Hey everyone! I’m Pawel Gaida, marketing director at Kluge Interactive, and I’m delighted to share that our game, Synth Riders, is finally coming to PlayStation VR on July 27.
Immerse yourself in our freestyle dance rhythm game with a variety of music and customizable experiences that will keep you on your toes. Let’s dive into what’s coming next month.
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Synth Riders was conceived in 2017 when our creative director, Abraham Aguero, embarked on a journey to explore the potential of the still-emerging VR technology. Working with programmer Jhean Ceballos they built a prototype based on the idea of “riding” beams of light (we call them “rails”) in time to the music. With tons of positive feedback, this small passion project turned into the development of a full game. Four years later and we are deeply grateful to see the game is feature-rich, offers music from recognizable artists, and gathers a community of fans all over the world.
To this day, feedback from players is our north star. We have kept “following the fun” by refining the core rhythm mechanics of the game: catch the orbs with your hands, follow the rails of long notes, and avoid the walls. Fans of Synth Riders love how the game activates the entire body and makes you dance. Our team is hand-crafting maps for each song with a clear goal in mind – to connect players with the music, make them move to the beat, and make them break a sweat in the process.
Most recently we’ve introduced Experiences – unique, artistically-driven visuals created to match perfectly with songs, providing a special blend of sight, sound, and physical actions. So far we’ve released them for two add-on songs: “Come Out And Play” by The Offspring and “Algorithm” by Muse.
While bringing the game to PlayStation VR, we’ve made sure that it looks great inside the headset and plays great with PlayStation Move controllers. The freedom of PS Move controllers was key to providing the signature freestyle-dancing gameplay of Synth Riders.
The game takes place inside thirteen retro-future-inspired worlds, weach with its own artistic character. Giant spinning mechanisms, futuristic cities, giant synthesizers, synthwave sunsets; there’s plenty to choose from.
Our team went above and beyond to provide diversity in content and features. Single player will welcome you with two main modes – Rhythm and Force with individual playstyles. We’ve also prepared Party Mode to let you pass the headset to friends and family. The game comes with five difficulty levels so everyone should feel at home.
No matter which Mode you play, you can choose from a selection of additional modifiers to spice up the experience. One of my favorite modifiers is Spin Mode – it makes notes come from different directions within a 90° angle which requires you to concentrate and move even more.
We are happy to bring the entire Synth Riders music library to PS VR, including 55 free, licensed songs and over 20 tracks available as purchasable music packs featuring Muse, The Offspring, Parov Stelar, and more.
Music is very important to our team, as our creative director is a former DJ, and our CEO Arturo Perez was an editor of a music magazine. We always want to make musical choices that are diverse and interesting. It’s exciting switching from Synthwave to Electroswing to EDM to Rock.
In fact, many players mention how Synth Riders became their music discovery source. For example, Electroswing is a genre that gets many players excited and really gets them to dance! Following the positive reception of the “Electro Swing Essentials” music pack, we are preparing to bring more electrifying tunes to the game soon, so stay tuned.
We can’t wait to let you dance the night away with Synth Riders and we look forward to welcoming you all to our community on July 27.