Not every VR game wants to hand you a goal. Buildport: Xumia skips traditional progression entirely and drops you into a floating world where making weird machines is the whole point. It’s equal parts inventor sim, construction toy, and low-gravity playground.
Now out on Meta Quest 3, it invites players to assemble custom vehicles, strap in, and take off sometimes literally with no narrative pressure or combat to worry about. It’s physics-based creativity wrapped in a lightweight sci-fi setting.
Core gameplay is all about building and flying
You start with a workbench, a bunch of mechanical parts, and a sky island. From there, the gameplay revolves around designing, testing, and modifying your own flying machines. Propellers, engines, rotors, and other functional pieces can be snapped together in VR with tactile interaction.
Once you build something that resembles a vehicle, you can jump inside and fly it in first-person. The controls aren’t on-rails or simplified. You’re piloting what you built, which means if the craft is unstable, you’ll feel it immediately. That’s part of the loop — trial, error, adjust, repeat.
It’s not about speed or precision. Instead, Buildport: Xumia focuses on the feeling of experimentation. The fun comes from watching your cobbled-together ship wobble into the air, fall apart mid-flight, or somehow make it across the island.
Visual style and environment keep it simple
The world is compact and deliberately stylized. You’re not in a giant open world, but rather a small floating landscape surrounded by void. It’s minimal, but that works in the game’s favor. The focus stays on the things you build, not on distant scenery.
Textures are clean, colors are muted, and the parts you use to build are clearly defined. The UI is kept light, with most interactions happening through direct manipulation of objects. It’s closer to a VR maker toy than a structured simulator.
That said, it’s not fully abstract. The setting a suspended platform with sci-fi undertones gives just enough context to make the sandbox feel grounded without getting in the way.
Not a game for goals, but one for ideas
There are no missions, no scores, and no unlock trees. This is a physics sandbox that puts all its focus on building and flying. It might not hook players who need structured challenges, but it has potential for those who enjoy creative freedom in VR.
Buildport: Xumia fits into a niche of VR that’s been steadily growing games where physical interaction and experimentation matter more than narrative or action. Think Gadgeteer or Fantastic Contraption, but with a stronger flight component.
It’s early and still feels like a framework more than a finished product, but for now, it offers a strange and oddly satisfying loop: build, fly, crash, repeat.
Virtual Reality Explorer & Game Reviewer
Always the first to plug in. VRSCOUT dives head-first into the most immersive VR worlds, analyzing mechanics, comfort, innovation, and that elusive “presence” factor. If he says it’s worth it, it probably is.
