E3 might not be taking place this year but that isn’t stopping virtual reality (VR) developers from making a few summer announcements. The latest comes from Synth Riders developer Kluge Interactive, unveiling an arcade-style fighting title called Final Fury.
Unlike consoles where you have the likes of Street Fighter and Tekken, VR doesn’t really have many fighting videogames, with the odd exceptions being titles such as Ironlights. This is mainly due to input methods as those console fighters are renowned for combos and split-second button pressing, something that doesn’t work in VR. Final Fury looks to break ground in this field with a range of mechanics to create some epic fights.
You won’t directly punch your opponent by the look of it, instead, activating special moves and combos by quickly hitting in-game prompts – sort of like hitting buttons on a fitness reaction wall. Interestingly, Kluge states that players can view each round from first-person and third-person perspectives. How immersive this will feel switching between the two remains to be seen.
Like any fighting videogame Final Fury will have a selection of characters to choose from, with Tempest and Glitch named so far. They’ll have their own backstory, home stage environment, and music track to suit their personality.
“We grew up playing games like Street Fighter and Killer Instinct and wanted to be the first to bring this genre to VR in order to fully immerse ourselves in the fights,” says Abraham Aguero, Creative Director at Kluge.
Kluge Interactive hasn’t specified which VR headsets Final Fury will be coming to, just that it’ll be “all major VR platforms” in 2023, so that’s likely to include PlayStation VR2 and Meta Quest 2. As further updates are released, gmw3 will keep you updated.
Virtual reality (VR) gaming is pure escapism. That ability to put on a headset and be transported to any number of virtual worlds, going on quests, meeting friends, competing for leaderboards positions and much more. VR’s also a great way to warm up those muscles in the morning or destress at the end of the day with some virtual meditation. Here are some of the best ways on Meta Quest to keep your mind and body healthy.
The following apps are a mixture of fitness games to really get the blood pumping alongside those designed to help you unwind. So they’re listed in no particular order, simply some of the ones the gmw3 team like.
Everyone needs a bit of get-up and go in the morning so why not start the day with a rhythm action game. Meta Quest has some excellent ones in the store and one that’s definitely worth a look is Synth Riders.
Originally released with loads of Synthwave, Dubstep and other electronic beats, the videogame has greatly expanded to artists such as Lindsey Stirling, Muse, and Caravan Palace. Equally, Synth Riders has added plenty of new functionality, tracking calories, multiplayer, a 360-degree spin mode and much more. Thus you can always wake up in the morning knowing there’s something different to try.
If you’re after a more tailored workout experience then why not try one of the latest titles to arrive for Meta Quest, Les Mills Bodycombat. Bringing the world-famous workout into VR, you’ll find a perfect blend of fitness and martial arts all in one spot.
Featuring personal trainers that keep you motivated throughout each session, Les Mills Bodycombat has workout plans designed for those just starting their fitness journey and those looking for a more advanced workout. Utilising a full-body workout style, you’ll go from a few light jabs and hooks to squats, hammer fists and uppercuts, pushing that intensity with each session.
If you’re after a more fitness-focused approach to VR rather than a hectic rhythm game then this is a good place to start, and there’s no monthly subscription.
Now let’s switch to a far more chilled VR experience, Tripp. Winner of Best VR Meditation App by Men’s Health, Tripp has over 75 immersive mindfulness techniques to help relax and lift your mood.
Sit down and get comfy as Tripp takes you on an almost psychedelic journey through amazing environments, immersing you in waves of sound whilst encouraging breathing techniques to help enhance that sense of calm. Try the demo and you’ll feel like jelly.
Tripp is one of the few apps to offer a free trial followed by either a one-off purchase of $34.99 for lifetime access or a monthly subscription of $4.99, making access as stress-free as possible.
As an alternate to Tripp there’s always Guided Meditation VR. The name kind of says it all, enjoy a selection of over 30 hours of guided meditation experiences focused on Anxiety, Depression, Maternity, Resilience, Sleep, and Zen.
