Nearly every virtual reality game can be beneficial for your health in some manner as long as you’re regularly moving about your body while playing. However, some games go above and beyond to ensure that you’re really getting an experience that truly makes you sweat. Audio Trip has been one of those titles for nearly two years, and now, a new update to the game is going to allow users to get even more exercise.
Developer Kinemotik Studios has just recently released a new Cardio update for Audio Trip. The update, which has been in the works for quite some time, does pretty much what you’d expect and allows players to get in a great cardiovascular routine. In fact, Kinemotik says that this update has been something planned for Audio Trip from the game’s earliest days but the studio needed to figure out how to best implement it.
As for what this update looks like, Audio Trip now boasts new levels that are meant to involve more body movements that sync up with the music in-game. 18 new cardio-specific levels have been added to the game for each of the 18 songs that are present in Audio Trip. Essentially, choosing the “cardio” version of a track is the same as selecting between Beginner, Regular, and Expert difficulties. The cardio version of each song is largely the equivalent of the Regular difficulty and just incorporates more movement to get your heart pumping. So far, the response to the update has largely been a positive one from those who have gotten their hands on it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6laNl8TAZ0&w=560&h=315]
“I dug deep into memories of jazz classes, flash mobs, drill team dances, zumba, and even 80’s workout tapes I used to do with my mom when I was little, and I created these levels to have big full-range physical moves that were more on-the-beat, repetitious, heart-pumping routines to focus on really feeling the physical extent of your body,” Kinemotik’s Ashley Cooper told us about the update. “Apparently it’s just what our players needed for their at-home VR fitness quarantine New Years’ Resolution 2021 life!”
If you’re unfamiliar with Audio Trip as a whole, it’s a game that combines rhythm elements that you would see in a title like Beat Saber with more choreographed dance routines. In our own review of the game, we praised the game’s ability to get you up off of your couch and dance to the music. “The accuracy with which Kinemotik Studios is able to attain with your body movements using only a few obstacles delights and ignites the inner dancer in me. Each trip feels like an immersive and intentional musical experience and the soundtrack feature list is impressive by any studio standards. The music selection contains a wide variety of types, making it more likely that everyone finds something they love,” our review said. We also ended up awarding the game an 8.5/10 on our own VRFI fitness scale.
As a whole, it’s great to see that Kinemotik has continued to add so many substantial updates to Audio Trip over a prolonged period of time. Considering how long this cardio update has also been ruminating, it’s great to see it finally released. Assuming you may have put Audio Trip aside in recent months, now seems to be the perfect time to return to it once again.
If you haven’t played Audio Trip yet, you can currently purchase the game over on Steam. It retails for $19.99 and is compatible with Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. At this moment, Audio Trip is still in early access which means that Kinemotik will continue to update the project even more in the future.
