AVICII INVECTOR is a rhythm game solely based around the music of late Swedish great Tim ‘Avicii’ Bergling. The game itself has been out for quite a while – technically since 2017 – but recently enjoyed a port to the Meta Quest 2, where, naturally, it was absorbed into my orbit.
I was really looking forward to playing Invector. Honestly. I love VR, I love rhythm games, I am… indifferent to the music of Avicii but was fairly certain I could find something to love about it. There are scores of reviews available for Invector by now, and most of them promised a pretty good time! What could possibly go wrong?
As it turns out, even after being fairly experienced with most types of VR gaming, some of them can still make you very uncomfortable. Invector is the first game in literal years to make me instantly, horribly motion sick. So, try as I might to get down with this living, pulsing memorial to AVICII, I feel a gut wrenching, soul-grating nausea every time I load it up.
As a result, this review has been slightly difficult to write. I have managed to chip away at the game in small pieces, trying my very best not to let electronic music permanently associate with the taste of sick. Luckily it’s not an overly complicated beast to break down, but let my experience be a warning. If you normally get motion sickness playing VR, play this game on a traditional platform.
What makes Aviici Invector so hard to play in VR?
Everything is in constant motion. There’s nothing solid to ground your gaze on. Ever been below decks on a boat in rough water? The intense bits of Invector are like that. Except you’re upside down. And someone is flashing strobe lights in your eyes whilst punching you in the stomach. Maybe I’m getting old, but the game is just too busy. There’s always motion, lurid colours spiralling out into the distance, and it’s all so intense.
When you can gird your loins enough to focus on the gameplay, I realised there really wasn’t that much to it. There’s mobile rhythm games out there with more complexity. Less abundant style, sure – but far more substance, and this is probably much of the overall issue with Avicii Invector. It’s hard to see what the point in putting this on VR in the first place is.
That’s not a slight on the game, not at all. It’s a decent, enjoyable rhythm game – if you’re not bothered about variety or being sick. It just doesn’t use any VR features to do something new. It’s a straight port, more or less – no motion controls, none of the joyful sense of movement and energy we get from games like Synth Riders or Ragnarock (No, I will never stop simping for Ragnarock).
AVICII Invector overall thoughts
Now, I’m not an AVICII fan by any stretch of the imagination. I probably recognised about two or three of his big hits after a little bit of Spotify exploration. The music is not to my taste, but it is good, and it syncs up well with the lush visuals they’ve created. The music/visual pairing is definitely the star of the show, but I honestly can’t say what the point of translating this to VR really was (well, aside from the money, obviously).
AVICII Invector: Encore Edition actually suffers from being ported to VR as it currently stands. Sure, you can take in the neon soundscapes as if you were truly there, but it’s at the cost of feeling incredibly uncomfortable, something which just doesn’t happen playing the game’s standard version. One for the most passionate AVICII fans, and nothing to shout about otherwise.
Thinking about picking up a VR headset? Do you wear glasses? Consider picking up a prescription lens adapter from HONSVR to improve your experience. You can read our review of their Oculus Quest 2 adapter HERE.