Thrasher is an aesthetically abstract puzzle game with a great soundtrack, but some technical issues hold it back. Read the full review.
The first time I failed a Thrasher level, I wanted to quit the game and sell my headset. It may have been an overreaction, but it felt completely natural at the time. But strangely enough, it wasn’t the difficulty or the thought of having to repeat the challenge marathon that infuriated me, it was my competitive nature at work.
Slasher – Facts
Overview: A psychedelic rhythm puzzle game where you swipe targets and avoid obstacles across a variety of levels.
Platform: Quest, Apple Vision Pro (reviewed on Quest 3)
Release Date: July 25, 2024 (Quest, AVP), December 2024 (PC VR)
Developer: Paddle
Price: $19.99
It also helps that Thrasher’s world is abstract and mesmerizing. A spiritual successor to the cult VR rhythm game Thumper, it employs a similar psychedelic design scheme, requiring players to guide a prismatic eel through an onslaught of moving targets as the clock ticks. A carousel of power-ups and penalties complicates your attempt to reach the goal, creating a strange atmosphere that quickly becomes gripping.
When you start Thrasher’s campaign, you won’t be bogged down in a prologue or expository introductory cutscenes. Instead, you’re presented with a magnetic fluid eel and some basic targets to attack. It’s here that you get a feel for the acrobatics your fellow creature is capable of, from deft directional dashes to graceful swooping moves to take down enemies in a barrage of bullets. Once you’ve made it through a few waves of slashing targets, a boss will appear, and you’ll have to keep smashing obstacles until you’ve dealt some damage. Not much changes to this basic formula throughout the game, but the addition of new time-slowing and damage-increasing power-ups adds tension.
Provocative visuals and an outlandish atmosphere will have you navigating fantastical levels, most of which are very convincing. Each area you visit has a strong visual identity, from the craggy, angular mountain peaks to the white, slender trees. The highlight of each level is undoubtedly the boss creature that inhabits the zone, the Leviathan, whose alien features will haunt my nightmares for some time to come. One enemy I had the pleasure of defeating had brooding orbs for eyes, sharp teeth, and a nastily long tongue hanging from a slack-jawed expression. Not all of the bosses you face are that unpleasant, but I have to give credit to the developers at Puddle for creating some unique and creepy villains.
But despite such an eerie and intriguing look, Thrasher’s lack of a clear storyline meant there wasn’t much to engage with outside of the direct gameplay experience. In moments like these, I couldn’t help but think of other challenging rhythm games like Tetris Effect: Connected and Rez Infinite, which weave a sense of narrative into their rhythmic levels and incorporate intense puzzle mechanics. Still, if you can accept these limitations and take the evolutionary story at face value, it’s easy to get caught up in Thrasher’s captivating flow. Subtle themes of survival and rebirth permeate as the tiny space eel slowly grows from the shadowy body of a child into a terrifying beast as it crashes through each level’s checkpoints.
Once you get to the middle and start to understand the controls, Thrasher starts to feel like a 4D chess version of the amusement park wire game. But it often feels like you’re dealing with an unstable probe. No matter how careful you are, taking a time penalty feels like an unavoidable thing, not something you can deftly avoid. As new obstacles keep appearing and your eel friends get bigger, any attempts to find an elegant solution are futile. Given the delicate nature of the obstacle patterns, Thrasher’s slightly clumsy controls don’t always live up to the challenge. This issue was exacerbated by the performance issues I noticed while playing on Quest 3. If you collide with multiple objects or swipe too quickly, the screen would shake or freeze. Most of the time, I was able to recover quickly, but sometimes I found myself stuck in the controls and taking more penalties than I needed to.
Thankfully, if you run into the same trouble, Thrasher has a surprisingly forgiving checkpoint system that lets you quickly return to the level you were in if you fail. Plus, if you’re having trouble getting through a particularly difficult wave of obstacles, the countdown clock becomes meaningless after a few failures, allowing you to progress through the challenge at your own pace. In this way, Thrasher feels like a demanding yet accessible game for those interested in VR, without oversimplifying its puzzles for more experienced players who want a real challenge.
All of Thrasher’s levels are played from a fixed perspective, so there’s no need to choose a movement system. Unfortunately, there’s no specific setting for switching between seated and standing, but you can play in either orientation by reconfiguring your position with the headset’s on-board system. Thrasher’s eel protagonist is controlled by reaching out and swiping, and you can choose to play with either your left or right hand. You can also play using hand tracking or a controller, depending on your preference.
Among Thrasher’s other elements, the real star is, predictably, the soundtrack, which changes to match the visual theme of each world. Some levels are packed with synth guitar riffs and heart-pounding beats, while others lean towards softer, shimmering, sweet sounds rocked by electronic strings. There are also some soothing hints of drum and bass lurking amongst the electronica.
The core soundtrack is further enhanced by Thrasher’s ambient sound effects, such as xylophone-like bangs as you glide past a target or devastating explosions after hitting a time-sapping obstacle. This aural assault strikes a careful balance between overwhelming and harmonious, constantly amplifying the specific essence of each area.
The haptic feedback on the Quest 3 controller throbs in unison with Thrasher’s fantastic sound effects, heightening the sensory drama of its spacey situations. But even this moderate amount of feedback feels insufficient when compared to other rhythm games like Tetris Effect, which modulate and heighten the sense of touch to immerse you in the music. It would have been nice to have the option to enhance the built-in feedback for players looking for a more transcendental experience, and Thrasher delivers on that promise in spades.
Screenshots of Thrasher might give you a strong impression of its sharp, glossy aesthetic, but this is an experiential game at heart, and a flat-screen rendition can’t convey just how rich it feels when all those mysterious moving parts come into play. And therein lies the game’s main selling point: unless you’re looking for flawless control, the most engrossing story, or a tactile feel, there’s plenty to enjoy in Thrasher, and you’ll be able to spend hours crunching numbers and trying to get to the top of the leaderboards.
Slasher – Final Verdict
Thrasher combines the exhilaration of chasing moving targets with a unique visual style and a fantastic soundtrack. Unfortunately, its brilliant and challenging personality is dampened by some technical issues that make it a less than complete success. Regardless, Thrasher deserves praise for its uncompromising vision and challenging yet accessible gameplay.
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