‘LOVESICK’ Is A Mind-Bending Blast from Music’s Past, Out Now on Quest

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Mar 6, 2025

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You’ve probably found yourself wondering what it would have been like if you’d just suck it up and start a garage band with your friends. Maybe you’d hit it big with a record deal, maybe you’d play a few shows, and maybe you’d never leave the garage—but it would probably be a great time regardless.

But what if you ended up getting sucked into a twisted alternate reality where you need to navigate a surreal mindscape to save your imprisoned bandmates instead? That’s the premise of LOVESICK, an all-new narrative adventure game from Rose City Games (creators of Floppy Knights, Garden Story, and more), out today on Meta Quest.

We spoke with Corey Warning, co-founder of Rose City Games and director of LOVESICK to learn more about the developmentand what exactly it has in store for players with its launch today.

With such a unique and distinctive premise, I have to ask about the inspiration behind LOVESICK. Where did this concept come from?

Corey Warning: I spent most of my 20s playing in bands, touring, recording, and later working at a small record label. I had the general concept kicking around for years, but it was always missing something. Once the whole studio got behind it, we were able to turn it into this weird mix of escape room style puzzles with a heavy focus on characters, storytelling, and of course, music.

Why the late 90s for your time period?

CW: It’s sort of the height of when jumping into a van with your best friends and making a go of hitting it big felt obtainable. On your own terms, you know? Before the turn of the century, bands posting songs on Myspace, Warped Tour was still new… There's a romance to it that even I missed out on when I was playing music, and I wanted to explore that space in LOVESICK.

Rose City Games is known for making extremely charming and lovely pixel art games. What spurred the move towards a fully immersive 3D VR title?

CW: We’ve always tried to make very different games from one project to the next, including the art style. A lot of folks from our team have been with us since our first game, The World Next Door, and going into the 3D space felt like an exciting challenge, and the natural next step for our studio to stretch out even more.

What were some of the biggest challenges with developing a VR title for the Quest platform? And what were some of the most powerful benefits?

CW: This is our first VR title, so there were a lot of basics and golden rules we needed to learn as we went. Telling a cinematic story without ever being ever to control where the player is looking was a big challenge, and trying not to lock the player in place while long exposition plays out was something we went out of our way to avoid as much as we could.

We started working on the game for the original Quest, and seeing how good it all looks on the Quest 3 was really exciting.

Since LOVESICK is part period piece, part narrative experience, and part adventure puzzle game, what was it like to juggle so many elements and mix them into a singular, cohesive package?

CW: This was a 4+ year project for us, so it obviously took awhile for everything to gel, but I’m really proud of how the story, mechanics, and setting all complement each other in the finished game. It was important for us to make sure the puzzles serve the narrative, and vice versa, so when we settled on mechanics like having your bandmates double as your hint delivery system, the design became much more diegetic and immersive.

Why do you feel like VR as a medium is particularly important for telling this story?

CW: One of my favorite pieces of feedback came from an early playtester, working their way through the Venue dreamscape. He said he used to tour with bands, and for a moment he thought he could smell the room. That always stuck with me as something that’s unique about VR, with the right game you can get completely sucked in and forget about everything else around you.

Finally, do you have any final words of wisdom or advice to share with prospective new players before they dive in for the first time?

CW: This is a very personal game for our team, and we want as many people to play it as possible. Even if puzzle games, or music games aren’t your thing, I hope you’ll check it out. We designed it to be comfortable and approachable… you don’t need to be a musician to get into LOVESICK!

LOVESICK from Rose City Games is out now on the Meta Horizon store for Meta Quest. Plug in and jam out to fight your way back to reality and save your band! Check out the game’s official website for more details.