations has been booked, or if the number of demos is highly limited.
On the other hand, if you see “Notify me” it seems these stores aren’t even accepting appointments yet. Worse still, the “Notify me” button seems to imply that you need to sign up to be notified if an appointment becomes available on individual days, instead of just alerting you of when demos become available at the store in general.
If you aren’t in a handful of major metropolitan areas in the US, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to book an appointment to buy Ray-Ban Display glasses in the near future. Even then, it looks like only Meta’s own ‘Lab’ stores are actually showing appointment availability at the time of writing.
Likely we’ll see availability expand over the next few weeks, and that will probably mean more appointments become available at the listed stores that currently appear to be booked out into December.
Meta’s own stores seem to be the only ones with actual appointment availability at the moment. In addition to the current location in Burlingame, CA, Meta says it has new pop-up stores opening in the next few weeks:
Las Vegas, Nevada – Opens October 16, 2025
Wynn Plaza
Los Angeles, California – Opens October 24, 2025
8600 Melrose Avenue
New York, New York – Opens November 13, 2025
697 5th Avenue
My Take
Given the seemingly minimal lack of appointment availability on ‘launch day,’ the rollout of Ray-Ban Display feels a little rushed.
On one hand, it’s somewhat confusing that you need to book a “demo” in order to be allowed to purchase the device. At least calling it a “fitting” would be a little clearer that the demo is not just a demo, but also a requirement to purchase the device (while at the same time making it a bit clearer why an in-person appointment is necessary). And it’s a little weird too that the company is touting the launch of its new glasses while they are still very difficult to buy.
Granted, it makes sense to me that Meta wants to slow-roll the initial launch in this way.
The Ray-Ban display glasses have two different frame sizes and three different wristband sizes. Getting a proper fit for each person is important not just for comfort, but likely for usability; an improperly fitting Neural Band may have a noticeable impact on how well the device can detect inputs for each individual person. And for the glasses, getting the wrong frame size could impact image quality if the user’s eye isn’t in the center of the ‘eyebox’ (the region where the display can be seen).
Since Meta hasn’t had a chance to test its Neural Band and the Display glasses on a large population, they may not yet know how well the band and display in the glasses will work across a broader range of people and situations. Rolling the device out slowly with individual fitting sessions for each purchase gives the company the best chance to spot any issues that weren’t already identified with their pre-launch testing population.
Apple may be preparing to release its long-rumored M5 hardware refresh of Vision Pro, according to new certification tests filed with the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC).
The News
As first spotted by MacRumors, Apple’s next Vision Pro seems to be right around the corner, as the FCC has published a trove of transmission tests, SAR test reports, and WLAN test reports for a new “Head Mounted Device” from Apple.
The FCC documents in question don’t include any specs as such, however they do include a single image that seems to confirm the device is Apple’s next Vision Pro, and not, say, a pair of smart glasses.
Image courtesy FCC
This follows a leak in August, which seemingly confirmed that Vision Pro isn’t getting a massive overhaul, instead pointing to a hardware refresh that could feature Apple’s upcoming M5 chipset, according to code shared by Apple and discovered by MacRumors.
The report also suggested that the new Vision Pro hardware refresh “isn’t expected to feature any design changes or hardware updates aside from the new chip,” although it could feature a new, more comfortable head strap.
My Take
The inclusion of M5 alone doesn’t feel like a massive overhaul, although it is a fair leap in chipset generations. Released in February 2024 for $3,500, the original Apple Vision Pro was saddled with the then two year-old M2—still the most powerful consumer standalone to date, but just not one on par with the rest of its ‘Pro’ lineup at the time.
Notably, despite having access to almost all iPad apps in addition to built-for-XR apps of its own, Vision Pro (M2) doesn’t run some of the most requested productivity apps natively, like Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro. There’s no guarantee the new hardware refresh will either, but it could do a few things.
Apple Vision Pro with ANNAPRO A2 Strap | Photo by Road to VR
Provided we’re getting what’s reported (no more, no less), that essentially puts Vision Pro on par with the rest of Apple’s core products. It could allow developers to build apps that perform consistently across all of the reported ‘Pro’ Mac and iPad devices coming with M5, new Vision Pro included.
As Road to VR reader Christian Schildwaechter points out in the comments of the initial report, the M5 Vision Pro refresh might actually be a distinctly pragmatic move by Apple though, and less about enabling more powerful apps for prosumers, making it more of a stopgap measure.
