• News

Audica is a VR rhythm shooter from the makers of Rock Band

Harmonix, the studio behind Rock Band, is doing what it does best, unveiling a new VR rhythm shooter that's set to arrive in the next month.

Ozzie Mejia

February 13, 2019 10:15 AM

1

Harmonix has been at the top of its class for many years as a developer of rhythm and music games. Whether it's Rock Band or Amplitude (the old-school one and the more recent one), Harmonix is where to go for unforgettable beats and gameplay that fits right in with them. Now the Boston-based developer has sprung a surprise on the gaming world by opting to dive back into virtual reality with a new game called Audica.

Audica takes players into a virtual world, where they fire off blasters at incoming alien targets to the beat of some new tunes. This concept may sound familiar to those who have followed Harmonix's work over the years. This is strikingly similar to a game called Chroma, which Harmonix first unveiled almost five years ago today. As suddenly as Chroma was unveiled, it was sent back to the drawing board following a total company shakeup just three months later. Now it appears that the core idea of the Chroma concept has been preserved for virtual reality.

Harmonix may not be first to the VR rhythm gaming party, walking through the doors just after the breakout hit Beat Saber, but the studio brings along its incomporable pedigree and its eye for simplistic game design. The concept here seems to involve player firing off their blasters at multiple targets of different colors. A visual indicator will cue the player to fire, which will also allow players to blast targets to the beat of a given song. Targets will pop up both in front of the player and to the side, which should make higher difficulties a hoot.

There are some questions about Audica, particularly about the game's soundtrack. And there isn't much time for answers, because the game will be out sooner than anyone thinks. Audica is set to come to Early Access on both Steam VR and Oculus Rift on March 7. For more, visit the Audica website.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?