Set within 40+ beautiful environments, the meditation experience is enhanced with over 200 relaxing audio tracks as well as customisations options. Turn off the music for example or activate a timer for a more regulated experience. Or how about switching on the “Float On” mode, gently floating automatically through the peaceful environments.
Ahh, starting to feel super relaxed already, plus Guided Meditation VR is a one-off purchase.
Time to get back in shape and for that you’ll need the aptly named FitXR. Originally starting out as a boxing-themed experience the videogame has grown to include Dance and HIIT workout studios.
There are a range of classes depending on whether you’re after a 10-minute warm-up or a far more intensive 30-minute sweat fest. All the workouts are designed in-house by professional fitness instructors for a variety of music genres, so you can work out to rock, dance, RnB and more. Plus there’s a multiplayer so six friends can join in, adding a competitive edge as everyone strives for the best score.
Much like a gym membership, FitXR has an initial 7-day trial followed by a monthly membership of $9.99 (£7.99 GBP).
(Note: There’s a similar game called Supernaturalwhich is subscription-based but its region locked to North America so gmw3 hasn’t included it in the main list.)
How about an oldie but a goldie. Available since 2019, Thrill of the Fightputs you slap bang in the middle of the ring. This is one of those titles which doesn’t offer lots of flashy extras, just you and an opponent to punch it out. There are training areas with a speedball, punching bag and more to fine-tune your skills. The fights themselves are some of the best you’ll get in VR, no arms flailing here, you need to be accurate and punch with intention.
Which means one hell of an arm workout. Plus it relies on a lot of room-scale movement and footwork to really get the best out of it so make sure to clear some space.
One of the most unique fitness games available in VR, let alone on Meta Quest, VZfit was originally a cycling experience. And it still is, sort of.
VZfit employs the power of Google Maps so you can cycle the roads of the world, all without leaving your living room. Create your own routes or cycle pre-made ones, switching between radio stations for some tunes or listening to the optional personal trainer. VZfit has really benefited from its addition of a feature called the Exerboard, doing away with the exercise bike so you can step, lunge, squat and wave those arms with no additional equipment.
Again, this is another 7-day trial followed by a monthly membership scheme of $9.99. While the Exerboard portion of VZfit doesn’t require an exercise bike, to really get the most out of the experience you will need one plus a cadence sensor (about £30/$30). Not exactly cheap but if you’ve already got most of the kit then it makes more sense.
From the same team behind Guided Meditation VR is the ancient art of Tai Chi. Rather than sitting on your ass trying to relax why not employ this Chinese martial art that’s been practised for centuries for defence training and meditation. Guided Tai Chi has over 200 Tai Chi inspired workouts to help you find inner peace ranging from 3-minute to 60-minute sessions.
Feel that tension and stress float away with sessions set within scenic natural environments featuring calming music. Tai Chi has plenty of health benefits, strengthening and toning your body whilst aiding mindfulness. Plus, Guided Tai Chi has a few customisation options to suit most players needs.
When it comes to achieving your fitness goals stats can really help keep you motivated and focused, giving you info on where you’re doing well and where improvements can be made. REAKT Performance Trainer is one of those VR fitness apps designed to help in that endeavour, combining fast-paced training with real-time feedback to help monitor your progress.
After completing an exercise designed to improve your reaction time and hand to eye coordination you’ll get a wealth of information that’ll show your exact hand position, your reaction vs your field of view and more.
Oh, and don’t forget about Oculus Move, the built-in app on Quest that provides additional fitness tracking aids.
Stirling is known for her choreographed violin videos, posted mainly to YouTube, which have steadily built her a following over the last two decades. The Synth Riders music pack will feature five paid DLC tracks from across Stirling’s career, with one including a unique visual experience as well.
