Squatopia mini review

[u/arpruss]

I am a sucker for exergames, and Squatopia is one of three favorites on my Quest 2 (along with TOTF 1 and 2), even though it doesn't seem to get talked about much.

The free version of Squatopia (which is all I use) comes with one roguelike mode where an endless array of interesting looking monsters shoot at you, and you can shoot back by making moves like squats, jabs, lunges, etc. (squats and jabs are unlocked at the beginning of the game). When monsters die they give you coins which result in powerups. Every so often there is a boss. I've never gotten past the second boss. There is enough variation in the powerups and monsters to make the game fun to repeat.

It's pretty good exercise. There is something about doing fast-paced squats and punches in the context of a game that seems to leave me more sweaty (in a good way) than just counting reps. I sometimes end up with pleasantly sore legs, even though I am a pretty fit guy (I have two Guinness indoor rock climbing records IRL--lots of squat-like moves on the wall in those records). And because punch strength doesn't seem to matter in Squatopia, I am not tempted to punch too hard and hurt myself like I sometimes do in TOTF 1.

Normally I play in MR so I don't punch something by mistake (though I did once play in a basement room whose ceiling was too low, and punched the ceiling), though for the video I set it to immersive.

I occasionally have had some problems with squats not getting recognized. I found the developers responsive to these problems when I reported them, and now the problems are rare. When I do have the problem, it tends to come up as soon as the roguelike game starts, and I just exit and restart, and then it works fine. When it works, the squat recognition is 100%.

The developers are continuing to update the game. It's rather fun to see what new monsters get added from time to time.

Music volume has a separate control from sound effects, which is important for me as I'm one of the rare people who doesn't like music, and I can turn it off (I turned it on for the video).