Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia (Oculus Quest 2) Review
Release Date: September 23, 2021
Publisher/Developer: ROTU Entertainment & Media, Ltd.
Platform: Oculus (reviewed), Steam, PlayStation VR
Price: $14.99
Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia is a narrative adventure game in the vein of Vader Immortal. Set on a verdant planet whose culture and very evolution and life circle around music, you are put in the shoes of Allegro, whose older sister Allegra narrates the journey as the two of you embark on a journey to save the mythical creatures from extinction.
RotU is a beautiful game in the trailers I’ve seen online, but some sacrifices were made to bring it to the less-powered Oculus 2 I reviewed it on. It’s a bit disheartening to see a well-designed cinematic with lushly detailed characters only to pop into gameplay mode and see them much more flatly designed, like back in the day watching FMVs before action on the PS1. Like I said though, PC gameplay footage does look beautiful and more in line with what the FMVs offer. If the premise interests you, the Oculus edition is a great representation of the final product, but if the option is there try to play it on one of the more powerful machines. Not only are the graphics a bit muddier, but I seem to only see the teleport move option instead of the free move, which leads to some jarring gameplay. Once, my only teleport option ended up with me behind a pillar looking at a beautiful landscape. Whilst my sister droned on about the beauty before her, I was staring at a concrete slab unless I took the time to stretch around it.
Within the title, Allegra helps funnel you through the wilderness, stopping by the occasional puzzle. These puzzles are well made, interesting, and usually music based, meaning you get to learn how to play a variety of natural-looking musical instruments. For the most part though, these seem to be one-off puzzles, not letting you learn anything to progress further or letting you hang around enough to have fun. Like I said, fun for what they are but what they are isn’t much. The rest of the traversal mechanics involve a lot of climbing. Personally, this part often makes me the queasiest in VR games, as your motion is based on your hand’s position in relation to your head. Just like in Vader, I had a frustrating time just getting up on the next ledge after climbing up.
Ionia’s universe is beautiful and well-crafted. If this truly is a series in the future, I’d love to see where it goes. The lush landscape combined with the natural-looking musical instruments, beautiful creatures, and uniquely designed inhabitants pull me back to Avatar’s Pandora. Given that this can be blown through in about an hour by someone who knows the steps, I hope I don’t have to wait as long as we have for that sequel.
Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia is a beautiful title, done feasibly well on the underpowered Oculus headset. The voice acting and physical expressions of the characters within are unique and fun, and the plot has a wonderful environmental twist, with some of the proceeds from the title actually going to Wildlife Warriors.
Overall, Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia does a lot of beautiful worldbuilding that should come into play in future installments. It has a lot of neat ideas that unfortunately don’t hang around long enough to feel as more than simple one-offs, but what is there is highly enjoyable, and is priced accordingly. It definitely falls more under immersion than interaction, but what is there is beautiful and I look forward to what the series has to offer.
Pros:
-Lush, beautiful environment
-Well done voice acting and character animation
-Fun music-based puzzles and interesting story
-Portion of proceeds donated to charity
Cons:
-Dulled down a bit for Oculus
-Needs to let you use bits learned in puzzles more in the rest of the game
-Part of an episodic series…but still rather short
Special thanks to ROTU Entertainment & Media, Ltd for providing a code for review!