During these lockdown times, I welcome VR fitness apps.
So when Supernatural came out, it intrigued me because there’s a monthly fee attached.
Does that mean it will provide something we haven’t seen before?
Good day people! Cas here, and I want to answer this question today.
Supernatural is a newly-released app that is supposed to be a full fitness package for
Virtual Reality.
This app will remind you a bit of the 360 mode in Beat Saber, but it’s not a one-time-buy-and-play-it-forever-kinda
thing as we are used to with our VR games.
You have to pay a monthly fee to get access to the workouts.
But you do get personal coaches like him… and her…
But let’s find out if it is worth it.
Make sure to stick around until the end to hear if I think it is.
And if you like what you see, consider subscribing for more.
And now, join me beyond reality.
At the time of making this video, there is an introductory rate of 19 US dollars a month
and a free trial of 30 days.
For this, you get new full-body workouts every day, and various personal trainers, who are
called coaches in this game.
And after you’ve gotten these workouts, they are available to you on-demand.
Some other features include tracking your progress with the companion app, scheduling
workouts, and following friends for some healthy competition.
You can also connect a heart monitor.
To check which are supported, you can check out the frequently asked questions page on
the Supernatural website.
I’ve linked it below.
But I think this is the first time that we see a fitness app in VR that’s subscription-based,
and my first impressions are that 19 dollars a month is pretty expensive unless it can
provide me something unique.
So let’s talk about the gameplay first.
In Supernatural, you can do workouts that are between 12 to 30 minutes long, and each
workout consists of multiple songs and environments.
Before the workout, the coach will speak to you for a bit, letting you know where to focus
on, and they will introduce the environment and sometimes even the music to you too.
I do like that little intro; it makes it feel more special to know where I am standing.
Anddd I mean - who doesn’t mind looking at her….
*Cough*
*Oops I mean just kidding babe*
During the exercises, the coach’s voice will stay to try and amp you up.
I sometimes enjoy the talking as they help me focus.
For example, the coach will remind you to hit harder, to keep your form, and to keep
on breathing.
Yes, this might sound strange, but a lot of people forget to breathe sometimes during
workouts.
Like me.
It’s actually weird that I’m still alive :P
But yeah, the talking can motivate me sometimes to go just a tad harder, even when I’m dead
tired and trust me, these workouts can get you absolutely exhausted.
However, there is no option to turn the voice off, and I think there should be as the speaking
can be distracting as well.
The core gameplay movement is hitting targets with two bats in the right direction and corresponding
to the color.
It’s not only front-facing, it is 360 degrees, and this gameplay actually very much reminds
me of Beat Saber’s 360 mode.
Except, in here, you are not only training your arms, but Supernatural also exercises
your back, chest, and core with different targets.
Some targets have tails that you have to follow with big open arm swings; some targets have
arrows that show you that you have to turn your real life body while keeping your core
tight.
No worries, it will all be explained in the tutorial.
Then the game also exercises your lower body with squats and side lunges.
Those are done with these triangles…
Another interesting aspect of the workouts is that it also calibrates to you.
Not all workouts are dynamic, but some changes to a harder or lower difficulty depending
on how you play.
You can see if it’s a dynamic workout when you start an exercise in the app.
After each song, there’s a points system that shows you your total accuracy, power,
and score.
At the end of the workout, you’ll get a short outro by the coach and sometimes even
a short cooldown.
And those were the core gameplay mechanics of Supernatural.
The rest looks good as well like the user interface gives me a nice futuristic vibe.
The scaling looks great.
In the video, here, it might look like the person in front of me is tiny, but she actually
looks great and like human size when in the VR headset.
Then we have the beautiful, photo-realistic environments, and those look excellent as
well.
But do I think all this is worth paying 19 dollars a month for?
I can answer that question now.
After a special thanks to my Right-Hand Patron BaxornVR.
Support him supporting us by checking out his YouTube channel.
Now, while a game that exercises your full body is definitely welcome, I don’t see
myself paying this fee for this game as there are other games out there that could give
me the same kind of workout.
I could combine Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, for example, for a full-body work out.
Or even BoxVR that also has exercises with squats and lunges and are made by personal
trainers.
Then to connect a heart monitor, I can just use the free app YUR Fit.
But more importantly to me, in games like Beat Saber, I feel awesome playing the game,
and that distracts me from the workout.
In Supernatural, it seems like the opposite.
The game feels more like a workout than a game, and I am honestly not sure if that is
going to work out for me.
Right now, after playing it twice, the game still feels fun, though, but if the game stays
like this, I wonder if I’m not going to get bored with it.
Don’t get me wrong as I don’t think the game is bad.
It feels polished actually.
However, I need something more unique or more diversity in gameplay.
If I paid that kind of money I would have expected something more, like maybe workouts
tailored to my personal fitness goals.
What do you think about the gameplay and its price?
Let me know in the comments below.
And if you are interested, Supernatural is available now on the Oculus Quest-only and
if you want to try it out.
You can in the free 30-day trial.
However, I do have to note that you need to fill out your credit card info to activate
the trial, so you need to remind yourself to cancel in time.
You also need an updated iOS or Android phone to connect with the app, and a pretty fast
internet connection, they recommend a 20 megabits per second speed.
Also, currently, Supernatural is only available in the US and Canada, but the devs told me
that they are working on making it available in more countries.
However, it will take time.
As you know, I’m in Europe, so I used a VPN to make it work.
*Sssh*
Anyways, that’s it for this video!
Leave this video a like to support us, and I hope to see you in the next.
Stay healthy!
And as always, VR on!