Oculus Quest workout app Supernatural now offers family plans so that sharing the same headset is easier while tracking the progress for each player.
The feature doesn’t extend to multiple Quests and it won’t wipe away the sweat for you between uses, but the feature may help some families stay fit together.
Supernatural is the Beat Saber-like workout app from Within that’s built from the ground up for the wireless freedom of Quest. The app features a deep music catalog with a number of popular artists and songs arranged into workouts with fitness coaches providing guidance. Every song makes use of 360-degree freedom, asking you to turn toward different lanes to bat away targets. The design is also meant to be fairly intelligent as it calibrates to each user — so the new family plan allows for quickly switching profiles so that “everyone gets their own personal workout history, calibration, community profile and more for a completely unique and personalized Supernatural experience,” according to Within.
Supernatural is priced $19 per month to become a member and there’s an annual membership priced to $179 as of this writing. The subscription also comes with a 30-day free trial and, when you sign up, Within is still sending out silicone liners (one per subscription) to protect the headset from sweat.
Earlier this year we discussed whether the pricing is worth it and there’s a lot to consider depending on what your goals are and how the service might fit into your life. You can read that breakdown here or check out the discussion in the video below.
Does the addition of family plans to Supernatural change the math for any of you? Let us know in the comments below.
Supernatural (2020), the VR fitness app for Oculus Quest, kicked off its subscription service late last month, offering up a fun and engaging gameified fitness routine for $19 per month. Now the developers Within have included an annual subscription option to lower the cost of entry.
From now until May 31st, would-be subscribers will be able to plonk down $149 for 12 months of access to Supernatural, which effectively brings the price down to $12.42 per month.
Starting June 1st, the annual subscription price goes up to $199 (~$16.60 per month), although if you lock in before that date you’ll be able to keep the $149 price moving forward.
The $19 per-month tier will still exist, however if you’re looking to commit to the game long-term, you’ll be able to do it a bit cheaper overall.
In addition, Within is tossing out free sweat-proof silicone liners to new subscribers as long as supplies last.
We gave Supernaturala respectable [7.7/10] in our review for its highly polished visuals and engaging (if not well-tread) gameplay. Based on the same block-slashing concept as Beat Saber (2018), Supernatural differentiates itself by adding in extended workouts to popular music, which are guided by digitized personal trainers. Integrated fitness tracker support also allows you to include your heartbeat stats, making for a well-rounded way of tracking your fitness goals.
Supernatural offers a 30-day free trial, so whether you find its growing list of Beat Saber-style workouts an acceptable stand-in for the gym, or conversely not substantial enough, at least you have the freedom to try it out and find out for yourself.
Following the launch of its subscription-based VR fitness app earlier this month, Within just revealed a limited Supernatural deal for your first year. But you’ll need to act fast.
When Supernatural launched on Oculus Quest, Within set a monthly subscription fee of $19, with your first 30 days free. This price has been the subject of much discussion, however, with many feeling that it’s too high a price for a VR game that’s very similar in nature to Beat Saber. For 12 months of subscription, you’d be looking at around $240 spent with the current deal.
This new deal, which is now live on the official website, offers an entire year for $149. That works out to a little less than $13 a month instead. The offer is only available until May 31 as an early adopter promotion. Within also confirmed to us that this price will never rise if you keep your subscription going over multiple years.
After that, a yearly subscription costs $199, still saving you a bit over the monthly fee.
Supernatural offers daily workout playlists hosted by professional trainers that guide you through its rhythm-based gameplay. Though it does indeed play very similar to Beat Saber, the app is far more concerned with your fitness, mapping tracks to get the most out of your workout and providing stats via a companion app.
Last week we met up in our virtual studio to discuss if the app was worth its monthly price tag. You can see that video below. We also laid out the value in an article, concluding that, while the app itself was often impressive, basically $20 a month would be far too high a price for many people. You could get a lot of other VR games at a one-time purchase for that much money.
What do you think of this Supernatural deal? Is the VR fitness app now worth it at this price or is it still too high for you? Let us know in the comments below!
