UNDERDOGS VR Review On The Oculus Quest 3 - A Fantastic VR Mech Fighting Game

You might be wondering. “Is UNDERDOGS VR Worth It?” or “Is UNDERDOGS VR a fun game?” Well I’m here to tell you that yes, it is, and to find out why we’ll dive deep into what makes UNDERDOGS a fantastic futuristic mech brawler in Virtual Reality from VR game developer One Hamsa.

UNDERDOGS is a VR game where you fight robots in a huge gorilla mech suit. If that sounds like a good time to you, then you'll like this game.

UNDERDOGS VR Review - The Sights and Sounds of the Arena

The visuals of UNDERDOGS VR are crisp, even running standalone on an Oculus Quest 3. It's a very stylish game too, from the look of the gameplay to the comic strip style story panels.

The colors are splashes of vibrant and messy neon so fitting for the dystopian, cyberpunk world that the game takes place in.

The crowd just before the arena lights up

Everything is gritty, but a futuristic gritty where you might get robbed or get smashed in the arena, but at the end of the day there's always another mech, more robots, and an intense soundscape to go along with it all.

UNDERDOGS VR looks great with a unified aesthetic and vibe to it all, and that extends to the sound design. You can hear the frenetic energy all the way throughout the fight. The combination of EDM and drill rap that makes most of this VR game's soundtrack go extremely well with the crisp crash of metal on metal as your Gorilla's steel fists snap another bot in two.

The music keeps the energy high and the sound gives each action you take an additional sense of weight, contributing to the feeling that you really are inside of a massive mech suit and that you really are smashing hostile robots in an underground arena.

A frenetic fight in UNDERDOGS VR

Virtual Reality does a lot to give you this sense of immersion, but it's nothing without touches like good sound design, and UNDERDOGS VR knows this and does it extremely well. Though if you're not a fan of this sort of music then you might find it overwhelming or annoying.

The same goes for your companion "King" who will shout encouragement and share useful warnings in your ear. Like when an enemy is about to pounce from behind you. He could get a little old, and possibly annoying. Luckily you can shut off King and the Music in the Settings if you want to.

Though the warnings that your friend and business partner give you are genuinly helpful and the game just isn't the same without the frenetic pace of the music contributing to the intensity of the combat.

Oh and a quick sidenote here: If you're not comfortable with all of the swearing there are some language filtering options in the Settings menu. I guess the developers figured a game doesn't have to be crass just because it's gritty. Now back to the review.

The Settings menu where you can turn down the music, and King

The real draw of UNDERDOGS VR is the combat. UNDERDOGS is a fighting game, but with the added cool factor of you being inside a gigantic Gorilla mech suit. All of your fighting and moving is done purely with your arms, and trust me your arms will be pretty tired after playing this game for long enough.

Personally the only reason I stopped playing was because my arms hurt from constantly swinging them. Whether this is a benefit or a drawback of this game is up to you, but expect to sweat a bit after a few bouts in the arena. So for VR fitness enthusiasts, this might just be another arm workout to add to your collection.

That's because you'll be punching a lot, and swinging your arms to move as well. The punching is kind of self explanitory, but wow does it feel good to move your arms, which you can see in front of you, and also see and more importantly feel the gigantic metal arm of your mech crash into an enemy.

Punching a huge gorilla robot in the face. Very satisfying

UNDERDOGS gives great tactile feedback through the Quest's touch controllers and gives a good sense of feeling like you're actually a man in a mech suit. Even physically moving around your playspace won't move your mech, but instead shifts your position inside of it.

It's these little touches, most of which you probably won't even notice, that take the immersion of Virtual Reality to the next level in UNDERDOGS VR.

Not to mention the movement. It's no secret that VR has a bit of a movement problem, and that slide movement using a joystick is not only lacking in immersion but creates a lot of problems of its own.

Luckily UNDERDOGS doesn't rely on slide movement like so many other VR fighting games, but instead has you pulling yourself around by holding down the grip button while pulling your touch controller behind you.

It's like you're actually grabbing the ground and pulling yourself forward, which is exactly what your Mech does to move, and boy does it move quickly. I've heard this movement system compared to Gorilla Tag, but it's really more like a more responsive version of Gorn's movement system, which also has you grabbing and pulling yourself forward, albeit much more slowly than in UNDERDOGS VR.

Moving by grabbing the floor and pulling

This movement system is not only intuitive, but is also integrated into the combat. If you pull yourself forward sharply with both arms at the same time you rush forward very quickly and body slam anything that you run into. This isn't only a great way to get out of trouble, but gives you a great option in combat, especially against armored enemies.

UNDERDOGS VR Review - A Deep Combat System

You might think that combat would be simple and just come down to punching really hard and the occasional bodyslam, but you'd be wrong.

The arena isn't a simple place, and is full of all sorts of traps, like a massive hammer that slams into the ground, or a grinder that opens up on the side of the arena. Perfect for throwing bots into for crunching, but also something you should avoid yourself.

Throwing a Junk Dog into the grinder

The combat doesn't get old not only because of how satisfying it feels, but also because of how quickly enemies come at you in swarms and force you to utilize every option that you have. Smacking one robot out of the way to buy yourself some breathing room, quickly smacking another into a crusher to destroy it, and then moving out of the way of another's attack.

Combat in this game becomes a quick dance of avoidance and smashing. Trying to reduce your enemies while at the same time not being overwhelmed by their numbers.

You can play the combat methodically by keeping your distance and rushing in and out for hit and runs, or you can try to overwhelm opponents and keep them off balance. Hit one fast enough and they'll be stunned, but you might get jumped from the sides or behind while you're focusing on the enemies in front of you.

So combat becomes a constant whirling, frantic paranoia of making sure you're dishing out destruction and not about to be attacked.

Some overcharged enemies which are stronger and tougher

Speaking of being attacked, UNDERDOGS has an interesting health system. Each arm of your mech and your cockpit all have separate health pools.

If an arm's health goes to zero it breaks right off, which is a major disadvantage. You can't move or attack or block with that arm anymore.

