After playing Supernatural this week, my legs are sore to a degree unmatched by Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, BoxVR, OhShape, or any other VR app.
It is easy to see the influence of those earlier VR games on the new exercise and fitness software from Within, but Supernatural is tuned in ways the others aren’t for both the wireless freedom of Oculus Quest and a home replacement for gym visits.
What sets Supernatural apart from, say, Beat Saber?
- Nice songs picked for workouts from popular musicians. Artists spotted in the launch lineup included Lizzo, Lady Gaga, One Republic, Kendrick Lamar, Ramones, Macklemore, and Panic! At The Disco, among others.
- Every workout is built for the 360 wireless freedom of Oculus Quest. You’ll be shown how to turn in place and hit targets with your bats coming along different tracks.
- A personal trainer’s voice is in your ears offering motivating words and guidance to finish a 20-30 minute workout.
- Prettier environments that look like actual places rather than colorful voids.
- Mobile app and Apple Watch integration to better track activity.
- You need to duck your head inside triangles coming to your sides and that means being more active with lunges than just simply ducking or moving out of the way of a wall in Beat Saber.
The game is available now on Oculus Quest with a free trial month ahead of its $19 per month subscription pricing. That pricing is surely hard for many Quest owners to wrap their brain around if you’re a fan of a game like Beat Saber — but the free trial should provide plenty of time to try out the workouts and see if it’s a nice fit. I should note Supernatural requires an active Internet connection to stream assets and an answer page on the website for the software says they recommend speeds above 20 Mbps.
We haven’t spent enough time yet with Supernatural to give it a full review yet but I did find the workouts both fun and challenging in a way that seemed more focused on keeping my body moving than, say, just providing a satisfying rhythmic sense of destruction. Of course, BoxVR and Beat Saber both released fitness updates in recent weeks, so we’re going to have to dive into all the updated fitness VR apps more deeply in the coming weeks to provide a better breakdown of the best way to work out in VR.
You can check out Supernatural on Oculus Quest here.
