Playing Buried Worlds VR seated, and what “Moderate” comfort means here
A calm game that can be played sitting down — with an honest account of the one thing that might not suit you.
Seated or standing
Buried Worlds VR supports both, chosen in the game’s settings. Seated play is a first-class mode rather than a fallback: the detector, the pickaxe, the pan and the marketplace on your wrist all work from a chair. Nothing in the game requires you to stand or crouch: finds rise to meet you rather than staying on the ground.
Teleport or free movement
You can cross each world by teleporting — point, release, arrive — or by moving freely with the stick. Teleport is the gentler option and loses you nothing: every destination was built to be reached either way. If you know that smooth locomotion disagrees with you, choose teleport and seated play together and the game becomes one of the calmer things you can do in a headset.
What “Moderate” means
Meta Horizon Store rates the game’s comfort as Moderate. That is Meta’s assessment, not ours, and it is worth taking seriously rather than talking around. It reflects two things: free movement is offered as an option, and the game asks you to look down and reach toward the ground when you dig and pick up finds. Neither is forced on you — but a game rated Comfortable would have neither.
If you are sensitive to motion in VR: play seated, choose teleport, and keep the first session short. Three save slots mean you can stop any time and pick the same expedition up later.
What the game never asks of you
- No combat, and nothing that attacks or chases you.
- No timers, no survival meters, and no failure state for taking your time.
- No jump scares. The loudest thing in the game is a stick of dynamite you lit yourself.
- No online play, no other players, and no internet connection needed once installed.
- No requirement to finish anything in one sitting.
Things worth knowing before you buy
The detector and the pickaxe are one-handed, but the game is built around using both hands — shovelling into a pan, holding a magnet’s rope, pushing a machine. Picking up a find means reaching toward where it surfaces, which rises to chest height rather than staying on the ground. If reaching is difficult for you, tell us on Discord; that kind of report changes what gets fixed next.
Available in English and French. US$14.99 on the Meta Horizon Store, for Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro.
Read next
- Questions before buyingDevices, price, languages, saves, refunds.
- What the game isThe detector and the loop around it.