If your cockpit health goes to zero it breaks and your human body is exposed. Take one hit to your fragile fleshy shell and it's game over.

It's an interesting system that forces you to make a lot of small decisions, and also be very careful with your arms during combat

More than once I had to make a snap judgement to block my cockpit with an arm and further risk it breaking off, or trust that my cockpit could take the damage. Your moment to moment decision making in each fight is also complicated by a myriad of status effects, damage types, and modifiers.

The health bars of the left arm and cockpit in UNDERDOGS VR

Some enemies will be armored on parts of their bodies, or go into overdrive where they deal and take far less damage. You can also get allies in the arena or decoys to help you out. There are so many different strategies and ways to fight to discover in UNDERDOGS VR, and this UNDERDOGS Review would be as big as a book if I tried to list them all for you.

There's a surprising amount of depth to UNDERDOGS VR's combat system that becomes more obvious the more you play the game, and there's also even more offensive options than just smashing. UNDERDOGS VR has an equipment system as well.

Your arms can be more than just wrecking balls, but also grabbers that can grab enemies to more easily throw them wherever you like, or even a nail gun that temporarily stuns them.

UNDERDOGS Review - It’s A Roguelike Too

You'll have to work for these options though, because UNDERDOGS is also a roguelike. Now before I say anything else I'd like to address that this might be a disheartening thing to hear for those very familiar with the VR gaming scene, which has a lot of roguelikes, and a lot of those seem like they are roguelikes more for the purpose of padding out game time than anything else.

For those unfamiliar with the concept a roguelike is a game where you progress through a series of challenges, but failing and being destroyed means that you have to start all over again from scratch like you just started the game.

Playing a lot of VR roguelikes can be tiring, but VR games like The Light Brigade and also UNDERDOGS have shown that a game that uses roguelike elements well to tie into the gameplay can enhance the game's experience.

UNDERDOGS VR uses its roguelike elements well. Between matches in the arena you have opportunities to get into various shenanigans to acquire mech parts or spend your money on equipment, enhancements, and repairs. This is all conveyed through comic strip panels and text prompts.

Repairing the ‘Rilla between matches

Getting a great new part is very satisfying, and some have benefits and drawbacks that make you really choose how to use them. After you choose a few options you're presented with another arena battle, and a choice of merchant with a special modifier and pool of equipment to win as a reward to sponsor you in the match.

These roguelike elements work pretty well in UNDERDOGS VR, but this system does still have some drawbacks. While the progression of equipment through each run is satisfying and gives you some interesting choices that affect your playstyle through each run the heavy consequences of losing mean you won’t feel as encouraged to experiment.

Though there is a Skirmish mode that lets you try out different combinations of parts without risking your run. Skirmish is a great way to test out any new equipment you might have gotten without any risks, or to warm up before your next arena bout.

As far as equipment goes you generally just choose what you think is best and sell the rest. That leans into another common problem in roguelikes. Starting over from the beginning feels a bit more boring than it should because you're going up against the same enemies yet again, just with worse gear.

You're playing the game on easy for at least the first of the three arenas just so that you can get to the harder arenas that are going to be more of a filter and a challenge.

Nailing a Roach to the floor with the Nail Gun arm

So those early fights can feel like a chore when you've already gotten some experience with the game. Luckily they're at least short, but they still feel too easy when you've got a few runs under your belt.

Part of this is because there isn't enough enemy variety in UNDERDOGS, though this will only be a problem after you've already got quite a few hours in the game. Still, you'll find yourself fighting the Roaches and Junk Dogs a lot, they form the overwhelming majority of the enemies you will be fighting early on in the game.

Later on there are more advanced versions of these enemies, but they really amount to being a little faster, hitting a little harder, and having more health. There are some interesting opponents, but way more Roaches and Junk Dogs in every wave.

Though fighting the arena champion at the end of each set of arena battles may very well make up for this. The boss fights are also incredible. Difficult, but a lot of fun.

As far as the roguelike city exploration it is still nice to get a little downtime to cool off between matches with the time you spend hustling, repairing, and upgrading.

Each fight gets you some cash and a choice of reward

UNDERDOGS VR Review - The Story

There's a story to, a story of brotherhood and beating the odds when you've got almost nothing going for you but your skill and perseverance. The story isn’t the main draw in a game like this, but seeing the camaraderie and the odds you’re against written in each of the game’s story panels makes you want to win even more for the sake of the characters.

The possibility of failure that a roguelike brings enhances these story elements by giving each fight genuine stakes.

Even a fight that you win can be a drawback if your mech takes a lot of damage, which persists, and you have to spend a lot of resources to try and get it back into shape before lumbering into the arena again.

There are a lot of these very stylistic and well made comic book style panels to convey the story and events of UNDERDOGS VR

As I said at the beginning of this UNDERDOGS VR Review though, if you want to pilot a giant mech suit and smash robots, then this game won't get old and it is the best VR Mech fighting game on the Oculus Quest 3 and even all of PCVR. At the end of the day that is the core of the game, and that core is an absolute gem of responsive touch controls and solid VR game design.

If you love VR fighting games or just the fantasy of this concept then you'll get more than your money's worth from UNDERDOGS. It’s available on the Oculus store and on Steam for PCVR.

Good luck in the arena and enjoy yourselves VR gamers.

Project Wingman VR Review - A Straightforwardly Fun Virtual Reality Flying Game

A lot of the VR Flying games out there, at least those set in modern times, can seem pretty intimidating.

Sure there’s some great VR Flying Games out there with older aircraft set in the World Wars that are fun and accessible, but so far not so much for modern aircraft.

You might have heard of more intense VR flying simulator games like VTOL VR or DCS World that put you in the cockpit of a jet engine fighter, but the downside of those is that you have to invest a lot of time and energy to even know what you’re doing in them. They’re simulations and so take a lot of time and energy to learn. Even getting to the point where to get to fly jet engine aircraft in War Thunder VR would take a lot of time.