The five tracks are ‘Underground’ (featuring the visual experience, inspired by the music video), ‘Shatter Me (feat. Lzzy Hale)’, ‘First Light’, ‘Mirage (feat. Raja Kumari)’ and ‘Shadows’. The pack is launching across all platforms, including Meta Quest, Steam, PSVR and Viveport. Songs cost $1.99 individually or you can pick them up as a bundle with a 20% discount for $7.99 total.
The release trailer for the pack, embedded above, also features Stirling herself, playing levels featuring her music.
The Stirling music pack is the latest in a string of new content for Synth Riders, which has seen an increasing amount of high-profile collaborations, such as the Muse pack last year. No doubt the Synth Riders team are aiming to remain competitive with Beat Saber, the king of high-profile rhythm game DLC collaborations. Late last month the game added a Fall Out Boy track.
The Lindsey Stirling music pack is available now for Synth Riders on all platforms. Are you going to be trying out the pack? Let us know in the comments below.
Every so often Humble Bundle rolls out an awesome new limited time offer and there’s one available right now for the next couple of weeks. Called the “VR Discovery” bundle, the deal combines seven videogames and one soundtrack for one ridiculously cheap price.
The games on offer aren’t some random bottom of the bin ones either, they actually showcase how varied VR titles can be, from comedic single-player adventures to co-op multiplayer and rhythm action games.
Love cooking with mates? Then try Resolution Games’ Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale where up to four players have to serve hungry customers as fast as possible. Looking for a puzzle title that’s atmospheric with an engrossing storyline, you want Red Matter? It takes place in an alternate future on an abandoned base on Rhea, one of Saturn’s moons. When it comes to comedic Squanch Games’ Trover Saves the Universehas got you covered. Trover is a purple eye-hole monster trying to save the universe from a beaked lunatic named Glorkon who has kidnapped your dogs and put them in his eye sockets (yup no joke).
There’s more multiplayer mayhem to be found in Blaston, another Resolution Games title, this time a PvP shooter where two players duel it out in slow motion. While Panoptic is a local multiplayer game of cat and mouse, where the VR player is the Overseer trying to hunt down tiny beings controlled by a mate on PC. And then you’ve got Synth Riders, the rhythm action title that features tracks from bands like Muse.
Rounding out the VR Discovery bundle roster is Tower Tag and its accompanying soundtrack. Tower Tag is a sci-fi PvP shooter with 10 maps, 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 matches and Team Deathmatch, Elimination and Goal Tower gameplay modes.
So how much does this all cost? As a charitable endeavour, Humble Bundle runs a pay what you want scheme with a small starting price. The “VR Discovery” bundle with all that content starts at £9 GBP with buyers encouraged to top that up if they can, enabling more donations to be given to organisations like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund or GamesAid.
For all the latest Humble Bundle VR deals, keep reading gmw3.
Synth Riders is available to play for free this weekend on Steam for PC VR.
The free weekend has started already and runs until Sunday at 1pm PT. Importantly, this promotion only lets you download and play the game for free until Sunday — unlike some promos, this isn’t an opportunity to redeem a free copy of the game to keep forever.
Once it hits 1pm on Sunday, if you’re enjoying the game then you will have to buy it to keep playing. However, until then, you have unlimited access to the entire game. This includes 56 songs, custom song support and even the multiplayer portions of the game as well.
The good news is that if you’re enjoying the game and do want to purchase it to keep, then it will be 45% off until January 28 on Steam. This brings the price down to around $14 USD.
While the main game sports a hefty selections of tracks, Synth Riders has also put out a variety of paid DLC packs over the last few years. Most prominent is the Muse Music Pack & Experience, which features five Muse tracks and a special visual experience accompanying Starlight.
The game is considered a veteran VR rhythm title, first launching on PC VR and then making its way over to Oculus Quest and PSVR. We listed it alongside Beat Saber, Unplugged and more as one of our best picks for music and rhythm games.
Synth Riders’ free weekend is available on Steam now, with a 45% discount running until January 28. The game is also available at full price on Oculus Quest and PSVR.
