Synth Riders News

Dear Synth Riders players,

End of another year is upon us and the time has come for Synthmas!

# What is Synthmas?

Originally started as a massive update to celebrate Synth Riders, adding 6 new languages for Korean, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, and Spanish to welcome our global players into the community, along with the following fun additions:

🎸 Return & **stay** of the Free Seasonal Favorite “Carol of the Bells” by Dance With The Dead in Special Pack - a synthwave/metal take on the classic carol from the players-favorite artist!

🎅 Winter Theme - snow falls all across Spin City as Santa comes to visit its inhabitants, seasonal decorations can be spotted for a limited time.

❄️ Personalized platforms - you can express your flair in multiplayer lobbies and in solo play by customizable colors and “decals” to decorate the platforms you stand on.

💪 In-game Challenges - for both new and veteran players to enjoy.

🎁 Community - Join us in Discord - https://discord.gg/synthriders and @synthridersvr on socials to be first to find out more.

Take a sneak-peek here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We are delighted to see how our Synth Riders family has grown beyond borders and all over the globe, and we are truly grateful for each and every one of you who have joined us on this exciting journey!

We wish you all the best this holiday season and a wonderful year ahead for 2025!

Don't forget to complete your collection and save BIG via the "Complete Collection"
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16575/Synth_Riders__Complete_Music_Collection/

As always we appreciate your feedback - if you have enjoyed the content so far please don't forget to leave a review to share your positive thoughts :)

Additionally, we welcome you to our official Facebook and/or Discord communities where you can chat with like minded players and ask any questions you may have directly with our devs

What’s it like bringing a K-Pop hit from Barbie™ the Album into a VR Rhythm game? It’s kinda like opening the doors and walking into a party — with a lot of pink all around you.

Hi, I’m Falcon from Kluge Interactive and this is the new Synth Riders Experience™ - Barbie™ Dance ‘n Dream. It’s a Barbie-fueled ride to FIFTY FIFTY’s “Barbie Dreams (feat. Kaliii).” In fact, this is the first time Barbie joins a VR rhythm game — and it’s available right now!

Here’s a small taste of what you can experience yourself right now in Synth Riders with this new DLC.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You’ll soak in some rays at the beach, groove at the roller disco, and dance through Barbie dreams in Synth Riders’ latest musical journey. It’s a whole new audio-visual Experience, from the team that delivered the one-of-a-kind immersive tracks collaborating with Muse, The Offspring, and Lindsey Stirling – to name a few.

Associate Creative Director Jaime Nunez-Lopez told me “The idea of Barbie dreaming that she´s on a journey through different dream worlds really fit the Synth Riders game mechanics and perfectly matched the theme of the song itself.”

And, really, we needed an excuse to have pink dolphins in a game!

Jaime adds, “It’s really all about bringing a huge smile to your face by the time the song’s done.” So pull out that power pink wardrobe and get yourself ready for the Synth Riders Experience™ — Barbie™ Dance ‘n Dream!

We can’t wait to see all of you dressing up in pink for the occasion!

The Synth Riders Experience™ - Barbie™ Dance’n Dream DLC is available now for $2.99 or you can complete your library with the Complete Collection and save!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3370670/Synth_Riders_FIFTY_FIFTY__Barbie_Dreams_feat_Kaliii_From_Barbie_The_Album/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16575/Synth_Riders__Complete_Music_Collection/

As always we appreciate your feedback - if you have enjoyed the content so far please don't forget to leave a review to share your positive thoughts :)

Additionally, we welcome you to our official Facebook and/or Discord communities where you can chat with like minded players and ask any questions you may have directly with our devs

Our next post-launch patch is up and available now, containing fixes for the following:

• Fix for Multiplayer HUD microphone states.
  
• Adjusted name displays for the Multiplayer HUD playerlist compact.
  
• Fix for sizes of player names in Multiplayer room player list.
  
• Adjusted height of Stages panel in Multiplayer room.
  
• Fixes to Powerup on/off state not displaying correctly between songs.
  
• Fix for K/DA - "More" not being playable,
  

There will continue to be more patches to come as we keep ironing out issues; thank you to our Beta Testers and to everyone who has opted into the open-beta tests to help us roll out these patches as smoothly as possible!

As always we welcome your feedback and bug reports in the official Synth Riders communities on Discord, Reddit & Facebook -- and right here on Steam!

