Harmonix has a strong pedigree for musical rhythm games, helping to pioneer the genre with games like Guitar Hero and Rockband. In recent years it's been pushing its classic titles into the virtual realms and its next game is much the same, even if it is a brand new title and potential franchise for the longtime developer. Audica is a rhythm game like its most beloved classics, bu tit borrows from games like Audioshield and Beat Saber to create a new kind of rhythm shooter.
"Audica is a VR rhythm shooter that combines Harmonix's award-winning music gameplay with precision shooting mechanics and a killer soundtrack, all set in a mesmerizing cosmic arena," as Harmonix describes it.
It has serious "Chroma" vibes about it. That cancelled musical shooter from Harmonix had a similar visual style and feel to it, although that wasn't VR focused as this game is.
Fans of Harmonix have serious questions about this game, most notably whether it will support custom songs. Although dubstep and dance tracks lend themselves to these kinds of experiences, Audioshield and Beat Saber have shown themselves equally fun to play with other genres of music. Such a feature also adds extreme longevity and replayability to what could otherwise be a limited, or DLC-locked kind of experience.
Although looking rather polished in its mixed reality announcement trailer, Harmonix still claims that the game is under development and will go through more changes in the run up to its 1.0 release. It's set to hit Early Access on March 7 on both Steam VR and the Oculus Store.
