Thumper

A silly little beetle fights the universe with sick beats. A good game for those who get motion sick and need something that mostly stays stable while also being highly engaging. But be warned: there is plenty of eye strain! Only speaking from my experience, that doesn't trigger dizziness for me.

Played on steam deck - 90 fps stable out of the box. The eye candy, precise inputs and this being my first rhythm game made me not want to play for more than 1, maybe 2 levels at a time from start to finish. I liked the first hour of the game and then I struggled quite hard on level 4 and especially on level 6. The rest of the game was much easier and I was able to beat it. Levels 8 and 9 are definitely gave me the most dopamine and adrenaline. I bet this is even more enjoyable in VR if you can tolerate that. For people struggling with difficulty, some levels I think require memorization, as the rhythm can sometimes be counter-intuitive. If you struggle with a specific level, avoid going for score, as you don't have to thump every beat, just avoid damage (except bosses and the laser sequences). When I was playing levels 4 through 6, I was still only looking at only the next thing that was coming towards me visually. Looking at where the road was turning towards allowed me to predict even the fast triple turns, follow the rhythm more closely and generally enjoy the game a lot more. I didn't bother going for perfect turns as I generally failed that a lot and never bothered with the score, so I ranked B or C for majority of levels past level 3. Overall a nice immersive, fun and unique experience.

Innovative and refreshing. Beautiful visuals, and a simple yet flawlessly executed core gameplay loop. This would be right at home with many of the classic arcade greats.