For those that want to feel like an awesome fighter pilot, king of the sky, splashing enemy bogies left and right, but don’t want to become an amatuer aerospace engineer just to know what you’re doing, there’s Project Wingman. It’s kind of like the Ace Combat franchise. Set in a fictional world, full of massive battles, and can be played with a controller.

A massive battle in Project Wingman VR

While not originally made for Virtual Reality, Project Wingman does feature very robust and functional Virtual Reality support, and so in this article I’ll tell you all about Project Wingman VR.

It’s easy to get started to play, and if you want to fulfil your Top Gun fantasies with a joystick or keyboard, it’s a great way to scratch that itch without having to dive into VR flying experiences that are more difficult to learn.

Even if you like more in depth flight simulators, Project Wingman is still a spectacle to see in Virtual Reality, and gives a lot of teeth clenching flying and shooting on top of that.

To find out exactly how and why Project Wingman VR does this, let’s dive into this Project Wingman VR review. Oh, and if you’re wondering how to run and play Project Wingman VR in PCVR using an Oculus Quest 3 or 2 headset, I’ll include a bit on that at the bottom most section of this article.

Project Wingman VR Review - The Gameplay and Story

In Project Wingman you are a mercenary, part of a large mercenary company called Sicario, and the world is much different from the one that we know.

A cataclysmic event destroyed a large section of the west coast of North America, and the superpower of the world is the Pacific Federation. The Federation controls the west coast of North America, and a majority of the Asia-Pacific region.

A mercenary company would be crazy to fight them, but when a country called Cascadia that controls the whole North American west coast decides to leave the Federation and is invaded for it, your mercenary group works for them and fights against the Federation.

Fighting on the ground and in the air. This game has some truly impressive visuals and battlefields

Things get much crazier from there, but that’s the basis of the plot of Project Wingman, and being an elite mercenary that fights in the largest conflicts of a war torn world is exactly the feeling that the gameplay of the game gives you.

Project Wingman VR is a flight simulator, but as I’ve mentioned it’s not one caught up on realism or restraint. Every mission in the Campaign is a huge battle with tens if not hundreds of units in the sky and on the ground, both allied and enemy.

You’re a pilot, and you and your aircraft are capable of dishing out and receiving a ton of punishment. Throughout the Campaign you’ll get access to a huge roster of planes in a variety of roles to fly with a variety of stats like maximum speed and turning rate.

Not to mention a huge variety of different weapons, though at the very least you’ll always have your guns and basic short range, slow missiles to fall back on.

VR Project Wingman has a lot of different aircraft that you can unlock as you progress

You can always fire your guns with your primary fire button, and select the different missiles, bombs, and whatever other ordinance you’re carrying to fire with the secondary fire button. Missiles need to lock on to a target in front of you, and that’s the basics of how to play Project Wingman VR. The rest comes down to how you fly.

What makes Project Wingman VR so much fun is how easy it is to pick up and play like an expert pilot. The movement controls are straightforward and easy to grasp, look up, down, side to side, or roll.

Locking on with your missiles is also easy, and so is switching between targets with a single button. There will be a lot of different targets too, from ground based defenses and buildings to ships to enemy fighters of various skill. From the very first campaign mission you’re blowing up PT Boats and AA defenses with missiles, and then switching gears to take down enemy fighters.

Your opponents are numerous, sure, but they’re more fragile and less intelligent than even a new player, at least at first. You’ll find yourself up against a ton of different challenges in this game from massive airships to enemy mercenary pilots who are much faster and more skilled than your average opponent.

The science fiction elements of the game like gigantic Airships and Railguns are also impressive visually and give interesting gameplay challenges

That’s not to say that VR Project Wingman is easy. It gets harder as you progress through the Campaign, but your experience will make up for that. Each battle is massive, and becomes a thrill ride of bouncing from one target to another, turning hard through the air, launching missiles, and turning out again to evade a fighter on your tail.

That’s the essence of what makes this flying game so great in VR or the flatscreen. It’s fast paced and action oriented. Without a million controls and screens to worry about in your cockpit you can focus on chasing down enemies, or evading them, and getting a record number of kills. Zooming around the air and blowing this up feels easy and good.

You can quickly get the hang of the controls, though there doesn’t seem to be a tutorial of any kind and so you’ll have to read the keybinds in the settings menu. Luckily there aren’t too many. Still, a tutorial would have been nice. There are occasionally prompts on the screen during the first few missions, but not often enough to teach you all of the controls without having to look at the Settings.

The settings menu after setting up a joystick. An Xbox controller or gamepad will work by default

It’s possible to play this game with full control and competency in a number of ways. A keyboard and mouse will do, but you can also use an Xbox controller or other gamepad, or even a joystick (aka HOTAS). The main menu also has a neat feature where your cursor will follow where you are looking, so there’s no need to grab your mouse for the menus.

Using the joystick does involve some messing around with the keybinds to get it working, but you can play this game easily with whichever type of controller you prefer. They’re all fun and work well.

Oh, and there’s more ways to play VR Project Wingman than just the main Campaign. Though I have to say that the Campaign is fantastic and offers a decent story about a world in conflict and what the conflict does to the world. Not to mention that each mission is pretty fantastic and gives you a lot of different enemies and challenges to overcome.

Each campaign mission has a detailed briefing and conveys some of Project Wingman’s story

Well if you’re tired of the Campaign there’s also Conquest mode. While the Campaign is finite, Conquest mode generates sorties and battles for you to fight through across a map of Cascadia.

In Conquest you fight in these generated battles and accumulate money for more wingmen and equipment. Though as your enemy loses more and more to you they will send stronger forces to try and stop you. It’s an interesting mode that adds a lot of replayability to the game, and gives you a chance to experiment with more planes that you might have missed in the Campaign.

Though if you’re wondering whether Project Wingman VR has a Multiplayer mode so that you can play against others or your friends, well unfortunately it doesn’t. If you want a more Multiplayer oriented VR flight simulator with modern planes then look into VTOL VR, though that game requires a lot more learning than Project Wingman does, it does at least have a tutorial.

Project Wingman VR Review - The Look and Feel of Virtual Reality

The first thing you should consider when thinking of playing any Virtual Reality flying game is how much you’re prone to motion sickness.

