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amarabuco
Participant
September 24, 2026

⛩️ Samurai Quest — step into feudal Japan and become a samurai

  • September 24, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 119 views

Rhythm games taught millions of people to move to music in VR. I wanted to use that same movement to take players somewhere else entirely: into feudal Japan, to live the path of a samurai from the inside.

In Samurai Quest you don't watch a samurai story. You train your way through one. You arrive at the dōjō as a raw student, sword in hand, under a master haunted by his own past. Each stage is a lesson drawn from kenjutsu, the classical Japanese sword arts: how to commit to a cut, how to turn the edge true, how to stay present after the blow lands. Master it to the rhythm of taiko, shakuhachi and koto, and the path opens. From a lantern-lit dōjō to a mountain temple, and finally to the burning gates of Osaka Castle in 1614, the last great stand of the samurai.

By the end, you haven't just finished a game. You've learned the path of warrior.

I'm looking for:
– Playtesters for early access through a closed release channel
– Fellow devs to trade feedback with (happy to playtest your projects too)
– Anyone who has designed rhythm, sword combat or martial arts in VR and wants to talk craft

If this speaks to you, reply here or message me.

    3 replies

    amarabucoAuthor
    Participant
    September 27, 2026

    🚀 Great progress in this weekend! 

    - Grading system reviewed to be more unbiased and gaussian
    - New grades wew created: poor and bad, excelent was deleted. Late became a new grading axis measuring cut timing, and avoid mixing technique with timing.
    - Points now have a standard range from 0 to 100. 
    - Targets have new kanjis.
    - Bugs of scene transition solved.
    - Recentralization errors solved.

    Latest video:




    amarabucoAuthor
    Participant
    September 29, 2026

    🚀 Samurai Quest — First Mentor Build is live

    This week I made an important decision: stop adding things for a moment and ship a build.

    Samurai Quest already has a playable core, but there are several things I’m actively redesigning — new target types, new music, revised beatmaps, UI and visual improvements.

    It would be easy to keep building until all of those pieces are ready. Instead, I’m freezing the current version as Mentor Build 0 and making it available through a closed release channel.

    The goal of this build is not to validate polish or final content. It’s much simpler:

    Does the core experience already communicate what Samurai Quest is trying to become when someone actually puts on a Quest and plays it?

    The current build includes playable beatmaps carried over from the previous version, while the next generation of beatmaps and targets is still in development. I’m deliberately shipping before those are finished because I want external feedback to influence what I build next — rather than validate decisions after I’ve already spent weeks implementing them.

    From now on, I’m trying to follow one rule:

    Each release should reduce a specific uncertainty about the game.

    For this first one, I’m particularly interested in:

    – What do you think Samurai Quest is trying to be after playing it?
    – What already feels compelling or distinctive?
    – What weakens the experience the most?
    – What would you validate next?

    The closed Quest build is now available. If you’re a Horizon Start mentor, XR developer, or fellow Start member interested in trying it, I’d really appreciate the feedback — and I’m happy to playtest your project in return.

    Next update: what I learned from the first external playtests. ⚔️

    amarabucoAuthor
    Participant
    October 10, 2026

    Do you want to try and know more about Samurai Quest?

    I invite you to help me shape the game:

    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewY0uqYo83x_Cp933gtlmlLv_3_YBt-xaJvRb6xWvMyWLdwQ/viewform?usp=dialog

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