VR is finding uses in everything from art and design to training, research, and entertainment. An unexpected byproduct of VR’s immersion is its ability to flip the notion of in-home entertainment being necessarily sedentary. With the right games and techniques, VR can be in fact be an excellent workout. Here we’re sharing a VR workout routine that’s designed to be as fun as it is physical and comprised of games compatible with all major headsets.

Updated – December 10th, 2021

Yes, there are dedicated VR apps specifically designed for fitness. But if you’re anything like me, the biggest challenge is not the ability to exercise, but maintaining consistent motivation. Luckily it’s easy to get yourself to workout if it’s a byproduct of something inherently fun—the difference between lifting weights vs. playing a sport.

So I’ve put together for myself a three-game VR workout routine in which none of the games are explicitly made for fitness (which means they focus first and foremost on fun), but combined with the right settings and technique can be a solid workout; here’s my FitBit tracked stats after a session.

Of course, what you get out of any workout depends on what you put in. Yes, you could play these games without putting in nearly this much effort, but I was playing for both fun and fitness, so I really put myself into my movements. I’ll explain below what kind of techniques will help you put the most into—and get the most out of—each game.

Since not all of these games are available on all VR platforms (we’ll note where you can find them), you can make up your own combination of games and time spent.

Grab a big cup of water (you will need it for breaks) and strap that headset on tight—here’s the rundown:

Arms: 1 Hour – Beat Saber

$30 – Available on Quest, Oculus PC, SteamVR, PSVR

The Game

Beat Saber is a rhythm game that emphasises motion over timing. With a growing set of built-in tracks with polished beatmaps, it’s easy and fun to play, and very engaging trying to work your way up from Easy to Expert+ difficulty levels. Tracks vary in intensity, even at the same difficulty level; you’ll start to get a feel for which ones demand the most effort. [Read Our Beat Saber Review]

Settings & Technique

Play at the highest difficulty level that you’re comfortable with. Expert+ will of course be the most physical, and you should ideally build your way up to that, but even playing on Hard or Expert, the right technique will get your blood pumping. I highly suggest playing with ‘No Fail’ enabled; this will let you focus on fitness and flow rather than getting interrupted by failing a song.

The key is big swings. Keep your feet planted; focus less on your wrists and more on moving your arms. I find that the best way to have fun while putting in effort is to try to swing at each block with as much force as I can while still managing to reach the next block in time. The key is to smoothly move your swings from one block to the next; this makes a fun challenge where you need to strategize your movements to consider how to most efficiently move from one swing to the next even while making big, hard swings. When you really get into the zone you should feel that satisfying flow state that will carry you through.

You’ll want to take off the headset for a five minute cooldown and water break when you find yourself really out of breath. See if you can build yourself up to completing one entire ‘album’ before taking your break (albums have different lengths, so choose wisely).

Legs: 30 Minutes – Pistol Whip

$30 – Available on Quest, Oculus PC, SteamVR, PSVR

The Game

Pistol Whip is a rhythm shooter focused on flow and target management rather than aiming precision. Enemies appear as you move forward through the level and it’s your job to dispatch them while also dodging their incoming fire. It might not look it at first glance, but because of the way you need to move to dodge incoming fire Pistol Whip can be a great leg workout, making it a perfect complement to Beat Saber. [Read our Pistol Whip Review]

Settings & Technique

Similar to Beat Saber, I highly recommend playing at the highest level you can and with ‘No Fail’ enabled; this will ensure you don’t get interrupted or frustrated by failing a level. Higher difficulty requires more movement and will provide a better workout. I also highly recommend the ‘Dual Wield’ mode, which will put a gun in each of your hands instead of just one. With two guns it’s easier to find that satisfying flow state that will keep you going.

