VR Gaming: Discovering SideQuest and QuestCraft
Posted on July 30, 2025 by Aywren
Reading and watching videos about various VR apps and games, I’d heard the term “side load” used a number of times. I had a gist what this meant as I’d done something similar on tablets I’ve owned. Basically, the idea is to enable downloads to your Quest that are not directly from the Meta App Store.
I found myself falling into this sooner rather than later with a pretty innocent question: Can I play Minecraft in VR on my Quest?
The answer is yes, if you side load it using an app called QuestCraft.
This led me to the SideQuest website, where I discovered the fairly painless process of setting up Developer Mode for my headset. This then allowed me to download with the SideQuest app and other apps outside of the normal app store.
The bonus to this was that QuestCraft connected to my existing Minecraft game/account via Microsoft, and flawlessly imported things like my content and skins. I didn’t have to purchase another copy to play it as long as I owned the Java edition already, which I did.
This, for example, was a skin I created for my little default character in Minecraft years ago. I was stoked to see it immediately as I launched QuestCraft.
Playing Minecraft in VR is very, very trippy. While the controls are intuitive enough, actually seeing some of those giant mountains and tall trees from your character’s perspective makes them simply massive! And when sheep and cows approach you, feeling as tall as you are… well, that’s just a different sort of immersion.
But back to SideQuest!
I really like SideQuest because it’s a very comprehensive site that lists Quest apps and games in a far easier way to browse than the Meta App Store. SideQuest itself does not sell the apps – if the app sells on the app store, the link will direct you to the official Meta store page to buy it. However, those apps that must be side loaded, and are free, you can install from the SideQuest app.
There’s also an Indie Alliance Discord, wherein you can sometimes help beta games and provide indie devs feedback for things not yet released. I haven’t explored a lot in this yet, but it’s very cool to see.
I have a lot more to talk about when it comes to VR accessories I’ve tried out and other gaming experiences in VR. But I don’t want to cram it all into one huge post, so, I’ll just leave this as it is for anyone interested in exploring what side loading and SideQuest can do for a Quest VR experience!
You can find out everything you need to know by going to the Get SideQuest page and watching the videos. That’s also how I got started!