In a world where VR rhythm games like Beat Saber, Synth Riders, and Audica exist, it should come as no surprise that Ragnarock would join the genre, but what did surprise me was just how awesome it is.  Back in 2019 I got a small taste of virtual drumming in Drums of War, but that game used drums as a means of locomotion and attack.  Ragnarock takes drumming back to where it belongs; music…freaking awesome music…music I never knew existed but now I can’t get enough.  Apparently there is this whole genre of Celtic rock and Viking heavy metal filled with blazing guitars, angry vocals, and even bagpipe solos.  Throw in some heavy metal pirate sea shanties and you have 30 of the most eclectic and addictive songs that ever made up a music game’s soundtrack.  I can’t wait to see what they add as more music is coming.

Ragnarock is delightfully simple to learn and I fear impossible to master.  Even on Rock Band I was only able to master the medium skill level on drums, but the music here is fast and furious and unrelenting from the start.  Each of the 30 songs has three difficulty tiers and each of those is awarded bronze, silver, and gold medals based on your performance.  At the time of this review I just finished my first Lv5 song with a bronze medal.  I’ve earned silver on a few lesser ranked songs and have bronzed the entire track list, but it wasn’t easy.  The one thing I have noticed though is that you do definitely get better with practice.  When I first started playing Ragnarock I was falling short of the bronze, but after a full week of playing I am now coming within just a few meters of the silver and gold finish line.

WanadevStudio has created something really special here, and it all begins before the music even starts.  Ragnarock immerses you in its world with a charming menu hub that grants you access to the song list, tutorials, settings, and leaderboards.  A rack of unlockable hammers is off to your left and a large exit door on the right lets you leave the game when your arms turn to rubber.  You can scroll the track list and preview a song by clicking on it before choosing one of the three numbered difficulty tiers, each with its own bronze/silver/gold medal award display.

Once you’ve picked your jam you’ll find yourself behind a set of drums at the stern of a Viking longship with an eager crew of burly warriors ready to row in sync with your awesome beats.  Perhaps the feature that really sets this game apart comes next; the comfort customization which will definitely factor into how well you can play the game.  This quick multi-step process can be completed before each song, which is great for dialing in your perfect setup or quickly adapting to anyone else who might want to sit in for a few sessions. You can easily re-center the drums, adjust their height, adjust the hammer angle, and even reposition the shields (cymbals) on the left and right edges.  It might take some tinkering to get it dialed in perfectly, but your scores will improve when you do.

Once the actual game begins you see a stream of runic symbols start floating toward you in four lanes just like Guitar Hero or Rock Band.  All you need to do is hit the proper drumhead as the rune passes over it.  The symbol is momentarily etched into your drum to show if you were early, late, or perfect with your strike.  As with any music game you are rewarded with perfect hits and lengthy combos that all fuel into your hammers combo energy that can be unleashed as a temporary speed boost for your ship.  After hitting enough sequential runes your hammers and shields will start to crackle with energy.  All you have to do is smack one of the shields to surge your ship forward, but there is some tactics involved because you can choose to continue to build up even more energy for a much greater speed boost, but know that if you miss a single rune you lose any energy already built up.

Even the scoring system for Ragnarock is tied into the theme of the game.  Rather than a simple progress meter or digital scores and combo meters each performance is ranked on how far your ship travels during the song.  The more notes you hit, the more accurately you hit them, and the number of combo boosts you trigger all help you reach the bronze, silver, and gold markers at the end of each journey.  Replaying tracks will let you race against a ghost ship that represents your best previous performance with your split distance shown on the bow of the ship.

It could take a lifetime to master the 30 songs that make up the game’s soundtrack, so you might want to mix things up with some multiplayer action.  Yes, you can play public and private games with up to six players.  Honestly, it’s the same experience as playing alone only you have other boats on the screen to distract you, but it’s still cool they included it.  And if you ever get tired of the included music you can use the track editing tools to import music from your own song library for play in solo mode.  So there is plenty to keep you busy outside the core solo experience.

Ragnarock achieves legendary status not only with its epic song list but also in the way the note streams were created for each song so that no matter what skill level you are playing the hammer strikes always fall on a beat.  There is a lag offset option you can adjust if the music isn’t syncing with the video.  Once you find your groove and become one with the song it’s almost like the rune stream stops telling you when to hit the drum but instead, which drum to hit.  The game even carries over some real drumming techniques that will give real-world drummers a definite competitive edge.

Ragnarock is exhausting and the game even warns you going in that you should probably loosen up before playing.  Arms, wrists, elbows all start to turn to rubber after an hour or more.  The game can be played seated or standing and is available for all the major VR systems.  I played on the Vive and the Oculus Rift S and found virtually no difference with the quality of the game.  The Vive wands felt a bit more natural like I was holding actual handles on giant hammers, but ultimately the Oculus Touch won me over with lighter controls and less chance of slippage when my hands got sweaty.  Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any version of this game.

