Despite recent efforts to revitalize brands like Rock Band and Amplitude, there’s a general feeling that when it comes to rhythm games, we’ve seen it all. The genre’s age was a concern in the development of Thumper. It’s a game that runs on rails, where you have to press buttons in time with a beat that gets faster and more complex over time, and the main trick is to be overlaid with trippy graphics. But these details don’t tell the whole story. Thumper is like most rhythm games you’ve played before, but it’s also a powerful, emotive experience that’s totally different from anything you’ve played before, especially in VR.

Imagine for a moment that you are a chrome beetle competing in a crucial toboggan race among rippling cables, rainbow halos and laser beams. The menacing sound of drums thunders in one ear and oppressive industrial riffs and beats in the other. The course is dangerously slippery and fast, so the only way to survive is to go with the beat. Let your instincts take you, lean into the sharp turns and slam into the markers at the right time. Anything that doesn’t provide a perfect connection between you and the track will cause poor reflexes, leading to a life-threatening crash. Success means surviving until you meet the boss, a disembodied flaming head with piercing eyes and thorny flowers protruding from all sides. He waves his hand, and you respond, beat him at his own game, praying your muscles react fast enough to keep up with every beat he sends your way.

Sure, this might sound like a creative take on a simple rhythm game, but just because it sounds imaginative and flowery doesn’t mean it’s pure fantasy. In Thumper, the challenge isn’t so much to make music as it is to face the obstacles imposed by it. Bars and notes in other games are treated differently here.

Most of the time, you’re forced to act differently, and at incredible speed. To make a sharp turn, you have to press a button and move the analog stick to slam into a wall. You’ll crash if you don’t hold a turn long enough or hold down the right button. You’ll have to jump over spiky sections, a series of obstacles that can only be passed by holding down the “beat” button. You might also find that your route has spread into multiple lanes, with a phalanx of technopedes floating in your path. You’ll need to move left or right without hesitation.

The big difference is that you don’t have to complete a song to succeed; for example, you don’t necessarily have to press a key when the beat symbol (for lack of a better term) appears on the track. The two exceptions are during the boss fights at the end of each stage, and when rings float around the lane, waiting to punish you with an inevitable attack if you miss your target under their watch. But such moments are rare.

Thumper is about surviving under the guidance of music, rather than actually making music. Beats and notes signal the approach of obstacles, planting seeds in your subconscious just a split second before you have to react. Adapting to this is crucial in later levels where unavoidable obstacles fly past you at breakneck speed, and it’s exciting to watch the process of desperately reacting, staying alive, and finally realizing the depth of the song before you.

If you hesitate even a moment about taking action, Thumper will despise you. It’s dangerously fast. In the space of a second, you might have to spin three times, jump over a hole, and attack an oncoming beat marker from the air. While there are optional ways to improve your score or rating (such as jumping on a floating ring), unnecessary movements feel like you’re trying to tempt fate. If you don’t input the right key combination at a critical moment, you’ll hit an obstacle, lose time and trajectory, and risk crashing into a wall. But if you take your chances and come back unscathed, it’s incredibly satisfying to know you’ve exceeded Thumper’s already demanding requirements.

Immersion is a big claim, and Thumper lives up to it. Since the game can be played both on TV and in VR, this really only applies to the latter, but it’s a step further than most “immersive” experiences we’ve seen so far. The Thumper hammers, bangs, and creates a thumping, percussive sound that is like being on the front lines of an army stoking its giant drums to intimidate the enemy, and when the going gets tough, the high-pitched sounds will test your mettle.

Enveloped in corridors of light or swimming through oceans of darkness where weak mechanical demons perform a menacing dance, Thumper moves with incredible speed that is hard to shake and is a truly mesmerizing sight. In moments of relief, you may find that you don’t remember exactly what happened the previous moment. And yet you race down the track to your next life-threatening performance.

The only downside to Thumper is the repetitive use of musical beats and track designs. Divided into dozens of sections on average, each level can be very similar to the previous one. This issue is mitigated by the overall effectiveness of the game, but when it does occur, one can’t help but wonder if there could have been a bit more musical variety.

It sounds odd to say that the lack of consistently original music isn’t a big issue for a rhythm game, but it’s not about the music. Thumper succeeds by combining speed, easy controls, and an immersive atmosphere. This appeal is much more appealing in VR, where you’re enveloped in the game space and there’s no distraction from the outside world, but those without the right hardware shouldn’t ignore it. No matter how you play, Thumper is too good to miss.