Cubism (2020) developer Thomas Van Bouwel and publisher Creature announced that Laser Dance is finally coming to Quest next month, bringing its unique and immersive mixed reality obstacle course in early access.
The News
Laser Dance essentially turns your living room into a laser-filled obstacle course, forcing you to bend, duck and dance around a swirl of deadly lasers beams projected from your walls and floor. Move between the start and end buttons to head onto the next level, or be summarily sliced in the process.
Notably, Laser Dance adapts to your individual room’s size and layout. It’s also said to adapt to the user’s unique mobility thanks to accessibility settings, so not everyone has to do be ultra flexible.
The game is set to launch in early access on November 6th, coming exclusively to Quest 3 and Quest 3S. You can wishlist Laser Dance on the Horizon Store here.
At early access launch, Laser Dance will include 18 levels across three stages, with each stage introducing a new type of laser to avoid.
Additionally, players can unlock challenges as they progress through the game, which Van Bouwel says act as modifiers that will let you experience previously beaten levels in new ways.
My Take
While Road to VR’s Ben Lang went hands-on with a prototype of Laser Dance last year, I haven’t had the opportunity just yet—that’s coming when I pop in for Road to VR’s early access review of the game due at launch.
At least from the trailer though, it looks like one of those experiences I really wanted to have as a kid.
Like Cubism, Van Bouwel seems to be hitting on another ‘simple’ concept with Laser Dance that seems to work really well in mixed reality, so I’m really looking forward to playing, if only to see if that simplicity can be teased out into something with meat on the bone.
I really hope so too. There are so few mixed reality games out there that actually adapt to your space and force you to engage in room-scale play. Personally, I’m not particularly enthused by mixed reality games (more like ‘modes’) that just use your living room as a passthrough background and don’t incorporate your environment in meaningful ways, which I think Laser Dance is attempting to address here. Check back for my early access review on November 6th to learn more.