There’s no better moment than now to find a reason to get up and moving, which is probably why acclaimed AR/VR studio Within launched its at-home VR fitness app Supernatural (2020). The gameified fitness app will get your heart pumping to the beat of a list of songs from popular artists, all while you have a digital personal trainer piped into your ears for encouragement. Is it worth the monthly $19 subscription price though? The short answer: not for me, but it could be for you.
Supernatural Details:
Developer: Within Available On:Oculus Quest Reviewed On: Quest Release Date: April 23rd, 2020 Price: $19 per month subscription, free 30-day trial
Gameplay
I didn’t realize at first why Within decided to release Supernatural only on Quest, but after the first few moments of going through setup phase, which recorded my height and taught me the basic moves, it became apparent to me that wire-free was the only way to go with Supernatural’s frenetic workouts.
Much like Beat Saber (2018), you’re tasked with hitting directional-based objects, which in the case of Supernatural are black and white orbs with a translucent cone to indicate which side of the orb you need to smash through, using with your matching black and white bats of course.
To get you moving around, you also have to fit through incoming glowing white triangles, forcing you to lunge left or right, or assume a standard squat position. Little tails coming from some orbs lead you to spin your whole body to a new position, giving you a gradual 360 spin around the room on a central axis. That last part, combined with the lunging and striking at the same time, would be super frustrating with a cable in the way, so the Quest-only approach makes a lot of sense here.
Since my gym has been closed for months now, and I’ve completely neglected my workout routine as a result, Supernatural proved to be a great all-around heart-pumping exercise to get me moving again, offering about the same level of activity that you might get from a step class. Although my Fitbit Charge HR2 couldn’t pair with the smartphone app (many fitness trackers do), recording it separately showed I was consistently hitting the ‘Fat Burning’ stage, and only sometimes dipping into ‘Cardio’ stage for my weight, height and age.
There are a handful of workouts right now (more are added every day), all of which are based on that orb-smashing, triangle-squatting concept. They do however vary in duration, difficulty, and coach. Workouts span anywhere from 12 to 26 minutes, and include several high-profile songs—almost too many to name. Suffice it to say that it’s not your mishmash of hip EDM titles like you’ll find outside of the DLC music packs on Beat Saber, but rather recognizable singles from across many musical genres.
In addition to workouts with set difficulties, there’s also a number of them with an automatic difficulty adjuster based on your ability, which at times kept me at the point of utter confusion with the amount of orbs to smash and triangles to fit inside. I would have liked to manually choose difficulty for these auto-difficulty workouts, but the studio has been adamant about throwing out a new workout every day since launch, making for a pretty wide selection for any level user.
Getting the high score isn’t just about the accuracy points either, not entirely. You’re also graded on power, which is combined in a composite power/accuracy score. Besides keeping track of your growing muscle memory of a track, this also keeps you from taking any shortcuts by wrist-waggling the controller, as you need good, smooth, powerful follow-through to get the highest power points.
Image courtesy Within
To be frank, I was expecting a lot more variety from the onset, maybe even some muscle specialization, stretching routines, and different style games to chew on. That, I feel, may be what makes or breaks Supernatural in the long run if it wants to keep subscribers on board. The game itself is very fun, and it nestles very easily into my Beat Saber skill set—you might call it the number one Beat Saber competitor based on its stark similarities to the genre-defying forebear.
Image courtesy Within
That said, I’ve been happily coasting on the free 30-day trial, and while I’ve been genuinely enjoying it so far, I just don’t know if now is the right time to commit to making Supernatural a core part of my fitness program. For $19 a month, which is a little under the price of a monthly subscription at the YMCA, I would expect a buffet of different fitness activities to keep me coming back for more.
