PuppetsVR

I came into PuppetsVR the same way I approach any curiosity item in the sub-five-dollar tier: with low expectations and a willingness to be surprised. I was not surprised. This is a VR-only title from Expo Virtualis, a small art-student outfit that launched it on Steam in late 2017 and, by all evidence, lost momentum before the calendar flipped to 2019. The last tracked developer update is the March 2018 Theatre Tech Update, and the Steam community page has users openly asking if anyone is still home. That context matters more than any single feature the game offers. The core loop, what little there is, puts you on a virtual puppet stage using SteamVR tracked controllers to physically manipulate hand puppets in real time. You move the controllers to animate the puppet's body, use the stage lighting controls to set mood, and can bring in other players online to perform alongside you or spectate. There is a camera screen behind the booth so you can monitor how the performance looks from the audience side, which is a genuinely clever touch that speaks to what this concept could have been. The puppet manipulation itself reportedly translates physical hand motion reasonably well, which is the one mechanical pillar the developers said was close to final even in early build. Everything else, meaning a second customizable puppet out of two total base characters, rudimentary stage lighting, and a multiplayer lobby with documented connectivity bugs, is the entire product. From a performance standpoint, the Theatre Tech Update introduced a more GPU-intensive environment while the multiplayer connectivity issues were only partially resolved. There are known bugs where grabbed physics objects freeze mid-air when a player has high ping, puppets lose their saved appearance and render pitch black, and the default puppet shipped with broken materials. These are not fresh launch-week bugs. They were documented in 2017 and the thread is still pinned. For a VR game where physical presence and visual polish directly affect the experience, that list stings. The target audience written into the developer's own early access notes covers puppetry enthusiasts, families, and VR art community types. It was also demoed at live art shows, which actually makes sense as a curated, staffed demo. As a product you buy, install, and try to populate a lobby with strangers in 2025, it collapses fast. Six lifetime reviews on Steam is not a data point you can argue around. The online PvP tag on this page is technically accurate, since multiplayer exists, but calling it a competitive experience would be generous to the point of fiction. If you have a close friend with a matching VR setup, a taste for strange art-adjacent software, and the kind of patience that finds charm in unfinished things, there is a ghost of something interesting here. The concept of shared virtual puppetry is not inherently bad. But this is abandoned Early Access, full stop, and the execution never got far enough past the proof-of-concept stage to be worth recommending to anyone who wants something that actually works.

Fred · Scout Team

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