Thrasher, which its developers describe as a “mind-melting arcade action odyssey,” will be available for the Meta Quest and the Apple Vision Pro on July 25. The SteamVR version will follow at a later date. Thrasher was first announced at The Game Awards last year as a new project by Brian Gibson, who was the artist and composer behind the nightmare-inducing rhythm game Thumper. For Thrasher, Gibson teamed up with Mike Mandel, known for working on games like Rock Band VR and Fuser, who took charge of the coding and research and development.
The player takes control of a space eel in Thrasher, which they have to guide with “fast-paced gesture controls” through unsettling landscapes, so that it can evolve and defeat a cosmic baby god by the end of their journey. Based on the images and teasers the developers have released so far, the game’s environments truly do look mind-bending with their psychedelic neon colors and their geometric patterns. Even the eel’s powers sound trippy: Players can fight bosses with a rainbow spray of bullets or bulldoze environment elements in a blaze of color and light.
The developers said that Thrasher’s “music, visuals, and gameplay mesh into one transcendent experience” for the player. While the virtual reality version offers the most immersive option for gamers, Thrasher is also expected to be available for consoles and PC in the future