I say this with the knowledge that most of humanity is locked in their houses right now, so I can see people signing up for Supernatural for a few months and forking over that monthly Andrew Jackson as a means of self-motivation to continue working out—and having a lot more fun doing it than spending 30 minutes on the elliptical while they’re at it. This leaves me a bit conflicted personally. You may find the value to price proposition enough to keep you returning every week, but I simply can’t when I already use my standard mix of Beat Saber, Knockout League, and Space Pirate Trainer to keep the blood from pooling in my butt cheeks.
The game’s developer Within is one of the best in the field when it comes to polish, and I expected no less going into Supernatural. Here, you’re treated to amazing 360 landscapes paired with near-photorealistic rendered foregrounds, making for a convincing illusion that you’re working out in a rice paddy at sunset, on the Icelandic tundra, or in the Scottish Highlands.
Everything in Supernatural looks like it sprung out of a science fiction film, as if it were some sort of fitness program you’d use while stuck on a deep space transport mission to Omicron Persei 8. That alone is a charming little slice of weirdness that you can only have in VR.
As far as immersion is concerned, hitting black and white orbs while you’re floating over an ocean is pretty abstract. One of the most immersive bits though is the individual coaches, who help ground the workout with a pre-workout chat, and then continue with disembodied suggestions, motivation, and most everything you’d expect from a personal trainer.
I say most everything because the coach’s dynamic dialogue doesn’t cover all aspects of what you might expect from a live instructor, who can actively correct your form, and make truly individual suggestions to your behavior. I have an old tennis elbow injury from overextending my arm too much in karate, so I know not to extend my arm too much now, or risk the aching pain returning. I wonder whether the virtual coach might actually encourage ‘bad form’, the enemy of all fitness instructors, with their implicit silence.
Comfort
Since fitness is the name of the game, and you’ll be making fast and powerful arm and leg movements, you really have to crank the Quest down on your head to make sure it’s stable enough on your noggin and not flopping around. If it isn’t tight, you may feel a bit woozy after having the virtual world move independently from your eyes at such regular and frenetic intervals.
Otherwise, besides the not-so-awesome ergonomics of the Quest and discomfort associated with getting sweat on the facial interface, Supernatural is a very comfortable experience overall.
Make sure to dress the part, use a washable VR cover, and move the couch and cat away from you, and you’ll be sweating to the oldies, beginner or advanced VR user alike.
It’s been over two weeks since Within launched Supernatural, its radical new VR subscription service on Oculus Quest. It’s a $20-a-month app that wants to swap the treadmill for a videogame. After extensive testing, we can now weigh in on the big question: is Supernatural worth it?
In the video below, three of the UploadVR team headed into our virtual studio to discuss the pros and cons of Supernatural based on a few weeks of use. We found some common ground on both sides. On the one hand, there’s the app’s strong tracklist of music with great mapping to maximize spending your energy. But the question of its price, especially in the face of competition, is a tough one. Read on for more info about the app and our thoughts on if Supernatural is worth it.
Before we go any further, I have to point out that it is very easy for you to make your mind up about Supernatural yourself. Within offers an entire month free — a generous offer considering the hefty monthly subscription — and if you have any interest in VR fitness at all, you really should take the company up on it.
It’s also important to note that we’re assessing the service just as its starting out and that there is, hopefully, a long runway of tweaks, additions and improvements to be made to the service. With that in mind, let’s dive in.
What Is Supernatural?
Make no mistake about it, Supernatural is a Beat Saber clone. Its core mechanics have you swinging two colored bats to corresponding notes that fly towards you in time with a music track. Occasionally, triangular-shaped obstacles force you to squat, too.
But, rather than simply picking from a list of songs to master with repeat playthroughs, Supernatural offers a new workout routine (or playlist) every 24 hours. Workouts between 10 – 30 minutes are accompanied with introductions from fitness coaches that will then spur you on as you play. A companion app will track your progress, too.
What Kind Of A Workout Does It Offer?
Supernatural aims to wear you down with a mix of consistent arm swinging and squatting from side-to-side for a workout that uses both upper and lower body. Though it’s technically easy to get away with casual movements, trainers encourage you to swing with power and from the core to maximize your workout.
