When VR first came back nobody really gave too much thought to its effect on music games. First-person adventures were all anyone wanted, and after a bit of sorting out the details, they did well for themselves. Music games, however, became a surprise instant hit, putting the player inside the Guitar Hero/Rock Band-style note track and making them move and dance to the beat. From Airtone to Audio Trip, RagnaRock and the system-selling Beat Saber, music and VR have become very best friends. It’s one of the deeper and more high-quality libraries in VR, and one of the best of them is Synth Riders.
Synth Riders initially came out just a bit after Beat Saber back in 2018, and since then has released one music pack after another over the years. The very first one is also my personal favorite of the lot, Electro Swing Essentials, not only due to its great note tracks, but also thanks to the music’s fusion of a fun old-timey style and modern energy. Since then a number of other music packs have been released, with some like the Synthwave Essentials getting three full volumes of content, but Electro Swing has just had the one so far. That’s changed as of today with the nine-song release of Electro Swing Essentials 2.
Synth Riders Adds Quest Mixed Reality Update
Like most of Synth Riders' genre packs, Electro Swing Essentials 2 is a little less than half free, a bit more than half paid on a song-by-song basis. Basically if you own Synth Riders, there’s no reason not to hop in and check out at least the new freebie songs, getting in a good aerobic workout as you ride the beat and clear the note lines. Red is the right hand, blue notes for left, gold notes need to be hit with both hands, and the green ones are player’s choice. Dodge the purple walls and that’s the lot, but it’s enough in the way of gameplay tools to give each song its own feel in the note-chart layout.
Electro Swing Essentials is available as of now for most VR platforms, including PS5’s PSVR2 (but not PS4’s PSVR), Meta Quest, Steam and Viveport. The non-free new songs can be picked up at $1.99 apiece or in a single buy-4-get-1-free $7.99 bundle. It’s always a good day to move to the music, and more Synth Riders is an excellent way to do it.