Once upon a time, virtual reality (VR) developers tried not to spin players around too much just in case it caused any nausea. That worry is very much a thing of the past thanks to better hardware and understanding of how to alleviate it. So much so that rhythm action videogame Synth Riders is about to release a new Spiral Mode across all supported platforms this week.
As the name suggests, Spiral Mode turns the previously flat gameplay environment into one giant tube allowing songs to spiral around for an even more dynamic environment. Possibly the first time this has been done in a rhythm action experience – a few racing titles have this setup – the cylindrical stage will require players to lean their whole body as they weave in and out of the various obstacles.
The mode will task players with unlocking three intensity levels, each with more powerful turns and challenges to match. Developer Kluge Interactive isn’t consigning Spiral Mode to a small section of Synth Riders either,it’ll be available for use in every song and difficulty, compatible with most modifiers and multiplayer.
Adding to the content selection, the studio is dropping a free track called Go! by synthwave duo, Dance With The Dead to celebrate. This ups Synth Riders’ music selection to 55 free songs. That can be expanded further with an additional 30 DLC tracks from the likes of Muse, The Offspring, and Caravan Palace.
“I’m excited to enhance our players’ experience even more with this twist on our gameplay, it’s not like anything we’ve seen in a VR rhythm game before! Personally, I love playing Spiral Mode because the mechanic gives me a feeling of challenge and speed that reminds me so much of skating – one of my favourite hobbies,” says Abraham Aguero Benzecri – Creative Director in a statement. “I hope that Spiral Mode will find many fans among Synth Riders players.”
All the new content will arrive as a free update this Thursday, 28th October 2021 for Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR, Steam, and Viveport users. For continued updates on Synth Riders, keep reading VRFocus.
A new DLC song pack is available for Synth Riders, featuring British rock band Muse and some of their greatest hits.
The pack includes five Muse songs, one of which has a special unique visual experience that goes with it. The DLC is available now for Oculus Quest and Steam, and will launch on PSVR later this month on September 29. The songs will also be included with a special physical edition of Synth Riders for PSVR, set to release in November.
Here’s the full tracklist:
– Starlight (with unique visual experience)
– Uprising
– Madness
– Reapers
– Pressure
The visual experience for Starlight is the second of its kind — Muse’s track Algorithm, available in Synth Riders as part of a previous DLC release, also includes a similar visual experience made specifically for the track.
“It’s incredibly inspiring to be able to work with Muse again. They are a perfect fit for Synth Riders because of their sound – when you ride the rails to match the vocals, the combination is electrifying and emotional,” said Kluge Interactive Creative Director Abraham Ageuro in a prepared statement. “For the Experience [in Starlight], our creative interpretation of the song’s lyrics gave us the freedom to explore a whole galaxy of particles, abstract images, and even a black hole!”
The Muse DLC pack is available now for Synth Riders on Oculus Quest and Steam, while PSVR users will have to wait a bit longer until September 29.
To attract and then keep players developers of rhythm action videogames know they need a continual succession of tracks, aided further if these come from big, international artists. Beat Saber recently welcomed Skrillex onto its roster whilst Synth Riders welcome back alt-rockers Muse with a new music pack for Oculus Quest and Steam players.
Muse first graced Synth Riders at the beginning of 2021, returning today with five more rocking tracks celebrating the band’s career. The songs are Starlight, Uprising, Madness, Reapers, and Pressure. Just like the first pack, this one will also feature a special Synth Riders Visual Experience, tailored for Muse’s big hit Starlight. Rather than the usual progression through a flat level, the experience is far more dynamic, with artistically driven visuals inspired by the music.
“It’s incredibly inspiring to be able to work with Muse again. They are a perfect fit for Synth Riders because of their sound – when you ride the rails to match the vocals, the combination is electrifying and emotional. For the Experience, our creative interpretation of the song’s lyrics gave us the freedom to explore a whole galaxy of particles, abstract images, and even a black hole,” says Abraham Aguero – Creative Director Kluge Interactive in a statement.