That’s because more than any other genre of game on the Quest, flying games tend to give people motion sickness more than any other.

One of the biggest draws of VR in any flying game, Project Wingman included, is the ability to look around your cockpit and at the skies around you with total freedom by just moving your head around.

It’s truly awesome, and gives you a big gameplay advantage because of how easily you can keep your eye on other planes in the sky by looking at them through the top or sides of your cockpit while you’re flying past. This is very fun and very crucial in dogfights, which there are a lot of in Project Wingman VR.

Firing a missile at a ground target

Unfortunately it’s also really easy to give yourself motion sickness this way.

There are definitely ways to mitigate motion sickness while VR gaming, but if you haven’t tried high tensity flying in Virtual Reality before then keep in mind that you might have to just play in short sessions for a while until you get used to it.

With that disclaimer out of the way, wow does Project Wingman look fantastic in VR. It’s an older game and so has that sort of fuzziness to the edges of objects that a lot of older VR games have, but WOW does it still look good.

Unlike a lot of other older VR ports, Project Wingman looks great in Virtual Reality, and runs pretty well.

Not to mention the environments. They look absolutely stunning. From idyllic hillsides blasted with bomb craters and fires, to gigantic cityscapes covered in the fog of war. Project Wingman VR is a stunning display of graphical fidelity, and just like all games that include Virtual Reality, it looks even better up close in VR.

Just look at that city far below the clouds

The same goes for the feeling of the game. VR puts you right in the cockpit of your jet, and looking at your cockpit and all of the things beyond it by moving your actual head arounds really serves to make you feel much more present in the world of the game.

Though if you were wondering if you could use the third person or non cockpit views in VR, then you might be disappointed to hear that VR only allows you to play in the cockpit view. Though to be honest that would probably be the best way to play VR Project Wingman anyway.

Boom

While Project Wingman VR can be a little difficult to run with higher graphical settings on older, weaker computers, it is truly a spectacle. Each mission to undertake presents you with a battlefield full of allies and enemies in the air and on the ground.

The trails of missiles criss cross through the sky, explosions balloon from the earth with every successful missile strike. The music is upbeat, and the banter of your mercenary colleagues, enemies, and allies, is a pleasant reminder that you’re one pilot in a huge conflict.

The banter of your fellow pilots isn’t constant, but comes often enough to feel friendly

For all of these reasons Project Wingman VR is highly recommended if you want a fast and fun game that lets you be a fighter pilot and dominate the skies in massive AI battles. If you want a more Multiplayer focused or slower paced game then maybe try VTOL VR, but even for people who are used to more simulator focused VR flying games, Project Wingman is a blast. It’s a lot of fun to zoom from target to target firing missiles all the way. That’s the essence of what makes this Virtual Reality game awesome, the thrill and speed of it.

Even if you already play more in depth VR Flying Games, Project Wingman offers a more fast paced and action oriented experience than the more simulator focused games. If you just want to hop into a game and fire some missiles then this is definitely one you should check out.

If you’re interested in playing Project Wingman VR, here’s how.

How To Play Project Wingman VR

So if you’re interested in playing Project Wingman in Virtual Reality, here’s how you do that.

As far as which VR headset you’ll need, any that can connect to a PC is fine. If you’re using an Oculus Quest VR headset then you’ll have to connect it to your PC, since Project Wingman VR is a PCVR game and not available as a standalone game on the Quest store.

If you’ve played PCVR games before on your PC, then running Project Wingman VR is the same as any other PCVR game you’d play through Steam.

Though no matter how you get it running keep in mind that you might get a prompt the first time you run the game via Steam VR about what controller profile to use for your touch controllers. Don’t worry about that, since there’s no reason to use touch controllers in this VR game.

As long as Steam VR is running and detects your headset the game will automatically run in Virtual Reality mode. After loading is finished you will see the main menu in your headset.

Fighting enemy ships during a massive thunderstorm

So setup is really easy if you’ve ever played a PCVR game before.

If you’re using an Oculus Quest 2 or Oculus Quest 3 and haven’t run a PCVR game on your headset before then this guide for running VTOL VR on a Quest device should be helpful, but instead of running VTOL VR when you’re in Steam VR just run Project Wingman instead.

Since Project Wingman is a Steam game you can also use Steam Link to play it on a Quest device. You might find that it runs better through Steam Link than Oculus Airlink or Virtual Desktop.

Anyhow that’s all for this Project Wingman VR Review. This game is an absolute blast to play in Virtual Reality. It starts strong and spectacular and just became stronger and more spectacular over time. If you want to be a master pilot and fight in huge aerial battles then this is definitely a game you should try.

How To Play Minecraft VR Directly On The Oculus Quest 2 Standalone Without PCVR

Minecraft VR is an absolutely fantastic game, and once you get it working it is a ton of fun. Now you can even enjoy it if your PC isn’t great and can’t run games in PCVR. You only need a PC to install it on your headset, and after you’re done setting it up you can play VR Minecraft on your Oculus Quest 2 headset whenever you want.

Despite the low resolution textures and the blocky appearance of well… everything. VR Minecraft on the Oculus Quest 2 is an absolute blast to play.

The freedom of Minecraft’s open world and the impressiveness of exploring it becomes even better and more immersive with the addition of Virtual Reality on a Meta Quest 2. All of the caves and wilderness that you explore, and of course the creations that you make within the game, are even better to experience like they are right in front of you in VR.

Unfortunately installing Minecraft for the Oculus Quest 2 isn’t as simple as most games, which you can just install through the Oculus Store or App on your phone.

Nope, to play Minecraft VR on the Meta Quest 2 you’ll need to do a bit of extra work, but it’s definitely worth it. So if you want to explore Minecraft in VR on your Oculus Quest device then keep reading because we’ve got exactly how step by step.

Oh, and if you’ve got an Oculus Quest 3 then unfortunately this won’t work, at least at the time of writing. Currently this will only work for older Meta Quest devices, but the developers of this Minecraft VR port to Quest are hard at work on including the Meta Quest 3 as well.

