I’m Like a Bird, I Wanna Fly Away

The idea at the core of Exer Gale is a good one; use VR to let players fly like a bird.

Since the dawn of time (or at least, since the birth of imagination) human beings have dreamt of flight. In the year 8 CE, the Roman poet Ovid wrote The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus, in which a craftsman’s son donned wings and flew. At around 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote The Historia Regum Britanniae, which contained the legend of Bladud, a king of the Britons who used necromancy to sprout wings. For nearly twenty years, Red Bull used funny cartoons to advertise that their energy drink could “Give you wings.”

But flight is notoriously difficult. Icarus famously plummeted to his doom when he flew too close to the sun, melting the wax which held his wings together. Bladud flew straight into a wall and dashed his brains out. In 2014, Red Bull settled a multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit when the drink-maker was sued for false advertising. Apparently, energy drinks don’t give you wings. Who knew?

I dreamt up the paragraphs you’ve just read after spending two hours flying, flapping, diving, and soaring through Exer Gale’s immersive world. And while there are several beautiful elements to this new flight/racing VR game, the core gameplay mechanic just isn’t very fun.

What is Exer Gale?

Exer Gale is built around a bird-like flying mechanic. You flap your arms to generate upward lift and then lean and twist your head and torso to bank, pitch, and yaw through the air.

It takes place in a sort of tropical archipelago, a central hub where portals take us to various stages. These stages can be thought of as race arenas, or obstacle courses populated with jump pads, wind currents, projectile-launching turrets, and other obstacles, as well as dozens of tantalizing, sparkly gems which hover all over the courses.

The idea is that you flap your wings and soar through the skies, avoiding obstacles, capitalizing on wind currents and jump pads, and collecting as many gems as possible within a set time limit. If you successfully acquire enough gems before time runs out, a new stage unlocks.

In concept, all of this is a wonderful idea. The game world is beautiful. The soundtrack is lovely. There are collectible face masks, tattoos, and jewelry for our character to wear. There’s a multiplayer mode which impressively and seamlessly introduces other players to fly alongside you, and whom you can compete with to set the best time. Stages also have leaderboards and exploring the world through flight is a freeing feeling.

Honestly, who doesn’t want to feel like a bird (or dragon, if you prefer), and who doesn’t want to collect gems? Also, racing is cool. It all sounds like a winning combination, doesn’t it?

Turbulence

Unfortunately, Exer Gale’s core mechanic is just not particularly fun. The controls aren’t as intuitive as I’d hoped and can often be frustrating. Standing in my office with my arms in a T-pose, pitching and tilting while my in-game character sluggishly turns in a lazy arc, only to inevitably splat into a rock, I feel more like the foolish Icarus than Superman.

The worst part, though, is that the endless flapping is literally painful. The collect-a-thon flight stages last, on average, 90 seconds, and it takes just that long to realize all that virtual flapping is killing your real-world rotator cuffs.

For reference, I exercise with weights five times a week, ride motorcycles, run, do endless yard work… I’m not averse to moving my body. But, damn, flying is hard as hell. I guess I have a new respect for birds.

To Exer Gale’s credit, the game world is beautiful, and the game is well-made. The collision detection is excellent, and the team has intelligently created large hitboxes for gem collection so that it’s not too frustrating when we’re trying to string together a long sequence of gems mid-flight. The controls aren’t terrible, but for a game that’s attempting to replicate the imagined effortlessness of soaring flight, Exer Gale is too tricky.

I imagine that the developers know what they’ve made. For them, the gameplay is likely exactly what they’d imagined since day one. I can imagine they wanted to make a game that made you move your body, and one which requires skill and stamina. That said, I can’t help but think that improvements to the control system could have been made or at least offered as an option. A simple button to engage infinite lift, for example, and allowing more complete stick controls would take away what is essentially my only complaint, though it’s unfortunately a big complaint, and make Exer Gale a game that truly lets us feel the thrill, freedom, and speed of flight. Since the game is in Early Access, it’s not unlikely that improvements will come.

I love flight games. Since I was a child, my favorite experiences with games have included the likes of Pilotwings, Panzer Dragoon, Star Fox, and Rez. But Exer Gale asks, “What if Pilotwings made you tired?” For me, that’s a crash landing.

While the Exer Gale early access can be had for free, the $14.99 Exer Gale Premium Edition opens up four more stages, and will allow access to four more in a Summer update. This update will also bring cosmetic items such as masks, tattoos, and wings, and “additional game modes.”

All that said, it costs nothing to try Exer Gale yourself. It’s out now on the Meta Quest store.