Supernatural Aims To Use VR To Make Home Exercise More Exciting

Supernatural is a new fitness app for the Oculus Quest, combining the fundamentals of VR movement games like Beat Saber with personal trainers and progress tracking. Supernatural is out now in the US and Canada, and promises to shake up isolation exercise--if you already own a Quest, that is.

In an interview with GameSpot sister site CNET, the app's creators said Supernatural was built around the concept of making exercise so fun that it doesn't actually feel like exercise. "When you're surfing or snowboarding, you're never squatting in a wave like, 'Oh man, I wish this squat was over,'" Aaron Koblin, co-founder of Supernatural developer Within, said in the interview. "Dancing is primal, moving your body is fun, and--key for an antisocial person like me--it's doing it at home in the dark with nobody watching. That's what allows me to be liberated."

Supernatural operates similarly to Beat Saber, a dancey VR game many VR players have already been using to keep active in isolation, getting players to hit flying targets and move their body through shapes in lunge-like motions. Unlike Beat Saber, the point of Supernatural isn't technical mastery, but physical fitness.

Supernatural just wants to keep you moving, and one of its big points of difference from other VR movement games is the addition of in-game personal trainers, who offer tips and encouragement as you play.

The game's soundtrack includes a number of big, feel-good hits like Good as Hell by Lizzo, New Rules by Dua Lipa, and Can't Hold Us by Macklemore, with licensing deals in place to add even more popular music. Its other big selling point is location: placing the player in beautiful natural surroundings, with wild mountain ranges and desert vistas designed to take you away from the mediocrity of your lounge room.

The app is available now for Oculus Quest on a subscription basis, with your first month free and subsequent months costing $19--not exactly cheap, but with new workouts being added daily, Supernatural is clearly looking to be as much of a fitness platform as it is a game.

The bigger problem at the moment is getting hold of an Oculus Quest if you don't own one already. The Quest is sold out on Oculus's website, while third-party sellers like Amazon and Walmart have marked up the usual $399 price.