If you’re doing particularly well, the app’s adaptive difficulty with pick up the pace, or slow it down if you’re struggling. The aim is to create an experience where you’re not focused on scores so much as flow and pace, though you can also choose between high and low intensities and a Pro workout that offers the most intense mapping right the way through.
How Intense Is It?
Fairly obviously, the answer to this question will depend on a lot on your own physical fitness. For our own testing, three of the UploadVR staff tried Supernatural for a few weeks. Myself, Video Editor Zeena Al-Obaidi, and Senior Editor David Jagneaux all took part.
I came to Supernatural already as someone that has exercised every day for the past few months, alternating between 5K runs and an assortment of home-based workouts. Personally, what I’ve found is an experience I can approach enthusiastically at the end of one of my other workouts as a means of keeping active for a bit longer, if not something that has often left me entirely exhausted, especially after my legs acclimatized to VR’s most demanding squats. I wouldn’t count a lone Supernatural session as a sufficient day’s workout myself.
Video Editor Zeena Al-Obaidi, however, attempted to swap out a daily routine of 20 – 30 minute YouTube-guided high-intensity training workouts with the app and quickly found herself eager to switch back as Supernatural wasn’t providing the same level of exhaustion. Meanwhile, Senior Editor David Jagneaux approached Supernatural as a fresh start for exercise after injuring his knee during intense personal training last year. He loved his initial workout but has subsequently found it to be less and less demanding as he acclimatized to it.
That said, we all agreed that by VR’s standards, Supernatural offers one of the most intense and dedicated workouts you can find inside a headset. It just doesn’t really compare to what’s available in the outside world.
How Much Fun Is It?
Obviously, there’s not much point investing in a gamified fitness program if the game itself isn’t any fun. Fortunately, by sticking close to the Beat Saber formula, Supernatural has an engaging and addictive set of mechanics right at its core that lots — if not all — VR players will enjoy.
In Supernatural’s best songs, it’s pure magic, a thrilling rollercoaster with a seamless flow that pulls you along for the ride. Adaptive difficulty keeps the pace going and the lively, energetic tracklist never feels out of place or weak. Of course, I say ‘not all’ because, even as VR’s most successful game, Beat Saber isn’t for everyone. If you’re looking for a fitness game perhaps with more escapism, this isn’t the one for you.
But there are more troubling aspects, too. While song mapping is on-point and active, I’ve personally really struggled with matching the right color to the corresponding note in more complex moments. In Beat Saber, this is one of many intricacies that makes it such an engaging game. When I approach Supernatural, I am in the mindset of getting fit, hitting goals and making progress, not trying to mentally navigate a maze. Every time my brain pulls a fast one on me, I feel discouraged. And yes, within time I might improve and fitness instructors try to reassure you it’s not always about the accuracy, but taking a hit to workout morale — one based on mental dexterity rather than my actual health — that early on is hugely concerning.
How Does It Track Activity?
Though you’ll get stats on accuracy and power of swings at the end of every song for more detailed statistics you’ll need a smartwatch and a companion app. Other VR apps have in-game calorie counters, though it’s important to point out that there’s very little way of telling how accurate these are. Still, even rough approximations can be useful to spur you on and give you something useful to measure, especially if you don’t have access to a smartwatch.
How Does It Compare To Beat Saber And Other VR Fitness Apps?
Although the service is nearly identical to Beat Saber in terms of mechanics, rest assured this is a premium imitation. Supernatural’s sleek black and white design and real-world environments are a welcome breath of fresh air from the numerous neon imitators that have followed in the wake of Saber (or, going back further, Audioshield). Its tracklist is equally top tier, boasting the likes of Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar. Most importantly, though, its daily supply of new workout routines, each individually coached by one of a handful of personal trainers, gives you a new combination of tracks to try every 24 hours at different intensities, even if some tracks will repeat over the course of a few weeks.