Minecraft VR for the Oculus Quest 2 - Prerequisites

So before we get going with the installation process there’s a few things you’ll need:

• A Microsoft account with Minecraft: Java Edition

• A PC on the same WiFi network as your Oculus Quest 2 headset

• A cable to connect your PC to your headset: You can buy the official Oculus Link Cable here. If you’d rather try a cheaper option then there are several available from Amazon like this one here.

Once you have all of these things then you’ve got everything you need to play Minecraft on your Quest 2. So let’s get started.

Minecraft VR for the Quest 2 - Installing SideQuest

To play Minecraft directly on your Meta Quest 2 standalone without running the game on a PC, we’re going to use the popular application SideQuest to sideload an app called QuestCraft on to your headset.

If you’ve never used SideQuest before then don’t worry, I’ll run you through how to set it up and sideload QuestCraft here. Oh, and in case you’re wondering SideQuest and QuestCraft are both totally free! As long as you already own Minecraft you won’t have to pay a cent more to enjoy it in Virtual Reality.

If you already have SideQuest installed then skip down to the next section.

To start go to the SideQuest installation page and download the Easy Installer.

Download the Easy SideQuest installer by clicking here

The installation of SideQuest is guided by the installer. Each step you need to take will be shown in the SideQuest installer window.

After running the installer the first thing you will need to do is connect your Quest 2 headset to your computer using that Link Cable mentioned in the prerequisites.

The first page of the SideQuest installation process

Once your headset is connected to your PC then the installer will continue to give you instructions on how to set up a Meta developer profile and enable developer mode on your Quest device.

Unfortunately there’s no way to sideload apps like QuestCraft for VR Minecraft on your headset without doing this.

This might seem like a lot but trust me it’s worth it

Luckily the SideQuest installer makes the whole process very easy by explaining exactly what to do step by step.

After you’ve set up your Meta Organization and enabled developer mode I also recommend you create a SideQuest account while you’re at it. You’ll need it after completing the installation. Don’t worry, the SideQuest account is completely free.

If you just follow what the installer says until all of the red circles under “Connection Status” turn green, then you’ll be just fine. When you’ve successfully installed SideQuest some confetti will appear on the launcher and it will look something like this.

Once you see this you’ve successfully installed SideQuest on your Oculus Quest 2! Now on to installing Minecraft VR

Congratulations! When you’ve done this then not only is Minecraft VR just a few simple steps away, but all sorts of other sideloaded apps will be very easy to install on your Oculus Quest 2 and enjoy.

Minecraft VR - Installing and Playing QuestCraft

Now that SideQuest is installed on your headset it’s time to put your Oculus Quest 2 on and open SideQuest.

Go to your game library as usual and click the search bar at the top. You don’t have to type anything into it. Instead click on the drop down next to it and then click on the “Unknown Sources” option.

Go to “Unknown Sources” to open sideloaded applications like SideQuest or VR Minecraft

You’ll see a new application called “SideQuest” click on it to open it.

When SideQuest loads and opens you’ll get a prompt with a six digit code telling you to go to sdq.st/link and enter the code. So take your headset off, go back to your PC and go to that website and enter the six digit code. You’ll also have to log into your SideQuest account. If you didn’t make one earlier then do so now. It’s easy and it’s free.

Once you’ve linked your SideQuest installation on your headset to your Oculus Quest 2 the SideQuest app will open. You’ll get some prompts asking you for various permissions, hit “Allow” on all of them.

Allowing permissions will make everything run smoothly

You also might have a prompt, like in the screenshot above to Update SideQuest. Go ahead and do that. You’ll probably get a prompt telling you that “your phone currently isn’t allowed to install unknown apps from this source.”

If you do then hit the “Settings” button in that popup and enable the slider for “Allow this source.”

If you don’t do this then SideQuest won’t be able to install anything

If you don’t update SideQuest or aren’t prompted to then you might have to do this later when you install QuestCraft.

Otherwise if you do update then SideQuest will close itself, just relaunch it.

Now that you’ve finally installed, updated, and accessed SideQuest, let’s install Oculus Quest 2 Minecraft! This part is easy. Search for “QuestCraft” by clicking on the magnifying glass in the top right and typing it in, or if you’re lucky it might be right there on the front page.

Opening the QuestCraft page in the SideQuest app

This will open the QuestCraft page. There will be a big button on it that says “SIDELOAD". Click that button and let SideQuest do its job.

You’ll see some prompts show up saying that APKs and other things are installing. If you get any prompts asking you for permissions, then accept them.

Soon you’ll see a popup at the bottom of the window telling you that QuestCraft was installed successfully. Nice! Now go back to your app library, and go back to the “Unknown Sources” menu just like you did before to open SideQuest.

This time you’ll see a new app named “QuestCraft” so go ahead and open that.

Opening Minecraft VR from the “Unknown Sources” menu

It might take a while to load, just be patient, but when it does you’ll find yourself in a grand hall made of minecraft blocks with a huge screen right next to you.

Point your right controller at that screen and click the “Sign In” button on it.

Another code to link, but this is the last one

You’ll see a prompt appear below it telling you to go to microsoft.com/link and enter a code.

Go ahead and do that. After you enter the code you’ll also have to log into your Microsoft account that owns Minecraft: Java Edition. You’ll be asked to confirm that you’re giving certain permissions to the application in order to do this.

Now while I had no trouble when doing this, some reviews for QuestCraft on SideQuest have stated that at this point they get a message saying that their account couldn’t be found or couldn’t be accessed. If you get an error or have a problem around here then exit out of QuestCraft, restart your headset, double check the credentials you’re using for your Microsoft account, double check that your Microsoft account has Minecraft: Java Edition on it, and try again.

Once your account is linked successfully then just click “Sign In” again. It will change to some new buttons giving you various options like ModManager and the current version. Let’s finally get into some Meta Quest 2 Minecraft on your Quest and hit “Play”.

When you get here you’re so close to Oculus Quest 2 Minecraft

Or rather wait for Minecraft to download on to your Quest. You’ll see some text start appearing and disappearing in the bottom right corner of the big screen.