The key for a good Pistol Whip workout is to keep your feet planted as often as possible. From here you’ll need to move your upper body around to dodge incoming fire as you return fire to kill enemies. Moving in this way will make great use of your legs. Don’t be afraid to get down real low to dodge—not only is it an effective technique for dodging, it’s also going to get those leg muscles flexing.

Listen to the music and keep your body moving to the beat. Combining your shooting and dodging into a continuous flowing motion is the key to fun and fitness in this game.

Cooldown: 30 Minutes – Until You Fall

$25 – Available on Quest, Oculus PC, SteamVR, PSVR

The Game

Until You Fall is a rogue-lite melee combat game in which you battle as far as you can until you inevitably perish. With each run you’ll earn money which can be used to buy and upgrade weapons to make you stronger for your next bout. Being a successful knight requires patience and strategy, making this a great cooldown game because you can flex your brain while your muscles wind down. [Read Our Until You Fall Review]

Settings & Technique

Just like Beat Saber the key here is to make big swings. This isn’t just for your workout though, bigger swings in Until You Fall mean more damage dealt to enemies, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.

In the game you can choose from a handful of weapons to hold in each hand. If you pick one of the ‘talisman’ items (which give stat boosts but cannot block or attack), you’ll be able to concentrate all of your physical effort into one arm. Try alternating the talisman into your opposite hand each time you die, this will force you to train up the coordination and muscle memory in your non-dominant hand which will help you in the game later if you switch back to using a weapon in each hand.

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Addendum

Mix it Up

The above is just a rough suggestion, modify the times to whatever feels suitable for you. If you want even more workout for your time, consider adding 10 crunches each time you have to take your headset off for a drink of water. In Until You Fall, consider adding your own fitness ‘penalty’ for dying (like 10 jumping jacks) to raise the stakes and make you fight harder to survive!

Wipe it Down

Don’t let your headset turn into a gnarly mess! After a good session you should definitely remove the headset’s face foam and give it a good squeeze down with a damp paper towel in hand, followed by a dry paper towel for any remaining moisture. Feel around the headset’s other straps to see if they need also need a wipe down. Your controllers may need some attention too.

Got suggestions for other great VR games which offer both fun and fitness? Drop them in the comments below!

Update (December 10th, 2021): Since originally publishing this article, all three games have become widely available on all major headsets! We’ve updated the article with the price of each game and links to each major platform, as well freshened up some links with our latest reviews.

HTC is opening a non-fungible token (NFT) store soon that its says will host all forms of digital art, including AR, VR, and XR pieces.

The store, which will open on December 17th, is set to first offer NFTs featuring the works of Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939), which is being offered as a part of a collaboration with the Mucha Foundation.

The NFT sale will coincide with the opening of the ‘Mucha to Manga – The Magic of the Line’ exhibition in Taipei.

Here’s a video in Chinese about the show, displaying some of Mucha’s iconic art.

The store is said to offer complete control over the number of NFT editions and the format of the sale, with both fiat and crypto currencies accepted as payment.

HTC says a new NFT series will come to the store each month until April 2022, which will conclude with what it describes as “a special auction.”

For those of us in the VR space, all of this may seem a bit out of left field for the company, which over the years has built itself a significant niche in creating enterprise VR hardware. HTC is no stranger to jumping on the crypto bandwagon though. In 2019 the company released Exodus 1, a blockchain-focused smartphone that acts as a hardware wallet for storing cryptocurrency among other things.

How NFTs fit into all of that, well, there’s no telling how deep of a commitment the store actually represents. The company’s VIVE Arts initiative has been involved in bringing art-themed content to Viveport, but moreover it bringing VR to cultural institutions in limited-time exhibitions at the Tate Modern, London’s Royal Academy of Arts, Taipei’s National Palace Museum, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, Washington D.C.’s Newseum, and St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum since its founding in 2017.

Granted, NFT auctions are a far cry from bringing art to the masses—they primarily function as crypto-investment vehicles—although the earning potential for both the creators and buyers can’t be overstated.