Beat Saber isn’t the only VR fitness app, though. Odders Lab’s OhShape, for example, has you lunging and ducking to win human Tetris and BoxVR’s punching workouts might play a little rickety, but it’s not short on curated playlists and offers multiplayer support. Supernatural’s premium feel still bests its competitors, but I personally also find OhShape’s mix of shape-throwing, coin-grabbing, wall-dodging gameplay to offer a more dynamic mix of work
How Does It Compare To Non-VR Fitness Options?
There’s really two options to consider here: traditional workout options like gym subscriptions or home exercise or, perhaps more appropriate, subscriptions to digital fitness services accessed on your phone or PC.
Compared to a gym or out-of-home exercise, Supernatural has the obvious advantage of not making you leave the house. However, if you’ve proven to yourself that getting to the gym on a regular basis isn’t an obstacle before, the benefits really stop there. Supernatural just doesn’t offer the variety of intensity of exercise that you’d get from weight lifting, more dedicated cardio or class-based or personal training sessions. With proper motivation, you could even get more mileage out of household equipment like weights or treadmills.
Plus, as someone who has subscribed to professional at-home fitness plans before, I don’t think Supernatural offers the intensity or diversity they do for a similar price, either. Dedicated workout plans are, from my experience, unquestionably the better way to go. But it’s also true that these sorts of plans take an enormous amount of self-motivation and persistence.
And that’s the key; all the gym equipment in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t bring yourself to use it. What Supernatural may lack in intensity, it makes up for in this department. Through its brand of enjoyable exercise, Supernatural doesn’t feel nearly as much of a chore to return to time-after-time. But, as someone that doesn’t struggle to gather motivation to workout, this is less of a factor for me. You might need to ask yourself about your own self-discipline when deciding if the app is worth it.
Is Supernatural Worth $20 A Month?
That’s the big, expensive elephant in the room. I do believe that for a certain set of people that struggle with routine, mundane exercise and need more motivation for a VR workout than repeating Beat Saber songs, Supernatural’s combination of enjoyable gameplay and persistent structure could be hugely beneficial.
Personally, I find it hard to justify spending $20 a month on Supernatural when it is so single-mindedly obsessed with Beat Saber. A year of subscription will cost you an astounding $240. As of right now, the entire Beat Saber experience, including the base game, all the free updates and premium DLC (released over the course of the past few years), would set you back $111.58 on Steam. That’s a significant all-in difference and, crucially, if you’re serious about VR fitness you could then pile on some other games for variety.
You might argue that comparing the subscription fee to that of a Netflix or online gaming account is unfair; if you were to instead compare it to traditional digital workout subscriptions it stacks up quite well. But Supernatural doesn’t do enough to separate itself from one-time purchase VR games to warrant that $20 price tag and, even if it did, it doesn’t offer the variety and versatility you’ll find in many of the top programs, in my opinion.
Conclusion
When deciding if Supernatural is worth it for you, you need to ask yourself a set of questions. Firstly, are you sure that more traditional forms of exercise won’t work for you? And, if they wouldn’t, would your money be better spent instead completing a library of Beat Saber songs and other VR fitness games you’ll be able to play forever with a one-time purchase? If you consider seriously consider both of those points and decide it’s still worth it, Supernatural could make genuinely great progress in your life. But I suspect that the number of people that truly fit that criteria is worryingly small for a service as ambitious as this.
VR fitness is a great thing, a wonderfully unexpected side-effect of regular use of an entertainment product. In Supernatural, you can see a well-intentioned, thoughtfully-planned attempt to capitalize on that positivity. And for some people I don’t doubt adhering to a few months of daily workouts inside the app could make a dramatic change. But I suspect for a great many more people certain elements like price and variety need to go back to the drawing board if they’re to represent anything like the right kind of value. At its core, pushing through the workout wall is genuinely enjoyable in Supernatural but its hefty monthly subscription may be one mountain too tough to climb.
Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know if you think VR exercise could be the future of home fitness workouts?
Now that we live in an age of social isolation and stay-at-home orders from governments around the world, finding novel ways to stay active and fit is more important than ever. Gyms are often closed nowadays and working out at home like normal with videos or over web conferences doesn’t do it for lots of people.
