Review of ‘BEATABLE’ Early Access: Innovative Hand-Tracking Enhances Casual Rhythm Gaming

Is Quest’s hand-tracking up to snuff for a rhythm game that demands low latency and precise input? After diving into the early access version of BEATABLE, a game by XR Games that has you tapping, clapping, and snapping to the beat, it’s clear it’s got potential. It’s definitely suitable for some casual fun, but I’m left pondering whether the precision and responsiveness are quite there yet.

Let’s dive into the details:

BEATABLE Overview:

• Developer: XR Games
• Platform: Available on Horizon Store (Quest 2 and upwards)
• Tested on: Quest 3
• Release Date: April 10th, 2025
• Price: $10

Note: Keep in mind, BEATABLE is still in Early Access. This means the developers are continuously tweaking it, and what I’m assessing here reflects its current state, with no numerical score being provided.

Gameplay

Whether you’re seated or standing, you only need a relatively small space on your desk, table, or any flat surface to dive into Beatable. The game has you managing four lanes where beats come rolling in from the horizon, and you’ll need to tap to the rhythm. The area you’ll be working with is about the size of a keyboard, offering two types of beats: ‘note’ and ‘hold note’, plus mid-air symbols for clapping and snapping. It’s a nice contrast to the calorie-torching, arm-swinging rhythm of games like Beat Saber, offering something more grounded and still managing to be engaging.

Learning the ropes is just as straightforward as Beat Saber too. The basic action involves tapping your palm on the table, which streamlines getting started compared to more complex rhythm games like Guitar Hero. That said, I’m not sure I’ll get to the expert level for a couple of reasons.

While snapping your fingers with one hand and deftly tapping notes with the other is entertaining, there’s a lingering doubt about whether the Quest’s hand-tracking latency is tight enough for developing that rock-solid muscle memory needed at higher play levels.

I’ve also noticed that while I didn’t have a precise way to check my accuracy—like knowing if a ‘Perfect’ hit truly was—I felt it’s "good enough" for casual play. Becoming a pro, though, seems more elusive, as it feels like I’d need to tweak my hand placement constantly. For now, I found myself hovering my hand to hit notes with the least force, leading to mixed results.

Since Beatable relies entirely on hand-tracking, it compensates when you hit notes. The developers mention that this latency gets balanced by applying a small input and audio delay, syncing detection in a way similar to console developers.

For the best experience, calibrate your play area to match your table closely. Start by setting up optimal lighting, so you aren’t perpetually hitting notes too soon or late. The real challenge, though, isn’t the missing 100% precision—it’s ensuring the gameplay sticks, which I’ll discuss more in the Immersion section.

Immersion

Confession time: I’m a bit torn. In many VR rhythm games, I end up feeling really cool despite the possibility of looking ridiculous—something I’ve made peace with long ago. However, that "cool" factor feels missing in Beatable.

Tapping and keeping in rhythm is definitely engaging, with intriguing patterns to explore, especially in intermediate and expert songs. Yet, besides slapping a desk and clapping your hands, Beatable doesn’t recreate much else. While Beat Saber doesn’t turn you into a swordsman, and Dance Dance Revolution doesn’t make you a dancer, they both immerse you in the experience. Beatable hasn’t quite nailed this: you’re doing something, but I’m left wondering what that something is—that might be okay for some players.

It would be more captivating if you were playing bongos or operating a control panel that could explode if you missed a beat. Something more than just rapping on a table might enhance the experience.

But let’s not forget XR Games likely wasn’t targeting the "cool factor" as the main draw. They cleverly tackled one of the major hurdles of hand-tracking games: the absence of haptic feedback. The table serves as your "button," a solution I find brilliant, although the "button" could be a tad more reliable in practice.

Comfort

Beatable scores high on comfort. You can play seated or standing and don’t need any artificial locomotion. If you’re planning on going all-in and tapping for a while, consider using a large foam pad on your desk surface to absorb some of the impact and silence the noise.

Conclusion

For a casual game, Beatable nails precision pretty well, although reaching that expert level seems like a distant goal as of now. Using the table for haptic feedback is genius—hopefully, XR Games keeps refining this aspect to overcome Quest’s hand-tracking limitations. If Beatable can pull that off and deliver fresh music content frequently, it could well lay the groundwork for an exciting new branch of XR gaming.

Note: Remember, this review covers Beatable in its Early Access form, acknowledging that the game is still developing, so no numerical score will be provided at this point.