You’ve probably heard a lot about how the buzz around XR is up as more people are attending meetings remotely. However, with just about everyone advised to stay at home, VR game designers are also keeping their hands full.
Any VR experience can keep you occupied, but some can also get you up and moving in times when leaving your house might be difficult, frightening, or illegal. One such VR game, Synth Riders recently announced updates and events to keep players occupied while they stay inside and stay safe.
What’s Synth Riders?
In case you aren’t familiar, Synth Riders is a “dance-action rhythm” VR game by Kluge Interactive. The game, available on Oculus Quest Store, Oculus Rift Store, Steam, and Viveport, requires users to hit notes flying through space, timed to 33 original songs.
There are also three additional song packages for a total of almost 50 songs. Users can also download an additional “Beatmap editor” tool that lets them add their own songs. The Fitness Update, which we’ll talk more about next, also comes with one free song.
The $20 VR game just launched a few months ago so it’s still under the radar for some players. However, among those who have discovered it, the game has 95% positive reviews on sites like game platform Steam.
What’s New?
Now that we’re all familiar with Synth Riders, what’s new? Quite a lot, really. And, all of it is available for free through their new Fitness Update.
YUR VR Fitness Tracker
While Synth Riders is always fun, those using it to get a workout while avoiding the gym now have access to a fitness monitor. The added feature created through a collaboration with YUR watch allows users to check stats like how many calories are burning through simple gesture control.
“We are glad to be working with YUR on a solution that can help our players stay active during these uncertain times, when a lot of the traditional fitness options are not available,” Kluge Interactive Creative Director Abraham Benzecri said in a release shared with ARPost.
Bigger Play Areas, Longer Sessions, and “Room” Limits and Interactions
The Updates to the VR game also increases the size of your physical and virtual play area.
The physical room limits for the game have been expanded to give users more space to explore while they play. Players also have the option to play a new “continuous play” mode with limited interactions between songs for a more intense workout.
The game has also doubled its “room” limit from 5 to 10 players. In case you aren’t familiar with the game, the “room” doesn’t refer to a physical space, but is rather a reference to the game’s multiplayer setting. So, having ten people in your “room” means playing with ten other players anywhere in the world, not ten other players in your physical play area.
Players in a multiplayer room can now see each other over video chat and interact with each other’s avatars in a lobby before sessions begin. That way, sessions can be as social as they are competitive.
Synth Sundays
Perhaps the biggest part of the announcement was the launch of “Synth Sundays.” These are a series of weekly, live fitness events hosted by professional trainers and Twitch streamers.
Alternatively, players can host their own workout sessions. Even those who don’t have Synth Riders can follow along live on Twitch.
“We believe that ‘Synth Sundays’ will be a great way to connect our players together for workouts and social interactions which are now only possible in a multiplayer VR experience,” said Benzecri.
The first Synth Sunday will be this Sunday, April 5, at 1 PM PST (4 PM EST).
Staying Safe, Staying Healthy, Staying Sane
For most people, the challenges of quarantine are a bigger threat than the virus. VR games are one tool that people are using to escape the madness for a while. And Synth Riders can be one tool that you use to keep in shape while you stay inside.