Our first post-launch patch is up and available now, containing fixes for the following:

• Multiplayer cross-play & microphone fixes.
  
• Quick Join and Room List fixes.
  
• Fixes for Not All Ready & Player Detail panels.
  
• Cyclone Stage / Spiral Mode hang fixes.
  
• Specials Pack count fix.
  
• Challenge Modifiers will no longer stick when completing a Challenge.
  
• Completing a Challenge will return you to the Challenges menu.
  
• Fix for scroll arrows not updating in Settings menu.
  
• Improved image quality for in-game news.
  

As always we welcome your feedback and bug reports in the official Synth Riders communities on Discord, Reddit, Facebook -- and right here on Steam!

Big changes are coming to Synth Riders, starting today — a beautiful, streamlined interface that makes it easier to find Challenges, Experiences, and the songs you want to play. In fact, there are some fantastic features that you might have missed before now.

Before anything else, though, update your copy of Synth Riders to check out the new UI and enjoy uninterrupted game play. This version of the game will not be compatible for online play with players on the previous versions.

Custom content has been moved! If you jump into your Synth Riders Install folder, you will find a folder named Synth Riders UC, this is where all custom content now live and it will require you to move your files into the appropriate sections within it to work again.

With that all out of the way, let’s take a quick look at what’s here and, if you’re paying close attention, you might even pick up hints about what’s next for the music rhythm game world we’ve been building.

We’re always looking for ways to make the game work even more smoothly and we knew that the time was right to cook up a look that screams, “We love 80s Synthwave style!” even louder.

Here’s the page that now greets you when the game starts….and notice that new “Challenges” button in the corner? Hit it! The challenges no longer nestled inside menus! We’ll get to that in a second.



You have quick, simple access to all the main components of the game and there’s a little message window for when we have fun updates and new content. As you can see, we want to get you where you want to be, ASAP, giving you easy push-button access to everything Synth Riders offers. (It’s a lot!)

In this screenshot example, this is what you’ll see after picking “Solo” mode.



It’s easier than ever to choose modifiers (like Spin and Spiral modes), tracks, and quickly spot where you stand on the leaderboards—if you’re all about score-chasing. We were originally thinking of dropping circles and arrows on different bits of these images here to illustrate changes, but the whole point of the UI change was to keep it streamlined. We like to think between the main menu and layout here, we’re on the right track.



As we said up top, we made the Challenges easier to locate and navigate! It’s another great feature inside of Synth Riders that we don’t want anyone to miss. Right at the top of the welcome screen you can jump right to see the latest community challenges. Speaking of which, have you jumped into the Synth Riders Discord? Come join the fun—maybe make a few suggestions for challenges and new songs you’d like to play.



ICYMI: EXPERIENCES CONTINUE – AND YOU CAN TRY ONE FOR FREE!

We knew we needed to make it easier for you to explore our Synth Riders Experiences™ as well, with a dedicated section accessible from the main menu. They blow away everyone who tries them. Honestly, though, it is tough to explain it to someone. Seeing is believing, after all.

At the beginning of September, we opened Muse's “Algorithm” Experience™ so that you can try it one time for free. It’s right there, now, in the app, waiting for everyone whether you bought it or not.



Fire it up, play the track, and if it moves you, the DLC is available for purchase. While on the subject of Experiences™, this is just the start! We already have a few you can play right now, but we have even more unique ones on the horizon. Big things are coming to Synth Riders and we are incredibly excited for later this year, into 2025, and beyond.

Be sure to join us online and let us know what you think of the new update!

# About Synth Riders Experiences™

Below are examples of gameplay and visual "Experiences." More than just a stage, these are artistically-driven, immersive visuals delivered in-game that results in the blending of sight, sound, and movement together into a transformative VR experience.

- Muse "Algorithm":
https://youtu.be/RO6ExDZUB3E?t=19
- The Offspring "Come out and Play":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2CHuQkNAgk
- Caravan Palace "Wonderland":
https://youtu.be/683sqz-iX3s
- Muse "Starlight":
https://youtu.be/aMvxIdVpV7E
- Lindsey Stirling "Underground":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJEEUGl5_vI
- League of Legends “Legends Never Die”:
https://youtu.be/v_49kkuOKdY

To discuss, feedback or for some friendly banter, join us on Discord!