{"id":238553,"date":"2025-09-19T09:13:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238553\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T09:13:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T09:13:17","slug":"these-new-meta-quest-games-reminded-me-that-vr-magic-hasnt-faded-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238553\/","title":{"rendered":"These new Meta Quest games reminded me that VR magic hasn’t faded yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

AC thVRsday<\/p>\n

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\"AC\n<\/p>\n

This week, guest editor Michael Hicks is covering Nick Sutrich’s weekly column<\/a> on all things VR, from new hardware to new games.<\/p>\n

Quest headsets took a back seat at Meta Connect 2025<\/a>. Zuckerberg focused on smart glasses and signaled that Meta will shift its VR focus to 3D media like Avatar. But in my time at Connect, it only took a few minutes of Star Wars podracing, Dungeons & Dragons battles, and Deadpool carnage to remind me of VR gaming’s magical effect on me.<\/p>\n

Demoing the Meta Ray-Ban Displays<\/a> and running with the Oakley Meta Vanguards<\/a> was exciting. It’s just a different kind of excitement, focused on convenience and blending technology into your everyday experience or workouts.<\/p>\n

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When I dove into the demo for Star Wars: Beyond Victory<\/a>, though, I was transported back into childhood memories of podracing on the N64 or playing with my little Star Wars collectible figurines. And the new Demeo x D&D VR game<\/a> brought me back to my high school days of tabletop roleplaying.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

It’s a reminder that even if the Quest 3<\/a> and Quest 3S<\/a> aren’t cutting-edge or Meta’s number-one priority, they remain as immersive and transformative as ever.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Today’s best Meta Quest deals<\/p>\n

Recapturing the imaginative joy of Star Wars<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: ILM)<\/p>\n

ILM’s game has a bit of a generic name, but Beyond Victory is essentially a cross between Podracing VR and Star Wars Action Figure VR. And both of them sent me to a faraway galaxy in different ways.<\/p>\n

The main story mode has you joining the podracing circuit under the tutelage of Anakin’s old nemesis, Sebulba. But it doesn’t put you inside a cockpit in first-person view, as you might expect for VR; instead, it’s more of a top-down racing style where you have to react quickly to obstacles and power-ups floating into the play space.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: ILM)<\/p>\n

Fans of the N64 game might have preferred a first-person game with cockpit immersion, similar to Squadrons. Instead, ILM went for the same kid-friendly vibe as driving Hot Wheels toy cars on motorized loop tracks.<\/p>\n

Get the latest news from Android Central, your trusted companion in the world of Android<\/p>\n

I need to hone my reflexes to improve at the game, but I felt that same nostalgic joy as when I podraced on the N64 or first watched the film as a kid.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: ILM)<\/p>\n

The Playset mode, meanwhile, has a simple premise: what if you want to put a Stormtrooper in a Karate Kid pose, dueling C-3PO holding a lightsaber, or have a Godzilla-sized Darth Vader stomping on tiny rebels? The answer is, you can, and I did!<\/p>\n

It’s not “gameplay” in the traditional sense (though you can fire weapons to “kill” figures). Beyond Victory’s Playset mode gives you a sandbox limited by your imagination, best suited for the Gorilla Tag demographic, but still a fun diversion for kids-at-heart, recapturing their imaginary games.<\/p>\n

D&D, Deadpool, and the good old days<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Twisted Pixel \/ Meta)<\/p>\n

I already got a chance to try the Deadpool VR demo<\/a> earlier this year, and loved the creatively gruesome combat, snarky meta-dialogue, and the impressive comic-style graphics. I played it again at Connect 2025, just to reexperience the violent adolescent joy.<\/p>\n

When I play video games these days, I often have one eye on my phone or listen to a podcast. I lack time to sink hours into games or fully immerse myself in a world, and I feel too grounded in real-life concerns and busyness to escape.<\/p>\n

When playing Deadpool and Batman: Arkham Shadow<\/a> in VR, though, I get that refreshing feeling that I’ve stepped into the comic book pages and I’m roleplaying how they’d act and fight. VR games like these still have that special quality of transporting me somewhere else, the way I used to.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Resolution Games)<\/p>\n

I also enjoyed playing Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked<\/a> with three other people \u2014 dungeon-crawling through a tabletop environment and taking down foes as a shifty rogue \u2014 for similar nostalgic reasons.<\/p>\n

I used to play my fair share of tabletop RPGs (mostly D&D) and board games, but my friend groups switched to lunches and bars when they found it hard to commit hours to rolling dice and roleplaying.<\/p>\n

Demeo isn’t complex or narrative-driven like Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, Resolution Games made a sit-down-and-play style game that brings back that feeling of sitting with HS friends around a table on the weekends, without being too complicated.<\/p>\n

The VR gaming magic’s still there<\/p>\n

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\"James\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Android Central)<\/p>\n

After spending a handful of seconds on the VR games above, Zuckerberg spent much more time discussing “3D storytelling,” the new Horizon TV app, and how VR films will push a new generation of users to Quest. They even invited James Cameron to come on stage and talk about his vision for 3D content.<\/p>\n

I’m not surprised by this reprioritization: Meta’s Chris Pruett talked at GDC 2025<\/a> about selling Quests to 30-something dads who want to watch TV instead of gaming, and we already have hints that the Quest 4<\/a> will be redesigned to prioritize 3D films.<\/p>\n

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\"Playing\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich \/ Android Central)<\/p>\n

But even if VR isn’t considered as mind-blowing as it was during the pandemic days \u2014 when people used it to feel less isolated \u2014 it’s not any less powerful an experience.<\/p>\n

My colleague Nick has also written about XR games bringing back youthful joy<\/a>, specifically tabletop-style games where you place plastic soldiers, toy trains, or Legos. And I’m sure others who haven’t given up on VR feel the same.<\/p>\n

The Quest 3 and 3S do the hard work of creating imaginative templates that I might have once conjured up from nothing as a kid, but can’t anymore. And thanks to full-color mixed reality, these games almost feel more real than full VR worlds because they’re inserted into my living room.<\/p>\n

I don’t blame folks for being pumped about the new Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses. But I hope they don’t give up on VR, either!<\/p>\n

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\"An
\nChildlike wonder<\/p>\n

The Meta Quest 3S may not be as light or stylish as Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but you’re getting thousands of VR and MR experiences \u2014 including Batman VR for free \u2014 in a wireless, comfortable headset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AC thVRsday This week, guest editor Michael Hicks is covering Nick Sutrich’s weekly column on all things VR,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[158,67,132,68,729,730],"class_list":{"0":"post-238553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-technology","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-virtual-reality","13":"tag-vr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115230200213500948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}