That’s where VR can come into play. Not only is it great to stay connected with others, but there are some truly great VR exercise apps out there too. With the likes of Beat Saber serving as a major catalyst for thousands of VR users around the world, as well as apps such as BoxVR and Supernatural that focus specifically on helping you exercise and stay fit, there’s never been a better time to get fit at home.
But is this really what the future looks like for at-home fitness? Will VR exercise be ubiquitous enough that gyms, trainers, and users will start to use it as often as a Peloton, Bowflex, eliptical machine, treadmill, or other common exercise equipment? Could a VR headset replace at-home gyms in the future?
Let us know what you think of the prospect down in the comments below and recommend any tips you have for working out in VR!
The top VR stories this week include: Magic Leap’s major team cuts, Half-Life: Alyx’s mods now rolling out, VR Ears absolutely smashing its goals in its Kickstarter & plenty of great releases! Let’s get on with this week’s VRecap.
News
The news of Magic Leap laying off its employees shook the industry, with the company blaming COVID-19 for its need for downsizing and shift in focus to business.
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for – Half-Life: Alyx has finally got some great mods, including a where you pose as Gordon Freeman and clobber G-man with a crowbar. Now that’s what we’re talking about.
Following the incredibly popular rise of VR Power, Rebuff Reality is hell-bent on making your VR headset as luxury as possible with the introduction of VR Ears. It utterly smashed its Kickstarter campaign, doubling their goal within the first day.
Releases
As for the releases of the week, you can now enjoy: Pixel Ripped 1995 on PC VR and Quest, Supernatural from Within on Quest, and the weird acid trip that is SoundSelf on PC VR.
Giveaway
Speaking of Pixel Ripped, you have a chance to win a free copy of the game for your Quest or Rift! Enter using the Gleam below. Best of luck!
And that’s all for this week! Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for the latest in the world of VR. Stay safe and have a great weekend!
After playing Supernatural this week, my legs are sore to a degree unmatched by Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, BoxVR, OhShape, or any other VR app.
It is easy to see the influence of those earlier VR games on the new exercise and fitness software from Within, but Supernatural is tuned in ways the others aren’t for both the wireless freedom of Oculus Quest and a home replacement for gym visits.
What sets Supernatural apart from, say, Beat Saber?
Nice songs picked for workouts from popular musicians. Artists spotted in the launch lineup included Lizzo, Lady Gaga, One Republic, Kendrick Lamar, Ramones, Macklemore, and Panic! At The Disco, among others.
Every workout is built for the 360 wireless freedom of Oculus Quest. You’ll be shown how to turn in place and hit targets with your bats coming along different tracks.
A personal trainer’s voice is in your ears offering motivating words and guidance to finish a 20-30 minute workout.
Prettier environments that look like actual places rather than colorful voids.
Mobile app and Apple Watch integration to better track activity.
You need to duck your head inside triangles coming to your sides and that means being more active with lunges than just simply ducking or moving out of the way of a wall in Beat Saber.
The game is available now on Oculus Quest with a free trial month ahead of its $19 per month subscription pricing. That pricing is surely hard for many Quest owners to wrap their brain around if you’re a fan of a game like Beat Saber — but the free trial should provide plenty of time to try out the workouts and see if it’s a nice fit. I should note Supernatural requires an active Internet connection to stream assets and an answer page on the website for the software says they recommend speeds above 20 Mbps.
We haven’t spent enough time yet with Supernatural to give it a full review yet but I did find the workouts both fun and challenging in a way that seemed more focused on keeping my body moving than, say, just providing a satisfying rhythmic sense of destruction. Of course, BoxVR and Beat Saber both released fitness updates in recent weeks, so we’re going to have to dive into all the updated fitness VR apps more deeply in the coming weeks to provide a better breakdown of the best way to work out in VR.
You can check out Supernatural on Oculus Quest here.
