Harmonix Releases VR Music Shooter Audica As Early Access Title On March 7

Harmonix, known for the Guitar Hero series, among other things, has announced the VR music shooter Audica. The game will be available as an Early Access title on March 7 for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Steam VR. A PlayStation VR version may follow later this year.

according to Harmonix’s tweet Audica is a ‘VR rhythm shooter’ that combines the American developer’s music gameplay with shooting and a ‘killer’ soundtrack. The setting of the game is a ‘cosmic arena’. At early release, the game will have a soundtrack with approximately ten songs, four difficulty levels per song, an online leaderboard, and one environment and weapon set.

GameInformer, which has published an extensive preview of the game, says you’ll be playing Audica with two controllers. Targets of all kinds of colors and shapes fly at the player from all directions, shooting at the targets at the right time. At higher levels, smooth movements with the controllers should also be made. The game thus resembles the Guitar Hero games, but in a VR world.

The developers write on the Steam page that the game started as a passion project of a small development team. The team expects the final full version to be ready before the end of 2019; it will feature over 25 songs, a campaign and practice mode, multiple environments and weapon sets, and an expanded leaderboard. There may also be more gameplay elements.

It is not yet known how much the game will cost, although the developer reports that the price of the full release will be higher. Communications Director Dan Walsh writes on his own Twitter account that with the full release “hopefully” a PlayStation VR version will also be available.