Take a relaxing morning jog through a sprawling canyon environment from the comfort of your home.
There’s currently no shortage of stellar fitness apps available on VR headsets. That said, few experiences take advantage of popular fitness equipment to enhance your VR workout. This is where Octonic comes in.
Available now in Early Access on Quest 2 and Quest Pro, this unique VR workout app works with standard fitness treadmills to immerse you in scenic runs throughout a variety of virtual worlds, from a sprawling desert canyon to an interplanetary stadium. The game is powered by Octonic’s VR Motion Engine, which promises a safe and effective fitness experience.
As you run, you’ll have access to a basic control panel that allows you to start and stop your virtual jogs as well as adjust your pace. Octonic supports hand-tracking on Quest 2 and Quest Pro, which means you don’t need to use your motion controllers in order to play.
The game features several worlds at the moment: Caves and Canyons. Here you can take in the view as you weave in and out of narrow caverns and around prickly cacti. There’s also a multiplayer arena where you can race against other players as well as AI. The app even features built-in voice chat allowing for some light-hearted trash-talking. According to the developer, additional locations are on the way.
Octonic features a proprietary 3-level safety system complete with real-time positional tracking and a departure warning system. If you stray too far off your treadmill, the app will automatically pause the experience and activate mixed reality passthrough to avoid any potential injuries. The system makes sense in theory. That said, we’ve yet to try the app for ourselves.
“While Octonic continues building partnerships with treadmill manufacturers for full integration of their VR Motion Engine, runners using non-integrated treadmills are able to utilize the product today with any brand on the market using the Quest’s passthrough capabilities,” said Nahiyan Ahmad, the chief business officer at Octonic, in an official release.
“Converting treadmills into a VR gaming adventure is as simple as downloading Octonic VR and using it to calibrate a Meta (Oculus) Quest 2 or Quest Pro with a treadmill in minutes.”
Octonic is available now in Early Access for $14.99 on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro via App Lab and SideQuest.
Image Credit: Octonic
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