I think music-based rhythm games are starting to be my favorite genre in virtual reality. I love music, regardless of what type, and being able to experience music by participating in them is really fun. Games like Beat Saber, Moon Rider, and Avicii Invector allow you to immerse yourself in the beats and you can do so without having to really move around your room all that much. Granted the first two require you to swing your arms around, and the latter you can sit in a chair and play. If you like more physical-based music games, you might like Ragnarock, a rhythm game where you play as a Viking captain competing in a ship race. Use your two hammers and drum to the beat as you hype your crew up to row faster and faster to glory!
Ragnarock is very similar to Guitar Hero. As the song plays, runes slide in from in front of you and as they slide over a drum, you have to hit that drum with your hammer. Hit the runes perfectly in the center and your hit will cause a lightning bolt effect between your drum and hammer. If you don’t hit it exactly in the center, you’ll just see the symbol of the rune appear on your drum and where you hit it. You want to hit it perfectly as this will help charge your combo bonus and when it fills to the max, you can hit the special shields to the side of you which will boost your boat’s speed for a few seconds.
There are two combo bonuses you can acquire. There’s a regular blue one and if you choose to skip that one, you can keep going to gain the second yellow level combo bonus which is stronger and gives you a greater speed boost. If you can, go for the fully-charged second-level boost.
And that’s basically it for the gameplay. It’s very fun and those who have played rhythm games before should be able to just hop right in and start playing.
Of course, the gameplay is only half of what makes Ragnarock such a great game. The music selection here is absolutely fantastic. Much of it is Viking inspired with a mix of epic rock and metal tracks from the likes of Alestorm, Gloryhammer, Saltatio Mortis, Wind Rose, and many more. All have a festive Viking/Celtic/pirate style that will get you super hyped when banging those drums.
Ragnarock can be played either solo or in multiplayer mode. In solo mode, you’re just playing against a ghost ship and the leaderboard but in multiplayer, you’re up against a real-life competitor to see who can come in 1st place. This allows for up to 6-players.
Graphically, the game is also really nice to look at. It’s got that polygonal art style that makes it look kinda simple but has enough details where it looks good. It looks really good in virtual reality as you watch the environment zip by you. Everything is bright and colorful and the lighting effects are spot on when the lightning bolts hit.
Overall, Ragnarock is a fantastic music-based rhythm game. I absolutely love the music choices and the game is simple enough where anyone can learn to play it but with difficulty settings challenging enough for hardcore players. If you love these types of games, Ragnarock is a definite must-have in your library. While the version I have is on Steam, you can also pick up the game from the Oculus store which would allow you to play the game without having to tether to your PC.
Ragnarock is available now.
Disclaimer: Received game from developer and/or publisher for coverage purposes.
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