As Schildwaechter puts it, “most users won’t benefit from an M5. Enterprise customers creating inhouse apps will be happy about the extra performance, but developers targeting consumers probably won’t bother with it.”
So, Apple could be killing two birds with one stone. Hypothetically, the company can flush its stock of Vision Pro parts and plonk in the new M5 to keep enterprise buyers engaged until the company releases its first real headset targeted squarely at consumers.
As reported by independent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s next big XR push could be a cheaper and lighter version expected to release in 2027, called ‘Vision Air’. Kuo maintains Vision Air will be “over 40% lighter and more than 50% cheaper” than the current Vision Pro, making it around 350g and less than $1,750.
Questions worth some healthy speculation and rapid fire answers: When is the M5 Vision Pro coming?—possibly in the October/November timeframe alongside its new new MacBook Pro M5 model release. How much will it cost?—likely nothing short of the $3,500 if Apple is, you know, still Apple.
Thief pioneered the stealth-action genre starting in the late ’90s, and now the storied franchise is finally coming to all major headsets in its first made-for-VR game.
I had a chance to go hands-on with the latest build of Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow on PSVR 2 at the first VR Games Showcase live event, which took place in London in September. It’s also coming to Quest 2 and above and SteamVR headsets at release, which is expected sometime later this year.
I walked away impressed with my hour-long hands-on, and here’s why: in short, it’s built from the ground-up with VR immersion in mind, from scaling buildings and sneaking around hulking armored guards, to the sort of smartly designed object interaction you’d expect from a VR-native.
It also does something I love in VR games, namely it shies away from exposition-heavy narrative drops in favor of rewarding your curiosity.
Beyond finding notes and clues around the game’s steam-punky environments, you’ll also eavesdrop on guards as they gossip about what the higher-ups are ordering, or how the City is changing in response to the new threat in town: Magpie, a scruffy Artful Dodger-type turned Super Thief with the help of a magical relic. That’s you.
Note: you’ll also probably recognize a familiar voice from the original flatscreen games: voice actor Stephen Russell is reprising his role as Garrett,
Like other Thief games, combat really isn’t the focus here. While you’re armed with a bow, which includes multiple arrow types that you can craft and expend in different ways, and a black jack for up close and personal takedowns, sneaking around guards is usually the preferred move.
If you do bash a guard’s head in, they aren’t dead either—they’re just taking a nice little nap. But once a patrolling guard detects a fallen comrade, they can wake up, which puts the squad on high alert—not only putting you in danger as they scramble around searching for the intruder, but also damaging your chances at nabbing the mission’s highest stealth score.
So, it’s more about hiding in the shadows and not trying to take on the armored guards face-to-face. I learned that the hard way a few times during my one-hour gameplay session. A borked assassination attempt will easily alert guards, changing the diamond above their head to increasingly angry shades of red. Once you’re in striking distance, it’s back to the autosave.
Instead, you’ll be more focused on slinking around and getting your sticky fingers over all manner of loot, some of which is locked in chests need of picking. So far, it feels like one of those low-level skill checks that’s more about creating the right atmosphere than something truly difficult, but fun just the same.
That said, collecting loot isn’t a must, but it does increase your end-mission score, and helps with upgrades for your next mission too.
Those upgrades are important, since arrows are usually in short supply. Having more ammo could mean the difference between traversing the most difficult route through a mission, or getting to do more emergent gameplay stuff, like lighting a blaze with a fire arrow far away to distract a guard, or grapple-arrowing your way up to a higher vantage point or secret area. You can also shoot far away guards that might otherwise see you sneaking around a garden. There are multiple ways to skin the hypothetical cat, Maze Theory tells me.
That said, you can’t just skirt around (or shoot) guards the entire time. Pickpocketing is also a requirement in some missions, meaning you’ll need to carefully sneak up on guards and lift a needed door key or important item. You can, of course, smack them down with your trusty black jack, although it’s less ideal when there are multiple guards about.
One of the key additions to Thief VR is its Glyph Vision, which helps you identify unseen things, like power cables coursing through a building. Hold your hand up to your temple, and a short amount of Glyph Vision leads the way. Yup, there are puzzles too.
