Make the Perfect Beach Scene with Vivarium’s Summer Vacay Update

The fish and the frogs could use a little excitement. They may have a gorgeous, responsive little world to live in, but it’s summertime, and they need some beach vibes like the rest of us. Luckily, the Summer Vacay update for Vivarium on Meta Quest has them covered. Give the little guys a beach ball and a surfboard. Let them have a Bottle Palm Tree for shade, and add an Emperor Newt or a Dwarf Caiman to relax with. There’s all this and a whole lot more to decorate your terrariums and aquariums in the Vivarium Summer Vacay update, available now as a free update to Vivarium.

Vivarium came out on Meta Quest in late May, offering a calm, cozy alternative to some of the more explosive and intense experiences available elsewhere on the Meta Horizon Store. It lets you put together terrariums and aquariums in a little workshop, carefully placing your moss, stones, plants, animals, driftwood, and decorations in living dioramas that grow and change based on how well you’ve balanced the ecosystem.

For Alan Ayala from developer DoubleMe, Vivarium is an outlet to relax and create—and to bring the satisfaction of the real-life vivarium hobby to anyone with a Meta Quest.

“Not everyone is looking for intense gameplay or scary experiences,” says Ayala. “We realized that there’s a large number of players who are looking for an activity that lets them relax while spending some fun time with game mechanics that aren’t too hard to learn—and that can be repeatable, like a hobby.”

“We want people to find a break from the tiring and stressful day-to-day life at work,” Ayala continues. “People who actually make vivariums, terrariums, and aquariums at home often lose track of time being immersed in their act of creation, forgetting their surroundings and emptying their mind of any stressful thoughts. We truly hope that people can forget the negative things in their lives while exploring their creativity by making a vivarium.”

There are plenty of experiences throughout the video game world that allow players to decorate virtual spaces, but there’s something mesmerizing about doing it in virtual reality. You can pick up little decorations and objects, rotate them in your hand, and carefully place them one by one in your glass enclosure. You can lean in to see your creation up close, or sit back and take it all in at once. There’s an amazing level of detail in each little interaction, from shaping the little hills inside your terrarium to filling up a bucket of water at the sink and emptying it into your aquarium.

Vivarium also uses Passthrough mode, allowing you to create and display your vivariums inside your physical environment.

“We wanted to let players connect their creation to their space,” says Ayala. “A big part of making an aquarium or a vivarium is to think of where to put it in your room, to be able to see it whenever you want, and to enjoy the relaxation that its small ecosystem provides. We currently have a feature where you can move the vivarium and anchor it in a place in your room or expand it along a wall. As a player, you can feel like you’re building your vivarium in your space like the real hobby and start considering where in the room you want it to be displayed.”

In addition to the new plants, animals, and decorations, the Summer Vacay update also comes with a mailbox system for receiving event rewards, a new screenshot feature, and a range of other improvements and optimizations: You can see the full list of changes and additions here.

Players have already been making detailed creations like realistic pirate ships and Chinese dragons using the tools available today, and the dev team is excited about giving them even more pieces to realize their visions in the future.

“With the new items, players can recreate beach sceneries, picnic locations, tropical environments, an oasis in the desert, and so much more,” says Ayala. “The core experience won’t change, but it can definitely be enhanced in many ways.”

Quest players can find Vivarium on the Meta Horizon Store. Be sure to share your creations with the community once you start playing.