PowerBeatsVR

PowerBeatsVR
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Five Mind Creations
Publisher	Five Mind Creations
Platform	SteamVR, Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2
Device	HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality, Valve Index, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation VR2
Operating System	Windows, Meta Horizon OS, PlayStation 5
Type	Game
Genre	Rhythm, Fitness, Sports
Input Device	Tracked motion controllers
Play Area	Standing, Room-scale
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	18 April 2019 (Steam Early Access); 18 November 2020 (PC); 20 October 2021 (App Lab); 9 February 2023 (Meta Quest Store); 16 December 2024 (PlayStation VR2)
Price	US$19.99 (Steam), US$22.99 (Meta Quest, 2023), US$21.99 (PlayStation Store)
App Store	Steam, Meta Horizon Store, Viveport, PlayStation Store
Website	https://www.powerbeatsvr.com

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

PowerBeatsVR is a rhythm-based virtual reality fitness game developed and published by Five Mind Creations, an independent studio in Munich, Germany. Players punch incoming objects and squat, sidestep and dodge obstacles in time with music, and the game tracks calories burned and other workout statistics.

The game entered Steam Early Access on 18 April 2019 for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets and left Early Access on 18 November 2020. A standalone version for the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 followed on App Lab on 20 October 2021 and moved to the official Meta Quest Store on 9 February 2023. A PlayStation VR2 version for the PlayStation 5 was released on 16 December 2024. The game is sold as a one-time purchase; at the App Lab launch the developer said there would never be a subscription.

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Release dates and prices per platform (Steam, App Lab, Meta Quest Store, PlayStation Store), Steam features and DLC dates, developer press releases and quotes, EscapeVR credits, 2018 PowerSuit coverage, awards, Metacritic and OpenCritic listings and the quoted reviews, checked against the cited pages. About review dates.

Gameplay

PowerBeatsVR is played standing with Tracked motion controllers. Players box incoming objects, such as boulders, in time with the music and squat, sidestep and dodge around obstacles. Scores rise with movement and hit strength: the Steam description says that "the more you move and the harder you hit, the higher your score." The 2019 Early Access announcement described the game as a blend of classic rhythm games with boxing and the evasive actions of dodgeball, and said it differed from other rhythm-based VR games in its focus on full-body movement.

The game has four playstyles, called weapons. Players start with their fists and unlock a hammer, a shield and a "powerfist" as they play. The base game includes two official music packs with 24 songs and more than 50 workouts designed by the developer, with three difficulty levels. A generator builds workouts automatically for the player's own music (MP3, OGG, WAV and FLAC files on PC), and a workout editor lets players create or change workouts in VR, including a "Live Recording" mode in which the player boxes along to a song and the editor records the movements. On PlayStation 5, players load their own songs from a USB stick, and the developer's FAQ states that only MP3 files are supported there.

Players can combine official, generated and self-made workouts into playlists, with an endurance mode that plays songs without pauses and an endless mode. The game records workout time, squats and estimated calories burned, has online leaderboards, and adapts workouts to player heights from 3 ft (1 m) to 7.2 ft (2.2 m). Obstacles can be switched off, and modifiers change speed, required movement distance, hit strength and precision. The PC version supports ANT+ and Bluetooth heart rate monitors; according to the developer's FAQ, heart rate monitors are not supported on Meta Quest or PlayStation 5. The game includes four built-in environments (Sky, Desert, Space and Medieval), and on Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro it also has a mixed reality mode that places the workout in the player's real surroundings.

Steam lists a minimum play space of 2 m by 1.5 m (6 ft 6 in by 4 ft 11 in) and support for standing and room-scale play through SteamVR. The PlayStation Store lists the PS VR2 version as a one-player roomscale game that requires a 2 m by 2 m play area and the PS VR2 Sense controllers.

Development

PowerBeatsVR was announced in April 2018 as the first game to support the VisionBody PowerSuit, a US$300 suit with 20 electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) pads that adds resistance to the wearer's movements. UploadVR reported that Sourcenity and VisionBody had partnered on the project, described the game as "essentially Audioshield designed with fitness in mind," and said it was planned for Rift, Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets later in 2018.

Five Mind Creations announced on 26 March 2019 that the game would release on 18 April 2019. Five Mind Creations had earlier published two VR escape room games on Steam, EscapeVR: The Basement (7 November 2016) and EscapeVR: Trapped Above the Clouds (13 November 2017), which Steam lists as developed by Five Mind Creations and Sourcenity. The Early Access version had 12 tracks, three difficulty levels, four playstyles and three environments and cost US$19.99.

