Rhythm game fans will surely appreciate this piece of news: Audica, the virtual reality “rhythm shooter” from developer Harmonix will come to PlayStation VR in fall 2019.
Initially released on Steam Early Access in March of this year, Audica is a virtual reality rhythm game, which means music is played and the player’s goal is to press buttons to the beat of the songs. Accuracy and consistency reward players with a better score. Rhythm games are undeniably hard to work with, seeing that the only notable aspect of the gameplay that developers can affect is the interface and the soundtrack.
However, with the advent of VR, different mechanics for hitting beats and notes have been introduced. In Audica, instead of hitting buttons to play the notes, players shoot and smash targets in VR with their pair of rhythm blasters. With a plethora of songs from some of the world’s most popular electronic artists, Audica requires players to shoot and smash in rhythm with the beat. The better their form, accuracy, and timing, the better the score will be. The higher score you get, the higher you climb on Audica’s leaderboards.
Audica boasts an incredible intuitiveness and immersive factor. Players are armed with blue and orange blasters that can only hit their corresponding beat color. All of this is set in a breath-taking arena in outer space.
The game has been in Steam Early Access since March. So far, the features that are included in the Early Access version are:
- A 24 Song Soundtrack
- Four difficulties per song
- Online Leaderboards
- Practice Mode
- Two environments and weapon sets
- Spectator camera
- In-game Map Creator
- Community Map Support.
Harmonix guarantees the final release of Audica will have a 25+ song soundtrack, Campaign Mode, additional environments, weapon sets, and expanded leaderboard functionality. There is also a possibility that new gameplay mechanics will be added.
Currently, the game retails for $19.99, but the price is expected to increase once Harmonix launches version 1.0. Audica launches for PlayStation VR this fall.
