Fresh Tracks VR Impression: A Wintry Mix Of Ski And Sorcery

Fresh Tracks VR brings the warmly received 2025 original combination of Beat Saber-like timing-based gameplay and roguelike RPG mechanics to VR headsets. The addition of sword-slashing motion controls adds a heart-pumping workout element that feels suited for both genres.

Fresh Tracks takes place in the mystical land of Norwyn, where magical beings called Mythics bless the people with music and storytelling. When the songs grow duller and sorrow befalls Norwyn, a hero named Skaii embarks on a downhill journey to gain the favor of the Mythics and restore peace to the world by jumping, sledding, and sliding to the tune of their music.

The VR version of Fresh Tracks trades the original’s button presses for motion controls such as leaning left or right and swinging your magic Rhythmic sword at trees or enemies. Jumping, ducking, and steering between lanes are still controlled by the joystick, though you can also choose to hold down the triggers and move your hand to switch lanes. Overall, I’d say that the motion controls are responsive, with any issues I had probably having more to do with streaming issues than anything.

Stages are divided into courses, with obstacles and items to collect appearing in tune to the background music. By picking up floating spheres called Whyspers and Ekkos and slashing enemies, you will fill a special gauge and build up your score.

Many of the objects you will need to slash with your sword require you to swing in a certain direction, as noted by the arrow in front of the obstacle or enemy in question. There are different kinds of Rhythmic swords to be unlocked, each with its own special ability you can perform by clicking the right joystick once your gauge is filled.

At the end of a course, your overall performance is ranked. Before you start a new course, you can choose one of a few branching paths based on difficulty. Each one has a different reward, be it a temporary stat upgrade or an additional heart fragment.

Skaii’s health is gauged by a meter of hearts in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Each time you hit an obstacle, half a heart is taken, and if you run out completely, you have to start a new run from the beginning.

At certain points, Skaii will chance across a traveling merchant that will let them spend Whyspers on Charms that will give them special bonuses for the remainder of their current run. They can also purchase new skis with Ekkos that can give them more permanent perks before their next run. The main menu also has a mode called The Lark, which lets you replay stages you’ve run through before in hopes of getting a better score.

If you wish to just take in Fresh Tracks VR’s atmosphere without worrying about obstacles or combat, there’s the Scenic Route mode. This allows you to simply glide downhill to whichever of the game’s tracks or stories you’ve unlocked so far. Likewise, Practice Run lets you try out the game’s controls in a similar hazard-free setting.

Like many rhythm games, music is at the heart of Fresh Tracks’ gameplay, with a variety of rock, dance, and pop tracks. For the most part, the songs are catchy and well done, even if a few of them get repetitive to play through after multiple runs. A voiceover narration also narrates Skaii’s actions and shares lore about the history of Norwyn and the Mythics between songs, making this really feel like you’re listening to a children’s bedtime story. This narrator can be switched out with any Mythics you’ve befriended on your journey, and the voice acting is solid across the board.

Fresh Tracks VR’s graphical style is simple and colorful, and features a mix of environments like snowy peaks, stone castles packed with enemies, and even strange cliffs with glowing, Tron-like cubes that block your path. Unfortunately, you can’t really look around the environment while you’re playing. If you look away long enough, the screen goes black and a prompt tells you to recenter the camera. I understand that this game requires you to focus on what’s ahead of you, but it feels strange that an immersive VR experience won’t let you look around.

I also encountered some framerate stuttering during my time playing, though that could just be due to bandwidth issues on my end. Finally, I found the game’s default pause input (pressing both X and Y simultaneously) unresponsive, and had to change it through the SteamVR settings because there isn’t any way to change the controls in-game.

Despite these possible technical issues, Fresh Tracks VR is an interesting take on last year’s indie hit that works as both a relaxing skiing simulator and an epic fantasy workout, depending on which mode you’re playing. Fans of Beat Saber might enjoy the use of a sword to slash away obstacles, while those who enjoy medieval settings in games like One More Delve can dive into the lore of Norwyn. With enough post-launch polish, Buffalo Buffalo could have another charming virtual reality gem to go with BirdseedVR.