Master of Light Swings at Gesture Based Fitness

ALBYON & COVEN, the developers/publishers of Masters of Light have launched the game today. Masters of Light, a VR-based wave shooter that uses hand-tracked pseudo fitness as the core of its gameplay, puts VR at its physical best. Throughout the roughly two-hour adventure, you will embody an elite cosmic warrior tasked with defeating relentless waves of enemies while rescuing a race of celestial entities.

The game begins by arming players with a few simple gestures with which to wreak interstellar havoc, the core of which is an energy blast released with a punching motion. The game unlocks new powers and allows players to upgrade their existing ones. The game’s gesture system is able to withstand the moderate waves of enemy in the beginning, even though they are not overwhelming. It’s easy to use and intuitive, and it makes destroying enemies an exercise that is fun. With the main weapon activated via quick, repetitive punching, players will swiftly work up a sweat as they progress through the 36 cosmic levels that make up the game’s campaign.

Unfortunately, as the difficulty increases and the screen fills with enemies, the gestures begin to become finicky. The sniping ability is especially unreliable in the latter stages. This is due to an overactive aim-assist system that (literally) doesn't quite hit the mark. The aim-assist is overzealous and (literally), doesn't hit the target. The action takes place in 180 degrees in front of the player, while they stand on a platform. Leaving a fully interactive 360deg play space underutilized feels like a sorely missed opportunity, leaving the game feeling like an experience that would have been more at home in the earliest era of VR gaming's evolution.

The action is helped along by a driving, ’80s-style sci-fi synthwave soundtrack that keeps the energy high as you punch your way through the void. This prominent soundtrack can cause spatial audio cues to be lost amongst the beats and explosions. As a result, trying to use these cues to navigate combat is clumsy, particularly when facing enemies that force you to play in darkness.

Graphically, Masters of Light plays things safely. Although the cosmic backgrounds are beautifully crafted, they lack any sense of context or animus to really ground you into this world. It’s easy to distinguish the type of enemy you are facing, but the design doesn’t connect enough for it to feel as rewarding. The simple enemy design makes it easy to discern what type of attacker you are facing but doesn’t connect enough to make vanquishing them feel as rewarding as it could have.

Overall, Masters of Light offers some decent`fitness-lite’ gaming that showcases hand tracking controls in an innovative way. The core gameplay loop is from 2016, and the control system is inconsistent. This game falls short of what gesture-based VR combat can offer. “