The storied Christie’s auction house oversaw the sale of one NFT for $69 million back in March, something many NFT creators have hoped to replicate. Whether HTC makes those sort of headlines isn’t certain. At least Alphonse Mucha didn’t exclusively paint bored apes.

Nearly two and a half years in the making, Meta’s most ambitious social VR project, Horizon Worlds, has finally reached open beta. Well kinda. Starting today, the platform is available to those in the US & Canada who are 18 years old or older—on Quest 2 and Oculus PC. If you’re part of that group you’ll be able to jump in to explore worlds made on the platform and get your hands on the app’s stunningly impressive collaborative building tools.

Horizon Worlds was initially announced back in 2019 as Facebook Horizon. Since then, Facebook has changed its name to Meta and Facebook Horizon has since become known as Horizon Worlds.

Despite the name change, the vision of Horizon Worlds is still the same: a social VR platform where users can build experiences with and for each other. Being a self-contained application, it’s not quite part of the metaverse yet, but it’s the company’s first big project that’s build on a foundation with many of the same ideas—like having a shared identity across interconnected, immersive experiences where you can spend time with friends.

The app has been in a closed beta for more than a year, during which time the company says it’s been honing the experience with feedback from users and creators alike.

Today Horizon Worlds is finally opening its doors, at least to some. Anyone in the US & Canada that is over 18 years old is welcome to join Horizon Worlds on Quest 2 or Oculus PC (Meta is pulling the plug on support for the original Quest starting on January 13th).

I recently got a tour of the latest version of Horizon Worlds and found a very polished experience with some excellent in-game creation tools. While much of the foundation here is the same as what we’ve seen previously, various systems have been enhanced and the experience overall feels streamlined.

For example, the last time we took a look at Horizon Worlds, spaces inside the world could only hold up to 8 players at a time. Now it’s possible to fit up to 20 players in a single space, depending upon the complexity of the scene (creators can reduce the total player count in order to add more geometry, animation, logic, etc).

Another upgrade is that Horizon Worlds is now using the latest Oculus Avatar system, which replaces the previous proprietary avatar system. When you load into Horizon Worlds you’ll automatically appear the avatar that you have (probably) already configured in your headset.

Building tools have also been expanded an improved. Creators now have control over an object’s texture, material properties, and more. You can even light scenes generally (at the skybox level) and specifically (by placing lights that illuminate nearby objects). Lights aren’t dynamic (they won’t cast shadows or respond to moving objects in real-time), but they do bake quickly enough that creators can easily use the game’s built-in tools to work with lighting on-the-fly to add extra character to their scene.

Meta says that everything you see in Horizon Worlds was built completely in-game—environments, game-logic, scoreboards, and… well, everything.

The building tools in Horizon Worlds are collaborative at their core. You can build collaboratively with up to four friends at a time, and everything that you see and do is synchronized between users, making for a feeling of co-creation that’s really powerful. This even applies to the scripting panel (which allows users to add logic to their creations); if you make even a tiny change to a script, your friend next to you will see the change reflected on their end too—great for helping each other debug, I’m sure.

It’s a impressively powerful and easy to use set of tools, and I expect creators so far are only just scratching the surface of what’s possible. Alongside the open beta release, Meta has published a comprehensive introduction to everything from building to scripting to publishing in Horizon Worlds.

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Horizon Worlds is an impressively sleek package, even in its beta form. Whether or not it sees real traction is likely to come down to the quality of content available on the platform and how easy it is for the best content to be discovered and shared by users.

That can be a chicken-and-egg problem, of course. Sensing this, Meta recently announced a $10 million fund to try to kickstart creator projects on the platform, but hasn’t commented on plans to create any structured compensation for creators spending their time building on the platform. That might make it hard for Horizon Worlds to attract high quality creators who might otherwise choose to spend their time building on platforms that offer structured, real-money payouts, like Rec Room or Roblox.