The music pack for Oculus Quest (cross-buy with Rift), Steam and Viveport can be purchased as a bundle for $7.99 USD with a 20% discount. Or you can buy the songs individually for $1.99.
So what about PlayStation VR? After a bit of a delay, Synth Riders launched last month and it won’t miss out on the music pack; the release is scheduled for a couple of weeks time, on 29th September. There’s also some more news regarding a physical edition of Synth Riders. Developer Kluge Interactive has teamed up with Perp Games to publish a special retail version that’ll include Muse’s music pack on 12th November 2021.
As Kluge Interactive continue to support Synth RidersVRFocus will report back with the latest updates.
The game first released for PC VR in 2018, before making its way over to Oculus Quest in 2019. There’s also been a considerable and consistent amount of new content added to the game over time.
Synth Riders is now available on PlayStation VR with a 20% launch discount for PS+!https://t.co/lJruRC5Pfn
We are so excited to finally welcome the #PSVR players to our Community!
So while the PSVR release has been a long time coming, it also benefits from a now-huge selection of both paid and free content made available across other platforms in the years following launch. The base game itself includes 55 tracks, and there are another 22 available to purchase as DLC. Those DLC selections also include tracks by artists such as The Offspring and Muse, as part of the Adrenaline and Essential 2 DLC packs.
Earlier this month, Synth Riders development studio Kluge Interactive said that they were happy with the results after porting the game over to PSVR and making some adjustments to bring gameplay in line with the platform’s restrictions. “We have worked with some of our top players to ensure that they can “max out” songs even on the highest difficulty level,” said the studio in a prepared statement. “This is also possible while playing the game with a Spin Mode, which on PlayStation VR is limited to a 90° angle, still just as fun as on other platforms!”
To ensure you’re getting the best experience possible, Kluge suggests you have ample and appropriate playspace and recommends checking out a PSVR tracking guide created by Owlchemy Labs.
It’s always great to see a varied selection of virtual reality (VR) titles arrive each week and the following seven days is a perfect testament to that. Strategy, rhythm action, puzzling and platformers are all there, with five new videogames showcasing the power of VR.
Carrier Command 2 VR – Geometa
’80s classic Carrier Command is set to make a return in both VR and non-VR form thanks to Geometa and Microprose. Take command of a high tech aircraft carrier filled to the brim with deployable craft to conduct missions with. From the command deck, you can operate its systems, gathering intelligence before launching an offensive to conquer the Archipelago.
This rhythm action videogame has built up a loyal following since its initial PC VR release in 2019 and now it’s the turn of PlayStation VR. The PlayStation VR version will feature all 55 licensed songs as well as 13 retro-future-inspired worlds to play them in; plus the four DLC music packs will also be available. Synth Riders features a selection of gameplay modes and modifiers including “Force” which adds a boxing mechanic and “Spin” for some 360-degree tunes.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 10th August
Blobkin Blaster – Brave Lunch
A family-friendly wave shooter with tower defence elements, Blobkin Blaster takes you under the sea to fight polluted, mutated monsters lurking in the deep. By your side are the cute Blobkin, little critters who’ll help you clean up the oceans.
After an Oculus Rift launch in late 2020 followed by Steam earlier this year, it’s soon time for Monologic Games’ platformer Ven VR Adventureto arrive on Oculus Quest. Comprising a total of 12 levels split across three regions, the world of Ven is a mixture of magic and mechanics where you control titular hero Ven through diabolical locations designed to kill him at every turn.
Time for some chilled out puzzle-solving in a similar vein to Puzzle Bobble, all you need to do is pop all the coloured marbles using a hand crossbow. Get stuck on a tricky bit, no problem, use one of the special but limited abilities to clear a load of the marbles out. Best of all, it’s going to be free.