Words and screens cannot possibly communicate just how awesome Ragnarock is, so here is a trailer that showcases some gameplay and music, and as cool as this trailer is the game is infinitely better when you are actually playing it.  If you love a primal soundtrack loaded with heavy metal and rock and roll and miss the days of Rock Band and Guitar Hero then Ragnarock is a must-own title for anyone with a VR setup.  It’s simply glorious!

This is an Early Access Review and as such opinions are based solely on the state of the game at the time of review and subject to change as development progresses leading up to final release.

Speedy Gun Savage is an entertaining new VR arcade game that hearkens back to the classic coin-op days of Time Crisis; you know the genre, the on-rails shooter that automatically propels the player forward from one cover spot to the next for fast and furious shootout encounters.  In this game you’ll be playing as an intergalactic bounty hunter, as you travel to three unique planets, each with its own army of enemies you’ll need to defeat leading up to a planetary boss fight.

Originally released to Early Access back in April, the game was pretty rough when it debuted so I decided to give it a few months to sort itself out.  Thankfully, there have been a couple patches since then and I’m happy to say that even in this stage of development there is still considerable fun to be had with Speedy Gun Savage.  Available on Steam, you can play this wild and crazy shooter on the Vive and the Rift.  I tested both and ultimately settled on the Rift S version as my favorite due to more comfortable controls and slightly improved visuals, but both versions are nearly identical in every other way.  The Oculus Touch controls do feel a bit more natural than the Vive wands when wielding your weapons.

So you play as Wolf, equipped with dual wielding pistols and shotguns or you can whip out the big gun and unleash a stream of deadly machinegun fire.  Your faithful companion bot 3V4N (Evan) is always floating nearby to offer insight and comedic relief to the situation.  Speedy Gun Savage is designed to be a very approachable rail-shooter with colorful art design, interesting levels, amusing (and dangerous) enemies, and a great UI with intuitive icons and collectibles.

The game flows nicely with Wolf moving from cover to cover.  Once in position several enemies will appear, some in towers, some standing in the open and others tumbling side to side or right at you.  There is a nice variety of enemies between the stages and planets.   Giant insects are mixed in with cowboys while crazy skeletons will fire flaming arrows or rush at you strapped with explosives and drones will zip around overhead.  Environmental targets are scattered about along with power-ups for health and ammo.  During these shooting encounters you are “stuck” to your cover but can freely move side to side or physically look up and over or beneath certain cover items using your body.  In one early level there was a gap under the rock, and I was able blast the ankles off two cowboys.  There is definitely a bit of tactics involved in prioritizing enemies, shooting the suicide bombers before they reach you and trying to shoot archers and gunmen while they are reloading.

Once each encounter is cleared you activate the nearby traversal icon and you automatically start to move forward until you get stuck behind your next bit of cover.  During this forward motion you can move side to side and even stop short of your next encounter by moving behind an object in the level.  You are free to spin completely around but enemies don’t seem to appear from behind, although you can turn and shoot any missed power-ups that are still in range.

There is a fair but steep progression of difficulty with a lot of trial and error to figure out the best pattern for killing enemies even when some encounters do change up, mostly based on your location behind the cover.  For instance, the suicide bombers will always appear and approach based on which side of the cover you are hiding.  Static enemies like snipers in towers and archers will always appear in the same place so you can learn and get better.  Also figuring out which weapons work best against certain enemies and situations also comes into play.  Aiming is challenging since there is no floating reticle, and you must use your tracers to zero in on your enemies.

The visual design for Speedy Gun Savage is really fun and colorful with great enemy designs, animations, and details.  The characters and environments are very nice with a visual step-up from cel-shading but still maintaining an original artistic flavor stuck between reality and graphic novel.  The UI is non-invasive with your health meter built into your wrist and your ammo count displayed on the guns. Your spaceship provides a fun hub area between levels/worlds, and there is even an arcade machine to offer up some classic high scoring gameplay for the leaderboards.

Speedy Gun Savage can be played seated or standing, but as the levels progress you’ll probably want to stand so you have more flexibility for peeking over or kneeling behind cover.  The game can get quite physical if you let it.  The game does support Room-Scale but aside from moving around behind cover this is very limited as everything is on rails.  As mentioned earlier, the Touch controls feel more natural when using the guns, but both systems offer excellent tracking and accurate aiming.  Even your body/head is tracked so you can dodge the slower incoming projectiles just like in SUPERHOT.

I had a great time playing Speedy Gun Savage and I look forward to seeing how it all progresses leading up to launch.  Fingers crossed for more planets and enemies as this did feel like a taste of a possible larger game, but even at $10 you’ll definitely get your money’s worth.  The devs seem to acknowledge feedback and several updates have fixed and even added new content like the new quick draw Duel Challenge.  Another great update is the Wave Challenge where you can freely move about without sticking to cover objects as you face off against wave after wave of enemies.

If you are craving some awesome arcade shooting action then no need to wait for Speedy Gun Savage to come out of Early Access.  It is totally playable and totally awesome in its current state and likely only going to get better over the coming months.  Definitely worth checking out if you have a Rift or Vive.

We’ll be back to update our review when the game officially launches.