There is a mixed reality clone of Minecraft for Quest and we tried it
Discovery 2 lets you get creative in Minecraft style and even play in mixed reality. I tried the new game with Quest 3.
Meta Quest has been around for almost six years now, and the VR platform has lacked an official Minecraft version for just as long.
The Minecraft clone Discovery 2 aims to remedy this situation and give fans an alternative built from the ground up for VR and MR. The game was released in Early Access just before Christmas and supports Meta Quest 3, 3S, 2 and Pro.
Currently, there is only a creative sandbox mode where you can build worlds to your heart's content. More game modes will be added later this year, including a survival mode. You can play alone or with a friend on your local home network. True online multiplayer is planned for the near future.
Easy to learn
I tried Discovery 2 with Meta Quest 3 and quickly found my way around. Use the left controller to open a menu with all the available blocks, use the right controller to select them and place them in the world. You can play with hand tracking if you like, but it is much easier and more efficient to play with the controllers.
Discovery offers 215 different materials, including logical one with electrical circuits and materials for coloring. I'm not a Minecraft expert, so I can't judge how well Discovery 2 replicates or expands on the features of the original game. However, I can imagine spending time with this world builder, as the controls are intuitive, and the VR implementation is well done.
A unique feature of Discovery 2 is the mixed reality mode, which displays a circular section of the world that can be freely moved, zoomed in and out and rotated.
Almost ten years after Microsoft's legendary Hololens demo, you can finally play a quasi-Minecraft as a mixed reality hologram yourself. This mode is no gimmick, as the diorama view makes it easier to build and get a better overview of the architecture. It is also more tolerable for people who are sensitive to artificial locomotion or overwhelmed by the cognitive load of fully immersive VR.
Big plans for Discovery 2
I also liked the fact that you can turn off post-processing effects and adjust two important graphics parameters to your liking: the visibility, and the resolution (between 85 and 140 percent of the standard resolution). However, if you want to play smoothly, you have to make compromises. Thanks to Minecraft's timeless block aesthetic, Discovery 2 still looks good with less than optimal settings.
The game also allows you to visit user-generated worlds created with Discovery 1 in the World Gallery.
The solo developer behind Discovery 2, Joachim Graesser, has a lot planned for the game, and at some point the title should be released with cross-platform support for Pico headsets, Playstation VR 2, SteamVR headsets, and in a 2D version for Windows, Android, and iOS.
If you like the idea of a mixed reality Minecraft and want to support Graesser, you can purchase Discovery 2 on the Horizon Store. On January 20, 2025, a bundle of Discovery 1 and 2 will be released, especially for people who have bought Discovery 1 and want to upgrade to Discovery 2 at a reasonable price.
Alternatives to Discovery 2 include the unofficial Minecraft port QuestCraft, which does not support mixed reality. For Playstation VR 2 and SteamVR headsets, there is CyubeVR, which bills itself as a more independent voxel game interpretation.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