This is all downloading and installing a bunch of stuff to let you play VR Minecraft.

This is the last step, downloading some Minecraft VR mod files

You’ll have to wait for a few minutes, but eventually the text will go away. When it does hit “Play” again.

Then you’ll find yourself in a dirt room with the Minecraft main menu screen in front of you. Awesome! You’re finally in Minecraft VR.

The Minecraft main menu in Virtual Reality on the Quest 2

Go ahead and test out how it works by making a world and hopping in it. Your right hand works just like it does in the Oculus menus. Just point and pull the trigger to select.

The main menu and options work mostly like they do in the flatscreen Minecraft game, though there are some new options that are VR specific.

Now you should be aware that the first time you make a world and play Minecraft in VR on your Oculus Quest 2 like this, it’s probably going to be a little laggy and choppy.

Don’t worry, this will probably go away in a few minutes. Just ride it out. You may experience little glitches like your character sliding in a random direction, or the framerate suddenly dropping sharply. I found that it took about five to ten minutes for the game to smooth out and function well.

Be a little patient and hopefully it will work better. This is a mod after all, and mods tend to have bugs and problems.

Punching a tree in Minecraft VR on the Quest

As long as it runs smoothly this Minecraft VR mod for the Quest is pretty great.

You can harvest blocks, or hit enemies, by pointing your dominant hand at them with your cursor and holding down right trigger, or you can actually swing at them with your arm or tool.

Pointing your cursor at a space while holding a block and pulling the left trigger places the block in your hand. When you make a Crafting Table you can also craft things with it by pointing your cursor at it and pulling the left trigger.

Using the crafting bench in VR Minecraft

There’s a lot more to learn and discover in Minecraft VR, so I’ll leave that to you.

Not to mention you can also use your newly installed SideQuest application to Sideload all sorts of other games on to your Oculus Quest 2 as well.

Minecraft is a ton of fun in Virtual Reality, and I hope that this setup guide has given you the chance to experience the wonder and fun of VR Minecraft as well with the comfort and freedom of any standalone Quest 2 game. Enjoy!

The 5 Best VR Drumming Games For Quest PCVR and PSVR

If you feel the urge to hit things to create music then you’ll be excited to hear that those things don’t actually have to be physical anymore.

Yep, you don’t have to worry about wearing out your drumheads because there are a ton of fantastic VR Drumming Games that you can play to have the same fun you could with a physical set of drums, but in Virtual Reality! Just like all sorts of VR music games, there are some great options for playing the drums in VR.

This is even better because actual drums or drum sets are huge and expensive. Now with just a VR headset like the Oculus Quest 3 or 2 you can have fun playing percussion in a variety of ways in any of these fun and engaging VR games.

So if you’re an experienced drummer looking for new ways to play your favorite instrument, someone looking to practice and learn how to drum better, or just want to have some fun with some drums, here are the Best VR Drumming games out there.

All of these games are available for the Oculus Quest, most are available on Steam for PCVR, and the last two on this list, Ragnarock and Drum Rock are available for PSVR. Each game will have its platforms noted at the bottom of their respective sections.

Smash Drums - A Guitar Hero VR Drumming Experience

The Smash Drums Logo

Remember the Guitar Hero drum set? Well if you were lucky enough to have one you’ve probably got fond memories of hitting it to the beat of the notes on screen.

Well now you don’t need to invest the money and space into having a plastic drum set in your house to experience Guitar Hero drumming like you used to have to.

Now with the VR Drum Game Smash Drums you can get the same sort of experience, but with just a VR headset.

Smash Drums is just like Guitar Hero drumming in VR

Smash Drums is a guided VR Drum experience that shows you the notes as they come at you. All you have to do is hit the correct piece of your drum set to match the notes as they reach the end of the bar, just like Guitar Hero!

There’s a ton of songs and levels to try, with different difficulty modes, so you can jam out to any number of amazing songs and feel like a real rock star on the drums. Smash Drums also has different game modes and a scoring system that will make you always want to beat your last streak and perfect your playing.

For the casual VR drummer that wants to feel like a master on a modern drum set Smash Drums is a ton of fun and feels as satisfying as ever in Virtual Reality when you keep the beat and hit those notes just right.

Smash Drums however, is only available on the Meta Quest platform.

Taiko Frenzy - Traditional Japanese VR Drumming

The Taiko Frenzy Logo

Taiko Frenzy is another very fun VR Drumming game with a classic twist on it, and some very fun vibes inspired by traditional Japanese culture and modern Japanese arcade games.

That’s because in this game you don’t play a drum set, instead you play a Taiko, which is the word for “drum” in Japanese and also refers to the drums used by the Japanese for centuries.

Taiko Frenzy is entirely about playing the Taiko, a single huge one right in front of you. You might think at first that just hitting a single drum wouldn’t be very hard, but Taiko Frenzy actually has a lot of different ways for you to hit the Taiko in order to match the notes that roll down it towards you.

Playing the Taiko in Virtual Reality is a ton of fun

You hit the drum head, sure, but just like when played by a professional you hit the Taiko on the sides as well to produce a different sound, kind of like hitting a wood block. Some notes need to be hit harder than others, and sometimes you have to do a drum roll for a while. It’s surprisingly difficult.

As you play there are other instruments joining you in the song as well, and if you love traditional Japanese music then you will absolutely love the way this game sounds. Taiko Frenzy is a unique and cultured take on the VR Drum Game genre, and is easy to learn but hard to master.

Taiko Frenzy is available on the Meta Quest platform, and soon from the time of writing will be available on Steam for PCVR.

Paradiddle - A VR Drumming Simulation

The Paradiddle Logo

For those who want less of a VR Drumming Game and more of a VR Drum Simulation, then Paradiddle is exactly what you are looking for.

Paradiddle aims to be less of a game than a way to learn and practice how to drum on a drum set for real in Virtual Reality. While using VR does lack some of the physical sensation of actually hitting a drumhead with an actual drum stick, Paradiddle gives you everything else you could want when practicing the drums.

