While the in high spirits - story sales pitch for virtual reality often take transporting players to another world , I ’ve never discover those to be thebest VR games . In my experience , my favorite experience are very esoteric , colorful , and weird . They ’re more like hallucinatory episode rather than gateways to another world . That ’s whyBeat Saberstill brook as one of the most popular VR game and why one of my favored VR games isRez Infinite .
Thrasher , the newest game fromThumpercomposer and artist Brian Gibson , is the latest VR biz of that ilk . It ’s also one of my favorite plot I ’ve play in VR to date thanks to its simple but mesmerizing gameplay . Thrasheris flying a bit under the radiolocation forward of passing , but anyone with aMeta Quest headsetshould cull this game up now that it ’s available .
InThrasher , players guide a space eel around cosmic , abstract environments . There ’s not much to worry about in the way of a narrative , just trippy visuals to take in as role player make their elbow room through each level and face off against cosmic beings . Gibson ’s soundtrack is excellent and sounds just as supernal asThrasher’slevels look . This is n’t a rhythm plot outright , but the sounds and sights of each stage are what make the experience palpate whole .
PlayingThrasheris a very straightforward experience , which could actually make it a adept first VR game for those novel to the tech . With their hand or a Meta Quest controller , players just have to guide the eel through whitened shapes moving around the CRT screen . These come in waves , and however much time players have left at the end of a level serves as their last score that ’s come in on a leaderboard .
The simplicity of the mastery makes it easy to enter a flow nation while playingThrasher . The eel moves like a ribbon on a dance streamer . It ’s mesmerizing to just move it around the screen while not much is going on . When form appeared around me , I acquire the same rush as a game likeFruit Ninjaas I chop-chop endeavor to jactitate through them as tight as I could . My senses were locked into that action thanks to the nature of VR , further immersing me in an dreamlike experience .
AsThrasherprogresses , more obstacles are introduced . While the goal is to move the eel through all the white lines on the screen as quickly as potential , violent lines that interrupt the flow and deduct time when polish off starting line showing up in cause patterns . foreman push pileus off the end of each spirit level , presenting the hardest normal to move through without hitting a ruddy line .
Thrasherintroduces other gameplay twists over time , like groups of smaller lines that players want to move through in quick sequence . With each new level , I was eager to see what kind of patterns , shapes , or mechanicsThrasherwould fox at me next . It ’s much more lay back thanThumper , but it can still be exhilarating as you narrowly ward off reddish wrinkle or just move the eel through the last one with second left on the clock .
I ascertain many VR games cumbrous to assure , butThrasher’scontrol dodging sense like it could ’ve worked on the Nintendo Wii . That gives it a peck - up - and - play lineament , as I ’m eager to stand out back in and refine my times on each level while also let the dopamine strike that come each time I clear a wave . Thrasherquickly cemented itself as one of the best VR games I ’ve ever played and prompt me of just how much voltage there still is in the technical school . I yearn to see more games that are less implicated about creating virtual worlds and more focussed on crafting audiovisual experience I ’ll never forget .
Thrasheris usable now for Meta Quest 2 , 3 , and Pro , as well as the Apple Vision Pro . A PC VR version will be released this December , while a version of the game that does not habituate VR is also in the works .