As most of you should be in some sort of isolation, minimising the need to step outside unless absolutely necessary you’ll all want something to do. You can only paint the walls or vacuum so many times, so why not treat yourself to some new virtual reality (VR) content. As VRFocus does every Friday, here’s a list of five titles arriving next week you might be interested in.
SoundSelf: A Technodelic – Andromeda Entertainment
It’s a stressful time at the moment so anything that can chill you out must be worth a pop. SoundSelf: A Technodelic is just that, a psychedelic and relaxing VR experience guided by your own voice. “Delve into a hypnotic world of light and sound which helps players descend into a deep, trance-like state,” notes the description.
An Oculus Quest exclusive, Supernaturaljumps on the VR fitness wave offering players the chance to cut orbs and manoeuvre in and around obstacles all to the lates beats. It does things a little differently to other VR games being subscription-based, the app featuring professional coaching, leaderboards, Bluetooth heart rate integration and a mobile companion app.
A homage to retro gaming and a sequel to 2018’s Pixel Ripped 1989, Pixel Ripped 1995 puts you in the shoes of 9-year-old David who has to battle an evil goblin, the Cyblin Lord, from the first title. Set across six levels that contain nods to 1990s action RPGs, brawlers, platformers, space shooters, and racing games, VRFocushas been looking forward to this one.
A magical adventure set before Alice ever stepped foot in Wonderland, Down the Rabbit Holehas already arrive for other VR headsets and now it’s the turn of PlayStation VR. A 360-degree interactive diorama where players control an unnamed girl through detailed rooms with hidden secrets: “Thanks to its mechanics and polished execution Down the Rabbit Hole offers a delightful VR experience,” said VRFocus’ review.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR (EU Physical Copy)
Launch date: 24th April
Lost Circus VR – The Prologue – Virtual Magic
Time for something a little scarier where you meet a creepy clown who wants to show you around his abandoned circus. Abandoned but not empty, as you jump into a barrel pushed by the clown you’ll spot spiders with glowing red eyes, old amusements and more. As an early access release, the studio plans on adding further interactivity and movement freedom in the future.
There are plenty of ways to keep yourself healthy at home and virtual reality (VR) gaming can be one of them. Titles such as Beat Saber, Synth Riders, OhShape, Thrill of the Fightand many more offer energetic gameplay and soon there will be another, Supernatural by VR content company Within.
Supernatural is going to offer a somewhat different setup to those other experiences, with an on-demand fitness package based around a subscription service. “It has been intentionally designed from the ground up as a living VR exercise platform,” said Within Founder & CEO Chris Milk on the Oculus Blog. “We built an entire ecosystem that gives people an extraordinary workout experience that gets them excited to come back every day”
He went on to say: “The platform has been developed in conjunction with fitness experts and behavioral scientists for the purpose of really making a difference in helping people keep on schedule, not get bored with the workout, and not eventually quit.”
With gameplay which looks inspired by VR videogames like Beat Saber, because Supernatural is geared towards fitness the app will feature coaching, leaderboards, Bluetooth heart rate integration and a mobile companion app so you can monitor your progress. Rather than difficulty settings Supernatural will offer dynamic difficulty that adjusts the experience on each map in real-time depending on how well you’re keeping pace.
None of this is any good if you don’t have decent music to compliment the gameplay so Within will be offering the latest tunes for subscribers to enjoy. We wanted people to have that feeling of surprise and delight when a song comes on that they love,” notes Milk. “So we’ve been working and partnering with record labels to craft a deal to use their full catalogs.” Which labels these are have yet to be revealed.
All the gameplay will be set in photo-realistic landscapes so that you can enjoy all these workouts in some stunning environments.
Supernatural’s subscription service will offer new daily workouts charged at a discounted introductory rate of $20 USD/month. There will also be a free trial available. Within will launch Supernatural for Oculus Quest on 23rd April 2020. For further updates on the new fitness app, keep reading VRFocus.
SoundSelf: A Technodelic – Andromeda Entertainment
Pixel Ripped 1995 – ARVORE
Lost Circus VR – The Prologue – Virtual Magic