During Early Access the developer added features in several updates. A June 2019 update added a VR level editor and support for custom songs, with beatmaps shared through the game's Discord server because in-game sharing was not yet available. In July 2019 the game became available to arcade operators through the SpringboardVR and SynthesisVR platforms. A fitness update at the end of that month added a calorie tracker, player statistics and heart rate monitor integration. In its announcement Dr. Niklas Weber, one of the studio's founders, said: "We are sure Virtual Reality will shape the future of personal fitness, as it moves the focus from exertion to fun."

The game left Early Access after about 18 months. VR Fitness Insider reported that the version 1.0 update added a second music pack with 12 songs, custom playlists, endurance and endless modes, a new environment and new modifiers, and listed support for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality and Valve Index headsets.

The Quest version is based on the PC version. At its App Lab launch the developer said it ran at 72 Hz on the original Oculus Quest and 90 Hz on Quest 2 and included every PC feature except direct heart rate monitor support. The move to the Meta Quest Store came with an update that added a tutorial stage and feature tour, a new input interface for the music generator (the first of its "Generator 2.0" updates) and six more languages: Traditional Chinese, Thai, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. App Lab owners received the store version for free and kept their settings, statistics and achievements. An update announced on 27 October 2023 added the mixed reality mode and improved graphics on Meta Quest 3.

Release

Platform	Store	Release date	Notes
PC VR (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality)	Steam Early Access	18 April 2019	US$19.99
PC VR	VR arcades (SpringboardVR, SynthesisVR)	July 2019	Commercial licensing
PC VR	Steam, Oculus Home, Viveport	18 November 2020	Full release (version 1.0)
Oculus Quest, Oculus Quest 2	App Lab	20 October 2021	US$22.99; also announced for SideQuest
Meta Quest	Meta Quest Store	9 February 2023	Moved from App Lab; existing owners transferred free
PlayStation VR2 (PlayStation 5)	PlayStation Store	16 December 2024	US$21.99, GBP 17.99, EUR 21.99

The Quest version supports cross-buy with the Oculus Rift store; the developer's FAQ states that cross-buy does not extend to Steam, Microsoft or Viveport purchases. The game is also sold through Humble.

Downloadable content

Add-on	Steam release	Content
Custom Environments	12 July 2022	Built-in 360-degree skybox environments and the option to load the player's own panorama images
Song Pack 3	1 February 2024	12 songs, each with three difficulty levels
Disco Environment	27 August 2025	Disco-themed environment

The developer announced Song Pack 3 on 20 January 2024 with links to both the Meta Quest and Steam versions. Its songs include "Ready and Go" by Marscott and "Closer" by The Runaway Club, with further tracks by Alaina Cross and Jon Worthy. All three add-ons are also sold on the PlayStation Store.

Reception

As of October 2026, Metacritic lists no critic reviews for the game and shows no Metascore. OpenCritic lists two reviews: Impulse Gamer scored the game 4.4 out of 5 and Gaming Professors 7.5 out of 10. In its December 2020 review on HTC Vive, Impulse Gamer wrote that the game "feels like the natural evolution of Beat Sabre" and highlighted that players can use any music track they own.

In a February 2023 preview of the Quest version, CGMagazine wrote that the game "somehow propelled me back into the gym from my own home," while noting that "there's a bit of polishing to go" before it could be a household solution for quick exercise. On Steam, the game had a "Very Positive" user rating as of October 2026, with 85% of 455 user reviews positive.

Awards

In VR Fitness Insider's 2020 VR Fitness Awards, PowerBeatsVR was a finalist for Best VR Fitness Game of the Year, which Supernatural won, and for Best Cardio VR Fitness Game of the Year, which FitXR won. The developer says the game won the Special Award Sport at the 2019 DIVR Business Award in Dortmund, Germany.

Current status

As of October 2026, PowerBeatsVR is sold on Steam, the Meta Horizon Store, Viveport and the PlayStation Store. The developer's website links to store pages for Meta Quest, Steam, PlayStation VR2, Humble, Oculus Rift and Viveport and claims more than 300,000 users.

See also

• VR Fitness
• Beat Saber
• Synth Riders
• BOXVR
• Supernatural
• FitXR