The VR Critic is Dr Luke Buckmaster, a professional critic of VR (virtual reality) and MR (mixed reality) experiences.

Dr Luke Buckmaster is a professional film, TV and virtual reality critic who has been writing film reviews since 1997. He is film critic for The Guardian Australia, chief critic of Flicks.com.au (Australia’s most popular movie publication) and runs the world-first virtual reality review website The VR Critic.

The VR Critic is a collection of reviews of virtual and mixed reality experiences. The site was developed for more than four years and launched in February 2025 with 100 previously unpublished full-length reviews, marking one of the most significant contributions to VR criticism in history. While other mediums such as film and television attract robust critical discourse, this remains lacking for VR (virtual reality) and MR (mixed reality). The VR Critic launched with the intention of filling this dearth of quality criticism.

Buckmaster’s fascination with virtual and augmented realities began around 2016. In 2022 he completed a doctoral thesis on VR as an emerging art form, arguing that virtual and mixed reality are unique mediums requiring their own language, syntax and critical discourse.