Summary
In my younger years, I played drums and sang (poorly) in high school rock bands. Performing live was as nerve-wracking as it was electrifying. I’ve longed to feel that surge once again, and nothing has ever gotten me closer than bowing to an enraptured audience inMaestrowith the Meta Quest headset strapped to my face.
Stage Delight Without the Stage Fright
Maestrois as much a rhythm game where you conduct an orchestra with hand gestures as it is a conductor role-playing simulator. Like many VR games, you get back as much as you put into playing the part.
The broad strokes are all there: quieting down an applauding audience from your podium, gesturing to the orchestra to take their sets, playing the actual rhythm game, and watching the crowd go into uproar after a perfectly executed performance… or, naturally, throwing tomatoes at you if you fail.
The magic comes from what you make of this framework. Choosing outfits and locales for each track can turn a piece’s mood into a victory cry amidst the rubble of the French Revolution, or a whispered beckon toward a smoke-filled room on a seedy New York City street (perfect for the game’s handful of jazz tracks). You also get the accoutrements of being a performer, like making grand gestures to your captive crowd and bowing at the curtain call to erupting cheers. Picking up the roses thrown at your feet for a sniff and imbibing the post-performance champagne are some of the finishing touches that really sell the simulation.
My favorite bit of role-play is using a chopstick as a baton. It gives physical context to the baton that’s permanently attached to your in-game hand while also having the gameplay benefit of helping guide strokes. The gameperfectly tracks the pseudo-batonas well; this is something the developers planned for. It’s the little details like this that enable immersive experiences you’ll find nowhere but VR.
Maestro
WHERE TO PLAY
A VR conducting rhythm game where you use hand gestures and baton movements to guide an orchestra through classical and jazz tracks.
Gameplay That’s Only Possible With VR
Speaking of which,Maestrois a game that only works in VR since it’s the only practical way at a consumer level to track the conductor’s sole invaluable instrument: their hands.
The combination of striking the air to signify accents, pointing at sections to cue them in, and adjusting their volume with a hand gesture is probably a far cry from actual conducting, but the whole experience makes it feel authentic to the layperson in me. It’s the same energy that madeGuitar HeroandRock Banda phenomena in the late 2000s, only here, no plastic instruments are required (unless the chopstick baton counts).
It helps that the most famous movements of virtually every famous composition to become fixtures in the modern cultural consciousness are here. You’re going to immediately recognize most of the music, from “The Ride of the Valkyries” to Beethoven’s “5th Symphony.” There are also classical music aficionado pleasers here, like Stravinsky’s“The Rite of Spring,” which you may know as a major point of inspiration for Nobuo Uematsu when composingFinal Fantasy VIIantagonist Sephiroth’s boss theme “One-Winged Angel.” This was particularly surreal for me as a regular attendee ofDistant Worlds concertswhere they typically play theFinal Fantasysong as an encore.
With all this constant gesturing and accentuated movements,Maestrogets shockingly sweaty! It’s no wonder that real-life conductors are soaked in the stuff during performances. Even my Apple Watch tracked my movements as exercise, though this is pretty typical of any movement-heavy VR game. WhileMaestrois in no wayan exercise game, it’s always healthy to keep your body moving. Quite the magnifique bonus if I do say so myself, Monsieur.
Oh, silly me, I didn’t even mention the French aristocratic maestro-turned-butler mascot. His feigned snobbery is endlessly endearing, and he’s also one of the most surreal characters I’ve gone face-to-face with using my Meta Quest 3. I won’t say more, as discovering his quirks yourself is part of the fun.
An Unexpected Win for Lefties
Maestrois an interesting opportunity to talk about the major sin committed by many VR developers:not including a left-handed mode.
Granted, it’s understandable why this happened. Beatmaps are tied to the positions of the orchestra and flipping hands could make these inputs feel awkward. However, in a roundabout way, this is actually a win for lefties since most of the hand gestures require your left hand; the right is dedicated to the baton. I genuinely believe left-handed dexterity makes me better at the game, which isn’t something I can say for most VR games.
The maestro taketh and the maestro giveth. Developers, please also giveth us good left-handed modes.
Similar Games Worth Checking Out
The Meta Quest 3 is chock-full of rhythm games as it’s one of the most popular genres on the platform, in no small part due toBeat Saber. Most play by that game’s playbook, but a recentmixed realityrelease calledSymphoniscratches a similar itch toMaestro.
This game has you once again using a baton and gestures to hit incoming tiles and interact with other on-screen elements. It also lets you use controllers if hand tracking is an impediment to you. It’s far more in the spirit of arcade rhythm games, which may be a plus for anyone who doesn’t care for the pomp and circumstance of role-playing.
Synth Ridersis a VR staple that you may also enjoy ifMaestrohit right for you. Guiding each hand across a flow of nodes to match beats has an unbeatable flow state to it, not completely dissimilar in smoothness to waving a baton. Personally, the reason I boot this one up is for its Gorillaz song pack. The base game is available onMeta Quest+.
Make sure to check How-To Geek for a new Meta Quest 3 game recommendation every weekend. Until then,keep on Meta Questing.
Meta Quest 3
Discover Meta Quest 3: the ultimate VR headset with cutting-edge performance, stunning visuals, and an all-in-one design. Explore immersive games, apps, and experiences like never before.
Meta Quest 3S
Meta Quest 3S is the budget alternative to the Meta Quest 3, one that still offers high-end performance. Supporting virtual and mixed reality, the headset comes with a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, 8GB RAM, HD resolution (1832x1920 pixels per eye), and roughly 2.5 hours of battery life.
