The worst thing a VR game can do is fail to make you feel anything while playing, and unfortunately, I felt nothing while playing Exercise Your Demons!
Exercise Your Demons! arrives on Meta Quest platforms with an intriguing premise: transform your living room into an otherworldly gym where fitness meets demon-slaying action. While the concept sounds promising, the execution leaves much to be desired.
The game's story sets up an entertaining scenario where the mysterious Demonomicon tricks you into opening a portal, unleashing a horde of demons into our world. To combat this threat, you must train at the Infernal Gymnasium under the guidance of fitness instructors Ash and Zephyr, using specialized Gauntlets to punch, dodge, and weave their way through various supernatural challenges.
The introduction sequence, while well-produced and effective at establishing the game's premise, runs longer than necessary. This pacing issue sets a precedent for the game's overall rhythm problems, more on that later.
Visually, Exercise Your Demons! shines with its distinctive art direction that draws heavy inspiration from Akira Toriyama's signature style. The character designs are crisp and well-realized, with demons and instructors alike sporting that familiar blend of cartoonish charm and otherworldly appeal. The voice acting deserves praise too, bringing personality to the cast and helping sell the game's quirky premise.
The mixed reality implementation shows potential too, demons run out from the portal into your living space, and it all looks quite nice. However, I found that the asset scaling based on my height didn't work properly as I felt like the portal, the trainers and demons were too small. Also the placements of these assets felt quite off too with things being placed on the other side of the room walls for example.
However, where Exercise Your Demons! truly stumbles is in its core gameplay loop. The basic concept involves demons approaching you while you punch floating targets and shields with the occasional dodge, but the execution feels disconnected and uninspired. The combat lacks a crucial sense of impact and rhythm that could have made it engaging. Instead, you are left with a series of repetitive motions that fail to capture the excitement of either a workout or a supernatural showdown.
The soundtrack, unfortunately, doesn't help elevate the experience. For a game that's meant to get players moving and fighting demons, the background music lacks energy and fails to create the pumping, motivational atmosphere needed for a fitness game. It also feels like the music and the actions are not in sync whatsoever. This absence of musical drive further emphasizes the disconnected feeling of the combat system.
The game's progression system offers some customization through Impcoins and Soulbars, which can be used to unlock cosmetic skins for your Gauntlets and advance through the campaign. While these elements add a layer of progression, they don't address the fundamental issues with the moment-to-moment gameplay.
The foundation for something special exists here - the visual style, mixed reality implementation, and premise all show promise. However, without a more engaging combat system and better musical integration, the experience feels hollow. The worst thing a VR game can do is fail to make you feel anything while playing, and unfortunately, I felt nothing while playing Exercise Your Demons!. Until substantial updates address these fundamental issues - perhaps through the introduction of rhythm-based gameplay or more dynamic music - Exercise Your Demons! is to be avoided. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a Quest 3 via a promo copy provided by PR. Exercise Your Demons! is available on Meta Quest.