Following the cable, I find it leads behind a locked door, which means I need to pickpocket a key, scale the building from behind, get another key hidden in a puzzle, scale back down and follow the cable to a room, which, you guessed it, is an environmental puzzle requiring me to climb up pipes and deactivate a security gate.
From what I’ve played, it seems Thief VR is all about these sorts of multi-step, nestled objectives, all of them peppered with stealth interactions. And so far, Thief VR seems to be the full package: excellent visuals, smart object interaction, immersive storytelling, excellent voice talent, and missions that feel like lived-in places.
I’m really looking forward to exploring it all in our full review when the game launches sometime later this year. In the meantime, you can wishlist Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, the PlayStation Store for PSVR 2, and Steam for PC VR headsets.
Disclosure: VR Games Show covered travel and lodging expenses for one Road to VR writer to attend the event.
SCHOTT—a global leader in advanced optics and specialty glass—working with waveguide partner Lumus, is almost certainly the manufacturer of the waveguide optics in Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses. While the Ray-Ban Display glasses offer only a static 20° field-of-view, the company says its waveguide technology is also capable of supporting immersive wide field-of-view glasses in the future.
The News
Schott has secured a big win as perhaps the first waveguide maker to begin producing waveguides at consumer scale. While Meta hasn’t confirmed who makers the waveguides in the Ray-Ban Display glasses, Schott announced—just one day before the launch of Ray-Ban Display—that it was the “first company capable of handling geometric reflective waveguide manufacturing in [mass] production volumes.”
In anticipation of AR glasses, Shott has spent years investing in technology, manufacturing, and partnerships in an effort to set itself up as a leading provider of optics for smart glasses and AR glasses.
The company signed a strategic partnership with Lumus (the company that actually designs the geometric reflective waveguides) back in 2020. Last year the company announced the completion of a brand new factory which it said would “significantly enhance Schott’s capacity to supply high-quality optical components to international high-tech industries, including Augmented Reality (AR).”
Image courtesy Schott
Those investments now appear to be paying off. While there are a handful of companies out there with varying waveguide technologies and manufacturing processes, as the likely provider of the waveguides in the Ray-Ban Display glasses, Schott can now claim it has “proven mass market readiness regarding scalability;” something others have yet to do at this scale, as far as I’m aware.
“This breakthrough in industrial production of geometric reflective waveguides means nothing less than adding a crucial missing puzzle piece to the AR technology landscape,” said Dr. Ruediger Sprengard, Senior Vice President Augmented Reality at Schott. “For years, the promise of lightweight and powerful smart glasses available at scale has been out of reach. Today, we are changing that. By offering geometric reflective waveguides at scale, we’re helping our partners cross the threshold into truly wearable products, providing an immersive experience.”
As for the future, the company claims its geometric reflective waveguides will be able to scale beyond the small 20° field-of-view of the Ray-Ban Display glasses to immersive wide field-of-view devices.
“Compared to competing optical technologies in AR, geometric reflective waveguides stand out in light and energy efficiency, enabling device designers to create fashionable glasses for all-day use. These attributes make geometric reflective waveguides the best option for small FoVs, and the only available option for wide FoVs,” the company claims in its announcement.
As the likely provider of waveguides for Ray-Ban Display, Schott & Lumus have secured a big win over competitors. From the outside, it looks like Lumus’ geometric reflective waveguides won out primarily due to their light efficiency. Most other waveguide technologies rely on diffractive (rather than reflective) optics, which have certain advantages but fall short on light efficiency.
Light efficiency is crucial because the microdisplays in glasses-sized devices must be both tiny and power-efficient. As displays get larger and brighter, they get bulkier, hotter, and more power-hungry. Using a waveguide with high light efficiency thus allows the displays to be smaller, cooler, and less power-hungry, which is critical considering the tiny space available.
Light and power demands also rise with field-of-view, since spreading the same light across a wider area reduces apparent brightness.
Schott says its waveguide technology is ready to scale to wider fields-of-view, but that probably isn’t what’s holding back true AR glasses (like the Orion Prototype that Meta showed off in 2024).
It’s not just wide field-of-view optics that need to be in place for a device like Orion to ship. There’s still the issue of battery and processing power. Orion was only able to work as it does because a lot of the computation and battery was offloaded onto a wireless puck. If Meta wants to launch full AR glasses like Orion without a puck (as they did with Ray-Ban Display), the company still needs smaller, more efficient chips to make that possible.
