Cité Alexandrie brings banned-book smuggling to PC VR for $19.90, almost 11 months after Quest

Cité Alexandrie reached Steam on September 22 at $19.90 in the US, almost 11 months after the Quest version arrived on October 30, 2025. The French game hands you an illegal cultural network in an alternate 1980s France where books, records and comics are banned, and asks you to keep it running without being caught.

The network is run from a diorama the player turns by hand, with stock ordered on a period terminal. Image: Sirène Rouge Games

Sirène Rouge Games is the developer, with La Belle Games credited as co-producer, and the Steam listing marks the game VR Only and single-player, with tracked controller support and an English and French interface. An introductory 25% discount takes it to $14.92 until October 6.

The whole game sits on a rotating diorama

You run the network from a physical diorama you turn and examine from a chair, Sirène Rouge Games says, with no teleportation and nothing further away than arm’s reach. Recruiting members, handing out jobs, stocking contraband and choosing between expanding and lying low all happen on that table, while rival gangs and the Cultural Interdiction Brigade push back.

The studio gives you one in-game year to build the operation. Lookouts, delivery agents and resellers are the roles you recruit, audio tapes and fanzines are the stock you move, and each crew member carries a history that the story draws on.

Sirène Rouge Games points to Fahrenheit 451 and The Wire as the reference points for its alternate 1980s, and describes every choice in the game as an act of resistance. The Cultural Interdiction Brigade is the state force hunting the network, and rival gangs are after the same trade.

That seated design keeps the hardware demands low. Steam sets the minimum at Windows 10, a Core i5-4590 or FX 8350, 8GB of RAM, a GTX 1060 or RX 480 and 3GB of storage, with Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest 3S named under VR support and the recommended spec listing OpenXR or equivalent. A free demo sits on the same store page.

Crew members arrive with their own histories, and the story reacts to how they are used. Image: Sirène Rouge Games

French public money paid for part of it

Sirène Rouge Games credits France’s Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, the CNC, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region with supporting the game. The studio also lists it as an official selection at Tacticon and the Upload VR Showcase in 2025.

The Quest version’s 4.8 rating comes from 13 ratings

On the Meta Horizon Store the game costs $17.99 and holds 4.8 stars from 13 ratings and five written reviews, so the Steam version is $1.91 more at full price. The Quest build takes 556.69MB, supports Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro, and needs no internet connection. Steam carries no user reviews yet.

Quest-first VR games have been crossing to PC through September. Skeleton Crew VR reaches Steam Early Access on September 24, three months after its Quest release, and Echoes of Mora shipped on Steam as two separate apps, one VR and one flatscreen.

Cité Alexandrie is out on Steam for $19.90 and on the Meta Horizon Store for $17.99, and no PlayStation VR2 version has been announced.

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