When VR first popped up everyone was excited for what it could do for FPS-style gaming, and while that did pretty well for itself it wasn't quite in the way everyone was expecting. Games like Half Life: Alyx, SuperHot, and In Death are show stoppers, but for sheer accessibility the unforseen VR breakout was the music/rhythm genre. Games like AirTone lead the way and the major breakout hit of Beat Saber ended up being as close to a killer app as VR has seen. Synth Riders came out about a month after and, while it got a bit lost in Beat Saber's shadow, the game never stopped growing in the years since release. The basic library now covers 55 songs in a variety of musical genres, from the standard electronic, dubstep, and licensed tracks to the entertaining-beyond-all-reason electro-swing, and soon all that music will be making the jump to PSVR.
If you've played a VR music game you've got the basic idea of gameplay already down- Notes either come flying toward you or you go flying towards them, depending on the comfort setting, and the trick is to knock them away to the beat. Regular notes are blue or pink to indicate whether you should swat them with the left or right hand, while long chains of notes need you to hold the correct hand over the line for its full length. Yellow notes need to be hit with both hands, while sequences of green notes can be whichever hand you prefer so long as you use that one for the entire chain. Dodge the occasional barrier and you've got the basics down, but optional gameplay modes give bonus points for hitting the note right in the center or with a bit of force. On the one hand it's hard to deny that it sounds like a very familiar setup, but on the other Synth Riders is an absolute blast from the very first song, and its progression through the difficulty levels feels like a welcome challenge rather than a brick wall of intense note density. Toss in the diversity of music genres and there's always a reason to play another song or two right up to the point you realize it might be time to wring the sweat out of the headset. Up to now that's been confined to the PC or Quest versions of the game, but in a short month Synth Riders will be on console as well.
Synth Riders is coming to PSVR on July 27, and like any announcement it comes complete with a new trailer. Give it a watch below and get ready to feel the beat in your hands.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU11962/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeblx5-ARrI