Additionally, display technology also needs to advance in order to actually take advantage of optics that are capable of projectinga wide field-of-view
Ray-Ban Display glasses are using a fairly low resolution 0.36MP (600 × 600) display. It appears sharp because the pixels are spread across just 20°. As the field-of-view increases, both brightness and resolution need to increase to maintain the same image quality. Without much room to increase the physical size of the display, that means packing smaller pixels into the same tiny area, while also making them brighter. As you can imagine, it’s a challenge to improve these inversely-related characteristics at the same time.
Our series Inside XR Design explores the best of immersive design. Today we’re talking about how to make an incredible VR trailer using just in-game footage. No mixed reality setups, no complicated compositing—just smart planning and a proven playbook. And keep reading, because at the end, I’ll share a checklist of key technical considerations to make your trailer shine, and share a trailer that exemplifies everything we’re about to talk about.
Editor’s Note: One of the games prominently featured in this episode, Hellsweeper VR, just passed its second anniversary! This has coincided with a huge 60% discount for the game on Steam. In celebration of the game’s release anniversary, we’re bumping this episode back up to our front page to highlight the great example the game has set for engaging VR trailers.
You can find the complete video below, or continue reading for an adapted text version.
First, a quick check to make sure we’re on the same page about why trailers matter in the first place.
Here’s the thing: your game doesn’t sell your game. Your trailer sells your game.
You could make the greatest game in the world, but if you can’t show people why they should try it in the first place, then lots of people will just never will. So I cannot stress this enough… you can’t let the marketing of your game be an afterthought to your game development. It’s part of your game development. If you spend years making a game but just a few weeks making the thing that attracts people to buy it, that’s just not the optimal way to allocate your time.
So, how do you craft a trailer that turns heads—even without the complexity of mixed reality capture? Let’s break it down in three easy lessons.
The Hook
The first and maybe even most important lesson we’ll talk about today is: the hook. The hook is the thing that makes your game stand out. It’s one very specific thing that people see and say “I wanna to do that.”
It could be really cool combat, a unique art style, a creative gun, or a fun looking mechanic that other games don’t have. It’s your game’s signature.
Whatever the hook is, it should stand out as uniquely fun or interesting compared to other games in the same genre (and yes that means you should be actively playing other games in the genre in which you’re working). Without the hook, people won’t see a clear reason to buy your game over another similar game.
And here’s something that’s really important to understand: for your trailer to have a hook… your game needs to have a hook. If you don’t already know right now what your game’s hook is… figuring that out is step number one before you even think about making a trailer.
Ok now let’s look at an example to the hook in action. The first trailer we’re going to look at is from a game called Hellsweeper VR (2023) from developer Mixed Realms. Watch and see if you can tell me what the hook is:
Ok so what’s the hook? If you said something like “unique combat,” you got it. Literally before any logos appear, we see 10 seconds of some genuinely unique-looking VR combat with the player using interesting weapons and powers and flying through the air.
And the game’s combat continues to be emphasized throughout the whole thing. They don’t stop and bore us with lore or some abstract exposition, they just keep showing the hook. The trailer is saying “this is why you want to play our game.”
Show, Don’t Tell
And that brings us to our next point: show, don’t tell. Great trailers don’t tell you what’s great about a game. They show you. And in VR, this is even more critical—people need to see the fun to understand why they should put the headset on to check your game out in the first place.
The way this trailer links together lots of these very unique moments that players can experience in the game creates a picture in our mind about what it will feel like to play the game.
Story Structure
And that brings us to our third lesson: tell a story.
Now, importantly, when I say “tell a story,” I’m not saying “explain your game’s narrative.”
Your goal is to show viewers what they will do, and how they will feel when playing your game. So that’s the story your trailer should tell.
And while it might be tempting to just capture general gameplay footage and then figure out how to cut the clips together later, a better approach is to decide ahead of time what the most important things are that you want viewers to see.
Not only should you decide exactly what moments you want to show, you should also arrange them in a narrative arc. Simply put, that means an introduction, rising action, and a climax to leave the audience with something memorable.
That’s exactly what developer Respawn Entertainment did with this excellent trailer for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (2020). As we watch, notice how they carefully choreographed and then acted out intentional moments to create a cohesive story about how players will feel as they play the game.
