Underture

About

Underture is a single player action game. It was developed by Ben Schwartz and was released on July 10, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

UNDERTURE is a short 6DoF immersive VR experience set in the New York City subway. Multi-axis freedom of movement, combined with spatialized audio, creates a uniquely immersive and transporting experience for the viewer.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

70%

Audience ScoreBased on 10 reviews

graphics2 positive mentions

gameplay1 negative mentions

Underture offers a deep, emotional, and atmospheric story experience with a beautiful and fitting soundtrack.
Provides a unique, meditative VR experience with realistic recreation of subway acoustics and environment familiar to New Yorkers.
Technically works well in VR and delivers high-quality audio performance featuring talented accordion music.

Lacks meaningful gameplay, game loops, or interactive elements, making it more of a non-interactive art experience than a game.
Visuals are mostly static and simplistic, with limited use of VR capabilities such as locomotion or player interaction.
Misleadingly marketed as a game on Steam despite being closer to a short cinematic or VR music video, which may disappoint gamers seeking traditional gameplay.

music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The music is described as beautiful with impressive acoustics that capture the subway tunnel environment, appealing primarily to fans of accordion or music in general. While the audio quality is praised, the visual presentation is considered static and underwhelming, with a limited use of VR features. Overall, enjoyment depends largely on the listener's appreciation of the accordion performance.
- “The music is beautiful and there's also something really cool about the recreation of acoustics in an empty subway tunnel.”
- “Audio is really good, but visuals are almost static, except for the musician.”
- “Might be worth it if you like accordion music or music in general.”
- “Basically, it is a 360 video of a woman playing a short song on an accordion, while standing in a subway station loading platform.”
- “2D image of a person playing music over 3D CGI looks so weird.”
- “Underture is an okay 3-minute music video, but it doesn't use VR in any meaningful way.”
gameplay
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay is widely criticized for lacking any meaningful interaction or engaging gameplay loops, making it feel more like an art exhibit than a functional game.
- “There are no gameplay loops in this rejected art school dropout exhibition, no 'gameplay', no meaningful game-like interaction.”
graphics
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The graphics feature nice 3D visuals, though most elements remain almost static except for the musician, resulting in limited visual dynamism.
- “The 3D graphics are nice.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization aspect appears unrelated or unclear based on the provided text, which describes an acoustic accordion performance in a virtual recreation of New York's 42nd Street rather than addressing performance or technical efficiency.