You can set up your drum kit any way you like in VR within a number of virtual spaces. You can even drum in your actual real life surroundings by using the Mixed Reality mode. Put a drum set anywhere in your house that you want and have at it!

Some Paradiddle gameplay of a cover of the song Chop Suey! Check out the whole song on their youtube channel.

There are even lessons if you’re out of practice or just starting out. So Paradiddle is a great way to learn how to play the drums in VR. You can even customize your drums with different layouts and pieces of equipment. All without having to spend hundreds to figure out just how you like your setup.

While Virtual Reality does have its limitations (for instance using the base drum without your feet being tracked) Paradiddle is the closest to a real VR Drumming experience as you can get in Virtual Reality.

The game even has a library of songs that can play as you drum to them, making you feel like a part of an actual band, or giving great practice for covering those songs with one. So if you want to learn how to drum or want a great and easy way to practice drumming wherever you are with your VR headset, Paradiddle is an unmatched VR Drumming simulator.

Paradiddle is available on the Meta Quest store and Steam for PCVR.

Ragnarock - VR Viking Longship Drumming

The Ragnarock Logo

Ragnarock is another unique take on a VR Drumming Game, and a very cool looking one too.

Imagine this. You’re at the helm of a Viking Longship. In front of you are all of your crewmates, rowing and rowing as the ship glides down a river through caves, forests, and ancient ruins. There are four drums in front of you in a line, and there is a hammer in both of your hands.

Runes fly towards you over your crewmates’ heads, and just as they reach one of the four drums you smack it with a hammer. That’s the essence of playing Ragnarock, and while it sounds very simple it is extremely fun.

Sailing through a spooky forest while drumming looks and feels great in Ragnarock

Rocking out and hitting your drums as the ship cruises past the varied and beautiful landscape is a ton of fun in Ragnarock. Not to mention the fun selection of music you can rock out to.

While as the name implies Ragnarock is focused on rock, hard rock, and heavy metal type of tracks, those are the perfect genres of music for intensely smashing those four drums as you cruise along.

Ragnarock is probably the easiest to learn of any of these games, it’s downright intuitive, but it is still extremely fun and quick to get into if you want a way to quickly hit some drums and play a song. Like all drumming games it is pretty intense, but Ragnarock is so much so that it’s practically a Virtual Reality workout when you play it on higher difficulties.

So if you’ve ever wanted to be the drummer on a Viking longship, or just want to cruise your way to Valhalla while drumming your heart out, give Ragnarock a look, it’s a fun time.

Ragnarock is available for the Meta Quest, on Steam for PCVR, and on Playstation VR.

Drums Rock - A Heavy Metal Take On A VR Guitar Hero Drumming Game

The Drums Rock

Drums Rock is another Guitar Hero inspired VR drumming game like Smash Drums is.

The concept is largely the same. You’ve got your drum set in front of you, and hit you hit the right piece as its note flies towards you except… these aren’t normal notes.

They don’t look like what you might expect from a Guitar Hero style drumming game at all, they’re more like little Imps or demons. Oh, and you’re not drumming in a room or on a stage. You’re drumming on a lake of fire in this VR Drum game.

Drums Rock is a very interesting looking VR Drumming Game

The look of Drums Rock is definitely much wilder and more creative, and it plays just as well, with maybe a little more leeway on the timing of hit notes. It is also available on PSVR 1 and 2. So if you’re looking for a great Guitar Hero drumming experience on the Playstation VR platform then this is it.

Drums Rock also has a very wide selection of songs, some of which you won’t find elsewhere. While the look might be very heavy metal inspired, you’ll find that the songs are largely rock or even pop.

Though the number one thing that makes Drums Rock stand out is its ability to let you add custom songs. So if you’ve got some particular songs in mind that you’d like to try then this is the game for you.

Drums Rock is available on the Meta Quest, Steam for PCVR, and Playstation VR platforms.

Well that’s all of the Best VR Drumming Games out there. Whether you want to drum professionally or just have fun banging on some drums to the notes flying towards you, there are a ton of great VR games out there for you to try. Have fun with your Virtual Reality drums and enjoy!

The Awesome Gorilla Tag Caves Map

The Gorilla Tag Caves Map is pretty awesome, and very unique as far as the many maps in Gorilla Tag go.

This is because the caves in Gorilla Tag aren’t quite like any other map. You see, while most Gorilla Tag maps have a lot of wide open spaces, cliffs to climb, and things to jump off of high into the air, the Gorilla Tag caves are much smaller with low ceilings and tight spaces.

So playing in the caves of Gorilla Tag feels less like swinging from tree to tree like in the Gorilla Tag forest map, or swimming in the wide open waters of the Gorilla Tag beach map.

Playing infection in the caves feels more like playing hide and seek, with a lot of corners to hide in, and hallways to run away from a tagged player in.

So the Gorilla Tag caves are actually pretty great for new players who don’t yet have the skills to wall climb in Gorilla Tag or do a lot of fancy tricks and get to the hard to reach hiding spots.

So whether you’re a new player just getting into the game or an experienced monkey that wants a different way to play the game, check out the Gorilla Tag caves. Here we’ll talk about how to get to the cave in Gorilla Tag, and all of the sweet things you’ll find in the Gorilla Tag cave.

You might also be interested in:

• How To Get Free Shiny Rocks in Gorilla Tag And the Gorilla Tag City Map

• 5 Great Gorilla Tag Tips and Tricks

• How To Wall Climb In Gorilla Tag

How To Get To The Gorilla Tag Caves

To find the caves in Gorilla Tag is a pretty easy thing.

When you spawn into your monke treehouse like always when you start the game, don’t go out of any of the holes in the sides of the treehouse like you usually would to get to the forest, canyon, or city.

Instead check out the hole in the bottom of the treehouse, between the cosmetics station and the way to the canyon.

The way to the Gorilla Tag caves

You can already see the glowing of some of the pink crystals down there, more on that later.

For now jump down the hole, and make your way down the twisting passage. You’ll start to hear water, and then you’ll see it.

Follow the waterfall to find the center of the cave

A little waterfall leading into a stream that leads further down into the caves. Pretty awesome!

Keep following the water downwards.

Oh, and if you want to feel like you’re on a slip and slide, a huge one, and don’t want to go all the way down to the beach to use one of the water slides there, just get into the water and slide your way down. It’s a ton of fun.

The water will pull you further down into the caves, where you’ll see the giant crystal.

This giant beautiful crystal dominates the center of the caves

The crystal is the center of the Gorilla Tag caves map, and once you’ve made it here you’re really ready to start caving in Gorilla Tag.

The scoreboard is down at the bottom of the crystal, and if the river slides you to the bottom, don’t worry, there are a couple of ropes next to the crystal that you can use to climb back up.

You’ll also notice that when you touch the crystal it will make a musical sounds, all of the glowing crystals inside the cave do that.

This is great, because not only does it sound nice, but you can also hear when other monkeys are touching the crystals, which can give you a huge advantage in knowing where they are.

Anyway now that we know how to get to the caves map in Gorilla Tag, let’s talk about all of the amazing things there are to find inside of them.

How To Get Around the Gorilla Tag Caves

So to give you an idea of how the caves in Gorilla Tag are laid out, we’re going to split them into levels, like the floors of a house.

The highest level, or the top floor, is where you enter the caves, the big open pit surrounding the crystal. This area does give you a lot of space to wall climb (though that’s really hard here) and try to juke opponents. At least it has more space than the rest of the cave.

It’s got some crystals, the two ropes to climb up in the center, and a bunch of rocks to bounce around on, good fun but not what makes the cave map really unique.

As far as the cave goes this is actually pretty spacious, a lot of room to run around

You can see the next floor, we’ll call it the third floor, below here on some of the little wooden ledges that surround the big crystal in the center.

The highest ones are little cubby holes with some rocks in them. Not really big, and not fantastic for hiding, but if you play it just right you can juke out someone chasing you by running into and out of them really quickly.

These upper ledges just lead into small rooms

There are a few of these holes, but below them is where things get really interesting.

The next lowest level, we’ll call it the second floor, is where the Gorilla Tag caves really start to become caves.

Near the scoreboard on the ground floor you’ll see another wooden ledge in the side of the wall, but this one leads into a cave mouth that you can’t see all the way inside of.

It’s a little high off of the ground, but if you jump really hard with both arms you can easily make it from the ground up to this ledge. This is the entrance to the second floor of the caves.

The way to the second floor from the central crystal

The second floor is pretty interesting because it’s smaller than the lowest floor, the one below it, but still has a lot of fun twisting passageways and places to hide.

If you’re trying to tag someone you can also hang out on the second floor and wait for them to pass by below you, before jumping down at them and tagging them when they least expect it.

The second floor has a lot of places to jump down to the lowest floor of the Gorilla Tag caves

The second floor has a lot of spots that hang out over the biggest caverns of the lower floor below it, and there are also some spots where you can jump up to the second floor from the lowest floor.

So if you want to get really tricky you can hang out on the second floor to hide, or surprise someone.

Now for where the magic really happens, the lowest floor of the caves. There are two entrances to it. One is next to the ledge leading to the second floor.

One of the entrances to the lowest floor from the central crystal

Another entrance is nearby on the other side of the scoreboard from this entrance.

It’s where the stream of water starting at the waterfall at the entrance to the caves leads, right through the doorway.

The other entrance to the lowest floor of the Gorilla Tag cave, just follow the water

The lowest floor of the caves is the biggest by far, and has a ton of great things to explore and see.

So now that we’ve covered how to get to each area of the cave, and how the floors are laid out, let’s talk about all of the awesome things there are to find.

The Awesome Things in the Gorilla Tag Caves

So what’s so great about the Gorilla Tag cave? Well a lot of things that you won’t find anywhere else in this VR game.

First there’s a little animal friend for you to make. No, not another monkey, or all of the friends you might make playing Gorilla Tag, a little bat!

You’ll know the bat in the caves is nearby when you hear it’s wings beating the air and going whoosh whoosh.

The bat flies around, mostly in the center around the big crystal, randomly and kind of bounces off of the walls. If you manage to get close and grab it you can even hold them.

You can catch the bat

When you let go, the bat goes back to flying around.

There’s also some pools of water to swim around (and maybe hide in). They even have an underwater passage leading from one to the other, a great way to move around without being seen easily.

Swimming is always fun in Gorilla Tag, and the caves have some pools you can swim in

This and all of the caverns and passages leading to it make the caves a great Gorilla Tag map for hiding and running around in.

Playing infection in this map is fantastic even if you’re new to the game, and has a lot of easy walls and slopes to climb and bounce around in. It’s not as wide open as other maps and gives you a lot of places to hide.

I’ve saved the best for last for you though, with something you might have noticed in our previous screenshots.

Remember the big crystal? How it and all of the other ones in the cave walls made sounds whenever you touched them? Well it gets even better.

All around the lowest floor of the caves are these colorful crystals, and each makes a different sound when you touch them.

These musical crystals are all over the lowest floor

Some form little paths too, and you practically make music while you move over top of them.

It sounds very cool and gives a musical vibe to the cave ambiance that otherwise would just be echoes and the dripping of water off of stalagtites.

There’s even a circular ring of these colorful stones that form a piano that stretches around you while you’re in the center. You could actually play a song on this thing.

A crystal piano, very cool

So even if you’re not playing Infection and just want to hang out in Casual, there are a lot of awesome things to play around with and explore in the caverns.

You could even play a regular game of hide and seek, or even make music in the Gorilla Tag caves.

That’s all we’ve got for you about the Gorilla Tag caves. This is definitely a unique and fun Gorilla Tag map that doesn’t quite feel like any others, and will definitely give you a lot of intense and heart pounding memories as you’re sprinting down its small hallways as fast as your monke arms can carry you. Enjoy!

You might also be interested in:

• How To Get Free Shiny Rocks in Gorilla Tag And the Gorilla Tag City Map

• 5 Great Gorilla Tag Tips and Tricks

• How To Wall Climb In Gorilla Tag